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2012 Spring Highlights
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In addition to the everyday work of taking care of
regular displays, maintenance of the aquarium, and
volunteering for the Marine Mammal Stranding network,
Aquarium staff also :
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- Hosted 42 school groups, totaling more than 1,000
students.
- As part of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network,
autopsied and arranged for burial of a sperm
whale, two gray whales, and an orca (all unrelated
cases).
- CCreated and published two new informational
Beach Discovery cards - on sand dollars and crab
molts - to be distributed at local Seaside businesses.
- Participated in Seaside’s Necanicum Bird Day.
- Welcomed KGW TV’s Drew Carney to the Aquarium
for a live remote broadcast promoting the
North Oregon Coast and our 75th Anniversary.
- Shared touch tanks and information at Cannon
Beach’s Earth Day Celebration
- Shared information on proper marine mammal response
at the Grass Roots Garbage Gang Fundraiser
in Long Beach, Washington.
- Represented the Marine Mammal Stranding Network,
presenting “Whales, Porpoises, and Sea Lions:
What we have Learned from Marine Mammals
on our Coast” for the Columbia River Maritime
Museum’s Science on Tap series at the Fort George
Brewery.
- Presented “75 Years! The History Behind the Seaside
Aquarium” to the Seaside Rotary and Seaside
Downtown Development Association.
- Participated in Kelly’s Brighton Marina Crab Derby
in Nehalem, a fundraiser for the Rinehart Clinic.
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Important Beach Safety
1. Never turn your back on the ocean.
Sneaker waves are very powerful, sometimes strong
enough to knock over an adult.
2. Avoid logs in the surf.
They may look stable, but the ocean can roll logs large
enough to crush you.
3. This is not a safe area for swimming
in the ocean.
Be aware there is a strong undercurrent. Children should
be kept within arm’s reach and should go no deeper than
their knees.
4. Completely extinguish your campfires.
Embers can burn for days if left or covered.
5. Leave marine mammals alone.
Marine mammals can carry diseases transmittable to humans.
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Next Size? Leave the old shell behind.
Crabs are categorized as
crustaceans (cruh-STAYshuns),
a group of invertebrate
animals with
hard shells on the outsides
of their bodies. Their
shells are actually their
skeletons!
Having a skeleton on the
outside would seem to limit growth, but crustaceans
have this problem solved. To grow, they actually shed
their shells in a process called molting.
First, a crab grows a new, soft shell under its old one.
The crab then fills its body with sea water to pop open
the top of its carapace (back shell) like a lid, and
squeezes out backwards, leaving the shell intact. They shed
the shell and a few other parts, including antennae and
gills. The new soft shell expands once the crab is out, and
then hardens within a few weeks. If a crab loses a limb,
it will re-grow it in the next molt.
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