Marine Debris Analysis of the Delaware Bay
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What is Light Pollution?
My bedroom at home is on the top floor of our house. It sits back from the main road and there are no streetlights that flood my room with a hazy orange glow. Instead, the only thing I can see at night is the distinct outline of the pine trees that line my yard. Sometimes I pop the screen of one of my windows out and crawl through my open window onto the roof so I can view the unobstructed night sky. The Big Dipper is always easily visible on a clear night, as is Orion, and even the Seven Sisters, faint and clustered together. I can even see the Milky Way. This, I have come to realize, is a rare view for most of the world’s population. A view of the Milky Way over Eagle Lake, Acadia National Park,…
Humpback Whale Migration Patterns
A very popular question that arises while out on our whale watching cruises is the question of when is the best time of the year to see whales in the Jersey shore area and the best time of the day to see them. The question, although appearing to be basic since the Jersey Shore sees…
A New Tenant to Cape May
We have a new dolphin in our Cape May waters! On May 31st, 2016 during our 10:00AM trip, we spotted a pod of our residential dolphins. We recognized a few of the different dorsal fins, including our catalogued dolphin, Triscuit (Tt0008). While watching the pod feed, we noticed another dorsal fin that was very mutilated….
The Blue Whale
The Blue Whale General Facts: The Blue Whale is the largest animal in the world, growing up to 110 feet long (33 meters), they are larger than the biggest dinosaur. The blue Whale is a baleen whale, like the humpback whale we see in Cape May, New Jersey, it has no teeth but it has baleen plates at the top of its mouth. The baleen plates allow the blue whale to eat up to 2,200 pounds of food a day, keeping their weight consistent at 330,000 pounds. How many blue whales are there? At one time blue whales were hunted for their blubber to make oil for clocks and lamps. They were almost hunted to the point of extinction but due to the U.S Endangered species Act it became illegal to hunt blue whales around the world. Over time, blue…
Scalloped Hammerhead Conservation Efforts
Figure 1; Credit to Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center Database; Photo taken by Victoria Reader Throughout the summer, I have been researching the patterns of the Scalloped Hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) in the waters of Cape May and Wildwood from this year compared to last year’s data. Last year the American and Atlantic Star…
Portuguese Man o’ War and Current Displacement
Portuguese Man o’War seen by Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center The Portuguese Man o’ War is one of the most infamous jelly fish in the world. People who may know only the most simplistic facts about the ocean will be able to tell you that it is one of the most deadly jelly…
Frequency and Correlation of Surface Observed Behaviors of the Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in Cape May, New Jersey.
Credit to Cape May Whale Watch and Research Center Database Introduction Collection of opportunistic data during whale watching trips can offer a wide range of insights into cetacean behavior. In addition to spatial information and long term tracking of individuals through photographic methods, notable short-term behaviors of individuals are recorded during sightings (Hauser 2007). Feeding…