Marine Animals of Brooklyn Bridge Park
October 19, 2010
By: Nim Lee, Senior Educator at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy
Nim Lee teaching seining | Photo ©Etienne Frossard
Several years ago I started seining (a kind of net) in the shallow waters of the East River and beach combing around the intertidal zone under the Manhattan Bridge for the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy. The Conservancy sponsors education programs that introduce children and adults to the habitats of the New York Harbor and East River estuary.
Nim Lee teaching seining | Photo by ©Etienne Frossard
Despite the hundreds of hours of swimming, surfing, fishing, sampling animals, and removing invasive species in the fresh, estuarine, and saline waters around New York City, I was still brought to my knees when, on the first day on the job, someone found a living common sea star (Asterias forbesi) sitting on a decaying pier. This habitat variation—rocky coast, remnant pilings, mixed sandy shoreline—and accessibility to it are unparalleled in the East River and is why such a diverse group of animals, such as the sea star, make their homes in the waters off the park.
Besides being a marine biologist, I am also a natural history artist. Thus, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy asked me to choose and paint species representative of the habitat's diversity. The first challenge was which species I'd include. The animals and algae range from microscopic, spineless, toothy, crawling, flying, bumpy, slimy, photosynthetic, and bioluminescent. Here's the story of a few of the animals.
Marine Animals of Brooklyn Bridge Park - click here to download a low res version. The Conservancy will be distributing the posters at their public and educational programs. Stop by their tents or tables when in the park to get a copy. ©Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy | Nim Lee
Oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau): Even though these fish are common to our area, they are hard to see, spending most of their time in crevices or burrowed dens. Rocks are their preferred hiding spots, but an old pipe will do too. Lie and wait predators, they dart out quickly when prey swim by. These diminutive fish boast the fastest muscle movement of all vertebrates; sonic muscles create booming mating calls that attract females to the males' nests.
Lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus): Another local species possess extraordinary reproductive biology. After an elaborate mating ritual, females sea horses deposit fertilized eggs into brooding pouches of males. With their upright body position and reduced fins, sea horses are lousy swimmers. Instead they prefer to hang out in shallow water, wrapping their tails around marine grasses and algae where they also give birth to juvenile seahorses.
Horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus): For most of the year horseshoe crabs dwell in the benthos further out to sea. In the late spring/ early summer, they come to shore to lay their eggs in the sand by the intertidal zone much like the cove under the Manhattan Bridge. Like many marine animals, their name is a misnomer. Horseshoe crabs are not crabs at all, and are more closely related to spiders and scorpions.
With Brooklyn Bridge Park's implementation of new intertidal and underwater environments--salt marsh, the spiral pool, uplands habitat areas--more animals are sure to follow. I hope you'll join me at one of the Conservancy's upcoming seining workshops.
