Autumn on Assateague

Migration has started! What an exciting time to be living near Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. We've been seeing green and blue-winged teals on the Wildlife Loop for around a month now, and last week, we started seeing snow geese!

Back to the fall…

After our successful our open house, it was right back to business at the MSC. The first school group of the fall arrived on Sunday for a fun-filled week of coastal ecology. They were the first students to use our brand new labs and I’m sure they would agree that they were great! We had some fantastic trawls aboard our research vessels, terrific seines in the intertidal zone on Assateague, excellent finds on the dunes at the beach at Wallops Island and many unforgettable moments in the marsh mud. After such a great week, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next group!

More on Mo

Even though he is already greatly missed, we are very excited that Mo (the MSC’s resident moray eel) has found a new home at the New England Aquarium. After eleven years at the MSC, Mo was transferred on August 23, 2010. He was driven overnight to Boston to ensure he would not overheat on the journey. Regular stops were made in order to check temperature and oxygen levels in his travel tank.

After nine hours, Mo finally arrived in Boston and was transferred to a holding tank where he is being quarantined for a month. At the end of the month, Mo will be transferred to the New England Aquarium’s Giant Ocean Tank. This tropical exhibit is 23 feet deep, 40 feet wide and holds 200,000 gallons of water. Mo will share his new home with more than 600 animals including 4 other green morays, sea turtles, sand tiger sharks, sting rays and an array of reef fishes.

Mo the Moray Update

Mo has moved to the New England Aquarium in Boston, MA to become a
resident of their Giant Ocean Tank. For those of you who are fortunate
enough to have visited the aquarium, this is the massive 200,000 gallon tank that the staircase spirals around in the center of the aquarium.
Although we will miss him, we are confident he will love his new reef
home.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions, help and assistance in finding a place for our longtime fishy friend!!