- We met outside the Back to the Sea Touch Tank Hut and heard from the founder, Magali Gregoire, about the group’s vision to bring a catch-and-release aquarium to Halifax (finally!).
- Inside the Touch Tank Hut, we had the chance to stick our very clean hands into the very cold water of the tanks. Photo by Toby Balch.
- Visitors are allowed to hold the animals in the tanks, but first we learned how to do so in a way that doesn’t harm the animals.
- We all had the chance to hold sea urchins (seen here), as well as sea starts, hermit crabs, mussels, and oysters. And we got to feed them!
- Amazing… sea urchins have 5 “teeth,” so when they bite algae (their food) they leave a star-shaped bite mark, seen here.
- The start of the squid dissection began with a description of the squid’s body parts, including how it moves through the water (jet propulsion!). Photo by Toby Balch.
- Part way through the squid dissection the Back to the Sea volunteer removed the squid’s “pen,” a vestigal part that can kind of be used as a pen along with the squid’s ink!