BBARS Art & Science Residency

A quieter day today, I worked on my hooked mat, and did a bit of planning on what to do in the final week of my residency.  There was also a large group of people touring the building, from Alberta, Saskatchwan, and Manitoba; Lovely interested people who asked good questions and seemed to enjoy their visit.

Some of us spent some time this evening looking in the ocean with flashlights once it was dark, and was floored by how much fun that was.   Why haven't I done that before?  There were connors, lobsters (one with no claws), very small herring, winter flounder, sticklebacks, a small crab, and some unknown tiny brown schooling fish.

We spent more time in the aquarium, learning more and more about all the different species of fish.  One of the blue lobsters molted a couple of nights ago, and we got an explanation from a fish biologist on how that happens- apparently the lobster can remove the water from its body to make it small enough to remove itself from it's own shell, and once out of the exoskeleton, can then pump itself back up with water, and harden it's new exoskeleton.  Unexpectedly, when I handled the discarded exoskeleton, it's heavy enough that you'd think it was a whole lobster, with all its regular insides intact.  I really thought it would be light and thin.  

Goodnight from beautiful Bonne Bay!