Marine Metre Squared

CitSciOz23 – Australian Citizen Science Association Save the Date for the NextAustralian Citizen Science Association Conference ( ) Monday 20th November (side event): Workshops & excursions Tuesday 21st November: Conference Day 1 (Opening, Keynotes, breakout rooms, short talks, long talks, posters, & official welcome evening event) Wednesda...

Do you know any Year 6-8 students with a keen interest and curiosity in the world around us?
If so, check out our Science Extension Programme "Science and the Sea”! 🐠

Work with like-minded young people and be mentored by academics and postgraduate marine science students while you and your team lead a 4 day research project! 🦀

Thanks to funding from the Ministry of Education NZ this programme is only $40 per student - woohoo 🤩!

To apply email [email protected] or [email protected] to recieve an application form. 🐬

See the attached flyer for further information. Applications close 17 September 2023 🦭

It is plastic free July! Join us for a seminar at the NZ Marine Studies Centre about the impact of plastic on marine animals - Friday July 7th at 4 pm. Marine Science Otago New Zealand International Science Festival Our Seas Our Future Sustainable Coastlines

The next seminar at the NZ Marine Studies Centre is on Friday June 9th. Refreshments available from 3:30, with the seminar starting at 4 pm.

The seminar will also be available online via zoom at :
https://otago.zoom.us/j/98101024899... Passcode: Otago

Oamaru residents... Join the Aquavan Event TONIGHT(Thursday May 4th) at Oamaru Intermediate School Hall between 5-7 pm. Your chance to meet a range of marine critters living on the local shoreline, and learn about connections between river health and coastal environments. Complementary supper provided.

Thanks to support from the North Otago Sustainable Land Management Trust (NOSLaM), OCC - Otago Catchment Community Inc and Catchments Otago.

Find out more about citizen science projects that schools can particate in as part of National Primary Science Week 8-12 May.

Mm2 a good way to monitor the spread of invasive species...

Lyttelton community acts to stop spread of huge sea worms Local communities around Christchurch's port are calling for urgent action to slow the spread of huge sea worms. In some cases, Mediterranean fanworms have grown to more than half a metre long. Populations in Whakaraupō Lyttelton Harbour have increased in recent years, hitching rides on boats and e...

You never know what you might find whilst out on the shore. Here, a swarm of Krill washed up on the shore at The New Zealand Marine Studies Centre. Usually a favourite snack of baleen whales, on this day the whelks were enjoying their lunch on the beach

A log covered in pelagic gooseneck barnacles washed up at Tomahawk beach in О̄tepoti. Gooseneck barnacles love to settle on debris floating in open waters. This is a great way for a filter feeder to ensure food security! Send us your fun finds!
📷- Madeleine Child

Great effort Warrington School

Out on the mudflats of Blueskin bay with Warrington School students and one group found this tiny clingfish hiding in a shell! Clingfish have a special adaptation in which their pelvic fins are modified as suckers to cling to rocks! How cool is that?!

This mostly buried Horse Mussel was found buried in the low tide zone of a Dunedin shore. Though still alive, the mussel now serves as shelter for other animals.
Send in your mysterious finds so we can ID them together!
📷- Harry White

We had an absolute blast doing Marine Metre Squared for Seaweek a couple of weeks ago! These keen citizen scientists brought their copy of "The New Zealand Seashore Guide" by Sally Carson and Rod Morris to up their identification skills. Get your copy today!!

Great to see Warrington School engaging with Mm2 project today!

This is a great course for primary / Intermediate teachers that are passionate about incorporating their local environment into their teaching programme. NZMSC staff deliver the marine section.
Applications due by May 1.

Applications for our BLAKE Inspire for Teachers programme are now open!

This is a great opportunity for up to 90 primary and intermediate teachers from all over Aotearoa to join us for a week of hands-on environmental learning.

Fully funded by the Ministry of Education (excl. travel to Auckland) this year we are running 3 programmes:

🌱 3 – 7 July in Auckland
🌱 25 – 29 September in Auckland
🌱 2 – 6 October in Auckland

BLAKE Inspire provides teachers with experiential learning opportunities and practical ways to translate environmental knowledge to their students to encourage environmental action, conservation, and sustainability within their schools.

Apply now on our website: https://www.blakenz.org/programmes/blake-inspire/blake-inspire-for-teachers/

Applications close on Monday 1 May.

Ministry of Education NZ

Great day with Mm2 at the the New Zealand Association for Environmental Education regional delivery day at Karitane. Thanks to all the organisers and participants for their mahi...

Great to see Warrington School doing Mm2 surveys... like many NZ schools, the seashore is part of their local environment. Thanks to the students for their mahi and manaaki for the coastal environment.

Amazing work!

Auckland Sustainable Schools are teaming up with Sally Carson and Mm2 to offer a Taking Action for Nature Zoom Workshop on Tuesday Nov 1st, 4-5 on Zoom - Please join us

It is in the news almost every day – our oceans and the life within them are under threat. Through this online session you will discover some hands-on and fun things you can do with your students to make a difference to our marine environments.

Please follow this link to register by Monday October 31st
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeAZ3l-REaXRkEGzdrb67fN5ldxWjfQ_Yxj4tscrEB42GmlGA/viewform

Sustainable Schools Auckland Marine Science Otago Sustainable Coastlines Science Learning Hub NZ Primary Science Teachers New Zealand Association for Environmental Education Sir Peter Blake Marine Education and Recreation Centre Young Ocean Explorers Experiencing Marine Reserves - EMR BLAKE

An interesting find from Tomahawk Beach - can anyone identify what this is?

So impressed with the enthusiasm of the teachers participating in the Blake Inspire Programme for Teachers over the school holidays. Sally Carson lead the marine sections of the week long course and loved the opportunity to explore the Auckland shoreline with them!

BLAKE
Marine Science Otago
Sciences at University of Otago

If you look closer, this is a juvenile Duck's Bill Limpet/Rori (Scutus breviculus) with a spiral tubeworm on the shell. Gloved hand for size reference, pinky nail size, maybe the smallest we have ever seen! Feeds on red and green seaweed species, feeding mostly at night, retreating under rocks during day.

This was caught in our plankton net, a juvenile gar fish/Ihe (Hyporhamphus ihi). Commonly called a piper fish, these would not usually end up in a Mm2 survey but do go after zooplankton and have a very different mouth, it is on top of their long snout for scooping sand up.

Make sure to check out the Hauraki Gulf Monitoring Project flyer for 2022, Who's Living on your Beach? You can also check out other resources online here: https://www.mm2.net.nz/get-involved/hauraki-gulf-monitoring-project

Make sure to check out this awesome find from a family in Haast! Their son, Shannon, enticed them to go to the beach and they stumbled across this very cool Oar Fish. Been a few sightings around New Zealand recently🐟

Check out this awesome weki huna/mottle brittle star post!

This weki huna/mottled brittle star, Ophionereis fasciata, is currently residing in the touch pools at the NZ Marine Studies Centre. It is identifiable by its white and grey bands on its arms and black splotches on the central disk. The mottled colouration helps the animal camouflage! Weki huna will often hide under rocks and stick out their arms from underneath, to catch food. You might be lucky enough to see this papatangaroa/sea star during one of our Marine Encounter tours ⭐️!



Marine Metre Squared

Seaweed isopod/Weri moana or sea centipede, these secretive marine creature feeds mostly on green and brown seaweed reflected in the colour of their body.

At the Wild Dunedin, Anderson Bay Inlet Mm2, a surveyor flipped over a rock at the water mark and a juvenile arrow squid swam out 🦑 The black/brown dots are chromatophores, allowing the animal to change appearance!

Ever come across a growth on a paua? It may be a marine fungus, often associated with blisters or lesions, which can affect growth and mortality rates. This fungus usually grows on wood under the sea but can make it's home in paua.

There was some amazing events occurring during Wild Dunedin, one of them was performing an Mm2 at Anderson Bay Inlet. We powered through the rain and the sun eventually came out ☀️

Happy City Nature Challenge (A bit late but still time - April 29th - May 2nd)! Get out and use iNaturalist app to log nature you encounter, especially aquatic creatures! If you were waiting for a time to go to a local beach and investigate some critters, the time is now! Check out more here - https://citynaturechallenge.org/

This short video highights unique adaptations of marine critters... worth a watch

What Kinds of Hermaphrodites Live in the Sea? The birds and the bees have nothing on these creative reproducers of the deep. Animals in the ocean can be male and female at the same time, or even switch b...