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Research Projects and Collaborations The Maritime Aquarium is more than just a place for families to have fun. We’re engaged in ongoing research projects and collaborations with other area organizations to help ensure that the animals you enjoy here thrive in the wild for generations to come.
Web Cams
The Maritime Aquarium maintains web cams that allow us to keep an eye on seals (in the winter) and ospreys (in the spring and summer). Learning what these top predators are up to helps shed light on the health of the environment as a whole. Click here to view our current web cam.
Jefferson Science Magnet School
The Maritime Aquarium began a collaboration with Jefferson Science Magnet School in 2006. Since that time, the Aquarium has functioned as an extension of the classroom for Kindergarten through fifth grade.
Programs are developed according to CT Science Framework Standards and Grade Level Expectations, as well as Norwalk’s own specific goals. There are also interdisciplinary components in the Aquarium developed curriculum including Math, Literacy and Social Studies.
The Aquarium staff meets regularly with the Jefferson staff and administrators to plan programs, the budget and identify funding opportunities.
This partnership is successful, in that Jefferson students benefit from multiple science based programs.
This partnership is truly a model / cornerstone in the foundation of the Aquarium’s capacity to make a difference in the classroom and the community.
Harbor Seal Census
Under the direction of a full-time staff researcher, The Maritime Aquarium monitors wintering harbor seals in the Norwalk area. The objective of The Seal Census Project is to understand the factors that attract seals to the Norwalk Islands, what they're eating, their numbers and patterns of migration, their preferred locations, their behavioral responses to tides and weather, and their local movements.
Funding for the Harbor Seal Census is provided by the Long Island Sound Study and the Keefe Family Foundation.
This tag-and-release research/education project focuses on the population ecology of the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) in Long Island Sound. Dr. Jennifer Mattei of Sacred Heart University'sBiology Department is the principle investigator of this long-term, community wide research project. The Maritime Aquarium participates by tagging and collecting data on horseshoe crabs encountered during field studies and research cruises. It has been recently discovered that migratory shorebird survival is linked to the horseshoe crab's breeding season. Migrating shorebirds consume horseshoe crab eggs, helping fuel their long trip north to breed. In addition, the federally protected loggerhead sea turtle also depends on horseshoe crabs for food. Horseshoe crabs are also important to humans because of a component in their blood that is used to detect bacterial contamination in manufactured drugs and other pharmaceutical products.
By understanding the population dynamics of this species we will be better able to manage their harvest and prevent their extinction. The horseshoe crab population ecology investigation is currently being supported by a grant from the Long Island Sound License Plate Program, managed by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection and Sacred Heart University. Other participants include, Project Oceanology, SoundWaters, Bridgeport Aquaculture School, the Peabody Museum and the Connecticut Audubon Coastal Center. To participate in this study, contact Dr. Mattei at 203-365-7577 or matteij@sacredheart.edu
Norwalk Harbor Biodiversity Census
The Norwalk Harbor Biodiversity Census gives students and the public a change to take part in real, meaningful scientific data collection. Information on the diversity and number of species seen is collected during academic programs and public study cruises and added to a database accessible to schools and scientists.
