COASTAL 



TIDINGS 



Smithsonian 

 Festival Features 

 NC Coast 



"This summer, North Carolina Sea 

 Grant staff, as well as maritime workers from 

 the Core and Albemarle sound regions, were 

 at center stage on the National Mall. 



As part of the 2004 Smithsonian 

 Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., North 

 Carolina Sea Grant Fisheries Specialist Bob 

 Hines and Carteret County shrimper Bradley 

 Styron offered in a shrimp trawl exhibit. Also, 

 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 

 researcher William Stott and Mary Ellen Cox, 

 a crabpot maker in Hyde County, showcased 

 North Carolina's rich crabbing culture. Sea 

 Grant sponsored these four participants. 



In addition, Jack Thigpen, North 

 Carolina Sea Grant extension director, and 

 Mid-Atlantic Sea Grant representatives 

 offered in a panel discussion on "Coastal 

 Development & Values." National Sea Grant 

 Outreach Directorjim Murray served as 

 moderator. 



The exhibits and panel were part of 

 "Water Ways: The Past, Present and Future 

 of Mid-Atlantic Maritime Communities." 



"The Smithsonian Festival was a great 

 way to feature North Carolina's rich maritime 

 traditions in both the Core and Albemarle 

 sound regions," says Thigpen. 



"Maritime culture, such as the long 

 history in sport fishing and commercial 

 fishing, are an important component of 

 North Carolina's coastal economy," he adds. 

 "Visitors come to North Carolina to discover 

 its natural beauty and wildlife. Its visitors 

 support an increasing number of heritage 

 and ecotourism businesses." — A.G. 



New Sea Slug Identified 



,1 " V '* _ 



fh ile diving 

 on the Hardees 

 tanker shipwreck 

 near Cape Lookout 

 last year, scuba 

 enthusiast Sandy 

 Smith of Pennsylvania 

 spotted an odd, 

 yellowish blob. 



"I knew it was 

 anudibranch," says 

 Smith. "But it was a 

 type I've never seen 

 before." 



It turns out she 

 wasn't alone. This 

 nudibranch had never 

 been seen alive in the 

 western Atlantic. 



Nudibranchs, 

 or sea slugs, are re- 

 lated to marine snails. 



But thanks to evolution, sea slugs no longer have 

 external shells like most of their mollusk cousins. 

 Researchers know precious little about these 

 delicately shaped and colorful animals, and 

 Smith's find would prove an exciting discovery. 



She snapped a few photos of the unusual 

 creature and contacted Bill Rudman, an 

 Australian research scientist and founder of the 



lit* 



Smith's photo of the butterfmger nudibranch won second 

 place in the underwater close-up category of the North 

 Carolina Aquarium's 2003 underwater photo contest. 

 Entries for the 2004 contest must be postmarked by 

 Dec. 31, 2004. For more information, visit www. 

 ncaquariums.com and dick on the News & Events link. 



Sea Slug Forum — www. 

 seaslugjbrum.net — an 

 interactive Web site 

 where both amateurs 

 and professional 

 scientists can discuss 

 sea slug research. 



He recognized the 

 nudibranch in Smith's 

 photograph as identical 

 to the species Polycera 

 chilluna, found in coastal 

 waters near western 

 Africa and Spain. It 

 hadn't been recorded 

 from the western 

 Atlantic for more than 

 40 years. 



"Basically the 

 species was described 

 from North Carolina in 

 1 961 from a preserved 

 animal and never been reported again," explains 

 Rudman. 



Because Polycera chilluna had never been 

 documented as a living animal here, Smith was 

 allowed to give it a common name. 



She chose "butterfinger nudibranch." Why? 



"It had yellow appendages that looked like 

 a hand to me," says Smith. — K.A. 



Mumfest to Feature Flowers and Boats 



New Bern's 24th annual Mumfest, Oct. 9 

 and 1 0, will have a new attraction this year — 

 a boat-building contest. 



Teams of two to four people can try their 

 hands at constructing a wooden rowing dinghy. 

 For $350, teams will receive a kit of pre-cut 

 marine plywood. They will have two days to 

 transform the 40-piece kit into a working 8-foot 

 dinghy at workstations under a large tent at the 

 center of Union Point Park. 



Teams will showcase their finished products 

 in a flotilla on Oct. 10. 



Festival-goers traditionally enjoy the Tryon 

 Palace colorful gardens, which are open free to 



the public for Mumfest, and boats of all sizes at 

 the Sheraton docks and Union Point Park. 



Dick Mushet and Frank Bruno of New Bern 

 designed a prototype of the dinghy, based on the 

 N.C. Maritime Museum's build-a-boat project 

 model. They configured a square-stem boat that 

 seats one adult and one child — and rows easily, 

 according to the designers. The prototype is on 

 display at the Middle Street Post Office. 



Team members must be at least eight years 

 old. Scholarships are available for interested 

 nonprofit groups. 



For information, call 252/638-5781 or 

 e-mail swissbear@swissbear.org. — P.S. 



4 AUTUMN 2004 



