Highline Community College’s Marine Science and Technology (MaST) Center is presenting a special seminar on “Jumbo” Squid with David Eric Hamm, NOAA Fisheries Research Scientist/Contractor, this Saturday, Oct. 17th at their location near the Redondo Beach Pier in Des Moines.

Rumor has it that there may even be a dissection taking place.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Special seminar on “Jumbo” (aka Humboldt) Squid with David Eric Hamm, NOAA Fisheries Research Scientist/Contractor

WHEN: Saturday, October 17 12:00 – 12:45

WHERE: Highline Community College MaST Center, located near the Redondo Beach Park in Des Moines

INFO: From their website:

They’re Big, They’re Here and They’re Squid Jumbo Squid as Harbingers of Ecosystem Change! Dosidicus gigas, the Humboldt or Jumbo squid is a voracious predator with a unique ecology.

The ongoing range expansion of this creature, coincident with changes in the California Current suggest that something larger is afoot.

Are these changes indication of global change? What will the impact be to our fisheries and the ecosystem of the West Coast? Come to the MaST Center, and find out.

Please join us to hear David Eric Hamm, NOAA Fisheries Research Scientist/Contractor

More info here.

The official groundbreaking ceremony for the new Environmental Learning Center will be this Tuesday, June 23rd, from 3:30pm to 5pm.

The ceremony will take place at the location of the existing Caretaker’s Cottage, with refreshments served, as well as remarks by King County Council Chairman Dow Constantine at 4pm. All are invited!

The ceremony will be about 50 yards south (closer to the parking lot) of their existing office in the Marine Tech Center at the end of SW 140th St in Seahurst Park in Burien. The nearest parking is about 200 yards from the building. To get to Seahurst Park, from Ambaum Blvd SW turn west on SW 144th St., then right on 13th Ave SW then follow that road as it curves and becomes SW 140th St and goes downhill to the shore. There is some parking very near the end, if that is full there is additional parking part way up the hill.

First we reported on large six-gilled sharks swimming in Burien waters, and now we’ve discovered that there are also large jellyfish here as well – specifically “Lion’s Mane Jellyfish” (the world’s largest known species of jellyfish, and yes, they do sting) taped off Three Tree Point by area diver m4jwilliams:

Courtesy our new Sales & Promotion Diva Janet Grella comes this interesting photo taken of the beach at Three Tree Point, with a distinctive red hue to the water.

Could this be red tide?

According to Wikipedia…

“Red tide” is a common name for a phenomenon known as an algal bloom, an event in which estuarine, marine, or fresh water algae accumulate rapidly in the water column, or “bloom”. These algae, more specifically phytoplankton, are microscopic, single-celled protists, plant-like organisms that can form dense, visible patches near the water’s surface. Certain species of phytoplanktonalgal bloom. contain photosynthetic pigments that vary in colour from green to brown to red, and when the algae are present in high concentrations, the water appears to be discoloured or murky, varying in colour from purple to almost pink, normally being red or green. Not all algal blooms are dense enough to cause water discolouration, and not all discoloured waters associated with algal blooms are red. Additionally, red tides are not typically associated with tidal movement of water, hence the preference among scientists to use the term

Some red tides are associated with the production of natural toxins, depletion of dissolved oxygen or other harmful impacts, and are generally described as harmful algal blooms. The most conspicuous effects of red tides are the associated wildlife mortalities among marine and coastal species of fish, birds, marine mammals and other organisms.

If there are any marine biologists out there who know more, please email us ASAP!

In the meantime, we suggest using common sense and not harvesting or eating any local shellfish until we know for sure.