Jacques Cousteau NERR

Last week's routine long-term fish monitoring sampling was joined by an unexpected guest! This tiny tropical traveler is the Bandtail puffer (Sphoeroides spengleri)—a species we've only documented 6 times in the 34 years of twice-weekly sampling (5 of those sightings were all together back in 2015)!

How did this juvenile make it all the way to New Jersey? This is an example of fatal tropical expatriation - fish spawned by adults to the south, including Florida, the Caribbean, and Sargasso Sea, are delivered to New Jersey as drifters in offshoots of the Gulf Stream. Many such species are reef fish will settle here, but unlike their powerful swimming open water cousins, they cannot make it back to warmer waters, and unfortunately will likely not survive once temperatures drop in the winter.

Long-term monitoring like this helps us spot these rare visitors and better understand how marine species respond to changing ocean conditions over time—patterns that would be impossible to detect in short-term studies.

Fun fact: Like other puffers, the Bandtail puffer can inflate itself with water to make it much harder for predators to swallow. It's also highly toxic if eaten—a useful defense for a fish that, as our researchers put it, "looks like a tasty crouton and swims only a little better than one."

Save the Date for the 2026 JC NERR & Rutgers University Marine Field Station (RUMFS) Open House Event!

On Saturday, September 12th, we will be hosting our most popular event of the year, with some new twists! You answered our survey; we listened! This year, the RUMFS location theme is “The Scientific Method in Action at RUMFS” and will feature the same ticketed entry but will now feature sought-after seminar-style talks about the history of the field station, long-term research surveys, and some time at our touch tank!

All interactive booths, activities, and kids crafts will be hosted at the JC NERR Coastal Center. We’ll also be offering guided trail walks & opening our beloved Life on the Edge Exhibit (no tickets required for those locations!).

We also wanted to tease a new addition to the JC NERR location for this year: a life-sized, immersive crab pot game for all ages!

Stay tuned for the RUMFS ticket link, coming soon!

(If you’d like to be among the first to learn more and gain access to the ticket link, be sure to subscribe to our email list: https://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001SPMbSMElFv7At6jNJoNfOwmzzRAEa-oQxLTlBpcyvpnuWAUssUdj1eGfUzZ4ydGzGt86Q4phTG0oEJmLWSkKzW7vtd8V-rAa )

Rutgers University
Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences
Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences - DMCS
Rutgers Alumni Association
Rutgers Cooperative Extension

Today was a great day to be out on the water! We had a full boat for our Estuary Exploration Tour, and even had a special visit from Josh Gant, Naturalist with Ocean County Parks & Recreation! Josh started our tour with some expert birding (Did you know that all egrets are herons, but not all herons are egrets??)

Amy Plantarich, Kaitlin Gannon, and Toni Rose Tablante from the JC NERR chatted all things estuarine, including the history of the Reserve, our research projects (eeling, flounder, and plankton, oh my!), and habitat restoration. We also tested attendees knowledge with a marsh metaphors activity and chatted all about a crowd favorite, horseshoe crabs!

Keep an eye out soon for when the registration link for our next boat tour on August 26th goes live!

Special thanks to The Tuckerton Seaport for co-hosting these events with us, and to Captain Dick for keeping us all safe on the boat today!

Join us for our first Estuary Exploration Boat Tour of the season, coming up this Wednesday, July 29th, from 9am-12pm!

Learn about the bay while on the water! We (in partnership with The Tuckerton Seaport) will co-host this boat tour of the Great Bay-Mullica River estuary while onboard the Seaport's 30-foot pontoon boat. We will take in the sites and sounds of the bay through nature viewing, conduct some hands-on activities, discuss Tuckerton's history and various JC NERR and Rutgers University research efforts.

Spots are limited! Register today: https://ci.ovationtix.com/35325/production/1284175?performanceId=11845634

We're getting NERRdy at the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA) Conference this week! Our Communications & Outreach Coordinator joined educators from Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve-MD, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve - VA, Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve (DNERR), Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, and Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve to grow our skills and celebrate educating those of all ages about our beloved estuaries.

Like Jacques Cousteau said "We only protect what we love, we only love what we understand, and we only understand what we are taught."

(PS: Did you know today is International Shark & Ray Awareness Day?! Take a moment today to celebrate our fin-tastic friends! 🦈)

That’s a wrap on our 2026 Art X Science Workshop Series!

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our final workshop, Pinelands Primer X Basket Weaving! 🌲🧺 We loved spending the day exploring the history, culture, and ecology of the incredible New Jersey Pinelands with Ben Ackerman (Chief Park Naturalist, Jake’s Branch County Park), then stepping back in time with Mary May as we learned the rich tradition of basket weaving in New Jersey and crafted our own berry baskets inspired by New Jersey’s history.
(And special thanks to Precious, the Northern pine snake, for making a VIP star appearance!)

Be sure to follow Mary May at marymay-baskets.com to learn more about her work and see what workshops she has coming up next!

Thank you to everyone who attended, asked questions, shared stories, and created alongside us this season. Your curiosity, creativity, and enthusiasm made this series so special.

We can’t wait to dream up more opportunities to connect art, science, and our coastal communities. Until next time! 💚🌿

It's a fieldwork friday! This feature is all about data collection for our upcoming Grassle Marsh restoration work!

We use HOBO Data Loggers to track the difference in conductivity (the degree to which a specified material conducts electricity) and temperature on both sides of the culverts (tunnels that run under the road) on Great Bay Boulevard. Conductivity and temperature differences prove that there is limited mixing across the restricted culverts, making the case for our restoration projects.

If you'd like to learn more, check out the Stewardship page on our website: https://jcnerr.org/stewardship/

LAST CALL! Join us for our final Art X Science event of the 2026 series, “Pinelands Primer X Basket Weaving”, this Saturday 07/11 at Jake’s Branch County Park’s Nature Center from 10am-2pm! We have a few spots remaining for what will surely be an event you won’t want to miss!

In this workshop , we will learn what makes the New Jersey Pine Barrens one of the world’s most unique—and internationally protected—ecosystems. Chief Park Naturalist Ben Ackerman will dive into an introduction to the region’s history, culture, and ecology. Then, we’ll learn the history of basket weaving in the Pinelands with Local Artist & Basket Maker Mary May as you create your own berry basket inspired by the handcrafted baskets once used to transport local berries to markets in Philadelphia and New York City.

Limited spots remaining, so be sure to reserve your tickets now! Learn more and purchase tickets here and through the link in our bio:

https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/eg3w7hr/lp/95a255dd-fd03-45e0-b151-05746d507552

Our Life on the Edge exhibit will be closed July 6–11 while we give our air conditioning system a little TLC. 🛠️❄️

We hope to reopen Monday, July 13, and welcome you back during our regular hours of 12–3 PM! Keep an eye out here or on our website for updates. https://jcnerr.org/life-on-the-edge-exhibit/

Thanks for your patience as we work to keep our exhibit cool and comfortable for everyone. We'll be back before you know it—and we can't wait to see you! 🐟