Plankton eaters
A famous Bay bivalve that can move through the mud with its foot and filters plankton and bacteria from the water up to a gallon a minute.
Quat is a Quahog?
A creature more closely related to spiders and scorpions despite its name, it feeds on bivalves, worms, and other invertebrates by tearing them apart with its long, slender claws
What is a Horseshoe Crab?
These fish aren't the best swimmers, so to feed they hold themselves in place with their tail and suck large amounts of water through their straw-like mouths and out their gills.
What is a Seahorse?
A succulent salt marsh snack for people, some species are also used to feed stock animals and make biodiesel.
What is Sea Pickle (Salicornia)?
This is garbage that looks like jelly fish to sea turtles.
What is a plastic bag?
A crustacean with plates permanently attached to a structure (or animal) that open when submerged so it can extend feathery feeding legs to catch plankton.
What is a barnacle?
This creature drills a pencil point sized hole in the shell and secretes acid to remove the flesh of its bivalve prey.
What is a moon snail?
This fish eats only invertebrates, chomping their shells apart with its big back teeth.
What is the Tautog?
These were once so abundant they could be caught by hand along the shore and were considered food for the poor. Now they are served in many popular, iconic dishes.
What are American Lobsters?
A type of extremely degraded trash that can travel all the way up the food chain and even end up in humans.
What are microplastics?
A free-living (unattached) bivalve that filter feeds without a siphon
What is a bay scallop?
A crustacean whose aggression and ability to eat almost anything could be one of the reasons for its success as an invasive species
What is an Asian Shore Crab?
A fish that has three lower fin rays that it uses as feelers to detect pray as it "walks" along the bottom.
What is a Sea Robin?
These creatures are widely consumed in Asia despite having little nutritional value or flavor other than salt. They are dried and preserved, then cooked and sauced like noodles.
What are jellyfish?
Trash known to easily break apart and float, and is covered with chemicals that cause cancer and reproductive harm. One of the most common types of litter found in stomachs of animals that filter feed or skim the surface for food.
What is polystyrene foam (Styrofoam)?
A sea creature that filter feeds by drawing plankton rich water into its cillia filled pores and out an opening at the top. They also live colonially.
What is a sea sponge?
After prying open its shell with its tube feet, this animal pushes it's stomach out of its body and secretes enzymes into its prey to liquify and digest it.
What is a sea star?
A cartilaginous fish that sometimes hunts in packs and will eat almost anything, especially lobsters.
What is a Spiny Dogfish?
This "right-eyed" species cannot be harvested within the Narragansett Bay. RI DEM will give you a free hat if you catch a tagged one!
What are Winter Flounder?
This is the most lethal form of ingested trash in seabirds.
What are balloons?
A fish that can sometimes be seen skimming the surface of water for phytoplankton
What is an Atlantic Menhaden?
A creepy nocturnal hunter with powerful jaws that thrust out of its proboscis to grab prey such as worms, clams, crustaceans and algae.
What is a Clamworm?
This omnivorous marsh fish is small but mighty. It can use its sharp teeth to take down much bigger fish.
What is a Sheepshead Minnow?
Uni is the culinary name for the gonads of this creature, which are a fine dining delicacy.
What is a sea urchin?
A form of ocean trash that can be more deadly to sea creatures (especially seals, cetaceans, turtles, sharks, and birds) than it is when being used.
What is ghost fishing gear?