( Matthew Schuerman / WNYC )
For this membership drive, we'll feature a brisk deep dive on a different species found in New York City waterways, and the ecological issues that impact them. To wrap up the series, Ann Fraioli, director of education at Billion Oyster Project, shares her knowledge of the Sea Squirt.
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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. We've been wrapping up most of the shows during the membership drive with a little bit of a deep dive into the marine life living right here in our listening area. We picked six unique species that you might not have expected to find in our waterways and each day, we've been getting into some of the threats as well that are impacting each species in particular, in the waterways more broadly, as an environmental segment, as well as just a curious about the fish in our midst segment.
We partnered with our friends at the Billion Oyster Project, a New York City based nonprofit that has the goal of restoring 1 billion live oysters to New York Harbor by 2035. We're going to wrap up this series that we've been calling What's in the Water with the sea squirt. Joining me now to share some facts about the sea squirt is Ann Fraioli, Director of Education at the Billion Oyster Project. Ann, thanks so much for doing this with us, welcome to WNYC.
Ann Fraioli: Thanks Brian. Thanks for having me.
Brian Lehrer: For listeners who've never even heard the term sea squirt, can you explain what they look like and how they got that name?
Ann Fraioli: Sure. At first glance, they don't look like much, but once you get in close, you can see that there's these semi-transparent oval shaped blobs and they have two little siphons on top. Think of something about the size of a green grape with two small horns and you don't usually just see one sea squirt, you see a whole bunch. They usually live in groups, they're naturally covered in mucus and that makes fine particles of mud stick to them.
If you come out with us and pull something out of the water, like a oyster cage, the sea squirts are going to look more like little brown blobs.
Brian Lehrer: Mud, mucus, you make them sound so appealing.
Ann Fraioli: They're pretty cool.
Brian Lehrer: Sea squirt. Why squirt?
Ann Fraioli: A sea squirt is basically a small bag that filters seawater. Inside the sea squirt, it's pretty cool, the mechanism that's in there. There's these little hairs called cilia and they beat back and forth creating a current that draws water into one of their siphons and then the inside of the sea squirt is also covered with gummy mucus and that catches the tiny particles that the sea squirts really want to eat.
The cilia move this water through their body and these gummed up particles towards its mouth and its stomach and like all animals, the excess waste needs to be ejected and the excess water gets ejected. That goes out, squirts out through that second siphon and that's part of how it gets its name.
Brian Lehrer: I saw them described as the water gun of the ocean.
Ann Fraioli: Yes. It's amazing for such a little thing that is really the size of a grape, how far that little squirt of water can go.
Brian Lehrer: Defense mechanisms. Sea squirts don't have a lot of natural predators in New York Harbor, I see. Can you explain maybe why it has that defense mechanism that you were just describing of shooting out the water from one of their siphons if they're touched? What does that do for them?
Ann Fraioli: I wish I knew more about it. I'm not sure the ejection of the water out the second siphon is so much of a defense mechanism. It's true that it doesn't seem like many things really want to eat sea squirts. When you see one, you probably wouldn't want to eat one either and clearly, they're all over our structures, our cages, and our oyster research stations. They do have some predators, carnivores snails will eat them, mud crabs which will eat a lot of things have also been known to eat them.
It may be more that they just don't have as much nutritional value as other organisms in the harbor because they really are a sack with a filtration unit and some gonads and that's about it when it comes to what you're eating when you eat a sea squirt.
Brian Lehrer: No nutritional value, that doesn't stop Americans from their food choices very frequently, but that's another show. What do the sea squirts eat?
Ann Fraioli: They eat mostly phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are microscopic plant-like organisms, they float around in the water. That's why the sea squirts are sucking in, getting that water into their bodies to find those particles. Sea squirts will also eat bacteria or even bits of other rotting organisms, which is really cool because that means that the sea squirts are not just herbivores eating plant-like organisms, but they're also scavengers or what some people call opportunists, because they're eating dead stuff.
Brian Lehrer: Before we run out of time, I do want to touch the environmental aspect of this. We'll just skip over the fact that they eat dead stuff. Just let that sit there. Of course, we've spent part of the series looking at some of the issues impacting all the marine life in New York Harbor. I want to of bring up sea level rise with respect to this.
When we talk about the rising sea levels in our area, obviously from climate change, we're usually talking about how it will impact human habitats along the shore. Can you explain how rising sea levels impact marine life and their habitats?
Ann Fraioli: That's a really good question and one that we're constantly looking for more information about. In some ways, many of the marine life are luckier than us because where the water goes, they will go as well. Especially organisms like the sea squirt which can be very tolerant of polluted waters, waters with a lot of organic matter in them.
You have to think that when the sea level rises and starts to move into inhabited areas, there's going to be more pollution that is leeching into the harbor, more things that are disrupted, and more chemicals that are getting into the water. Especially during events like Superstorm Sandy where there was unexpected things that happened and more chemicals coming into the water, that's going to be a problem for marine life.
It really depends at what pace the sea level rise happens and then of course, how frequently these superstorms are happening.
Brian Lehrer: Well, that concludes series What's in the Water? We thank Ann Fraioli, Director of Education at the Billion Oyster Project and all our friends at the Billion Oyster Project who have made this series possible by lending us their expertise. Also want to thank Brian Lehrer Show producer Amina Srna, who did all these deep dives into all these sea creature in our midst, thanks Amina.
For more information on the Billion Oyster Project's conservancy efforts and to find out how they help out visit billionoysterproject.org. Thanks for joining us today.
Ann Fraioli: Thanks so much, Brian.
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