The Meadowlands Blog

RIVER: Mud dwellers on the rebound

   

   The Hackensack River is slowly getting better in ways that most people never think of.

   It's not just more fish and more species of fish -- or more birds, and more species of birds. It's what's happening in the mud on the river's bottom.

   Today, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission's scientific arm is announcing some encouraging news about the health of those little mud dwellers.

    Research by the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute shows that the snails, worms and other tiny organisms that live on the bottom of the river  are making significant gains in both numbers and biodiversity.

   (In the photo at left, researchers are gathering mud samples from the river bottom with a giant scoop. The creature pictured here, meanwhile is a Nereis succinea -- or clam worm.)

  Click "Continue reading..." to read more.

HACKENSACK RIVER: Terrapins

   This is a great time of year to keep an eye out for diamondback terrapins and other turtles.

   They have been laying eggs for a week or two now, and sunning themselves on the banks of the Hackensack River and nearby marshes at low tide.

   They also go up on land to lay their eggs -- that's how the first image in this 31-second video was captured.

 Diamondback terrapins are amazing reptiles -- they are the only species that has adapted to living in brackish waters. They are a threatened species in New Jersey.

   If you want to see one, you have to be quiet -- they are typically very skittish. In the video, you can see the terrapins scatter as the camera boat quietly and slowly approaches.

   You can also read more about terrapins here.