Over the past few months, a small group of volunteers have been counting horseshoe crabs, piping plover, and fish along various places on the jersey Shore. They belong to an organization called Save Coastal Wildlife, a small nonprofit organization established in 2017. This past Saturday, over three dozen met in Keyport to count fish in the Bay.
You probably don’t realize the variety of fish that live in the bay, close to the shore, unless you felt something close to your legs. The variety of fish is important for a good ecological balance. For instance, striped killifish feed on bristle worms, mollusks, and small crustaceans. In the winter, they actually burrow into the sand.
Among the more interesting finds was a sea squirt, a small invertebrate with a leathery rounded body, that lives in shallow waters. Sea Squirts are called that because they suck in water full of plankton and then spit out the water after consuming the plankton. Like people, they live in groups, with the goal of helping each other. Helping each other. Sounds like a good idea.
Prayer for the Day
You call us, O God, to live together, as does much of your creation,
But sometimes we forget the importance of community;
Like the creatures of the sea, we know the storms of life,
But we can overcome them with your grace.
Grant, O Beneficent Creator, that we learn from your creatures
How to live, taking only what we need for sustenance.
In the name of the One who walked along the seashore,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The beauty of the natural world lies in the details.
- Natalie Angier, New York Times science journalist
Beauty and seduction is nature’s tool for survival, for we will protect what we fall in love with.
- Louie Schwartzberg, nature cinematographer
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament declares God’s handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.
There is n speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;
Ye their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In the heavens, God has sent a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom
From his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them,
And nothing is hid from its heat.
Psalm 119: 1-6