Urchins Galore: Diving with Ted Maney of Salem State University

ByJames Allan

Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to dive with Ted Maney, a biology instructor and underwater researcher at Salem State University. I participated with two of his graduate students in an ongoing sea urchin survey project at Halfway Rock, a landmark roughly halfway between Gloucester and Boston. The urchin count began over 40 years ago and is still taking place today. The abundance of urchins at Halfway surprised me. I used a 0.5 meter x 0.5 meter quadrat to measure urchin densities. I found as many as 40 urchins in 1/16th of a square meter. I covered a total of 8 square meters of rocky surface during the course of my measurements. This data will help Salem State University’s researchers monitor the change in urchin populations from year to year. Thanks so much, Ted, for taking me out on this expedition with your crew!

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