For the last few years Owen Nichols has been studying marine life in Pleasant Bay. Particularly amazing, he says, is the abundance of juvenile diversity within the bay, marking the area as a kind of sealife nursery. He's found juvenile lobsters, mussels, scallops, whelk, and winter flounder, to name just a handful of species.
"It's just fascinating," Nichols said, "because you do see little ones of just about every species out there."
Nichols is Director of Marine Fisheries Research at the Center for Coastal Studies. He credits this abundance to the variety of different habitats within the bay - from silty mud and eel grass beds, to salt marsh.
But for this juvenile sea life, it's not a paradise without stress. Pleasant Bay is surrounded by its share of housing and development, with concerns about nutrients in the system, runoff, and anoxic sediment.
Nichols says that his research has helped open more questions about the interdependence of habitats and species within the bay environment. As he and fellow researches begin to collate data on marine life from micro-organisms all the way up the food chain to larger predators, a more holistic view of the rich ecosystem of Pleasant Bay should emerge.
