Nature Network

Random facts and observations gleaned from the Nature Network conference going on yesterday and today in Manhattan (and provided here withoout context):

338 species of fish have been recorded in Long Island Sound, New York Bay, and off the south shore of Long Island.

There are 76 species of snails in New York.

Of mammals, in metropolitan New York (including the waters of the greater New York area, there are 21 species of whale, 18 rodents, 16 carnivores, 10 shrews, 9 bats, 3 rabbits/hares, 2 ungulates (assuming that moose sometimes come this far south), and 1 marsupial.

"You're never more than three feet from a spider."

The Hudson River drainage basin is one of the four most diverse watersheds in the world for turtles.

The northeast population of black-crowned night herons and snowy egrets has been dropping since the late 1970s.

The region's one natural grassland, Hempstead Plains on Long Island, used to cover 40,000 acres. There are 19 acres left.

Calcinosis, or calcium deposits in the blood of lobsters in the Sound, seems to be related to heat stress.