April 22, 2025 — At a dock on Cape Cod’s Buzzards Bay, a group of researchers and marine biology students lie on their stomachs, peering over the wooden planks to examine what living things are stuck underneath.
Using fishing nets and kitchen spatulas, they scrape samples into plastic trays for a closer look. Kristin Osborne, a sea squirt expert and assistant professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, likes to use her bare hands.
“I said I wasn’t gonna get down here and do this, but I can’t help myself,” Osborne said with a laugh while reaching into the chilly ocean. She has a sea squirt tattoo on her left middle finger.
Sea squirts are a type of filter feeding marine invertebrate officially known as tunicates. These colorful blobs can squirt water when removed from their aquatic homes, earning them the nickname.