Station for Research marine science day.

For many of the children who attended, the highlight of the fun day was watching gooey jelly explode in the wacky science laboratory.

Others explored BBSR's research ship, the Weatherbird II , took a tour of the facilities, watched interactive footage from Antarctica, or studied freshly caught plankton under a microscope.

Visitors were able to put their picture on the BBSR website so friends from around the world could check out the site.

As well as bouncy castles and a puppet show featuring undersea creatures, children could listen to King Neptune telling stories about the ocean.

BBSP media relations officer Pippa Grive said the aim was to encourage people of all ages to get a greater understanding of the importance of the marine environment.

"We want to encourage people who don't know much about the marine environment to have a first introduction,'' she said. "We wanted the activities to be broad ranged with a big variety of attractions so that people of all ages can get involved.'' BBSR director Dr. Tony Knap added: "We want people to understand the importance of the marine environment to Bermuda.'' Fishy tales: King Neptune (George Outerbridge), shares some sea stories with mermaids Tamaki Smith,9, Makeda Simmons,5, and Rachel Hensley, 9.

Face to face: Puppet master Toby Jarvis gets up close to Bruce the tortoise at Saturday's Marine Science Day.

Gunge experiment: Zarria Trott, 4, plays with a bowl of gunge in the wacky science lab.

Eye spy: Jodie Parish, 3, has a close look at some freshly caught plankton in one of BBSR's labs as her father Chris looks on.