Lobsters may be blue for two reasons. Some lobsters are born blue due to a genetic mutation; others turn bluish due to deficiencies in their diet. The blue lobsters in the aquarium are genetic blues.

The shell is the only part that is blue; the meat is not. Blue lobsters taste the same as any other lobsters.

Male horseshoe crabs, which are significantly smaller than the females, use their boxing-glove shaped claws to latch onto the female's shell. The female crawls ashore, towing the male or males behind her. She digs a shallow hole and lays up to 80,000 eggs. She then drags the males over the hole, and they fertilize the eggs. Then the hole is covered and the crabs head back into the ocean.

Scientists call the whiskers "barbells." They are really taste buds that help the fish find prey in dark or murky waters.

The answer varies by species. Some seals can hold their breath for an hour or longer, and some sea turtles can sleep underwater for two hours or more. Active animals can not stay under that long because they are using more oxygen. Harbor seals usually do not dive any longer than three or four minutes, and sea turtles typically do not stay under for more than five to ten minutes.

The sea star, or starfish has hundreds of tube-shaped feet on its underside. Each foot has a muscle that pushes water from inside the starfish down into the tube to make the foot move forward. When this muscle relaxes, the foot stops moving and the next foot in line takes a step. So by moving the feet in order, the starfish walks.

Some sea stars can climb smooth rocks and aquarium walls by using those muscles to pull water out of the tube feet after it takes a step, so the flat bottom of the foot bulges inwards and forms a suction cup. When the muscle relaxes, the suction cup lets go and it takes another step forward and attaches the foot to the wall again.

Hundreds of people stop at the touch tanks everyday. If everyone picked up an animal, the touch tank residents would be stressed and possibly injured. If everyone touches the animals gently, with two fingers, the animals stay comfortable and healthy.

No, the Horseshoe crab has a tail it uses to flip itself over when it gets turned upside down. This is not a stinger. None of the animals in the Touch Tanks can hurt you.

No, these fish are slow moving fish that spend much of the day lying on the bottom or hiding around shells and rocks. This is their normal behavior.

Yes, there are animals called whelks inside some of the shells. We usually have either knobbed whelks or channeled whelks in the touch tanks. Both whelks are types of ocean snails. Sometimes we have quahogs (a type of clam) and hermit crabs (soft-bodied crabs that live in abandoned snail shells).

No, the spider crabs will not bite. They have very small pinchers, but they can't hurt you with their pinchers.

The orange spot is called the madreporite, or "mother pore" (a pore is an opening). The starfish draws in water through the madreporite to regulate the pressure in its legs and tube feet. The madreporite is like a sieve. It filters out particles as it draws in water.

Sometimes the starfish needs to release water from inside its body, too. The madreporite allows water to move both in and out, so the starfish always has just the amount it needs inside its body.

The answer varies by species. Harbor seals can sleep underwater for as long as 20 minutes. To stay under this long, they slow their heartbeat way down. They usually only dive for three or four minutes at a time. Some seals in the Arctic (Weddell seals) spend a lot of time under the ice and can hold their breath for an hour, and maybe much longer than that.

Harbor seals can dive up to 90 meters (300 feet), but they usually only go three meters (ten feet) below the surface.

Male harbor seals grow up to six feet and 250 pounds. Females are slightly smaller. At birth, harbor seals are approximately thirty inches and 20 pounds.

Luseal's weight varies, depending on the season. We feed her more in winter so she'll have a thicker fat layer to stay warm. Her weight is usually somewhere around 160 pounds. The smaller seal, Bumper, is not yet full grown (in 2009), and he weighs just a little over 100 pounds.

Yes, to a limited degree. In addition to rods, they also have cones in their eyes that let them see some color.

Yes, they can hear sounds from above the surface when they are underwater. Seals have better hearing under water than they do in air.

Yes, seals can hear higher pitched sounds than we can. Humans hear sounds up to 20 kilohertz. Although seals usually make sounds from .1 to 10 kilohertz, some seals make sounds up to 70 kilohertz, and we assume other seals can hear those sounds.

Adult female harbor seals rarely vocalize, except when they have pups. Our seals make a grunting, snorting noise when they are angry. Male harbor seals are a lot noisier than females and sometimes make a prolonged groan.

The larger seal (we call her Luseal) was born in 2002. The smaller one (we call him Bumper) was born in 2007.

Most seals live 20 to 25 years in the wild. In captivity, harbor seals can live 30 years and more. The oldest known in captivity was 42.

Bumper was attacked by a shark when he was a pup. Although his wounds have healed nicely, he is considered nonreleasable because he is blind. We don't know why LuSeal was unable to live in the wild, but both times she tried she ended up an a beach, starving. The second time she also had an infected flipper and anemia. Living in the aquarium, Bumper and LuSeal get regular medical care and they are healthy now, although still unreleaseable.

We feed them approximately 10 pounds of herring and capelin per day plus vitamins – more in winter and less in summer. In the wild, they are known to eat a wide range of food, including schooling fish, flatfish, crustaceans, and squid.

No. All their fish have been deep frozen and then thawed before feeding. This guards against parasites that could make the seals ill.

They stay in the pool all year. The water runs continuously so it never freezes over. Harbor seals like cold water – they live in cold water around Woods Hole in the winter. In fact, we chill the water for them during the summer, keeping the temperature at 60 degrees or below all year.