A host of interactive exhibits and informative tours were on offer at the Bermuda Biological Station's popular Marine Science Day on Saturday.

Hugely popular with the thousands of children who came was the transformed Clark Lab to the Hands-on Wacky Science Lab. Here youngsters were guided through simple experiments by "mad scientists'' with big rimmed glasses, strangely shaped heads, unkept hair and awful teeth.

In Hanson Hall the curiosity of both adults and children was captured by various displays, including three-screen video footage of a hammerhead shark in the deep, bottles containing specimens from the sea such as viperfish, transparent fish and shrimps, computer tracking of a hurricane, and submersible units which are used for deep water and dangerous underwater filming. Visitors even had the chance to learn how to manipulate the camera in one of the featured "hydrobots''.

For those who wanted a more in-depth look at the work being done at the research station, there were regular tours of various sections and labs of the facility, including oceanography & atmospheric sciences, molecular marine biology, and aquaculture.

Tours of the Weatherbird II and the R Stommel saw visitors board and learn about the research vessels of the BioStation.

Inquiring mind: Scott Hendrick, 4, examines specimens from the deep at the Bermuda Biological Station's Marine Science Day on Saturday.