An agitated juvenile gray seal with a damaged flipper was scooped up by animal control officers and brought to the Mystic Aquarium Wednesday.

As gray seal pupping season comes to an end off the coast of Massachusetts and Maine, scientists are finishing a study.

In the aftermath of a rare shark sighting that temporarily closed South Beach in Edgartown on Tuesday, researchers are looking for answers as to what is drawing sharks to the Cape and Islands in large numbers in recent years.

Crocker Snow Jr. remembers vividly the first time he set foot on Muskeget island. The 250-acre stretch of sand and scrub brush forms the westernmost tip of Nantucket.

The sandy shoals of Muskeget Island are familiar to boaters and fishermen who ply the waters between Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, but the island’s rich ecological history may be less well known.

Two Oak Bluffs police officers became marine mammal rescuers Tuesday night when they helped guide a rogue seal back into Nantucket Sound.