When referring to the eastern part of the state, \"Down East\" is a term widely used. However, the real \"Down East\" is found in locales like Smyrna, Stacy, Harkers Island, and Cedar Island.
The starfish is one of the most recognizable of sea dwellers. While there are over 2,000 species worldwide, only 30 to 40 live in state waters. Of those, most are found south of Cape Hatteras.
Bioengineering, the combining of natural fibers and plants with man-made structures, is a technique used to restore streams damaged by building developments and other pollution sources to a more natural state.
Whether you are a professional, like Hugh Porter, curator of the University of North Carolina's Institute of Marine Science, or an amateur, the state's coastal waters contain over 1,000 species of mollusks that attract shell collectors.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, demands by hat makers for plumage and restaurants for bird meat brought near extinction to coastal flocks. Efforts by T. Gilbert Pearson and others led to conservation laws that restored the birds by World War II.