SALSBURY COVE — Laughter rippled through the attentive group of 4- to 8-year-olds when grandfatherly David Opdyke held up the spiny, flapping goosefish. “This is an ugly fish, a mean fish. God made plenty of beautiful things … but this is one of God’s little jokes.”

As if in answer to such an unprovoked reproof, God’s little joke swam off to kick up quite a stream of water onto startled but giggling children who had gathered around the outdoor tank.

Opdyke, a retired though still active research scientist at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, was one of several who enchanted children Thursday evening at Children’s Night: Science is Fun held at the laboratory at Salsbury Cove.

Part of the summer lecture series, the evening pulled together resource people from several area institutions, including the Department of Marine Resources, College of the Atlantic, and Jackson Laboratory.

Gathered around the outdoor touch tank, children and their parents were treated to friendly skates who pushed their “noses” above water as if to take a better look and a dogfish shark which could “just gnaw on you,” Opdyke reassured.

A close look at the microscopic world of tidal pool life was provided by Paul Anderson of the Department of Marine Resources.

“We have tough, durable microscopes,” Anderson said, while encouraging young children to look at the wriggling marine worm, the inner parts of clams and mussels, and the nubbly surface of the starfish.

The older crowd, those 9 to 12, looked at the world of scientific research from a different perspective, by helping to assemble a minke whale skeleton provided by College of the Atlantic’s Whales on Wheels program.

Dr. Terry Beamer, a veterinarian at Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, gave a genetics workshop, using the color variations of mice as examples.

Children’s Night, one of the most popular evenings in the series, again this year attracted more than 150 children. According to the lab’s public affairs coordinator, Lucy Hocking, the evening’s purpose is not only to show that science can be fun but also to bring science education to the general public.

Explaining how studying the dogfish shark’s eye has helped people with glaucoma, Hocking encouraged even the very young to think about how scientists use the natural world around them. “The sea water is the life blood of this laboratory,” Hocking said.

Encouraging the young to be interested in science, another implied purpose of the evening, was echoed by Anderson. Seeing the sometimes amazed young child’s first look through the microscope, he asked, “So who’s going to grow up to be a biologist?”

The summer lecture series continues at 7:30 next Thursday with a film and lecture given by Dr. Bill Amos on “The Hidden World of a New England Pond,” to be held at Dahlgren Hall in Salsbury Cove. For more information, call 288-5828.