HOUSTON -- Students of all ages can get a lesson in marine life this weekend at a festival in Kemah, KPRC, Your Education Station, reported Thursday.

One of the attractions is a floating classroom where students can get a better understanding of what happens under the sea.

With Kemah and Seabrook disappearing on the horizon, students on board the R.V. Karma learned how to tell the difference between male and female crabs.

"This one's a little girl crab because of the V-shape and the boy has a T on his backside," said Russ Miget over the sound of the bay breeze on a cloudy misty morning in Galveston Bay.

Miget and Willie Younger are marine educators on a redesigned shrimp boat turned floating classroom. The R.V. Karma, supported by Texas A&M, has schooled almost 18,000 Texas students over the past seven years.

Students from the Post Oak School in Bellaire took a ride for the Galveston Bay Foundation to promote the weekend event in Kemah called Bay Days. The festival will feature short rides on the RV Karma along with 40 other educational exhibits for families to enjoy.

"They may not live on Galveston Bay, but things they do at their home can impact the things that can happen here in the bay system," said Bill Baker with Reliant Energy, a corporate sponsor.

The students got to see invisible sea-life through microscopic images projected on TV monitors near the helm of the boat. But they sped past the planktons for hands-on experience.

The crew pulled in a trawl net with sea treasures squirming about. Many blue crabs had sardines and white shrimp in their claws. Students learned about the marine food chain and how it might affect what's on their dinner plates.

Nikhil Schneider, an eighth-grader said, "What we do to the water, if we dump chemicals into it, the fish ingests those and if we eat the fish we can get sick."

Sophia Ladner, 13 years old, pondered what she can do for the marine environment. She said, "I guess recycle more so things aren't dumped in here, and it kills all the plant life."

The Galveston Bay Foundation invited back the Floating Classroom Program this year for limited rides for the Bay Day Festival, May 17 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. along the Kemah Boardwalk in Galveston County. It is the 14th annual Bay Day Festival that will feature free live entertainment, games, puppet shows, and interactive exhibits.

The Galveston Bay Foundation's mission is to preserve, protect and educate people about Galveston Bay and its rich natural resources. For information on future events including a bay bike ride, visit www.galvbay.org.