Abstract: An inexpensive one-piece molded apparatus for holding shellfish during the shellfish-opening process that provides reliable and safe shellfish holding capacity along with substantially increased convenience of use in a design with extremely low cost of individual production. The device is steadied onto a flat horizontal or vertical surface by hand or by connectors such as screws. A person places a shellfish into the invention and uses a knife or other similarly shaped sharp object to open the shellfish. The invention comprises a base supporting a shellfish resting area with securing ridges and liquor drainage holes. Embodiments include securing flanges and flushing holes.

Abstract: An unmanned system for investigating underwater regions utilizes an unmanned mothership and a plurality of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). The mothership transports the UUVs to and from the vicinity of an underwater region, releases the UUVs into the water, and facilitates recovery of the UUVs from the water. Each UUV can traverse an underwater region, generate sonar and image data associated with the underwater region, and transmit the sonar and image data through the water for receipt and re-transmission by the mothership. A docking system mounted partially onboard the mothership and partially onboard each UUV couples each UUV to the mothership and selectively releases each UUV into the underwater region. A guidance system mounted partially onboard the mothership and partially onboard each UUV guides each UUV back to the docking system from positions in the water.