Seaweed: The Oceans Forest

Seaweed are forms of algae and are marine plants. There are three basic types of seaweed, brown, green and red. Brown seaweed has about 5000 different species, green seaweed has about 800 species and red seaweed has about 2000 species. Seaweed is attached to the bottom of the ocean by holdfasts. They provide shelter and food sources for many species within the ocean. Some species of seaweed can grow several meters in length or be very tiny. They stay a float with tiny gas/air pockets. Seaweed an be found in all of the worlds oceans and is usually located in sandy bottoms or attached to rocks in intertidal zones. Seaweed is not considered a plant because it lacks the specialized vascular system. Like plants, seaweed is photosynthetic, converting energy form the sun into energy. Seaweed contains chlorophyll and seaweed can also contain other light absorbing pigments like red, blue, brown or golden, which provides the pretty colouration seen in red and brown seaweeds.

Seaweed is not only beneficial in the ocean. It is used as medicines and eaten by humans and sometimes used as fertilizer.

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~http://oceanlink.island.net/oinfo/seaweeds/seaweeds.html

~http://seaweed.ucg.ie/

~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaweed

Sharks; 'Heading for Troubled Waters'

In today's newspaper, there was an article titled "Heading for Troubled Water", a study done by Dal Housie and the depletion on the worlds sharks. Many of the worlds sharks are near extinction and it is thought that this extinction is causing a serious/dangerous ripple effect in the marine food-chain. A study has been done, and it shows that there is a disappearance to depletion of other marine species. The species that sharks use to prey upon are now having a huge boom since there is not as many sharks around to prey on them.It has been shown that there is an increase in about a dozen smaller sharks, rays and skates and this has caused a cascading effect throughout various ecosystems because they are depleting the limited amount of nutrient sources, which is altering natures complex food webs. It is thought that since the larger animals are being disproportionately hit by overfishing, that it is effecting everything beneath them in the food web. This is restructuring the oceans food web and how it operates.
Scientists are now thinking that the shark populations are lower then what was previously thought. One of the main sources for this huge decline is the practice of finning the sharks then throwing the carcasses back overboard. Since there is such a huge decline in the top predators, there are not enough of them around to be fulfilling their roles in the food web and therefor no longer controlling the species below them. Not only is this having effects in the oceans, but it is having effects for communities that depend/thrive on healthy fisheries. Scientists are not yet sure of what this means for the oceans food web, but they do think that the greater increase in other species will disrupt the wider natural order in all the oceans world wide. It is estimated that the population of the rays alone has increased about ten percent.
Scientists only thought that this could happen in smaller ecosystems like ponds, but seeing it in the marine environments has become very alarming. Scientists are now seeing why one species, like the sharks, can be so important to the entire world and how it can disrupt the flow of energy.
Now that scientists know, they should be spreading the word around and start enforcing laws so that the populations in the oceans can get back to normal and their is not a mass extinction like what happened with the dinosaurs.
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~ http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/567675.html

Sea Turtles

Sea turtles (Chelonioidae) can be found in all of the worlds oceans except the Arctic ocean. Some species of the sea turtles do not just live within one ocean, but they travel between different oceans. The Leatherback Sea Turtle is the largest of the sea turtles and measure about 6-7 ft in length and 3-5 ft in width and can weigh up to 1300 pounds when it reaches sexual maturity. Most of the other species of seat turtles are much smaller in size, averaging about 2-4 ft in length and much smaller in width. There are seven different types of sea turtles, they are Kemp's Ridley, Flatback, Green, Olive Ridley, Loggerhead, Hawksbill and the Leatherback. All of them, except the Leatherback, belong to the family Chelonioidea and the Leatherback belongs to the family Dermochelyidae. The sea turtles are distinguished/identified by different features they have. Some of these features are scales on the head or the number and shape of scutes on the carapace. The Leatherback sea turtle is the only one that does not contain a hard shell covering its exterior, instead it has a mosaic of bony plates that are beneath its leathery skin.

Sea turtles have a very good sense of both time and location. They are very sensitive to the earths magnetic field and they use it to help them navigate. Sea turtles, if given the chance, can live up to 198yrs. Most sea turtles head back to the location where they were born to nest, which means that location must have imprint in its magnetic features. Most species nest individually, but the Ridley turtle go ashore in one mass, known as the "arribada" (arrival). The kemp's Ridley, this happens on the beach during the day and only on one particular beach in the entire world. There use to be larger numbers, but now, there is an extensive amount of poaching and hunting for turtle eggs, which has lowered the numbers. It is illegal to hunt turtles, but they are caught worldwide, mainly for the food industry. Some of them are even hunted for their shells. Turtles are very important, not only to humans but to the oceans and beaches as well. If turtles were to become extinct, then there would be a significant negative impact to the beaches and oceans.

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~http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/SeaTurtle/home.html

~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_turtle

Mollusca

In the marine environment, of of the advanced invertebrates groups are the mollusca. They are soft bodied creatures and have over 80,000 species. Some species include snails, clams, muscles, oysters, squid and octopus. There are 8 classes within the molussca phylum and three of the main ones include the gastropods (snails), bivalvs (clams, muscles and oysters) and chepalopods (octopus, squid and cattle fish). They are all very different species but they all have the same stomach and digestive tract, which is why they are grouped together in the same phylum. The gastropods are the largest class of mollusca, containing about 80% of the species. They live in shells, which provide protect against predators. Snails can be found in freshwater, marine and terrestrial environments. They are herbivores. The class Bivalvia, contains two shells and are, for the most part, symmetrical. There are over 30,000 species, including clams, muscles, oysters and scallops. They can live in both the marine and freshwater environments. The feed by filtering water around them. Chepalopods contain a bilateral body symmetry. It is estimated that there are about 1000-1200 species in the Chepalopod class. They have a large head and usually 8 arms or tentacles.

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~http://www-biol.paisley.ac.uk/Courses/Tatner/biomedia/units/moll1.htm
~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mollusc

Blue Ring Octopus

After hearing about the blue ring octopus in class today, I decided to learn a bit more about it. This is a short video I found, it would be better with some commentary, but oh well.
The blue ringed octopus (B.R.O) is a small Marine creature and they only grow to about 20cm long. They belong to the family Octopodidae. They have soft bodies and have eight arms or tentacles like all octopi. It is normally a dark brown to dark yellow colour, but turns to a vivid yellow with noticeable blue rings when it becomes agitated. The are normally found in tropical to subtropical areas, ranging from Japan down to Australia. The reside in shallow reefs or tide pools from 0-20m in depth. When a predator comes too close, the B.R.O will secrete one of two lethal poisons. The first one is primarily effective for crabs, their main predator and food source. The second is very toxic and use as a defense mechanism against other predators. Once the predtor dies, the B.R.O begins eating with its large beak-like mouth. B.R.O hatch from eggs and are only about the size of a pea. The continue growing until it becomes a mature adult. When an adult, they are only, on average, the size of a gulf ball. Their life expectancy is about two years.

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~Here

Luminescnence

Source: youtube.com

Here is a short video that I found interesting and i thought it would be a good follow up to my previous blog.I think it is fascinating that animals deep down in the oceans are able to produce light and use it to their advantage, either to lure in prey or escape predators. There are a few species on land, like fire flies, that produce light, but the majority of species that are able to produce light are animals deep down in the oceans.The sad thing is, is that there are many species that on land, we do not have animals that are bright pink or purple, but in the oceans we have species ranging from every color in the rainbow. There are bright pink or purple animals and corals down in the oceans, but humans are destroying the oceans faster then they can learn and discover these beautiful creatures.I hope they realize what they are doing before it is too late!

The Skeleton Coast

I herd my professor mention the skeleton coast in class, so i decieded to learn a bit more about it.
The skeleton coast is located on the western side of Africa, on the Namibian coast. It is called the skeleton coast because there have been several ship wrecks and many lives lost there. It is one of the most famous yet feared coastlines in the world. There are unpredictable currents, the coast is made completely of sand and thick fogs which make it a nightmare for ships and sea creatures like whales to pass through there.
The skeleton coast is home for the Benguela current. This current gives the area the thick fog that is present for most of the year. The benguela current is made up of frigid waters and moves from the southern ocean from areas like Antarctica and flows north-ward along the African coast. This current is partially responsible for the desert conditions of the Namibia shoreline. There is rich productivity along the Cape of Good Hope, but harsh storms and turbulence above it.
The winds along the shoreline of Namibia blow from inland out to the sea and this makes it so that little or no rain falls. The climate there is inhospitable for humans and most species. The coast has been named for all the shipwrecks that have occurred due to thick, impassable foggy conditions and the rocks.
Even though there is little rain, there has been an area of about 16,000km² declared as the Skeleton Coast National Park. The northern half of the park is dedicated to wildlife. The remainder of the coast is the National West Coast Recreation Area.
The area is also very productive in terms of diamond mining. In the early-mid 1900's, the land there was so abundant in diamonds, they could be found within the sand. Now the diamonds on-land have been depleted of diamonds, it has been moved to an offshore industry. Big companies are out off the coast mining the sea floor for diamonds.

Read More~>
~http://www.africatravelresource.com/africa/namibia/00/N32-skeleton/00.htm
~http://www.namibian.org/travel/namibia/skeleton.htm
~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeleton_Coast

Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence is a chemical reaction that is created by some land species, but mostly by deep ocean fish. In the ocean, the average depth that bioluminescence occurs is about 1-8 thousand feet. Organisms that are able to emit bioluminescence range from bacteria and dinoflagellates to fish and squid. There are two types of bioluminescence that exist. The first type occurs mostly to fish and squid and is when the light is produced by photophores. The second type is when the organism internally produces the chemicals that are needed to create the bioluminescent light. Bioluminescence can be used for four natural processes. They are escaping predators, courtship, communication and attracting prey. About 75 percent or more of the fish that live deep down in the gloomy waters pocess bioluminescence in one way or another.

The first thing needed for bioluminescence to occur is luciferin, a light emitter. This is aquired through the food chain or is within the animal itself. Different animals use different types of luciferin. There are about six different types of luciferin that exist. The luciferin reacts with another molecule called luciferase, salt and oxygen and in turn produces a burst of light and water. Luciferin + Luciferase + Salt + Oxygen --> Light + Water

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~http://www.milton.edu/academics/pages/marinebio/biolum.html

Fangtooth

The fangtooth, Anoplogaster cornuta, has a a large head and mouth compared to its short, deep body. It's body is covered with small, prickly scales and it has very large teeth. It's teeth are so large, the fish can not fully close its mouth. When it closes its mouth, the bottom teeth go into a pocket located on the upper jaw. The coloration is dark brown to black. The length of a fangtooth is usually around 17cm. The juvenile fish eat small crustaceas while the adults eat fish. It is commonly found in temperate marine waters, between 500-2000m down. It is found in regions called the bathypelagic or the mesopelagic depths of the ocean, 4992m. Since the fangtooth is found at very deep depths below the seas surface, it is hard for scientists to really study them. The reproduction of fangtooths is unknown, but it is thought to ccur sometime between June and August. The offspring come out as planktonic larvae. The juveniles begin to assume adult form when the reach about 8cm in length. Scientists have brought fangtooths to the surface and placed them in aquariums to study them, and the fish have been able to stay alive eventhough they are in conditions quite different from what they are use to. In the day, these fish tend to stay deep down in the gloomy dark waters, but at night, they tend to rise up closer to the surface and feed by the stralight. Then, when daybreak begins, they swim back down to the deep, gloomy waters. Some fangtooth go around in groups while others perfer to go at it alone. Scientists think they use contact chemoreception to find prey and relying on luck to find or bump into something edible. They are preyed upon by larger, palegic fish like tuna and marlin.

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~http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/acornuta.htm

~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fangtooth

Whale Sharks

The whale shark is the largest species (fish) living in the oceans. They contain a fiusiform baody shape can can reach lengths up to 14m (46'). They have alternating columns of white spots and verticle white, thin lines. They have a long, think mouth, that runs the entire length of their flattened head. They have very small eyes that are located very far foward on the head. Each nostril has a small barbel and their gill slits are very long, extending up past their pectoral fins. They have small pelvic fins, two dorsal fins and a semicircular caudel fin. The whale shark is a filter feeder, swimming close to the surface. They mainly eat small crustacean plankton, small fish and even a few larger fish. The whale shark is whats called a live-bearer. Some pregnant females have been found contain several hundred young at lengths of about 2'. They are mainly found in tropical or subtropical regions along the coasts and sometimes eneter into lagoons or tropical islands. They are mostly seen near the surface, where they are very curious and gentle with divers.

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~http://www.new-brunswick.net/new-brunswick/sharks/species/whale.html
~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark

Sharkwater

First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Cathy Conrad for giving so many of us the oppurtunity to go see that movie last night. It was amazing. I would definately recommend other people to go see it. That ovie really opened my eyes because i did not know that the shark population was dwindling down like that. I never knew people hunted sharks just for the fins. I really think what these people are do is wrong and if people think the sea hunt is cruel, then they should see what is happening to those poor sharks. The seals are not put through as much pain and torture as the sharks are. The sharks are definned alive then thrown back in the water to die. If the fins are being used just to add texture to a soup, then they should really find something else to put in the soup. It is wrong to kill the sharks for the prupose of their fins and nothing else. I really think that people need to become more educated on the marine environment and see what the effects of what they are doing is going to do to the planet and everything on it in the long run. To kill sharks, or any other animal, for the reason of money is wrong. Poeple should become aware of what is going on in the ocean and make laws and enforce them to stop pointless killings like this. People should not be overfishing a species untill it is dead for the reason that they are. People would not like to get their arm or leg chopped off while they are still alive and then be left there for dead, so they should not be doing it to animals. I think its good that Rob Stewart is getting involved and trying to make other people aware of what is happening with the shark populations and i hope people start to realize and do something about it before it is too late.

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~Sharkwater
~FilmFestival

Tides

Tides are a natural phenomena that occur all over the world. They are known as the rise and fall of the sea around the coasts of land. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull/attraction that the moon and sun have with the earth. There are two types of tides, spring tides and neap tides. Spring tides are those tides that are very high and very low and occur twice a month. They occur with the new moon and the full moon. Neap tides are those that are halfway inbetween the phases of the moon.
Tides that occur far out in the middle of the sea go unnoticed, but those that occur around the shores and beaches are very noticed and and govern many water related activities, commercial and recreational. Depending on the place will depend on ow the tides behave. In places where there is one high tide and one low tide a day is said to be diurnal tides. In these areas, the maximum water level is called high tide and the minimum water level is low tide. Semidiurnal tides there is a cycle of two high water low water sequences. In this case, the two high tides reach about the same height and the two low tides drop to about the same level. In areas where the high tides reach different hieghts and the low tides drop to different levels is sadi to have semidiurnal mixed tides. In these areas, the highest maximum water level is called higher high tide, the lowest maximum water level is called lower high tide, the highest minimum water level is called higher low tide and the lowest minimum water level is called lower low tide.

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~ Chapter 11 in 'An Introduction to the World's Oceans'.
~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tide
~http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/8r.html

Whales

Whales are related to both dolphins and porpoises. Sometimes, a species of the dolphin or porpoise family may have the term 'whale' in the name (ex. Pilot whale), but are not in the whale family. Whales are descendents from land-living mammals (same as dolphins and porpoises) and entered into the water about 50 million years ago. Like all mammals, whales breathe through lungs, are warm blooded, feed thier young milk from mammary glands and have a small amount of hair.
In 1911, a young scientist determined that whales were descendents from land living animals and have since fully adapted to a full aquatic life. This was not widely accepted within the scientific community, but later on it was prived to be correct.
A whales is considered to have what is known as a fusiform body shape, one which resembles a fish. The forelimbs on a whale are called flippers and are paddle-shaped. The end of a whales tail holds the fluke, a.k.a. 'tail fins', which provide the animals with propulsion, or verticle movement. Most whales contain a fin on their backs, a dorsal fin and very few contain hind limbs, some with feet and even digits. whales contain blowholes, which are located on the top of the head and they allow the animal to stay submerged under the water. Beneath the skin is a layer of fat, or blubber, which acts as an energy reservoir. they also have four-chambered hearts. Whales do not have much flexibility because the neck vertebrate are fused together, which allow the whale to have stability.
Whales are considered to be a predator and their food ranges from microscopic plankton to very large fish. A male whale is called a bull, female is called a cow and the young are called calves. A whale is known as a 'conscious breather' meaning that they choose when they breathe due to the harsh environments they live in. A whale needs to be conscious to breathe, so they are unable to fall into an unconscious state of sleep, so they do not sleep for long periods of time. It is believed that only one hemispere of the whales brain sleeps at a time, so in fact the whale is never truly asleep, but they do get around 8 hrs a day, so they get enough rest. Whales communicate through lyrical sounds. Since they are so large and powerful, these sounds are very loud and can be herd for miles. A female gives birth to a single calf and the nursing time is generally long. This associates a strong bond between mother and offspring. Reproductive maturity usually occurs late, around 7-10 yrs. This stratgy yields few offspring but allows for a higher rate of servival out in the wild.
Some species of whales are endangered due to the activitie, whaling, of humans during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They have been hunted for oil, meat, baleen and ambergris. In the twentieth century, some populations were severly depleted. Like humans, whales are threatened by global warming and climate change. As the Atlantic ocean warms, some populations of krill, a main food source of the whale, reduces dramatically and are replaced by things such as jellyfish and salps.

Read More~>
~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale
~http://dkd.net/whales/

Antarctic Ice Shelves Breaking!

For the first time, scientist are able to get a look at the ocean floor due to two Antarctic ice shelves breaking. The Antarctic has been covered by ice for several mellinnia. Now scientists are able to get a look at what was under that ice for so long. It hasd been a place of great mystry to the scientific community. An internation team decided to go down to the Antarctic to explore what no-one has ever explored before. They will be able to explore and learn what leis deep below the surface. When they got down there, they found a lot more then what they were expecting to find.
A team of scientist set out to go explore the Antarctic sometime last year. They left on a vessel from a small town in Germany, Cape Town. The team of scientist want to find out what lurked deep below the seas surface, more then 800 miles down in an area that was thought to be undergoin dramatic climate change. Scientist were from 14 different countries, including Germany, Canada and Chile. When they got down there, they were excited to see how the environment has been coping with the loss of the two ice shelves, known as Larsen A and Larsen B. Larsen A collapsed about 12 years ago, while Larsen B collapsed only about 5 years ago. They were unable to remain intact becuase the water was warmingfaster then they thought, faster then any other place on earth. While they were down there, they studied an area about 10,000 sg. Km, using R.O.V's, special sounding devices, cameras and two helicopters. They were able to find 1,000 species, including one that was a pre-historic looking Antarctic ice fish that had no red blood cells, a pink coral, orange sea starts with 12 arms, glass sponges and an Antarctic octopus. They expect that these are many new species that have never been seen before.
When scientists go down to a place liek the Antarctic, they feel miles away from the city, a place they are use to and that is so busy. They saw a place that has been changed by climate change due to human activity and then they realize they eveything on earth is intertwined. Scientist also find it incredibly fascinating that there is still so much left that has to be discovered. They found bright pink and purple corals at 400-600m deep and in one of the harshed environments.
It is also very sad to think that there is a incredible amount of species, both plants and animals, that have get been seen or discovered. At the rate we are goin, many of these species may go extinct before they have the chance to been seen. Hopefully, someday very soon, scientist and other research groups will be able to convince everyone that global warming and climate change is a real thing and that it has to be dealt with today before it is too late!

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~http://www.herald.ns.ca/Search/9002437.html
~http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/04/990409073216.htm
~http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1880566.stm