It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: R for Remora

Remora refers to any member of a group of fish that can attach themselves to other fishes (usually sharks) or ships by way of a suction disk on the top of their head.They typically eat anything that falls from the sharks mouth. Do the lyrics from the Jimmy Buffet song, Fins, make sense now?

“But now she feels like a remora,
’cause the school’s still close at hand.
Just behind the reef are the big white teeth
of the sharks that can swim on the land.”

Enjoy this video from a scuba diver that was mistaken for a shark as two juvenile remoras try to attach themselves to him. I added the video so you can get a really good sense of the suction discs on the top of their heads.

It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: Q for Queen Conch

Strombus gigas = Eustrombus gigas

Image via Wikipedia

Queen conch (Strombus gigas) is a marine snail or gastropod. If you’ve ever eaten conch fritters you understand why conch is a staple food source in the Caribbean and Florida.

The shell of a queen conch thickens and grows as it ages. They get to be about 3-5 years of age and grow up to 12 inches long.

Learn more about the queen conch here.

It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: P for Portolan

Portolan refers to navigational charts dating back to the Renaissance. They were focused on coastal outlines and included seaports, river openings, shoals and hazards. The distance from one point to another was always included. Latitude and longitude were not features on the maps, neither was interior land. Portolan comes from the Italian adjective “portolana” meaning “related to ports or harbors”.

It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: O for Operculum

Operculum is the hard scalelike cover of the gills of bony fishes. Cartilaginous fishes (such as sharks, skates and rays) all lack a gill cover.

Image (c) www.webs.lander.ed

It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: N for Nematocyst

Nematocysts are the stinging cells found in the tentacles of jellies and anemones. When provoked the stinging cell ejects a barbed thread that contains a toxin to stun (or kill) the enemy. The barbed thread is disregarded and a new one regenerates.

Here is a creative video explaining how jellies sting from jellyfishart.com. Enjoy!

It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: M for Monsoon

Monsoons are winds that change directions with the season and are most often associated with Africa and South Asia. Winter monsoons are dry while summer monsoons bring rain. Very weak monsoons develop on the Gulf of Mexico.

It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: L for Limpet

Limpets are small, flattened snails with a conical shell that live on rocks in the intertidal zone. They trap water beneath their shell and use it to survive from high tide to low tide.

Image (c) wordsmith.org

It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: K for Knot

Knot is a measure of nautical speed. More specifically one knot equals one nautical mile per hour. One nautical mile equals 6,080 feet.

The term knot came from how sailors calculated speed. They threw a log with a rope attached to it overboard. The rope had knots evenly spaced (every 47 feet and 3 inches). Therefore, by calculating the knots let out in a specific time frame (every 28 seconds) the speed was calculated.

It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: J for JOIDES

JOIDES stands for the Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Sea Sampling. This project began in the 1970’s as a collaboration between many prominent universities and oceanographic institutes (including Woods Hole and Scripps) to take core samples and study the bottom of the ocean. The vessel used for the project was known as the Glomar Challenge. Since the initial project a JOIDES resolution unfolded in 1985 maintaining the mission of the project. Currently, Mission 330 is underway where they are studying the Louisville Seamount Trail. Learn more here. To date the deepest hole drilled into the earth has been approximately 1.3 miles deep.

It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: I for Irish Moss

C. crispus: Irish Moss

Image via Wikipedia

Irish moss is also known as carageen. Carageen is a deep red alga that grows around rocky substrates along both coasts of of the north Atlantic Ocean. Carrageenan is a gelatinous material extracted from Irish Moss and can be used as a vegetarian alternative to gelatin. It is found in ice cream, soy milk, diet soda and even used in fake saliva for movie effects.