Marine & Freshwater Environmental Education
Horseshoe crabs are an arthropod more closely related to spiders and scorpions than crabs and lobsters. They have a three part body: prosoma (head), opisthosoma (heavy shell with legs under it) and the telson (tail). This amazing body structure has been unchanged for over 200 million years. Interestingly enough, this is this Beach Chair Scientist’s favorite animal and there have been numerous posts about Limulus polyphemus. Read more here.
Gorgonians are a group of corals known as the ‘horny corals’. This is includes the sea whips, sea fans and sea feathers. They are similar to the soft corals because they all have eight-part symmetry. Most jewelry that is made from coral is made from the gorgonians. If you ask me though corals are too precious too wear.
Image via Wikipedia
Fulmar is a name given to the group of scavenger seabirds that inhabits the North and South Poles. Shearwaters and petrels are in this group of birds that have been nicknamed ‘stinkers’. The great fulmar of the Antarctic has a wingspan of over 6 feet and is almost 3 feet tall.
Image via Wikipedia
Epipelagic is the area of the water column extending from the surface of the water down to 700 feet. Since is the only zone that the sunlight can penetrate this is the only zone where plants reside. Consequently, this is where 90% of ocean life hangs out.
The epipelagic zone is also known as the sunlight or euphotic zone.
Bartholomeu Diaz was a Portuguese navigator who was the first person to sail around the Cape of Good Hope. His flotilla of three ships are thought to have rounded the tip of Africa the first week of February in 1488. He was sent by Prince John (eventually King) to explore the west coast of Africa south of fifteen degrees latitude in an effort to understand how Africa and India are linked.
Chitin (kai-tin) is the main material for 1) the exoskeleton of shrimp, crabs and lobsters, 2) the beak of squid and octopi and 3) the radula of mollusks. It is very similar in make up to glucose and similar in function to keratin (which is what makes up our hair, skin and nails).
Image via Wikipedia
I love the game Scattegories so I am going to be drawn to learning new words that will help me gain more points.
The Baffin Bay separates Greenland from Canada and is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Davis Strait. You won’t be finding any vacation homes along the shores of the Baffin Bay as the surrounding islands are cold and mountainous and the Bay is covered in ice for most of the year.
The Baffin Bay is approximately 700 miles long, varies from 70 to 400 miles in width and ranges from 1,200 to 9,000 feet deep.
So we all agree the month of February can be a little slow and dreary. But, I am here to prove contrary. Sit back and relax with a Bloody Mary and have BCS entertain you (well, at least in theory). Welcome to the month of A, B, Seas! For each day in February there will be a marine science related term (including person, place, or thing) defined in only the way BCS knows how … with concise style, grace, and humor.
Image via Wikipedia
Here we begin with the letter A.
Agnatha is a class of primitive fish including the hagfish and lampreys (pictured). Agnatha is Greek for “no jaws”. Members of this class all suction or filter feeders.
To add a little more to the lesson, here is the mnemonic device I use for remembering how to classify plants and animals: King Philip Came Over For Good Spaghetti for Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.
Image by Charles & Clint via Flickr
In no particular order here are some interesting (and exciting) facts about eels. In college I built some eels ladders for a stream in southern New Jersey so these little critters do have a special place in my professional heart.
Lately everyone has been asking me how the junior Beach Chair Scientist is doing and I often find myself saying, “Oh! She’s as happy as a clam!” It occurred to me that I didn’t fully understand the expression since clams are not known to smile. I did some research and found out that the phrase originates from parts of New England where clams are a plenty. Also, the phrase is better understood in its entirety, “Happy as a clam at high water.” You see, at high tide clams can avoid there predators in the water so they are quite happy indeed! So next time someone says they are “happy as a clam” you can say … “did you know?” cause everyone loves that kind of person, right?
Image (c) civin.org
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