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Marine & Freshwater Environmental Education
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Longfin inshore squid pulses to Cypress Hill
No one can deny that cephalopods are smart and elusive creatures, and here is yet another example that proves the point. Scientists at Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA did experiments on the axons of the longfin inshore squid and were excited to see a vibrant color-changing spectrum of the squid’s brown, red, and yellow […]
Sand
Sand from islands or tropical sites have sand that is high in Calcium, since seashells are rich in Calcium and are broken down to form sand there. Inland lake, river, stream and pond sands are high in Silicon, since rocks are composed of various types of silicates which break down to form sand there. Most […]
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 […]
National Hagfish Day is October 20th
You may not know it, but, tomorrow is National Hagfish Day. The day was created to draw attention and appreciation of all marine animals and plants. So please do not forget to appreciate not only the charismatic bottlenose dolphin, but, also the not-so-charismatic hagfish, sea cucumbers and horseshoe crabs. Here is a little bit of […]
Why do I always see so many dead crabs along the shoreline?
Rest assure those crab skeletons are not all dead crabs. They are the molts from the animals. Crabs, lobsters, horseshoe crabs, and many other crustaceans go through a molting phase and the old shell is basically washed up in the wrack line. The wrack line is the deposits from the ocean after the tide has […]
Why is the blood of horseshoe crabs blue?
Horseshoe crabs use hemocyanin to distribute oxygen throughout their bodies. Hemocyanin is copper-based and gives the animal its distinctive blue blood. We use an iron-based hemoglobin to move oxygen around. The blood of this living fossil has the ability to clot in an instance when it detects unfamiliar germs, therefore building up protective barriers to […]
Happy Chinese New Year … Year of the (Sea) Dragon!
Happy Chinese New Year … Year of the (Sea) Dragon! January 23 will bring a very significant celebration for those that live by the sea … it is the year of the water dragon which only occurs every six decades! To commemorate such an occasion, BCS will highlight two very remarkable and elaborate dragons found […]
In what way can a beach be compared to a desert?
…It’s Charismatic Microfauna! Well, yes there’s the sand, but there is also an unrecognized and perhaps even shocking biodiversity that lies not quite below the surface. Would you believe me if I told you that in a single handful of wet sand you could be holding a community of organisms equaling, if not exceeding, the […]
How do flamingos get their color?
From their diet. They eat foods high in beta carotene, mostly shrimp and algae. They also will eat mollusks (clams or snails) or crustaceans (crabs). They gather their food by gulping water with their beak and then straining the water and eating the leftover food. So, that being said, the color often varies between bird […]
99 reasons I’m in ‘Limulus Love’
It’s no secret that I love those horseshoe crabs. Well someone on Twitter this week asked me why I am so crazy over them so I thought I’d take the time to outline 99 reasons I think Limulus polyphemus are a fascinating species. Three Nobel Prizes were awarded to scientists who did some or all […]
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