Did you know some species of puffers and other fish can live in both fresh and saltwater? It’s called euryhaline. Like … rhymes with “your-e-hey-leen!”. What’s it called when an animal isn’t this adaptable? Find out here.
Marine & Freshwater Environmental Education
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It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: T for Trilobite
Trilobites are not an opportunity to taste test three different bites of food. They are an extinct marine arthropod, that looked like a squashed centipede, dating back to the Cambrian period. They’re quite significant because paleontologists use them as an index fossil for dating back other rock structures. Image (c) smithsonianmag.com
What is the biggest fish in the sea?
The whale shark is the biggest fish on the planet. The largest whale shark measures about 66 feet long and 74,957 pounds. Not to be confused with the blue whale, a mammal, which is the largest animal on the planet. The largest blue whale measured about 110 feet and up to 400,000 pounds! The whale […]
Break it down. It’s hammertime … (doooo doo doo dut .. doo dut ..doo dut.)
The hammerhead shark has evolved the interesting looking skull cap to accommodate its extra collection electrosensory organs. All sharks do have these electrosensory organs, but, the hammerhead has a bit more than the average shark species. The electrosensory organ are useful for traveling far distances in the open ocean. It is like a internal GPS […]
Why don’t fish freeze in the Arctic Ocean?
Fish species that frequent the cold temperatures of the Arctic Ocean (e.g., toothfish, cod, ice fish, etc.) have special ‘antifreeze’ proteins within their blood stream that enables them not to freeze in the cold waters of the northern hemisphere. This discovery was made about 50 years ago. Recently, scientists from the Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany […]
Happy as a clam
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 […]
Oh, Bermuda Triangle, where art thou?
Do you have another great question? Check out www.beachchairscientist.com and let us know what you always ponder while digging your toes in the sand or e-mail beachchairscientist@gmail.com. Image (c) behindblondiepark.com
Crocodile Hunter’s dad working to save dugongs
Dugongs, a relative of manatees, are found off the coast of Africa and Australia. Steve Irwin’s dad, Bob, is on a mission for an “immediate moratorium on the hunting of endangered dugongs and sea turtles around the Australian coastline by Indigenous hunters.” Politicians have also been calling for the end to the hunting of dugongs […]
It’s as easy as A, B, Sea: G for Gorgonians
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 […]
How to win a game of Survivor if stranded on a beach
While I am not here to tell you how to form alliances, I can mention some edible seaside plants found along the Atlantic coast. These include: Sea rocket, sea lettuce, prickly pear, bull thistle, dewberry and winged sumac. You can eat the blackberries of the dewberry with milk and honey. For a refreshingly cool drink […]
The Cove
The Oscars are this Sunday and there is one documentary which you may want to check out. I have posted a review of “The Cove” by Kenneth Turran, a film and book critic for the Los Angeles Times. Have you already watched the film? I would love to know what you think.
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- Robert Emahiser on Why you should never walk on dunes
- Lesa on 10 brief facts on bioluminescence
- Lisa on Limulus Love
- Beach Chair Scientist on 17 facts about the wee sea potatoes
- Bernard Rejterada on 17 facts about the wee sea potatoes
- Brian on What is the difference between a summer and winter flounder?
- Inbound marketing on 15 facts about the Portuguese man-of-war that’ll have you saying “Didya know…?”
- Donnie Huckabee on Wordless Wednesday | Shell art
- John on Why you should never walk on dunes
- ItzJaylaD on What I know about whale sharks
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