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.
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Marine & Freshwater Environmental Education
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12 good non-fiction books about fish
Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food by Paul Greenburg (read a review here.) Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky On the Run: An Angler’s Journey Down the Striper Coast by David Dibendetto Giant Bluefin by Douglas Whynott The Last Fish Tale: The Fate of the […]
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 […]
Just Flip ‘Em
If you do not already know, the Atlantic horseshoe crab is my favorite animal. It just breaks my heart when I am home and see a few crabs stranded along the wrackline. One thing that can be done for the animals that are still alive is to ‘Just Flip ‘Em’ (JFE). JFE is a program […]
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
Otter personalities
What kind of car do you drive in the sea? An otter-mobile. I know that was pretty funny, I know. Here are some memes to celebrate Sea Otter Awareness Week (this September 24-30) that really illustrates the breadth of sea otters.
Why does a sea urchin attach seashells to itself?
You may not notice it, but sea urchins have very thin tube-like suction cup feet, just like their close relative the sea stars. These feet are useful to grasp onto pieces of seashells, pebbles, or seaweed to disguise the sea urchin from other nearby predators. Click on this post to see what eats a sea […]
Atlantic horseshoe crab infographic
Whether we know it or not, the Atlantic horseshoe crab has made a significant impact on many of our lives. The significance of this living fossil can be found in its capacity to resist change for millions of years, its special copper-based blood is crucial to the medical field, and its ability to provide food […]
Who was the first person to explore the deep sea?
New records are always being broken, but, the first person to make it into a deep abyss and record his findings was William Beebe. William Beebe never set out to become an ocean explorer and did not make his record breaking trip until he was 57 years old. Up until then he was content as […]
A naturalist’s must-see destination: San Francisco Bay
I thought it might be interesting to take some time each week over the next few months to get to know a particular body of water in different regions of the world. For today I am starting off with the San Francisco Bay. The San Francisco Bay is an extraordinary place that has undergone changes […]
Why are some animals ‘wallflowers’ and others are ‘social butterflies’?
An animal has many reasons to behave more like a ‘wallflower’ vs. a ‘social butterfly’. Some of the more universal reasons to lean to one behavior more than the other would be 1) habitat, 2) predators or 3) availability of food. For instance, river dolphins (pictured right) typically are solitaire animals because their habitat is […]
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- Hurricane vs. Cyclone vs. Typhoon
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