Marine & Freshwater Environmental Education
Image by B.K. Dewey via Flickr
1. True or False: Sea stars are fish.
2. True or False: Sea stars are closely related to sea cucumbers, sea urchins and brittle stars.
3. True or False: Sea stars have a flexible skeleton.
4. True or False: Sea stars breathe through gills.
5. True or False: Sea stars can regenerate most body parts.
(Answers can be found here.)
Have a question for the Beach Chair Scientist? E-mail info@beachchairscientist.com.
These days – Absolutely! In past decades it was not uncommon to substitute succulent scallops with shark or the wings of a sting ray. The scallop industry has been thriving since 1970’s and this has not been the norm. How can you tell? Real scallops will break apart very easily when separated, also, the meat will be lengthwise.
Do you have another great question? Check out www.beachchairscientist.com and let us know!
The male fiddler crabs have one claw that is much larger than the other. This extra large claw is shaped like a fiddle.
It is useful for two main reasons.
The first being that if waved in a certain manner it attracts some hot chicks, er, female fiddler crabs. The second is that it is a useful tool for defense when other dudes like to create drama during mating season.
Do you have another great question? Check out www.beachchairscientist.com and enter let us know!
Image (c) decksfiddles.com
Well, it is important to mention that not all mussels are found on pilings. Mussels attach themselves to any type of hard substrate in the intertidal regions, including pilings. On pilings the top most mussels indicate the high tide line.
To go off on a random tangent, here is a yummy mussel recipe: http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Cooking-Mussels/Detail.aspx
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!
First of all, let’s chat biotechnology, or, ‘biotech’, as those in the industry call it.
The concept of biotech has been around for ages, just, not given the fancy term. For instance, planting seeds to produce food, fermenting juice for wine and churning milk into cheese (that are tested with the help of mycotoxin testing kits for the quality) are all processes that use some derivative of a plant or animal to benefit mankind. In the biotechnology and pharmaceutical fields of today, the Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) blood is a very important component in the process for testing drugs that can benefits humans that can be produced using nonhuman primate CRO method.
Their blood is used for the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) test is used to test for gram negative bacteria contamination in certain products before being released to the public. Horseshoe crab blood cells (amoebocytes) attach to harmful toxins produced by some types of gram negative bacterias. What is unique with the LAL, is that LAL does not distinguish between living or dead gram negative bacteria and detects either.
You do not want anything with a gram negative bacteria contamination. Gram negative contamination include: Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Neisseria meningitidis, Hemophilus influenzae, Klebsiella pneumonia.
The blood of the horseshoe crab has this unbelievable property where it will congeal in the presence of either living or dead gram negative bacteria (both are undesirable). This adaptation has never been able to be duplicated and consequently horseshoe crabs are often captured to have their blood drained and then released, all in the name of science.
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!
No. I mentioned in the very first BCS blog entry that the horseshoe crab is a “sweetheart of an animal” and I will continue to defend that statement. Some people may think that the tail spine, or telson, is poisonous. What the telson is simply used for is to flip the animal over when a wave turns it onto its carapace. The tip of the telson is jabbed into the sand and the horseshoe crab rights itself over, somewhat like the act of throwing a javelin.
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!
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 urchin.
But we’ve only scratched the surface here. Check back often at http://www.beachchairscientist.com for more insight about your favorite beach discoveries.
Nope, here is a short list of terms used to describe certain groups of ocean animals when they congregate together.
Jellyfish swim in a smack.
Whales swim in a pod.
Herring swim in a seige.
Penguins walking together on land is called a waddle.
Have a great question that needs a concise and comical answer? Email info@beachchairscientist.com and let us know what you always ponder while digging your toes in the sand!
Seastars can live up to 35 years in the wild! It really depends on the species. Their wild habitat includes coral reefs, rocky coasts, sandy bottom, or even the deep sea of all the world’s oceans. There are approximately 1,800 different types of sea stars.
They have been known to live up to 10 years in aquariums.
More links on seastars:
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/starfish.html
http://users.bigpond.net.au/je.st/starfish/index.html
But we’ve only scratched the surface here. Check back often at http://www.beachchairscientist.com for more insight about your favorite beach discoveries.
Yes, they do. All jellies have specialized structures called cnidoblasts. Inside the cnidoblasts are capsules called nematocysts. Inside each nematocyst is a coiled, hollow thread. Nematocysts are triggered by mechanical (touch) or chemical stimuli. When they fire, the thread turns inside out, pierces its prey and delivers its venom. A jelly’s tentacles and oral arms are covered with thousands of these spring-loaded little death traps.
But not all nematocysts are created equal. The sting of a sea wasp can be deadly inside of five minutes. The famous “stingless” jellies of Jellyfish Lake in Palau however, have a venom so weak; you’d have to give them a good lick to have any effect at all.
But we’ve only scratched the surface here. Check back often at http://www.beachchairscientist.com for more insight about your favorite beach discoveries.
Jim Wharton
Vice President, Education Division, Director, Center for School and Public Programs, Mote Marine Laboratory
What people are saying …