Marine Life Gift Guide
Do you know someone who loves marine life? Check out my guide for ideas on gifts related to marine life, from donations to a charity and aquarium memberships to recommended reading.
Short on time? Don't worry, many of these can be bought at the last minute!
Thanks to Melissa Mayntz, the Guide to Birding and Wild Birds for contributing ideas for this article via the Marine Life Forum!
Image: Humpback whales feeding in front of a whale watch boat. A trip on a whale watch is one of the great ideas in the marine life gift guide! Photo © Jen Kennedy, Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation.
Octopuses Use Coconuts to Conceal
A study revealed that octopuses in Indonesia use coconut shells to conceal themselves.
Scientists observed the small, 3-inch long veined octopus assembling the two halves of a coconut shell and using it to hide. Then, when they decided to move, the octopus carried the shell underneath its body, making for an awkward march across the sediment.
Biologist Mark Norman is quoted in National Geographic saying, "It was hard not to laugh underwater and flood your [scuba] mask" while watching the animals.
Read about the octopus and see a video of the coconut-carrying behavior here.
Learn More:
- 10 Facts About Octopi (Animals GuideSite)
Frozen Fish More Eco-Friendly?
I just read a brief, interesting op-ed piece about seafood. Astrid Scholz and colleagues contest that frozen fish is more eco-friendly than fresh fish.
Their reasoning is based on a study on salmon, in which they found that flash-frozen salmon has a "taste and quality practically indistinguishable from fresh," and also is more environmentally friendly. This is because fresh salmon is usually transported long distances by air, which has a big carbon footprint. According to National Geographic, a coast-to-coast passenger flight causes the emission of a ton of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases - per person.
Frozen fish can be transported in more environmentally-friendly ways, such as by rail or truck. The authors suggest we "get over our fetish for fresh" when it comes to eating seafood that isn't locally caught.
What do you think? Do you agree with this article? Do you make an effort to choose eco-friendly fish?
Learn More
Drilling Ok'd in Arctic
According to this article, Shell Oil will be drilling 3 exploratory oil wells in the Chukchi Sea between Alaska and Russia.
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski called the move "progress" and said it is an "encouraging sign that Alaska's oil and natural gas resources can continue to play a major role in America's energy security."
What do you think? Personally I think our energy security could be improved by decreasing our reliance on oil, especially because this development poses a threat of oil spills and noise pollution, which could impair populations of marine animals such as whales and pinnipeds. I'd love to hear your thoughts - leave a comment below, or discuss this issue with other readers in the Marine Life Forum.
Wordless Wednesday: Florida Manatee
Courtesy James A. Powell, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Norway Increases Whaling Quota
Norway announced this week that it would be increasing its whale quota by 45% this year, despite the fact that during last year's whaling season, they killed a little more than half of their quota.
The new quota is for 1,286 minke whales. Last year, 484 minkes out of a quota of 885 were taken. Although there has been a moratorium on whaling in place since the mid-1980's, Norway still hunts whales because it registered an objection to this moratorium.
Environmentalists were angered by the announcement, saying there is no sense for the increase as demand for whale meat has dropped.
Minke whales are one of the smallest baleen whales and their populations are considered stable. What do you think of this increase in whale quotas? Does Norway have the right to hunt these minke whales?
Learn More:
- Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) Facts
- Whaling and the International Whaling Commission
- Anger As Norway Raises Whale Kill (The Age)
Minke whale image courtesy of Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation
Creature of the Week: Atlantic Cod
The Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) is one of the most sought-after fish in the Atlantic Ocean. It has a long fishing history in the U.S., starting with Native Americans fishing for cod with hooks made from bone and nets strung from natural fibers.
Later, Vikings, Basques and other Europeans traveled here and eventually settled, profiting hugely from the cod trade.
The cod's flaky white flesh and its combination of high protein and low fat content has been its downfall. Today, due to population crashes, cod fishing is severely restricted compared to the free-for-all that occurred when America was first settled.
Learn More:
Cod image courtesy of NOAA
Sea Stars or Starfish?
Yesterday's post showed a beautiful image of a star-shaped animal commonly called a starfish. More scientifically, these animals are called sea stars. Why?
Even though they are often called starfish, sea stars are not fish. They do not have gills, fins or a skeleton. Sea stars have a tough, spiny covering and a soft underside. If you turn a live sea star over, you'll likely see its hundreds of tube feet wiggling. Sea stars don't have blood - they suck water into their bodies and into their tube feet. This water vascular system helps them move.
While fish are vertebrates, classified in the Phylum Chordata, sea stars are invertebrates, classified in the Phylum Echinodermata. This makes them close relatives to sea urchins, sea cumbers and sand dollars.
Learn More:
Image of sea stars and sea urchins courtesy Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation
Wordless Wednesday
Sea star brought up from the Beaufort Sea off Alaska during NOAA's Hidden Ocean 2005 Expedition.
Photo courtesy NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration
Meet Megalodon, a Giant Prehistoric Shark
Bob, our Guide to Dinosaurs, just wrote a great article on megalodon, who was the biggest prehistoric shark that ever lived. Scientists think megalodon grew to around 60 feet in length.
Megalodon had huge, 7-inch teeth. These were much bigger than the teeth of the largest living shark, the whale shark, which can grow to 65 feet and has teeth - in fact, 27,000 of them - but they are tiny, as the whale shark feeds only on plankton.
Megalodon preferred much larger prey, such has prehistoric whales. Its jaws were so strong that it could easily crush a whale's skull!
The great white shark is megalodon's closest living relative, although that infamous shark is much smaller - about 1/3 the size of megalodon.
Learn More About Sharks:
Photo: Megalodon jaws at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, NY. Photo from Wikimedia Commons