Coral reef

The Historical Predation of the West Indian Manatee The West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus), also known as the sea cow; was listed as an endangered species by U.S Fish and Wildlife Services in 1972. However, since then it has been downgraded from an endangered species to a threatened species (Heavy Poaching in Prime Habitat: The Conservation Status of the West Indian Manatee). The main reasons behind their decline; are pollution in the water, powerboats, and slow reproduction. As a result,…

Seashell Lab What does the different concentration of acid do to shells? Due to earth’s increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) rates scientists have shown that it can make shells , skeletons and corals up to one-third lighter in weight. As the ocean water becomes more acidic it lowers the calcium carbonate available to aquatic animals. ‘Scientists have predicted that the increase in ocean acidification could significantly reduce the ability of these creatures to build their casings, potentially…

Coral Canyons Coral canyons are an important part of the ocean ecosystem and need to be protected. First, there are many issues that are posed to the canyons. Some of the issues are oil drilling, commercial fishing, and deep sea mining. The fishing destroys corals because of the nets that hit them. Also drilling and mining harm not only the coral but also some of the organisms that live there. Secondly, there are a lot of organisms that live in the coral canyons. In one of the articles I read…

Sea stars, along the Pacific coasts of California (Lopatto, 2014), are inevitably vulnerable to what scientists refer to as the “sea star wasting sickness.” Major ailments like this can hinder an ecosystem’s biological composure, considering the fact that sea stars are keystone species. Should the sea star succumb to such a major disturbance in their population, other species will be negatively impacted as well. Scientists are becoming very analytical as to what exactly is causing the…

As Canadians manipulate natural habitats for farmland development and urbanization, the consideration for wildlife management of species including the Blanding’s Turtle becomes increasingly important. Recognized as an umbrella species, the Blanding’s Turtle may be a representative animal for its habitat and therefore monitoring its health may assist in selecting appropriate conservation strategies. Recognizing the decline in the size of many Blanding’s Turtle populations, several studies have…

Abundance of Fossilized Megalodon Teeth Washing Ashore in North Carolina The shores of North Carolina are known for having Megaladon teeth, but they are currently experiencing a bumper crop. Beachcombers in North Carolina are finding much more than just seashells recently because there has been an influx of fossilized Megaladon teeth washing up on the beaches and it has paleontologists excited. Megaladon Ruled the Ancient Sea Just for few moments, imagine a city bus, now imagine that bus with…

A look beneath Marine biology has peaked my interest with its overwhelming amount of things to study. The ocean, along with other bodies of water, are a marine biologist’s playground. Not only do they study fish, but the quality of the water, the plants, the wavelength periods, acidity, and many more aspects. However, to become a marine biologist one must have a Bachelor of Science degree in marine biology, this includes classes such as biology I and II, general chemistry I and II,…

There are many plausible reasons for the discrepancy in the observed heterozygosity of Blanding’s turtles in the Kingston area. A few possible theories may explain these such as habitat loss due to the urbanization of Area 2, human impact, and nest predation. The Hardy-Weinberg principle states that the allele and genotype frequencies of a population will remain constant as long as population remains large. Thus, a change in the population may change the allele and genotype frequencies which may…

Arthropods are made up mostly of crustacean about 50,000 known and divided into groups; Branchiopods, Maxillopods, Malacostraca and Ostracods. The Malacostraca is divided into five different groups, decapods, stomatopods, euphausiids, amphipod and isopods. Decapods include crabs, lobster and shrimp it’s the largest species. Decapod means ten to five pairs of legs most first pair are modified as large claws, called chelipeds. Most decapods hatch as a zoea but on some occasion shrimp can hatch a…

When someone look or think about the ocean, the most commun thought are that is a peaceful , beautiful , and wonderful place where they can find the most incredible creatures, also that the blue is so peaceful that just from see it make them calm. However does they know the deep-part of the ocean and what is hiding benit there.Most of the people don't know what is down there, specially what creatures live and how they survive to the extreme environment that is the deep-sea.The Giant Squid ,…