Great Barrier Reef

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…

Length could be 6-10 feet Weighs about 1500lbs Can dive 4000 feet below Able to swim long distances Countercurrent Exchange - blood vessel that helps them to stay in a certain temperature in the water gives them advantage to hunt for food. 3 types: Atlantic bluefin tuna Pacific bluefin tuna Southern bluefin tunaAtlantic bluefin: found in Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Pacific bluefin: found in the Pacific Ocean Food: They eat anything that is small such as zooplankton when they are young. The…

the ancient sea creature. Size of Megaladon Based on Great White Research published in 2013 from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and co-authored by Catalina Pimiento of the University of Florida, compared the growth and size of the Megalodon to that of current day Great White sharks. The research estimates that each inch of tooth size equals about 10-feet in length of the animal. That means that a 2-inch tooth from a Great White (may not seem big, but just get out your…

biodiversity of the ocean because there are so many different plants and animals that make it what it is today. Learning and discovering is what this job is really about, so there’s nothing to stress about. In this field of study, there are many great minds that you can meet as well, professional marine biologists or even ones that discovered a well know…

There are noticeable urbanized major cities as well as less greenery. For a species like the Blanding’s turtle, which has very particular habitat requirements and can’t move great distances, this alteration may have serious impacts on their ability to survive. An investigation of the habitat use and movement of Blanding’s Turtle was conducted to gain knowledge on how habitat alteration effects Blanding’s Turtle and assess the…

my character past any interfering influence. There were so many media outlets that helped drive my passion for the water. The best way I can imagine to spend my time is to relax on a couch watching some of the best ocean films in history. There are great ones like The Abyss, Finding Nemo, or more recently, The Shallows, as well as the pretty bad ones like Waterworld that are just plain fun to watch. I would get up early every year as a kid during July and August to watch every second of “Shark…

Bartolome Bartolome is a diverse mix of stunning natural sights and a startling variety of wildlife. It’s named for Sir Bartholomew James Sullivan, a second lieutenant on the HMS Beagle and a friend of Charles Darwin. After a wet landing, your day starts with a hike up a 600 meter wooden boardwalk and stairway through ancient red, black, orange, and green lava fields to the highest point on the island. The journey to the top takes you through the different stages of the island’s formation.…

Description This is the Yellow Tube Sponge, also known as the Aplysina aerophoba. The animal’s name is very self explanatory. This animal, who is commonly mistaken for a plant, has a rough outer, tube-like shell. It is yellow, hence the name. Also, it is hollowed out, with one tube coming out from the top, and it is capable of growing to 3 feet tall. The Aplysina aerophoba in its natural habitat. Habitat The Yellow Tube Sponge lives underwater, near the northern zone of the Atlantic ocean.…