the navy

The navy doesn't just protect our country but also tries to create peace throughout the world. There are many different job titles that you can be when your in the navy such as you could work in a submarine, on a vessel or in a helicopter. I think that i found it most interesting to find out that there are really secrets that they are keeping from us as Americans   One thing i will always remember is that it can pay for your schooling.

whale

The flukes are used to identify whales because just like birth marks, freckles or scars on a human all whales have specific characteristics that make it easy to tell the different whales apart. This is important when scientist whale watch in order to make sure there always watching the same whale. Its important to whale watch to learn the whales migration habits and also others that come along with it. I didn't think the lab was hard at all i thought it was fun :) but if you were to change one thing about the lab i would say to have us do more pictures.

Overfishing

Over fishing is a huge problem that is steadily getting worse as years go on. By over fishing we are completely wiping out ecosystems in certain spots of the ocean where the troll nets are dragged. This affects us because the coral reefs and plants that release oxygen for us are being affected. Also fish are not going to be around much longer if we don't change the way we fish. Ways we can help are by eating smarter and not encouraging fishing with troll nets.

The bleaching of coral is due to stress expulsion and the death of there symbiotic. Most of the time this is caused by increased water temperatures.

Marine Debris

Entanglement- the debris left behind hide like nets can get tangled on animals and can get trapped around there neck causing suffocation

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bottle caps-birds will pick up bottle caps mistaking it for food and bring to there babies to eat and this ends up making them die

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plastic bags- will get caught on animals mouths and also animals try to eat them.

random objects- get caught on animals and can leave them helpless

We as humans can help put this to an end by not littering and recycling.

Blue-Ringed Octopus

(genus Hapalochlaena)

The Blue-Ringed octopus live in whirl pools and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Known as the most venomous marine animals.The normally brown patches on them darken the rings around them turn a vibrant blue giving warning that they are very dangerous.Typically 50-60 blue rings cover the octopus. Normally they hunt crabs and shrimp. I chose the blue ringed octopus because i think it is really cool that they are able to change colors and i love octopus'.

Adapatations

Sea grasses had to adapt to the salt water, another adaptation is that they have ribbon shaped blades so they can sway in the ocean water. Sea grass can provide a home for many fish where they can find there food to feed on such as plankton. Then there are bigger fish that come in to eat the fish that feed off the plankton. The sea grass it self can also be a meal for a slim amount of fish such as the sea turtle and the manatee. A resident is a sea animal that actually lives in the sea grass. The nurse shark is a migrant that just comes to look for food during the day. Then there is a traveler who stays at the sea grasses at night
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sea grasses benefits

1) provide a home for sea animals

2) Stabilize sediments to the ocean floor

3) Just like all other plants sea grass makes oxygen out of C02.

4) provide food to some sea animals

 

5) Filter out pollutants and clarify the water

Mangrove Benefits

Nursery: the mangroves provide a place for baby fish to grow.

nutrients-Provides nutrients for the mangroves consumers.Like crabs and other shellfish.

sediment-

Mangrove Adaptations

1) Root Adaptations- red mangroves have prop roots coming from the trunk and branches to give support. Black mangroves have wide spreading roots at the bottom to provide support.


2) Salt adaptations- the roots of the mangroves learned how to filter out the salt in order to allow the fresh water to flow through.


3).Anaerobic Sediment Adaptation- learned to adapt in oxygen poor places.

4)Reproductive Adaptations- They reproduce by flowering.

Fruit Bat

The scientific name Pteropodidae but the commonly known name for this animal is the Fruit Bat. They live in Africa, Asia, Australia and also the Middle East.  Whats interesting about fruit bats is that they rest on trees not caves.They are closely related to flying primates.

Mangroves

There are three different types of mangroves, Red Mangrove, Black Mangrove, and White Mangrove.
The red mangrove grows the deepest in water and has warts over there branches.The black mangrove is just like its name it as a very dark blackish bark that grow with low tide. And the white mangrove grow in sandy soils and have paler leaves.

Ocean Garbage Patch

The Ocean Garbage Patch is located in the North Pacific. It has been forming from the debris collected and gathered by the oceanic currents and collects all in this particular area. It mainly consists of plastic particles. It is figured that around 80% of the garbage comes from land and the other 20% is from ships. Either way it is a continuing problem that is growing. The wildlife that live in this area are suffering from eating the trash and ending up with these plastics in there stomach causing great damage. As man we can end this by not littering and doing our part to clean up litter that we do see in order to help prevent the Ocean Garbage Patch to continue to grow.

Reptile

King Cobra:

The scientific name for the King Cobra is Ohiophagus hannah. They live mainly in the rain forests of India, southern China and southeast Asia. They can eat mostly anything and even eat other snakes, they are not scared to attack and are extremely aggressive. They are able to spit there venom accurately up to half of there length and can inject a bite of venom that is powerful enough to kill an elephant.  I chose the king cobra as my reptile because i think they are a very beautiful creature and i think it is interesting that a snake can be so powerful against everything i comes into contact with.

Ocean Acidification

Pictures of the result of ocean acidification


Ocean acidification is the pollution from our cars and other fossil fuels burning that are admitting an enormous amount of CO2 into our air and polluting our oceans. With the enormous amounts of CO2 in the ocean animals that use the minerals in the water to make a protective shell are getting destroyed. And the animals that already have a protective shell are at harm because the acid is degrading there shells.If man continues to not pay attention to the danger we are causing this problem will continue to grow until its to late and all of our ocean is lifeless. Luckily this is preventable, we can begin to use resources such as the sun to generate our electricity and then use that electricity to charge our cars, that way we are able to use fewer fossil fuels which will pollute our air and cause ocean acidification.

Karenia Brevis causes algea bloom, called red tide. It can affect women by eating fish that had been affected by the algae by living in the water. It wall cause humans to have nausea, diarrhea and headaches. This can become a huge problem because it will affect the areas that fishermen can fish in which might decrease fish supply and raise prices on fish and hurt the fishermen's business.

plankton facts

This week i learned a lot about plankton that i would have never realized or learned before.

My favorite fact that i learned was that animals like jellyfish and other types of fish can actually begin there life as plankton and then grow into a full sized fish. Another one of my favorites and most surprising was that plankton provide 80% of our oxygen, before learning this i always thought it was from the trees but i was proven wrong. I also learned that plankton can not travel against currents and so they rely on that to get them where they float. There is also plant plankton which have to be near the surface so that they are able to photosynthesize. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuXMz3j9E8k

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuXMz3j9E8k

The Killer Whale which is also known scientifically by Orcinus Orca, Orca whale, or just the Orca and the one not heard often at all is the blackfish. They are found in all oceans and do not have a specific type of prey all of them are different. Some eat on fish and others eat marine mammals. With killer whale birthing can occur at any time of the year, but winter is usually the most popular. The females can reproduce up to age 40 and begin around age 15 where the men start reproducing around age 21 and do not reproduce as long because they have a shorter life span. With the killer whale i think it is amazing at how large the animal is, and also that is able to be trained and controlled by humans.There an endangered species so many organizations are trying to protect them and help them re populate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWsN63PRCW8

the ending on the video is so cute, it really shows that the killer whale and all animals do have feelings:)

Plankton Race

In Aquatic Science class we had to make a plankton that would sink to the bottom of the jug of water but at a very slow pace. Me and my partner Kendal tried many different designs and in the end we still did not have the best design. It was really hard to figure out which materials would sink to fast or to slow and getting a nice balance. If i were to go back and try to change my design i would make my plankton more simple and not put to much deep thought into it. I love doing hands on activities in class though because it makes it more enjoyable and interesting to learn and understand.

HAB

HAB: (Harmful Algae Bloom)
   HAB occurs in fresh and saltwater and can affect fish, birds, marine mammals, and also humans. The red tides are causes by phytoplankton and cause the water to turn red because of there reddish tint. To help prevent this we can keep our waters clean and not put so much waste into the water. This costs the U.S. 75 million dollars a year and cause 20,000 beaches to close.

Plankton

Many people do not know much about how important plankton really is to the ocean and also to mankind. In the ocean they are the beginning to of the food chain which starts with them and leads all the way up to sharks. The biggest and most shocking benefit they provide for humans is that they provide for half of earths photosynthesis. Not only do we need them to breathe but we also need them to feed the other fish in order for us to have enough fish in the sea to eat. The difference between diatoms and dinoflagellates is that diatoms are a single celled organisms and they survive off of the suns energy and provide the most photosynthesis. Where as dinoflagelletes have two flagella and the majority of them are only found in the ocean.

diatom




dinoflagellates

Frigate Bird

The scientific name for a bird that is commonly known as the Frigate Bird is  Fregata Magnificens or also known before as the Man Of War. They are widespread in the tropical Atlantic and also through out the Pacific in the Galapagos Islands. I chose this bird to research about because i found the scarlet throat pouch that the male has on his neck interesting.They use this to attract the females who are all black with white patch on there front side.


http://youtu.be/YjZKlHnierk

The Thresher

The thresher was a submarine that was sent out to destroy Soviet subs. It was said to be built with the most cutting edge technology but there were multiple problems that occurred to lead to the Thresher sinking. Before the it was sent out to sea the Thresher was sent out on test trials in the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. When the Thresher sunk that was not the first time it had had problems while at port in  San Juan, Puerto Rico the reactor shut down and had to be partially evacuated until Cavalla came and provided power for the diesels. After that they continued to run trials.  Then when Thresher finally went out on her April 9, 1963 she sunk later figuring out to be due a failure in the joint in a salt water piping system.




http://youtu.be/gtqpuwIrn68

Oceanography changeing

Overtime Oceanography has grown and kept developing new technology and improving old technology in order to research the ocean. They use new under water submersibles in order to analyze and research the ocean instead of dangerously sending humans down there. The submersibles can do the same exact thing quicker and safer. 

Reasons to explore the ocean

1.) 50% of America is underwater
 
2.) there are a number of interesting creatures yet to be discovered

3.) Oil and other natural resources come from the ocean

4.) The ocean contains the largest mountain range which covers 23% of the earths surface, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge



5.) To discover and research sunken and undiscovered ships


There are many reasons that we should discover the ocean. While we go and adventure off our planet and research other planets there is still so much more we could be learning about ours. There are so many new things we could learn from the ocean and we should take advantage of that.





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