I'm taking a break

 Hey readers I'm sorry to let you know that I will discontinue my blog for now. With high school applications coming up and many other personal changes that are happening in my life it is too much work to also run a blog along the way. I'd rather take a break now and come back later than continuing my blog and having it feel like a part time job. See you in a few months (maybe).

Turtles help their sibling's killer

     Hi readers I just got 2 pet parakeets yesterday, so today I feel like writing a post about birds, seagulls to be precise.

Seagulls are in general weird animals. They eat everything and will do anything to get food. They even work together to get food/ One seagull will distract a person so that the other seagull can steal the person's food. Today though, I'm going to write about the odd relationship between turtles and seagulls.

You see, when I went on a boat ride in Mexico, I kept seeing seagulls resting on small floating islands. These islands turned out to be friendly sea turtles that were letting seagulls rest on their backs. I didn't think much about this until I saw a video of newborn turtles trying to reach the ocean. On the way many got eaten by hungry birds. It turns out that these birds were seagulls; so why do turtles let the very seagulls that killed their siblings rest on their back? They're pretty dumb if you ask me.

The Nice fish

     Fish are not the friendliest. I mean they just swim around all day trying to avoid you and if you try to come near them they'll just ditch you and leave. So impolite. One time though, I met a nice fish. He must've been Canadian or something because trust me this fish was being waaay too friendly. 

I was on vacation at this really pretty beach. I just went for a swim and I was making my way back to the beach when I spotted this fish underwater that was following me. The cool part was that every time I went underwater to observe it more closely it would go into deeper waters to have some personal space. When I'd go up to get air the fish would swim up to look at me but when I went under to look at it, it would back off again. It was like this really weird dance that we were having. 

Anyways, I found out that if I'd go to the bottom and kick up some sand, the fish would swim through the cloud of sand. I would play this game with it but every time I'd kick the sand up underwater a few feet closer to shore, luring the fish into the shallows. I did this for a good 150 feet but eventually the water got too shallow for the fish and it left. I'm still confused why it was so interested in me and the kicked up sand.

Please remember to check out my blog.

How the ocean can('t) save our finite fertilizer problem

     Phosphorus is probably one of the most important elements for civilization. This is because plants need it to grow and we need plants to survive. In case we need more fertilizer, we have huge phosphorus mines where we can replenish it. The only problem is that, those mines will probably run out of Phosphorus in the next 300 years. That's not good! 300 years! How will we be able to eat?

Fortunently, the ocean has a huge amount of phosphorus that hasn't been touched. Before you get up and start cheering, thinking that humanity is saved, you should know that we aren't able to mine it. Even if we could mine the ocean, phosphorus is will run out and I don't even want to think about what will happen to billions of people in the future when that happens.

Fish Deserve Better!

For the record, Ocean Bio Blog is not an activism blog. When I stumbled across this clip though, I just felt obligated to share this. If you want to check out a blog that is more specified on animal rights check out https://1moreonce.blogspot.com/. 

Yeti crab leg hair farm

    Summer vacation just started and to kick off the summer I'm ironically going to talk about a more winter themed animal. Meet the yeti crab! They live near underwater geysers that spew out tons of mineral rich seawater. These minerals let bacteria grow which in turn is eaten by yeti crabs.

The thing that makes yeti crabs special is that not only do they catch the bacteria using their leg hair, they also let bacteria reproduce on their arms! That's right, yeti crabs farm and "harvest" bacteria on their leg hairs!

For more fun and easy to understand posts about the ocean check out my blog.

Don't get bitten by a moray eel!

     A few weeks ago one of my readers gave me a brilliant idea for my next post. They asked me what to do when you see a moray eel while swimming. Before I get started, I'd like to state that moray eels are more timid than that one kid at the party. They will NOT try to attack or harm you unless it is their last defense. 

If you are lucky enough to spot a moray eel, try not to get it tensed up. It's simple, just stay calm, don't corner it, and don't invade its personal space. Does this mean you should run out of the water in panic like when I found out that the kiddie pool is filled with pee? No! You could still enjoy the eel's company from a distance.

For more fun and easy to understand posts about the ocean check out my blog.

Octopus legs have minds of their own: What does it feel like?

    A few weeks ago one of my dear readers has asked me to write a post about octopus intelligence. I did some research and found something crazy. Ready? Octopus tentacles can think for themselves! I know this sounds crazy but about 60% of an octopus's brain power is in it's tentacles. I'm sure many of you are wondering what it feels like to have tentacles with their own brains, so I'll  try to explain.

When humans want to grab a stick, the brain would make the necessary body parts move in a specific way so that we can grab the stick. If an octopus were to do that, its central brain would basically tell the tentacles to grab the stick. The difference here is that unlike humans, the octopus's command is very vague, letting the tentacles grab the stick their own way. Still confused? Picture a captain telling their crew to scrub the deck. The captain's going to let the crewmembers scrub their own way, as long as they get it done. Afterall, the crewmembers have minds of their own. This is just like how the octopus brain is going to let its tentacles use their own methods to grab a stick

For more fun and easy to understand posts about the ocean check out my blog.

Whales reduce CO2?

    Animals produce CO2 which causes climate change. That's why it may come as a surprise if I tell you that the biggest animals ever are actually helping fight climate change. Of course, if you read the title you'd know who I'm talking about, but because some people don't read the title, I have to waste my time writing an introduction. Thanks a lot. Anyways, whales actually help reduce CO2 in two different ways. First, when they take a Taco Bell sized dump they fertilize a phytoplankton bloom. If you don't know, phytoplanktons are basically microscopic plants in the ocean. Despite their size, when they bloom they'll filter out a lot of carbon. 

The other way that whales reduce CO2 is by storing it in their body's. A big whale is probably able to store about 33 tons of CO2 in their lifetime. So, when they die, the whale carcass will sink down into the deep ocean, where the carbon is trapped for hundreds of years. This means that a healthy whale population will keep lots of CO2 trapped underwater.

For more fun and easy to understand posts about the ocean check out my blog.

How Crabs Can Breathe On Land

    Have you ever wondered why crabs can breathe on land? I bet you haven't! Unfortunately, I'm currently having a brain fart so I can't think of a catchier intro. I mean, I understand if you guys don't want to keep reading this article. No shame on you except for the fact that you are the reason why the average person has a shorter attention span than a goldfish. No shame on you. 

Before I go on my lunatic-like Sunday evening writing rampage I want to make it clear that I'm only talking about most crabs when I say "crabs". Anyways, first we need to understand how gills work. Gills are basically filtration systems that filter oxygen out of the water. When there is no water though, they can't function. Crabs have a solution to that. Similar to humans holding their breath, they hold in seawater. This is why you can see crabs hanging out on land for some time before they have to go back into the water and take another "breath" of seawater.

For more fun and easy to understand posts about the ocean check out my blog.

4K!

     Hi guys! Today after 7 months of posting, Ocean Bio Blog has reached 4K views!!! Over the time of this blog I've really learned a lot... bla bla bla... and as a person who... bla bla bla... my dream is... bla bla bla... (more motivational stuff)... and as a result... bla bla bla. Seriously though, even if it's been over half a year, I'm having way too much fun with this blog to stop posting anytime soon. 

The only thing that I'm afraid is going to stop is my ideas. So, this is where you come in. If you have any cool ideas for my next posts, tell me in the comment section below! Don't be nervous to share your ideas. I'd rather have any idea than nothing from you.

NYC's Failed Bag Crackdown

     Did you know that NYC uses about 23 billion plastic bags per year? Isn't that horrifying? Well, that's why some NY state government officials decided to create a game-changing ban on plastic bags! This law can cut 23 billion bags to zero, and  can save so many marine creatures. Right?

Yeah...no, it really isn't working. What I mean is that this law has many flaws. First, it has many loopholes, too many to list, and then the NYPD doesn't enforce it. Don't believe me? Just go to your local deli. I bet you they'll give you a plastic bag! At the end of the day, I just really hope that New Yorkers realize that their voice on this issue can really make a difference in helping not only us, but also our future generations with the plastic problem.

For more fun and easy to understand posts about the ocean check out my blog.

Decoding Sperm Whale Language With AI

     There is this really cool project going on called The Dominica Sperm Whale Project and  CETI are working on (but aren't done) decoding whale language using AI. This may seem absurd because animals don't have languages. Right?

Right? Well you might be wrong. Whales use series of clicks called codas to talk. Kind of like morse code. Scientists have been able to classify and separate over 9,000 codas. Plus, whales can then change the rhythm and tempo. And the crazy part is that the whales can mix a ton of those things together to form more complex phrases. Think about how many possible phrases whales can make! And then imagine if we can decode them! Think about all the juicy whale gossip we can listen to and understand!

For more fun and easy to understand posts about the ocean check out my blog.

For the record, there are more detailed explanations, but because a 2 minute article exceeds our attention span by 119 seconds, I didn't list every detail.

Oysters Growing From the Dead

    On my previous post I've talked about the Billion Oyster Project and how they plant oysters to filter NY harbor, but what I haven't talked about is why they do a trash collection service for oysters. While many restaurants throw their oyster shells in the trash, the Billion Oyster Project has found a way of repurposing dead oysters to make new ones. Now, this is kind of like a coral reef where corals grow on top of dead pieces of coral. 

First, the oysters are collected and shipped to Governors Island where they are dried and prepared for being put back in the water. Then, oyster larvae are "planted" on the oysters. Eventually, the oyster shells are put in the water in hope that an oyster reef grows on top of the dead oyster shells.

For more fun and easy to understand posts about the ocean check out my blog.

A School Project Changed NY Harbor

     Normally, school is seen as a place where you learn and learn about tons of things that are irrelevant to the real world, but this wasn't the case for one New York school. The Brooklyn Harbor School turned an aquaculture project into a project that can potentially filter the entire harbor in just days. We're talking about a project called the Billion Oyster Project! They want to grow 1 billion oysters in New York Harbor. They want to do this project since oysters have sooo many benefits: their reefs can stop violent waves and an oyster can filter 50 gallons a day! Can I remind you that an oyster is the size my palm!!?

Overall, I'd definitely look them up. They're really cool and if you live in New York like me you can probably volunteer. Volunteering will probably be an experience that you'll remember forever. Just check out their website at https://www.billionoysterproject.org/

 

For more fun and easy to understand posts about the ocean check out my blog.

English Royal Family's Strange Passion for Fish

    As an American, I've always thought that the British Royal Family was the weirdest thing possible. But apparently, guys standing in red winter clothes wearing huge rasta caps in mid July isn't weird enough. I mean, I've always found it weird that standing still for 8 hours and being a living tourist attraction is considered a duty of honor. Heck! Even Amazon let's their workers use the bathroom more than the Queen's Guard!

But when you thought that it couldn't get any weirder, it did! Apparently, the Royal Family was bored to death one day so they "honored" some fish to pass time. Take the sturgeon for example, these guys are considered royal fish. This means that if they're caught, it's property of the Royal Family.

Imagine that you are a fisher who only caught sturgeons that day. Then imagine if some royal dude knocks on your door claiming them as his royal property. You'd be pissed! What are you going to eat that night!? Don't be wondering why we Americans left you!

Ocean Bio Blog will be back in early May. (I need my spring recess!)

Additional notes: If you are British to the max check out this link to  learn more about the history of the Royal Fishes and how they varied  between Scotland, Ireland, and England.

War and Wildlife: Ukraine

     The war in Ukraine has claimed tens of thousands of lives, and yet somehow it get's worse. While during wars the media talk about casualties, there are other casualties that people never notice. Animals and nature itself are some of the least talked about victims in wars. Whether it's elephants having to walk through mine filled streets, jungles sprayed with chemicals in Vietnam or entire forests wiped out in WWI trench fighting, Animals are always the unintentional target.

In Ukraine, fighting in the black sea has obliterated wildlife. From marine birds being homeless, to dolphins getting blown to pieces, we should always remember the wildlife that is affected during wars. Afterall, it's not Mother Nature's fault that killing each other is part of human politics.

Useless info: How to survive in a whale's stomach.

     It has occurred to me that I wanted to share a fact about how to survive being swallowed by a whale. You see, my mission is to provide an outreach channel to inform my three daily viewers, uhm I mean the vast amounts of daily viewers I have. (Shoutout to dad for actually clicking on the blog!) And so today I would like to save peoples lives by explaining how to survive if you are swallowed by a whale.

 *Side note: You are more likely to die of electrocution when reading this post, than you are likely to be swallowed by a whale. (I did not research that so please don't sue me.)

Anyways, there are three major steps on how to not die getting swallowed by a whale. But first, I want to let you know that the only whale where you can actually fit into it's throat is the sperm whale. The other whales will have to spit you out. Step one: bunch up into a ball when you are taken in. This will make the chances of you getting an arm bitten off slimmer. (Honestly, if this is the first advice I have to give you, I might as well ask you for what funeral home you would prefer.) Step two: if the whale doesn't spit you out, grab something so you don't get swallowed. Try to grab that thing that hangs in the back of it's mouth. Step three: if you do get swallowed hope that you are wearing one of those suits that keep you warm in cold water and don't forget an oxygen tank. The suit might prevent the acid from burning you and the tank will provide the air needed to survive. 

Now wait in the whale's stomach until the whale vomits you out. Sperm whale have to vomit every few hours to digest so you might be in luck. Even if you get vomited out though, you're probably still going to die. Wait why, you may ask. Well my child, what if I told you that sperm whales dive the depth of three empire state buildings? Or what about the fact that they can hold their breath for 90 minutes? You see my child, the chances of you being vomited out at a depth that practically turns you into a smash burger is pretty high. RIP

Why I don't regret the kiddie pool

     Hi guys it's me again. Today I don't have homework (thank god) so I decided to share a real story of why I don't regret learning to swim. Now I could talk hours on the amount of people that drown per year but numbers just aren't human and that's why I thought sharing my story would encourage more people of all ages to learn how to swim.

A few years ago before covid I went to the Catskills in upstate New York with my mom and a friend family. What I didn't know then was that swimming would save my life. After an excruciating hike we reached an innocent looking river.

I leaned over to look at the water, and the next thing I knew was that I had just splashed into the water. The first feeling that hit me was the cold of the autumn water but it was more of a thought than a sensation. Either way it was still as cold as my stare when you tell me there are no leftovers. 

The second thing I felt was the current dragging and begging me to go down a waterfall. The waterfall was about as tall as my mom. That short? You may ask. Well, let me tell you that if I fell the wrong way I'd probably crack my skull. 

The third thing I saw was my mom running, you heard me, she ACTUALLY ran. She ran like a maniac. She was carrying a huge stick with her in hope that I'd use my swimming skills to grab on to it. The weird part though was that I never panicked but trusted my instincts to swim me to the stick and grab on to it.

As you may have guessed, I survived. The thing that traumatized me most though was that we didn't have spare pants. I had to borrow my friend's sweater and use it as my pants. In the end, it wasn't the water that would have killed me, but it was the embarrassment on the train ride home.

Lion Mane Jellyfish

    When you think of jellyfish you think of a small squishy and oddly cute piece of jelly who's sole purpose in life is to get annoying tentacles so that they won't be used as the jam I put on my breakfast toast. (But seriously, jellyfish do look pretty damn tasty) What if I told you there is a jellyfish larger than my friend's forehead? (His name starts with a G and rhymes with Gebre.) Yes I mean it, Lion Mane jellyfish are 120 ft long MONSTERS. That's 30 feet longer than Gebre's forehead!

They like the open northern waters making them official members of the Polar Bear club. Yes I'm talking about the crazy people that jump into the water at Coney Island during hot chocalate weather. 

If their stingers touch you, the pain will be "moderately painful." But here's the thing: imagine being surrounded by hundreds of "moderately painful" stingers. Ouch!

For more fun and easy to understand posts about the ocean visit my blog.

The biggest plankton on earth. But how?

    Did you know that biggest plankton on Earth is a 10 foot long, 5,000 pound immobilized monster? But wait how can this be? Isn't plankton really small?

Well, by definition, plankton is an organism that just floats around the ocean stumbling around on the currents getting food. This is exactly what an ocean sunfish is. 

They have a back fin which refuses to grow and two bottom and top fins that are more or less useless. The only way they get food is by hoping to stumble into a jellyfish. It must feel like those arcade games where you're really close to getting a reward but then you don't. I mean, if I was an ocean sunfish my greatest hope would be that they have underwater anger management classes.

But why don't they get snatched by predators? There are actually two reasons for this: their body is so hard to chew predators would usually rather risk their life hunting for other animals, and these fish lay up to 3 million eggs at a time. Good luck with the sibling rivalries.

For more fun and easy to understand ocean posts check out my blog.

The dark truth about Triton's artificial gills

     People like me love it but scientists don't. 

Meet Triton: a snorkel that let's you breathe underwater. Triton is a snorkel that filters the oxygen out of water supposedly by having strands and holes smaller than water molecules, letting you breath air underwater. Now when I first heard about this I was going nuuuts! I was about to hop online and buy one when, apart from the fact that they're $299, an even crazier fact hit me: they were a scam. 

We've all had those times where you were about to buy something and then you decide to do some research on the product and you find out it's a scam. There was this one time when I really wanted to get this robot called something like "Nano". This robot that I wanted it was like $12,000 but then I found a site that sold them for $20. And as any sane person aware of cybersecurity threats would do, I begged my mom to buy it. Before buying though, my mom looked it up and guess what? It was a scam! OMG

Alright back to Triton. I'm sorry for yapping more than those teachers who love the sound of their voice more than they love their fiancées. Anyways, according to the New York Post the product almost got $1 Million in crowdfunding until... scientists found out that it was too small to store or process enough oxygen to breathe. As any honest company would do, they obviously refunded all the crowd funders making everyone happy. And as any honest company would do they obviously decided to restart crowdfunding a few days later. So here I am, still waiting for scientists to modify my DNA so that I can grow gills and live in the ocean forever.

Cleaner Shrimp

    Don't you hate brushing your teeth-spending 2 to 3 minutes after every meal looking like someone who has rabies? Well some animals in the ocean have an easy hack, they hire cleaning shrimp. Cleaning shrimp are shrimp that make a living by eating dead skin or parasites off of their hosts. Cleaning shrimp also do risky things like clean the teeth of moray eels and other deadly predators. These shrimp aren't only notoriously good cleaners, but they are also notoriously good at advertising. From having evolved super long antennas used to attract "clients," to hanging out at cleaning stations, these shrimp are not giving up the chance to clean any client.

Oceanbioblog.blogspot.com is coming back in the beginning of March.

Greenland Sharks: Sharks That Make Your Parents Look Young

    When we think of a fish's life span we think of that one pet goldfish that lasted for only a year. It might come as a surprise when I tell you that there is a fish that is (supposably) able to live up to 500 years.  

Greenland sharks live in the deep and are found in the northern oceans. Greenland sharks eat all sorts of animals, living or dead, and have been found to have polar bear, moose, reindeer, and horse remains in their stomach. They are the slowest sharks in the world, so slow, that scientists believe that they kill animals in their sleep, otherwise how can they catch prey?.

Do people actually dig up clams for a living?

I was going through youtube when I saw this video. Is it just me or do I want to do this for a living?

Breeding Heat Tolerant Corals

    2023 was a scorching year for many that set a record for the hottest average land and ocean surface temperature. The reason for this is because of climate change. Now climate change didn't only cause sweaty and stinky people in the bus, but it also made corals sweat algae. Wait, slow down, corals sweat algae!? 

Algae don't like the heat so they decide to leave the corals body when it gets hot. This is a problem because corals have a special relationship with algae. The coral give the algae poop and a home while the algae give the coral some sugar. The sugar that they give is equal to 90% of the corals diet, so without algae the coral is more desperate for food than I am for the last slice of pizza. Scientists can tell which corals are starving because they turn white. Read more about corals or their reefs in the previous links.

Back to the story, some scientists decided to collect coral and plant them in tanks. There the corals get warmed and then cooled continuously by scientists letting them experience heat stress. If they don't end up like a cooked lobster, they can make "eggs" after 5 years just so that their children can be selectively bred again. The hope is that once you plant these corals, their genes will mix with the local coral to produce climate change tolerant babies.

I was wondering if you can genetically modify corals. Tell me if that exists in the comments!

Manatees - the animals that "lost" their gym membership

Some time ago I went to Florida where I got to see this strange creature. It was probably 1 and a half meters (5 ft) long, had the nose of a pug, the body of an obese seal, and it had one oval fin in the back of it's body. Did you guess it? It was a manatee! 

These lazy bums are found in both fresh and saltwater, mostly migrating to the warmer waters as the seasons change. They will usually graze on seagrass or just use their naturally buoyant bodies to float for what seems like hours. When I saw them all I saw was their grey backs and occasionally their flippers. I literally wasted 30 minutes of my life just looking at a floating piece of fat. 

The craziest part is that although manatees live with alligators, alligators leave the adult manatees alone. I guess manatees are too high on cholesterol.

Seaweed Drip

     Say you're one of the cool kids on the block (which is unlikely if you follow this dorky AF blog) and your always looking for the newest drip. What if I told you that the new drip was ... seaweed? We got seaweed underwear, sweaters, pants, everything and no, this isn't a joke. 

This stuff is great for the environment because seaweed filters carbon dioxide, needs few resources, and it's decomposable. My only concern is that eventually the sweater will smell like the decomposing seaweed you smell on a beach. 

Scallop Eyes, How They See The World

    Scallops are weirder than you think. Unlike other lazy mollusks like clams or mussels that lie on the seafloor filter feeding, scallops can swim! They do this by opening and closing their shells. Not only can they swim, but they can see. Now this part gets weird and complicated so I decided to find a video that doesn't bore you to death. 

Enjoy!

Survey

    Hi guys, I've been thinking for about 6 months about starting a freshwater aquarium shrimp breeding business. I'd make a shop on Etsy and I've already gotten in touch with my local pet store. The shrimps are called Blue Dream shrimps, they are 1.5in long, they sell for about $3 each, and they can reproduce in aquariums very quickly. 

This is where I need your help! If you had/ have an aquarium, would you buy them? Post in the comments.

Pacific Electric Rays

     Everyone has heard of electric eels, but today I will shine light on a similar specie that is found in the ocean called the pacific electric ray. Pacific electric rays live near coasts, hunting at night. These underwater fangirls stalk prey until they get close enough to electrocute them. 

In addition to attacking prey, they often chase divers. Given the fact that their zaps can knock someone unconscious, you better run! The good thing is that they are edible if you take their electric organs out. I just want to make it clear that I'm not going to go fishing for one of them.

I made a post about barracudas that isn't too boring.

     Barracudas are not 1 specie, but they are a genus called Sphyraenidae containing 27 species. They live in shallow coastal waters in tropical areas... bla bla bla... and also bla bla bla... in conclusion...BORING!

Alright, now enough boring facts and let's get into the fun stuff: how barracudas kill stuff! Barracudas are the Usain Bolts of the ocean...literally. One barracuda was recorded going 25mph, that's almost as fast as Bolt's world record! They take advantage of their sprints to catch prey in one quick flash of speed. Before they sprint however, they need to get close to their prey by camouflaging. Their body is dark on top and light on the bottom, so that if you look from the top, barracudas blend into the dark background below them. If you look from the bottom, they blend into the light above them. When barracudas attack a fish, they might will split them in half and then eat them. Aren't they cute? 😍

Understanding Marine Fish Farms

     Fish is becoming more and more popular by the day, so some people decided to farm fish instead of catching it. These farms can include many things, so today I'll take you on a tour of fish farms, marine fish farms to be precise.

Fish farms in the ocean have nets where the fish grow, get fed, and get harvested. But why stop there? Some farms have sea cucumbers or sea urchins in a net under the fish net so they can eat the fish waste. In a marine farm you also might find mussels or seaweed growing on floating ropes.

Environmental Harm

These farms are not only convenient, but they are more eco-friendly than fishing. Some downsides though are that sometimes the fish escape and become invasive, and the fish in the ocean have a prettier life than those on crowded farms.

How to Vacation in Irakleia

This summer me and my friends had a blast in this island named Irakleia. Irakleia is a remote island in the Cyclades which you can reach only by ferry, so there aren't too many tourists.

The water is crystal clear and full of fish and sea urchins, so watch your foot. We even caught some sea urchins and watched them crawl and stick on our hands. Although the ocean is beautiful, the rest of the island is a sad wasteland without trees so you really can't do much else but swim and enjoy the beach. 

Me and my friends did many things including going on an eight-person boat to see a destroyed World War 2 plane. This plane was 9 meters underwater, and my friend's dad touched it! (Don't worry the guy had a scuba diving license so he knew what he was doing. I hope.) According to the boat owner, that was also the bay where Ulysses fought that one eyed dude, but I'm skeptical.

Should you go to Irakleia?

Yes, it's great for people who are into the ocean or people who can spend years just chilling at the beach. The only problems are that Greek restaurants are very slow (It takes 2 hours to make a meal), the island is hard to reach, and the rest of the island is a desert.

Do Fish Drink Water?

     Have you ever wondered if or how fish drink water? I can tell you that I certainly have. Keep reading to find out how they do it! 

Saltwater Fish

For humans saltwater does more bad than good since the salt sucks up the water in our body. It turns out that fish have the same problem. To prevent the salt around them from turning them into salted sardines, saltwater fish need to drink a loooot. It may seem controversial to keep drinking this poison but fortunately fish have filters in their kidneys and gills that filter out the salt.

Freshwater Fish

Freshwater fish have the opposite problem: they have too much salt in their body. This means that water gets sucked through their skin into their body, kind of like drinking nonstop. This is a problem because slowly the concentration of salt inside and outside the fish balance's out, leaving the fish with very little salt in their body. Therefore, fish have cells making sure that the fish don't gain too much water.

How to Turn Seaweed into Plastic

    Plastic pollution in our ocean is a huge problem. Plastic can't decompose, it's made of poisonous oil, and we use millions of tons each year. However, scientists are making new materials to replace plastic, take seaweed plastic as an example. Companies like Sway basically take the slime of certain seaweed types, powder it and then reliquefy it to make a decomposable plastic bag. The seaweed plastic tastes bad but eating it won't harm you like a plastic bag does. You may think that gathering seaweed is bad, but seaweed grows fast, it's grown on farms, and farms help new habitats to be made as well as letting fishers catch more because of all the extra fish around the seaweed farms.

Why would you sink your ship on purpose? Explained

    Did you know that people sink their ships on purpose? People literally say "Alright let's sink a multi-million-dollar cargo ship right here!"

This sounds weird and pointless but there is a reason why people sink their ship: in less than half a year one ship could become a huge life-giving reef! 3 million shipwrecks can be found in the ocean, and they are all teeming with life. These reefs let organisms hide and live in the ship, causing wildlife to boom.

 People sink their ships by taking all the chemicals and fuel out, then they use a tugboat to bring it out. Once they did that, they usually cut open holes in the sides and watch it sink.

                                                     

                                                                   Would I do it? 

If I had a boat, I would do it only if the ship is beyond repair. If I sink a boat I would lose a fortune but on the other hand, I'd make a reef. This is why I would make a compromise with myself to sink the ship only if it's unfixable.

What would you do?   

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

    I used to be horrified of how much plastic is in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but then one day in 5th grade science class I learned that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is way less scary than it seems, at least if you look at it from a distance. When the world found out that this Great Pacific Garbage Patch existed, it went nuts. It took a lot of over exaggerated charity and environmentalist propaganda to persuade people that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a huge mountain of floating plastic. This is far from the truth, unfortunately. 

One of the biggest problems with plastic is that in nature it doesn't decompose but always stays plastic. In the many garbage patches of our ocean the plastic is trapped in spinning currents called gyres. These patches of garbage can contain anything from microscopic plastic to plastic looking like a bunch of torn up plastic bags, to containing milk jugs. 

Remember how I said that it's unfortunate that garbage patches don't have huge mountains of floating plastic? I said this since the plastic in the garbage patches can be at any depth and they are usually spaced apart, making cleanup efforts an almost impossible task. 

Whether we like it or not, some estimates say that by 2050 the plastic mass in our ocean will weigh as much as the mass of the fish in the ocean. It's in our power how much single use plastic we waste every day, and if these estimates will be true.

Wave Power

 What are your thoughts and questions on this new tech?

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Narwhals

     The unicorn of arctic waters must be a fascinating site up close. Male narwhals have a huge tusk that seems to come out of its head, just like a unicorn. This makes scientists wonder what the purpose of the tusk is. Some suggest it helps them hunt. Talking about food, narwals hunt bottom dwelling fish in the winter and cod as well as other fish in the summer. These whales are usually between 3.5 to 4 meters long if you don't count the tusk. Like many whales, narwhals are social creatures living in groups that have between 15 to 20 members.  

Coral

     If you don't know what coral is, I get you. I have spent years hearing about coral reefs without knowing what coral is. They may seem like one big rock or shell, but that is true only if you look from a distance.

    A coral colony contains many polyps. Polyps are technically animals. They have tentacles that search the water for plankton to kill and hunt and a gut to digest the food. Although they hunt, most of their sugars come from algae living in their cells. These algae can photosynthesize enough for themselves, so they pay some rent and give the polyp some sugar. If the polyps survive and don't get put into somebody's living room collection (I can't be talking), they make identical clones. The result is a system of polyps.

How Coral Reefs Are Made

      Coral reefs are home to 25% of marine life on our planet while covering less than 1% of the ocean floor. These complex reefs are basically made of skeletons of hard coral. A coral polyp has a skeleton made from calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is made as calcium from the water mixed with carbon dioxide. As the coral grows taller, the skeleton on its base grows with it. New coral is then able to grow on the skeleton. This way a coral reef can grow several centimeters per year.