Life Below the Waves

Sharks

1. Sharks roamed the oceans long before dinosaurs lived.
2. Lemon Sharks, like the one in DLIMH!3, have yellow-brown skin which provides a camouflage for it as it swims against sandy inshore areas for food.
   1. The Lemon Shark can see fine details and colors underwater.
   2. They eat at dusk and dawn and rest during the day.
   3. This species is one of the larger sharks in the ocean.
   4. They can grow to weigh over 550 pounds and live up to 30 years.
3. Sharks do not have bones. They have cartilage (like human ears) which allows them to stay afloat.
   1. This makes it difficult to study them from long ago.
   2. They don’t leave fossils like other animals.
   3. Their teeth do fossilize though.
4. Sharks have great eyesight; they have night vision.
5. Sharks have organs on their skin which detect the magnetic field. This allows them to navigate the sea and know where they are.
6. Each shark has unique spots, like a human fingerprint.
7. Sharks help to keep a balance in the oceans by controlling overpopulation. When they hunt for food they are doing their job to keep the ecosystem stable.
   1. Some sharks are heading for extinction.
   2. Illegal fishing and shark finning is a threat to them.
   3. They also get caught accidentally in nets and on longlines of fishing boats who are fishing for swordfish, tuna, and other species.
8. In South Florida, the Bull Shark is the fourth-most abundant shark found.
   1. Most times humans are not on their diet plan.
   2. They are one of the most dangerous predators.
9. The white, tiger, and bull sharks are the “Big Three” in the shark attack world. Each of these are capable of causing injuries to victims.
10. Great Hammerhead Sharks, although declining numbers across the world, still are found in abundance off the South Florida coast.
11. There are over 500 species of sharks alive today.
12. When a shark loses a tooth another tooth takes its place.
13. Sharks home is in danger.
    1. Climate change is warming the water which is having an effect on the fish they eat.
    2. Warmer waters makes a difference for them as well.
    3. Plastic pollution is infiltrating the fish they eat and causes harm to sharks as well.

Life Below the Waves

Turtles

1. Mother turtles lay eggs on shore at night. When she is finished, she leaves and doesn’t come back until she has to lay more eggs.
2. Turtles are able to navigate the world through the ocean with an internal sonar system.
   1. They are thought to understand and remember areas because of their awareness to the magnetic field and/or their experience with elder turtles.
   2. They can locate their birthplace and return there to lay their own eggs.
   3. This ability to geomagnetically imprint is like how a sailor uses latitude and longitude lines to find their way.
3. Male sea turtles are usually incubated in cold sand, and female turtles are usually born from warmer sand. With climate change warming temperatures, it might make it more difficult to create male sea turtles.
4. Algae on a turtle’s shell protects them.
   1. When humans touch them, it weakens this protection.
   2. Turtles can die as a result of being touched by humans.
5. Green Sea Turtles can lay between 85-200 eggs under the sand at one time.
6. It takes two months for juvenile sea turtles to emerge from their eggs.
7. Artificial light and erosion confuses sea turtles’ sense of direction to the sea. This is particularly a problem for baby turtles.
8. Green Sea Turtles lived with dinosaurs.
9. Green Sea Turtles (as adults) are herbivores.
   1. They eat sea grasses.
   2. Algae
   3. Baby Sea Turtles will eat crabs, sponges and jellyfish.
10. Unlike land turtles, I can’t pull my head and flippers inside to protect myself.
11. Sometimes turtles get entangled in marine debris like fishing nets or plastic strapping bands. This can cause them to drown.
12. Sometimes they mistake other debris like plastic bags or little plastic fragments as food.
13. Plastic straws can get stuck in a turtle’s nostrils which causes breathing difficulties.
14. Sometimes poachers sell their meat and harvest their shells.
15. They are officially endangered in the wild.
16. What kills turtles the most?
    1. Pollution
    2. Plastics
    3. Discarded fishing gear.
    4. Petroleum by-products
17. Like humans, they breathe oxygen.
18. Unlike humans they can spend up to two hours underwater before they need to come up for air.

Life Below the Waves

PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND PLANKTON

1. Plankton are living creatures in the ocean.
2. Plankton is Greek for “wanderer” or “drifter.”
3. Often, they are less than one inch in length.
4. Phytoplankton are smaller, while zooplankton eat phytoplankton and can include jellyfish and crustaceans (krill, etc.).
5. The largest migration on earth is done by Plankton.
6. We have the ocean to thank for the air we breathe. Between 50-80% of all oxygen comes from the ocean. Phytoplankton, algae, and seaweed, are responsible for producing this oxygen and keeping our planet healthy.
7. Oceans contain 50 times more CO2 than the atmosphere.
8. Oceans absorb CO2.
9. Not only are Plankton vital to the photosynthesis in the oceans – they are a source of food for sea life – like whales.
10. Spread awareness on the importance of Tiny Phytoplankton and get involved.

Life Below the Waves

Seahorses

1. There are more than 40 known species of seahorses recorded by scientists.
2. They have sturdy plates around their body so they are difficult to digest from predators.
3. Crabs and humans are the most threatening to them.
4. They really do dance hooked together at dawn.
5. They are technically a tiny fish.
6. They really do dance hooked together at dawn.
7. They are technically a tiny fish.
8. They are very poor swimmers. They are the slowest-moving of all fish species.
9. Although slow – they are able to move up and down as well as forward and backward.
10. They hook on things to float and move. Sometimes this means they attach themselves to garbage. The goal is to provide them a trash free environment to live in.

Life on the Shore

Crabs

Did you know crabs skuttle sideways because it is faster than going forward?

Did you know the Yei Crab lives at the bottom of the ocean more than 7,000 feet below the water? In 2005 a team of researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute journeyed to the bottom of the South Pacific Ocean with the submarine DSV Alvin. It was here they discovered this cool crab. Their furry claws enable them to harvest their main source of food: bacteria.

Did you know Ghost Crabs come out most often at night?

Their eyes can swivel 360 degrees. They can dart sideways up to 10 miles per hour. They eat sea turtle hatchlings, turtle eggs, clams, insects, and other crabs. If you go searching for them at night, please use turtle-safe flashlights. Local sea turtles need your help.

Check out YouTube’s Nature: Ghost crabs video.

Crabs molt their shells when they outgrow them. This means they shed them.

Horseshoe Crabs:

Horseshoe Crabs are one of my favorite marine species! They are prehistoric. They lived before dinosaurs did. True. They are living fossils.

1. In 2008 scientists discovered a Horseshoe Crab species that was nearly 450 million years old.
2. They are more closely related to spiders and scorpions than true crabs.
3. They are not dangerous.
4. They can swin upside-down.
5. They have ten eyes.
6. They are carnivores. Meat eaters.
7. They can weight up to ten pounds.
8. They molt their shells about 17 times before the age of ten.
9. Scientists use their blood to test things.
   1. It is used to make vaccines – like the COVID-19 vaccine.
   2. Their blood is blue.
   3. Their blood coagulates and keeps germs from penetrating their systems and making them ill.
   4. Their numbers have decreased because of all the harvesting done by scientists.

Atlantic Horseshoe Crab

11 Horseshoe Crab Facts

Life on the Shore

OSPREY & OTHER SEA BIRDS

1. Seabirds maintain a healthy balance of sea population.
2. Pelicans have been known to attack (and sometimes eat) seagulls if a seagull lands on the pelican’s head to try and steal their food.
3. Pelicans have been recorded to go blind by eating diseased fish.
4. Seabirds do not seem to be shifting their breeding schedules. This is a problem because as climate change alters seasons, this puts the birds out-of-sync with the available amount of prey available for their young.
5. Birds mistake pollution and trash in our oceans for prey and suffer from the consequences immensely.
   1. Plastic trash is found in nearly every seabird (90% of seabirds have been found to have plastic in their systems).
   2. Albatross get their prey by skimming their beaks on the surface of the water. This makes them more susceptible for picking up plastic and trash when they do so.
6. Ospreys build their nests with things they find. Often their nests contain plastic and garbage they pick up.
   1. Never release balloons.
   2. Reduce your use of single use plastics.
      1. Coffee cups.
      2. Water bottles.
      3. Plastic bags.
      4. Buy glass.
      5. No single serving food containers.
   3. Reuse or repurpose.
   4. Pick up plastic litter.
      1. Participate in coastal cleanups.
      2. Create your own clean up events.
      3. Be responsible.
7. Monofilament (fishing line) is one of the deadliest things for an osprey.
   1. Please dispose of fishing line appropriately.
   2. Single strand monofilament can even be mailed back to some manufacturers for recycling and reuse.
8. Ospreys are carnivores.
9. Fish make up 99% of their diet.
10. They build their nests on the top of large trees and utility poles near water.
11. The males and females work together to build their nests.
    1. Ospreys are known to use their same nest for years.
    2. Each year they add to it.
    3. It’s common for their nests to become huge.
12. Mother osprey protect their young from the sun and rain while the males bring both of them food.
13. Typically, a baby osprey takes their first flight by the time they are two months old.