Marine Biology

The article I found talks about a unique sea snake that has spiny scales. This snake is called Hydrophis Donaldi and it is found in the northern Australia. One of the ecologist leader names Kanisha Ukuwela says, “no other sea snake has this curious feature. All snakes usually has smooth scales but this new discovered sea snake was totally different because of its spiny scales. This snake is rare and it lives in coastal habitats largely avoided by fishermen because normal sea snake usually lives in the open ocean and they are often caught by prawn trawls. This sea snake is also venomous and could be dangerous to humans like all snakes are. The don’t know very much about this new sea snake because it was very hard for the scientist to classify its unique features. This sea snake is also called Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake. When I first read about I was surprised because it is unusual to snakes to have spiny stuff on them. They’re usually silky smooth.

Do you like this kind of snake?

Why DO they have spiny scales?

I was reading this article and it talks about Zebra sharks that could get pregnant without other Zebra sharks. Dubai’s Burj Al Arab restaurant has Zebra Sharks which are kept in a aquarium. Expert at the resort say that it was one of the world’s most luxurious and had never seen Zebra sharks lay eggs like this before. A marine biologist also say “a feat never before documented among sharks”. They thought that there wold be no offspring because the female zebra shark is never around with any male zebra sharks. In 2007, they discovered that the female zebra shark was reproducing asexually. The offspring are very similar to her according to the article. I was surprise when I first read it because it was unusual for me because I never thought that sharks could be asexual.

Do you think that there would be more animals that are very similar to this?

Are you surprised?

This article talks about octopuses being kept in an aquarium and kept as pets. One of the guy that kept an octopus as a pet described how hard it is to feed and take good care of his new pet. The article says that octopus are the ‘primates of the sea’  but the owners describes as the  ‘devil fish’ because of the camouflage and unique things it could do with it. Octopuses are intelligent creatures and they quite capable of turning into invertebrate jelly and escaping or disappearing into your aquarium equipment. Octopuses are usually shy and retiring because they intend to live by themselves and they also don’t live long because one reason is that if you want an octopus as a pet, they have to ship it where you live and the octopus could get banged up during shipping according to the article I was reading. Octopuses are carnivorous and primarily eat crustaceans, fish, and other soft marine species. I like how the owner of this octopus enjoys playing with octopuses because they are barely kept in captivity and I also like how they could fit in any holes even the smallest holes.

Do you think that it is necessary to keep octopuses as pets?

An article talks about a 21-year-old man lobster diver who is paralyzed and dying. Expert says that a sickness called “the bends” which caused by diving too-deep without the proper equipment was the reason that this 21-year-old guy is paralyzed and dying. A diving safety expert named Eric Douglas says, “It’s incredibly dangerous, what they are doing”. He also said that they are poorly trained, equipped and they have non of the basic things that divers today would consider mandatory equipment.Divers from Honduras do lobster diving for a living and they still plummet to dangerous depths of up to 120 feet, and divers sometimes do this sixteen times in one day. Dr. Elmer Meija who has treated 250 injured fishermen in the past three years at his clinic in La Ceiba, Honduras. Dr. Elmer says, “it’s very difficult when you see very young people paralyzed from the neck down below and you know they will not improve”. Honduras’ government is also trying to find a solution to the deadly diving cycle.

Do you think that their government would keep people from diving?

What do you think about this kind of job?

I was reading this article that talks about sharks and it said that they could cure human diseases, including all viruses. Dogfish Sharks are mostly the ones that has the virus killer but scientists are still trying to find out if other sharks have them too. The new study says that it can also disrupt virus’s life cycle and prevent it from replacing in. “Sharks aren’t just tough on the outside”, it was one of the line as scientists describe the new study. Leader Zasloff predicted that clinical trials for the antiviral will begin in people in about a year and he also said that some sharks have been hiding an anti-biotic called squalamine. This article also talks about how the virus of a human could possibly be cured by the anti-biotic of a shark. This article surprised me because I didn’t know sharks could be a solution for our health problems like dengue and all the other viruses. It also gave me the idea that if sharks could kill viruses then many animals could might do the same thing.

Do you know any animal that kills viruses?

What do you think will happen to the patient that got cured by sharks after?

This article that I found talks about a mysterious glowing sea. As I was reading the article, the glowing was caused by a chemical reaction called bio-luminescence. The article said that the glowing happened when an organism in the water is disturbed, causing a chemical reaction which emits light. The chemical reaction is similar to the “glow” that fireflies use to attract prey or mates. Many organisms use the same type of chemical reaction, like creatures that lives on the bottom of the ocean. The mysterious glowing happened on the coast of California and the night time glow is a side-effect of blooming red algae called red tide. A plankton called dynoflagellates was disturbed by the waves, so it released the chemical bio-luminescence and turned the coast of California a glowing scenery. I chose this article because as soon as I saw it, I knew that it would be cool to show it to other people.

Do you think that they harm other organisms?

Why do you think they release  this kind of chemical?

I was reading this article and it was talking about a ghost ship and this ship is very different and unique from other ships we see or ride today. A small company called Juliet Marine Services had been doing a secret mission for the past 6 years. This ship is the world’s first “supercavitating” water craft, which means that it travels across water like a boat, but via a tunnel of gas below the surface. Greg Sancoff is the leader of this company and he wanted the government to get interested from his project, and he describes his inventi0n as “like an attack helicopter on water”. This Ghost Ship is very stealth and its powered by jet fuel, and it could also carry thousands of pounds of weapons including torpedoes. Ghost could also prevent terrorists from traveling on water.

Do you think that it is necessary to build an expensive ship just like the Ghost?

Would you recommend this ship to maybe the military or the coast guards?