Sea Fever and the Ocean's Colorful Creatures

[beautress]

Just goofing around today, found some interesting creatures of the oceans called "Butterflies of the Sea"

World record Sea Robin


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[beautress]

Also, some creatures quite interesting (to me, anyways) - the Blue Nudibranch" (Glaucus Atlanticus) Also, they are quite toxic, and you shouldn't touch them. Even so, to give a scale, I picked a picture showing a man's hand and the Blue dragon, for an idea of their size. Again, the warning is to not touch these creatures. http://boredomtherapy.com/blue-dragon-sea-slug/

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[beautress]

Blue flying fish

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[beautress]

Seashells, Wikipedia:
A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washed up on beaches by beachcombers. The shells are empty because the animal has died and the soft parts have been eaten by another animal or have decomposed.

A seashell is usually the exoskeleton of an invertebrate (an animal without a backbone), and is typically composed of calcium carbonate or chitin. Most shells that are found on beaches are the shells of marine mollusks, partly because these shells are usually made of calcium carbonate, and endure better than shells made of chitin.

Apart from mollusk shells, other shells that can be found on beaches are those of barnacles, horseshoe crabs and brachiopods. Marine annelid worms in the family Serpulidae create shells which are tubes made of calcium carbonate cemented onto other surfaces. The shells of sea urchins are called "tests", and the moulted shells of crabs and lobsters are exuviae. While most seashells are external, some cephalopods have internal shells.

Seashells have been used by humans for many different purposes throughout history and pre-history. However, seashells are not the only kind of shells; in various habitats, there are shells from freshwater animals such as freshwater mussels and freshwater snails, and shells of land snails.



Sarasota, Florida.........................................Playa Grande, Costa Rica shells

Senegal.............................................................Shells from North Wales

 

[Marion Morrison]

Looking forward to going to Fl. Keys at end of Feb. Already sick of winter.
Hoping to snorkel and go out on the water.
Been to half the country but have never seen the ocean.

Know that Tiger sharks are not nice.

tiger shark in key west - Bing video

 

[beautress]

Looking forward to going to Fl. Keys at end of Feb. Already sick of winter.
Hoping to snorkel and go out on the water.
Been to half the country but have never seen the ocean.

Know that Tiger sharks are not nice.

tiger shark in key west - Bing video

Thanks for putting one up about tiger sharks, Marion. I picked one off the page you linked, and 3-6 guys were trying to hang onto the line when one of them snagged a tiger shark. When they got him to the surface, they got some great shots, and he finally busted loose. What a fighter!

 

[beautress]

11 Facts About Tiger Sharks
BY Mark Mancini
June 5, 2018

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Weighing 1300 pounds or more and growing up to 15 feet, the tiger shark is the fourth-largest shark on earth. (Only whale sharks, basking sharks, and great whites get bigger.) On top of being big, tiger sharks are also pretty bizarre: They literally eat garbage, give birth to massive litters—and one of them was a player in Australia’s greatest unsolved murder mystery.

1. THEY’RE LIKE SWIMMING GARBAGE DISPOSALS.
Tiger sharks have broad diets: They eat everything from albatrosses, venomous sea snakes, and other sharks to manmade objects like paint cans, leather jackets, rubber tires, and even license plates. (That scene in Jaws where Hooper pulls a Louisiana plate from the stomach of a dead tiger shark is scientifically accurate!)

2. DON’T CONFUSE THEM WITH SAND TIGER SHARKS.
You might assume that the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) and the sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus) are cousins, but the latter is more closely related to the great white (Carcharodon carcharias) than it is to the tiger shark.

3. NOT ALL OF THEM HAVE STRIPES.
Hear the word tiger and you think vertical stripes, but those stripes evolve over time. Baby tiger sharks—a.k.a. pups—are covered in roundish gray spots that fuse into stripes as the sharks mature. After a certain age, the stripes start to fade; they’re barely visible in full-grown adults.

4. TIGER SHARKS PREFER WARM WATER.
Tiger sharks are seen in tropical to warm temperate waters all over the world, and a study published in Global Change Biology in March 2018 revealed that the sharks have a "Goldilocks" zone. “Our study suggests that 22 degrees [Celsius, 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit] is not too cold for the animals and it’s not too hot for them,” lead author Nicholas Payne told the BBC. “It’s about right in terms of their optimal preference for temperature.” The scientists reached that conclusion after monitoring tagged sharks near Hawaii and comparing those findings to several decades’ worth of Australian fishing records.

5. THEY HAVE NOTCHED TEETH

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[beautress]

Good read: 11 facts about tiger sharks here: 11 Facts About Tiger Sharks

 

[ABikerSailor]

If a person is going to go snorkeling in Key West, one of the must haves when diving is a net sack. Why? Because there are langusta there (lobster that doesn't have claws), and you can catch them and eat them.

Also....................if anyone goes to Key West, one of the must haves is the Conch salad that they make in a place near the boardwalk.

 

[petro]

If a person is going to go snorkeling in Key West, one of the must haves when diving is a net sack. Why? Because there are langusta there (lobster that doesn't have claws), and you can catch them and eat them.

Also....................if anyone goes to Key West, one of the must haves is the Conch salad that they make in a place near the boardwalk.

Tried the conch fritters.
Only visited Key West one day. Stayed mostly at Key Largo and Marathon. Couldn't snorkel out on Atlantic side when at Marathon, big waves. Went to a calm cove on Gulf side and saw a few cool fish, but more of the camouflage variety. First time in ocean for me.

I was wishing I had my boat there the entire time.

 

[ABikerSailor]

If a person is going to go snorkeling in Key West, one of the must haves when diving is a net sack. Why? Because there are langusta there (lobster that doesn't have claws), and you can catch them and eat them.

Also....................if anyone goes to Key West, one of the must haves is the Conch salad that they make in a place near the boardwalk.

Tried the conch fritters.
Only visited Key West one day. Stayed mostly at Key Largo and Marathon. Couldn't snorkel out on Atlantic side when at Marathon, big waves. Went to a calm cove on Gulf side and saw a few cool fish, but more of the camouflage variety. First time in ocean for me.

I was wishing I had my boat there the entire time.

Conch fritters ain't bad, but Conch salad is much tastier (fresher too).

And, watching the pudding wrestlers at the Sandbar bar is pretty entertaining.

But, if pudding wrestling isn't your style, go to the Sunset Festival (held every evening at sunset). You will see some really interesting things and people there, because some of them take the celebration quite seriously, and it is reflected in their costumes. And, it's a lot of fun, and a good way to spend a couple of hours.

 

[petro]

If a person is going to go snorkeling in Key West, one of the must haves when diving is a net sack. Why? Because there are langusta there (lobster that doesn't have claws), and you can catch them and eat them.

Also....................if anyone goes to Key West, one of the must haves is the Conch salad that they make in a place near the boardwalk.

Tried the conch fritters.
Only visited Key West one day. Stayed mostly at Key Largo and Marathon. Couldn't snorkel out on Atlantic side when at Marathon, big waves. Went to a calm cove on Gulf side and saw a few cool fish, but more of the camouflage variety. First time in ocean for me.

I was wishing I had my boat there the entire time.

Conch fritters ain't bad, but Conch salad is much tastier (fresher too).

And, watching the pudding wrestlers at the Sandbar bar is pretty entertaining.

But, if pudding wrestling isn't your style, go to the Sunset Festival (held every evening at sunset). You will see some really interesting things and people there, because some of them take the celebration quite seriously, and it is reflected in their costumes. And, it's a lot of fun, and a good way to spend a couple of hours.

Had some Blue Crab claws as they were in season. Those were tasty, but pricey.

We did have Dolphins and Manatees surface right next to our kayak.
Definitely want to go back again.

 

[beautress]

Blue, huh?

Endangered pupfish:

 

[beautress]

I don't know why, but lately whales seem to be so fascinating. There was a recent sighting (capture? - can't remember) of an Omura Whale in Sri Lanka. I was going to post it here, and can't remember whether that occurred or not (too lazy to turn page). Anyway, here are some pictures/factoids about the small-by-comparison-to-larger whales, the blue whale relative, Omura's Whale:

 

[beautress]

Jazz Musicians of the Sea

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[beautress]

University of Washington professor discusses Bowhead Whales:

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[beautress]

Megaladons Extinction...

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[ABikerSailor]

Speaking of whales.....................

On my last ship, my berthing was below the water line. On occasion, I could hear the whales singing, because it would vibrate through the hull of the ship. First time I heard it, I was wondering if something was fixing to break because of all the squeaking and singing.

Really cool sound to hear though. One of my better memories of being in the Navy.

Another one was every time we came through the Straits of Gibraltar, I would go to the bow of the ship and watch the dolphins dancing in the wake. That was hypnotic, because of the speed and grace with which they moved through the water.

 

[beautress]

Blue whales, 9 seconds:
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[beautress]

About the Blue Whale from Nat Geo Wild:

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