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Wisdom Wednesday | Sandpipers

by Shore Buddies User
Common sandpiper has long, straight bill, small body and short legs. Common sandpiper spends a lot of time on the ground. Its head and rear part of the body are constantly bobbing while it walks or feeds on the ground. This unusual behavior is known "teetering". Common sandpiper has stiff-winged style of flying. Its flight consists of rapid, shallow wing beats combined with short glides.
Posted in artificialreef, beach, beachfacts, coral, coralreefs, environment, fish, forouroceans, forthechildren, forthefuture, microplastics, oceancleanup, oceanfacts, oceanplastic, oceanpollution, oceans, plastic, plasticpollution, recycling, reef, shorebuddies, upcycling, wisdom wednesday

Wisdom Wednesday | Shark Research Methods

by Shore Buddies User
Wisdom Wednesday | Shark Research Methods
Research on sharks has allowed knowing from their origin and evolution to the applications that they have in different ambits of the human life. It is tough to know about the beginning of the research but it seems that the oldest casual investigations date back to the time of the Renaissance when people assumed that the fossils of the large teeth embedded in the rocks came from dragons or snakes.
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Wisdom Wednesday | Black Blotched Porcupinefish

by Shore Buddies User
Porcupinefish has spines on the head and body that lay flat, but when threatened they can inflates its body by swallowing water, inflating like a "football with spikes" so the spines are facing outwards to deter prey. The have a plated mouth structure for crushing shells.
Posted in artificialreef, beach, beachfacts, coral, coralreefs, environment, fish, forouroceans, forthechildren, habitatrestoration, microplastics, oceancleanup, oceanfacts, oceanplastic, oceanpollution, oceans, plastic, plasticpollution, recycling, reef, restoration, shorebuddies, sustainable, underwater, wisdom wednesday

Wisdom Wednesday | Dorid Nudibranch

by Shore Buddies User
image of a Nudibranch by Instagram user William Soo
Nudibranchs are grouped with snails and slugs in the class Gastropoda, but they differ from snails by having no shell, or at least a greatly reduced one.  As their name implies, nudibranchs are further identifiable by their naked or exposed gills.  The gills are easily visible on the backs of most nudibranchs. While appealing to the human eye, the main two purposes of these nudi’s intricate patterns and bright colors are defense and camouflage.
Posted in artificialreef, beach, beachfacts, coral, coralreefs, environment, forouroceans, forthechildren, forthefuture, oceancleanup, oceanfacts, oceanplastic, oceanpollution, oceans, plastic, recycling, reef, shorebuddies, wisdom wednesday

Wisdom Wednesday | Sea Turtle Hatchlings

by Shore Buddies User
Photo of a sea turtle hatchling by Instagram user Cassie Jensen
The hatchlings do not have sex chromosomes so their gender is determined by the temperature within the nest. The temperature varies slightly among species, ranging between roughly 83-85 degrees Fahrenheit (28-29 degrees Celsius), at which embryos within a nest develop into a mix of males and females. Temperatures above this range produce females and colder temperatures produce males. It's estimated that only 1 in 1,000 hatchlings will survive to adulthood. Once near the surface, they will often remain there until the temperature of the sand cools, usually indicating nighttime, when they are less likely to be eaten by predators or overheat. Once out of the nest, hatchlings face many predators including ghost crabs, birds, raccoons, dogs, and fish.
Posted in artificialreef, beach, beachfacts, coral, coralreefs, forouroceans, forthechildren, forthefuture, oceancleanup, oceanfacts, oceanplastic, oceans, turtle, turtlefacts, wisdom wednesday

Wisdom Wednesday | Grouper Fish

by Shore Buddies User
In addition to their possible great size, another defense that some groupers have is the ability to change the color of their skin to match their background.. Sometimes this color change is simple, such as turning from dark to light in order to blend in with varying levels of light. They swim slowly, but with power. They're not capable of fast breaks or swimming long distances, but anyone who's been on the other end of one on a deep sea fishing charter in Destin can tell you they have one heck of a dive pull. Some groupers are so huge that when they open their mouths to feed, they create a suction that is powerful enough to inhale small prey.
Posted in artificialreef, beach, beachfacts, coral, coralreefs, fish, forouroceans, forthechildren, forthefuture, oceancleanup, oceanfacts, oceanplastic, oceanpollution, oceans, recycling, shorebuddies, wisdom wednesday

Wisdom Wednesday | Whale Sharks

by Shore Buddies User
Image of Whale Shark by Instagram user Amy Mercer
Whale sharks are filter feeders that eat plankton through their gills for much of their nourishment. They also eat squid, krill, and small fish. A whale shark can process more than 6,000 liters of water an hour through its gills. Whale sharks are in no way related to whales. Although they are sharks, they are very docile. A whale shark’s mouth is at the very front of its head—as opposed to the underside of the head like most sharks.
Posted in artificialreef, beach, beachfacts, blue whales, california, coral, coralreefs, emmathewhale, environment, forouroceans, forthechildren, forthefuture, oceancleanup, oceanfacts, oceanplastic, oceanpollution, oceans, recycling, reef, shark, whale, wisdom wednesday

Wisdom Wednesday | The Dwarf Zebra Lionfish

by Shore Buddies
image of Dwarf Zebra Lionfish by instagram user Danny Lee

The Dwarf Zebra Lionfish is easy to distinguish from the other lionfish species because of the enlarged pectoral fins. The fins are full and fan shaped and the fin membranes extend almost all the way to the end of the rays. They are usually found on sandy areas of reef flats ranging from between 3 meters to 25 meters in Tanzania but can be found down to 80 meters. Dwarf Lionfish feed at night and prey on small fishes and crustaceans and pretty much anything that fits in their mouth. They are ambush predators and move into positions where small fishes are likely to congregate. They use their proportionally large mouths to create a vacuum and suck in and swallow the prey. Being smaller than other Lionfish they go after smaller prey. They will sometimes use their pectoral fins to herd prey into a position where they can trap them. Little is known about their reproduction.

Posted in artificialreef, beach, coral, coralreefs, fish, kelp, kelpforest, oceancleanup, oceanfacts, oceanplastic, oceanpollution, oceans, plastic, plasticpollution, recycling, reef, starfish, summer, sustainable, underwater, waste, wisdom wednesday

Wisdom Wednesday | The Weedy Sea Dragon

by Shore Buddies
image of a Weedy Sea Dragon by instagram user Danny Lee
A Weedy Seadragon looks just like it sounds.. A mini sea dragon that would blend in with corals and seaweed very well! To avoid mouthfulls of sand when feeding, this animal will feed on its side and suck up tiny mycids! Compared to the leafy sea dragon, weedies have less flamboyant projections and are usually reddish in color with yellow spots. Weedy sea dragons have very long, thin snouts, slender trunks covered in bony rings, and thin tails which, unlike their seahorse cousins, cannot be used for gripping.
Posted in artificialreef, beach, california, coral, coralreefs, fish, microplastics, oceancleanup, oceanfacts, oceanplastic, oceanpollution, oceans, plastic, plasticpollution, recycling, reef, summer, sustainable, underwater, waste, wisdom wednesday

Wisdom Wednesday | Terns

by Shore Buddies
Image of a tern by Instagram user Peter Rae
Terns are a common seabird that frequently get mistaken for seagulls. These graceful birds are characterised by their silver-grey upperparts, white underparts, black cap and red bill, as well as long tails. Almost all terns migrate, and the Arctic tern migrates every year from the Arctic to the Antarctica –a 25,000 mile trip, one way! Common tern colonies usually number around 2,000 birds, but can be as large as 20,000. They are often shared with other tern species such as Arctic and roseate terns.
Posted in beach, beachfacts, california, coralreefs, fish, microplastics, oceancleanup, oceanfacts, oceanplastic, oceanpollution, oceans, plastic, plasticpollution, plasticstraws, recycling, reef, seagull, stephen, stephentheseagull, summer, sustainable, underwater, upcycling, wisdom wednesday

Wisdom Wednesday 08/05/20

by Shore Buddies
Photo of a flying fish by Instagram user @jillma2sh21

Flying fish are marine oceanic fishes of the family Exocoetidae. They are about 50 species, and they live worldwide in warm waters. They are noted for their ability to glide. They are all small, with a maximum length of about 45 cm (18 inches), and have winglike, rigid fins and an unevenly forked tail.  From 1900 to the 1930s, flying fish were studied as possible models used to develop airplanes. There are at least 40 types flying fish and they can reach 37 MPH underwater. They do not fly actively: their fins do not flap. What they do is speed towards the surface and keep on going. 

Posted in artificialreef, beach, coral, coralreefs, fish, oceancleanup, oceanfacts, oceanplastic, oceanpollution, oceans, plastic, plasticpollution, recycling, reef, sustainable, underwater, waste, wisdom wednesday

Wisdom Wednesday 07/29/20

by Shore Buddies
The sargassum fish has an upturned mouth with an illium over the margin of the eyes. All frogfishes have a “lure” which is a fine antennae which stems from the top of the frogfishes head and dangles a bait-like looking appendage directly in front of the frogfish to attract prey. When frogfishes have prey in front of them they are incredibly fast to open their mouths and they suck in their prey whole, without chewing.
Posted in artificialreef, beach, coral, coralreefs, fish, oceancleanup, oceanfacts, oceanplastic, oceanpollution, oceans, plastic, plasticpollution, recycling, reef, sustainable, underwater, waste, wisdom wednesday