Shore Buddies webblog
Wisdom Wednesday 07/22/20
Sea otters need to constantly fuel their little bodies to keep up with their constant energy output, and typically eat around a quarter of their weight in food on a daily basis. Humans generally eat between three and four pounds of food each day. If you weigh 140 pounds, that’d be like you eating around 34 pounds of food every day. 34 pounds is equal to somewhere around 74 of the average six-inch subs from Subway.
Wisdom Wednesday 07/15/20
With this species, the male assumes all parental responsibilities and will incubate and protect hundreds of tiny eggs in his mouth for about 10 days until the babies hatch. To mix and aerate their eggs, males occasionally partially spit out and quickly suck clutches back in, a behavior known as churning. This extra special care results in more fry surviving the crucial first days of life.
Wisdom Wednesday 07/01/20
These mysterious creatures have been known to be more populous than the ever-abundant Krill in certain seas. The creature is able to move by pumping water through its body, and they imply feed on small particles in the water column. Since there is an abundance of ocean particles, they never need to look for food.
Wisdom Wednesday 6/24/20
Humpback Whales are known to be one of the most playful and acrobatic whales on earth. Of all cetaceans, the Humpback Whale seems to be the most athletic, impressing observers with breaching, spy hopping and other playful behaviours. They can be seen laying on their side "pec slapping", raising their large pectoral fins straight out of the water and slapping it hard against the surface. They are often seen swimming like this, passing vessels close by, but ignoring them.
Wisdom Wednesday 6/17/20
Not much is known about the Cusk Eel due to its elusive nature and deep water habitats. What we do know is this eel is mesmerizing in appearance. Not many have been spotted being of how deep they live, but when one is spotted it is fast to dart away into the dark waters. Looking at their lineage, Cusk Eels aren't actually eels (they have ventral fins, which in true eels are typically missing or underdeveloped) but were given their name as a nod to their snake-like appearance.
Wisdom Wednesday 6/10/20
The Harlequin Shrimp is a small but vividly colored resident of the coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific. The species only grows to about 5cm (2 inches) long. Thanks to their brightly patterned shells, they are sometimes also called painted shrimp or clown shrimp. They can also be recognized because of their large flattened claws. They may stay in monogamous male-female couples over relatively long periods of time. The mated pairs share territory and prey – and they have been noted to be territorial against other shrimp. Once the pair finds a suitable home within the reef, they are known to stay within the area for months or even years. The pair mate after a female molts, and can produce anywhere from 100 to 5,000 eggs per breeding season.
Wisdom Wednesday 6/3/20
And maybe the most bizarre fact of all.. One individual tiger shark found itself in the middle of a murder mystery! In April 1935, Coogee Aquarium in Sydney, Australia was looking for a big fish to occupy its newly-built pool. On a fishing trip off Coogee beach, Bert Hobson snared a 13-foot tiger shark for the aquarium. The shark was a big hit at the aquarium, but it didn’t last very long. Seven days after its arrival, it got sick and vomited up a bird, a rat, some nasty-looking brown goo—and a human arm, which had a rope tied around its wrist and a forearm tattoo of two boxers. An amateur boxer named James Smith had recently gone missing, and he had the exact same tattoo on one arm.
Wisdom Wednesday 5/27/20
All seven species of sea turtles are listed as threatened or endangered. This is a reflection of the growing issues surrounding coastal development and ocean conservation. To help ensure that sea turtles have a future in our oceans, the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center™ aids sick and injured sea turtles in partnership with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR).
Wisdom Wednesday 5/20/20
Sea robins are good swimmers but they also can use their pectoral fins to “walk” along the bottom of the ocean, looking for prey. The sensitive fins let the fish feel things they encounter and they can be used to move and manipulate small objects. It also uses its head as a shovel to dig down and uncover small sea creatures to eat. Sea robins will eat just about anything they can find, including segmented worms, crustaceans, shrimp, squid and mollusks. Sea robins vibrate their swim bladders to make a croaking sound that is easy to hear when the fish are lifted out of the water. They head for the bottom and quickly burrow into the sand when threatened, leaving only their eyes and a bit of their heads exposed.
Wisdom Wednesday 5/13/20
“The Marine Mammal Center has been conducting research on marine mammal diseases since 1975. Because animals in our care offer a unique opportunity to perform blood and tissue analyses, The Marine Mammal Center has become a leading resource for researchers and scientists to turn to for answers about marine mammal care, medicine and health data. Every marine mammal patient we treat provides a never-before-seen glimpse into human medical conditions.”
Shore Buddies supports rescued wildlife during the COVID-19 shutdown. Many animal care facilities are struggling with providing continuous care for their patients. Shore Buddies decided to partner with 4x organizations and DONATE 100% of PROFITS for the treatment of those animals in these troubling times. One of those organizations is The Marine Mammal Center! Every purchase of Sammy the Seal goes to helping these seals!
Wisdom Wednesday 5/06/20
Tasmanian Blenny fish are odd looking fish that bring joy to the reefs with a large head, a blunt snout with a steep profile, and a large frilled tentacle over each eye. Tasmanian Blennies are pale brownish to dark brown or bluish-grey with a pattern of irregular bars and blotches on the sides, and two dark bars radiating from below the eye.
Wisdom Wednesday 4/29/20
It’s not a jellyfish! The Portuguese Man o’ War may look like a bloated jellyfish, but it’s actually a siphonophore—a bizarre group of animals that consist of colonies made up of dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of genetically-identical individual creatures.