photo by Cheryl Moorehead
Walking the beach you may be lucky enough to find an intact sand dollar. These are the bleached exoskeleton of dead animals. What do you know about live sand dollars?
Notice the five-rayed star on the top of your sand dollar. Sand dollars are echinoderms, related to sea stars and sea urchins. Like all echinoderms, their bodies are based on five-part symmetry (watch our video on the body plan of these animals: Five part symmetry).
You may remember seeing an anglerfish in the movie Finding Nemo. It definitely made an impression on us.
Learn more about how the freaky Anglerfish lures is prey.
If you have ever looked at a chiton glued tightly to a rock, you might have wondered about its life. This well-armored creature’s body is covered by an overlapping eight-part shell (called shell valves), which protects its soft molluscan body.
Glass sponges get their name from their spicules built from silica – glass. Sponges don’t have skeletons like ours; instead they have spicules, which are the structural components like bricks. The glass sponge’s design has intrigued engineers who want to understand how they build glass structures of such strength.
Watching water striders skimming on the water is mesmerizing. People call these bugs many names based on how they move on the water: water striders, water skippers, pond skaters, water skeeters, water skippers, and even Jesus bugs (because these bugs do walk on the water).
The giant hydrothermal vent tubeworms aren’t called “extremophiles” (they live in extreme environments) for no reason. Colonies of these tubeworms live on hydrothermal vents spewing hot, mineral-rich water that, in some places, can reach an astounding 350 degrees Celsius (660 degrees Fahrenheit).
The climate crisis is impacting so many beloved and iconic animals including penguins. Everything we read sounds dire for many penguin species.
A new scientific study “found that if climate change continues at its current rate, emperor penguins could virtually disappear by the year 2100 due to loss of Antarctic sea ice.
Climate Crisis and the American Lobster
The American lobster, an icon for our seafood in the U.S., may be in trouble because of climate change. How is this coveted epicurean pleasure threatened?
Warming water appear to be particularly impacting the early life stages of American lobster. Before they're even able to move to cooler waters, Larval and juvenile lobsters, even more sensitive to water temperatures, don't stand a chance as they're too young to move to cooler waters.
One of the most popular and most photographed exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is the beautiful mesmerizing ballet of sea nettles. The Pacific sea nettle, Chrysaora fuscescens, lives in coastal waters from Alaska to California, to Japan, Kamchatka, the Aleutian Islands, and the Bering Sea. With their long, trailing tentacles these jellies are large: their bells are about 17.7 inches (45 cm) in diameter, mouth-arms from 12 to 15 feet (3.6 to 4.6 m) long. The frilly mouth-arms and tentacles are covered with stinging cells, called nematocysts.
Ranging 2”to 9’ feet, earthworms move miles and miles of earth for us. As children, many of us discovered earthworms while playing in the dirt. We either loved them or thought they were gross—but, their role on our planet is undeniably essential. Earthworms are very important recyclers—a role Charles Darwin recognized. In fact, his last published book in 1881 was about earthworm behavior and ecology.
Earthworms are decomposers: they eat and break down dead plant and animal material in the soil. As they burrow, ingest dirt and poop, they turn the soil and put nutrients back into it.