A Cold Day in Florida

Hi, sorry I've not been posting recently. We have been having relatives over almost all December. Yesterday was the only time that I have been on our beaches, and it was too cold to look for long. It felt like my ears were about to be frozen solid, here in Florida! The only animal I saw was a tunicate that was washed up on shore, and I put him back. There were no good shells and not much trash (it had rained a lot a few days ago, and it got windy). So we came back earlier than our usual two hour walk. This is the first time since I have moved down to Sarasota that it was this cold.

Devil Rays II

On the ninth of December, my sister, Valerie, my mom, and I went to Lido to go swimming and to let Valerie try her new surfboard on the flat, clear water. I was looking in the water and I found a tiny black seahorse. As I was walking out to bring it in deeper water, two boys stopped me and asked what I had. I told them that it was a seahorse. Then they asked if they could "see" it. I opened my cupped hands and one of them snatched it right out of my hands and was moving it around out of the water! I was speechless. Then my mom came over and explained to them that it needed to be in the water, then they finally gave it back. They kept asking me if they could "hold" it as I walked to a patch of sea grass in deeper water. Almost as soon as I got back, I found a tiny nudibranch in some seaweed. It was mostly tan, but it had blue and yellow on it too. By now, Valerie made another friend who was from Oklahoma. So she swam and talked to him the whole two hours we were there. A while after I had put the nudibranch out a bit further, a small group of devil rays swam a few feet from my mom and I. There were more than last time I saw them. They swam back and forth, eating the tiny fish that were there. The two boys I saw earlier where trying to catch them without any success. I got within a few inches from them at one point. As I watched them, I noticed that one of them had a scar the shape of a jellyfish, and one had no tail. Sometimes they would swim out deeper and jump out of the water! My mom estimated that some were jumping three feet out of the water. Valerie's friend got suctioned by one on the leg and it left a red mark. I don't know how it happened, they are not usually aggressive. He said that it bit him (even though it couldn't) and would not go back in the water for a long time. After a while, the people found out that they had no stingers, and went in the water. So the devil rays swam into deeper water. As I watched them, three jumped out of the water twice. It was a fun trip.

Dissecting a Dogfish ( And Finding a Hook)

Today, my sister and I got to dissect a dog fish for our science. We got to see the inside of the shark, and we were looking at what it ate, and mine had a piece of fishing line with two hooks on it! I guess it was part of one of those really long lines with hundreds of hooks on them which animals get tangled in. I am going to keep it so I can remember that I found it inside a dog fish. I will hopefully get some pictures on here that my mom took.

Shark Eye Shells

Varieties of Neverita Duplicata

Neverita duplicata, or shark eyes, are a kind of snail that live in the shells shown above. I have honestly never seen a live one, but I have lots of empty shells that I find on the beach. They come in a variety of sizes and colors like the big one on the top left, and the small one on the lower right. Or the striped one on the top right. The most common colors are the colors that the top left one, and the lower left one have. The striped one is the only striped shark eye I have seen.

Mote Summit

A few weeks ago, I went to a summit at the Mote. It started with an introduction where you wrote down something that you wanted to do to help the oceans. I wrote about a documentary that I am planning on making. Then I went to four different groups to learn about something. The first one was about making art with trash like what I do with some of the trash that I find on the beach. The second group was about marketing and money, like that some companies will say that they are green and good for the environment, but green is a color and not all the thing that say they are green are really green. Then I went to the thirdgroup that talked about branding, not what some people might do to cows, but about brands and the mistakes that some branders make. The last one was about marine debris, and the effects that fishing line has on marine life.

Big Trash

Last week, my mom and I decided to take a walk on the beach after coming back from Save Our Seabirds. When we got there, we saw lots of birds flying around the water. At the wall where we usually walk to, I saw an Atlantic stingray. On the way back, I noticed something by the dunes. I was ahead of my mom, so I went to see what it was. It was a big, heavy pile of old wire and rope. It was just sitting there, so I picked it up and brought it along with me. It was heavy and bulky, I passed lots of people and they looked over, but they did or said nothing. My mom caught up and helped me with it the rest of the way back. While I was doing that, I got inspired to make a documentary about the trash on the beach. I have not thought of a name yet. I will probably ask my sister, Courtney who likes to video tape movies but not be in them, to film the movie.

the trash pile

Another Trip to Lido

Last Saturday, my mom and I went for a walk on the beach. While we where walking, we saw a big school of fish that the laughing gulls were eating. The fish would jump out of the water every now and then. We walked for a while and then we saw a pod of Bottlenose dolphins. They were closer to shore than we usually saw them, but not close enough to get stranded. Two boats where coming near the dolphins, one turned off his motor and watched them a while before leaving away from them. The other boat just sped on through, it did not seem to be watching out for the dolphins. There where adult dolphins and dolphin calves. We walked down the beach some more, and we were keeping up with the dolphins until they left. My mom took a video of the dolphins and one jumped out of the water while she was filming. When we were leaving, we saw a young snowy plover limping on one leg. My mom said I should catch it and bring it to Save Our Seabirds, a bird hospital. But when I went to catch it, it ran away on two legs and flew off!

Red Tide

Last weekend, we were going out to a beach that we go to a lot because it has sharks teeth, and lots of fish that you can see very well with some goggles. When we got there, fish and eels where all over the shore and the water was reddish brown. The air smelled different than it usually does. So we tried to make the best of it. We would wade in a few steps from shore, and we walked around looking for shells. After a while, my mom said that the air was not very good. So we left to another beach up north where we have not been yet, it was Turtle Beach. We got there, and as usual my little sister Valerie, made friends almost instantly. The water was flat and the only animals we saw where one laughing gull, one crow, one egret, a few fish, and a lot of fighting conchs. The only one of us that enjoyed it there was Valerie. So we went home and maybe next time we can find a good beach to go to.

The Horse Conch

Last Sunday, I went in a walk down the beach with my mom again. We saw a school of fish that birds like laughing gulls, where waiting for them to come close to the surface of the water so they could get them easier. On the way back, we saw something big and dark brown in the water. We went over and found out that it was a horse conch. it's shell was dark brown, but itself was bright orange. I took it out deeper and let it go. As usual, I got some trash, but not as much as usual, and the trash cans where so full that trash from the trash cans fell out. The biggest piece of trash that I found was a brown bottle in the water. We could not walk all the way down the beach to the wall that we usually go to because my dad was going to a plant sale that day, or I probably would have found more trash that day. The picture is of a laughing gull. I did not take this picture at the beach, we did not bring a camera again.

The Lowery Park Zoo

A few days ago, we went to the Lowery Park Zoo. They had lots of animals, but my favorites where the stingrays. I even got to feed them. I fed them squid and shrimp, and you hold them between your fingers with your hand flat. When they get it, it feels a little bit like a vaccume. You can pet them with two fingers on their fins. They had cownose rays, yellow stingrays, Southern stingrays, and maybe some others that did not come to the edge. We also got to see a diver cleaning a manatee tank.

The Florida Aquarium

The other day we took a trip to The Florida Aquarium. They had lots of animals like cownose rays, leafy sea dragons, and sand tiger sharks. There is also a lot to do there. The video I took was of some leafy sea dragons, and the photo is of two pompanos.

Southern Stingray

This is a video of some southern stingrays. Southern stingrays are sometimes put into touch tanks. Stingrays have a barb on their tail, but they won't sting you unless they feel threatened. They prefer to stay near the ocean floor, rather than swimming around like cownose rays or manta rays.

Devil Rays I

A few days ago, my sister and I went to Lido beach to play in the waves. But the waves where very small, so we floated around on our surf boards and looked into the water. Just a few feet from us, a small group of devil rays swam past. Then another passed us and I got a good look at it. Devil rays look a lot like miniature manta rays. It was really neat.

Cleaning Up

Whenever I go to the beach, I pick up as mush trash as I can. Animals can get hurt on trash or mistake it for food. The photo was taken a few weeks ago when we took a short trip to the beach, and my mom suggested that I empty my trash in the trash can before we left

Crab Tracks

We found these tracks while coming in from a long day at the beach. We are pretty sure that they are crab tracks going in and out from its little home. We are not sure what species it is because it never came out of its hole.

Saving the Animals

Today, we decided to go to Venice beach again. So we packed up all of our shell collecting equipment (which meant that we brought shell bags, buckets, and sifters) and headed out to the beach. When we got there, there was a tide pool that might have been a mile long! A couple of my sisters and I went out to the ocean with a bucket to catch tiny fish that where swimming under the big clumps of seaweed. We were to release them after we kept them for a while. We found puffer fish, damsel like fish, and a whole lot of other fish. Then we went to the tide pool where we found a really neat octopus. We also found tons of conchs and hermit crabs. While my sisters checked the rest of the tide pool, I went to rescue the conchs and hermit crabs that where trapped in the tide pool.  I saw a lady walking by with a grocery bag bulging full of live snails, hermit crabs, and clams. My mom said that I should tell her that they were alive and ask if she planned to release them. So I walked up to her and asked her. I could not understand her that well, but I could make out something like that she was taking them to her children. I went back to my mom. I was very sad that the animals would be unnecessarily killed. So I rounded up my sisters that had the bucket and told them the story. Then I asked them to help me rescue the animals "On the double!" So everyone in my family went to help the animals except my youngest sister. She was busy with her new friends. Then one of my sisters went around asking other kids to help the stranded animals. Some of the animals we rescued were conchs, hermit crabs, sea squirts, clams, crabs, small fish, and even a sea horse. As we worked, we could tell that the tide pool was shrinking and was getting hotter. Most of the animals we were finding where not alive anymore. The water was too hot for the animals. We probably saved more than half of the animals, and as we worked, more people came to help. But sadly, I left my camera at home again.

Venice

A few days ago, I went to Venice beach with my family. As we set up our area, we saw something that had washed up on shore. It turned out to be a really neat marine animal called a nudibranch. We put it back in the water to safety. Then I went out for a walk with my sisters on the beach where we found lots more nudibranchs, stranded on the shore. We found black ones, brown ones, and little ones. The nudibranchs that we found where not the venomous kind. So we could pick them up safely. A neat fact about nudibranchs is that they produce a purple ink when they are threatened. We also saw a blue crab run across the beach into the water. We went swimming for a while, and we found a lot of fish. I did not have my camera with me so I could not take photos of the animals I saw that day. Next time, I will bring my camera.

Short Spined Sea Urchin

This is a short spined sea urchin that was found washed up on Lido beach. I found it on its back in a tide pool. I released him far from shore so he would not wash up again.

Homeschool Day at the MOTE

I have been participating in the MOTE homeschool  program.  Here are some of the highlights from the March program.

Weirdest fact: Lion's Mane Jellyfish can get as big as a car.

Grosses fact: Sea horses have no stomachs, so they have to eat often. Sometimes the process is so fast, their food comes out alive after they eat it.

Most helpful fact: If you get stung by a sea nettle, wash it with salt water and pick off the tentacles using tweezers. If it still hurts, wash it with vinegar.

Favorite Part: My favorite parts of that day were getting to go behind the scenes, visiting the touch tanks, and going into the estuary again.

Best Find: My best finds in the estuary were a tongue fish, a pipe fish, and a shrimp. Someone else’s best find was a big shrimp and a Sea Hare.