This page is dedicated to the ocean and marine animals, join me as I dive the depths to discover the secrets of the fascinating marine animals.Love the ocean.Protect the ocean.
Puffer Fish are probably one of the fish in the sea that shows its emotions through body language. When relaxed and calm, puffer fish has this little mouth that its shape almost suggest that it is smiling welcomingly.
But when it is provoked, it definitely will let you know that it is pissed!
I sure do envy puffer fish, if only I can puff up like a ball with poisonous spines when there is danger. Then I can get rid of my stupid protective alarm that goes off all of sudden in class, and I can throw away my pepper spray that is difficult to use in emergencies. But what if I can’t deflate myself afterwards,…hmm…anyway, the point is, the puffer fish, being small relatively, has got nature’s gift to ultimately protect itself from predators.
The puffer fish can puff up to 2-3 times its usual size! It only does that when it is put into tremendous stressful condition. Aquarium keepers are advised not to transfer a puffer fish out of water, because puffing air is much more dangerous for the fish than puffing water.
The ability to puff is very important for puffer fish because they move slowly and clumsily in the water, will not have enough time to escape from predators if they are under attack. They use their highly elastic stomachs and the ability to quickly ingest huge amount of water to turn themselves into a virtually inedible ball several times larger than their normal size. Some species have spines on their skin to make them even less palatable.
Predators that manage to snag a puffer fish before it inflates might laugh away feeling lucky, but it will not feel lucky anymore to know that almost all puffer fish contain tetrodotoxin. This substance makes them foul tasting and lethal to fish. Tetrodotoxin is deadly to human, it is up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. One puffer fish has toxin enough to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote! Don’t mess with a puffer fish.
Okay, maybe only if you are a professional.
Puffy Puffer Fish Puffs! :p
I hope all of you will get puffed up with joy and warmth in your heart and say no no to ego. This is my 10th post since November 2009 and I am absolutely thankful and happy for those who visits this page on a regular basis. With God’s grace I shall continue my little contribution to the ocean, marine animals and the nature and continue this cause for the rest of my life. May you join me as well and together we can make a difference.
p/s: I recently found out that Ellen Degeneres is actually the voice of Dory in Finding Nemo!! Silly me, took me so long to realize, but i just feel it is absolutely amazing that one of my favourite hosts is my favourite fish in cartoon!! okay, it doesn't sound right but who cares! wohoo... hehehe..... bye guys!
Hello peeps!! Hope you are out enjoying the sun! Growing up watching Disney’s cartoons, I love almost all Disney cartoons and can memorize most of them even their songs! Many of the ideas that Disney cartoon came from the nature and animals. How many kids got named after Disney characters, because their parents want them to grow up as adorable as their favourite characters. The only marine animal in the ocean that is named after a Disney character actually has the feature of the Disney character, Dumbo, which is why it is given the name Dumbo Octopus. This is how it looks like...
Dumbo Octopus
Perhaps this video can bring back sweet memories of sitting in front of TV with siblings and crying over touching story of Dumbo… =)
Unlike other species of octopus, Dumbo octopus has ear like fins which helps it moves gracefully in the deep sea, around 300-400 meters below surface. It has soft body(semi-gelatinous), which allows it to live in great depths. It swims by flapping its fins, expanding and contracting its webbed arms, or by shooting water through its funnel. All of these techniques can be used separately or simultaneously. This make them really good swimmers and escapers when under attack.
It is an octopod, which means it has 8 arms. The arms are connected to each other, close to the tip, which is called webbing. It can grow up to 8 inches. The size and the pattern of suction pads vary between the male and female Dumbo Octopus. It feeds on shrimps, small fish and worms. Dumbo octopus differs from other species by swallowing its prey as a whole.
There are 14 known species of Dumbo Octopus. They appear to live near the seabed, just above it. They can live up to 7,000 meters of depth, which is the deepest depth of any octopus.
Having found multiple eggs at various developmental stages in dissected females, they presumably lay eggs all year long instead of having a breeding season. The male Dumbo octopus has an enlarged segment on one of his arms which is used to transfer spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. Once transferred, the packets will rupture so the sperm can fertilize the eggs. The female will then lay the eggs underneath rocks and shells and leave them to fend for themselves.
The eggs are usually quite large in size and when hatched, the young are believed to be quite advanced in terms of development.
Here is videos of Dumbo octopus,
Maybe because of its name, I feel very familiar with Dumbo Octopus and think its very adorable as well.
Like Disney cartoons, we should always believe in ourselves, come what may, should never give up and keep trying, and with God’s permission, success will be rewarded. Hope everything goes well for all of you and keep believing and have faith, and most importantly, be happy… cause life is too short to ponder over things, cause the past is a history, the future is a mystery and to have you reading my post right now, is a present.
God bless all of you. Please be safe and sound. See you soon. =)
Warm greeting to everyone! The sun is shining more often here as I bring ya all for another great adventure in the sea!
As some of you enjoy water activities, when you look down to the seabed, it often seems to be uniform with stones and corals, but were there truly only corals and fish? What may be happening down there at the seabed, is far more interesting than what we can see!
The ocean is full of masters of camouflage and meet the master of camouflage of all fish, the stonefish. Stonefish is the deadliest fish in the ocean. This is the reason why you should always wear protective shoes/fins and do not touch anything with bare hands in the water. Stonefish, as its name suggest looks just like a stone, even if it is right in front of your eyes, you may find it hard to spot. It has thirteen sharp dorsal spines on its back, which each have extremely toxic venom. The venom of a stonefish can kill a human in two hours.
Stonefish commonly dwells in shallow water (about 3meters depth) although it can be found in much greater depths. They often cling to algae covered rocks where it anchors itself effectively to the seabed, merging perfectly with the background. It uses suction power to feed on fish and shrimps that passes by.
The greatest danger of being stung is when wading through the shallows, across the reef-top, and especially near the reef-edge. When walking it is a good idea to shuffle one foot in front of the other rather than to take big strides in which each foot is raised up and then placed down onto the seabed with the risk of landing on a stonefish. The shuffle motion will increase the likelihood that you scare a stonefish away from your tracks rather than precipitate its ire by descending from on high onto its potentially lethal spines.
13 spines on the back of a stonefish.
In the event that you are stung by a stonefish do not panic. Although the pain will be excruciating stonefish stings are generally not fatal. When the stonefish is trodden on, or otherwise angered, the spines lock into an erect position and poison is injected into the foot or other offending body-part. The poison itself is an unstable, high molecular weight, protein that has an effect upon muscles including respiratory and heart muscle. Early symptoms after a poisoning include :
Airways and lungs o Difficulty breathing Heart and blood o Collapse Skin o Bleeding o Severe pain at the site of the sting o Whitened colour of the area around the site of the sting o Colour of the area changes as the amount of oxygen supplying the area decreases. Stomach and intestines o Abdominal pain o Diarrhoea o Nausea o Vomiting Nervous system o Delirium o Fainting o Fever (from infection) o Headache o Muscle twitching o Seizures o Paralysis
What To Do when someone get stung by stonefish?
1. Find a source of HOT water. (NOT boiling but as hot as patient can stand without physically scalded). 2. Clean the wound, remove any debris, place the site of wound into hot water for at least an hour. (Poison denatures at temp of 50 degrees celcius in laboratory) 3. The patient should be made to lie down and the injured foot (or other body-part) should be elevated above the rest of the body 4. If potassium permanganate is available, a weak 5% solution of this can be used to wash out the wound.
Here is a video of stonefish. Enjoy!
Recently have to say goodbye to a group of friends who I get to know very well after 5 weeks of rotation. Some people you only see once in life, and wonder when you going to meet them again. It is the beauty of life to get to meet different people everyday, though its always difficult to say goodbye. I hope them well and will always keep them in my prayers. Please be safe till we meet again.
To begin my post, I would like to pay respect to Dawn Brancheau, a 40-year-old trainer in Sea World, Orlando who is the victim of the killer whale attack that happened on 24/2/10 and may you rest in peace.
Dawn Brancheau, was rubbing Tilikum from a poolside platform when the 22-foot creature grabbed her ponytail in its jaws and pulled her in. Witnesses said the whale played with Brancheau like a toy.
"He kept pushing her and poking her with his nose," said Paula Gillespie of Delaware, who saw the attack from an underwater observation point. "It looked like she was just totally caught off guard and looked like she was struggling."
Tilikum, 12,000 pound male orca in Sea World has killed 2 persons in the past and this is the third kill where the victim is her trainer who has 16 years of experience in training orcas and has dreamed of becoming a trainer since young. I suppose there are many questions going, why is Tilikum still be used in shows while she had been involved in so many deaths? Should orcas be continued to be seen in shows with people or trainers with them in the waters or should the killer whales shows be banned and released to the wild? What is Tilikum’s fate from now on? What is the public’s view on killer whales after the attack? If Tilikum is to be released into the wild, will she be alright? If the trainer is able to speak for herself, what will she want to be done to Tilikum and will she regret for being a trainer.
To find an answer and justice to all these questions, there are few things that we need to look into.
Firstly, the motive of bringing in killer whales in shows.
Killer whales are well known as malicious killers and good hunters in the sea and it take years and very risky to get a killer whale trained and to be able to perform with trainers/ audience in a live show. So why do we still do it then? Simply to plant the seed of love to the ocean and marine animals and to let people see the lovely side of the killer whales. It is very educational in help of preventing extinction and conserving the species.
Secondly, the natural interaction of orcas. The animals establish dominance and communicate their social order by slapping their tails against the water, head-butting, jaw-snapping, biting, raking (tooth-scratching), and other vigorous postures and gestures. Numerous tooth-scratch marks can be seen on this killer whale. Sometimes tooth scratches can leave a killer whale with scars, but generally these scratches are superficial and heal quickly. So, was Tilikum trying to interact/play with trainer?
Thirdly, trainers teach Tilikum how to do skills and perform in front of audiences, but did anyone teach Tilikum that killing someone is wrong? Was it properly punished and told that it was wrong and that it will result in death from the last two times it was involved in killing? Is it possible to find a way to tell her that that behaviour was wrong?
If Tilikum is to be released into the ocean, her natural habitat after many years of being in a small pool, will she ba able to cope in the ocean?
Chuck Tompkins, chief of animal training at SeaWorld parks, said that Tilikum would not survive in the wild because it has been captive for so long, and that destroying the animal is not an option either, because it is an important part of the breeding program at SeaWorld and a companion to the seven other whales there.
Brancheau's older sister, Diane Gross, said the trainer would not have wanted anything done to the whale. "She loved the whales like her children. She loved all of them," said Gross, of Schererville, Ind. "They all had personalities, good days and bad days."
In a profile in the Orlando Sentinel in 2006, Brancheau acknowledged the dangers, saying: "You can't put yourself in the water unless you trust them and they trust you."
A trip to SeaWorld at age 9 instilled a desire in her to work with marine animals. She attended the University of South Carolina and majored in psychology, but got a job at a New Jersey park after graduation, working with dolphins and sea lions. She was hired at SeaWorld in Orlando in 1994.
This is a video i found on youtube, In Memory of Dawn Brancheau.
My personal view on this is, Tilikum has spent most of his life in the pool. We do not know what does Tilikum want for himself. Although we think that Tilikum might not survive if it is let free to the ocean, we shall give it a try. Orcas are meant to be in the big oceans with clans of same species and migratory animals, years of being in a small pool has taken away his freedom and his ability as an orca. Although it might require lots of human resource and money to bring him back to the ocean and monitor his progress and adaptation in the ocean, nevertheless, we must remember years of service he gave to Seaworld and countless entertainment and educational purpose he served us.
As for the killings he had committed, I think it should be treated as an accident and more improvement in terms of safety should be done. Such as special designed diving suits with emergency oxygen supply or a hit button that can fill the diving suit with air and makes it float. Build a railing on the shallow deck while dealing with orcas.
The ocean and marine animals are unpredictable in nature. I believe all marine lovers realize that. From the day I become a scuba diver, I know the risks it involve and know that some dismays are inevitable. But for the love for the ocean and marine animals, I take the risk and will not blame anyone or anything if any accidents or dismay happen to me while I am diving. I believe that Dawn feels the same as well and will not blame
Tilikum or Seaworld for this accident to happen. May the fate of Tilikum be as Dawn’s wish. May her spirit lives on and be happy surrounded by angels and God.
I hereby send my condolences to the family members of victims of tsunami and earthquake in Chile and other places involved. May God shine the light of hope to you.
Please leave comments and thoughts in chatbox at bottom of page. Thank you.
The Irukandji Jellyfish (Carukia barnesi) inhabits waters of Australia. This is a deadly jellyfish, which is only 2.5 centimeters (with bell and tentacles) in diameter, which makes it difficult to spot.
The term Irukandji refers to an Australian Aboriginal tribe that inhabited the Palm Cove region of northern Queensland where the Irukandji syndrome, produced by the irukandji stings poison, occurs most often.This is a species of jellyfish that has been known about in recent years, due to deaths of swimmers in Australia.
The jellyfish itself was identified in 1964 by Dr. Jack Barnes.
Irukandji has stingers not only on its tentacles but also on its bell.
Irukandji is very small and fragile, it cannot be kept in a normal aquarium because if they hit the side the impact will kill it. It is very fragile yet very deadly!
Irukandji syndrome symptoms:
The initial sting is typically mild and is followed, minutes to hours later, by vomiting, profuse sweating, headache, agitation, rapid heart rate and very high blood pressure and the worst pain throughout the body. The increase in blood pressure may be life-threatening and can be associated with abnormal heart beat and heart failure. The symptoms may last from hours to several days, and victims usually require hospitalisation. The survival depends on whether the body can withhold the shooting high blood pressure. There is no antidote for the venom of irukandji, the treatment is symptomatic. This includes giving IV morphine(still cant relief the pain some victims ecperience), alpha-blockers, fluids.
Irukandji attack prevention
Lycra stinger suits.
Some beaches erect enclosures ,stinger nets, but Irukandji can still filter through the net. Take the right precautions, you can take steps to minimize the exposure and still enjoy all the wonderful beauty of the reef. Talk to specialised dive operators for further advice. Please remember to get out of the waters if you feel tiny bits of sting and see nothing.
Here is another video of Irukandji attack. Enjoy.
Lastly, I would love to wish all divers and snorkelers around the world to be in the waters safely and have wonderful experience in the sea.
Thank you.
Please leave comments and thoughts in the chatbox at the bottom of page.
I would love to see things change, in the favour of our precious marine animals. Allow me to plant the seed of love for the ocean in your heart and share with you that there are so much more about the ocean apart from being big and blue. Join me for more adventures! Love the ocean. Protect the ocean.
The ocean and marine animals are suffering in silence. It needs help from us. Hopefully through understanding, it can help reduce harm to them. I hope you will love the ocean and make your life as exciting and meaningful as much as it has done for me. Love The Ocean. Protect The Ocean.
Puffer Fish are probably one of the fish in the sea that shows its emotions through body language. When relaxed and calm, puffer fish has this little mouth that its shape almost suggest that it is smiling welcomingly.
