Puffer Fish

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.

Love the Ocean. Protect the Ocean.

For more information, please visit:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/pufferfish.html

http://www.pufferfish.net/

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!

Just keep flapping...flapping...flapping

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. =)

Love The Ocean. Protect The Ocean.

For more information, visit :

http://www.deepseamonsters.com/component/content/article/63-dumbo-octopus.html


http://www.brighthub.com/environment/science-environmental/articles/62036.aspx


http://www.brighthub.com/environment/science-environmental/articles/62036.aspx#ixzz0jlsbmFWw

Stone with Eyes?

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.

Love The Ocean. Protect The Ocean.

For more information, visit :

http://www.australianfauna.com/stonefish.php
http://arabianwildlife.uaeinteract.com/archive/vol2.1/stone.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002854.htm