University Discoveries

Hi Sea Fans!

Man, I've been having problems posting on my blog!  Let's hope this works...

So now that I've managed to sort through some of my photos, I can tell you more.  I got to visit Dr David Caron in his lab at the University of Southern California.  He studies harmful algae!

Dr Caron showed me some of the weird and wonderful things he looks ta every day under the microscope.

Here are some of the interesting organisms that Dr Caron gets to study:

The green picture is a picture of the organisms found in a red tide and the orange picture at the bottom is a mix of phytoplankton.  (Remember: Plankton is a huge number of small plants and animals that float in a big group in salt or fresh water.  The plant plankton is called phytoplankton and the animal plankton is called zooplankton).

Dr Caron and his students are figuring out what increases algal blooms (massive growth of tiny plant life) and the impacts of the blooms along the coast of Southern California.  11 science centres and aquariums are helping Dr Caron to monitor the algae.  Sounds odd, but check out the website to find out more: http://dornsife.usc.edu/labs/caron/gallery/index.cfm

Enjoy poking around the algae world Sea Fans, it's amazing what beautiful things can be found in the sea and you can only see them when you look through a microscope!

Chat soon.
Cheers
Abby
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Want to have fun on Father's Day?

Hi Sea Fans!

Whilst I wade through the photos I've been taking over the last few weeks in California and decide which the best ones are to show you, here's something I've been promising for a long time...the Abby Geocache!  For those of you who don't know what a geocache is, it's like a treasure hunt.

Get your dad (or the whole family) and a GPS, pack a picnic and a camera and get ready for some outdoor fun.  All you need to do is get your dad to show you how to work the GPS and you're "A for away".  I'll give GPS points and you need to find your way to them to discover the answers to the clues that I give. We'll start with the Cape Peninsula and then see how we go from there.  Here are your "In and around Cape Town" GPS points and clues:

S 34°02’57.0”

E 018°20’46.8”

Who are the world leading grazers?

Name 3 types of mussels found off this coastline.

Name the 5 West Coast Intertidal zones.

S 34°03’33.5”

E 018°22’04.2”

What kind of whale can you see here?

What kind of shape is it's blow and how high can it blow?

What does IWC stand for?

S 34°10’38.2”

E 018°20’40.0”

What number do you call to report poachers?

What are "no take areas"?

What does TMNP MPA stand for?

S 34°13’58.8”

E 018°28’26.6”

Is a permit needed to collect seaweed?

Who are the filter feeders in the infratidal zone?

What do MPA's protect?

S 34°11’45.0”

E 018°26’58.0”

Which penguin species are found here?

Where do you find Chinstrap Penguins?

Which penguins come from South America?

S 34°11’15.7”

E 018°25’34.7”

What kind of plants are used to create new foredunes?

Which 2 factors continually reshape the dunes? 

How is pollution monitored on sandy beaches?

S 34°09’24.3”

E 018°26’06.4”

Name 3 things baleen was used for in the past?

Name 3 fossil oil products that have replaced most whale products.

Name 2 predators of the baleen whale.

S 34°08’20.0”

E 018°25’55.4”

Which shark is protected in SA waters? 

Which shark can sense electrical signals better than all other sharks?

Explain the colours of the shark spotting flags:

- Green flag 

-      Black flag 

-       Red flag

-    White flag 

S 34°07’45.0”

E 018°26’52.7”

Which fish species are threatened and why?

Name 3 deep sea fish found off this coastline.

Name 3 beach and estuarine fish found off this coastline.

S 34°06’29.5”

E 018°28’13.3”

How often does high tide occur in 1 day?

What causes tides?
When is the best time to explore the rock pools?

So come on Sea Fans, get Dad out and about for Father's Day and see what you can find.  Send your pics of each location and the answers to abby@telkomsa.net (before 17 July) and stand a chance to win an Abby hamper that includes the first two books of her adventures.

Enjoy it and chat soon.
Abby
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Crafts!

Hi Sea Fans!

So I've been thinking, with all my travels so far, I haven't managed to give you guys any crafty stuff lately.  I can't do that now, can I?  So here are some ideas for you to get creative:

Glass ball with decoration.

Why not have a Christmas in July party and decorate glass balls now (ready for Dec!).  Jellyfish and an octopus would be great decorations on these balls...maybe you could even try a fish and use the ball as the body and stick lips and fins on to make it look like a real puffer fish!

Penguin spoon puppet.

What about a puppet show using spoons?  This little penguin was so easy to make - a little bit of cardboard for wings, a little bit of felt for the beak and feet, and ring binder rings for the eyes.  So simple and you could come up with so many more animals and then build a playhouse out of a shoe box and put on a show!

Felt finger puppets.

If you don't like the spoon puppets, then how about felt finger puppets?  All you need is a strip of felt to make a ring around the tip of your finger and then an oval for the penguin body and small pieces for the details.  You can also make a fish shape, an octopus, a shark face, a turtle...the options are endless!

Recycling anyone?

Better yet, why not make something out of the recycle bin?  Bottles can also become fish, bottle caps can become playing pieces for a board game, plastic bags can be woven into placemats, old fishing line can be used to make necklaces and bracelets and ....there are so many possibilities, see what you can come up with and send me a photo of your idea at abby@telkomsa.net.  Maybe your project will be featured on my blog!  Teachers, why not try this as a school project?

Happy crafting Sea Fans!

Cheers

Abby

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California Science Centre

Hi Sea Fans!

The Californian fun continues...this time I went to the California Science Centre in Los Angeles and got to see what the divers there get up to.

The first thing I got to do was chat to Phil and Gwen as they were getting ready to go into the Kelp Forest exhibit.  To qualify to dive they are certified as research divers and follow special procedures for the Science Center. As trained scuba divers they know that diving safely includes diving with a partner.  

Gwen and Phil posing for a photo with me before their dive.

Phil wore a special mask to be able to talk to the visitors from inside the tank. 

The divers' responsibilities vary.  That day Phil chatted with the visiting school students while Gwen cleaned up the rockwork.  

Gwen cleaning the rockwork.

It was interesting, the students wanted to know if it was dangerous to dive and if the divers were scared - I guess you would think it's scary if you've never experienced the amazing underwater world on SCUBA.  

I got to say hi to Gwen in her break.

After the school groups finished Gwen and Phil went back up topside to prepare for feeding.  Aquarist, Mark, brought out the food that was prepared ahead of time, and fed some of the schooling fish from the top of the exhibit.  Gwen hid vitamins in the food for the Trigger fish before going back in the water. 

The big fish in front of the diver is the Trigger.

Special containers are designed to make sure that the food is distributed properly  (spread out evenly).  Some of the methods used are: shakers, floats and feeding wands.

A float in action.

Many fish schooled around and ate from the float full of frozen shrimp. I've made ice buckets with frozen food attached to floats before and the fish just love it!  This is a good way to make sure that the food lasts in the tank for a while and everyone gets to eat, not just the big fish.

So, if you'd like to know more Sea Fans, you can visit the California Science Center website at www.californiasciencecenter.org/ and if you're curious about their kelp exhibit, you can check out YouTube:

How part of the Kelp Tank was made:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CalScience?ob=0#p/u/31/AmGJUprvMCo

The Curator, Dr. Chuck, talking about the Kelp Exhibit (pre-opening):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhod6D_gP3c

a video about life support in ecosystems:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CalScience?ob=0#p/u/34/nuOC3YXMFj8

Curator, Dr. Chuck talking about the Kelp Tank specifically:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CalScience?ob=0#p/u/30/gCQJobz2U6U

So have fun surfing the net Sea Fans and let me know if you have any questions or comments.  

Have a great week.

Cheers!

Abby

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Santa Monica, California

Hi Sea Fans!

California is a blast!  I've been having so much fun and there's still so much more to see and do.  Check out my visit to Santa Monica Pier Aquarium:

I got to help out with the food preparation.

 Food prep (Preparation) is one of the most important parts of the day, each animal needs to be fed a specific diet and it needs to be just the right size, otherwise you can have animals starving because they can't fit the food into their mouths!  Some animals, like the seahorses, jellyfish and corals get live food (plankton) but others get dead food.

Tricky working with such a big knife, but it was fun.

Smaller fish get tiny chopped up pieces of food and big fish get bigger chunks.  Some fish are vegetarians or HERBIVORES and they only eat plants so the aquarist needs to feed them plants like Ulva (sea lettuce) or nori (seaweed - like the one you use for sushi but no flavourant, colourant or roasting is allowed, just DRIED).

I got to see all the exhibits inbetween getting some work done too!

The aquarists let me follow them around when they did their daily rounds to check on the animals.  It's really important to check on your animals EVERY day...it makers it a lot easier to pick up on any problems if there are any.

The moray eel seemed to like me! : )

Jose, my host at the aquarium, took me out on the boat to collect organisms like giant kelp.

Jose allowing me to sit in front of him whilst he skippered (drove the boat).

Lucky dip!

Kelp.

After the collection trip, we bumped into some children on the beach.  They were fascinated when they found out that I had come all the way from South Africa!

 I got so cold on the boat that we decided to have a warm up session (any excuse to enjoy a bit of the sunshine and scenery!) by going to Flat Rock in Palos Verdes to check out the rock pools for crabs and snails.

Cool sunglasses, don't you think?

Enjoying the view.

So all in all, it was some good fun and I got to see some more of American aquarist life.  Join me next time for my adventures with the divers at the California Science Centre.

Have a great week Sea Fans!
Cheers
Abby
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Looking for interesting topics for school projects?

Hi Sea Fans!

Are you stuck for a topic for your next project or speech at school?  Well, why not have a look at the list of previous blogs that I've stored away and choose something amazing from the marine/aquarium world!
You can check the more recent blogs out on the right hand side of the blog screen and if you don't find anything there, check out my blog from the 13 March 2012 and the list below.  If you'd like access to any of them, all you have to do is mail me at abby@telkomsa.net and I'll get the one you want to you ASAP! 

• Baby crayfish
• Crocs
• Fish head
• Humans waddling for penguins (Don't forget, if you're in SA, the humans are going to waddle again this year to make people more aware of the plight of the penguin.  16 - 21 April - be there!  Check out www.penguinpromises.com)
• Marine Biodiversity at the Expo
• My update Nov 2011
• Stinky

So get creative, get reading and have fun with your next project!!

Have a great weekend Sea Fans!

Cheers

Abby

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Hatfield Marine Science Centre

Hi Sea Fans!


Here's the next bit of my Oregon adventures:


DAY 3:

Hey, the weather has changed.  All that nice warm sunlight from yesterday has been replaced by clouds, wind, and rain.  Gene says this is normal for the Oregon coast... hmmm, not sure I like this weather.

When we arrived at Hatfield, which is just around the corner from the aquarium, the first thing I saw was this really cool one-person submarine and I ran right over and climbed on top to pose for a photo.

Then Gene pointed out the sign...all I can say is, OOPS! (Sorry, I'll read before I act next time!)

Once inside the centre, I was fascinated by this contraption that looked like a bunch of huge construction hats connected together.  It turned out that they were floats attached to a thing called a "rumbleometer".  It was used to study underwater volcanoes off the coast of Oregon.  

Then I got my picture taken with Gene standing next to a poster that shows the wingspan of an albatross.  Gene is 6 foot 8, and the bird has a wingspan of 6 foot 10.  I suddenly felt very small.  I think I'm going to have to write a blog just on the albatross...it's an amazing bird that spends most of its time in the sky.

Many of the displays at Hatfield highlight the research being done by scientists at Oregon State University.

Here I am checking out oyster research that is taking place in Yaquina Bay here in Newport.

When we left Hatfield we walked a couple of blocks down to the pier where OSU’s research vessels are docked.  

We saw the R/V Wecoma.  She's about to be retired.

Gene tells me that just two days after I left Newport there was quite a fuss made when Dr. Hanshumaker went diving under the hull of the replacement ship and found an invasive species of barnacle that is not normally found in Yaquina Bay.  Fortunately scientists quickly found out that this barnacle couldn’t survive and reproduce in the bay (shew!  Invasive species can be a real problem, have a look at the Blue Mussel that's made its way down to South Africa, it's taking over the Black Mussel's home).

My last stop on my visit to Oregon was the beautiful Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  Built on a 65 million year-old lava flow back in 1873, the lighthouse is still in service.  Its light is perched 52 m above the ocean and can be seen more than 30 km out to sea.  It had been misty and drizzling all morning, but as we headed north to the lighthouse the wind started to blow hard and the rain was really coming down, so when we got to Yaquina Head, I chose the easy option (I didn't want to get all wet!) and chose to look at the lighthouse from the car window.

Tomorrow I head to the airport to fly to Santa Monica, California.  I hear the weather is warmer and sunny down there.  I enjoyed my visit to Oregon, but I am ready for some of that famous California beach time.  Thanks Gene, I had a great time!  J

Chat soon Sea Fans!
Abby
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