Chalk Out of Seashells

Over the years many animals have been affected by the trash in the ocean. The trash can affect the animals by making animals eat and pick up plastic, by trapping animals in a net, and by cutting their wounds. The trash is causing animals to die, mainly from the plastic objects and from getting cut by trash or by getting stuck in the trash. Some animals mistake plastic for food. When the animals eat the plastic their organs can get ruptured. In addition to that, animals mistake plastic for food because the plastic smells like krill (a small fish that is found in the ocean, and a fish that is eaten by some animals). Another reason why animals die is because of ghost gear. Ghost gear is what people call fishing supplies that were thrown into

Turtles are one of the oldest reptile groups. They are classified as amniotes. They have existed a long time ago, which means they have seen the rise and fall of the dinosaurs and the rise of humanity. Scientists think that turtles have existed for around 157 million years (mosaic 29). Approximately, sea turtles were 65 million years ago (Dobbs 1). This family has survived the passage of time and is threatened by the contamination that humans have created in the ocean. The six sea turtles that occur on the coasts of America are in fact threatened. Sea turtles are very important for the ecosystem, but humans, directly and indirectly, endanger this family. If humans do not stop their destructive habits, we can lose the influence of sea turtles on seafarers. Sea turtles play an important role in the ecology of the ocean, and without turtles, we can see an ecological collapse in the oceans. Sea turtles are one of the few animals in the sea that eat sea grass (Godfrey). Sea turtles act as grazing animals that cut short grass and help maintain the health of the family of seaweed (Godfrey). In recent decades, there has been a decline in the sea grass family. This decrease may be related to the decrease in the number of sea turtles (Godfrey). Sea grass is important because it is a fertile ground for many species of fish, shellfish and crustaceans (Godfrey). The beaches and sand dunes are known for not having many nutrients. When the sea turtles reach

This litter that ends up in the ocean is consumed by many animals. There are about seven different kinds of sea turtles and the world wild life organization is working on conservation on five of them. What’s happening to all of these turtles? Due to debris in the ocean the turtle are getting tangled in the six ring bottle or can holders and getting them stuck around the middle so

Humans have heavily affected sea turtle mortality rates, but one may ask what the benefit of having a stable and healthy population of sea turtles is. Sea turtles hold many important roles in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems where they are found. Along coasts where sea turtles are found nesting, beaches have been seen to have an increase in organic matter, phosphorus, nitrogen, and lipids (Bouchard 2000). This matter left by the sea turtle is in the forms of unhatched eggs and eggshells, which are then brought into the food chain through decomposers, such as beetles, or sea turtle predators, such as crabs (Bouchard 2000).

Solid waste like bags, foam, and other items dumped into the oceans from land or by ships at sea are frequently consumed, with often fatal effects, by marine mammals, fish, and birds that mistake it for food.

This investigation was constructed to determine how the Acorn Barnacles respond when the current is changed in their environment. The hypothesis was that if barnacles are placed in a small cup and the current of the water changed, then the barnacle activity will decrease because the current with slow them down. The outcome of this investigation supported the hypothesis.

Sea life can mistake plastic, inedible, objects for food. Sea turtles often mistake plastic bags for jelly fish, which is one of their favorite foods, and quickly die (Geographic). Resin pellets, which are used to make just about anything plastic, are often mistaken for food, especially due to the resemblance with fish eggs. Ingesting hard plastics can easily become lodged in an animal’s intestines or stomach and cause a slow and painful death. These marine animals do not know better than to eat what looks like food, it is not their responsibility to avoid the garbage.

Glue themselves to rocks, filter food during high tide, trap door to store moisture in shell

All living things respond to stimuli, including animals. In our experiment, we tested how roly-polies, or pill bugs, respond to two types of material: wet sand and wet dirt. Pill bugs are isopods, a group of 10,000 species living on land and in fresh water and ocean. They are under the phylum Arthropoda, class Crustacea, containing both crabs and shrimp. Pill bugs generally live in dark, moist environments with the decaying matter they eat.

Sanibel Island is one of the unique barrier islands of the world, having an east-west orientation when most islands are north-south. With this kind of condition, it’s no wonder that Sanibel is blessed with the pristine white sand beaches littered with many varieties of seashells. So, from Sanibel Island and its resorts, you will definitely enjoy your days collecting the beautiful seashells on the shore. However, it is important to note that in Sanibel Island, collecting live shells is highly prohibited, so just collect the empty ones.

A group of researchers studied this at Rio de la Plata, a bay between Argentina and Uruguay. Using satellite telemetry from nine Chelonia mydas the researchers tagged and data on the concentration and distribution of marine waste (accounting only for plastics debris) they created a map displaying the overlapping areas of debris and Chelonia mydas foraging areas (González et al., 2014). The researchers report that the map depicts the average green turtle encountered 9 pieces of plastic every square kilometer of the overlapping areas of debris and foraging (González et al., 2014). Which led to Chelonia mydas accidentally ingesting copious amounts of debris, though death by consumption of plastic debris is rare, the ingestion of chemicals from plastic debris can hinder somatic growth and procreation turnout (González et al., 2014). To gain better understanding how much plastic debris was consumed due to their exposure, the research team examined 62 adolescent Chelonia mydas, 90 percent of the 62 turtles had eaten 13 pieces of plastic on average, 98 percent of it was found in the green turtle’s large intestines (González et al., 2014). While ingestion of plastic debris can have negative effects on the development and reproduction of Chelonia mydas, but two biggest

Lining the shore with biodegradable jute bags: These bags capture wave energy but still allow sand to drift naturally along the coast. There is concern that these jute bags can cause damage to the local ecology and are unsightly when decomposing which can have a negative impact on

There is a type of manta ray that consumes scallops and other shellfish. Sharks eat these rays, and keep them from overeating the scallops. Coastal areas used by fisherman to sustainably catch scallops and shellfish would be gone in a few years (Myers, R., Baum, J., Shepard, T., Powers, S., & Peterson, C. (2007).

Horseshoe crabs are considered “living fossils” or evolutionary survivors because the external appearance barely changed in over 150 million years. The horseshoe crab is part of the arthropods, which include organisms such as spiders and scorpions. The horseshoe crab is made up of the prosoma, which is the head, opisthosoma, which represents the central part of the body and the telson, which is the tail. The tail is harmless and is only used to help the crab flip itself over if it’s turned over on the wrong side. Horseshoe crabs have been researched numerous times. Findings include their, ancestry, survival, morphological changes (if any) and phylogenetic research among the different variations of horseshoe crabs.

The early stages of their lives are spent on the intertidal flats and shallow water areas near their natal beaches. However, as they grow, they wander even farther from the shallow waters into deeper estuarine waters (Shuster, 1979) and are fully capable of excursions onto the continental shelf in search of prey when their habitat is threatened, or when the population becomes too dense (Sekiguchi & Shuster, 2011). Because they can tolerate and cope with wide ranging environmental conditions, especially temperature and salinity, they are classified as environmental generalists (Sekiguchi & Shuster, 2011). Limulus polyphemus are also regarded as dietary generalists; adult horseshoe crabs are omnivorous and feed on a wide variety of seabed invertebrates, including crustaceans, gastropods, polychaetes, bivalves (Botton et al. 2003; Botton, 2009), and even algae (Cartwright-Taylor, 2015). When the crabs encounter patches of their preferred prey, such as bivalves, they have been known to feed extensively, packing their guts with the shells (Botton,