AMPHIBIANS

Today I am going to talk about amphibians.  Personally I do not really care for this group of creepy and crawly animals but, before you say eew, just wait and listen to what I have to say. You might think that the only amphibians are frogs and possibly toads, well they are not. Actually frogs and toads are a group of amphibians.  There are three groups of amphibians. They are frogs and toads, newts and salamanders and caecilians.  I am going to talk about each one of these groups.

Amphibians are vertebrates that spend part of their lives under water breathing with gills and the remainder on land breathing with lungs. Amphibians are sort of like shape shifters because during their early lives they slowly change their shape to prepare for life on land.  Adult amphibians rarely stray from damp places because they have to keep their skin moist and they usually return to the water to breed.  They are about 4,350 species of amphibians.  I must say that is a lot of critters.  They are very common in warm places.  They are also cold blooded which means that their bodies stay the same temperature as their surroundings.

Frogs and Toads

Frogs and toads make up about 90 percent of the world's amphibians.  This just increased my chances of accidentally stepping on a toad or frog in my lifetime.  My mom said this was the worst feeling ever when she stepped on a toad without any shoes on. 

Frogs and toads are easy to recognize by their short, tailless bodies and powerful back legs.  Most of them have back feet with weds between their toes.  These web feet are used for swimming and jumping.  Frogs usually move by hopping around.  They also live either on the ground or in trees.  Toads usually move by crawling and nearly always live on the ground.  Toads and frogs have loud calls which are used during the breeding season to attract a mate.  Ribbit, ribbit ......

Frogs and toads spend their lives near water because they must return to the water to lay their eggs. When eggs are laid in the water they hatch into tadpoles.  Tadpoles breathe with gills and swim using a tail. As they grow up, they lose their tail sand then they develop lungs for breathing air.

This is something that I did not know.  Most frogs have teeth in the upper jaws only but toads do not have any teeth. They both eat insects by catching them with their long, sticky tongue. They also eat small fish and worms.

Most people do not know the difference between a frog and a toad.  Frogs and toads are very different in the way they look and size.   Unlike frogs, most toads have warty skin and short back legs and spend most of their lives on land.  They usually feed at night when the air is damp and hide away during the day.  Here is a picture of frog.





Opps wrong picture.  That is a picture of my favorite frog.  Lets try this again.



 Now this is a picture of a toad.  Check out his warty skin.

Newts and Salamanders

Unlike frogs and toads, salamanders keep their tails when they are adults.  Salamanders have long bodies and four and sometimes two legs. That is werid.  As adults some live in the damp woods  but spend most of their lives in ponds and steams.  There are over 400 species of salamanders found all over the world. 

Newts are simply brightly colored salamanders. These small amphibians are found in moist, wooded areas in North America, Europe, and Asia. Newts are about 3 to 4 inches long. They have four legs and four fingers on each of the front legs.  They also have five toes on each of their back legs.

Like all amphibians, newts spend their lives near water because they must return to the water to lay their eggs. Newt eggs are laid in the water. When they hatch, they breathe with gills and swim. As they mature, they develop lungs for breathing air.

Both newts and salamanders eat insects, worms, snails, and small fish.

Chek out these picture of a newt and salamander.

Caecilians

This group of amphabians are rare and there are only 150 species.  They look like giant earthworms because they have no legs and their bodies are divided into rings.  Caecilians live mainly in the tropics.  Some live in the water but most of them burrow through the soil.  This is a picture of a caecilian.

I hope that you have enjoyed learning about amphibians.  Come back to visit soon. 

 

Bony Fish

Hey it is me, Willard and I am going to talk about, how bony  fish float, the role of each fin, what a lateral line is, how fish breathe, what does cold blooded mean, what do most fish like to eat, and cool facts about three bony fish called theViperfish, the Electric Eel, and the Atlantic Salmon. So lets get started with how bony fish float.


There are more than 24,000 species of bony fish. Some may weigh more than two tons and others may weigh a fraction of an once. Bony fish live in every imaginable water habitat, from ocean surfaces to the dark ocean floor and from lakes to rivers.
These fish have bony skeletons and their bodies are covered with scales.  They have gills which allow them to breath in water and an internal float which allows them to float.  Your may be wondering what are gills. Well, gills are organs which allow a fish to breathe the oxygen that is in the water.  It is that same way that lungs allow humans to breathe in oxygen from the air.  Take a look at the gills.




Their shapes of bonny fish depend on where they live.  Bony fish are cold blooded animals.  Cold blooded means that their body temperature changes according to the surrounding temperature.  If they are in freezing water their bodies become cold and if they are in warm waters their bodies become warm.  Bony fish usually lay eggs that are fertilized in the water and they typically leave they young to take care of themselves.  I guess that they are not the best parents to have. 


                                               How Bony Fish Float

Bony fish float because they have some thing in their bodies called a swim bladder. Swim Bladders expand and deflate to allow them to float.  It is sort of like having a balloon inside of you.  When the balloon is filled with air you float and when the air is let out of the balloon you sink.  This is what the swim bladder looks like.





You wonder why does a fish float to the top of the water when it dies, that is because its swim bladder is      deflated and it can not control it anymore.

  What do Bony Fish Eat

Bony fish eat different types of food.  Some bony fish are herbivores, omnivores carnivores.  They can eat all sizes of plants and animals from microscopic plant plankton to the largest marine animals.  Some of the common foods are worms, snails, mussels, clams, squid, crustaceans, insects, insects, birds, amphibians, small mammals and other fish.






Now it is time to introduce you to my three bony fish. I have nicknamed them the Good, the Bad and the Ugly just like that old Western movie my parents watch.


Let's start with the Good. You may have heard of the Atlantic Salmon because you most likely may have had it as a meal.  Salmon is one of may favorite fish to eat especially when it is grilled.  That is why I called it the Good.  The Atlantic Salmon is a large and very powerful fish.  It life begins in the river where it eats insects larvae and worms.  When it has grown about six inches it moves from the river to the sea.  The Adult salmon will roam the Atlantic ocean for up to two years before it returns to fresh water to lay is eggs.  Once the female laid her eggs she returns to the ocean , leaving her young to grow up on their own.  This is picture of the Salmon.  Tell me which you like better.











The bad is the Electric Eel.  Electric eels have snakelike bodies and they look very different from other fish and they are not not even true eels at all.  The Electric Eel is a South American river fish that can produce strong electric currents which are powerful enough to kill a human.  When it is hunting it will stun other fish with a shock up to 550 volts.  Once a fish has been stunned the eel turns off its current and swallows its prey.   The electric Eel uses special muscles as batteries.  These batteries extend all the way down its body.  Imagine carry your own power with you where ever you go and that is why the Electric Eel is know as the Bad.  This is a picture of the Electric Eel.


 Now on to the Ugly.  You will never see this fish in a fashion show or on the cover of a beauty magazine.  The Viperfish is not a model and when you see it you will know why I named him the Ugly.  The Viperfish got its name from its long fangs that stick out from its jaws even when its mouth is closed.  Not even braces can help this fish.  Its body is black and one of its fins has a long spine with a lighted tip which it uses to lure other animal to its mouth.  This fish looks scary.  Get your cameras out!  Here comes the Viperfish.




I hope that you have enjoyed my latest post.  Come back to visit soon.

Why Do We Have Seasons?

Thanks for coming back to read my latest post.  I am going to talk about "Why we have seasons." If your thinking seasons and salt and pepper come to mind, well that is actually seasonings and that is not what I am talking about.  I am talking about Spring, Summer, Fall also known as Autumn, and Winter.

 

I know you have noticed the change from season to season every year.  In November, here in Georgia, we are currently in the Fall season and there are lots of falling leaves everywhere.  I do not like the falling leaves because it means I will be spending a lot of time raking leaves around my house.  My favorite season is winter.  I love winter because I enjoy the cold weather and also Christmas is in Winter.

Look at the beautiful colors of Fall!  The leaves are beginning to fall from the trees.

But, have you ever wondered what causes the seasons to change?  Well, I once read that, "The reason for seasons lies in space".  You maybe wondering what does that all mean.  Well I am going to explain.

Our planet Earth makes a path through space that takes it around the Sun.  This path is also known as as an orbit.  The Earth takes one year to orbit around the sun. The Earth's seasons are not caused by the differences in the distance from the Sun throughout the year, but it is caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis.   You maybe wondering what on Earth does the words obit and tilt mean.  Hold on and let me explain.  Take a look at these pictures!





The obit is the path of gravity taken by Earth around the sun.  Earth just goes around the Sun  and gravity helps it stay on the right path.






The best way to explain tilt is to imagine a top just before it stops spinning.  Remember how it leans closer to the ground.  Well a tilt is sort of like a lean.  What I am trying to say is that our planet earth is leaning while orbiting around the sun . The Earth's axis is tilted by 23.45°. This tilting is what gives us the four seasons of the year called Spring, Summer, Fall also known as Autumn and winter. Since the axis is tilted, different parts of the Earth are facing closer towards the Sun at different times of the year.

Because the earth is tilted, over the year the poles learn at different times toward the sun . In June for example, the North pole leans towards the sun and the sun heats the northern half of the Earth and there is summer. In December the South Pole leans towards the sun. Places in the southern half of the world , such as Argentina, have summer. At the same time, places in the northern half, such as Canada, and right here in Georgia have winter.  This picture will make it easy to understand.





Summer is warmer than winter in both hemispheres because the Sun's rays hit the Earth at a more direct angle during summer than during the winter.  This means that the Suns' light does not spread out that much, therefore maximizing the amount of energy that hits an area.  Also the days are much longer than the nights during the summer, which means that the Sun is hitting Earth for a longer time.

Winter is cold because the Sun's rays hit the Earth at an extreme angle. This means, the Sun's light spreads out therefore, minimizing the amount of energy that hits an area.   Also, the days are very short, which means that the Sun is hitting the Earth for a shorter time.  However, countries around the equator do not have seasons.  You maybe saying, how could this be possible.  Well, the sun hits the equator at about the same angle all year round.  Which means, there is summer everyday of the year.  Places like the Caribbean islands have no seasons.

One of the most interesting things I learned when researching for this post, is that seasons start at different times every year.  Take a look at the times for 2011 and 2012.  If you ever wanted to know the start of a season check out the Farmer' Almanac.           

Seasons of 2011:
SPRING EQUINOX	March 20, 7:21 P.M. EDT
SUMMER SOLSTICE	June 21, 1:16 P.M. EDT
FALL EQUINOX	September 23, 5:05 A.M. EDT
WINTER SOLSTICE	December 22, 12:30 A.M. EST

Seasons of 2012:
SPRING EQUINOX	March 20, 1:14 A.M. EDT
SUMMER SOLSTICE	June 20, 7:09 P.M. EDT
FALL EQUINOX	September 22, 10:49 A.M. EDT
WINTER SOLSTICE	December 21, 6:12 A.M. EST

The temperature from season to season are different.  You might be wondering how hot or cold can it get.





Here in Georgia, during the summer, the temperatures may range from 70 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  If summer is not hot enough for you in Georgia, well you need to visit Libya or Death Valley, California. These places have recorded the two hottest temperatures ever recorded on the planet during the summer.  The hotest day ever recorded was  on September 13, 1922, in Libya which was 136 degress Fahrenheit.  California's Death Valley had the second-highest temperature recorded of 134 degrees Fahrenheit in 1913.

How cold can it get in the winter?  In Georgia, the temperature range form 36 to 56 degrees fahrenheit in the winter.  The coldest temperature ever recorded on earth is -128.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the Antarctica on July 21, 1983.
I hope that you have enjoyed and learned a lot about seasons from my post.  Come back to visit!

The Ray

Let me start by saying that sharks, skates, and ray are known as cartilaginous fish because their skeletons are made of cartilage.  You may be wondering what is cartilage.  Well cartilage is the rubbery substance which lines our joints and gives our ears and nose its shape.  Although cartilage is weaker than bone it is strong enough to support some of the largest animals in the ocean.


Cartilaginous fish have many things in common.  Their bodies are covered with rough, sand papery skin and stiff fins that do not fold.  Their jaws are powerful with countless biting or crushing teeth.  Most of these fish are predators, but the largest species are filter feeders.  There are about 600 species of cartilaginous fish living in the sea.  Some lay eggs but many give birth to live young.

What is a Ray? 

I thought this was interesting when I read it.  Did you know that another name for a Ray is a "flat shark"? I read that scientist believe that rays evolved from sharks.  There are more than 150 species of rays, most of which live in the sea. Rays have been around for a really long time, let's say about a 150 million years. They were around when the dinosaurs roamed the earth.  Rays have flattened bodies and wing like fins. They sort of  look like kites. Many live on the seabed camouflaged, but a few spend most of their lives near the surface, flapping through the sea like underwater birds. Unlike sharks, these fish crush their food with blunt teeth. Their mouths and gill openings are on the undersides of their bodies. They have breathing holes on their upper surfaces, just behind their eyes.


Rays are all carnivores. That means that they are meat eaters. They eat fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and worms. Rays mostly hunt on or near the bottom of the ocean. Some are filter feeders, filtering small prey like plankton, small fish, and small crustaceans as they swim. Some rays are also hunters who find prey on the ocean floor.

Now let's talk about defense.  The ray has a super deadly defense against predators.  Many have poisonous spines on their tail which can poison other animals when they are stung. Some rays have long, whip-like tails and others have short tails. Some rays even have thorns on their body to protect it against predators. Rays come in many colors and the colors are different among species and males and females.


Rays come in many different sizes.  They can be a few inches wide to over 23 feet wide. The Short-nose electric ray is the smallest ray and it is the size of a pancake. The biggest ray is the Manta ray and it is 22 feet wide and weighs many tons.

 
 This is the Short-Nose Electric ray.  It really looks like a pancake.

Rays live in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. They are found in both cold and temperate waters and live between 8 meters and 3000 meters below the surface of the ocean. Did you know that it is almost impossible to tell the difference between a skate and a ray because they look so much alike? They are sort of like identical twins, just very hard to tell them apart.

Can you tell which is the ray and which is the skate?  See, I told you that it is almost impossible to tell.

 

This is the Skate!                                                This is the Ray!

This is an interesting fact:  Rays were smarter than sharks and are very curious animals.

Differences Between Skates and Rays 

There are a few differences between skates and rays.  These are the major differences.

• The number one difference is size. Rays can grow to a very large size. For example the manta ray can reach a width of 22 feet and weigh several tons. However, skates range from 16 inches to 5 feet. It is sort of like King Kong and Jane.
• The second difference is defense.  Well defense is how they protect themselves.  Rays and skates defend themselves differently.  The ray tail has a stinging spine with venom, which it uses as a weapon against predators. However, the skates have large thorns on their backs and tails to defend itself against predators.
• The final big difference is how they make their young.  All skates lay eggs  however, rays give birth to live young.

My favorite cartilaginous fish is the Manta ray. Also, today I am going to talk about the Manta ray.  It has been very interesting learning about this gigantic sea creature.  I have learned a lot in doing research on the Manta Ray.  Man Ray has given me a picture of himself, for you to get an idea of what a Manta ray looks like. Thanks Man Ray.

                           But that is probably not good enough right, so here is an actual Manta Ray. 

The Manta ray looks like a bird soaring with its wings spread out wide.


The Manta ray has been a part of many legends about sea monsters, but they are totally harmless.  The fact that Manta rays are harmless, is the number one reason that I like it the best out of all the cartilaginous fish in the ocean.  The Manta ray has a wingspan of about 23 feet and it is the largest ray in the world.  Manta rays a huge.  Like many of the largest sea animals, it feeds on plankton.  It scoops up the plankton as it swims.  It has a fleshy paddle on each side of its head to help it funnel food into its mouth.


Check out this Manta ray swimming around and filter feeding.  Look at the open mouth.

Now it is time to talk about sharks and rays.  Sharks and rays are related and belong to the same class.  By just looking at them it is hard to see that they are related but they have a lot of similarities.

This is a shark.                                                 This is a ray.

Similarities and Differences Between Sharks and Rays 

Let's start with the similarities.

Similarities     

• Rays and sharks both have gills.
• Rays and sharks both have a skeleton made of cartilage.
• Rays and sharks both have fins.
• Rays and sharks have 5-7 gill slits on the sides of their heads and a mouth that usually opens downwards.
• They have specialized jaws and teeth for different types of feeding.
• Sharks and rays reproduce by laying eggs or live births.  

Differences

• Rays are shark do not have the same physical appearance. What I am trying to say is that they look different.
• Most sharks have long slender bodies but rays have flattened bodies.
• Sharks use their pectoral fins to lift and steer. However, rays use their pectoral fins to swim.
• Sharks swim by sweeping their tails from side to side. Rays use their tail for balance or steering.
• Many ray tails have a sharp barb for protection but shark’s tails do not.
• Sharks' gill openings are on their sides but rays' gill openings are found on the underside of their head.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and learned just as much as I did about Sharks, Rays and Skate. Come back to visit my blog.  Hasta la vista!

My Three Favorite Sharks

Today you are going to learn about my three favorite sharks. These are very different and interesting sharks.  They are the Tiger Shark, Thresher Shark and the Blue Shark.   

                                

TIGER SHARK

The first shark I am going to talk about is the Tiger Shark and believe me when I say that it looks nothing like a tiger.  It may have some markings but I would not have called it a Tiger Shark.  So you are probably waiting to see what the Tiger Shark looks like.

These are Tiger Sharks.

  Now this is a tiger.  Do they look alike? 

The Tiger Shark is responsible for more attacks on humans than any other species including the terrible Great White Shark.  The Tiger Shark is a hunter.  The Tiger Shark can be found in tropical and subtropical oceans. They live both inshore and in the open sea.  This shark also has a nickname.  It is called the garbage-can shark, because it is known to eat anything it can swallow.  This is a very greedy shark.  Tiger Sharks have very sharp teeth and very powerful jaws.  It will attack and eat turtles, other sharks, lobsters and even old oil drums.  Tiger Sharks have a striped pattern when they are young but it fades away as they grow.  The Tiger Shark's teeth can go through bone and shell. The Tiger Shark gives birth to live young.  Tiger Sharks can grow up to 25 feet in length and weigh more than 1,900 pounds.

Check out how big it opens its mouth!

  

   This is the Tiger Shark's jaw bone.

So you probably have a vision of how aggressive this shark captures its prey. 

Check out this video of a Tiger Shark!

THRESHER SHARK

My second favorite shark is the Thresher Shark.  A Thresher Shark's tail is almost as long as the rest of its body.  The lower part of the tail is small but the upper part is large with a pointed tip.  This is a super powerful long tail which is very dangerous.  They thrash their tails from side to side to round up and wound their prey.  They will even use their tails to hit low flying birds out of the air.  I know that you can't wait to see what that tails look like.  The tail reminds me of a boomerang.  The Thresher Shark is a very good swimmer and can leap clear out of the water.

The Thresher Shark with its long tail.         The Thresher Shark is leaping out of the water.

The Thresher Shark has a short snout and large eyes.  They have small jaws with curved sharp teeth. They come in colors from brown to black with white markings underneath. They can grow up to 20 feet long.  The Thresher Shark eats herring, mackerel and squid. You can find them in coastal waters in warm and temperate areas of the world.  Thresher Sharks give birth up to four live young at one time.  The eggs are hatched inside the mother.  They produce more young but some of its young will eat others while inside their mother's body.  These sharks will eat their own family members.  You would call this cannibalism. 

 
From the front this Thresher Shark looks like a plane that is about to land.

Check out this Thresher Shark feeding.  Look at how it rounds up its prey. 

BLUE SHARK

Now on to my last favorite shark.  This blue fish is one of the most popular sharks in the world.  It is even more popular as a dish.  My mother loves eating fried Blue Shark and I have even tried it myself.  Let me say that I have eaten a lot of better dishes than fried Blue Shark.  There is something about eating shark meat that does not seem right to me.   

This is a Blue Shark.                     Do you want this plate of fried Blue Shark? 

Blue Sharks are easily recognized because of its color, which is blue.  They have very large pectoral fins and are long and skinny looking.  They can grow up to 13 feet long.  They also have sharp triangular shaped teeth.  They feed both inshore and in the open ocean.  They eat many types of fish like herring, cod, haddock, pollock, mackerel, butterfish, tuna and swordfish.   The Blue Shark gives birth to live pups. The litters are about 25 to 50 pups.  The Blue Shark can be found in temperate waters and tropical waters.  They live in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans in both inshore and offshore waters.

 Check out this baby Blue Shark being hand feed.

 

 I hope you enjoyed my post and learned a lot.  Until next time.  Adios!!!!

The Hagfish and Lamprey

The first time I heard about a hagfish was on Sponge Bob Square Pants.  My mother was wrong, you can learn something from watching Sponge Bob.

Check out Madame Hagfish! 







Today, I am going to talk about TWO kinds of fish called the Lamprey and the hagfish.  They are known as jawless fish.  Fish without jaws were the first vertebrates on earth which lived on the seabed and sucked up their food.  Most jawless fish died about three million years ago ; however, the Lampreys and Hagfish still exist.  Both the Lampreys and the Hagfish have bodies like snakes, round mouths, and tiny eyes.  They also have slimy skin and no scales.  The openings for their gills are shaped like portholes. 

Portholes

At the bottom are pictures of the Lamprey and the Hagfish  (They are definitely "Freaks of Nature").   I bet you can't tell which one is my favorite. It will be HARD.



Hagfish are deep sea scavengers which feed on dead or dying fish.  They have very poor eye sight. However, they have an excellent sense of smell which helps them to find food.  They often slither right inside their prey. The Hagfish does not have jaws, but it has small teeth that it uses to eat its prey from the inside.  It releases a smelly slime as a defense which makes it hard for a predator to grab hold of  it.  The slime is very strong and hard to remove.  To remove the slime, the Hagfish ties its body in a knot which makes the slime slip down to its tail. The Hagfish is known for its ability to produce vast amounts of slime.  The slime comes from the glands that line both sides of the Hagfish body.  The slime comes out in a concentrated form but swells when it contacts seawater.
                                                                              Maybe they need glasses!


Hagfish Slime.This is gross!  The Hagfish all tied up!
The Hagfish has four hearts and its color can be either pink, brown or grey.  I guess if one heart does not work it has three others.  Hagfish lay long eggs and their young look like small adults when they are hatched.  Young Hagfish have both male and female organs but as they age they become male or female.  However, they are able to change gender from one season to another. There are currently sixty seven known species of Hagfish. 

THIS IS MY FAVORITE

A Hagfish

  

                                                     

Lampreys can be found in temperate rivers and sea coasts.  They have dark brown to black backs and light yellow to light brown bellies.  There are about forty three species of Lampreys.  Some species live in fresh water for their entire life and others migrate from fresh water to the sea.  Adult Lampreys are parasites that feed on the blood of other fish.  They have a funnel like sucking mouth and sharp teeth for holding onto their prey.  Lampreys can hold onto their  prey for weeks while taking so much blood that their prey will die. I think the Lamprey has a lot in common with Dracula.

The Lamprey young are born in rivers.  The lamprey young are also blind and toothless.  The young spend up to six years filtering food from the water before they become adults.  When Sea Lamprey young become adults they travel downriver to the sea.

I KNOW IT'S SCARY!!!!!!!:(

A Lamprey funnel like mouth.                        Lots of Lampreys.

Now it is time to say GOODBYE.

I had a lot of fun learning about Hagfish and Lampreys.  I hope that you learned a lot from my post.......THAT LAMPREYS AND HAGFISH ARE SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!