A little bit about me

Humpback whales, (Megaptera novaeangliae) are found in every ocean in the world, and they can live up to 45-50 years old. Their Latin name translates to “Big Wing of New England”, so, “Big Wing” refers to their pectoral fins which can grow to a huge 16ft long (largest in the world), and “of New England” obviously refers to their appearance off the coast of New England where the European whalers first encountered them.

These whales are baleen whales, and they are actually covered in hair. It’s obvious they aren’t a fluffy animal, but instead they have around 100 fragile hairs dotted along their jaw. Their heads are broad, rounded and covered with bumps that are called tubercles, (they are around the size of your fist). Tubercles are essentially over sized hair follicles, and within each tubercle is a bundle of thick nerve cells that are connected to the hair, which then sticks up a few centimeters out the top. The reasoning behind these tubercles is a mystery, scientists have absolutely no clue what they are used for but there are many ideas that have been raised over the years, for example, its been said that these tubercles are most likely used to help the whale feel different vibrations in the water to help them build a better picture of their surrounding environment.

They can grow to around 60ft (relative to the size of a bus), they can weigh up to 40 tonnes (about half the size of a blue whale), and their tails can grow up to 18ft wide! They are black on the doral (upper) side and mottled black and white on the ventral (under) side.

Humpback whales have ventral pleats that start from the tip of their bottom jaw and go all the way down, they can have anywhere from 14-35 of the pleats along their necks. These pleats serve an important purpose, they actually increase the volume of the mouth area which increases the intake of potential food. The shape and colour pattern of the dorsal fin and flukes is unique to each whale, essentially like human fingerprints. This unique pattern of each whale has helped researchers identify, catalog and monitor humpback whale migration, population size, sexual maturity and behavioral patterns over the years.

Humpback whales migrate throughout the oceans all around the world, in the summer many humpbacks spend their time in high-latitude feeding areas such as the Gulf of Alaska or the Gulf of Maine. Whereas in the winter, they swim to the warmer waters that are closer to the Equator, such as Hawaii, South America and Africa. Humpbacks migrate farther than any other mammal, they can travel around 3,000 miles between their feeding and breeding grounds on a regular basis. But, the humpbacks found in the Arabian sea stay there all year round, feeding and mating in that same area. These whales hunt and feed in the summer, and fast during the mating season, then live off the blubber reserves so they can focus on their migration and mating.

A female humpback whale has a baby every 2-3 years, she is pregnant for around 12 months. Newborn calves weigh around one tonne when they’re born and are around 10-15ft long.

Humpbacks usually travel alone, but can sometimes be found in small pods of maybe 2 or 3 whales. Whale mothers and calves communicate with each other when they are traveling by touching fins as a possible sign of endearment.

These whales absolutely love to breach, this is where they spring themselves out of the water and splash back down rather hard and fast. It’s been said that this behaviour could be due to the whales wanting to remove parasites from their bodies, but they could just do it because they find it fun! Humpback whales also slap the water surface with their tails and flippers, these behaviours could be used to communicate with one another. It’s also said that they could also do this to show dominance and health during the mating seasons.

Humpback whales are most known for their songs, these songs are made up from a complex sequence of moans, howls, and cries that usually continue on for hours. Although both male and female whales make sounds, only male whales can produce organized songs, scientists believe it is used as a technique to attract mates. These songs can be heard from 20 miles away, these sounds usually have an audio frequency between 80 and 4000 hertz. Whale calves have been found to make very quiet vocalisations while migrating to the feeding grounds with their mothers. This behaviour between mother and calf has been nicknamed, “whale whispering” and is suggested that its used to help the two stay under the radar of nearby killer whales (Orcas).

As mentioned earlier, humpbacks are baleen whales, so rather than having teeth they have around 270-400 fringed overlapping plates that hang from each side of their upper jaw, these are called baleen plates. These plates are made from keratin and are around 30 inches long, and keratin is what our nails and hair are made from. The diet of a humpback is mostly small fish, krill and plankton. When they eat their prey, they take large gulps of water and this is where the ventral pleats come in by expanding in order to hold the water. The baleens then filter the water and the two blowholes that are found on the whale’s back then expel the water. They have a unique hunting method, that’s been called “bubble netting”. They hunt in groups where they use air bubbles to herd, corral and disorient the fish, they can also eat up to 3,000lbs a day.

This blog post isn’t that cool due to the seriousness and harm it causes the ocean and the organisms in it, it is still a fact you didn’t ask for.

Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease of the pH in the oceans, which is caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. pH is a measure of acidity or alkalinity. A pH below 7 is considered acidic, and a pH greater than 7 is considered alkaline, or basic.

Ocean acidification occurs due to the increase in human activity. The 1800 industrial revolution triggered the increase of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which has then continued to rise ever since. The CO₂ that is released into the atmosphere leads to what is known as atmospheric warming and climate change; around one third to a half of the CO₂ that is released by human activities is absorbed into the oceans. Although this helps reduce the rate of CO₂ that is being absorbed into the atmosphere, it has a serious direct and chemical effect on the seawater, which is why we call it ocean acidification.

The rise of the CO₂ levels is caused by many factors, for example: the burning of fossil fuels, oil and gas, deforestation that results in the decrease in number of trees that are there to absorb the CO₂ in the atmosphere, as well as when plants are cut down/burnt/left to rot which results in the carbon that makes up their organic tissue is released as CO₂.

When carbon dioxide is absorbed by the seawater, chemical reactions take place that reduce the pH levels, carbonate ion concentration and saturation states of biologically important calcium carbonate minerals. Although photosynthetic algae and sea grasses may benefit from the higher CO₂ conditions in the oceans, as they require CO₂ to survive just like plants on land, studies have shown that the calcifying species, including oysters, clams, sea urchins, shallow water corals, deep sea corals and calcareous plankton are highly affected due to the acidity.

The organisms that produce calcium carbonate structures, such as skeletons and shells, have to use extra energy to either repairing their damaged shells or try thicken them to survive. The result of using this much energy could impact the organism’s ability to grow and reproduce. The organisms that are able to survive in such acidic waters are likely to become smaller which could potentially affect the food chain that relies on them. For example the pteropod (sea butterfly) are eaten by organisms ranging from krill to whales, as well as being a food source for North Pacific juvenile salmon.

Corals are highly affected marine organisms, increasing ocean acidification has been shown to significantly reduce the ability of reef-building corals to produce their skeletons. Coral biologists reported that ocean acidification could compromise the successful fertilization, larval settlement and the ability to survive of the Elkhorn coral which is an endangered species. The results of this study suggests that ocean acidifcation can severely impact the ability of coral reefs to recover from this disturbance, as well as eroding faster than they can rebuild which can compromise the long-term viability of these ecosystems and impact the estimated 1,000,000 species that depend on the coral reef habitats.

There are 45 known species of Seahorse to date, they are mainly found in shallow tropical and temperate salt water around the world. Their habitats mainly consist of sea grass beds, estuaries, coral reefs and mangroves. Only 3 of the 45 species of sea horse form territories, (hippocampus guttulatus, hippocampus hippocampus and hippocampus fuscus), the males stay within 1m²  (10 sq ft) of habitat, while the females have over one hundred times the space in comparison to the male, both territories overlap.

Before mating, seahorses preform a courtship that can last up to several days. There are 4 phases of courtship.

Phase 1- Initial courtship. This behaviour takes place 30 minutes after dawn on each courtship day all the way up to copulation. The male and female remain apart during the night, but after dawn they come together side by side, they brighten, and engage in courtship behaviour for about 2-38 minutes. The male approaches the female, brightens and then begins to quiver, the female will follow the male with her own display, where she also brightens and quivers about 5 seconds later. As the male quivers he will rotate his body in the females direction, who then rotates her body away. During phase 1 both the tails of the seahorse are positioned within 1cm of each other on the same marine plant and both bodies are angled slightly outward from the point of attachment. The female will shift her tail attachment site, causing the pair to circle their common “hold-fast” (chosen marine plant).

Phase 2- Pointing and pumping. This phase can last up to 54 minutes. The female begins her pointing posture by leaning her body towards the male who will then lean away and quiver.

Phase 3- Pointing and pointing. The females will begin to brighten and assume the pointing position, while the male responds with their own brightening and pointing display. This phase ends with the male departing, and usually lasts up to 9 minutes. This can occur 1-6 times during the courtship period.

Phase 4- Rising and copulation. This is the final step of the courtship, and can include 5-8 bouts of courtship. Each bout starts with both male and female anchored to the same plant usually around 3cm apart, they are usually facing each other and are still bright in colour from the previous phase. During the first bout, following the facing behaviour, the seashorses will rise upward together anywhere from 2-13cm in a water column. During the final rise, the female will insert her ovipositor (a tube like organ used by some organisms instead of laying eggs) and transfer her eggs through an opening into the males brood pouch.

Once the eggs are deposited into the males brood pouch, they are surrounded by a spongy tissue. During this time, the male supplies the eggs with prolactin, which is the same hormone found in pregnant mammals for milk production. The eggs hatch in the piuch, where the salinity of the water is regulated, this helps prepare the newborns for their life in the sea. This step is called, gestation, and in most species lasts between 2-4 weeks, the female will meet him daily for “morning greetings”.

When the eggs are ready to be born, the male typically does it at night so he is ready for the next batch of eggs in the morning for when his female returns. The number of fry born (seahorse babies) is dependent on the species, between 5 and 1500 fry can be born during the birthing process. Unlike almost every other fish species, sea horses do not nurture their young after birth. Fry are vulnerable to predators and ocean currents which wash them away from feeding grounds or into temperatures too extreme for their delicate bodies, this explains why less than 0.5% of infants survive to adulthood.

Seahorses don’t mate for life, however many species form pair bonds that last throughout at least the breeding seasons, its been proven that females are loyal to the males throughout the pregnancy and do not mate again until he is ready, and will often return to the same mate time and time again. Some species have been studied and shown to switch mates when the opportunity arises, hippocampus abdominalis and hippocampus breviceps have shown to breed in groups, showing no continuous mate preference. Many species’ breeding habits have not been studied, so it is difficult to determine which species are monogamous.

Seahorses don’t have a stomach, so their food moves directly through their digestive system which is why they need to eat almost constantly. An adult sea horse will eat 50+ times a day, while a fry will eat an impressive 3000 times a day. Adult sea horses do not live in crowded habitats, it is suggested that due to their food source of plankton being so scarce, that only a handful of adults will live in a space the size of a tennis court.

Seahorses have independent eyesight, what this means is that they can move each eye in different directions at the same time. Meaning they can look forwards, and backwards. It’s suggested they have adapted to do this to keep an eye on moving predators around their habitats. Unlike their eyesight, their swimming is extremely poor. They rely on their dorsal fin which beats 30-70 times a second to help propel it along, while their pectoral fins that are either side of the head help with stability and steering.

Seahorses don’t have many predators, this is because they’re extremely bony and had to digest. But just because they don’t have natural predators, doesn’t mean they aren’t at risk due to humans. The traditional Chinese Medicine Trade takes in excess up to 150 million seahorses per year from the wild and are then used for all types of different medicine. The Curio Trade takes approximately one million sea horses from the wild per year, as well as shells and starfish, where they are deliberately left to die in the boiling sun. These are sold as souvenirs, which represents “the beauty of the ocean” when it’s one of the most inhumane and cruel things humans can do. The pet trade also takes an estimated one million seahorses from the wild per year, and it is suggested that less than 1,000 survive in tanks more for more than 6 weeks.

Plastic is a huge threat to the ocean, and it’s shown everywhere. One photo that shocked the world was the tiny sea horse propelling along with a cotton swap. The harsh and heartbreaking reality of what we’re doing to the oceans was really set in our minds. Seahorses hold onto floating debris with their tails, commonly sea grass, so they can move through the currents, but when there wasn’t anything to grab, this seahorse found the nearest piece of pollution and held on.

“What started as an opportunity to photograph a cute little sea horse turned into one of frustration and sadness as the incoming tide brought with it countless pieces of trash and sewage. This photo serves as an allegory for the current and future state of our oceans.” -Photographer Justin Hofman.

The Leatherback sea turtle ( Dermochelys coriacea ) is the only reptile that remain the representatives of a family of turtles that trace their evolutionary roots back to more than 100 million years. The Archelon ( Archelon ischyros ) sea turtle went extinct around 70 million years ago and until recently it was thought that the Leatherback turtle was it’s closest living relative, but now is said that the family Protostegidae come from a completely different lineage from any living sea turtle today.

The Leatherback is the biggest living sea turtle on earth and are one of the heaviest reptiles, coming fourth behind 3 species of crocodiles. They can grow to an impressive average size of 7ft (84 inch, 2.13 metres), and can weigh up to 2,000 pounds (907kg). The largest Leatherback recorded was almost 10ft (3 metres) from the tip of it’s beak to the tip of it’s tail and weighed around 2,019 pounds (916kg).

They’re more impressive than the other 6 species of sea turtles, and can dive deeper than 3,000ft (914.4 metres) and can stay down for around 85 minutes. It is the only sea turtle that lacks a hard shell and possesses a composed layer of thin, but tough, rubbery skin which is strengthened by thousands of tiny bone plates. The carapace (the dorsal upper section of a shell / exoskeleton) does not possess any scales, but scales are found in hatchlings. The carapace is typically a dark grey/black with white or pale spots, the pastron (lower half of shell/exoskeleton) is whitish to black and is marked by 5 ridges. The ridges are what distinguish the Leatherback from the other species of sea turtles, and help give the turtle a more hydrodynamic structure and are located along the entire body. The Leatherback can swim thousands of miles over open ocean and against fast currents thanks to its streamlined body and powerful front flippers.

These turtles are mainly found in open ocean, and yet have the widest global distribution of all reptile species. They’re mainly found in tropical waters but have been found to travel as far north as Canada and Norway, and as far south as the southern tip of Africa, and it has been found that they feed in areas just offshore. Leatherbacks have been recorded to be active in water temperatures below 4 degrees Celsius (40 degrees Fahrenheit), these are the only reptiles known to be so active at such a low temperature.

Male Leatherbacks never leave the ocean once they enter it, unlike females who leave to nest on land. Mating takes place at sea and after encountering a female the male will use head movements, nuzzling, biting and flipper movements to determine her receptiveness. Males can, and will, mate every year but females only mate every 2-3 years. Multiple males will typically mate with a single female. Leatherbacks undertake the longest migrations between breeding and feeding areas, averaging 3700 miles ( 5,954 km) each way. Once the female is ready, she will come ashore during the breeding season to nest. This important nighttime ritual involves making a hole in the sand, and laying around 110 eggs (this is called a clutch), filling the nest and then leaving a large, disturbed area of sand that makes it harder for predators to detect, after all this hard work they then return to the sea. It takes around 65-80 days for the eggs to hatch, and as sea turtles do not guard their nests, the hatchlings are left to defend for themselves. It’s estimated that only 1 in 1,000 Leatherback hatchlings will survive to adulthood, due to the threat of humans digging up the nests and consuming the eggs.

The diet of a Leatherback is mainly very soft organisms, such as jellyfish. Even though their size is impressive, they have relatively fragile jaws. Rather than teeth, leatherbacks have sharp beaklike cusps that help them grasp prey in their mouth, while the spines in their throat (papillae) help ensure that it doesn’t slip back out as the turtle uses the muscles in its throat to expel the excess salt water. These spines also protects the turtle from the jellyfish stings. It’s a wonder how these turtles can survive on just jellyfish, as they are mainly water and have very little protein, some minerals and vitamins and very little fat. These turtles actually have an extremely long esophagus that leads from the mouth to the rear of the body, it then loops up the side until it reaches the stomach. This long esophagus acts as a holding pouch, so that the Leatherback can continuously digest its food, while new jellyfish are being pushed into its stomach. This helps them travel the long distances and helps preserve their energy.

Unfortunately, leatherbacks meet an early end due to human activity. They fall victim to fishing lines and nets, and are even struck by boats. Leatherbacks, like most sea turtles, call victim to the floating plastic debris which they mistaken for their favourite food: jellyfish. Some leatherbacks have been found to have almost 11 pounds (4.98kg) of plastic in their stomachs. In some countries that the leatherback go to nest, the human population kill and harvest the meat, using it to feed their families. It has been said that the overall population of Leatherback sea turtles is declining and have been listened as “vulnerable”.

To help with the Leatherback population, start by refusing single use plastics and looking online at what you can do to help, even if it is donating a small amount to help protect their eggs from being harvested by humans!

When we think of shrimps, we think of the tasty little orange creature that is found in over 100 seafood dishes. But what most people don’t realise is that there are over 2,000 different species of both shrimp and prawns all over the world, including fresh and marine waters. They play important roles in the food chain and are an important food source for larger animals ranging from fish to whales. Some shrimp have special jobs, like cleaning parasites from fishes mouths.

This species of shrimp, scientifically known as Rimicaris exoculata, lives up to 5,000 metres below the ocean surface, and are found in swarms around volcanic hydrothermal vents in the Mid-Atlandtic Range, where temperatures can exceed 400 degrees Celsius. Hydrothermal vents are close to an underwater volcano that generates heat as well as geological and chemical activity important for the development of certain life forms, such as the Deep Sea Shrimp. The water surrounding the chimney walls is a lot cooler, usually between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius.

Daylight does not penetrate to the depths of 3500m, and very dim light is given off by the hydrothermal vents themselves, it’s been found that to exploit this light, Rimicaris exoculata has evolved a modified compound eye (i.e ocular plate) on its dorsal surface. The eye occupies around 0.5% of the animal’s body volume, the morphology of this eye also suggests that Rimicaris exoculata is extremely sensitive to light.

Without sunlight photosynthesis is impossible, but bacteria is able to produce organic matter in the hydrothermal vents via chemosysnthesis i.e using the energy of the chemical components. Once chemosynthesis is complete, life is born! The chemosynthetic bacteria that consume their energy from chemical reactions, rather than the sunlight use the elements from their environment, (Sulphur, Methane, Hydrogen, Iron etc.) to fix carbon and synthesise organic matter.

The eating behaviours of the Rimicaris exoculata have been observed and the gut-content that was analysed indicates that these shrimp ingest large amounts of sulfide particles from black smoker chimneys. It’s suggested that these shrimps are normal heterotrophs ( cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter.), surviving on free-living microorganisms associated with black smoker chimneys.

The Anglerfish (Lophiiformes) are best known for their ugly appearance, but it doesn’t take first place as that belongs to the Blobfish. Anglerfish are angry looking deep-sea creatures, and they have a right to be. It can be found in what’s known as some peoples worst nightmare, at the bottom of the lonely, light-less bottom of the ocean.

There are over 200 species of Anglerfish identified, and most can be found up to a mile below the murky depths of the Atlantic and Antarctic oceans, but some are also found in shallow tropical environments. They’re generally a dark gray to dark brown in colour, with large heads and enormous crescent-shaped mouths that are full of sharp, translucent teeth. They are a carnivorous species, and can weigh up to 110 pounds when fully grown. The length of the fish varies, some can reach up to 3.3 feet in length, but most are much smaller, typically less than a foot. In the species Ceratioidei, males are significantly smaller than females and can be several magnitudes smaller.

Most adult females have the distinctive feature of the “fishing rod” on the top of their heads. This is a luminescent organ called the “esca” which is found at the tip of the modified dorsal ray. The organ has the obvious purpose of luring prey in the dark, deep sea environments, but also serves the purpose of attracting males’ attention to facilitate mating. The rod is inhabited by large numbers of bio-luminescent bacteria, enclosed in a cup-shaped reflector that has been said to contain crystals, most likely guanine.

The male Anglerfish lives the first part of its life as a free as it possibly can be, but once it encounters a female, the male Anglerfish then becomes a parasitic sperm-producing mate. The male latches onto the female with its sharp teeth, and over time physically fuses with her, connecting to the females skin and bloodstream. The male will eventually lose it’s eyes and all internal organs except for the testes. Females will carry 6 or more males on their body at a time.

The behaviour of Humpback Anglerfish has only been caught on camera very few times. Near Monterey, California, at around 1474 metres down a female ceratioid anglerfish was filmed for 24 minutes. The video showed that when approached the fish retreated rapidly, but when it wasn’t approached the fish was showed to be drifting passively, this is most likely due to low-energy. The footage showed that when the fish swam it was at a speed of 0.24 body lengths per second, this lethargic behaviour of the ambush predator is ideal for this energy-poor environment of the deep sea.

Anglerfish are either benthic or pelagic. Benthic species live on the sea floor and most are known as “ambush predators”. Ambush predators sit and wait for their prey to come along, and then launch a rapid surprise attack. Pelagic species swim freely, and can also be ambush predators. Anglerfish will drift and wait while their fishing rod lures prey towards them. The jaw and stomach of the Anglerfish can extend to consume prey almost twice its size. Due to the small amount of food available, the Anglerfish has adapted to store food when there is abundance.

Some Anglerfish can move their esca to make it resemble a prey animal, which actually lures the real prey close enough for the Anglerfish to devour whole. It’s been found that some deep-sea Anglerfish of the bathypelagic zone can give off light from their esca to make it easier to attract their prey. A study was conducted on the stomach contents of an Anglerfish that was found off the Pacific coast of Central America found that these fish primarily ate two categories of benthic prey: crustaceans and teleost fish. Although it seemed that they had a frequent prey, which were pandalid shrimp. Whereas over 50% of the stomachs that were examined were empty, which supports the observations that Anglerfish are low energy consumers.

In 2010, 3 species of anglerfish were added to the seafood red list – a list of fish that are commonly sold worldwide that has a high likelihood of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries. These 3 species include, the American angler (Lophius americanus), the angler, which is also known as a monkfish (lophius piscatorius) and the black-bellied angler (lophius budegassa).

Europe and North America have used the tail meat of the fish form the genus Lophius, known as either Monkfish or Goosefish (North America). It’s widely used in cooking and is often said to have a lobster tail taste and texture. In Asia, Korea and Japan, they cook Monkfish liver which is known as “ankimo”, its considered a delicacy. Anglerfish are heavily consumed in South Korea, and is one of the main ingredients in dishes such as Agujjim.