Giant Pacific Octopus

Giant Pacific octopuses are the largest octopus breed and live longer than any other type of octopus. Their height is up to 16 feet, their weight from 22 to 110 lbs, and their lifespan anywhere form 3 to 5 years. They have giant, bulbous heads and, while they camouflage like op most octopuses, are generally reddish-brown. Newborn octopuses are small enough to be classified under plankton, so their food must be equally small. They feed mostly on copepods and seas tars and crabs in the larvae stage. Hunting at night, adults primarily eat shrimp, fish, lobsters, and clams, though they have been known to attack sharks and birds. As for predators, many larval octopuses are lost to most any animal larger than it. Only the largest fishes and marine mammals pose a threat to adults. Humans are actually the biggest predators to the Giant Pacific Octopus, catching them for food, bait,mot to out in aquariums. http://www.aqua.org/explore/animals/giant-pacific-octopusTheir territory is mainly in the waters of the Pacific; from Southern California to Alaska and west from Aleutian Islands to Japan. A fact not known to many, their apes sages are called "arms" not "tentacles".



http://www.aqua.org/explore/animals/giant-pacific-octopus

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/giant-pacific-octopus/


(P.S. I tried at least 10 different pictures trying to get one to work, but they all said something was wrong with the URL, so that's why there's no picture.)

Decorator Crab

 Photo Credit

The decorator crab, also known as the dresser crab lives northern California to Baja California. They grow to about 5 inches and eat algae, sponges, bryozoans, small crustaceans. The crabs takes small animals and seaweed and attaches them to their back, where they have hooked stetae. The hooked stetae are like velcrolike bristles. They will also use poisonous seaweed. With this the crabs blend into their surroundings as long as they stay in that area. Once the crab is big enough to defend itself, it doesn't decorate it's shell but stuff will find their way there and attach. Their shells don't grow with them so in order to grow they must molt and get a new shell. When this happens they take off their decorations and put them on their new shell. So far the crabs aren't endangered. For more stuff go here.

Swell Shark!

Photocredit   To learn more
This is the swell shark they are carnivore creatures that dwell on the rocky seafloor of the pacific ocean. When threatened these guys will make an u shape of its body then swallow sea water to make itself look twice as big scaring off threats. In day they are usually harmless little creatures staying camouflaged on rocks. By night they dwell and eat fish or stay still with its mouth open for a fish to swim in. Sharks are cartilages which mean it has no bones which make these guys pretty flexible. These sharks lay leathery eggs that are causally mermaid purses. Depending on water temp. they could hatch in nine to twelve months.

 
This is a pic of a swell shark egg with the embryo inside.

This is a video a scuba diver took of a swell shark chillin on rocks

Green Sea Turtles

https://fadingamericans.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/greenseaturtle.jpg
Green Sea Turtles are reptiles they can live up to be 80 years old. They get their name from an green layer of fat. They breathe oxygen but can hold their breath for 2 hours. They get rid of salt in their eyes by a salt gland near their eye. It makes them look like they are crying. When the females get out of the water to go onto the beach to lay their eggs they can lay up to 100 to 200 eggs. They usually eat jellyfish, mollusks, crab, squid, sponges,  seaweed,  and crustaceans. Green sea turtle will usually mate 2 to 4 years. They can get a disease and get multiple tumors on their skin and internal organs. Lots of trash left on beaches like plastic bags have been killing them off.      

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animal-guide/reptiles/green-sea-turtle andhttp://www.nestonline.org

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals-and-experiences/exhibits/sea-otters

The sea otter is a marine mammal. They are the second smallest marine animal and in the weasel family. They live their life mostly in water and dive for their food. They are also one of the few kinds of mammals that use tools to use for food like prying open clam shells. They eat urchins, abalone, mussels, clams, crabs, and snails. They live off the coast of northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Sea otters do not have thick blubber to keep them warm. They have the worlds thickest, heaviest fur and this keeps them warm. They have up to a million hairs per inch. Sea otters live in groups called "rafts". Their groups are very close with each other. When otters sleep, they sleep side by side with strands of kelp around them so they don't drift far away from each other. Sea otters play an important role in the ecosystem.

Sources: Montereybayaquarium.org and Defenders.org

Flamboyant Cuttlefish

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The flamboyant cuttlefish is native to northern Australia and is very hard to catch and keep alive in captivity. I searched and counted only two aquariums that have flamboyant cuttlefish held there. Flamboyant cuttlefish usually flash bright, vibrant yellow, maroon, brown, white, and red colors on its body - it can change colors, as can the chameleon, the peacock flounder, various squid species, the white crab spider, various species of octopus, and the golden tortoise beetle. You can read more about these guys here. One of the many amazing things about the flamboyant cuttlefish is that, unlike the rest of the species of cuttlefish, it stays, confident and sure of itself, where it is when threatened by other creatures. Babies eat mysid, which is the animal at the top right. Adults eat small shrimp, crabs, and fish. This species of cuttlefish lives in coral reefs and can grow to be about 3.1 inches. They fall into the kingdom Animalia, the phylum Molluscs, the class Cephalopoda, the order Sepiida, the family Sepiidae, the genus Metesepia, and the species Metasepia pfefferi. Here is a video and a picture of the amzing flamboyant cuttlefish. Enjoy. :)                                                                      

This little guy's about to hatch.

Pacific Blue Fin Tuna

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Pacific Blue Fin Tuna are some of the fastest and

largest fish in the world. They are powerful swimmers

that are built for endurance and speed. Tuna's bodies 

help conserve energy, their bodies are almost perfectly

streamlined. Being streamlined reduces drag around  

their fins. Tuna Retract their fins so water can flow   

over them more smoothly. Unlike most fish, Tuna are

warm blooded. Tuna can heat their body temperature

11 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the surrounding  

water. Pacific Blue Fin Tuna spawn near Okinawa,

near Taiwan and Japan, and in the sea of Japan.

Blue Fin Tuna while regularly swimming only swim

at around 5 miles per hour. Blue fin tuna while chasing

food can reach speeds of up to 62 miles per hour!

Sources: Signals Of Spring

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Naked mole rat

Naked mole rats are rodents.http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/naked-mole-rat/

Dogs Can Sense Diseases

Scientific studies have proven that dogs can sense diseases, such as cancer, through their keen sense of smell. Some dogs can even be trained to let people who have epilepsy know when they are about to have a seizure. Dogs can detect the smell of diseases through an ability to detect chemicals, which is called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. This helps us smell chemicals, as it helps dogs smell chemicals and diseases. Dogs can sense diseases faster than humans because of their amazingly strong sense of smell. If a dog is only focusing on a certain part of your body, that could mean you have a disease, or some leftover food or grease from lunch.


Info Credit

Harp Seals - Worst Moms Ever?

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Mothers of these precious little seals are highly

dedicated for the first twelve days. They do not eat

all during that period. When that period of feeding

ends, so does the bonding between mother and child

ends. Unlike other species who's raising ends early

harp seals are incapable of surviving on their own.

The seal has to survive on ice for a month and a half

where it is extremely vulnerable to predators. The

young seals will lose half its body weight while in

its isolation, When they reach around 10-12  

weeks old they can swim and start hunting for food.

Although 30% of all seals die in their first year.

Chamois

• The chamois is a goat-antelope and are native to mountainous regions of Europe, parts of Turkey, and the south island of New Zealand

•  It is almost extinct

• Their horns only grow in the summer

• They can grow up to 30 inches and 110 lb.

• You can tell how old they are by looking at the rings on their horns

• Their coat turns dark brown in the summertime and light gray in the wintertime

• They can live up to 20 years

• Adults males don't live in herds while the younger ones live with their mothers in herds

• They are hunted for their meat and leather

Photo Credit

Top Ten Deadliest Plants In The Entire Universe

This a video Matthew Santoro made about deadly plants you are gonna want to stay away from these plants.

The Camel Spider

Camel spiders are mostly known for their scary appearance. In this picture, the camel spider is eating a gecko, which has turned pale from its venom. They are somewhat large, although some rumors suggest they are "half the size of a grown man", which is not true. They are generally about six inches long from the head to the end of the last two legs.










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Lego Car

Not sure how scientific this is but I thought this was really cool.  It is a lego car made in Melbourne, Australia. It's made almost entirely out of legos. It is a life size, two seat lego car that can go up to 20mph. It actually works using compressed air.          

10 Deep Sea Creatures

Here are some of the most weirdest deep sea creatures. Some of them are very dangerous

Sea Urchins

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Sea Urchins
Sea urchins are part of the  phylum
Echinodermata. Their average size is
about 1.2 - 3.9 inches, although it
depends on the species. Sea Urchins
have radial symmetry, that means they
can be divided into 5 equal parts. The majority
of sea urchins have the colors either black, brown,
purple, red, or green. Sea urchins have five rows
of  paired tube feet along the bottom part of their
body. They have spikes along their body to
protect their soft innershell. Some species can
have venom in their spikes.

Blackest is the New Black

A British company has developed a new material that is so black that is absorbs all but .035% of light. To stare at the coating made of carbon nanotubes-each 10,000 times thinner than a human hair-is an odd experience. It is so dark that the human eye can't sense what it's seeing. Any shape or contour is lost, making it an apparent abyss. If it was to be made into something of a little black dress, the wearer's head and limbs would seem to float above a dress-shaped hole. The nanotube material, called "Vantablack" has been grown in sheets of aluminum foil. While the foil may be crumpled to represent hills and valleys, the landscape will disappear under the material.
"You expect to see the hills, but it's all black, like a hole. There's nothing there. It's quite odd." Said a chief techincal officer.
When asked about the prospect of making a little black dress, he said it would be extremely expensive-the cost of he material he was unable to reveal.
Vantablack works by packing together nanotubes, like a field of incredibly thin drinking straws. These are so tiny that light cannot pass through them, although it can pass through gaps between them. Once there, a small bit of light bounces around before it's absorbed.
Professor of color science and technology at Leeds University, Stephen Westland says that traditional black was a color of light and scientists are now pushing it something out of this world.
He also said, "Many people think black is the absence of light. I completely disagree with this. Unless you are looking at a black hole, no one has never actually seen something that has no light. These new materials are pretty much as black as we can get, almost as close to a black hole as you can imagine."

Magic Bunyy

m.aol.com



























This Bunny is from china. This bunny was discovered on accident in 1983.
They have only spotted 29 Magic bunnies. The bunny nick name is lla Pika.

Invertebrates Rap Video by Jai & Jonah

Weird Phobias!

This is a video made by Mathew Santoro who is a top ten guy. He went over bizarre phobias people have going from the fear of baths to the fear of  everything. Every once in awhile check his videos out because he makes amazing science videos.

Jumping Cholla

The Jumping Cholla is found in the southwest desert. Their spines can easily catch on clothing and are hard to get off. Opposed to other cacti, which have solid spines, they have have hollow spines. Their hollow spines attach to things easier when brushed against something than others. When they make contact with something with moisture, like skin, the tips curve locking them self in under the surface. They can grow up to 8 feet tall and produces a pink flower. The cactus wren builds its nest in it. The spikes secures the nest and the wren knows not to touch the spikes.

Photo Credit

San Bernardino Arrowhead

There is a famous landmark in the foothills of the San Bernardino mountains.  It is a Arrowhead that seems to be carved into the mountain.  What I think is weird is that it never goes away.  In any kind of weather, the Arrowhead remains. I decided to look this up and found out that some people might think this was carved by people and made my man but it is not.  It is considered a phenomenon and no one really knows why it remains.  The arrowhead is 1,375 feet in length and 449 feet wide.  The face if the arrowhead is made with light quartz and surrounded by white sage.



http://sbcity.org/about/history/the_arrowhead.asp

Can you be scared to death?

Can you be scared to death? Yes you actually can be it all depends on your heart.

Solar and Lunar Eclipses

We are learning about the Earth, Moon, and Sun in 8th grade science.  Here is a video I'll be showing them tomorrow that helps you see the shadows involved when there is a solar or lunar eclipse.

Doping (How Lance Armstrong lost his respect and dignity)

Doping is using drugs enhance your performance in sports. There are many articles on this but the two thing that strike me personally are: that it is so complicated and that he did it for about a decade! The way that USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency) was when one of his teammates told the world about this. Lance Armstrong wasn't the only person who did this, one report says that 12 out of 15 Tour De France were won by blood dopers. You can find out about doping here, here, or here.

photo credit

Beef Tapeworm

The beef tapeworm is almost like other tapeworms, but there are differences. First, it does not have hooks that help it latch onto the inside of the intestine, but instead only has suckers. Second, it is usually longer and larger than other tapeworms. It can be as long as anywhere from 4 to 25 meters long. The beef tapeworm causes taeniasis. Most people who have taeniasis don't know it because there are almost no symptoms. Here is the order of what categories beef tapeworms are in: it is in the domain Eukarya, kingdom Animalia, phylum Platyhelminthes, class Cestoda, order Cyclophyllidea, family Taeniidae, genus Taenia, and species Taenia saginata.







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