Posts Tagged With: oceans

Suzi and the Sand Dunes

Suzi and the Sand Dunes

We haven’t had a camp fire story this whole summer! We’re sharing a story we’ve shared before!

 

Suzi and Sand Dune Nightmare:

On an evening just like tonight a camper named Suzi, decided to go explore the beach during the night. She wanted to watch a sea turtle come ashore. She wasn’t sure she should go exploring by herself as it was against the rules, but the thought of seeing a mom sea turtle laying her eggs was so exciting that she couldn’t contain herself. She gathered her red flashlight and quietly left her tent.

Suzi walked quietly up the beach as not to disturb any turtles or any of the campers. It was hard to see in the dark night and Suzi was not feeling as brave as she wandered father from camp. She was getting cold and she didn’t see a single turtle in the dark of night. She heard a noise from the dunes and she decided to walk back to camp as quickly as possible.  As she walked back she noticed a red glow coming from the sand dunes. She stopped; camp counselors had told everyone that the dunes were off limits, day or night and any camper that went in to them would be sent home. Suzi wanted to investigate where the red light was coming from, but she didn’t want to get in trouble. No one had noticed that she was gone so far, so what would a few more minutes hurt. She couldn’t think of animal that would give off a red glow like that. What if she were to discover a new species? Then no one would be mad at her for going into the dunes, even at night. Her fears slipped away as curiosity and excitement led her in the direction of the dunes and the red glow.

Suzi headed into the dunes with some trepidation. There were predators that lived in these dunes and it was darker back here.  As she walked farther from the sounds of the ocean and deeper in to the dunes; the tall, sharp blades of sea grass cut Suzi on her arms and legs. She could barely see movement of small animals around her in the pitch black night. Those were just regular old ghost crabs and mice Suzi thought. No need to fear them. Suddenly, there was a noise to her right, something much larger! This was no ghost crab coming out of its burrow.  Suzi was beginning to get scared and wanted to go back to her safe tent at camp. As her fear grew, she realized she had lost the red glowing light she’d seen earlier. She looked around and all she could see were sand dunes, sea grass and dark of night. Her heart began to race as the noise grew louder and closer. It’s too big to be a fox, but it could be a coyote she thought.  Suzi knew she did not want to encounter a coyote.  She was lost in the middle of the dunes and she was beginning to panic. The noise from the large animal grew louder and closer yet again! Suzi started to run, but the dunes are no place to run- there were crabs and birds’ nests and all of those sharp sea grass blades. She felt as if she were running in place. As the noise grew closer, Suzi stopped. Instinct told her to get low, so she squatted down as she shook with fear. She was covered in sweat and cuts from the sea grass. Quietly she sat in the dunes with the ghost crabs crawling all around her. For a moment the steps had stopped. Maybe the animal had given up and left. But as soon as Suzi decided to stand up, she could her the footsteps coming closer and closer…

 

 

 

Uh oh! What happened to Suzi? Do you think a coyote got her? Or maybe a secret sand dune monster! We’ll tell you the answer if you ask us on Twitter or Facebook! Time for lights out campers! And stay out of the dunes! Hahahaha!

 

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, oceans, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Finding Tiny Crabs

Finding Tiny Crabs

We’re spending this week down on the beach looking for animals that are not easy to spot. Today we’re looking for a tiny crab called the sand or mole crab. Let’s get to exploring!

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MOLE CRAB FUN FACTS:

  • These little crabs are found in the sand where the tide rolls in. They bury themselves just below the surface.
  • They can bury themselves in under 2 seconds! Good luck finding these speed demons.
  • Mole crabs have feathery antenna that filter plankton from the water.
  • Birds and fish like to dine on these little crustaceans.
  • They molt when they grow and must wait for their new shell to harden.
  • Mole crabs can swim or tread water – an unusual adaptation for crabs.
  • Females can produce up to 45,000 eggs!

 

Have you ever spotted these crazy crabs on the beach? They aren’t easy to see, but they are an important part of the food web of the beach!

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, oceans, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Knot Birdy

Knot Birdy

It’s another day of watching birds and we’re meeting the Red Knot. Anyone have a guess how they got that name? Let’s find out!

 

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RED KNOT FUN FACTS:

  • These red birds are actually more grey most of the year. They develop that color during mating season.
  • They are found on every continent except Antartica.
  • It is thought that they get their name from the grunting noise they make.
  • Their numbers have fallen in North America due to population declines of one of their favorite prey- horseshoe crabs eggs.
  • These carnivores have special receptors in their beaks that help them detect pressure. These receptors help them find crustaceans buried in the sand.
  • Egrets eat their crustacean prey whole- shell and all. They crush the shells in their gizzard (a muscular part of their stomach), In fact, they have the largest gizzard of any shore bird.
  • They are listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.

 

These adorable birds remind us of plovers a bit. It’s important that scientists are following population numbers as we are seeing a decline.  Remember to keep our shores clean of any trash, as plastics and other trash can harm our shore bird friends.

 

Categories: adventure, Animals, birds, camp, Children, conservation, education, endangered species, Environment, nature, oceans, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This is Urchin!

This is Urchin!

Hehehe! We love a good pun! Ok, well maybe learning about our last echinoderm the sea urchin, isn’t so urgent, but it is cool!

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SEA FUN FACTS:

  • Like their other echinoderm relatives, sea urchins are divided in to equal parts- being 5.
  • They have 5 rows of tube feet with suckers on the end that they use to move and then attach to rocks or the ocean floor.
  • All urchins have spines, but not all of them are venomous.
  • These omnivores eat plankton and algae. In turn they are prey for other animals including otters and sun stars.
  • The sea urchin’s mouth is on the bottom of their body and their bum is on the top.
  • Urchin is an old word for hedgehog. Named after the spiny mammal, you could technically call them sea hedgehogs!
  • Sand dollars are actually a type of urchin!
  • Sea urchins also have tiny claws in between their spines. They use these to help protect them and to hold shells and other objects to help them camouflage.

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Sea urchins are really cool for an animal that looks just like a colorful pin cushion! These amazing creatures can live up to 30 years and the Red Sea urchin is known to live up to 200 years. Crazy!!!

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, oceans, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stars of the Sea

Stars of the Sea

We have met sea stars before, but we wanted to learn more about these amazing echinoderms at camp today!

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SEA STAR FUN FACTS: 

  • There are around 2,000 species of sea stars.
  • Some species live up to 35 years.
  • They have no brains or blood. They use water throughout their vascular system. The water also helps them move their tube feet.
  • Sea stars do have simple eyes that see light and dark.
  • Sea stars have little plates of calcium carbonate to help protect them
  • These carnivores push their stomachs outside their mouths and digest their food before pulling the stomach back in the body.
  • Each arm of the sea star has around 15,000 tube feet. These feet secret a glue like substance to help them attach to rocks.
  • Some sea stars- like the sun star, can have up to 50 arms and weigh 11 lbs.
  • Like their relatives the brittle stars, they can regenerate arms.

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We love sea stars! They come in all sizes and colors- like pink, purple and blue! Do you have a favorite color sea star?

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, endangered species, Environment, nature, oceans, science, sea stars, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Don’t Eat that Cucumber

Don’t Eat that Cucumber

Who’s excited to meet today’s echinoderm? It’s a pretty crazy looking one! Let’s meet the sea cucumber!

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SEA CUCUMBER FUN FACTS:

  • Sea cucumbers have tentacles around their mouths. They use those to grab small waste materials or tiny animals in the oceans.
  •  Sea cucumbers can discharge a sticky substance to ward off predators. They can also expel their internal organs to deter a predator. Don’t worry They regenerate those.
  • They have no faces or eyes.
  • Sea cucumbers take in water through their bum to extract oxygen using respiratory trees.
  • They also poop calcium carbonate, a building material for coral.
  • These not too exciting animals are important for breaking down too much organic material in the ocean floor. They are often called nature’s vacuum cleaners.

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While they don’t look like much and really they aren’t much more that a tubular eating & pooping machine, they are one of the oceans’ under appreciated animals.

 

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, endangered species, Environment, nature, oceans, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Brittle Star

Brittle Star

Welcome back campers! We hope everyone had a great holiday off! We’re back at Camp E&E by the Sea to meet some of our echinoderm friends. Today we are meeting Brittany the brittle star.

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BRITTLE STAR FUN FACTS: 

  • These echinoderms are related to sea stars, but are not sea stars.
  • They are carnivores, that eat plankton and small crustaceans.
  • Brittle stars are found in the oceans all around the world from tide pools to the deep oceans.
  • There are 2,000 species of brittle stars in the ocean.
  • Brittle stars have a central disk that contains their mouth, which has 5 jaws.
  • Brittle stars have small spines on their arms.
  • Like their relatives, the sea stars- they can lose a limb and regenerate it.
  • They use their spiny arms and not tube feet to move.

 

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We love brittle stars. They are so cool looking! Maybe we should make some out of clay? Anyone up for that?

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Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

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We’re taking the week off for the holiday! We’ll be back next week to meet some echinoderm friends! See you then!

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We Spy What Cephalopod

We Spy What Cephalopod

We are giving you some clues to see if you can guess the cephalopod we are meeting today!

  • We spy a cephalopod who calls the deep ocean its home.
  • We spy a cephalopod that is rarely seen.
  • We spy a cephalopod with 40 ft arms.
  • We spy a cephalopod who has the longest tentacles of any cephalopod species.
  • We spy a cephalopod who has the largest eyes of any animal in the world.
  • We spy a cephalopod who is well known in stories and literature.

 

Can you guess who we spy?

Scroll down to see the answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s the Giant Squid!

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Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, oceans, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

One Weird Cephalopod

One Weird Cephalopod

We are meeting a strange cephalopod today. It’s not an octopus or a squid or a cuttlefish! This animal actually has a hard outer shell. Any guess on who we are meeting?

 

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NAUTILUS FUN FACTS: 

  • There are 6 species of nautilus.
  • Unlike their cephalopod relatives who only live 1-2 years; nautilus live up to 15 years.
  • Nautilus have chambers in their shells. They are born with 4 chambers and grow more as they get older.
  • These chambers also help them with buoyancy. They can allow water in or out to go up and down in the ocean.

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  • Nautiluses use a siphon tube near their eye to expel water to propel themselves in the water.
  • They do not have arms- they have cirri or cirrus (the plural form). They can have up to 90 cirrus.
  • These carnivores use those cirrus to grab prey like crab and fish.
  • They have poor eyesight, but an excellent sense of smell.

 

How cool are these cephalopods? They look like aliens if you ask us! What’s your favorite thing about these ocean going aliens.

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, oceans, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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