Talkin' Trash

What is marine debris?  It's trash that winds up in the ocean.  You can make a difference and help prevent trash from landing in the ocean.  

Watch for a special post from children's book author, Patricia Newman. 

Meanwhile, learn how 

you can help from this video.

Be a Plover Lover

Who doesn't love a walk along the beach?  Discovery is everywhere.  

There are shells.

 Barnacles.

Birds of all sorts.

 And sometimes a surprise, like a rare snowy plover!

Snowy plovers are tiny shore birds that are threatened species. That means, they are not doing very well and could become extinct. 

They make their nests on the beach.  And that's the snowy plover's challenge.  The nests are hard to see by us because they are tucked into dried kelp, driftwood and rocks. But coyotes, raccoons, owls and falcons can find them and dine on the eggs or the even the baby chicks.

Because their nests are camouflaged, you and I are a big danger to snowy plovers too.  And while our dogs love to run on the beach with us, they can accidentally destroy a snowy plover nest. 

Kites also scare snowy plovers.  They might mistake a kite in the air as a predator bird hunting for a fresh supper.

We can help the snowy plover by staying far away from areas where they nest during March and September.  Watch for signs and ropes on the beach. And remember Share the Beach and become a Plover Lover!

---all photos by C. Coimbra

10 Amazing Facts About Lion's Mane Jellyfish

We have a special guest today!


This guest post is by Cherilyn Jose, a SCUBA diver, photographer, writer and blogger.  Her blog, "Ocean of Hope: Marine Animals Voice Their Wishes" is often written from an animal's point-of-view.  Check it out here Ocean of Hope: Marine Animals Voice Their Wishes and follow her on twitter @protectoceans

Note: Since Jellyfish aren’t really fish, I will now refer to them as Jellies instead

Lion's Mane Jelly. C. Coimbra photo

1. The Lion’s Mane Jelly is the largest Jelly in the ocean.  Its bell can reach up to 8 feet in diameter, and its tentacles up to 120 feet long (that’s longer than a blue whale!).
2. The Lion’s Mane Jelly lives in the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Arctic Oceans.
3. The Lion’s Mane Jelly is bioluminescent (glows in the dark!).
4. Like all jellies, the Lion’s Mane Jelly has no brain, blood, or nervous system.
5. Like all jellies, the Lion’s Mane Jelly is 95% water.
6. There are 200 species of True Jellies.
7. All Jellies are radially symmetrical.
8. Jellies have no eyes, but rather eye spots that detect light and dark.
9. Lion’s Mane Jellies have nematocysts in their tentacles that they use to sting their prey. Nematocysts are barbs (sharp points) filled with venom.
10. A Jelly can sting you even if washed up on the beach so be careful!  Jelly stings on humans can be treated with vinegar to lessen the pain.

Students Take a Vacation Saving Coral

A coral nursery.  Coral Restoration Foundation photo

Coral is a beautiful plant in the ocean.  

NO! Wait! That's wrong. It's not a beautiful plant! It's a beautiful animal!

Coral is also one of the most endangered animals on the planet.  

Coral lives in reefs in tropical and subtropical waters. Many of those reefs are in trouble from pollution, warming waters from climate change, a higher rate of acid changing ocean waters, and from over fishing.  

Ocean researchers have learned that coral can be saved. A group of kids far from the coral reefs in Florida, spent part of their summer vacation to help save a coral reef along the Florida Keys.

Twenty boys and girls from land-locked Colorado, from ages 12 to 16, traveled to Florida to learn more about the Coral Restoration Foundation.

Students learned how to dive and "plant" coral pieces in a coral nursery.

The students told reporter, Don Rhodes, for Key Info Net, that the experience "opened a whole new world for me,"  "..it broadened my view of the world and gave us a bonding experience with the other kids.” Others were thrilled seeing sting rays and turtles in their natural home.


You can learn more about coral reefs at EcoKids.

3 Easy Ways To Keep the Beach Healthy

Who can't wait to hit the beach this summer? There are sand castles to build. Surf to slide and ride. Picnics. Volleyball. 

We love the beach!  Now let's show our love with these three easy ways to keep it healthy this summer.

1. Beach toys:  Be sure every single plastic toy comes back home with you. The ocean doesn't need one more piece of plastic in it. Did you know that some stores sell recycled plastic beach toys? One company even makes "plastic" beach toys that biodegrade.
2. Food wrappers:  Yikes! Plastic bags so easily slip away and into the ocean. Boo! Try using wax paper or pack your lunch in take-home containers instead.  
3. Juice and drink containers:  Did you know that those tiny little plastic lids from a bottle of juice, water, and tea are one of the biggest ocean polluters? Did you know that many seabirds have mistaken those containers for food? That's not a good thing. Be sure to properly dispose of those tiny lids. The ocean and its creatures will thank you. Also be sure to recycle those plastic bottles.  

Rare Sighting! Twin Gray Whales

On Monday, June 1, while on a gray whale watch in California, viewers saw a rare sight, a mother gray whale with two calves at her side.

Either the mother gave a very rare birth to twins or one of the calves lost its mother and was adopted by this mother. 

They were swimming north to return to their feeding grounds near Alaska. Gray whales swim about 6,000 miles from their wintertime stay in the lagoons of Baja California to Alaska.

Studying Whales with Drones

Wayne Perryman, a marine biologist with NOAA Fisheries, launches an unmanned aircraft into the sky above the South Pacific. Perryman uses aerial drones to get close to sperm whales so that he can study their health and physiology. Photo credit: Moira Brown, New England Aquarium.

Counting whales has gone to the drones.  

After years of struggling to survive, the gray whales that migrate along the western Pacific coastline—from the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Mexico—are now under the watchful eye of a hexacopter drone.

Dedicated professionals and volunteers count the migrating gray whales every spring.  It’s been an imperfect count because they can’t always count whales swimming by at night or in stormy weather.  Fortunately, the new whale mothers swim very close to the shore when they take their new calves on their first big swim from Mexico to Alaska.

The drones add an extra “eye” that helps scientists measure the passing whales and observe the mother’s weight and health.  

Blue Whale near San Diego, Ca.

These camera-equipped drones also track orcas (killer whales), sperm whales, blue whales, stellar sea lions, leopard seals and penquins in Antarctica.