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Author: Greater Cleveland Aquarium

Our Plastic Pollution Problem

June 21, 2018
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It is estimated that more than 8 million tons of plastic trash enter our oceans each year. If that is not shocking enough, this story also hits close to home. According to a study done by the Rochester Institute of Technology, it has been discovered that 5.5 million pounds of plastic goes directly into Lake Erie (Zukowski). This plastic includes visible and micro-plastics which are dangerous to both people and wildlife. The most common plastics found near the shores of Lake Erie include cigarette butts, bags, bottles, caps, straws, and even flip flops.

 

 

Fortunately, we can do something to help. There are several small changes we can make in our daily lives which will create a big change for the environment. These include:

  • Recycling – It is estimated that 1 trillion plastic bags are thrown away each year, and of the 1 million bottles purchased every minute around the world, less than half of those will be recycled. Recycling those bags and bottles will help cut down on the amount of “new” plastic in circulation.
  • Skipping the Straw – 500 million plastic straws are used each day in the United States. An easy fix to not using a plastic straw is to invest in a reusable stainless steel or glass straw. Furthermore, companies such as Starbucks are starting to get on the no straw trend, as they are now giving a 10 cent discount to customers who bring in a reusable cup. Some stores are also beginning to use paper straws which are less harmful to wildlife and the environment (Nuñez).
  • Keeping Our Coasts Clean – A fun and rewarding way to help cut down on the amount of plastic pollution entering our oceans and lakes is by volunteering for a beach clean up. The Greater Cleveland Aquarium’s Splash Fund organizes Adopt-A-Beach cleanups with the Alliance for the Great Lakes every summer. To register for our beach cleanups, please visit greatlakesadopt.org. You can find the Aquarium hosted cleanups by searching the date of the event, the location  (Lakefront Reservation – Edgewater), or both. Then click on the event and follow the steps to register. Registration is important because it gives us an idea of how many people to expect and also provides contact information so that we can keep everyone up to date on details or changes (i.e. the weather does not cooperate). We hope to see you there!

 

 

 

Father’s Day Heroes: Seahorses vs. Seadragons

June 14, 2018
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We’re gearing up for Father’s Day, which made me think about the many different kinds of “wild” dads there are here at the Aquarium. While they’re all deserving of our appreciation, none go above and beyond quite like seahorses and weedy seadragons. When these species reproduce, it’s the male who nurtures the developing embryos and carries them to term. In short, pregnant dads! Really makes you rethink gender roles, doesn’t it?

This unique reproductive method is exclusive to the family Syngnathidae, which also includes pipefish and pipehorses. Some other things all syngnathids have in common are fused jaws, the absence of pelvic fins and thick, bony armor covering their bodies — but male pregnancy, in terms of pure “wow” factor, is their main calling card as a group of species. The female deposits the unfertilized eggs with the male, who then cares for the growing embryos until they’re born. However, no two syngnathids share the exact same reproductive process. This includes our seahorses and seadragons, who differ in a couple of interesting ways.

First of all, the seadragon and the seahorse carry fertilized eggs in different locations. A pregnant seahorse looks pretty familiar to us humans, as they carry their young (who often number in the thousands, by the way) in a pouch located in their abdominal area. This gives them a sort of potbelly appearance. Seadragons, on the other hand, carry their eggs on a specialized patch of skin at the base of their tails.

The hatching processes of the two species are also completely different. Seahorses’ brood pouches begin to expand right before they give birth. This happens as the fully-grown seahorse embryos begin to hatch from their egg membranes and move freely around the pouch. Once the pouch is at capacity, the seahorse finally gives birth, releasing the entire brood at once in dramatic fashion.

Meanwhile, seadragons give birth to their brood more slowly over a period of several days. The baby seadragons hatch one by one rather than all at the same time, decreasing the competition for food by dispersing the brood over a larger area of ocean. You could say seadragon dads go the extra mile to set their kids up for survival in the wild, however, it doesn’t look as impressive in captivity.

If you want to see these amazing aquatic parents up close, come visit us at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium in the First Energy Powerhouse on the West Bank of the Flats. Bring your own dry-land dad on Father’s Day, June 17th, and he’ll get in free with the price of a general admission ticket — find out more here.

 

 

 

 

We’ve Been Nominated!

May 2, 2018
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If you haven’t heard yet, the Aquarium is nominated for the 3rd annual Parent Choice Awards! We were nominated for Best Rainy Day Out by the readers of Northeast Ohio Parent last month and for that we say thank you!

It’s very exciting to be nominated for this specific category because we consider ourselves to be 73o and sunny every day. The Aquarium is the perfect mini-tropical escape for the family when the weather outside is grey and rainy. After a dreary, drizzly drive you can enter each of our captivating galleries of colorful lands around the world. We have more than 50 exhibits with animals that can be found in areas like our native Ohio Lakes and Rivers all the way to Asia and Indonesia.

A guest favorite, our Coastal Boardwalk gallery features an 11,000-gallon stingray touch pool and an invertebrate touch pool that includes bumpy, chocolate chip sea stars and hard-working, cleaner shrimp. In this gallery, you’ll learn the official “two-finger touch” technique so you can feel the smooth backs of our “smiley” stingrays.

Get ready to explore underwater as you reach the end of your walk-through, because our 230,000-gallon shark exhibit includes a 175-foot SeaTube that you can walk under and watch sandtiger sharks, moray eels and stingrays swim above you!

You will stay warm and dry even on a rainy day of venturing undersea…although dad might get a shower when he goes to pull the car around.
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HOW TO VOTE

We appreciate all the readers of Northeast Ohio Parent for nominating us last month. If you would like to vote for us here’s the link to the ballot: https://www.northeastohioparent.com/things-to-do/vote-for-your-favorites-in-the-2018-parent-choice-awards/

Voting runs through May 31st and the results will appear in the July issue of Northeast Ohio Parent.

(P.S. Don’t forget to vote for some of our nominated friends like the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland Metroparks and Playhouse Square.)

Putting it to the Test: Cuyahoga River’s Water Quality

March 13, 2018
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Cuyahoga means “crooked river,” for good reason; it kind of looks like a backwards letter “U.” The river begins with two separate branches in Geauga County which join and flow south through the city of Akron.  The river then comes back north to Cleveland and empties out in Lake Erie.

Throughout the 1800s, Ohio grew. The Ohio and Erie Canal gave local businesses and farms access to resources. That connectivity meant Ohio’s farmers could sell their goods for higher prices in a more competitive market.

But as industry and population grew there were some consequences. The Cuyahoga River suffered. Minimal laws for waste regulation combined with chemical and steel materials dumped into the river – the Cuyahoga caught on fire not once or twice, but thirteen times. The most famous fire, in 1969, gained national attention and began an environmental movement that sparked initiatives such as the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Cuyahoga began to clear.

Through its Rivers & Lakes: Keeping the Great Lakes and our Water Quality Scientist programs, the Aquarium brings students to the River’s banks to test its water quality the day of their visit. Using the scientific method, students determine if the water is excellent, good, fair or poor.

These tests take temperature as well as pH and nitrate levels into account. Students then discuss why it is important to test for these particular things and what variables can change the result. For example, oxygen levels can drop if the water is stagnant, phosphate levels will spike if farm fertilizer runoff enters the water and nitrate levels rise whenever human sewage is dumped in the river from sewer overflow points.  According to our Erin Bauer, Greater Cleveland Aquarium’s Education Coordinator, most days the Cuyahoga’s health comes out “fairly good,” but says there’s always room for improvement.

Students tend to have a range of reactions to being out by the river. Bauer states, “Getting to throw a water sample collection bucket into the river is always a highlight. Hearing kids make observations about what they see is always great. There are always a few ‘Eww, the brown water is nasty!’ and ‘Look at those plastic bottles out there.’  But there are also observations like ‘Cool! Look at those sea gulls!’ or ‘Wow, it’s bigger than I thought!’” Bauer is particularly happy when a barge passes by and the students can see how the river contributes to the region’s transportation needs.

The program has help from Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) which provides the tubes and tablets needed to test water quality.  They also gifted us an enviroscape model that illustrates waste water treatment, drinking water treatment, runoff in the watershed and combined sewers.

Facilitating connections between students and our natural resources is important and Bauer says, “NEORSD and the Aquarium share a desire to educate youth about the urban water cycle.”

Visiting students are asked to brainstorm ways they can make a positive environmental difference for the Cuyahoga River.  For example, buying organic produce can reduce phosphate levels, planting trees can decrease turbidity, and reducing water volume while showering or brushing teeth ultimately leads to a decrease in sewer overflow.

– Morgan Wright

 

 

 

5 Things I Learned about the Green Moray Eel (Gymnothorax funebris)

March 7, 2018
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Don’t be misled. With its long muscular body a green moray eel has a bit of a snake-like look but it is most definitely a fish. Often hidden away in crevices, caves and coral reefs, this nocturnal hunter ambushes its prey. Want to know more? I’m no expert but I do know experts and here are 5 things I have learned:

Next time you visit the Greater Cleveland Aquarium try to find the green moray eels hiding in the cracks and crevices of our 230,000-gallon shark exhibit. To learn more about its amazing pharyngeal jaws, check out this blog from Steph Q. (a member of our animal care team) here.

– Sam Fryberger

How a President Propagated a Piranha Myth

February 16, 2018
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Blockbuster thrillers like Jaws have given sharks an undeserved reputation as aggressive, man-eating killers. Similarly, stories about piranhas have portrayed this fairly calm species as bloodthirsty animals to be feared.

So where did this myth begin?

In 1913, Theodore Roosevelt made a trip to Brazil. To impress the adventurous former American President, locals took him deep into rainforest and allowed him to “discover” a river there but warned him not to venture in. What he did not know was that they had stocked the waters with unfed piranhas. To illustrate the dangers for the former President and accompanying journalists they threw a cow into water filled with starving piranhas. (Was it a dead cow? Bloody bits of diced meat? A sick cow? This detail seems to change from story to story.)  Within moments there was a massive feeding frenzy.

Roosevelt went on to record his amazement of these seemingly perfect killing machines in his travel memoirs, which the American population devoured and became weary of the species. In 1914’s “Through the Brazilian Wilderness”, Roosevelt noted the following:

“They are the most ferocious fish in the world. Even the most formidable fish, the sharks or the barracudas, usually attack things smaller than themselves. But the piranhas habitually attack things much larger than themselves . . . the piranha is a short, deep-bodied fish, with a blunt face and a heavily undershot or projecting lower jaw which gapes widely. The razor-edged teeth are wedge-shaped like a shark’s, and the jaw muscles possess great power. The rabid, furious snaps drive the teeth through flesh and bone. The head with its short muzzle, staring malignant eyes, and gaping, cruelly armed jaws, is the embodiment of evil ferocity; and the actions of the fish exactly match its looks.”

Although not based on real-world circumstances, Roosevelt’s vivid account the experience has only gained momentum over the years. Once Hollywood latched onto the myth and created the 1987 film “Piranha,” the unfortunate characteristic stuck.

In truth, piranhas are relatively calm until spooked. This animal can be skittish, especially if there are a larger number of them in one exhibit. The Red-Bellied Piranha, native to South America, feed on fish, snails, insects and aquatic plants, only occasionally eating larger mammals and birds.

We caught up with Connor while he was feeding our red-bellied piranha and asked him for the real story behind these beautiful fish.

Curious to learn more? Check out:

– Morgan Wright

5 Things I Learned about the Harlequin Sweetlips (Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides)

February 12, 2018
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Adult harlequin sweetlips inhabit edges and caves can be found in lagoons and reefs of the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans. Although they live largely in solitude, sweetlips can benefit from symbiotic relationship with cleaner wrasse, a small, coral reef-dweller that dines on the parasites, food particles and dead tissue of other fish.

Here are 5 other interesting little tidbits about this fish with a romantic-sounding name:

See the harlequin sweetlips “sweet lips” for yourself at Greater Cleveland Aquarium.

– Sam Fryberger

JUVENILE PHOTO by Nhobgood/Wikimedia

MUSIC by Podington Bear, “Tropical Sunrise”

 

5 Things I Learned about the Ocellate River Stingray (Potamotrygon motoro)

February 5, 2018
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The ocellate river stingray’s upper body is grayish-brown with black-lined yellowish orange spots and its underside is white. Its graceful undulations regularly stop young guests in their tracks. Unlike the ones you’ll see in the Aquarium’s touch pool and shark gallery, this stingray lives in fresh water. Here are 5 facts about this beautiful creature native to the basins of the Paraná-Paraguay, Orinoco and Amazon Rivers.

Visit the Greater Cleveland Aquarium to see this and other amazing animals up close.

– Sam Fryberger

What Happens in Winter?

January 21, 2018
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People who live here know it can get pretty cold in Northeast Ohio. Luckily, we can wrap up in a cozy scarf, pull on some lined gloves and add another layer of clothing when temps start to drop. Those animals that live in cold weather year-round have adaptive features to help them through the cold winter months. But what about the animals that don’t have an extra layer of blubber or plans to fly south . . . how do they survive a deep freeze?

Some Ohio animals, like groundhogs, hibernate. According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, groundhogs hole up much of the winter in a state where their body temperature lowers their heart rate slows significantly. When it gets really frigid other creatures such as skunks, raccoons and chipmunks will seek shelter to sleep a few days until things warm up.  Birds that don’t migrate might put on some weight and change their diets. But what happens to fish?

“Cold-blooded animals, such as fish, maintain body temperatures to that of their surroundings,” explains Greater Cleveland Aquarium curator Stephanie White. “Therefore fish move to the deepest, warmest spots within the water body during cold winter months.” Fish can enter torpor, which is shorter than a full hibernation. Torpor includes a body temperature reduction, slowed metabolism, slowed reaction times, a reduction in breathing rate and primary body functions. During the state of torpor, a fish will not actively seek prey, instead allowing food to come to them, saving their energy. With slowed activity and conserved energy, their dietary needs decrease in the winter.

And what about Fido in your backyard? How cold is too cold for our own domestic animals? While a specific answer cannot be determined across the board, consider your dog’s size, fur thickness and breed. Owners that have clothing for their animals are advised to not leave them unattended in case the sweater gets hooked on an object outdoors. PetMD suggests that once temperatures drop under 20°F, all owners should limit time outdoors and be aware that their animals could potentially develop cold-associated health problems like hypothermia.

Animals have their different adaptations to survive inclement weather, both warm and cold. Their bodies know what they can stand and will give signs of if they cannot. To learn more about our animals and their adaptations, don’t hesitate to ask any members of our curation team during your next visit!

– Morgan Wright, Marketing Assistant