5 Things I Learned: Bushynose Pleco
It might be hard to find a bushynose pleco, but that’s by design! Take a closer look at this bristlenose catfish in the video below.
Nature. It’s a curious thing.
– Hannah
Tag: #natureiscurious
Eco-Friendly Fishing Tips
Fishing is a popular outdoor hobby for many people. In fact, anyone older than 16 can purchase a fishing license in Ohio. Some of the most popular sport fish in this region are bass, walleye, catfish and perch.
With any outdoor activity there are environmental risks that we can help minimize. Being aware of our impact on our natural ecosystems is an important step in protecting the planet. Here are a few ways you can help reduce your effect on our environment while still enjoying your favorite pastime.
Break it Down Now
Although biodegradable fishing line can be hard to find, it can help reduce the amount of harm done by leftover fishing line. Regular fishing line takes about 600 years to decompose while biodegradable options can take as little as 2 years. If biodegradable, isn’t an option then make sure you’re being cautious about where your extra line ends up. Clean up after yourself whenever possible.
No Lead, No Problems
Many fishing weights and other equipment contain lead. High levels of lead in water bodies can poison fish and other wildlife. Using weights made with brass, steel, bismuth tin, iron or tungsten will lessen the amount of lead that end up in our waterways.
Eyes as Big as Your Stomach
In addition to adhering to local catch-and-release fishing regulations, it’s important to only take the fish you know you can use. Only keeping the fish you know you will use is more sustainable and reduces the amount of bycatch.
All about the Baits
Most bait, such as worms or other fish aren’t naturally found in the environments where they are used. High levels of this non-native bait can disrupt the natural ecosystems and cause issues within the food chain. Make sure to use only the bait you need and to take any leftovers with you for proper disposal.
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Motorized fishing boats release carbon emissions into the environment that can be harmful to the local wildlife. Whenever possible, try using a rowboat or canoe to fish. There are also special boat propellers that can increase fuel efficiency by more than 20%.
Talkin’ Trash
The biggest thing you can do when enjoying any outdoor activity is clean up after yourself! Taking all your belongings and trash with you ensures that nothing ends up where it shouldn’t be.
– Caroline
More Dangerous than Sharks
Did you know that the Florida Museum of Natural History documents all known shark attacks? They started the ISAF (International Shark Attack File) back in 1958. If we use the data collected to average fatalities from sharks over the last 60 years, the number is only 7 per year worldwide. If you put that into odds, it is 1 in 3,700,000. Now let’s compare that with the odds of dying from the flu, which is 1 in 63.
Turns out there are lot of things more dangerous than sharks, but we don’t seem to be afraid of them. So let’s take a look at what SHOULD scare us more than sharks.
How about bugs? Those annoying mosquitos are responsible for 800,000 deaths a year. Fire ants account for another 50 people and bees will kill 100 people in the U.S. alone. Those are large numbers for being such small animals.
There are plenty of other animals more dangerous to humans than sharks. Take, for example, the noble steed. Yup, horses kill about 20 people in the U.S. per year. Then there’s the loyal dog. (What can be better than a lick in the face from our beloved friend?) Turns out, dogs are responsible for 25,000 human deaths annually worldwide. And how about Bambi? Such a cute little creature, but deer are the reason 130 people die each year in the U.S. It seems cars and deer do not like each other very much.
So let’s focus on the automobile. There are more than 1.2 million traffic-related deaths every year. Traffic lights will be part of that with 2,000 deaths in the U.S. alone. People just ignore those lights but that could be because we’re all wrapped up in our online worlds. Cell phones should be far more feared than our finned-friends since 6,000 deaths in the U.S. are attributed to texting and driving.
Now that you have considered how dangerous the roads can be, perhaps you will decide to start walking more. Be forewarned—almost 6,000 people die every year from trips and falls. And if that (or any of these statistics) make you want to never leave your home, just remember that on average 450 people in the U.S. die from falling out of that bed, 26 people are crushed by sofas, and 30 folks are done in by falling televisions.
Hey, get outside already, go cut the lawn it is excessively high, but then you may be thinking about the 75 people in the U.S. that die from lawnmower accidents or the 24,000 people that die from lightning strikes every year. (Are those clouds over there?) Oh well, all this is making me hungry. Let us go wash up and go have some dinner, but watch out for the hot water. In the U.S., scalding tap water will kill 100 people this year. And oh, by the way, food—the very thing that keeps us alive—holds potential dangers. The World Health Organization estimates that about 420,000 people die yearly from contaminated food. (Five thousand of those are from contaminated raw meat within the U.S. alone.) Another 3,000 people a year die from choking and the National Institutes of Health has calculated that obesity is killing almost 300,000 people a year. And if you eat out often, take care when you sign your restaurant check because believe it or not, ballpoint pen caps are responsible for taking out 100 people per year.
So now that you are totally stressed out by these statistics, take a walk on the beach and try not to trip. However, watch out for the falling coconuts since they will add 150 people a year to that list of fatalities.
Let us celebrate being alive and safe from those sharks, but watch the champagne corks during that celebration so you do not add to the approximate 25 people per year that are killed by those projectiles!
– Matthew Ballish
Exploring Similarities, Celebrating Differences: Amphibians and Reptiles
Once upon a time, reptiles and amphibians were classified together as one family. Scientists believe that reptiles evolved from their relative amphibians about 50 million years ago.
Today it still can be difficult to identify all of the differences between reptiles and amphibians. They definitely have traits they share. For example, they are both ectothermic, or cold-blooded animals, meaning their body temperature relies on the temperature of their habitat. Reptiles and amphibians also are both vertebrate animals, meaning they have backbones. Reptiles and amphibians also both have excellent eyesight that helps them hunt prey.
Reptiles and amphibians use many common defense mechanisms. Some species of both reptiles and amphibians have the ability to change the color of their skin in order to camouflage in their habitat. Another major defense tactic used by reptiles and amphibians is what scientists call mimicry. Copycat species, some reptiles and amphibians, mimic the bright colors of venomous or poisonous species to ward off predators.
While they clearly have a lot in common, there are some major differences.
All reptiles breathe through their lungs. Turtles are reptiles and some turtles have the additional ability to absorb and dispel gas when underwater during their brumation, or hibernation state. Reptiles also typically have dry, scaly and water-tight skin that offers protection. Reptiles with softer skin are usually equipped with another defense – like the hard shell of a turtle or the spines of a lizard. Reptiles do not live solely in water but normally need to live close to a constant water source.
In addition to breathing through lungs, amphibians can breathe through gills, or through their smooth, moist skin. This is what scientists call cutaneous respiration and amphibians are some of the only animals on the planet that have this ability! This allows for amphibians to live in water for extended periods of time. Some amphibians begin their lives in water and then move to land. Frogs are amphibians that start as tadpoles, completely submerged in water and breathing through their gills, and then move to land as adults once their lungs are fully developed.
While reptiles and amphibians share similarities they have distinct points of differentiation that make them unique. Scientists estimate there are about 8,000 species of reptiles and around 6,000 species of amphibians, and we will continue to learn more about what sets them apart as we continue to study these species.
– Elise
Coral Reefs Need Our Help!
One of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world, coral reefs are in serious peril. Coral reefs take up about 1% of the ocean floor but are home to 25% of all ocean species including more than 4,000 species of fish.
What is a coral reef?
Coral reefs are colonies of individual animals called polyps. The polyps have tentacles to feed on plankton at night and they play host zooxanthellae—symbiotic algae that live within the coral’s tissues and gives them color. The algae need carbon dioxide and waste products from the coral for photosynthesis. In turn, through photosynthesis the algae nourish the coral with oxygen and organic compounds. The coral uses these compounds to synthesize calcium carbonate (limestone) with which it constructs its skeleton. This skeleton contains bands, like tree rings, that record environmental changes in temperature, water chemistry and water clarity.
Why should we care about coral reefs?
Coral reefs are also known as the speed bumps of the ocean. These structures act as a natural barrier, helping to slow down and shrink waves hurtling toward the shoreline and thereby protecting coastlines and the 200 million people living along the coasts from hurricanes.
We receive many other benefits from coral reefs. Stationary animals, coral are constantly evolving chemical defenses as protection from predators. Scientists are developing new medicines from the coral-produced compounds to help treat cancer, arthritis, bacterial infections, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, viruses and many others.
Coral reefs also provide us with food and construction materials. They also contribute heavily to the economy via tourism.
Why are coral reefs endangered?
Believe it or not coral reefs can get stressed out! There are a variety of different factors that contribute to the stress of coral reefs. For example, rising temperatures globally causes coral bleaching. Also, additional carbon dioxide oceans absorb every day contributes to increased acidification which reduces the water’s ability to carry the calcium carbonate that corals need to build skeletons.
Additionally, overfishing is changing the coral reefs ecosystem with anchors and nets destroying the natural habitat. And when sediment and other pollutants settle on coral reefs it can speed the growth of damaging algae and lower overall water quality. With lower water quality the sunlight may not be strong enough to reach the zooxanthellae to go into photosynthesis.
How can we help?
Scientist are working to find some solutions, but all of us can join the effort to help coral reefs by reducing our carbon footprints. Try recycling or using more reusable products. Join the skip-the-straw movement reducing single-use plastic waste. Only eat fish sourced sustainably. Or, donate to organizations and support companies committed to cleaning up our oceans.
-Crystal
Baby Shark! Shark Reproduction Continued
Shark reproduction is pretty strange to begin with. But for sand tiger sharks, it is even weirder.
Sand tigers are the largest sharks you’ll see at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium. Their mating behavior is pretty ferocious.
We don’t know what prompts female sand tigers to be ready to mate. They must be mature enough in age—somewhere in their teens—and the females must also be ready to mate, which happens about every two years. We are not sure how (or if) females select mates. Scientists are still studying this!
When sand tigers mate, the much smaller males must bite and forcibly flip over the much larger and thicker-skinned females.
But before the sharks get to that point, there is a period of courtship behavior—sort of like shark dating.
Males might follow a female, swimming behind and slightly below her in the water. Then he might escalate to tailing, during which he very closely follows her. The next step is nosing. The male will follow the female very closely, with his nose, or rostrum, very close to her cloaca. (The cloaca is a shark’s reproductive canal and its way to poop. Both males and females have a cloaca.) Then the male will nudge the female, then bite her fins or body—all the while hoping to bite her and flip her over to mate.
If the male is successful, he will bite the female on the pectoral (arm-position) fin and try to flip her over. She then will become catatonic and will allow mating.
But, if the female is not interested at any point, she may bite the male right back! And remember, the females are much larger and thicker-skinned than the males. Female sand tigers can also circle close to the bottom to prevent males from approaching her to bite.
If the female is interested in mating, she may point her nose downward and allow the male a better chance to bite her.
Then the male sand tiger can hold the female’s cloaca with his clasper. Claspers are two finger-like appendages that all male sharks, skates, and rays have behind their pelvic fins. The male can then deliver his sperm, cloaca to cloaca before swimming away.
The female can store the male’s sperm for an unknown amount of time—perhaps a year, perhaps more—until it seems a good time to carry pups.
Now things get even stranger.
The female sand tiger has two uteruses. So sand tigers can carry two totally separate pregnancies.
Since sand tigers are ovoviviparous, they lay eggs internally and then give live birth. But for sand tigers, life starts under difficult circumstances. Around 20 eggs may be fertilized in each uterus. Then the eggs develop into shark embryos. The embryos grow bigger and consume all the nutrition in their individual eggs.
Then the biggest, strongest sand tiger pup in each uterus eats all of its siblings. Intrauterine cannibalism! That is what scientists call it.
The surviving sand tiger pup eats whatever new eggs keep arriving in the uterus until it is ready to be born.
After eight or nine months’ gestation, the pup is born. It will be more than three feet long and totally independent immediately.
Scientists are still learning about sand tiger shark reproduction. At the Greater Cleveland Aquarium we have seen mating behavior, but no pups yet.
– Nora Morrison
Baby Shark! Shark Reproduction
In the Shark Gallery seatube, we often hear guests singing “Baby Shark” and sometimes we are asked how baby sharks are born. The answer to that is really fascinating.
There are around 500 species of sharks that we know of, and sharks are extremely varied in their size, body shape and how they reproduce.
All baby sharks begin when a male shark and a female shark mate. How sharks find each other, how they select mates and why they decide to mate is still something scientists are investigating. The male normally bites the female to hold onto her and flip her over, and then uses his fingerlike appendage, called clasper, to deliver sperm. Since female sharks are generally bigger than male sharks, this can be difficult for males.
The female shark can store the male’s sperm until the time is right to fertilize the eggs–sometimes even waiting for years! Then things get even stranger.
Baby sharks, which are known as pups, can be born in three quite different ways.
First, some sharks lay eggs. We call this oviparous. The “mommy shark” lays an egg case in a good spot and swims away. The egg case, which is sometimes called a “mermaid’s purse,” can be perfectly camouflaged to blend in with the sea floor or algae. The egg includes all of the nutrition the pup will need to grow from a fertilized embryo to a fully functioning shark pup. When the pup is ready, it emerges from the egg case and is totally independent.
Second, some sharks grow from eggs–but inside the mother shark’s body. This is called ovoviviparous. In this type of reproduction, there is no placenta to link the “mommy shark” and the “baby shark.” The shark pup gets all of its nutrition from its own egg yolk, other egg yolks, or (yikes!) from eating its fellow fertilized eggs or other pups. Ovoviviparous sharks give live birth to a fully independent pup. This is how sand tiger sharks, like the ones you can see at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, reproduce.
And third, some sharks do have a placenta and directly support the shark embryo until it is ready to be born as a pup. This is called viviparous, and is also how humans are born. When the shark pup has matured enough, it is born and swims away. This is how sandbar sharks, which you can also see at the Aquarium, have pups.
All sharks are born ready to fend for themselves! As soon as they’re born, shark pups are ready to swim, hunt and grow.
-Nora Morrison
Species Highlight: The Argentine Tegu
Commonly known as the giant tegu, the Argentine black-and-white tegu is the largest species of tegu lizard. We are going to take a closer look at one of the Greater Cleveland Aquarium’s newest residents and learn about its habitat, diet and even a unique characteristic with aquarist Brenton Maille.
Adaptability is Key
Did you know the Argentine tegu can survive in a range of habitats? From rainforest to scrubland, these tegus utilize the habitats available to them. Because tegus are very adaptable, they have resisted deforestation, which is a very common threat to species in the rainforest. “Tegus utilize different habitats and different areas of those habitats as well,” says Maille.
Many people know of this tegu species because it’s considered an invasive species in Florida, meaning it is not native to that area. According to Brenton, it is believed that the Argentine black-and-white tegu may have become invasive to Florida due to the pet trade. While the tegu is tiny and pretty adorable when young, they can eventually reach lengths of up to 4 feet which can be more than some pet owners are ready to handle. “Once a tegu started to get too large for a home environment people would release them into the wild, making them invasive species,” Maille says.
Maintaining a Balanced Diet
So what does a tegu eat? “In the wild, their diet changes throughout their life,” Maille says. When born, they are predators, eating mostly birds’ eggs and small insects. Once tegus get older and grow they switch to mostly omnivorous lifestyles, although they may still occasionally catch small rodents. They are generally good hunters and scavengers in the wild.
The Aquarium’s animal care staff works hard to make the diet balanced and reflect similarities of the wild. According to Maille, the Aquarium tegu receives “eggs, fish, rats and a mix of apples, bananas, pears and greens.”
Competitive Edge
Most people know that cold-blooded animals rely on outside temperatures to determine their body temperature. While the tegu is an ectotherm, it has the rare ability to raise its own body temperature by about five degrees in certain circumstance. While this is interesting and unique, there must be a reason . . . right? That reason is for breeding season. “Males compete better and females can produce and lay eggs faster,” Maille says.
Nature. It’s a curious thing. Learn more about the Argentine black and white tegu and other reptiles on your next visit to the Greater Cleveland Aquarium.
– Tori Pishkula
5 Things I Learned: Red Terror Cichlid
This colorful, eye-catching fish is a red terror cichlid (Cichlasoma festae). It can grow to lengths of 12 – 20 inches and live somewhere between 12 – 20 years. But what else do we know about it?
The red terror cichlid in the Aquarium’s Tropical Forest Gallery is hard to miss. Stop by and see this and many other very different but equally intriguing cichlids at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium. Nature. It’s a curious thing.
– Sam Fryberger