Monthly Archives: September 2020

Wet, Wild, and Wonderful

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August 18, 2020

My drawing of a squid.

Fish are fascinating creatures. Some are big, some are small, some you can eat, and some are poisonous. 32,000 different species of fish and most are cold-blooded. Interestingly, Fish come in many different shapes and sizes of fish too. There are long snake-like fish such as Lampreys and Eels. There are common and edible fish such as Tuna and Flounder. There are three categories of fish I will be talking about: Weird Fish or Deep Sea Fish, Big Fish, and Common Fish.  

Sharks, and Killer Whales are two of the most well known “Big Fish.” Sharks have a great sense of smell. Amazingly, if some sharks stop moving, they will drown, while other sharks can rest at the sea floor. Most sharks live on coastlines near where people swim. Great White Sharks can be 20-feet long and weigh 7,000 pounds. The Great White Shark is tiny compared to the Whale Shark. Which can grow up to 40-feet long and weigh 50,000 pounds! The Whale Shark is not only the hugest shark it’s the hugest of all fish! Tiger Sharks are more common sharks. They go even closer to the shore than other sharks. Surprisingly, the Killer Whale is actually classified as a Dolphin. Another name for it is the Orca. At 20 feet long and weighing 12,000 pounds the Orca is a giant compared to the Great White. The Killer Whale is usually passive to humans and it got its name from killing other animals. 

Lampreys, Hagfish, Sunfish, Barreleye, Angler Fish, Fangtooth, and Giant squid are all weird or deep sea creatures. Hagfish also known as Slime Eels are disgusting animals. They produce a great amount of goo. They are only 20 inches long. Lampreys are also eel-like and  suck the blood of other fish. Horribly, if you look closely at a whale you will see scars from the times Lampreys were latched on to them. Ocean Sunfish are the most immense bony fish in the world. It can weigh 3,500 pounds. Being part of the food chain, Sunfish allow smaller fish to eat parasites on them while the Barreleye is a deep-sea fish with a transparent head. The angler fish lives two miles below the surface. Ironically, the angler fish fishes other fish by using a rod that extends from its head. The Fangtooth has massive teeth which are relative to its body size. They’re found three miles below the surface. The Giant Squid is a 43 foot long squid found in the dark abyss of the ocean. Before 2012 it was never seen in the bottom of the sea but was discovered dead on the shore. However the exception was when the French Navy spotted a giant squid in 1861. The Sperm Whale goes on the surface and deep down in the ocean. On Sperm Whales sometimes there are scars from having fights with Giant Squids. The Colossal squid is the most massive squid and is 46 feet long! 

Pufferfish, Tuna, and Flatfish are common fish or well-known fish. Pufferfish are dangerously poisonous and eating one can cause injury or maybe death. There are 15 different tuna species. The Atlantic Bluefin Tuna is the largest tuna in the world. At 15 feet long and can weighing up to 1,500 pounds. The most extensive fish and seafood market in the world is the Tsukiji Market where they have bids almost every day to buy Tuna. Flounder, Halibut, and Turbot are Flatfish. Halibut inhabits the North Atlantic and North Pacific. Turbot live in shallow waters in the Baltic and Mediterranean Sea. They are all great to eat and taste delicious. 

No matter what they look like, all fish are Wet, wild, and wonderful. There are still many undiscovered fish that we still don’t know about. 

Fascinating Fish

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My sketch of a Killer Whale (Orca)

Fish can swim in fresh or saltwater. There are over 32,000 species of these water-breathing creatures. Fish inhale by extracting the oxygen the water contains and then cycling the extra water through their gills. Fish eat by sucking water into their mouth and eventually pulling in some small prey also, then the excess water comes out their gills. This paper will be divided into three sections: sharks and whales, deep-sea fish, and fishing. 

Even though most shark species have great eyes, ears, and noses actually sense their prey by sending electrical waves through the water, having it bounce off the prey, then returning back to the shark. They have row after row of replaceable teeth. In order for them to breathe, most species have to continue swimming, never taking a break, but some can breathe by sitting at the bottom of the ocean floor and continuously sucking water into their mouths. There are many different types of sharks, but none of them enjoy eating humans. Mostly, a shark will only consume a person if it smells like their prey or if the shark is starving. At 40 feet long and weighing in around 50,000 pounds or 25 tons, the Whale Shark is the largest fish in the world. Whale Sharks also have a lifespan of about 70 years. The Killer Whale (Orca) is the largest member of the Dolphin Family. They can be found in almost every ocean, excluding some very Northern waters. Orcas won’t normally attack humans in the wild, but in captivity they can become aggressive. Sperm Whales are huge whales which are found in every ocean on the planet. The book “Moby Dick” is the story of a Sperm Whale attacking a ship. Sperm Whales raise their babies for 10 years before releasing them. 

Lurking in the depths of the ocean, deep-sea fish are mysterious and often strange creatures. Barreleyes are fish that have transparent faces and eat small arthropods. This frightening fragile-looking freak is also nicknamed the “Spook Fish” and resides in almost tropical waters in the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans. Angler fish have extremely long, sharp teeth that are so massive they can’t even close their mouth completely. Anglers also have a slender stick growing out of their head called an Illcium that attracts prey and sometimes produces light. The Giant Squid is a 46-foot-long monster that no one knew even existed until the 1970s. They move by sucking in water, then squeezing it out, propelling themselves through the water.   

Fishing can be either for sport or for selling them for people to eat. Fishermen use a myriad of methods to catch fish including Trawling which is the use of a net to catch large quantities of fish. Another method is Spearing which is swimming under the water and sticking as many fish as you can with a spear. Trapping is the use of traps and is typically used for crabs. Angling is done with a fishing rod and is most common in sport fishing. Longlining is the use of one long line with thousands of hooks on it. Trolling is similar, but is multiple lines spread out behind a boat. Tuna is normally caught by fishermen and eaten around the world. Tuna can be 15 feet long and weigh 1,500 pounds. Shrimp are tiny creatures caught in large quantities using the Trawling method. Some fish are caught as delicacies and are specific to one country. 

Sharks, whales, and deep sea fish all live in saltwater, but other types can be found in freshwater areas like a lake or river. Fish are delicious, cool, and fascinating creatures!      

Aquatic Critters

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August 20, 2020
By Zeke

This a picture I drew of a Great White Shark

Fish are interesting creatures. Many fish have not been discovered yet. We don’t know how many crazy sea creatures are out there in the depths of the ocean.

There are a myriad of dangerous fish. Sharks, like the Great White, are dangerous to humans and fish. The Great White’s bite can exert over 4,000 pounds of damage. The Whale Shark is the size of two school buses. When a predator tries to eat them, Pufferfish use their poison spikes to kill the predator. Because they will almost eat anything they can, Killer Whales are one of the most vicious of all fish. However, Killer Whales have not been known to kill humans. 

Deep-sea fish are strange and mysterious creatures. We still don’t know all of the freakish sea monsters that are out there. Unusually, a female Giant squid can get up to 43 feet tall. Squids have eight shorter arms and two hulky tentacles. Lantern fish have a light on their head so they can see deep underwater. Because they have enormous teeth and huge jaws, Fangtooth specialize in gnawing and biting. 

There is a vast array of delicious, edible fish. Atlantic Tuna is one of the heftiest edible fish. They can weigh up 550 pounds. Flounders are more high quality fish and they can be filleted or grilled. Tasting quite nicely, Lampreys are considered a delicacy in Europe. At her Coronation, Queen Elizabeth ate Lamprey pie. The largest fish market in the world is the Tasjik market in Tokyo, Japan. 

Even though much is known about fish, there are still countless aquatic critters that roam the black, murky water of the deep sea, undiscovered … for now.