Tag Archives: Water

Common Barbel

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Common Barbel

Don’t get a common barbel in your face.

  • Common barbels are a species of smaller-sized fish mainly native to various countries in Europe.
  • The scientific name of a common barbel is Barbus barbus, and it is from the family Cyprinidae, the family of carps and minnows.
  • ‘Common barbels’ are also known as ‘barbels’, the broad name of the genus; and ‘pigfish’, from an English legend.
  • Common barbels inhabit freshwater locations such as rivers and lakes, and they are generally found in the water, close to the stony ground.
  • Common barbels grow to be 10 to 120 centimetres (4 to 47 inches) in length and weigh 1 to 12 kilograms (2 to 26 pounds).
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Common Barbel
Image courtesy of robposse/Flickr
  • The diet of common barbels consists primarily of fish, algae, larvae of insects and crustaceans.
  • The number of eggs produced by common barbels at one time is said to be in the thousands, for every kilogram of fish weight, due to the large quantity that are initially eaten by other water creatures.
  • Common barbels have a lifespan of up to 15 years, and they are commonly fished for sport, commercially grown for food, and used in the pet industry.
  • Common barbels can feature numerous small black spots, and they are generally coloured mainly brown or grey, with the addition of silver, white, and pink colours.
  • Although classified as least concerned, both pollution and habitat loss threaten some common barbel populations.
Bibliography:
Barb, 2013, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/barb/
Barbus barbus, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbus_barbus
Barbus barbus, 2015, IUCN Red List, http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/summary/2561/0
Binohlan C, Barbus barbus, n.d, Fish Base, http://www.fishbase.org/summary/4472

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Enchanted Well

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Enchanted Well

Don’t toss a coin into this Enchanted Well!

  • The Enchanted Well is a pool of water located in a limestone cave near Itaetê, in eastern Brazil, in the state of Bahia, in South America.
  • The Enchanted Well is situated outside of, but near the Chapada Diamantina National Park, as well as the Una River.
  • ‘Enchanted Well’ is also known as ‘Poço Encantado’ in Portugese, and it is not to be confused with the waterfall of the same name – Cachoeira Poço Encantado.
  • The Enchanted Well is found in a dolomite cave, and it contains one of the few populations of blind catfish, said to have the scientific name Rhamdiopsis krugi, that are endemic to the area.
  • The Enchanted Well is known primarily for its highly transparent water, enabling people to be able to see through to the cavern floor.
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Part of the Enchanted Well
Image courtesy of Danielle Pereira/Flickr
  • Depths of the Enchanted Well reach approximately 60 metres (197 feet), and it is up to 110 metres (361 feet) wide and its widest point.
  • Approximately 7000 tourists visit the Enchanted Well each year, and to visit the site, an entrance fee is payable.
  • The cave of the Enchanted Well is home to more than ten species of bats, and is sometimes visited by frogs and snakes.
  • The Enchanted Well was closed to visitors for three years, from 2008 to 2010, and was reopened in early 2011, although due to its fragile ecosystem, numbers of visitors are limited in each group, and swimming in the water has been banned since 1990.
  • The Enchanted Well is best visited during April to September, due to the angle of the sun that lights up the clear blue water.
Bibliography:
Chapada Diamantina: Poço Encantado é reaberto para visitação, 2011, Governo do Estado da Bahia, http://www.setur.ba.gov.br/2011/03/11/chapada-diamantina-poco-encantado-e-reaberto-para-visitacao/
Enchanted Well, 2003, Eco, http://www.eco.tur.br/english/ecoguides/diamantina/ecopoints/caverns/encantado.htm
Karmann, I, 2000, Caverna do Poço Encantado, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia: patrimônio geológico e biológico, SIGEP, http://sigep.cprm.gov.br/sitio091/sitio091.htm

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Leafy Seadragon

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Leafy Seadragon

Let’s play ‘Hide and Seek’. Can you find the leafy seadragon?

  • Leafy seadragons are aquatic animals native to the southern coast of Australia, and are found in water with maximum depths of 50 metres (164 feet).
  • ‘Leafy seadragons’ are also known as ‘Glauert’s seadragon’ and ‘leafies’, and Australia’s state of South Australia has them as its marine animal emblem.
  • Though it is related, a leafy seadragon is not a seahorse, but a species of seadragon, and it has the scientific name Phycodurus eques, being from the family Syngnathidae, the family of seahorses and pipefish.
  • The typical length of leafy seadragons ranges from 20 to 35 centimetres (8 to 14 inches), and they tend to be a yellow and green colour with black patches.
  • The diet of leafy seadragons typically consists of plankton, shrimp and fish larvae, which are consumed via an intriguing, long cylindrical snout using a suction force.
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Leafy Seadragon
Image courtesy of VirtualWolf/Flickr
  • In the leafy seadragon reproduction process, females produce pink eggs, numbering around 250, that are transferred to males, who carry the eggs on a special patch on their tail until they hatch, and during the process, the eggs change colour.
  • Leafy seadragons have many appendages that form on their body that look like leafy branches, and these cause the fish to be camouflaged by having the appearance of seaweed.
  • On average, only one in twenty leafy seadragons survive until adulthood, and when they do, they have a lifespan of two to ten years.
  • Leafy seadragons are listed as ‘near threatened’ due to loss of habitat from pollution and accidental catching by commercial fisheries, as well as their collection for the pet industry, and they are now a protected species.
  • Leafy seadragons are slow movers, swimming via their transparent fins and appearing to drift like seaweed, although they are sometimes stationary for days.
Bibliography:
Leafy Seadragon, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leafy_seadragon
Leafy and Weedy Seadragons, 2015, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/fish/sea-dragon/
Sea Dragon, 2013, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/sea-dragon/

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Maunsell Forts

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Maunsell Forts

Imagine living out in the isolated sea on the Maunsell Forts.

  • Maunsell Forts are a group of buildings that were erected in the ocean for the defence of the United Kingdom, in Europe, near the mouths of the River Thames and the River Mersey.
  • Maunsell Forts were built for use in World War II, serving as forts for either the navy or the army, depending on the fort, with the army forts consisting of a set of seven connected towers.
  • Four navy forts and three army forts were built in the Thames estuary as part of the Maunsell Fort system, named ‘Rough Sands’, ‘Sunk Head’, ‘Tongue Sands’, ‘Knock John’, ‘Nore’, ‘Red Sands’ and ‘Shivering Sands’, numbered U1-U7 respectively, and are collectively known as the ‘Thames Sea Forts’.
  • Observing, searching for and halting German aircraft and other threats, during World War II, were the primary uses of the Maunsell Forts.
  • The main material used in the construction of Maunsell Forts was concrete and steel, with the navy forts sitting on a flat bed supported by two cylindrical columns, and the army fort towers sitting atop four cylindrical legs that sit like a square pyramid.
Maunsell Sea Forts
Image courtesy of Steve Cadman/FlickrMaunsell Forts, Brown, Water, Thames, England, United Kingdoms, Group, Five, Navy , Ten Random Facts, Flickr
  • Maunsell Forts were designed by engineer Guy Maunsell from Britain, hence their name, and were built in the early 1940s.
  • A number of Maunsell Forts or towers have been destroyed since World War II, due to watercraft collisions and weather conditions, while the forts in the Mersey estuary were removed due to the hindrance to ships travelling in the area.
  • By the 1950s the Maunsell Forts were no longer used for their original purpose and were mostly left abandoned, however, during the 1960s, a number of the forts were overtaken by pirates as a base to broadcast pirate radio.
  • Many of the remaining Maunsell Forts are in a state of deterioration and they can be quite hazardous to approach, so viewing is generally performed from a distance.
  • Restoring the Maunsell Forts has been considered, and a preservation project, known as Project Redsand began in 2003 to restore the Red Sand towers so that they could be used commercially for communications, recording of music, experiments, and history related activities.
Bibliography:
Maunsell Army Sea Forts, 2014, Atlas Obscura, http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/maunsell-army-sea-forts
Maunsell Forts, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunsell_Forts
World War II: ‘Fort Madness: Britain’s Bizarre Sea Defense Against the Germans, 2010, Spiegel Online International, http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/world-war-ii-fort-madness-britain-s-bizarre-sea-defense-against-the-germans-a-728754.html

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Elephant Seal

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Elephant Seal

Don’t let an elephant seal squash you.

  • Elephant seals are two species of seal, the ‘northern’ and the ‘southern’, native to Pacific Ocean coastal waters of North and Central America, and coastal waters of the Southern Hemisphere, respectively.
  • The scientific name of an elephant seal is Mirounga, and it is from the family Phocidae, the family of earless or true seals, and it is also known as a ‘sea elephant’.
  • Elephant seals can grow to be 3 to 6.1 metres (10 to 20 feet) in length, and weigh 900 to 4,000 kilograms (2,000 to 8,800 pounds).
  • Elephant seals can hold their breath for up to two hours or more, which exceeds the time of any other marine mammal.
  • The diet of elephant seals primarily consists of fish, squid, eels, sharks and skates, and they are preyed on by sharks and orcas.
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A Northern Elephant Seal
Image courtesy of Frank Schulenburg/Flickr
  • Elephant seals have a greater blubber layer than fur, which traps body heat and protects the animal from the cold; and they shed their skin each year, and remain on land for a couple of months as it regrows.
  • Mature female elephant seals usually give birth to one pup annually, and they have a lifespan typically ranging from 14 to 22 years.
  • Although classified as ‘least concern’, elephant seals are threatened by collisions with boats and fisheries, as well as rubbish and wreck entanglements; and the mammal has been previously hunted to dangerously low populations, but they have been protected since 1972 in the United States.
  • Elephant seals are generally coloured a combination of brown, grey, black and tan in colour, and the males feature a nose similar to an elephant trunk, hence their common name.
  • Elephant seals can dive to depths of over 2,300 metres (7,546 feet), although 300 to 600 metres (984 to 1,968 feet) is the average.
Bibliography:
Elephant Seal, 2013, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/elephant-seal/
Elephant Seal, 2015, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/mammals/elephant-seal/
Elephant Seal, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_seal


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Wood Frog

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Wood Frog

Wood frogs are wonders of natural science.

  • Wood frogs are frogs native to forests that feature pools of water, in northern parts of North America.
  • The scientific name of a wood frog is Lithobates sylvaticus and it is from the family Ranidae, the family of true frogs.
  • Wood frogs grow to lengths of around 3.5 to 7.6 centimetres (1.4 to 3 inches), and they deter predators with their poison glands and shrill noises they can make.
  • Typically, a wood frog is coloured brown, brown-red or tan in colour, and occasionally green or grey, and it has a dark band covering its eye.
  • The diet of wood frogs typically consists of  insects, algae, worms, molluscs, and amphibious eggs and larvae.

Wood Frog, Brown, Animal, Amphibian, Sit, Dark, Ten Random Facts

Wood Frog
Image courtesy of Dave Huth/Flickr
  • Wood frogs shut down during freezing winter temperatures, and they survive the freezing/thawing process numerous times due to the content of glucose and urea in their system, which reduces dehydration and the formation of ice in their cells.
  • Female wood frogs lay up to 3000 eggs in temporary water pools, that later hatch into tadpoles, then morph into adults; and they generally only reproduce once in their life, which is 3 to 5 years.
  • Wood frogs generally live alone in wet forest habitats during summer, and live in hilly habitats during winter.
  • Male wood frogs have a brighter coloured skin tone, although they are generally smaller than females, and the females usually live longer than the males.
  • Deforestation of their natural habitat threatens certain populations of wood frogs, although the population as a whole is not under threat at this stage.
Bibliography:
Kiehl K, Lithobates sylvaticus, 2015, Animal Diversity, http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Lithobates_sylvaticus/
Wood frog, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_frog

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