Interesting Octopus Trivia

Queen Angelfish

Queen Angelfish

Fast Facts

Type:

Fish

Diet:

Omnivore

Average life span in the wild:

Up to 15 years

Size:

Up to 18 in (45 cm)

Weight:

Up to 3.5 lbs (1.6 kg)

Group name:

School

Did you know?

Young queen angelfish feed by setting up cleaning stations in sea grass where larger fish come to have their skin parasites removed.

Other:

Queen angelfish get their royal title from the speckled, blue-ringed black spot on their heads that resembles a crown.
Decked out with electric blue bodies, blazing yellow tails, and light purple and orange highlights, Queen angels are among the most strikingly colorful of all reef fishes. Their adornments seem shockingly conspicuous, but they blend well when hiding amid the exotic reef colors.
They are shy fish, found either alone or often in pairs in the warm waters of the Caribbean and western Atlantic. Fairly large for reef-dwellers, they can grow up to 18 inches (45 centimeters) in length. They have rounded heads and small beak-like mouths, and, like other angelfish, their long upper and lower fins stream dramatically behind them.
Their diet consists almost entirely of sponges and algae, but they will also nibble on sea fans, soft corals, and even jellyfish.
Queen angels are close relatives of the equally striking blue angelfish. In fact, these two species are known to mate, forming natural hybrids, a very rare occurrence among angelfish.
They are widely harvested for the aquarium trade, but are common throughout their range and have no special protections or status

Thanks NatGeo for the info. (http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/queen-angelfish/)

Nice to Meet You....Lionfish

You know they are bad, and don't touch 'em whatsoever, but here are a few things you may not have known.

Fast Facts

Type:

Fish

Diet:

Carnivore

Average life span in the wild:

Up to 15 years

Size:

11.8 to 15 in (30 to 38 cm)

Weight:

Up to 2.6 lbs (1.2 kg)

Group name:

School

Did you know?

A lionfish will often spread its feathery pectoral fins and herd small fish into a confined space where it can more easily swallow them.

Size relative to a tea cup:

 

Pretty much everything about the venomous lionfish—its red-and-white zebra stripes, long, showy pectoral fins, and generally cantankerous demeanor—says, "Don't touch!"
The venom of the lionfish, delivered via an array of up to 18 needle-like dorsal fins, is purely defensive. It relies on camouflage and lightning-fast reflexes to capture prey, mainly fish and shrimp. A sting from a lionfish is extremely painful to humans and can cause nausea and breathing difficulties, but is rarely fatal.
Lionfish, also called turkey fish, dragon fish and scorpion fish, are native to the reefs and rocky crevices of the Indo-Pacific, although they've found their way to warm ocean habitats worldwide.
The largest of lionfish can grow to about 15 inches (0.4 meters) in length, but the average is closer to 1 foot (0.3 meters).
Lionfish are popular in some parts of the world as food, but are far more prized in the aquarium trade. Their population numbers are healthy and their distribution is growing, causing some concerned in the United States, where some feel the success of this non-indigenous species presents human and environmental dangers.

(Thanks National Geographic for the above information)

Lionfish are:
1) Voracious predators being shown to eat native fish and crustaceans in large quantities, including both ecologically and economically important species like grunts, snapper, nassau grouper, and cleaner shrimp
2) Not known to have any native predators
3) Equipped with venomous dorsal, ventral and anal spines, which deter predators and can cause painful wounds to humans
4) Capable of reproducing year-round with unique reproduction mechanisms not commonly found in native fishes (females can reproduce every 4 days!)
5) Relatively resistant to parasites, giving them another advantage over native species
6) Fast in their growth, able to outgrow native species with whom they compete for food and space

Some recent articles regarding LionFish

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/18/tech/innovation/lionfish-infestation-atlantic-linendoll/

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1021/Lionfish-invasion-An-unabated-siege-of-the-Atlantic

Any more questions or curiosity, or looking for a Lionfish cookbook, let us know in the shop and we can take care of you.

All About Nurse Sharks

All About Nurse Sharks

The origin of the name "nurse shark" is unclear. It may come from the sucking sound they make when hunting for prey in the sand, which vaguely resembles that of a nursing baby. Or it may derive from an archaic word, nusse, meaning cat shark. The most likely theory though is that the name comes from the Old English word for sea-floor shark: hurse.

Nurse sharks are slow-moving bottom-dwellers and are, for the most part, harmless to humans. However, they can be huge—up to 14 feet (4.3 meters)—and have very strong jaws filled with thousands of tiny, serrated teeth, and will bite defensively if stepped on or bothered by divers who assume they’re docile.

They use their strong jaws to crush and eat shellfish and even coral, but prefer to dine on fish, shrimp, and squid. They are gray-brown and have distinctive tail fins that can be up to one-fourth their total length. Some nurse sharks, especially the young, have spots.Unlike most other sharks, nurses are smooth to the touch.

Nurse sharks are found in the warm, shallow waters of the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans. They are abundant throughout their range and have no special conservation status, although the closeness of their habit to human activities is putting pressure on the species.

Nurse reproduce via aplacental viviparity. In aplacental viviparity, the eggs develop inside the body after internal fertilization and hatch within the body of the mother. Litters consist of 20-30 pups that are tiny replicas of the adult.

Nurse sharks reach maturity at about 15 to 20 years old.

(Thanks National Geographic for the info!!)

All about Jellyfish

well, a quick 'about jellyfish' actually.  The first in a series of 'getting to know you' posts, so we can learn a little more about the underwater life we are swimming with.

A stinging Cauliflower Jelly

 

 

Jellyfish or jellies^[1] are the major non-polyp form of individuals of the phylum Cnidaria. They are typified as free-swimming marine animals consisting of a gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles. The bell can pulsate for locomotion, while stinging tentacles can be used to capture prey.
Jellyfish are found in every ocean, from the surface to the deep sea. A few jellyfish inhabit freshwater. Large, often colorful, jellyfish are common in coastal zones worldwide. Jellyfish have roamed the seas for at least 500 million years,^[2] and possibly 700 million years or more, making them the oldest multi-organ animal.^[3]

 

a moon jelly

Feeding

Jellies are carnivorous, feeding on plankton, crustaceans, fish eggs, small fish and other jellyfish, ingesting and voiding through the same hole in the middle of the bell. Jellies hunt passively using their tentacles as drift nets.

Predation

Other species of jellyfish are among the most common and important jellyfish predators, some of which specialize in jellies. Other predators include tuna, shark, swordfish, sea turtles, and at least one species of Pacific salmon. Sea birds sometimes pick symbiotic crustaceans from the jellyfish bells near the sea's surface, inevitably feeding also on the jellyfish hosts of these amphipods or young crabs and shrimp.

 

a man-of-war jelly

 

Culinary

In some countries, such as Japan and Korea, jellyfish are known as a delicacy. "Dried jellyfish" has become increasingly popular throughout the world. The jellyfish is dried to prevent spoiling; if not dried they can spoil within a matter of hours. Once dried, they can be stored for weeks at a time. Only scyphozoan jellyfish belonging to the order Rhizostomeae are harvested for food; about 12 of the approximately 85 species. Most of the harvest takes place in southeast Asia.^[59] Rhizostomes, especially Rhopilema esculentum in China (海蜇 hǎizhē, "sea stings") and Stomolophus meleagris (cannonball jellyfish) in the United States, are favored because of their larger and more rigid bodies and because their toxins are harmless to humans.^[60]

 

Traditional processing methods, carried out by a Jellyfish Master, involve a 20- to 40-day multi-phase procedure in which after removing the gonads and mucous membranes, the umbrella and oral arms are treated with a mixture of table salt and alum, and compressed. Processing reduces liquefaction, odor, the growth of spoilage organisms, and makes the jellyfish drier and more acidic, producing a "crunchy and crispy texture." Jellyfish prepared this way retain 7–10% of their original weight, and the processed product contains approximately 94% water and 6% protein. Freshly processed jellyfish has a white, creamy color and turns yellow or brown during prolonged storage.
In China, processed jellyfish are desalted by soaking in water overnight and eaten cooked or raw. The dish is often served shredded with a dressing of oil, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, or as a salad with vegetables. In Japan, cured jellyfish are rinsed, cut into strips and served with vinegar as an appetizer.^[60][61] Desalted, ready-to-eat products are also available.<sup>[60]

(Thanks Wikipedia for the above information.)</sup>

 

 

^{HOW TO TREAT JELLYFISH STINGS}

^{(From webMD: http://firstaid.webmd.com/jellyfish-stings-treatment)}

Call 911 if:

• The person displays signs of a severe allergic reaction.
• The sting is from a box jellyfish.
• The sting covers more than half an arm or leg.

 

1. Get the Person Out of the Water

2. Stop Stinging

For a jellyfish sting in non-tropical waters:

• Wash the area with seawater to deactivate stinging cells.

For a sting in tropical waters -- especially from box jellyfish:

• Rinse immediately with vinegar. Do not use fresh or tap water, which can reactivate stinging cells.

Continue reading below...

Continue until you can get medical help.

3. Decontaminate and Remove Tentacles

For stings not from a box jellyfish:

• Apply vinegar for 30 minutes.

• If vinegar is not available, apply shaving cream, soap lather, or paste of sand or mud and seawater.

• Scrape with razor or credit card to remove stinging cells.

• Reapply vinegar.

4. Treat Discomfort

• Use mild hydrocortisone cream or oral antihistamine to relieve itching and swelling.

5. Follow Up

For less severe sting:

• Use ice packs or over-the-counter pain relievers for welts.

• Clean open sores 3 times a day and apply antibiotic ointment. Bandage if needed.

For a severe reaction:

• The person may be hospitalized for several days.

• Anti-venom will be administered for box jellyfish stings