Landlocked Mermaid

I have made a decision with Shark Experts. I am going to give my experts a shark to research and look up, it's up to them how they present the information. So without further waffle, here is what my favourite Shark Experts have to say about Lemon Sharks! From Addy: ✦Lemon Sharks have two dorsal fins of equal size on their back. ✦Lemon Sharks rarely attack humans. Only 10 attacks have been reported and none of them were fatal. ✦Lemon Sharks are mainly active during dusk and dawn. ✦Lemon Sharks spend their days sitting on the ocean floor whilst fish remove parasites from their skin. ✦Lemon Sharks are solitary but can occasionally be found in groups of up to 20 members. This provides safety against predators. ✦Female Lemon Sharks' pregnancy lasts 10-12 months and ends with 4-13 babies. ✦Lemon Sharks can survive up to 27 years in the wild. ✦Lemon Sharks are found from New Jersey to southern Brazil  in the western of the Atlantic Ocean. ✦Lemon Sharks sometimes feed on t...

Marine Creature of the Month Orcas aka Killer Whales Photo from Defenders of Wildlife This was originally going to be a proper MCotM profile, but I have had bad brain this week. But rather than not post at all, I thought I'd give you the bullet point version - provided I can read my terrible hand written notes! I am also apparently going for a famous fish theme - Nemo last month, Free Willy this month - so if you know of a famous fish you'd like me to look into, just let me know! Anyway, enough pre-amble, enjoy some facts about Orcas. Kingdom: Animalia Class: Mammalia Conservation Status: Critically Endangered (CR)/Data Deficient (DD) - I will explain. Photo from ThoughtCo   Orcas, while known as Killer Whales, are actually dolphins. They are even the largest species of dolphin with males growing between 6-8m (20-26ft) and females being slightly smaller at 5-7m (16-23ft). They live across the world, from tropical to cold waters. They prefer ...

Ancient Seas Photo from Curiosity Helicoprion Helicoprion is an extinct shark, which lived 290 to 250 million years ago. This was during the Early Miocene to the Late Pliocene. They were found in oceans across the globe. It is believed they ate squid. "Helicoprion" means spiral saw. Can you guess why? Yep, because of that impressive jawline. They were discovered by Russian Andrzej P. Karpinski, in 1889. Only its teeth have fossilised, because soft tissues and cartilage do not fossilise. The spiral shape caused much confusion at the time of discovery! It is now widely agreed that they went in the shark's mouth, though it had been postulated that they were attached to the shark's fin! Although referred to as a "shark", helicoprion is more likely to have been a chimaera which was a cartilaginous fish. They grew up to 7.5m (25ft) and weighed 453.5kg (1,000lbs). The helicoprion survived a mass extinction which wiped out 90% of marine life a...

A while back, my mum and I went to the Chinese supermarket in Birmingham. I went with the goal of getting condensed coconut milk (for fudge) and dumplings (because I love a good dumpling). As well as coming away with a few other gems, I came back with gyoza skins with the aim of making my own dumplings. I decided to have a go this week. Pretendy Duck Dumplings I figured I should start with something simple, in case it all went horribly wrong. It was also a little bit of an impromptu decision, so I hadn't shopped specifically for it. But I remembered that we had the Linda McCartney vegetarian shredded duck in the freezer. Nothing says simple like hoisin duck dumplings. At the very least I know the flavours work, and that I'm not likely to make myself sick from not cooking it properly! All you need. INGREDIENTS Linda McCartney vegetarian shredded duck, Hoisin sauce, Gyoza skins. These are so simple to make, it is hardly worth writing out a method!...

Final Friday Top Five! Underwater Video Games 5. Finding Nemo Video Game Photo from Disney Fandom Wiki I remember playing this as a teen. It was a bright, colourful game and a good companion to the film. It was good fun, contained clips from the film, and had a variety of different levels. There was one, in particular, which was ridiculously hard! It involved bouncing on snail shells and I'm still not entirely sure how to complete this level, to this day. I think one of the sisters managed to crack it, somehow... 4. Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Photo from Wikipedia This is the only Assassin's Creed I have played. I've seen my sister play others and, honestly, it gives me vertigo! But I could cope with this one. The beautiful setting, the wild locations, the sailing: tick all my boxes. And I swear the buildings are not as tall in this game! It is an absolutely beautiful game and, much like any game with a tropical island (I'm looking ...

Lately, my diving trips have been plagued by bad luck, bad buoyancy, and bad brain. Now, bad luck is beyond my control and I'm working on the bad brain already; so it's time I have a look at my buoyancy problems. Because when I fix the brain, I'm still not going to have successful dives if my buoyancy is all over the place.  Buoyancy is really important when diving. You wouldn't think so because you're trying to get below the water not stay on top! (Hahaha, I'm trying to be funny there.) But, once under, you don't want to be scraping along the seabed because that reduces visibility. Nor do you want to be floating up to the top because that gives you the bends. Which is bad. You want to be neutrally buoyant - resting in the water, neither sinking down nor floating up. I struggle with this. I am positively buoyant. This means I float. If I was negatively buoyant, I'd sink and have different problems. For me, the issue is getting under the water in...

MARINE CREATURE OF THE MONTH Photo from CNRS News Common Clownfish (*cough* actually an anemonefish/false clownfish - it's confusing *cough*) Kingdom: Animalia Class: Actinopterygii Conservation Status: Least Concern (LC) Thanks to a certain little, animated fish everyone knows what a clownfish is. They are the cute orange and white fish who live in anenan... anememon... Ok, don't hurt yourself kid . I kid, anemones. The common clownfish, which Nemo is based on, is one of thirty species of clownfish or anemonefish, as they are also known. But I am going to look at the common clownfish. WHERE ARE THEY FOUND? These little, orange cuties are primarily found in the Eastern Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific Ocean. They can be found in areas around Australia and Southeast Asia too. They live among the reef slopes or sheltered lagoons. These waters tend to be shallow and warm, usually going no deeper than 15m (49ft). And, of course, they set up...

Hello everyone! I apologise about my recent absence and the rather abrupt instagram explanation I offered. I have been really struggling over the last couple months with my mental health and the whole thing got a little overwhelming. But I am taking steps to combat that and reclaim my life. Starting with here. I have missed bringing you marine themed content and sustainable living ideas! I am going to ease myself back in with a reduced posting schedule, updating once a week with my more popular segments. Fingers crossed I will pull myself together enough to come back on Friday with Marine Creature of the Month! So, to breathe a little bit of new life and excitement into this blog, I have started an associated Tumblr! Check it out over here . I'll be sharing links to posts and reblogging interesting marine themed content. Yes, it will mostly be cute animal pictures. And probably mermaids.  Anyway, I would like to thank everyone who has read in the past and will rea...

Pizza is a staple in my household. Between my partner's Italian heritage and the fact that pizza ticks all my boxes (cheese, carbs and tomato), it's a miracle we don't have it every night! As with most of our food, we try not to get the shop made stuff. Sometimes it's unavoidable, feeling poorly or lazy or pressed for time. But most of the time we make our own. Dough and everything. And if you follow my personal instagram account, you'll see we make it rather regularly! We like to use Jamie Oliver's dough recipe, with a couple tweaks and a variant my own salsa recipe for the sauce. My favourite thing about home made pizza is overloading on the toppings. Yeah, shop bought and takeout pizzas have structural integrity but they never have enough toppings. I have been overloading pizzas since university. Sometimes they don't always come out circular. DOUGH INGREDIENTS 500g plain flour or OO flour. (The OO is finer, but Morrisons have stop...

This #MCotM is going to be a little different as I am still not quite 100%. As much as I would love to do an in depth study of this month's creature, I just don't have the brain power for it. But I can squeeze out 10 fun facts for you. So enough about how crappy I am, here is the creature for July... Mantis Shrimp Photo from Fact Animal Fun Facts   Mantis shrimp are colourful little things. Their colours include blues, greens, reds, and oranges. They are usually between 5-17cm (2-7 inches) long, though some species can be larger. Mantis shrimp have incredible eyesight and the ability to move each eye independently. They can also see in ultraviolet and polarised light. They attack foes and prey 50 times quicker than the blink of an eye. Their punch packs the power of a .22 calibur bullet. Mantis shrimp are either Spearers or Smashers. Spearers have spiny appendages for stabbing prey or foes. Meanwhile, Smashers have club-like appendages for smashing prey...