Sea Otters | #BigBlueLive #SciSparksAdvent

For day 10 of my advent calendar, I thought we'd have a flashback to this summer's Big Blue Live. You may remember that the Sea Otters of Monterey Bay stole the show!They relax on the waters just of the coast of America and surprisingly are fairly closely related to the weasel. They are perfectly adapted to spend their days lolling back on the water, with their thick fur they can stay warm and toasty

I thought I'd leave you with some of my favorite sea otter pictures.... (prepare for a overload of cuteness!)

The Lion's Mane Jellyfish

This huge jellyfish, confined to the icy waters of the Antarctic, gently propels itself through the water, expanding its pink folds into an umbrella shape. They get their name from the fact they've got loads of long, thin hair like tentacles. For most of their lives, they swim close to, or at the bottom of the ocean, feeding on shrimp, zooplankton and other small fish. It feeds in a number of different ways, from killing small animals with stinging cells on their tentacles. As far as human contact is concerned, stings just cause localised redness and temporary pain- in healthy people their stings aren't known to be fatal. Vinegar can also be used to 'deactivate' the sting but due to the large number of tentacles, you need to seek medical attention straight after exposure. In 2010, it was estimated that 150 people were thought to have been stung from the remains of a lion's mane jellyfish which had broken up into countless pieces on the coast of New Hampshire in the US.  Given the sheer size of the jellyfish, scientists reckon that the incident was probably caused by just one jellyfish.

The Great White Shark

Great White Sharks are probably thought of as one of the scariest creatures in the world - and you'd probably be right! They can actually be found in the coastal waters of all the main oceans.  Having said that, shark attacks are incredibly rare, and even rarer that they turn out to be fatal. They are actually huge, they average around 15ft long but some have recorded at 20ft! They're also very speedy, they can swim up to around 15mph! Their blue-grey color actually helps them to blend in with the color of the sea, particularly when they're viewed from above.

In the Oceans, they actually remain mostly threatened, their only natural predators are the killer whale, but they are however threatened by us, so much so they're actually classed as vulnerable on the endangered species list.

Even though we might not be able to directly help the Sharks, one thing we can do to help is to not buy the 'products' people make from them from their jaws to other products made from their fins.

Together, we can save the Great White Shark.

The Sea Life Trade!

Next time you hit the beach (admittedly, it is autumn so you might not be doing that for a while!) watch out for nearby shops selling dried seahorses, shells or even Puffer Fish. Sea horses are amazing creatures found across the world. Unfortunately, their body shape means they're not particularly good swimmers so they can easily die of exhaustion, which, of course means that they're vulnerable to trade like this.

A campaign by the amazing Seahorse Trust thinks that millions of them could be illegally imported over the internet which could be driving some species to extinction!!! It's not necessarily that shop owners know that it's illegal, it's just cheap and gets them money. Even though it might not seem like there's much we can do, there's something everyone can do - just don't  buy them in the shops! Then we can starve the trade of money so it will stop!

Make sure you check out The Seahorse Trust: www.theseahorsetrust.org

Sea Lions | #BigBlueLive

Sea Lions - one of the stars of last week's Big Blue Live, they reside along the coastlines and islands of the Pacific Ocean. They actually live a pretty long life (between 20 and 30 years). They also use their adaptions to their advantage. It may well be pretty dark in the oceans but they find their way around with the help of their whiskers. 

Every one of their whiskers are loosely attached to their upper lip (scientists call their whiskers vibrissa) and can rotate around with the underwater current so they can sense their food nearby. It's not surprising that their diet mainly consists of seafood, from fish and squid to crabs and clams. Although one particular breed of sea lions actually eat seals, which isn't so good, but I guess it's all nature!

Their front flippers are also very clever! They help to regulate their temperature, constrict blood vessels when it's cold, constrict the blood vessel and increase the blood vessel size when it's warm. They can also manouver their flippers into the air to cool them off- something I reckon would be ideal in the height of the summer!

Sea Lions are just amazing creatures - they might not look like much but they're unbelievably clever, form incredible underwater spectacles and are just AMAZING! :)

#BigBlueLive | Part 2

Big Blue Live is literally one of the best TV programmes EVER. I love animals and marine animals but there's just something amazing when you see a humpback whale majestically leaping out of the water. But tonight, they're trying to beat everything from the last few days with an encounter with one of the biggest marine animals  - the blue whale. The whale weighs around 180 tonnes - absolutely HUGE!
Thursday night we saw how unique this period of time actually is - the water temperature averages about 16 degrees Celsius, around 3 degrees warmer than it should be (a lot warmer than the North Sea!) which means more animals than ever are flocking to the bay.
Scientists at the aquarium are amazed by the fact they're seeing animals that either never arrive at the bay or only see them every 10 or 20 years - if they're lucky. For example they've had an unprecedented number of crabs washing up on the beach and also caught sight of the Cooper Scollan.

The Great White Shark

Relaxing Sea Otter

They also had shark cam from a helicopter circling the bay, witnessing the incredible sights as the young sharks swim in the shallow waters close to the surface. Although I wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of an angry Great White Shark, apparently 1 adult great white shark weighs the equivalent of an American Football team! Thankfully 99% of Sharks are fine with humans and as they rightfully said we remove around 100 million sharks a year from our seas and we need to be fascinated by them rather than scared of them, that way we can appreciate them and then can thrive across the globe.

And of course the Sea Otters stole the show again (not that I'm complaining!), once more the whole of the British public wanted a pet sea otter as Matt Baker documented a Day in the Life of a Sea Otter. One of the cutest moments in their day, has to be when they take a mid afternoon nap - they actually hold hands to form a raft so that when they're sleeping they don't drift apart. Luckily, the Great White Shark prefer seals and other animals with a higher meat content rather than the sea otter.

Cute Baby Sea Lion

As Liz jetted off around the corner of the bay we caught a close up glimpse of the many Sea Lions which have taken up residence on the bay. In fact, sea lions are one of our ocean's most dynamic predators and most intelligent too - they spend most of their day on constant look out for predators like the Great White Shark. Although even if they do end up on the wrong side of the shark they do stand a fairly good chance as an adult male can weigh as much as 60 stone! As well as being on the look out, they do also spend most of the day sunbathing in the heat of the midday sun, particularly this time of the year when the males aren't competing for females. Even when they are competing, an over aggressive male sea lion can easily put the female off.

Big Blue Live airs TONIGHT 7pm BBC1

#BigBlueLive

The ADORABLE Sea Otter

Monterey Bay, California. Quite literally one of the greatest places on Earth. Some of the world's most amazing marine life are arriving or have already taken up residence in the 21 mile wide bay. Brought to you by Matt Baker, Liz Bonnin and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the show is packed with incredible sights from the majestic Humpback Whale to the incredibly cute Sea Otter. The spectacle is quite literally AMAZING. Matt Baker takes the short trip to meet the relaxed sea otters, lolling back on the water - quite literally living the Californian life. Of course there's some ideal conservation opportunities that come with the abundance of wildlife - Matt and the team spoke with the people who are doing their best to allow the wildlife to thrive. Even something as simple as removing sea urchins which eat kelp to help the sea otter. Kelp is actually one of the sea otters favourite food, so something so simple makes so much difference! 

And of course Big Blue UK has been airing all week showcasing  the incredible wildlife Britain has to offer, from killer whales to dolphins and puffins - although somewhat a little worrying how close whales are to our shores! 

Yesterday Big Blue UK met some of the puffins off the coast of Scotland - I won't even start talking about Puffins, I'll be hear until Christmas! (If you do want to hear more, then check out my previous post, FULL of puffins!) But they did look at how they breed, what I didn't realise was how sociable they are and how unthreatened they felt when he was separated from his young (only temporarily though!) 

I think now, it's safe to say Monterey Bay has been added to my bucket list of places to go!

Big Blue Live airs from California 8pm tonight BBC1 

The Leafy Sea Dragon | #WeirdestAnimals

The Sea Dragon, hidden in the depths of the ocean and one of the most camouflaged species on the planet -  not many people have actually seen this sea dragon. Living in the waters off the coast of the East and South  Australia they're often recognized by their reddish color and their long and thin snouts. Surprisingly, their snout actually helps propel them through the water, tumbling like seaweed drifting through the oceans. Like sea horses, it's actually the males which are responsible for childbearing, instead of a pouch they have a patch on the underside of their tail where females deposit their bright pink eggs. They then release the miniature sea dragons after about 5 weeks.
Unfortunately, they're actually endangered as divers often take them as pets, so much so the Australian government actually put complete protection on them in the early 1990s - but it might not be too late.

The Puffer Fish | #WeirdestAnimals

Not you're average looking fish, the puffer fish is known for it's ability to undergo a complete body transformation in seconds. In fact, they're so unique that there's around 120 different species of Puffer Fish that mostly reside in the tropical waters of the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Despite their somewhat intimidating shape their size is extremely changeable - from one inch to two feet, all in an effort to scare their predators.

Stay away from them though, as they contain a toxin 1200 times stronger than cyanide, which is enough to kill 30 adult men! Despite the toxin, in Japan, some parts of the fish area actually a delicacy, although you have to be specially trained to prepare it otherwise you might end up killing someone! But of course the toxin does out predators off them, the only species that's immune to the fish is a shark, so in many ways they're quite safe in the oceans!

They also have a body perfectly adapted for a life at sea for example, they have four teeth, fused in a beak like structure ideal for opening mussels, clams and other shellfish. They've also got excellent eyesight so they can spot predators from afar. All in all they're pretty amazing fish, but I'd stay away if I was you!