Over the past few months, a new virus has affected nearly every aspect of our daily lives. As an ever-curious Junior SeaDoctor, you may have started to wonder about viruses. What exactly are they, and where can they be found? Are they a part of the Salish Sea ecosystem just like eelgrass or killer whales?
Read MoreMarch is herring spawning time in the Salish Sea and the whole food web is having a herring fest! Herring are not only the special guests, but also the main course…
Read MoreLike a lot of grade 3 kids, Mason loved the sea and especially whales and dolphins. But when his mom told him about a man named Rob Stewart and his work to uncover through film the unlawful killing of sharks, Mason was inspired to devote his life to saving sharks and as it turns out, a whole lot more in the ocean.
Read MoreThe smallest diving ducks in North America, Bufflehead, are plump, compact waterbirds not much bigger than a crow. From November to April, you might spy them wintering in shallow bays, lagoons, and other sheltered areas of the Salish Sea. They may even take a trip to your pond.
Read MoreLizzy Ashley, pre-Wildlife Veterinary graduate student, along with volunteer, Khristina Holterman, save the day for a special pup, and many others, in her work as a Marine Mammal Stranding expert and Salish Sea Hero. Love marine mammals? Look up the Marine Mammal Stranding Network near you and learn how to help seals and other mammals in your coves and coastlines of the Salish Sea. You can be a Salish Sea Hero, too!
Read MoreIf you have lived in or visited the Salish Sea, you have probably seen a harbor seal. Although harbor seals are the region’s most common marine mammal, it never gets old seeing one zoom after a fish or peacefully sleep on a rocky shore!
Read MoreEverything is bigger in the Pacific Northwest, from giant octopuses to towering plumose anemones. It’s only fitting that the world’s largest sea turtle, the leatherback (scientific name Dermochelys coriacea), visits the water surrounding the Salish Sea! These massive reptiles travel from their nesting beaches in southeast Asia to feed along the western coast of North America every year, including the outer coast of Washington.
Read MoreYou may have seen meadows of eelgrass laying flat on a sandy beach at low tide, looking kind of boring. But, the eelgrass blades rise with the tide, flowing with the currents and teeming with life! Some of the residents in the eelgrass habitat look like aliens from another planet. Perhaps the most alien of all is the hooded nudibranch, Melibe leonina.
Read MoreRead about how all of the kids at Queen Elizabeth Elementary, New Westminster Elementary, Lord Nelson Elementary, Vancouver, Trudeau Elementary, Vancouver, Conrad Elementary, Prince Rupert, Veritas Elementary, Terrace, and Kildala Elementary, Kitimat Rocked the Salish Sea while educating their families and communities about taking better care of our watersheds and beaches through the choices we all make at home. This is thanks to Holly Arntzen and Kevin Wright of the Artist Response Team (ART), two rocking musicians with a passion for the Salish Sea as big as the ocean!
Read MoreIf you join our sea creature neighbors for a swim in the Salish Sea, you might not stay in for too long. These cold waters are often for animals with layers of warm, waterproof feathers or thick blubber to keep them toasty, but they’re also home to the cousins of the tropical-dwelling seahorse. The bay pipefish is this month’s creature feature, and they’re the Salish Sea’s own version of a Seahorse. They share the same order with seahorses, Syngnathiformes. Syngnathiformes means joined (syn)-jaw (gnath) form (formes) because their tiny, toothless and tubular mouths don’t open wide.
Read MoreThese 1st-2nd Grade students from Mrs. Ross’ Class at Island View Elementary in Anacortes, WA turned into Salish Sea explorers to investigate a very important issue in the Salish Sea: forage fish spawning success. As we saw in the last Salish Sea Heroes feature, some forage fish, like surf smelt, spawn right on the beach. They need shade and just the right mix of sand and gravel to survive to hatch, then swim away on a high tide.
Read MoreIt is really hard to pick one Salish Sea creature to feature when the sea is teeming with awesome species! I had to narrow it down, though, and this month’s creature is none other than everyone’s favorite fish, the Pacific spiny lumpsucker! If it is not yet your favorite fish, I will have to assume that is because you have yet to meet one. Allow me to introduce you!
Read MoreThese Grade 8 students turned into marine biologists to tackle a very important issue in the Salish Sea: beach restoration. Twenty nine percent, or nearly 1/3, of Puget Sound has seawalls to prevent erosion of shorelines and the homes and businesses above them. This is called shoreline armoring and seems like a great idea, unless you depend on the beach for habitat.
Read MoreUnlike sea otters, river otters burrow into hillsides near the water to make cozy dens where they sleep and where females have their litters of pups. Females give birth to 1-4 pups after 63 days of embryo development. But that could be more than a year after mating! Otters have the unusual ability to delay embryo implantation in the womb for 8-10 months, perhaps to wait for the easiest pup-rearing conditions.
Read MoreMrs. Tidwell and her students were the first to pilot our new curriculum around SeaDoc Society’s book, Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids. In this space, we will feature the exciting work of Salish Sea Heroes like the ones pictured here.
Read MoreDid you know that not all killer whales are the same? They might look similar, but some eat marine mammals, others eat sharks, and others eat salmon!
The salmon-eaters are called Southern Resident Killer Whales and only about 70 of them are left in the world! They could go extinct if we don’t help keep their waters clean and quiet.
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