Did you know that dolphins can reach speeds of 40km per hour? That's as fast as an African Bush Elephant! Have you ever seen an elephant run? That's pretty fast.

While dolphins can swim that fast, they usually swim 5 to 10km per hour. That's how fast a Tiger Beetle crawls! Scientist Dante Fenolio took a video of dolphins swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, let's take a look. Can you keep track of the dolphins as they swim?

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Squirt here to talk about the importance of my home: the ocean! Just look at this mess:

 
The ocean provides a lot of resources to humans. For example, we get some of our food, water, and medications from the ocean! Also, have you ever been to the beach? The beach is a recreational benefit from the ocean.

The ocean is an amazing place so it's important for us to protect it. You can help out. First off, please don't be a litterbug! Many plastic bottles, toys, cans, boxes, and bags end up in the oceans. You can help clean up the oceans by recycling plastics, cardboard boxes, and cans. Also, next time you go to school look around and see if there is any trash blowing around. If you see any trash pick it up and recycle it or place it in a trashcan. Another way to not be a litterbug is to reuse items. For example, the plastic bags used at grocery stores can be reused as trash bags.

The ocean is also polluted by chemicals and pesticides. You can help reduce this pollution by asking your parents to use less chemicals on the lawn and in your garden. If you don't have a garden you can buy organic produce at the store, start a garden, or buy local produce at a farmers market!

Can you think of other ways to protect my home? If so click on the "comments" link below and share your ideas with me and all the other kids reading this blog!

Thank you for helping clean up my home. Maybe next time you see it there will be less of a mess!

Squirt here to talk about fish!

There are five stages in the life cycle of a fish. Fish begin as an egg, just like you did. Then as the fish grows and develops, it become larval fish. During this stage the fish lives off of a yolk sac. The larval stage of a fish is similar to the human fetal stage when you were growing inside your mom. Take a look at this anglerfish in the larval stage.
 
When a fish starts eating on its own it enters the fry stage. In humans this would be the child stage. As a fry continues to develop it then enters the juvenile stage. During the juvenile stage, the fish matures reproductively. Humans undergo this stage during their teenage years. The last stage of development in fish in the adult stage. In the adult stage, fish are capable of reproducing to create their own offspring (or children). Humans also have an adult stage, for example your mom and dad are adults.

Just like human boys and girls are different, so are many fish! This is known as sexual dimorphism where the different genders (or sexes) look different. Male anglerfish are much smaller than female fish.  Also, only female anglerfish have the bioluminescent lure. Check out the images below!

Male anglerfish:

 
Female anglerfish:

See you next time!

Check out Squirt as he explores counter-illumination!

Squirt here with an update about the Blazing Seven cruise! The scientists spent six days at sea. They collected samples on five of these days. The scientists described the days to me as "beautiful" with a gentle breeze. They towed their nets in the clear blue waters at 48 places! The nets caught shrimp, squid, jellyfish, billfish, flyingfish larvae, and lanternfishes!

At each place they saw Sargassum. Check out the picture below. Sargassum is brown algae that attracts many animals including shrimp, crabs, and fish. Some of the fishes include filefishes (in the family Monacanthidae), triggerfishes (in the family Balistidae), Sargassum fish (in the family Antennariidae), flyingfishes (in the family Exocoetidae), and dolphifishes (in the family Coryphaenidae). 

The Blazing Seven finished its cruise by heading westward to Port Fourchon in Louisiana. The next cruise will be setting sail soon. I'm so excited!