Finding No One

I find it funny how the movie Finding Nemo is named Finding Nemo. Only because I've taken Latin in high school and learned what "nemo" is in Latin. Nemo means nobody or no one. So, from the get go, the movie Finding Nemo is a tragedy. It's surprising Marlin found the little guy in the end.
Am I the last person on the face of the planet who hasn't seen Finding Nemo 3D? Because that's how I feel! Every other person I've asked to join me in this ceremonial event at the movie theater has told me they've already seen it. Every time. May I ask this question, then: Why not go see it again? I mean, it is the greatest movie in all of eternity, so do your old pal a favor. However, if there is no one to accompany me into the theater, I will go by myself. 

Fish are friends, not food.

Yes, I said it. I would go by myself to watch Finding Nemo 3D. I would submit myself to ridicule from annoying young children sitting in the theater with their apathetic parents. I would be "that girl" who you see walk in alone, watch the film alone, and walk out alone. But, you know what? I would enjoy every single golden moment of my solidarity. Think about it. If you're by yourself watching a movie with a bunch of random people you don't even know or care about, you can be as loud as you want when you laugh or cry or cackle at the movie screen. (I don't know about you, but I perform all 3 of these actions while watching Finding Nemo.) Usually my number one rule for movie-going is never go alone. This case is the only exception. Other than Finding Nemo 3D, I am abiding by that rule.

Thankfully, today I found a friend going to the movie. Phew, that was a close one! I actually thought for a few days this week I would be laughing obnoxiously aloud at the screen alone; now I'm going to be laughing obnoxiously aloud at the screen with a couple people sitting beside me. Huge difference. It will now be socially acceptable, I think. So, the moral of the story: if you have a desperate friend going to see Finding Nemo 3D by themselves, save them from ridicule and humiliation and just tag along. It will save millions of lives. The more you know.

(Transition to another subject) Earlier this week I had been thinking more about my next move in my college career. If you haven't heard, I've sent my application to Auburn University. War Eagle! I'm not 100% sold on transferring to Auburn, though. I'm still praying about it and seeing where God leads me. Still, I need to be able to know what my next move is, whichever road I take. If I don't go to Auburn I'll stay at my present university and major in biology. Either way, I have fantastic news! Like, this news is groundbreaking. Positively joyous. Heavenly. Wondermous. Hallelujah-worthy. Never-endingly amazazing. I'm making up new words. Anyways, I don't have to take a second organic chemistry class!! Whooo! (This is the appropriate time to ensue a celebratory dance or shout, depending upon your preference.)

I can't stress how much weight that sentence right there has lifted off of me. If you've never had the burden of taking organic chemistry ever, you are one lucky duck. If I stay where I am, I won't take any more chemistry. If I leave for Auburn, I only take an overview of biochemistry. Now what I have to really worry about is the physics I have to take. Ugh. Physics. College problems. My life is so tough, isn't it? That reminds me, I need to find a friend who is decent in the field of physics. By that I mean I need to find a person I will befriend probably only because they are decent at physics and I am not. I won't call it full out "using" someone. Maybe we can rename this "getting to know" someone (getting to know their brain, more likely). Yeah, that sounds less parasitic. Let's end on that note.

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Big Bad Bugs

You may think I am in love with all wildlife on earth just because I consider myself one who enjoys biology. That I love all things nature. All the weird and ugly animals of this world are my best friends or something. Boy, are you wrong! I do enjoy nature. However, I do have a limit. My limit's label: BUGS. If you put me in a cage surrounded by sharks in the water, my heart would be racing, but I would overall be fine. Like I would be enjoying myself. But if you dare to put a spider or cockroach in front of my face, doesn't matter how small, I will freak to the point of complete embarrassment. 
Example. Today I was sitting in the 3rd row of my organic chemistry class. I was focused on trying to understand whatever my professor was saying (which is impossible) and all of the sudden I saw a humongous spider crawling 6-odd inches away from my feet. Needless to say I freaked to the point of complete embarrassment, as I usually do. (Whenever I tell someone a bug is big, they don't believe me because any bug to me is big. Big in scariness. I think my brain tells my eyes to multiply the size of the bug 2 or 3 times. Maybe it's a health condition. Or a mental illness.) 

A Brown Recluse Spider.

It crawled right to me, like it knew. Yeah, it knew. It knew I was the one to go for. They probably talk about me in their bug meetings or conventions or whatever they do. They probably have me on like a "list to kill" or something. At the end of their meetings they all say, "...and remember: if you see her, you know what to do." 
So it started to come to me, closing the gap between it and my feet. I started to see black spots. All at once I felt a heaviness in my stomach, my lungs collapsing, and this intense heat in my throat.
I booked it outta there! I was gone. My neighbor, the poor guy who doesn't know me very well at all, almost got sacked. There was no way I would try to kill the spider by putting myself nearer to it. Nuh-uh. No siree. Thankfully someone squished and killed it with their tennis shoe. Lord, thank you for the brave soul who took one for the team! It would've taken me hours to kill that. Goodness, I wish I had taken a picture so you see how huge this thing was! The girl who killed it looked over to me and said in the most quiet and tranquil way, "Glad we killed him. I'm pretty sure that was a brown recluse." Then she turned back around like everything went back to normal as I sat there in horror, still shaking to the point where I couldn't even write legibly. The rest of class time consisted of me looking at my feet every 30 seconds, searching for the spider's army of friends surely coming after me soon. Was it a brown recluse? We'll never know. Unless we obtain a sample from the bottom of that nice girl's shoe...
As you can tell, I don't like spiders. Bugs in general are just my ultimate fear, but spiders...they are the big kahuna. The big enchilada. The top banana, shall we say. You will never catch me dead with a spider in my presence willingly. Of course, they're everywhere, so I don't have much choice. I heard some time ago that in life there will always be a spider in a certain small circumference of your person. Like a few feet or something horrifying like that. Now there's a scary story to tell your kids at night. They won't sleep for weeks.

Why, God, not multitudes of bunnies?? Look at their cuteness!

It's just too bad that the biggest group of animals in this world is the bug population. Why, God, can't it be birds? Or bunnies? Or platypuses? Platypi? Who cares. Just not bugs! Okay, I can deal with multitudes of butterflies or lightning bugs. But not the beetles or the roaches. I cringe just typing it out! If you like bugs, you must be so mad at me right now. Sorry for the huge slap in the face of bugs, but I can't stand them.
They are definitely necessary for our world. Sadly, this is true. If it weren't for certain types of insects that eat decomposing material, we would have a bunch of (you guessed it) decomposing material stinking up the world. If not for certain insects that eat other even worse insects, we would have a world filled with overbearing populations of dangerous bugs, even more than we have now. I can't imagine. Ughh...I guess we should thank them for their services. I'll thank them. But not as much as I thanked tennis shoe girl for the defeat of my arch nemesis.

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Einstein and the Blowfish

It's official. I've started the process of applying to another school: Auburn University. Well, it's been official in my mind for quite awhile that I'm going to apply there. I guess I can say it's "officially official." You may be asking me why I'm doing this. Do I hate where I'm attending now? What's so bad about where I am that is pushing me to the point of applying to move multiple hours away? Let me assure you, oh, dear reader, I am not doing this out of malice towards the university I am attending presently.
I don't know how many times I'm going to say this, but, let me say it again, I'm currently a chemistry major whose future goal is marine biology. I've realized since my declaration of major that I'm here on this earth to study marine biology. Not chemistry. Not physics. Not whatever else you can put under my nose. Marine biology. And, let me tell you, the chemistry department is not the place to be for someone like me. Now I know this!
It's nothing personal toward chemists. Or the study of chemistry for that matter. I like the way the great scientist Albert Einstein puts it:

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb up a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

Why try to say it when Einstein says it so poetically? I may be "good" at chemistry in some aspects (like in the classroom, usually), but when it comes to research and hands-on approaches to the science, I've learned that it is definitely not my cup of tea. Now that I have come to realize this, I can move on from it and try out some other things. I will repeat this cycle either until I get tired of it or until I find that one aspect of science that I know I'm made for. Who knows, it could be research, conservational work, tourism, education, etc. Maybe it could be a mix! That's for God to know and me to find out!

The pufferfish pre- and post-puff.

Let's get to the good part of the blog: the biology. Today's topic of conversation is the famous pufferfish, or blowfish as some may call it. This little fish is so cute when it isn't mad and territorial to the point where it puffs out its spikes at you in defense. All they do is just suck in a bunch of water, and voila, you have an angry-looking pufferfish telling you to get away or else. By the way, the terms "pre- and post-puff" in the caption I completely made up off the top of my head. They aren't scientific whatsoever. Far from it. But you get what I'm saying!
Pufferfish have a toxin that is usually lethal to fish. (Some marine animals aren't affected by the pufferfish toxin, such as tiger sharks and sea snakes. They're the lucky ones.) According to National Geographic, the toxin made in the pufferfish, called tetrodotoxin, is over 1,000 times more lethal to humans than cyanide. One pufferfish holds enough toxin to kill 30 humans. So that means, kids, don't touch these cute little things!...Or you will surely die. When I say surely I definitely mean surely. Why? Because there is no known antidote for the pufferfish's tetrodotoxin. Not every single species of pufferfish makes this toxin, so you have a small chance of living if you dare to test your luck.
Unlike a lot of the marine creatures I talk about, the pufferfish population is considered quite stable. Some species are vulnerable because of overfishing, loss of habitat, and pollution, but what animal these days isn't negatively affected by any of these 3 things? Not many, if any. 

Pufferfish language saying, "Get away!"

I have never seen one of these guys in their natural habitat, but I have seen them in tanks. Like in a few aquariums and at university marine labs. When I first saw them, they were much smaller than what I thought they would be. Maybe it's just me. Probably. And I don't know if the ones that I've seen were the smaller of the species. Anywho, the biggest they can get is about 3 feet, which is huge for a pufferfish.
This may seem obvious and I probably don't even need to mention this: it is not the best swimmer. Duh! If you were a big puff ball half of your life then you might not be able to swim too well either. Even still, they are capable of defending themselves extremely well. Yes, the pufferfish has its downfalls, but it can also kill 30 humans without breaking a sweat. (Okay, some can. Not all poisonous...) I respect them for that. So whenever I see one in the wild, I will observe from a safe distance!

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Everyone Likes Turtles!

I'm back in my college town again, waiting for school to start and be over at the same time. I don't know what my feelings are on this semester. I don't want to go to school and get all that oh-so-familiar stress built up. Still, I'm excited about what's in store. A new school year yields new people, places, and things. Especially new experiences. Of course, new experiences can't always be positive, but it's life. I just got to roll with the punches.
If you've read on one of my earlier blogs, you may remember my vivid description of my trip to St. Maarten, specifically the sea turtle experience. If you haven't done this, I will save you the time and recap: Went to St. Maarten. Snorkeled in a marine wildlife refuge. Saw 2 turtles. Screamed underwater. One swam away. Left one sea turtle. Swam with it. Life almost complete. Now all I need is to swim with a whale. And a shark. And a whale shark. Bam. Story over. I'm a pretty dang good story teller, aren't I?

The Loggerhead Sea Turtle.

Now that you're caught up with that experience in my life, we can now move on. Sea turtles. Gotta love 'em. They're cute as babies, and even when they're adults. They are herbivores, so you don't see them mercilessly slaughtering a seal with razor sharp teeth like a shark. That's a plus. And they swim so gracefully. It's like they're in slow motion. Or in a dream. And, come on, they're turtles. Everyone likes turtles. If you don't like turtles, you've got a problem. I'm not talking about the marine turtles' crazy cousins, the snapping turtle. Now they are ugly and mean. But the Loggerheads, the Hawksbills, the Greens...they're like the popular kids of Turtle High School.
On a more serious note, sea turtles have some cool attributes. First off, if you had read more into my post I mentioned earlier about my St. Maarten trip, you may have read that these creatures are air-breathers. They aren't like their fishy friends who have gills and such. 
If you've never ever watched the Crocodile Hunter or Jeff Corwin in your life, then you may not have seen the specials they would air every now and then showing the annual mass hatching of young little turtles. There are a handful of special beaches in the world that will house hundreds of pregnant females once a year while they "do their thing" and lay their eggs (usually 3-8 eggs) in a self-dug hole in the sand. After a couple months, the eggs will hatch little baby turtles!

The race to the shore!

Their main instinct is to go to water. It's better for them to hatch at night since the cover of darkness saves many turtle lives. If they end up hatching in the daylight, they just gotta run for it. More like topple and flail, but you get the main idea. Many birds and lizards wait for this time of year to come around since the scrumptious little bite-size turtles will be so prevalent on the beach. Many baby turtles die, sadly. Sorry for the sob story, but as Disney says, it's the circle of life. But usually a good number of hatchlings will make it to the shoreline. Even then, however, they still have a lot ahead of them. Swimming against the current of the ocean when you're not even an hour old is kind of insane, but they're just wired to survive and do whatever it takes to get to water.
Once they get past the predators from when they were eggs, the predators from when they hatched, and the strong ocean current, they still have to find food. And I haven't even mentioned that they're pretty much alone out there in the big blue. Their parents don't wait up on them, you can be sure of that. They're on their own from day 1. More like second 1. Turtles are pretty darn tough once you think about it, and I don't just mean their tough shell.
I really have this awesome dream of going to the Galapagos Islands. If you've never heard of this island, I feel for you. It's kind of noted as the famous spot correlated with Charles Darwin, the esteemed and controversial scientist who made the theory of evolution a common worldwide topic of scientific conversation. 

Adult Galapagos Tortoise vs. Adult Human.

Anyways, the reason why I want to go there is this: the Galapagos tortoises. (FYI: tortoise is to land as turtle is to water.) Man, those things are huge. Huge, I tell you. Like if a tortoise was a T-rex, it would be the Galapagos tortoise. Many biologists and other scientists claim that the tortoises, along with other flora and fauna on the island, have evolved separately from their ancestors (because of the isolation). The animals and plants somehow got there by sea or air a long time ago and started evolving to enhance their adaptability to their specific surroundings. I'm getting on a very broad subject here, but that's the widely accepted reason why they look so different.
Turtles, and I guess now tortoises, are some awesome reptiles. They look ancient because they are ancient. And they move like they're ancient. I guess one word to describe any turtles would be ancient. That would be my best word. And of course they're cool! Because everyone likes turtles!
 

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Life As I Know It

Have you ever had the experience of seeing yourself about to walk down a path you kind of know isn't right (or right for you, at least)? And something saves you from that at the very last minute? Well, that has happened to me today. Actually it's kind of been throughout these past couple months. 

You may not believe in a God, but if you do, then you might understand where I'm coming from when I talk about this. You guys may have read in earlier posts that I've done chemistry research at my university even though my area of interest is marine biology. Far cry, yes. I've been fully aware of this. Lately I've just been thinking and praying about my future a lot. I know God knows my heart more than even I have. Whatever His will is for my life, I would follow. I've tried to follow this hard road my whole Christian life. Key word is tried, folks. I've definitely made mistakes. Even so, God loves me and will mercifully keep me in His plan. 

Life as I know it has been full of happiness and sadness, ups and downs, right turns and wrong turns. Life as I know it is extremely sheltered; I realize this day after day. Life as I know it is really a waste of everything. It sounds bleak and dark. Like I'm just running in circles with all my might, going nowhere in the process. 
Life as God knows it, though, is full of grace and mercy, love and compassion, judgment and redemption. Life as God knows is His creation and under His control. Life as God knows it is unfathomable. Man, it never will fully sink in to my thick skin that life with God is the life fully lived. No awesome career or 6-digit salary can fully satisfy. 

There's one thing that keeps me, personally, from obtaining this powerful fully lived life through Him. Trust. Trust turns life around. If I could just let go of trying to figure out every little thing every waking minute of my life, God could do such a work in me and my circles of influence. I've talked to other Christians about this and I'm not the only one. Trusting in someone you can't see and sometimes not even feel is demanding. But, goodness, is it wonderful once it happens. I'm free, but a servant of Christ. I'm loved as a child of God, but still a sinner in this dark world. 

Obviously you can tell that I've decided to take a break today from writing about marine life! Hopefully you guys aren't mad. Not like it matters. For the record, God is the reason why I have this passion for marine life in the first place. I shouldn't even label this passion as my own. It's all Him. He has given it to me as a gift in this life to praise Him. What a cool way to look at it. I truly have nothing without God's presence. 
Okay, that was my God rant. Feels good to put it out there. By the way, if you have any questions about this kind of stuff, I'm not an expert, but I can at least listen! I'm not all about the ocean and its inhabitants. I do have a personality separate from that, believe it or not. And I'm a girl, so obviously I have many facets of my personality! Have a great day, and thanks for reading!

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Fintastic Facts

If you've been watching Shark Week, which I expect you have, then you can agree when I say this is one of the best years so far! I have loved each and every special, even the ones I didn't expect to care for as much. Commenting on Shark Week like it's Monday night football sounds so extremely geeky, but I don't give a hoot. It's just too much fun!
Since it is Shark Week, I'd like to elaborate on some cool shark stuff! There are a lot of facts that would have astounded many people just a few years ago. Let's name a few...

The aptly named Black Tip Reef Shark.

Sharks maintain the marine ecosystem. You might have heard this quite a few times over the years once Shark Week comes around. When scientists and conservationists say this, they are alluding to the food chain phenomenon. Sharks are obviously the big bad predators of the deep. They have a diet of smaller fish and organisms which, if not kept down in populations, can and will overpower the seas. Then their prey will become scarce, maybe even to the brink of extinction. Some of these prey items are autotrophs (organisms that make their own food, mainly from photosynthesis, such as algae). These guys take carbon dioxide in and eventually convert this to oxygen, along with food for themselves. Without these marine autotrophs, carbon dioxide levels will go up and oxygen levels will go down. This is obviously bad.
Anyways, the shortened version is that things will get out of whack. If shark populations are jacked up, the oceans are jacked up. If the oceans are jacked up, we're jacked up. And we don't want to be jacked up. Because that means we die. I know, way to be positive, Claire.

Some shark species can't breathe unless they're constantly moving. Certain species, such as the frightening great white, must always have water passing through their gills to have oxygen flow. That means if you're a great white shark, you will be moving for the rest of your sharky life. No exceptions. Unless you want to suffocate. 
If a shark gets caught in a net (which is actually highly likely), most of the time it will die from suffocation. After much struggling to get out of the net, it will become extremely tangled and trapped. It's quite sad. So far these facts aren't too positive! Sorry, y'all.

A nose full of ampullae of Lorenzini.

Sharks have a sixth sense. It's like a story off the movie screen. A top predator of the ocean has an incredible ability of electroreception. If you get close enough to the head of a shark you can see these pores in their nose. They're called the ampullae of Lorenzini. These jelly-filled pores can sense electric fields in the water. Even if the water is murky, they can sense movements of prey. Science is even showing that these sensory organs can give the sharks an awareness of where they are on the earth magnetically. So they may be using their ampullae while migrating great distances. 

Sharks have high-tech teeth. Yes, I know it sounds insane. Scientists have found behaviors that point to sharks' teeth actually "tasting" objects. For example, once a shark bites an unwanted object, like a buoy or a boat propeller, they will usually "spit it out" and look for their real prey (fish, seals, squid, etc.). They don't swallow or chew it around for a bit; they sink their teeth into it and then let it go. 
Also, their teeth are extremely sharp. Duh. They're sharks. Shark teeth have been compared to steak knives and razors. Even shark tooth fossils buried in the ground for millions of years are considered dangerously sharp to the touch. 

Rows of teeth in a bull shark.

A shark's teeth are made like clockwork in their mouth. The action is compared to a conveyor belt. Once a tooth is lost because of a brawl with a whale or a hunt of a seal, it's replaced by one right below it. Throughout their life, sharks must go through hundreds of teeth. And each one of them can cut through most anything with a couple head shakes. A shark's main weapon is definitely their teeth, no doubt about it. I know I wouldn't want to get face to mouth with one of those guys with no protection!
Some sharks, however, don't have this conveyor belt system of steak-knife-sharp teeth. Basking sharks and whale sharks are considered filter feeders, so they'll gulp in large amounts of water containing small organisms and "filter out" the yummy goodness. 

They're not all bad. Not all sharks are large, ferocious creatures that resemble Jaws. Actually, out of the hundreds of species of sharks in the world, only a handful of them have been reported to attack humans. There has been so much drama associated with sharks in the history of mankind, but we only know of the "big bad" great whites or the "big bad" bulls. What about the docile whale shark? What about the slow-moving Greenland shark? What about the nurse shark, considered the "catfish of the sharks?" Let me tell ya, folks, they're not all bad. And once we see that, we'll want to conserve them so we can learn more about them and save our oceans in the meantime.  

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The Best Week of the Year

Wow, what a few days it's been. I've experienced a break in. A break in. It was the scariest event in my life. Okay, it wasn't my apartment that was broken into, but the one next door! Just as frightening, take my word for it. 

Three A.M. Thursday morning. All of the sudden a loud banging on my door accompanied with a booming voice shouting, "Sheriff's Department!" over and over. I finally came to my senses and opened the door to find a flashlight in my face. The policeman at my door informed me there had been a break in the apartment adjacent to me. I looked over to see the front doorway without a door. It had been completely kicked in by the burglar. I was in complete shock. 
The owner wasn't there, thank goodness, so no one was hurt. I ended up waiting outside for an hour or so with my newly-found neighbors while watching the police investigate in each apartment. They adventured into the attic (of which I had no previous knowledge of) to see any signs of the mystery man. No luck. The policemen left without a burglar. I was sad because I wanted to see the man responsible. Well, that's probably been the most eventful my life has gotten lately. 
On a more positive and less traumatizing note, this upcoming week will be by far the best week of the year! Why? It's Shark Week! The 25th anniversary of shark week! I seriously can't wait for tonight's new specials airing on the Discovery channel. I feel obligated to give you guys a heads up for what'll be on this week, so here's your master list. (This is according to Central Time, by the way.)

Ah! Watch out!

                                                                                   Sunday

7 - 8 Ultimate Air Jaws Reloaded : Chris Fallows and Jeff observe breaching great white sharks in South Africa.

8  - 9 Air Jaws Apocalypse : Chris Fallows takes photos of great whites.

9 - 10 Shark Week's Impossible Shot : Cameramen attempt to get good shots of great white sharks off the coast of South Africa.

Monday

7 - 8 Air Jaws Apocalypse Reloaded : A camera crew tracks the huge great white shark named Colossus.

8 - 9 Sharkzilla : The Mythbusters team helps create a mechanical version of the prehistoric ancestor of great white sharks, the Megaladon.

9 - 10 Mythbusters Jawsome Shark : The Mythbusters team tests 25 shark myths.

Tuesday

7 - 8 Jaws Comes Home Reloaded : Greg Skomal tracks 5 great whites in the waters where the famous movie "Jaws" was filmed.

8 - 9 How Jaws Changed the World : The science behind how the movie "Jaws" impacted humanity's vision of sharks. 

9 - 10 Adrift: 47 Days with Sharks : The story of American soldiers who survived shark-infested waters.

Wednesday

7 - 8 Rogue Sharks Reloaded : Past shark attacks are investigated to see if sharks deliberately attack humans.

8 - 9 Shark Fight : Stories from shark attack victims.

Thursday

7 - 8 Great White Invasion Reloaded : Researchers investigate the sightings of great whites near California, South Africa, and Australia.

8 - 9 Great White Highway : Great whites are tracked off the Californian coast.

9 - 10 Shark Week's 25 Best Bites : A countdown showing highlights of Shark Week.

Now you know! The one I am looking forward to watching the most is the special on Tuesday, How Jaws Changed the World. I'm really excited about that because not a lot of people nowadays think of sharks without thinking of Jaws. Another I want to see is Sharkzilla. Megaladon was a great white, but like 10 times bigger. It'll be interesting to see a mechanical one (probably made life-size).  

I wish this picture was real!

Last year I decided to start making pictures of me with sharks to celebrate Shark Week. (The picture I made last year is above.) This year I edited and pasted a picture of myself snorkeling in Mexico to a picture of a whale shark in the sea. Looks so real, right? I know it doesn't, but it just goes to show how desperately geeky I am. I thought y'all would like to see it! 

If you want to see more of Shark Week, be sure to visit the Discovery channel's Shark Week website! There's a bunch of fintastic videos and merchandise. Plus, facts, news stories, and conservation knowledge galore. www.Discovery.com/SharkWeek

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