Ribittttt! Ribittttt! Let's learn about...Amphibians! :O

Hey! It's MUAHZZLES! And today I am going to talk about AMPHIBIANS! Most people think EW, and some people think AWWE! ( I think YUCK! 0_o ) Everyone has their opinion! Let's start by telling you what you will be learning about, for my last blog post of 2011! D': But we are not talking about Kermit! :D

What you will be learning about.........

•  The 3 groups of amphibians....... ( That's foo sho! )
• The characteristics of all 3 groups of amphibians!

Before I start I will name the 3 groups of Amphibians!! Here we go....


The 3 groups of Amphibians.....

1. Anurans.....
2. Urodeles....
3. Apoda.... ( I'll tell you what these mean right after this! )

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The 3 groups......
Well, second of all I shall tell you ALL about the characteristics of Amphibians, but I need to tell you about the 3 groups so you can understand better, I hope! :D Enjoyyyyyyyyyy..........




Anurans.....

Over hear! I'm a toad!

Anura are frogs and toads!! You usually see them around ponds and lakes! :D

Look! I'm a frog! 

Did you know that this group is the most common and they have short bodies, strong legs, and no tails!
Most frogs have sticky feet to stick to the object they are climbing up so they fall off! Some frogs are even poisonous! The poisonous ones are the most colorful and sometimes the smallest! 




Urodeles....

Guess what! I'm a salamander!

Urodeles are salamanders and newts! They are super slimy! Hahahah! :D

Guess who?? It's a newt!

This group is common, but no as common as Anurans though! They have long bodies, short legs, and flattened tails used for swimming! Salamanders are very slimy! While newts are not really slimy. D:



Apoda....

Yozzy!  Caecilian in the house! :D

Apoda are ceacilians!!! Caecilians are worm - snake like creatures! You can say that they are just Santa Clause sized worms, Ew.  0.o  They are practically blind and their eyes are sensitive to light! :D :D :D


The characteristics!!! :D :D :D 


Well, amphibian stands for " Double Life ". It's not where if you die, you come back to life, but that would be so awesome!! :D  It actually is that amphibians live in the water half their life then go to land then come back to the water to breed! What a life! Hahaha! I like my life much more...... anyways, the amphibian comes from the greek! Thank you greek people! :D Hehehe. Also because they live in the water and land they begin with gills and then end living with lungs. The odd thing about them is that they breathe trough their skin. 


Amphibians go through, what they call, metamorphosis. Woah now! That's a long word! What does that long word mean you ask? Well, it is basically when and amphibian goes through and very, very drastic change of their body! We don't have that much of a drastic change because we still have the same things: Arms, legs, hands, feet, a face, a head, lungs, a heart, yeah I bet you get the point! :D Moving on!!! 




They have gills then lose them and grow lungs! It's not like WE lose a toe and grow and finger!  I mean like really! They have a tail and then lose it and grow legs and arms! Gee, but all amphibians have 4 legs and sometimes no legs! They all have webbed feet to help them swim and some don't have feet! But all have moist, smooth skin, or at least no hair or fur! They are also cold - blooded all their life!











Well, that'a all!! :D Thanks for reading my blog!! Come again soon to learn more amazing things! :D

SQUISHY FISHY!!! ._.

 

Hey! IT'S MUAH! You know why I am here and it is to teach YOU about fishy!!!! Yes, this time it IS the type of fish that you are thinking about!! They are called Bony Fish and in this blog you will hear lot's about them! 






These are the basic things I am going to teach you about....... ( ENJOY!!! )

1. How do fishy float?? ( Hmmmmm....)
2. Then the Roles of each fin!!! ( YAHOO!)
3. What's a lateral line ? ( Wonder, wonder! )
4. How does fishy breathe?  ( Do they really breathe? )
5. What does cold blooded mean???? ( Are they cold, Let's give them a scarf! : D )
6. What do fishy like to eat ? ( Not fish sticks! Lol! )
7.  Then I will talk about three of MY favorite fishies!!! 

   LET'S BEGIN!!! >>>>>>>>>>>>>

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How do fish float????

• Fish use what is called......( Get Ready! ) a Swim Bladder !!!! OH YEAH! I bet you think that it's NASTY and that it is the bladder we think it is , but DON'T WORRY it's not! Here is pic! :)

It's the blue item! 

• Did you know that it inflates and deflates like are lungs!?  But it is not used in the same way, but it can be compared! Like when our lungs inflate, it inflates air! But the fishies , however,  uses  their swim bladder inflates water and deflates it back out through the gills. But WHY  you ask! Well, it's because when the swim bladder is inflated with water it sinks and when it is empty it floats! It's all because the water in his/ her swim bladder is heavy and makes him go down and when its empty and full of air it floats!

The roles of the fins!!!

• Now shall I describe the roles of the fishes fin??? I SHALL! So,  a fish has about 8 fins and you can count! In this diagram it displays the fins:  Anal fin ( 1 ) , Caudal fin ( Tail ) , Soft and spiny dorsal fins      (2) , Pectoral fins ( 2 ) , Pelvic fins ( 2 ) , and all the other important features a fish has! Not all fish have some of the fins displayed above!!! ._.  Now I am going to talk about each individual fin! YAY!

The Anal fin is used to.....

 Stabilize the fish while swimming! This basically used to keep it's balance in other words! Just like most people stick there arms out while walking on a balance beam! It is located on the lower side of the body near the tail.
But they won't fall off the ocean. :)



The to Pectoral fins are used for....


Turning can be used for tasting and touching! Also for support and the source of power for swimming.
It is located each side of the body near the head because there are 2.  


The Pelvic fin is used for...


 Slowing down some bony fishes and for stability. Did you know that it is located on the lower side of the body near the head. 





The Dorsal fin is used for...

To also keep it stable while it also is used for sudden direction changes. The fin is located at the upper side of the BODY!!! 



The Cadual fin is used for....

propulsion also known as the thing that pushes an item FORWARD! >>>>>> Vroom.  ._. It is located around the bottom and it is also known as the tail!



What's a lateral line?

That is it for fins! YAY! Now....What is a lateral line? Well, a lateral line is a line of holes that is located along the side of the fish's body on both sides of the body that sense vibrations in the water!!

How do fish breathe?

Fish breathe with there gills.
The gills take the oxygen out of the water the gills take up. He.


What does cold blooded mean?

Cold blooded means your blood is cold! Just Kidding! It means that your blood will adapt to your surronding tempreature!



What do fish eat??

Fish eat worms, clams, mussels, bugs, crustations, and some carnivors eat squid, fish, birds, frogs, and snails!

Next blog is part 2 and I will talk about my three FAVORITE fish, but the three are a Seahorse, Pirahana, and the silver dollar fish! Yayyyyy! Anyways.... Buh Bye! :)

Do you ever wonder about..............LEAVES?

Hey!  It's me Sofia! Today on my blog I am going to talk about " Why leaves change color and how?".  Now at this time of year the leaves are AMAZING!
I bet if you took a look outside you would see what I am talking about!









Fall is one of  my favorite seasons ever! YAY! The colors are so fantastic and I bet you wonder how! Well, the fresh green color that you see in spring and summer is made by chlorophyll! But it starts to fade away and it is time for the others to SHINE!!!




Most of the time you will see Orange, Red, Yellow, and brown leaves! But in winter you see no leaves on trees or on the ground! Where do all the leaves go?Well, it goes like this,  the leaves die and become brown and crispy and fall off! After they have fallen, they are on the ground and after a while it becomes the soil in the ground for the tree and makes new leaves after the winter is over!


How leaves grow back?


Leaves grow by little buds that allow them to grow back in the spring! At my house in spring we have pinkish - redish buds on our 3 trees in our front yard! 
After a while the become small little green leaves to huge super green ones! After that the whole process starts over again from buds to little green leaves to big green leaves to the beautiful fall colors and to a no leaves tree! 




Where does that fall color come from?


That fall color comes from when the chlorophyll dies away, when the days get shorter and there is not enough sunlight to produce chlorophyll. To make the greenish color which is made by chlorophyll you need light, to have photosynthesis which feeds the leaves to keep its green color, and I mean lots of sunlight.  When the chlorophyll brakes down the carotenoids, which make yellow, orange, and brown colors, and the anthocyanins, which make red, purple, and pink color, begin to show after they have been concealed by the chlorophyll.

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Thank you for reading my blog! I REALLY  hope that you like it!  Come again to learn awesome things! Bye!  Bye bye now! Adios! Byeeee! :)

The Flappy, Happy, Stingy Rays!! :)

                                                
Hey everybody! Well you know me! I am here to have a fun learning experience about RAYS! Yay! I can't wait, can you? OK! I am going to teach you about.....

• I will compare and contrast rays to sharks! I blogged about sharks before! ( This will be fun! )
• I will describe the ray's body and tail!
• What do they eat and how do they get their food!
• The ray's defenses!
• Some fun interesting facts!
• Last but not least.... The Southern Stingray!
• The difference between skates and rays!

So now you know what you shall be learning about! Yay, FUN! So, rays have tails that electrocute for defence! So you better watch out of rays because you might get stung by it horrifying tail! But don't worry, at the Aquarium they cut the tails off so they don't kill you!  You can pet them as much as you like! :)
  Comparing Rays to Sharks!!

1.  They both have cartilage skeletons!   
2. Sharks and Rays both have jaws!
3. Some species of Sharks and Rays are endangered!
4. There are around 400 species of Sharks and 400 species of Rays!

Rays

 

Sharks

Contrasting Rays to Sharks!!

1. Rays have more flattened bodies while the Sharks have long, slender bodies!
2. They  have a different way of using their tail, Sharks use it to swim and Rays use it for balance and defence!
3. They use their fins in different ways, Sharks use their tail to lift and steer, while Rays use it to swim!
4. Rays have their gills on their underside of their body and Sharks have it on their sides.

                                     
The Rays Body and Tail!!

Most of the Rays, Stingrays to be specific, tail is used for it's defence. They will sting an enemy with their poisonous stinging tail that gives electric shocks! Their tails can range from short, stubby ones to amazingly long that are up to 10 ft. long! Wow!



Their body is smooth and flat! They have gills on their underside of their body along with their mouth. Their eyes on on top of their head. Also, Rays have large, flappy fins that they use for swimming!  A cool thing about them is that they can be shaped like an oval, a cirlce, a triangle , or a wedge-shaped body! Fantastic!




As you can see the MANY cool shaped rays that can be out there! I really like the designs that they have too! They can have poka-dots, circles, lines, and eights!

What do Rays Eat and How do They Get It?!?!

Rays are carnivores and usually eat crustaceans, mollusks, and worms!! Rays mostly hunt their prey at the ocean floor, they dislodge it from the floor, grab it, and then crush it with their teeth.



Isn't SO cute?!?!??  It is! ;)


What are the Rays Defences!??!? Hmm....
Well, is that so hard! The Rays use their tail as defence!  Stingrays use it and regular Rays use their poisonous tail, or they use their whip-like tail to lacerate their enemy! Also camouflage is another one of their BEST defences!


What's the Difference about Skates and Rays?!
You probably wonder what a skate is right? Well, a skate is a cartilaginous fish. There are 200 described species. Skates take a long time to grow and mature, similar to Sharks. Also in some parts of the world, due to overfishing, they are endangered. They are very similar to the Rays.



A Picture of a Skate

1. Rays are more of a kite shape while Skates are more  triangular or roundish.
2. Rays are bigger than Skates, usually.
3. They both defend their selves differently, Skates use their thorns on their back and rays use their tail and camouflage.
4. They give birth differently, Skates lay eggs and Rays give live birth.
5. Rays are more known than Skates.

Awesome Facts about Southern Stingrays!!

• Found in Tropical and Subtropical waters.
• They are very shy animals.
• They are not aggressive animals.

Goodbye everyone! Thank you so much for reading my blog! Blog to you soon!!! :)

The Facts You Did NOT Know About Those Deadly Sharks!

                             

Heyyyyyyyyyyyy! It's Sofia! And I am going to talk about.......SHARKS!! Most people think of sharks in a horrid manner. Perhaps like Jaws! But not all sharks are like that! Shocking Right?!???!                             

                                                

When you see a Shark you probably think it feels all Gooey Ooey and Slimey BUT, its feels like sandpaper actually! Especially if you have the nerves to feel it from head to tail it REALLY feels like sandpaper!They feel like sandpaper because of there scales! Sharks are shaped like a torpedo usually and that is one of the reasons why it's SO  fast! Don't you wish you were shaped like torpedo now!

Shark Scales Feel Like Sandpaper

Shall we talk about there teeth!??! Yes we shall!!! Did you know that sharks have 3 rows of teeth? Well they do! Cool right! If one of there teeth fall out, the one from the next row will replace it. That really help because sharks can lose up to 35,000 teeth in a life time!

Shark teeth are really sharp!

Baby sharks are called pups. When I here pups I think of puppies but, there are no similarities! Sharks can have 2 - 100 pups per group of babies. Most  sharks lay eggs and don't give live birth but, some do!
             

You want to know what we are going to do???? WE are going to talk about a Sharks Sensory System!BIG words right!!! Well, it's like there senses.  Let's label them!  Enjoy .........
    Smell of a Shark!!                   

Some Sharks can detect as little as one part per million of blood in the ocean! So that means that if there were one million people in the ocean and if one of them was bleeding, the shark could smell that one person out of all those people! AMAZING! So don't go in the water with a cut because you could be that un-lucky one! BE CAREFUL!  Most sharks have REALLY good smell!  While other are not so good! So those little fish that are under them must smell bad if they don't even bother to try to eat them. After all.. Part of liking your food is the smell of the food! You better not were your best cologne or perfume!     

  Sight of a Shark!!
Sharks eyes are adapted to the water life around them. It is just like how are eyes are adapted to the air and not to the water. We can open our eyes under water but it burns to most people. When we go under water to jump in the pool and we don't have goggles, we use our eyes lids to close our eyes. Sharks have eye lids but, they don't blink under water because the water around them cleans there eyes. But,  if they are in the air. But sharks like the Great White don't have this membrane, also known as there eye lids to protect them if they are hunting, in the air, or have prey like stingrays so they don't get stung. They have good night-vision while making them colorblind. So they don't even know what color the water is! Suckers! :) Because I know what color it is!!! Blue or dark blue to a clear color or kinda green!



         Sharks Hearing! 
   Even though it is VERY hard to test shark's hearing, they could have a super sharp, crisp sense of hearing if they can hear prey from very far away.  They have small openings in there head leading to the inner ear by a thin channel. You really cant see it!

              Sharks Cartilage!
Sharks have skeletons made out of cartilage like other fish like snakes and rays. Also like Lampreys and Hagfish too! Cartilage is flexible and durable, yet has about half the density of bone. So it is lighter than a bone.  So wonder sharks are so fast! And did you know sharks have no ribs? That's too bad.. you can't make shark back ribs! LOL! Just kidding!!


               A FUN SHARK FACT IS..

• There are over 400 species and 30 of them are a threat to humans!                                              

 Well thanks for reading my DEADLY SHARKS blog post part 1!!! Let Bugs Bunny say goodbye to you! And a Bye from me too! Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :) Thanks Again!