Sea Snake Swim.

See Johnny stare. See snake check Johnny out. See Johnny wet his suit. See snake swim after minnows instead. See Johnny leave snake alone.

Olive sea snake

flickr: by Wibble_Roisin

So goes a theoretical kindergarten book on sea snakes in the ocean and the great respect we should have for them. Critter #2 on the most poisonous list are sea snakes. Keep in mind this list is in no particular order - all these critters deserve a place in it without discrimination.

Around the Great Barrier Reef, there are 14 species of sea snake, more or less. One of the most common is the Olive sea snake, which can grow up to 2 meters in length. It bears live young (as do all but 5 species), and can stay underwater for 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how active it is. Hey, you could hold your breath that long, too if you had a lung that grew all the way to your shins.

Even cooler, it seems that sea snakes can breathe through their skin, too, which gives them the distinct advantage of being able to get to the surface if they forget to look at their dive watches to see how long they've been down. (Just kidding, they don't really have dive watches...) They can actually meet up to 20% of their oxygen needs through their skin.

Contrary to popular belief, not all sea snakes are venomous. The Turtlehead sea snake, for instance, just eats caviar (a very high society snake). Being against violence, wearing furs, and all that stuff, it doesn't really need any venom.

But, the Olive sea snake does have venom. And it is very curious (just ask Johnny). Fortunately, as a general rule, sea snakes aren't mean-spirited, and won't try to bite you just because you're lookin' at 'em. And they typically have little fangs, and like to conserve their venom. Which is good because like the venom in a lot of sea creatures, the venom of sea snakes is very deadly. It takes up to 100 times as much venom to cause death in humans from a land snake bite as it does from a sea snake bite. Bummer for eels, which are oh, so much smaller than humans... =(

The usual follows upon being bitten. Voluntary muscle paralysis (and disintegration), brown or black pee (those were DEFINITELY the wrong vitamins), and eventually respiratory failure, cardiac arrest and death. The good news is that can take several hours, giving you enough time to get to a hospital and get some HELP!

Check out these VIDEOS on youtube for some more sea snake action, and as always, keep your fingers to yourself... ;-)

Electric Blue Golf Balls of Death

Sounds dramatic because it is. Yeah, while researching the Great Barrier Reef, I stumbled on some nasty little critters. Well, they're only nasty if you're nasty to 'em first, but I've decided to do a TOP TEN list of deadliest critters at the GBR.

Critter #1 - Normally, it trys to blend in to its surroundings and is brownish or greenish, with dull blue rings. Yes it's also the size of a golf ball, kind of like those cute little gremlins back in the '80's. Until you water them. Then, BAM! Three minutes from death. The first top ten selection is the Blue Ringed Octopus. There are actually three confirmed variations of the species.

While it's tiny, it has a beak that can cut through a wet suit, and venom that it mixes with its saliva, so when it bites you, in goes the venom. 3 minutes later, you're in cardiac arrest and respiratory failure. AND, there's no anti-venin for it.

The nice thing is it's very non-aggressive and only bites when it's threatened (i.e. someone tries to pick it up). Fortunately, it's rings glow electric blue like a neon sign when it's feeling insecure. Unfortunately, that's usually a split second before it strikes.

The great news, of course, is that if you get CPR and life-support, you'll be ok when the venom works its way out of your body several hours later. Rule of thumb: Don't pick up little electric blue golf balls of death...

If you want more info, like the ingredients of the toxin (fascinating for all you medical types) check out (you guessed it) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-ringed_octopus.























At any rate, tune in tomorrow (later today?) for the next critter in the list, and possibly some footage that I shot today. Have to say it's been fun being the "man on the street" interviewer! AND, I'll be sharing some guidelines I'm picking up in the process of filming...

How Do you Increase Blog Traffic?

Hey, guys. Hope you all are doing well!! I'm not doing so great, as I've caught a cold of some sort, BUT it gave me time to get some more things scratched off the "to-do" list. One of them being to find out how in the heck to increase traffic to my blog.

SO, if you've got a blog and have been wondering the same thing, I found this great site which has loads of tips on how to do it. I found it compliments of my friend Joy Argow (check out her link in my links), a real-life Aussie living here in Music City - and yes, she works with a band (go figure).

Here's the link: http://web2mom.com/10-great-blog-traffic-tips.

Does anyone have any other tips they can share from their experience on how to accomplish that?

At any rate, tomorrow I think I'll be trying to do some VIDEO, and writing a bit about electric blue golf balls that bite...

Roll Cameras...

Hey, folks. I'm going to post some vids in the next few days for your opinions - i.e. you get to tell me how bad they stink and give me great ideas for better ones...yee-haw!!!

Lolli-polyps Make for Sweet Reefs

So I've been running around like crazy the last few days, aarrrrrgh! I'm sure you can relate. The list of things to do is like dryer lint. No matter how much you get rid of, it just keeps growing. So it's about time to do some video taping. I think maybe this weekend...

Anyway, there really is no such thing as a lolli-polyp, but there are coral polyps (which you sure as heck don't wanna lick). They belong to the phylum Cnidaria, as do jellyfish. And they have stingers like jellyfish - hence the no licking rule.

So, thousands of polyps grow hard shells all attached using calcium carbonate from the sea water. Millions and millions of these shells together make up reefs, essentially huge structures made out of limestone, housing a cornucopia of polyps of every shape, hue, and color. At the Big Reef there are over 400 species of coral - brain coral, fan coral, branch coral, coral soup, coral gumbo, breaded coral, coral and beans...

Oh, yah, and they're carnivorous. Fortunately they're usually only a few centimeters big, so not to worry, they don't eat too much, mostly plankton, algae poop and stuff like that. And they can reproduce (asexually) by splitting in two or (sexually) by spewing millions of eggs and sperm into the ocean. These connect and hatch tiny new polyps, which then swim down onto the coral reefs to start their own shell domiciles. If they don't get eaten first. By whales. Or fish. Or other corals. Can you imagine if they all survived? I mean, for crying out loud, the Big Reef is already 1200 miles long (well technically, it's over 3000 smaller reefs. Either way you can still see it from space).

So there you have it. The world of the "lolli-polyp". Sweet.

flickr.com - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

















Toadstool Leather Coral - this is a whole colony of polyps, and is so named because it feels like leather to the touch.



wikipedia.com
















Sea Nettles, a type of jellyfish, free-swimming relatives of coral. Did you know they have no respiratory or excretory organs?

Wonderful World of Wonky Holes

Ok, hope y'all are doing well today after the disappointing loss at the Superbowl. I guess it just wasn't in the Cards for Arizona to win (get it? In the Cards? geez...what can I say, I inherited my humor.)

Anyway, I've recovered fairly quickly from the loss since it was only the second game I watched this season... yeah, I'm more of a "do" guy - would rather be playing football than watching it.

SO, question of the day: (Another drum roll, please)

What in the world is a Wonky Hole?

a) the flabby anus of a Rockfish (no lie, I didn't make that line up...)?
b) A volcanic vent in the ocean floor spewing hot gasses?
c) The Aussie term for a small beach pub where the locals hang out?
d) A fresh water spring in the middle of a coral reef in the ocean?

Ahhhh, I'll let you ponder that for a minute. But before I answer, I've got just a couple of things to clarify about the blog -

THING #1! - There are 5 stages to becoming "caretaker" for the Big Reef.

Stage 1 - submitting a video.

Stage 2 - getting into the 50 video pool.

Stage 3 - getting into the short-listed 11 video pool. This consists of 10 folks chosen by the Queensland tourism peeps, and ONE wild card video voted on by the world.

Stage 4 - getting interviewed for a week in the wonderful state of Queensland

Stage 5 - packing the bags for six months and heading (woo hoo!) to the land of polyps.

(BTW, Here's a picture of a bunch of polyps all together in a colony - good thing they're not bigger, cuz they're meat eaters...yup. more on that later.)








photo from Wikipedia









At any rate, we are now in STAGE 1, so stick with me for the ride, and we'll see what happens...

Ok, thing #2 to clarify! I'm giving away a free DVD during each stage to ONE someone who's following this blog and makes at least one comment or contribution during that stage. Hope you like movies based around Australia...

Thing #3 to clarify! The photo at the top of the page is not from the Great Barrier Reef or even Aussie Land. If you guess where it's from, I'll put your name in my blog title for a WHOLE WEEK, lol!

FINALLY, what the heck is a Wonky Hole? In case you haven't guessed it by now, a Wonky Hole (sorry mr. rockfish) is the Aussie term for a submarine fresh water spring on the sea bed in the middle of the BIG REEF. They can be found as far as 60 km offshore.

They were first discovered by local fishermen. Apparently their nets kept getting snagged in spots and almost capsizing their boats. They realized that this was because the irregular coral growth around the submerged springs was causing rough bottoms that were snagging the nets - so, they called them wonky, or topsy-turvy, off-balanced holes. Lots of nutrients, great fishing, hazardous navigation!

Wonky holes are located along riverbeds which existed in the last ice age ending about 11,000 years ago. At that time much of northern Europe and North America was covered by ice sheets up to 3 km thick; the water tied up in the glacial ice lowered the sea level more than 120 m. Less water, more land.

When the ice began to melt, the waters rose, and what was land was covered with seas.

The sediment in the submerged river beds from that period have been covered with coral in many places. Since the sediment is more porous than the surrounding materials, it channels fresh water to thin spots in the coral, creating the fresh water springs and voilá .

A Wonky Hole!

If anyone has a pic of one, feel free to contribute!! And, as always, if I make it down there, I'll be sure to post a pic of my own for you all!

Thanks, Wikipedia for your help on that trivia! Yah, what a cool place the GBR is!!

I used to want to date a mermaid...

Hey, folks! 20 days left til the app. is in. Still contemplating what to put on the video...

Been a crazy weekend here, what with the Super Bowl, ACDC in town (as witnessed by thousands of peeps with little flashing red devil horns wandering around Nashville last night), and some serious Salsa dancing!! Gotta get in shape for the big reef adventure, you know!

So I promised I'd show you a picture of a mermaid, and uh, drum roll please - HERE SHE IS!














image: october_lee photobucket.com








Well, uh, ok, so the REALLY real ones look like this...








photo: Paulyd - flickr.com


Yeah, and, they're also known as sea cows, not exactly a flattering term to a mermaid...

But more realistic for sure. Actually these mammals, which breathe air and eat grass on the sea bed in warm waters (hence the name "cow"), are credited for the inception of the mermaid legends.

Sailors apparently, seeing them from above slipping through the waters, mistook them for half women and half fish (maybe a little too much rum??), and reports of them from the far seas began to trickle back to the civilized world. These mammals are also known as Dugongs (the Tagalog word for the sea cow).

There are a few thousand Dugong along the Great Barrier Reef, but they are found all over the world in temperate/tropical waters - where it is warm enough for sea grasses to grow. They belong to the order Sirenia and are related to Manatees. They live as long as humans, and can grow up to 9 feet long and weigh up to 880 pounds - so much for the vegetarian diet...

Aaannd, yep, some folks still believe in real mermaids. Check out the link below for the REALLY REALLY real photos of a mermaid (where are all the mermen, I wonder??)

http://www.jacksdivinglocker.com/new/mermaid.htm

SO, if you make it to the Great Barrier Reef, be on the look out for the legendary creatures - you might just find Ariel down there eating some leafy greens...

And if I make it down there, I promise to track one down for you and get a real-live photo of my own for ya!

NEXT TIME: What in the world is a wonky hole?