The Evolution of a Name

Today I will tell you why I call my blog "Lava of Ocean Dawn".
Have any of you read Anne of Green Gables?
If you haven't then you should, because it's a GREAT book! But to get back on track- "Green Gables" is the name of Anne's house or farm.
Therefore, "Ocean Dawn" is the name of MY house. Got it?
And "Lava", because that's the nickname that I have come up with for myself and that only my best friends use.
Therefore, my name is Lava and I am from a house which I named Ocean Dawn.

Might be strange, but I like it!
No, scratch that, I LOVE it.

Now, I wanna show  you the sign I made and hung up in front of my house to tell everyone that it's named Ocean Dawn.

Soooooooo, first I got a board and drew the design that I wanted on there: (Ocean Dawn in English and Russian, pictures of sunrise and shells). Then I used my woodburning pen to wood burn the design into the board.

Then I painted it with acrylic paint, I think...

And now the shells that I drew from top left corner clockwise: Angel Wing, Thick Lucine, Lettered Olive, Florida Horse Conch, Shark Eye, Turkey Wing (Zebra Ark), Paper Fig and True Tulip.

And finally, I hung it over our house number on our wall. :D

I like it a lot, what about you.

 

And now, thanks for being patient, a few shell photos:

 

 
 
 
 

This here is a Knobbed Whelk. It looks like a Lightning Whelk but there is a key difference between the two shells.
                                     
                                                        Here is a Lightning Whelk.
Lightning Whelks are one of the few Left-handed shells, while Knobbed Whelks are right-handed. Whether a shell is right-handed or left-handed can be determined by holding the shell, apex (top of the shell) pointing up, in front of you so that you can see the opening of the shell. If the opening is on your right then the shell is "right-handed" and vice-versa.
Also, the Knobbed Whelk is found farther up north than the Lightning Whelk. I found all my Knobbed Whelk on Assateague Island and all my Lightning Whelk in North Carolina or Florida.

Here is a right-handed Knobbed Whelk.

 

And a left-handed Lightning Whelk! Got it?

 

 

And lastly, the cute Lace Murex! I found these two on my trip to Sanibel Island, FL last March and I'm hoping to find more this year.

 

See ya soon,

Lava of Ocean Dawn :D

Cuddling with Cuttlefish

So today was the second day of my internship and it was AWESOME!
The theme of this entry will be the four cuttlefish in the exhibit, one of which I got to meet pretty closely today.

Here's one cuttlefish.

Here's another one. This guy would flash his skin different colors when we waved a hand at him.

And the third one.

Cuttlefish are mollusks. They are members of the class Cephalopoda, same as squid and octopi. Cuttlefish have an internal structure called a cuttlebone. It is made of calcium carbonate (same as shells). The cuttlebone is made of many super thin, hollow layers that the cuttlefish fills up with water to grow heavy and sink, or empty and let the creature rise.

Now here is the fourth, and last, cuttlefish. He is the one that I got to work with today. We had to transfer him from one tank to another one. First we scooped him into a clear box-like container, which you can see here.

Immediately he got mad and let out a lot of ink: the water turned completely black for a couple of seconds. Then it cleared a little and he started making bubbles/or maybe spitting water from his backside at me. (I was holding the box).

Next, we carried im to the new tank and transferred him into the bucket which we filled half with water from his new tank, and half from water from his old tank. Than, as you can see, we left him to float in the new tank so that he would get acclimated to the temperature and salinity of his new environment.

Here's a closer look at our cuttlefish, isn't' he cute? :)

Finally, after a bit, we completely let him out into his new tank and watched him sink to the bottom.

 

So that's my cuttlefish adventure...

Oh, and the cuttlefish that I was working with are common to the North American East Coast and to the Mediterranean.

 

That's it for today then, I promise more posts on my internship are coming up. :D

 

See ya soon,

Yaroslava :D

 

Flying in on Buttefly Wings

So today is Friday. YAY!!!!
And in exactly a week, it's my birthday!!!
Yep, that's right, on Friday, February 28th, I'm turning 16!
But it's not next week yet, so let's stick to today.
Time will fly past as it is, no use rushing it. :D

Speaking of flying, you know what else flies?
Butterflies.
And you know what they use?
Wings!

So today, I'll just show you a bunch of shell "butterfly wings" ( or bivalves).

This shell is called the Sunray Venus. I found it last March on Sanibel Island. I absolutely love this shell!

The Atlantic Wing(ed) Oyster! Same as yesterday, but the two shells do look like wings, sort of....

Kitty's Paws! A smaller version of the great Lion's Paw (which I still want to find). There were lots of these minis on Sanibel.

Two pairs of Florida Spiny Jewel Boxes. But don't let the name fool ya! These shells are the same as roses: thorny, yet sweet. Also, they can be found as far north as North Carolina so don't get upset if you don't have s house in Florida, yet! ;)

 

And lastly, the Cross-barred Venus. It's not closely related to the Sunray Venus, and no longer are both shells in the Venus genus, but they still kept the name.

 

That's it for right now, I have swimming tonight. Yesterday, I had horseback riding and tomorrow I have the second day of my internship (SUPER EXCITED!!!), theatre and shopping. This just gives you a glance at my busy schedule, so don't be mad if I don't post for a coupla days.

 

See ya soon!

Yaroslava :D

A Mini Post on Mini Shells

Ok, I'm sorry!!!! Really, really, sorry!!!
I know that I haven't posted in a few days, but that's because I didn't have any time.
I'm still in school, so between school, homework and after-school activity, oh an sleeping, I have no time whatsoever to do what I'd like: that means blogging.
But, right now, I just grabbed a few moments right before bedtime to give you a small min post on tiny mini shells!
 Here's the first one: an American Carrier Shell.

This shell collects lots of dry rubble and bits of shell on its own shell.

Next, is an Atlantic Wing(ed) Oyster. These small bivalves cling to seaweed.

And this is an adorable Cabrit's Murex! I found it in Fort Lauderdale, back in 2011. It is pretty common on the East Coast of Florida, but maybe even rare on Florida's West Coast.

Finally, the Gaudy Nautica, or Colorful Moon Snail, or Colorful Atlantic Natica or... wait, that's it....

Wow, this little shell has a lot of names. :)

 

Well, that's it for my mini post, gotta go to bed now.

G'night everyone,

Yaroslava :D

Intro to an Internship!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry that I did not write yesterday, but I was soooooooo busy!
First I had an internship from 7 to 1pm, then theatre from 1:30 to 4:30 pm and then a Valentines Day Dance from 6:30 to 8:30 pm! I was DEAD, when I got back home at 9:30!
But today, I'm gonna take you through my internship.

It's at the Invertebrate House, at the National Zoo in D.C.

Here I am with the coral tank:

The corals are fed brine shrimp that is specially grown for that purpose in large cylinders. The cylinders contain a solution of Deionized and salt water.

Some of the corals were harvested from tropical waters during specific expeditions when corals spawn.

 

Next, I helped feed the sea urchins. It was really fun!!! We stuck little bits of shrimps on poles and then put the shrimp bits on the sea urchins. Immediately, they came alive and extended their many tiny tentacles ( see the thin brick red strings with white tips in the photo above). I never knew that sea urchins had tentacles, so that was a big discovery for me. Some of the Interpreters explained that sea urchins have tentacles because they are echinoderms, same as sea stars.

 

Next we fed the sea anemones! This was even more fun because you could actually feel the animal grab hold of the stick and the shrimp.

Here is the cold water tank with the anemones and large sea urchins. Some of the anemones were sleeping and had their tentacles hidden.

Sea anemones are so colorful because they have photosynthetic bacteria that live inside their cells and produce the exotic colors. Same as corals! In reality, sea anemones are just big, muscular polyps.

In the "Touch Tank" section,  I got to hold a Nautilus shell. Nautilus's are cephalopods. Remember the fifth type of mollusks?

 

Here you can see a Nautilus shell that was cut in half. The inside compartments of the shell are visible. They chronicle the growth of the mollusk.

 

One last glance at the Nautilus!

 

 

This here is a Mantis Shrimp. It's big compound eyes allow the animal almost 360 degree vision. Both the female and male specimens of this species are approximately the same size.

 

Now, one of my favorites, the Tube Anemone. These creatures grow on a long, relatively thin stalk or tube. The tube is made of used nematocytes (stinging cells) and sand grains. They can also MOVE, by a strange combination of squirming and hopping.

This is a cute pretty creature, that I guessed was an anemone. But, I stood corrected, because one of the Interpreters said that he was not sure what it was and that it might  be a coral.

Oh well! I still like it!

 

And that was the first day of my internship! So fun and full of new experiences. I can't wait to go back next week.

 

Good bye,

Yaroslava :D

"Cockle"-doodle-doo! Happy Valentine's Day to You!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Time to spread the looooooove.
Here's my attempt at it:

 

It's a "Cockle"-doodle-doo heart.

Made out of Atlantic Giant Cockles!

Now, to go back to my first "real" post; all cockles are bivalves. So they have two hinged shells that keep the mollusk inside. Atlantic Giant Cockles are found anywhere from Virginia to Texas. It is the largest cockle shell on the East Coast.

This here shell, is a Prickly Cockle. If you look really closely than you can see tiny spines, toward the outer ribs of the shells.

Finally, the last shell that I want to introduce today is the Yellow Cockle. It is similar to the Prickly Cockle because it also has spines but, it differs in shape (it's more circular) and color ( the Yellow Cockle is more yellowish, than the Prickly Cockle).

 

 

Now for an overview, the above picture has all three cockles.

From left to right: the Atlantic Giant Cockle, the Prickly Cockle and the Yellow Cockle.

 

Well that's all for today,

Yaroslava :D

 

P.S. If any of you ever thinks that I made a mistake in identifying a seashell, please, please, please message me!

Thanks!

Some Shelltastic Fig Shells

 Hi guys, I decided to do a shell of the day (let's see how long I can keep remembering to do this!): choose a shell from my collection, take some pictures and then tell you guys all about it!

 

Today's "Shell of the Day": the Paper Fig Shell

 

This shells range from North Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico. They are especially common on Florida's West Coast. I found my specimens on Sanibel Island (on the West Coast of Florida).

Fig shells have no operculum, or "trap door" for the mollusk to shut itself inside with.

The diet of Fig Shells consists of sand dollars and sea urchins. All members of this group live offshore in the sand.

 

I was SO happy when I found these shells! I hope that you will, too, come to love these shells as I do.

 

See ya soon!

Yaroslava :D

 

 

An Intro to Shells

My first real post will be about shells.
( I promised something ocean related, right?)

Shells are animals that are called mollusks. In all there are five types of mollusks:

Gastropods, Bivalves, Tusk Shells, Chitons and Cephalopods.

Gastropods are the mollusks with a single external shell. They are the big conchs and whelks, as well as the small periwinkles.

 

This shell here is a Banded Tulip. As you can see its alive. The operculum (trap door) is slightly open and you can see the mollusks body inside. I found it on Sanibel Island at low tide, last March.

 

Next, Bivalves.

These mollusks are kept inside by two shells that are hinged together. Examples are scallops, cockles and quahogs.

 

 

Atlantic Giant Cockles can be up to 5 inches across when adult. In the photo above you can see both shells and the animal inside. The round hole is probably the breathing tube.

 

Tusk Shells, well, look like elephants tusks. I've found them before, but they are so fragile that I never ended up bringing them home. Sadly, I don't have pictures of them.

 

Same with chitons. Chitons are actually made of eight valves that are surrounded by a girdle. They can be pretty small and I have NEVER found one. Chitons are on my "To Find" list.

 

Finally, cephalopods. Only about half a dozen different species from this class have an outer shell. The most well known are the nautiluses. Other members of this class are the squid, octopus and cuttlefish.

Cephalopod shells, such as Argonauts are actually egg cases. But they usually only wash up on shore after storms. Again, these are on my "To Find" list.

 

As a last note, some of you might ask what shells are on my "To Find" list.

Well, all of them, actually!

I have a pretty big shells collection at home, but most of the shells are from the North American East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. In short, all the shells that I have not yet found and brought home are on my "To Find" list.

 

Happy Wednesday!

Yaroslava :D

First Entry

Woohoo!   I started my first blog! So proud...
Now, I'll introduce myself: my name is Yaroslava Kuzina.
I live on the East Coast in Maryland and I want to become a marine biologist.

This blog will be all seashells and fossils!!!
Enjoy!