Happy shark week everyone!! Sharks are a beautiful sight to behold but can they see how beautiful the world around them is? In studies of sharks eyes it was found that most sharks have excellent vision and have both rods and cones in their eyes like us. Rods enable them to see light and dark…
Happy shark week everyone!! Let’s celebrate sharks and their cool adaptations. For example, did you know that some sharks can’t throw up? Instead they spit their whole stomachs out, shake it out, and put it back inside their bodies. They can also do this on the opposite end. If they eat something with too many…
Happy shark week everyone!! Sharks may be the light of my life but they also can light up the ocean. There are actually species sharks that exhibit biofluorescence which means they glow!! They are able to glow green because of proteins in its skin that are activated by blue light. Now why glow? One reason…
Happy shark week everyone!! Everyone knows that sharks have a great set of choppers but did you know that they can lose up 35,000 teeth in their lifetime and that not all shark teeth are the same? There are four main types of shark teeth: 1. Dense flattened teeth used for crushing open bivalves and…
Happy shark week everyone!! Now stop it’s Hammer Time. Let’s not lie, these sharks are impressive looking animals because of those funny shaped heads. But why have that shaped head? Well there’s two reasons why. 1. Their head is filled with sensory organs that detect electrical pulses that coming from the muscle movements of another…
Recently, all five South American Sea Lions at Coral World had the opportunity to participate in a study conducted by the Marine Science Center in Rostock, Germany. The study helped to gather data on species-specific characteristics of Pinniped vibrissae. Vibrissae, otherwise known as whiskers, are extremely sensitive and work like receptors to pick up on…
Have you ever been diving or snorkeling at night? By using specialized waterproof lights made for diving, you can get a look at how the reef changes over to its nocturnal inhabitants. Night time is when most of the night life comes out to forage for food. Polyps on many species of hard corals blossom…
St. Thomas is home to all kinds of marine wildlife. If you visit one of our beaches, you may see fish, reef sharks, turtles, stingrays, or bottlenose dolphins. What you will not see are sea lions. There are no sea lions in the Caribbean, other than the four South American sea lions living at Coral…
What type of Parrotfish are you? Some of the most beautiful fish you can see on a Caribbean coral reef are parrotfish. There are several different species we commonly see, including the Princess Parrotfish (Scarus taenopterus), the Stoplight Parrotfish (Sparisoma viride), and the Redband Parrotfish (Sparisoma aurofrenatum). All of these species have different colors and…
Divers and beachgoers alike have long lamented over the nuisance of sea urchins. Their long, skin-piercing spines can cause great discomfort if stepped on or touched, and their spiky appearance makes them seem pretty uninviting. They may seem scary and troublesome, don’t let their reputation fool you. Sea urchins, particularly the Long Spine Black Urchin…