Hope Spots - ocean life to treasure

Monterey Bay Aquarium has a live-stream camera of their viewing window. Schools of fish, sharks, and other marine creatures can be viewed online, 7am-7pm Pacific time. The website also has school curriculum material available for lesson plans about the ocean and marine life. ( Monterey Bay Aquarium/sea cam ) ( Moneterey Bay Aquarium/curriculums PreK-12 ) Disclaimer: Information shared for educational purposes withing the guidelines of fair use.

After learning more about the trophic layers of the food chain and farmed aquaculture it is clear that farmed Mussels need to be on more menus. They appear easy to manage for the farmer of the sea as they survive on phytoplankton and algae. Dangling ropes from a frame at the surface of the ocean allows clusters of mussel shellfish to grow on the rope. The rope can be easily raised from the ocean by the farmer to check on growth or harvest the full-sized mussels. The small shellfish species help protect the ocean by cleaning up the excess nutrients from agricultural runoff which can otherwise lead to algal blooms. Algal blooms that have insufficient shrimp, mussels, or other species in the area to consume the extra growth, may add toxins to the water depending on the species of alga, and when the excess nutrients from fertilizer runoff are used up the algal bloom dies in large quantities, and bacteria decompose the algal remains using up oxygen in the water until that also runs out, leading to oxygen dead zones. For more information see: Best catch guide: Mussels . More information and reference links about low oxygen areas of the oceans is available in a series on another site: 1. Oceans Need Oxygen , 2: Oxygenating the ocean's dead zone , 3: Non-traditional windmills can increase efficiency , 4: Upwelling tubes, hurricanes, and mussels . 5. Baking Soda to the rescue! - Yes really . 6. Supplementing the Ocean . Mussel Gumbo Adaptation of this recipe: Mussel Gumbo/Alyson Gofton 2 large onions, diced 2 Tablespoons Coconut or Olive Oil 4 stalks celery, diced 1 green pepper, diced 2 cups okra sliced ½ tsp each ground white and black pepper pinch of ground cayenne 2x 400 gram/14 oz cans diced tomatoes in juice 1 litre/quart water or fish or chicken stock 2 Bay Leaves 1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce 1 teaspoon Gumbo File 500 grams- 1 kilogram/1-2 pounds cooked mussel meat ¼ cup chopped fresh basil and thyme or 1 tablespoon each dried In a large sauce pan, saute the diced onion, celery and okra in the coconut or olive oil until limp, onions caramelized slightly, about 8-10 minutes. Add the water or stock, tomatoes, Bay Leaves, and other spices and dried herbs if fresh are not available, bring to a simmer and heat for 15 minutes. Add the roughly chopped mussel meat, the fresh herbs, and the Gumbo File powder and bring to a simmer, serve once the mussels are hot. How to cook mussels - they are steamed for 5-7 minutes in a covered pan with some water and possibly garlic or other seasonings, see: How to Cook Mussels , ( peimussel ). If fresh mussels are not available, buy mussels in brine, drain well, presoak in fresh water for 15 minutes and drain again before chopping. Image of cooked mussels is on another site with the recipe: Mussels, delicious and sustainable . /Disclosure: This information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes./

Due to the difficulty of deep sea challenges life has had to adapt and is very diverse in deep sea ecosystems, destruction may be occurring to life that we haven't even had a chance to discover yet; summary points: The deep sea ecosystem has to cope with: 1) eternal cold, 2) darkness, 3) high pressure and 4) scarcity of food. Life has adapted to the deep sea ecosystem: with changes in color: transparency or blackness in color makes it difficult for predators to see prey or to be seen by prey. Feeding is more likely to be carnivorous in species such as sponges that are typically filter feeders in areas where phytoplankton is prevalent. Bioluminescence is used to attract prey or to communicate among species. Mating may involve a permanent coupling of the male to the female of the species. Very large size and longer life spans with slow growth and movement is more common in deep sea species. Thermal vents in the deep sea have even more extreme conditions with very high heat and chemicals that would be toxic to typical life. Bacterial adaptations make the thermal vent ecosystem possible by creating food out of the thermal vent nutrients and detoxifying some of the more toxic chemicals. Symbiosis with bacteria that can utilize nutrients from thermal vents by chemosynthesis supports the trophic levels around thermal vents by directly providing nutrients to the lower level species with the symbiotic relationship and as prey for higher trophic level species. Human threats for the deep sea ecosystem include: 1) waste disposal, radioactive, plastic and other waste, 2) deep sea fishing, 3) deep ocean drilling and 4) climate change. From medicines to rare minerals the deep sea is a treasure trove of life that we are only beginning to explore in more detail. Proteins involved in bioluminescence were studied and are now essential tools for studying cell and microanatomy of the brain and other areas of physiology. Methods for deep sea fishing or drilling often destroys habitats and species that are hundreds to thousands or more years old. We can't explore or utilize what is destroyed. Bulldozing forests to catch a few wild animals or birds is not good for the forest or useful to humans over the long term however that is what deep sea fishing and mining often accomplishes - a small gain amid destruction of a rare environment. For more information and images of deep sea life see the video Lecture 5.3 " Life in the Deep Sea ," by Ute Hentschel Humeida, GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Kiel Univrsity, Germany, One Planet-One Ocean , OC001 Courseware, edX.org , free online course with a small fee if a certificate is desired and earned with a passing grade. Images of the deep sea life and more information is also available in other videos including " Finding Life in the Deep Sea ." Maps of the oceans and the various types of ecosystems within the ocean are available in a report about a 2010 census of marine life. coml.org/census2010/Highlights-pdf . Medical knowledge that we have gained from the oceans and hope for future discoveries is available in a World Ocean Review/ WOR1 . Images and more information about the use of bioluminescent proteins in the study of brain cells is available in the online course Advanced Neurobiology I, by Peking University, coursera.org . Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash Disclaimer: This information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use.