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| August 2007 |
| When Frank and I first moved to California from Texas in 1965, we were students, transferring from Abilene Christian College to Pepperdine. Both of us had been journalism majors at Abilene, but the school had lost its journalism department when one teacher retired and another moved to another city. Transferring out of state caused us to have gaps in Pepperdine’s requirements. Science was a gaping hole in my education. I’d never been particularly interested in science, but when I got here, I had to take something. Fortunately, I got into a biology class taught by a woman whose name I can’t even recall. She was a diver who had dived at the Great Barrier Reef off Australia and worked at the Museum of Natural History. She took us on field trips to examine displays at the natural history museum and living specimens at Marineland of the Pacific. For the first time, I was able to combine classroom lectures, skeletons and living animals in my mind in a way that made a lasting impression. I came to love aquatic animals, especially the animals of the Pacific Coast of Southern California, for their astonishing beauty and diversity. |
| Gray Whale My biology teacher had us choose a native animal and study it in depth, observing its size, shape, structure, and locomotion, and write a lengthy research paper on it. |
| Mammals |
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| At the time, Marineland of the Pacific had an orphaned young gray whale on exhibit, and I watched it for a long time, sketching its shape, studying its flippers and tail and seeing how it used them to move. I studied its skeleton, digestive system, diet and migration route up the coast of Southern California. Gray whales are among the oldest species of mammals and are related to the Humpback and Blue Whales. Dark gray in color, they are marked with characteristic gray-white splotches, scars left when parasites drop off in the cold arctic waters where they feed. They are baleen whales and strain tiny crustaceans to eat. In the fall, small groups of California Gray Whales start a 2-3 month, 4,000-6,000-mile trip along the west coast of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico to Baja California where they breed and the young are born. Several weeks later, they start back in what is believed to be the longest yearly migration of any mammal. Our family has enjoyed whale watching when they pass between Santa Monica Bay and Catalina Island in mid-December or early January and again in the spring. |
| Bottlenose Dolphin--The Bottlenose Dolphin, the most common dolphin, is found in warm and temperate seas around the world. Varying shades of gray in color, it has an elongated snout and a blow-hole on top of its head. We saw many leaping and frolicking in the bow wave of the boat when we went whale-watching and to Catalina. Dolphins work together to corral food, communicating with sonar clicks and with squeaks, whistles and tail slapping. |
| California Sea Lion--California sea lions are found from Vancouver Island to the tip of Baja California. Males are chocolate brown and females, lighter and more golden colored. Very social, they nest close together. |
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| California Brown Pelican--California Brown Pelicans are the largest birds of the Santa Monica Bay. They fly low over the ocean’s surface, diving for fish and scooping them up into expandable pouches under their beaks. |
| Birds |
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| Billie Silvey |
| Animals of the Pacific Shore |
| Seagulls--Seagulls are large to medium-sized scavengers that meet fishing boats returning with their catch and fly inland to raid garbage cans. Ranging from white to gray, they are marked by the hook on the tip of their beaks and their red feet and legs. Some have black markings on their heads and wings. |
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| Fish |
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| Sandpipers--Sandpipers are small shorebirds with gray and brown mottled feathers. Their long legs and straight or curved bills are useful for probing the sand for food behind the receding waves. |
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| Horn Shark--The horn shark frequents kelp beds. It has smooth skin that is gray or brown with spots and a blunt head with ridges. It’s mostly active at night, when it feeds on sea urchins, crabs, worms and anemones. |
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| Garibaldi--The official fish of the State of California, the garibaldi is protected in our coastal waters. It is a damselfish, known for its brilliant orange color. It lives near reefs and feeds on invertebrates it removes from rocky sea-bottoms. The male clears a nest where the female deposits eggs. Then the male guards the nest until the eggs hatch. We enjoy watching garibaldis from a glass-bottomed boat at Catalina Island. |
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| Grunion--Grunion are members of the silversides family who live from depths of 60 feet to the surf. They are known for their unique spawning behavior, leaving the water at night to spawn on the beach for four consecutive nights in spring and summer at the full and new moons. During high tide, grunion swim as far up the beach as possible. The female arches her body and digs a hole in the sand with her tail until she is half buried. Males curve around the female and release milt which fertilizes the eggs. As many as eight males may fertilize the eggs of a single female. While spawning may take only 30 seconds, some fish spend several minutes stranded on the beach. |
| Crustaceans |
| California Spiny Lobsters--The largest crustacean (animal with its spine on the outside) of the California coast is the spiny lobster. A solitary hunter at night, in the daytime it hides in cracks between rocks or in grass. Lacking the large claws of true lobsters, spiny lobsters are protected by the spines on their backs. Their strong jaws crush shells and bones of other sea animals. |
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| Sheep Crab--Sheep crabs are large and slow-moving animals with long knobby-jointed legs. Adult males are larger than the females, and have oval-shaped bodies. Juveniles disguise themselves by decorating their shells with barnacles and algea |
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| Tide Pool Denizens--Many animals who live in tidepools and shallow seas look more like plants than animals. Among these are the frilly anemone (left above), the spindly sea urchins (left below) and the colorful starfish (right). They form a magic garden backdrop for other forms of sea life. |
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