Life in a rock pool

Life in a rock pool

Rock pools are teeming with all kinds of creatures.

Limpets are a kind of shellfish. They live on rocks and in pools at shorelines. Here, they eat slimy, green algae, but they have to withstand the crashing tide. They cling to the rock with their muscular foot, only moving when the tide is out.

Some anemones fight with harpoons.

Bead-let anemones will sometimes fight over a feeding ground.

Their weapon is the poison they usually use to stun their prey.They shoot tiny hooks like harpoons at each other until the weakest om gives in.

(Starfish are relatives of brittle stars, Sea urchins and sea cucumbers.)

(Anemones are named after flowc because of their petal-like arms.)

Starfish can grow new arms.

They may have as main] as 40 arms, or rays. It a predator grabs hold of one, the starfish abandons the ray, and uses the others to make its getaway!

Hermit crabs do not have shells.

Most crabs shed their shells as they outgrow them, but the hermit crab does not have a shell. It borrows the leftover shell of a dead whelk or other mollusc – whatever it can squeeze into to protect its soft body. These crabs have even been spotted using a coconut shell as a home.

Aponges are animals!

They are very simple creatures that filter f food from sea water. The natural sponge that you might use in ,ljhe bath is a long jtdead, dried-out sponge.

(There are about 4500 different types of sponge in the sea.)

(Hermit crabs protect their soft bodies in a borrowed shell.)

Sea urchins wear a disguise.

Green sea urchins sometimes drape themselves with bits of shell,pebble and seaweed.

This makes the urchin more difficult for predators,or hunters,to spot.

QUIZ

find the shell?

Can you find the names of four shells in the puzzle below ?

1.alcm

2. lesmus

3. teroys

4. hewkl

Life in a rock pool

Tides and shores Oceans

Tides and shores Oceans

+Nipam Patel
+NIPAM PATEL

The sea level rises and falls twice each day along the coast.

(At high tide, the sea rises up the shore and dumps seaweed, shells and drift wood. Most coasts have two high tides and two low tides every day)

(High tides happen at the same time each day on opposite sides of the Earth)

This is known as high and low tides. Tides happen because of the pull of the Moon, which lifts water from the part of the Earth’s surface facing it.

Spring tides are especially high.

They occur twice a month, when the Moon is in line with the Earth and the Sun.

Then, the Sun’s pulling force joins the Moon’s and seawater is lifted higher than usual.

The opposite  happens when the Moon and Sun are at right angles to the Earth.

Then, their pulling powers work against each other causing weak neap tides — the owest high tides and low tides.

(4 Neap tides occur when the Sun and Moon are at right angles to each other and pulling in different directions)

(Spring tides occur when the Sun and the Moon are lined up and pulling together)

The sea is strong enough to carve into rock.

(Waves can create amazing shapes such as pillars called Sea stacks)

Pounding waves batter coastlines and erode, or wear away, the rock.

Tidal waves are the most powerful waves.

(A tsunami can travel faster than a jumbo Jet)

Also known as tsunamis, they happen when underwater earthquakes trigger tremendous shock waves. These whip up a wall of water that travels across the sea’s surface.

Sand is found on bars and spits, as well as beaches.

It is made up of grains of worn-down rock and shell. Sand collects on shorelines and spits, but also forms on offshore beaches called sand bars. Spits are narrow ridges of worn sand and pebbles.

( The stilt-like roofs mangrove trees take in both and wafer)

Some shores are swampy.

This makes the border between land and sea hard to pinpoint. Muddy coastlines include tropical mangrove swamps that are flooded by salty water from the sea.

AMAZING FACT

The biggest tsunami was taller than five Statues of Liberty it hit the Japanese Ryuku islands in 1771.

Tides and shores Oceans