Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2022, issue 92, Coastal Creatures i Eco Kids Planet Magazine

Looking at the utter cuteness that is me, you might be wondering what this issue is all about… Here I am, swimming peacefully in these beautiful mangroves in the Bahamas, hanging out with my pals. We’re all learning how to be sharks and we’ll stay here, where it’s safe, for several years. It’s so peaceful and lovely – the sky is blue and our world is lush. I might just have a bite of these juicy-looking leaves now… *CHOMP* YUCK! They taste disgusting! I am definitely NOT a herbivore, even if I do look adorable. No, I’m a tiny, tough predator! (A baby lemon shark, to be precise.) Do you know, from the moment sharks are born, we’re on our own? I’m lucky my mama swam all the way back…

Rhona: When I heard about this tightly packed underwater kelp forest, I wished we could explore it like a forest on land. Then I remembered we can shrink to a tiny size! So, let’s see if there’s any wildlife in a kelp forest… Rusty: Like underwater foxes or underwater owls. Rhona: Don’t be ridiculous, Rusty! Rusty: What is kelp, anyway? Rhona: A kind of brown seaweed that grows on rocks. Rusty: How do its roots dig into rocks? Rhona: Seaweed doesn’t have roots, Rusty. It’s not really a plant – it’s algae. It has something called a holdfast that attaches it to the rock. Now, look out for wildlife! Rusty: I see a spongy sea squirt on the forest floor, and some of those eel-like margarine-fish. Rhona: They’re butterfish, Rusty.…

Chris Cureton is a marine animal medic. He works with British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) and the Seal Welfare Organisation. He helps injured and stranded marine mammals such as seals, dolphins and whales. Eco Kids: Which animals have you rescued? I’ve lost count of the number of seals I have rescued. I’ve also helped to rescue harbour porpoises, dolphins and a fin whale. Fin whales are one of the biggest animals on Earth, second only to the blue whale. They have a very distinctive bottom jaw. The left side is black and the right side is white. We think the white side helps them to scare fish, so they can swallow the whole shoal in one gulp. Eco Kids: Do you have to go out in dangerous conditions to…

COASTAL CROSSWORD Down: 1. The remains or traces of plants and animals that lived long ago 3. The front claws of a crab 4. The scientific name for seahorses 5. Whales, dolphins and porpoises 6. A predatory marine mollusc Across: 2. Large brown seaweed that lives in cool waters close to the shore 7. This colourful fish can produce hundreds of kilos of white sand each year! 8. Become stranded out of the water 9. Select the odd one out: crab, lobster, anemone, shrimp 10. Tropical trees that can grow in salty water TRUE OR FALSE? 1 Orcas are a species of whale. 2 Harbour porpoises use echolocation to find prey. 3 Male seahorses give birth to their sons and daughters. 4 The dahlia anemone is a colourful underwater plant.…

4 TO WIN! Summer holiday fun! Waboba is short for water bouncing ball. This brilliant ball is about the same density as water so floats when at rest but bounces high and true when thrown. Throw it or skim it, it’s easy to catch, even when wet! Designed for advanced sport performance, the Pro Water Ball bounces faster, further and higher than the Original and Extreme Water Balls from Waboba. Best for open water play in the sea, lakes or rivers, it’s suitable for ages 10 plus. SRP £8.99 Available from Amazon.co.uk and leading toy and leisure stores. How to submit your entries: Email a photo of your entry to win@ecokidsplanet.co.uk before 10th July 2022 or send it to Eco Kids Planet, 41 Claremont Road, Barnet, EN4 0HR. Winners will be…

The coast is where the land meets the sea, and it’s ideal for wildlife-watching. Most of us especially love sandy beaches – but before we look at their wildlife, let’s look at the sand itself. Have you ever wondered what it is, where it comes from and how it got there? Most sand starts as rocks, which weather and waves grind down to a fine powder over thousands of years. All across the land, streams and rivers wear the rocks away, then carry the bits to the sea. The sea washes up what’s left on to its shores. Although a beach may look one colour, try picking up a handful of sand some time for a closer look. You’ll see a mixture of many different grains: some black, some white,…

I’m at a beach in Cornwall, England, to explore those small pools you find between rocks near the sea. Many species live in rock pools and others get trapped in them when the tide goes out. OK, here’s my first pool. I didn’t bring a net because some of the creatures are soft-bodied and I don’t want to risk harming them. I have a magnifying glass, though. Whoops, I’ve cast my shadow over the pool. That’s probably sent any little animals scurrying off to hide, so I’ll just gently lift up some of the seaweed and stones. Wow, I can see a hermit crab hiding in a spiral shell. Come on out! Hermit crab: Did you see how I blocked my shell’s entrance with my right pincer? You’d never have…

MEGALODON MEGATOOTH! Has our beach fossils feature inspired you to turn fossil hunter the next time you see visit the seashore? I bet all you shark fans would love to find a shiny, black shark tooth. But if you’re in the UK, you probably wouldn’t expect to come across the ultimate find: a megalodon tooth! Those prehistoric, whale-eating whoppers died out about three million years ago. Each one shed tons of titanic teeth during its life, but they hardly ever wash up on UK shores. So, no wonder six-year-old Sammy Shelton was delighted to find a huge, heavy, three-million-year-old megalodon tooth on Bawdsey Beach in Suffolk, England, while searching for shells! It’s 10cm long. I just got my ruler out to measure that – and wow, what a size! Sammy…

Imagine a beach with polished jewels instead of sand! Well, several sea glass beaches around the world do look like that. They start as rubbish dumps where people leave unwanted glass. But, over several decades, the tides smooth and polish it into colourful pebbles. It’s good of nature to get rid of those dangerous sharp edges! You can find pieces of sea glass at regular beaches, too. Again, it comes from people leaving bottles behind, which get smashed against rocks and crafted into treasure by the sea. Orange, turquoise and red are the rarest colours. Shell Beach in Western Australia has trillions of tiny white shells instead of sand. They come from the fragum cockle species, which lacks predators in Shark Bay’s super-salty seas. That explains why there are so…

When you think of beaches, you probably think of golden sands gleaming in the sunshine, full of people relaxing or having fun. Nothing creepy there! Yet mysterious fogs can sweep in suddenly from the sea, as if out of nowhere. They move at high speed, flooding the beach super-fast. But these ‘ghost clouds’ are perfectly natural. They happen when warm air drifts over the sea’s cold surface. The cold air just above the sea makes the warm air condense into tiny water particles that we see as fog. And how’s this for a freaky sight? Imagine strolling down the beach when a prehistoric forest rises from the sands! Countless, long-dead tree skeletons appear, stretching for miles like pointy shark fins. Over 4,500 years ago, a beach in Borth, Wales, was…

Congratulations to our five winners! To see more cress heads, go to ecokidsplanet.co.uk/cress-head-competition…