CALIFORNIA BANS ALL PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS

 No More Plastic Bags: All plastic carryout bags, including thicker reusable ones, are banned at checkout.

• Paper Bags Required: Retailers must provide recycled paper bags for a minimum fee of 10 cents each
  .
Fee Retention: Stores keep the 10-cent fee to cover bag costs and educational efforts.
Increased Recycled Content: By 2028, paper bags must contain at least 50% post-consumer recycled content.
Applies To: Supermarkets, large retailers with pharmacies, convenience stores, and food marts. 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A WHALE DIES IN THE OCEAN ? : WHALE FALL - NOURISHING AN ENTIRE ECOSYSTEM

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM : UK : WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WHALES DIE 

Excerpt:

Whale carcasses take decades to fully decompose and can provide food for an entire ecosystem on the dark depths of the ocean floor. ...Decay sets in soon after the death of a whale, as the insides begin to decompose. The animal then expands with gas and sometimes floats up to the ocean's surface, where it can be scavenged by sharks and seabirds.

Eventually the ocean giant will begin to sink, falling kilometre after kilometre, until finally coming to rest on the seabed. This is when the carcass becomes known as a whale fall.

Whale falls can nourish an entire ecosystem of deep-sea creatures, from large scavengers to microscopic bacteria. They provide inhabitants of the mostly deserted ocean floor with a sudden and immense source of food...

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Keep reading!

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A WHALE DIES BEACHED? THIS IS KINDA GROSS! THEY CAN EXPLODE!

This is an older article from the Guardian in September 2022

GUARDIAN : ENVIRONMENT : WHALE STRANDINGS : WHAT HAPPENS TO DEAD WHALE BODIES?

Excerpt: Two mass strandings in Tasmanian waters in a week has left about 200 pilot whales and 14 sperm whales dead. ... In warmer climates, the internal decomposition of dead whales can result in spontaneous explosions. Gut bacteria in the whales can multiply quickly, producing large quantities of methane gas. “If the rest of the body is still intact – if the outer layer, the blubber, is still intact and not broken up – then it can lead to an explosion,” Meynecke said.

In 2004, the decomposing carcass of a 60-tonne, 17-metre sperm whale expoded on a busy streetin the Taiwanese city of Tainan, “showering cars and shops with blood and organs and stopping traffic for hours”. ...

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Check out the video of the whale stomach exploding! Ewwwe!

TERRIFYING DEEP SEA MONSTERS ? ARE THEY?

Youtube : SEA MONSTERS

Loved the beauty and creativity of this YouTube video by Bright Side Dark Side station

SANTA BARBARA CALIFORNIA : MORE OFF SHORE OIL DRILLING and ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS? The public comment period for the BLM draft plan ends March 6 2026

NOOZHAWK : FEDS COULD OPEN SANTA BARBARA

Excerpt: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM)  announced a new study on Jan. 13 that could open 850,000 acres of land across the state to a new oil and gas leasing program. The program will allow drilling and fracking on previously protected land, including in Santa Barbara and surrounding counties.

If the plan is approved later this year, around 400,000 acres in  Santa Barbara County could be eligible for drilling, including up to 100,000 acres of land around Vandenberg Village.

Surrounding areas like Lake Cachuma, Nojoqui Falls County Park and waterways such as the Sisquoc River could also be affected, according to Los Padras Forest Watch , a group that works to protect land within the Los Padres National Forest.

.................   “Of course, one of our chief concerns is the threat of another catastrophic oil spill,” Hall said. “Which (could cause) immediate and long-lasting harm to wildlife, coastlines, fisheries, and could result in extensive economic damage.”

If the leases are approved, they would be the first ones issued since 1984, according to Hall.

The first oil platforms in the Pacific Ocean were installed between 1967 and 1989 in federal waters, 4 to 10 miles offshore.

“The first major disaster occurred in 1969,” Hall said. “The well blowout at Platform A in Santa Barbara sent an estimated 3 million gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean, devastating wildlife, marine ecosystems and tourism.”

Another oil spill occurred in 2015 near Refugio State Beach, dumping crude oil into the shoreline and ocean. Hall said recent estimates put the cleanup cost at $800 million.

TO COMMENT GO TO THIS LINK:

https://www.regulations.gov/document/BOEM-2025-0483-0001

GOTHIC FISH

 I have no idea if these are artist's drawings of actual fish that exist

 or come from the artist's imagination!

THE DINOSAUR SEA MONSTERS : BBC EDUCATION CLICK ON THE CREATURE!

BBC UK : DINOSAURS and SEA MONSTERS  Gotta go to the site and click on the images! Now some look familiar - like the turtle - but others do not and are definitely in the DINOSAUR category. 

Here's one of them! :  A giant predator so big it would dwarf today's sperm whale, an AQUATIC REPTILE!

Liopleurodon was the mightiest aquatic predator of all time. Its 25 metre long body would have cruised silently through the shallow seas of the late Jurassic, propelled by its flapping flippers.

Liopleurodon was a hunter. Its long jaws and rows of needle-sharp teeth would have made marine crocodiles, the giant fish Leedsichthys, ichthyosaurs and even other pliosaurs vulnerable to attack.

Liopleurodon's nose allowed it to smell underwater. This allowed Liopleurodon to smell its prey from some distance away. Despite needing to breath air, Liopleurodon spent its entire life at sea and was unable to leave the water. Consequently, it would have given birth to its young alive and may have visited shallower water to breed....

THE KRAKEN ? MANY EYES AND TENTACKLES SUGGEST A GIANT SQUID

Public domain/Wikimedia Commons

Perhaps the Kraken was actually a Giant Squid ... But maybe not...

The story goes that they ate so many fish so vigorously that they created huge whirlpools that sucked ships and sailors into the sea...

THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM - UNITED KINGDOM : WHAT CREATURE INSPIRED THE KRAKEN? THE JENNY HANIVERS? THE MERFOLK

NHM- UK : DISCOVER SEA MONSTERS AND THEIR INSPIRATIONS

Excerpt: Originating in Scandinavian folklore, the kraken is usually depicted as an aggressive cephalopod-like creature capable of destroying entire ships and dragging sailors to their doom. .... 'Many cultures around the world have a myth or legend about a tentacled beast bothering seamen or generally getting up to no good,' Jon says. .... 'Squid and octopus really are unusual animals. Their body plan isn't similar to anything else that we know of in the sea. They move quickly and the way that their bodies, arms and tentacles move seem to stimulate something in our fear of the unknown.

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Siren here!  This website has a great collection of art depicting the merfolk and other species!

SEA MONSTERS THAT ACTUALLY EXIST : FORREST GALANTE

Forrest Galante is a world renowned wildlife biologist.

MERMAIDS and SEA MONSTERS HAVE LONG CAPTURED OUR IMAGINATIONS

Siren here!  When I started this blog many years ago, I decided to put two tags or labels under posts.  One was and is Science Facts and the other was and is DELICIOUS FICTIONS.  Although this blog has been more devoted to the Science Facts, no doubt about it, I've been inspired by the mysteries of the oceans that cover most of our planet and the idea that MERMAIDS and SEA MONSTERS EXISTED or EXIST is still very exciting to me.

So I thought I would start this New Year, 2026 by posting a but abut those mysteries and the real creatures that have existed or still do exits!

Remember that if you have a link or a book you would like me to look at or post about to leave me a comment!

Siren

WORLD TRAVELER