DOLPHIN FISH

 

170O POUND GREAT WHITE SHARK TRACKED - FLORIDA TO NORTH CAROLINA : HE'S NAMED "CONTENDER"

CBS NEWS : 1700 POUND SHARK TRACKED OFF COAST OF NORTH CAROLINA 

Excerpt:

Sharks don't ping every day. Their movements are tracked by devices attached to their dorsal fins. The trackers can't transmit through water, OCEARCH senior data scientist John Tyminski said in a video published by the organization. To accurately confirm a shark's location, the tracker must break the surface while an Argos satellite is above. The satellites are only in a given spot for about 13 minutes. During that time, the tracker must send multiple messages for a location to be confirmed.

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ARE YOU AFRAID OF SHARKS? Leave me a comment!  Siren

DO YOU KNOW YOUR SHARKS?

 

Some are little - some are big -

AS ARTEMIS II RETURNS TO EARTH FROM SURVEYING THE MOON LET'S REMEMBER ...

70% 

OF THE EARTH 

IS OCEAN !

FIRST SHARK OFF ANTARCTICA CAUGHT ON CAMERA - WHY IT MATTERS

FORBES : ANTARCTICAS FIRST SHARK CAUGHT ON CAMERA 

Excerpt: Sharks have survived mass extinctions, shifting continents and dramatic climate swings for more than 400 million years. They patrol coral reefs, cruise open oceans, call kelp forests home and rule the deep sea. And while Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) are known to rule the icy, dark waters of the Arctic Ocean, the Antarctic landscape has long been barren of this predator. The Southern Ocean is frigid, remote and punishingly cold, with temperatures dipping below zero. Which is why new footage captured near the South Shetland Islands is so remarkable: for the first time, a shark has been recorded on video in the Southern Ocean itself.

TOM GRUBER FIRST FOOTAGE OF HAWAIIAN DAY OCTOPUS WHO RECOGNIZED HERSELF ?! DO YOU AGREE?

I think Octopuses might be the most intelligent of sea creatures, other than the whales.  In this video, Tom  Gruber, the inventor of Siri, filmed one that saw itself in a mirror.  To be honest, I think the octopus saw another octopus.  DO YOU THINK IT KNEW IT WAS LOOKING AT ITSELF?

CARNIVOROUS DEATH BALL SPONGES! ZOBIE WORMS!?

Carnivorous!  OCEAN CENSUS ORG

Excerpt:

Its spherical form is covered in tiny hooks that trap prey, a clear contrast to the gentle, passive, filter-feeding undertaken by most sponges. ‘Zombie worms’ (Osedax sp.) were also observed. Although not thought to be new to science, these worms have no mouth or gut and rely on symbiotic bacteria to break down fats inside the bones of whales and other large vertebrates.

 

SMITHSONIAN : NEW SPECIES IN SOUTHERN OCEAN

HOGFISH

 

RARE SIGHTING OF GIANT PHANTOM JELLY FISH OFF THE COAST OF ARGENTINA

OOOH this BBC website has video of the swimming phantom!

BBC NEWS : RARE SIGNTING PHANTOM JELLY OFF ARGENTINA

Excerpt:

A rare phantom jellyfish has been spotted by scientists exploring the deep sea near Argentina.

Stygiomedusa gigantea, more commonly known as the giant phantom jellyfish, was filmed 250 metres below the surface in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Scientists from the Schmidt Ocean Institute documented the creature, which can grow up to 1m (3.3ft) in diameter, with their arms reaching up to 10m (33ft) long.

Their four arms, which look like long pink ribbons, are not stinging tentacles. Instead the jellyfish use them to catch their prey of fish and plankton, according to the institute.

The team also discovered 28 potential new species including corals, sea urchins, and sea anemones.

BLUE MARINE FOUNDATION : ACTION TO PROTECT OUR OCEAN : LET'S PROTECT 30 PERCENT OF THE OCEAN BY 2030

BLUE MARINE FOUNDATION  4.9 KM of OCEAN PROTECTED

Blue Marine is dedicated to protecting and restoring life in the ocean. Our mission is to see at least 30 per cent of the ocean protected by 2030 and the whole ocean sustainably managed. We support low-impact fishing and equitable use of the ocean and address overfishing – one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges.

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This is the time to check in with yourself. Are you overeating seafood?

ORCAS HAVE BEEN SINKING BOATS

It's true... there have been a number of reports.


DIVE MAGAZINE : ORCAS SINK BOAT - PORTUGAL


OUTSIDE ONLIE : WE SAILED THROUGH ORCA ALLEY - BOATS RAMMED -SINKING


Excerpt: Along the Iberian Peninsula, where the North Atlantic collides with the rugged coastlines of Spain and Portugal before pinching into the Mediterranean Sea, an endangered subpopulation of orcas has developed the unfortunate habit of ramming into sailboats. The powerful animals target the rudders, often breaking them and destroying or disabling a boat’s steering. Such force can sometimes also damage a boat’s hull and cause a leak.

Orcas, also called killer whales (Orcinus orca), are known for their prowess as marine predators, and they’re intelligent and highly social. Across their global range, they’re unusually flexible in what they eat, how they hunt, and where they call home. Among their many talents, they’re masters of surprise.

ZOOPHYTES

Zoophytes via Bibliodyssey

A zoophyte is a plantlike animal, especially a coral, sea anemone, sponge, or sea lily.

PANAMA : OCEAN WATERS DID NOT RISE SEASONALLY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 40 YEARS : TERRIBLE CONCERN THAT OCEAN SYSTEM IS COLLAPSING

NEWSROOM PANAMA : FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 40 YEARS

Excerpt: For over 40 years, seasonal upwelling in the Gulf of Panama has followed a consistent pattern. Between the end of the calendar year and early spring, trade winds from the north push surface waters offshore, drawing cooler, deeper water upward. The process delivers nutrients that stimulate phytoplankton growth, forming the foundation of the marine food web. .................

In early 2025, that system failed. No cold water rose to the surface. No spike in surface chlorophyll was recorded. Ocean surface temperatures remained elevated through the season. According to data collected by scientists aboard the S/Y Eugen Seibold, a research vessel jointly operated by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Max Planck Institute, the vertical movement of water that characterizes the upwelling was entirely absent. The study documenting the event, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, confirms it as the first complete suppression of the upwelling in the observational record. Researchers noted that this shift eliminated a key stabilizing mechanism in the region’s marine ecosystem and exposed vulnerabilities in the broader ocean-climate system.

Winds Weaken, With Cascading Effects

At the center of the disruption was a collapse in atmospheric drivers. The northern trade winds, normally responsible for triggering the upwelling process, were significantly weaker in early 2025. As a result, surface waters remained in place, and the temperature differential needed to initiate vertical mixing did not materialize. The absence of cooler waters had immediate ecological effects. Without an influx of nutrients, phytoplankton production declined sharply. Satellite observations confirmed reduced chlorophyll-a concentrations throughout the Gulf of Panama during the period when biological productivity typically peaks.

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Go to this important article which is excellent to learn about how this is supposed to work, and the effect on the sea creatures - including starvation!

OCEAN DEFENDERS ALLIANCE

OCNONPROFITCENTRAL : OCEAN DEFENDERS ALLIANCE

This looks like a great one!

Excerpt: In 23 years, ODA has performed just under 600 ocean cleanups in 7 different counties of California and Hawai'i. The debris that has been removed from harm's way includes:

Plastics: over 84 tons (168,000 pounds)
Traps: 540
Trap lines that entangle whales: 51,000 feet
Fishing line: 293,000 feet
Nets: 49,000 pounds
Misc Debris: 139,000 pounds
Lead fishing weights: 11,500 pounds

And so much more! Marine wildlife and their habitats are safer without this hazardous debris.

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Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) began protecting California's ocean ecosystems and wildlife in 2000. We are the longest running nonprofit focused solely on removal of dangerous man-made fishing gear from the coastal waters of California.  Since then, and because of the help of our many wonderful volunteers, we have removed vast amounts of trap-line and net that too often entangle whales, dolphins, and sea lions. We have also recovered hundreds of abandoned lobster traps and many tons of other debris that was threatening marine life. The result for sea life is simple: ODA's work has saved hundreds of thousands of animals from unnecessary and horrific death (most often drowning or starvation).  The world's oceans are in serious decline, primarily due to human abuse and neglect--but there is cause for hope! Working together with respect and focus, we will increase our already positive impact.  Please help us ensure healthy oceans for future generations. The time to act is NOW! Come join us!

PACIFIC MARINE MAMMAL CENTER - LAGUNA BEACH : REHABS VISITOR AREA : SEA LIONS HAVE HIGH RATE OF CANCER : NEXT WAVE EXPANSION

You may not be able to visit as a tourist, but you CAN donate, volunteer, or be a help to the cause.

PACIFIC MARINE MAMMAL CENTER : NEXT WAVE CAMPAIGN

Excerpt: We’re excited to invite you to join us as we usher in a new era for our organization - The Next Wave expansion.

The Next Wave Campaign will include:

A water reclamation system that will save our community 15,000 gallons of water every day

Increasing the standards of animal care

Improving our research capacity

Providing more students with access to our educational programming

Laying the groundwork for powerful advocacy that will help us as we Build a Better Ocean - one with fewer plastics and less chemical pollution.

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We care for the most common pinnipeds to southern California which are:

California Sea Lions

Northern Elephant Seals

Northern Fur Seals

Pacific Harbor Seals

MERMAID MANDALA

 

PREHISTORIC SHELL TRUMPETS STILL MAKE SOUND!

DAILY MAIL : SCIENCE : PREHISTORIC SHELL TRUMPETS 

Excerpts: Amazingly, eight of the instruments still worked perfectly, with the loudest toot reaching 111.5 decibels - as loud as a powerful car horn or trombone.

Researchers believe that these trumpets would have been used as an ancient form of communication technology, with simple codes shared between communities.

These blasts could easily travel the three to six miles (five to 10 km) between the Stone Age villages where the horns were discovered.

They could have been used to communicate between different settlements, warning of attacks or coordinating harvest times.

Others, found deep within abandoned mines, might have been used to send messages through the underground darkness.


*** See the photos of the shells and read more about the archeology!

HUNDREDS OF PINK DOLPHINS FOUND DEAD IN BRAZIL'S LAKE TEFE : THEY BOILED IN HEAT WAVE WATER HOTTER THAN A JACUZZI

CBS : DOLPHINS DEAD IN WATER HOTTER THAN JACUZZI BRAZIL LAKE TEFE 

Excerpts: 

Officials from the World Wildlife Fund Brazil said 153 dolphins were found dead the week of Sept. 23, 2023, including 130 pink dolphins, and 23 tucuxi dolphins. Both are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List and the latter of which are considered "the guardians of rivers and a symbol of good luck," according to RiverDolphins.org.

"The climate emergency is here"

What made it even more remarkable, said Fleischmann, was that the same temperature was found not just at the surface but throughout the two-meter-deep water column.

Using computer modeling, the team identified four key drivers: strong solar heating, shallow waters, low wind speeds, and high turbidity — a measure of water haziness.

These factors reinforce one another. Shallowness increases turbidity, which traps more heat, while low wind carries less heat away, leaving the water more exposed to clear skies and intense sunlight.

Another stressor for aquatic life was the large swing between highs and lows, with the peak of 41C in Tefe followed by a nighttime low of 27C.

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Siren here!  It's not just sad, it's terrifying!

ARISE

 

BLUE WHALES GONE SILENT?! CLIMATE CHANGE? ALL ENERGY USED TO FIND ENOUGH FOOD - KRILL

THE WEEK : BLUE WHALES NOT SINGING -CLIMATE CHANGE

Excerpt: The study tracked over six years of acoustic monitoring in the central California Current Ecosystem. During those years, blue whale sounds decreased by approximately 40%.

"We don't hear them singing," John Ryan, a biological oceanographer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the lead author of the study, said to National Geographic. They are "spending all their energy searching." There's "just not enough time left over" for singing, and that "tells us those years are incredibly stressful." It's like "trying to sing while you are starving,"

"When we have these really hot years and marine heat waves, it's more than just temperature," Kelly Benoit-Bird, a marine biologist at Monterey Bay Aquarium and co-author of the study, said to National Geographic. "The whole system changes, and we don't get the krill." So the animals that "rely only on krill are kind of out of luck." High ocean temperatures lead to algal blooms that can kill krill. And blue whales are "forced to forage over a much larger geographic area when krill populations become depleted," said Newsweek.

Marine heat waves are only going to get worse due to fossil fuel usage. Oceans act as the world's largest carbon sink, meaning they "already absorb more than 90% of the excess heat from climate change," said The Independent. There are "whole ecosystem consequences of these marine heat waves," said Benoit-Bird. If whales "can't find food and they can traverse the entire West Coast of North America, that's a really large-scale consequence."

BLUE WHALES ARE THE LARGEST ANIMALS ON OUR PLANET!

LEAF SHAPED FANGS?! PACIFIC DISCOVERY LINKS UNPRECEDENTED FIND! GINKO BEAKED WHALES

Unprecedented!   OOOOH this is great!

UNION RAYO: GOODBYE TO DECADES OF ASSUMPTIONS : GINKO BEAKED WHALES

Excerpt: For the first time in history, a team of scientists managed to see, record and document the elusive ginkgo-toothed beaked whale (Mesoplodon ginkgodens) swimming in open sea, off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. And the best part is that with this encounter they also solved a mystery that had been puzzling experts for more than a decade, a mysterious acoustic signal, the famous BW43, that no one had managed to attribute to a specific species.

.... For the first time, a species known only from stranded remains was alive, recorded, confirmed!!! Now scientists can track this species without seeing it, just by listening to its signals in the ocean.

Battles, wounds and sharks

The ginkgo-toothed beaked whale has a distinctive feature and it is that the males develop two flat leaf-shaped teeth near the tip of the snout. They do not use them to eat, but to fight with other males for the females.

The photos show long scars, cuts, white lines, many battles on their backs. In addition, many had circular bite marks made by sharks called “cookie cutters”.

CLAM ANALYSIS SHOWS NORTH ATLANTIC SUBPOLAR GYRE ACTING STRANGELY

LIVE SCIENCE : MASSIVE SYSTEM OF ROTATING OCEAN CURRENTS ACTING STRANGELY

Excerpt: An analysis of clam shells suggests the North Atlantic subpolar gyre has had two periods of destabilization over the past 150 years: one around 1920 and the other from 1950 through present. ....

"It's highly worrying," study lead author Beatriz Arellano Nava, a postdoctoral research fellow in physical geography at the University of Exeter in the U.K., told Live Science. "The subpolar gyre was recently acknowledged as a tipping element. We still need to understand more of the impacts of a subpolar gyre abrupt weakening. But what we know so far with the few studies that have been published is that it would bring more extreme weather events, particularly in Europe ... and also changes in global precipitation patterns."

.... But the other signal was a total surprise, she said. The clam data revealed that the subpolar gyre was unstable for a few years in the run-up to the 1920s North Atlantic regime shift. This previously described event was characterized by the strengthening of currents in the gyre. Instability in the subpolar gyre likely caused the 1920s regime shift, and the timeline suggests the period of instability may have reflected the subpolar gyre's recovery from its Little Ice Age collapse, Arellano Nava said.


Go to the article for more upsetting details and a globe showing the way currents work!

CALIFORNIA : VERY LITTLE PLASTIC BEING RECYLCLED

LA TIMES - Environment : VERY LITTLE PLASTIC BEING RECYCLED IN CALIFORNIA 

Excerpt:  Polypropylene, labeled as #5 on packaging, is used for yogurt containers, margarine tubs and microwavable trays. Only 2% of it is getting recycled. Colored shampoo and detergent bottles, made from polyethylene, or #1 plastic, are getting recycled at a rate of just 5%.

Other plastics, including ones promoted as highly recyclable, such as clear polyethylene bottles, which hold some medications, or hard water bottles, are being recycled at just 16%.

No plastic in the report exceeds a recycling rate of 23%, with the majority reported in just the single digits.

READ ON MY FRIENDS!  

DO YOU KNOW WHICH PLASTIC CONTAINERS ARE SAFE TO REUSE TO STORE OR COOK FOODS?

AS GOOD FISH IN THE SEA AS EVER WERE CAUGHT

A vintage Valentine published in 1909

 

HOLY MACKEREL BUT I LOVE YOU

 

SAVE THE SEA

 

MERMAID WEARS GLOVES! HAPPY SEVENTEENTH BIRTHDAY SIRENS LINK TO THE SEA!

SEVENTEEN years! 

ocean ecology, environmental activism, endangered species, whales, dolphins, sharks, octopus, marine science, mermaids, ocean, beach clean up, fish, and so much more!
 

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