Sea Life

You know the saying, "Stop and smell the roses"? Well the same applies for the beach. Stop and take a deep breathe of the fresh salt air and look around for some pretty amazing creatures. Here are some of my favorite

Did you now? Almost all species of puffer fish contain toxin (called tetrodotoxin) that can be 1200 times stronger than cyanide. One puffer fish contains enough toxin to kill 30 adult men. Toxin is not located in all parts of the puffer fish, and certain cultures prepare puffer fish (meal called fugu in Japan) as a delicacy.

The size, color, and tentacle number of sea nettles depends on the species. Sea nettle bells can reach 3 feet in diameter, with oral arms and tentacles trailing as far as 20 feet. However, most specimens only reach 16-20 inches in diameter, with proportionally shorter arms and tentacles.

Barracudas hunt more by sight than smell; a fact that may lead to unfortunate attacks on human divers. Barracudas are attracted to shiny objects, like the silvery fish they prey on. Interestingly, ingesting barracuda is considerably more harmful to humans than eating any other fish species. People often become ill from ciguatera fish poisoning after ingesting barracudas, perhaps because the reef fish that barracudas eat themselves consume algae that may contain high levels of the toxin.