The tidal waters seem to be subsiding as this Wild Weekend comes to a close, don’t miss your chance to buy some underwater items before the waters wash it all away! Stop by the Diamond Shop to stock up; last chance!

Plastic not so fantastic!

Howdy Jammers! It’s summertime, at least up here in the Northern Hemisphere, and that means more longer days and more time to go to the beach. Yippee!

Something I really hope you don’t bring to the beach this summer and leave behind though is plastic trash. Every month I walk a long stretch of beach for the Monterey National Marine Sanctuary and I make a record of every dead animal I find that has washed up. We find all sorts of animals from sea otters, salmon sharks to harbor seals to cormorants and once even a rhinoceros auklet—an adorable little sea bird! Along the way, I also pick up trash. I’ve been walking the same stretch of beach for more than 10 years doing these animals surveys and each year I find more and more plastic.

Our poor ocean is filling up with plastic trash that unfortunately breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics. Even though these pieces are small,theycause a problem. They aren’t digestible and they give all sorts of sea creatures terrible stomach aches. They can also hold some nasty secrets. Plastics can attract other types of chemical pollutants in the water and those chemicals can act as poisons—disrupting an animal’s ability to reproduce effectively.

The best solution is to try to reduce your use of plastic—especially single serving plastics. Bring your reusable cups, utensils, bowls and straws with you when you travel. And definitely use your own bag when grocery shopping. When other kids see you using your own cool reusable tools, they’ll want to do the same and before you know it—you’ll be making ripples that will spread well beyond your own circle of friends.You could start a whole movement. So give it a try. Just try removing one piece of plastic from your day and then two and then three and see if you can make it through a whole day without making a single piece of plastic trash. Make it into a game. Compete with your friends or your classmate and devise prizes. The biggest prize of all will be going to the beach and finding it beautiful and trash free. We can all make a huge difference.

Howdy Jammers,

I’d like to introduce you to the Northern clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus)–a most amazing little fish that I discovered recently in a Monterey tidepool. You just never know who will pop up in the intertidal where the sea meets the land. The coolest feature of the clingfish is the suction disk on its belly that it uses to stick itself to slippery surfaces when the waves are crashing about! That disc also holds in moisture so this little fellow can stay out of the water longer than other suction-less fishes. Turns out that disc is actually a pair of modified fins (pelvic fins) and the larger the fish is the stronger the disc can stick—to all sorts of surfaces rough and smooth. Some intrepid biologists measured the fish’s sticking ability and found that one clingfish can generate impressive forces of up to 14–15 Newtons, which is 150 times its own body weight! Now that’s what I call a hefty sucker! Hopefully that sucking ability helps deter predators too—like gopher snakes who have been known to hunt clingfish during low tides. Oh, those crazy snakes!

Northern clingfish don’t get much larger than about 6 in. (17 cm) long and occur from Washington state all the way down to Baja California. Keep your eyes open for them next time you find yourself in the tidepools of Monterey Bay and beyond.

With a Wild Weekend upon us, visit our YouTube channel and join us as we take a nautical tour in Parade of Dens this week, featuring the beach and underwater dens of: Cuddlekins200, ILikeDucks, Cenex08 and Jammer5g6ly! These dens are the perfect way to cool off during the hot summer months, so we hope they serve as an inspiration for your own den decoration adventures. We are looking for amazing dens, in particular any dens that combine land and water themes! Do you have an amazing den or know of one? Comment below and let us know! Remember to leave your dens UNLOCKED so we can visit. Highlighted dens will receive an Epic Den Plaque!