By Doni Lopez & Sara Prevalla Fall 2009
Come join me in a tour of my home, the Aquatic biome. While the ocean makes up about 72% and freshwater is 3% of the world’s surface, the aquatic biome also includes lakes, streams and rivers, ponds, estuaries, and wetlands. I roam, and I rule the ocean hunting for my next meal. Who’s afraid of me? EVERYBODY! And they should be because I am the fearless Great White Shark! Come along with me and learn about my home in the ocean of the marine part of the Aquatic biome.
Let me introduce myself...
Seventy- five percent of the earth’s surface is made up of ocean and fresh water. Algae produces between 70-80% of our oxygen. You will find coral reefs in the tropical oceans near the equator. The biggest coral reef in the world is in Australia, the Great Barrier Reef. Although the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans are both enormous, the Pacific Ocean is twice as large and deeper than the Atlantic Ocean.
I happened to overhear a human on a dock saying something about “freshwater” (whatever that is) that in the summer it’s around 4° C at the deeper part, while the top is 22° C which is pretty cold if you ask me. During the winter the climate near the bottom is 4° C and at the top can be 0° C (because it’s ice). Where I roam around, the water can range from a nice cool 46° F to a warm 73° F( just the way I like it). But the best part is that it stays like that all year from top to bottom. Wait a sec! I forgot to tell you where I live and what I do for a living. I live in San Francisco Bay and I absolutely love to hunt!
You know… being a shark isn’t all that easy. One of the biggest problems I have is humans. They kill us for our “parts.” They take our teeth and sell them as “trinkets” in souvenir shops. They skin us to make shark skin jackets and they use our fins for sharks skin soup. This soup is considered a delicacy by some.
I will tell you what I like to hunt and track down. My favorite fish are: salmon, tuna, and last but not least halibut. The other fish are not as tasty to me but if I am hungry I will eat them; they are hake and mackerel. I just love marine mammals. I love the harbor porpoises, dolphins, sea lions, but the best food to me are elephant seals. I also eat blubber from whales carcasses but the best part is I don’t have to kill it …because it already expired. What I do to kill my larger prey (like a dolphin or an elephant seal) is to take a colossal bite usually in the neck (if it has one) and wait for it to bleed to death.
My home is the biggest ocean of all, the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean is 15 times bigger than the United States. Coral Reefs are one of the things at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. There are so many different types of Coral Reefs, for example there are: Organ Pipes - A new layer of Coral that grows making a thin pipe which makes it look like an organ. There is also the Brain Coral – It’s a grayish color that has little squiggly lines like a human brain. The types of animals that live in the Pacific Ocean are: dolphins, whales, sharks, fish, crabs, lobsters, snails, sea lions, seals, squid, and octopi. There are many more - too many to tell. There are three layers of the ocean. The Sunlight zone, the Twilight zone, and the Midnight zone. The layers I stay in are the Sunlight zone and the Twilight zone. The Sunlight zone is called this because Sunlight reaches this layer first. The Twilight zone is called this because only a small amount of sunlight reaches this zone which is why it is of dim down there. The Midnight zone is called this because it is pitch black down there just like midnight! The farther down I go the colder the water gets.
In the night And all through the day When all the little sea creatures Come out to play The ocean is such an exotic view Especially the waters so clear and blue The teeming life below the surface But those who are always Looking for a quick bite Are the hunters and the predators In the day and night So while this biome Holds beauty to the eye It also holds real danger To the ones Who are lower On the food chain.