Ocean

Hi,

All students at the North Ainslie Primary School planned to have an excursion to the Tomakin beach. However, the trip was cancelled twice due to weather. The weather was not good and the wave was very high. Now I am on holiday, semester break, for two weeks.

We learnt about ocean at school. OK, I am going to tell you about the ocean. There are many beautiful animals live in the ocean. Based on the sunlight penetration, there are three zones in the ocean: sunlight zone, twilight zone and midnight zone.

Dolphins, my favorite animal, live in the sunlight zone, at the very top of the ocean. Whales and jelly fish live in the twilight zone. Sparkly things and dumbo octopus live in the midnight zone.

Corals are plants that grow in the ocean. There are lots of different types and colors of corals. Corals live in twilight zone and midnight zone. Some of them grow very fast, but some do not.

Now I am going to tell you about sea horse. Sea horses are found mainly in warm, shallow coastal seas. They live among seagrass, mangroves, corals and kelp. In these places they are protected against strong currents and storms. Some sea horses live in estuaries, the sheltered places where rivers meet the sea.



About 25 species of sea horses are found in Australian waters. Some species are widespread and others are found only in certain areas, for example the Pygmy sea horses are found along the coast of Queensland and Japan. The Southern potbelly sea horses live along the Victorian and Tasmanian coasts. There are about 35 known species of sea horses in the world. They are secretive animals, more species might yet be discovered.

Soon after hatching, the young sea horses are ejected from the pouch. The male pumps and pushes for hours to empty his pouch. This usually happens at night. Small sea horse species might produce just five young, but larger species might produce 1,500 young.

We have done growing salt crystal experiment, too!



How do we make it?
We boil about 1 cup (250 ml) of water, add 1/4 cup of salt. The solution will be supersaturated when salt crystals begin to collect on the bottom of the pan.

Then, we pour the solution in a plastic glass. We soak a piece of straw in the solution until it is saturated and sinks to the bottom of the glass. The straw will act as a template or base for crystal growth. We put the glass in a sunny location. Crystals will form as the water evaporates.

Science is fun!