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martes, 11 de febrero de 2014

¿Mejillón gigante o Nacra en Galicia?

La Voz de Galicia, periódico gallego, asegura que un pescador de Camariñas pescó un mejillon de dimensiones anormalmente superiores a las habituales.
El pescador, José Campaña Pasantes, o Xiba por sus compañeros, sin pensar en las repercusiones que podía tener ese hallazgo, decidió que lo mejor que podía hacer era vaciarlo y secarlo para guardarlo como trofeo.

José Campaña Pasantes con su gran mejillón

The salty sea


Some time ago, I wrote the same in spanish, now I translate it into English, so more people will understand. I wrote that because a friend of mine asked me why the sea is salty when the rivers are not, I didn't know what to answer, so here, I'll try to explain it a good way.

When I was little, somebody told me a story about a little magic coffee grinder, which was the first explanation to the saulty taste of seawater:

Long time ago, in a fishermen village, two brothers, the little one, Nico, was really generous and humble, he fished just what he needed to eat, had old fishing gears and many days, he had no fish. His older brother, Bruno, was greedy, he managed to get rich a expenses of the others, he had the best fishing gears and the best fishing boats.

One day, after a long fishing season offshore, the little brother returned sad and hungry to harbour, because he didn't managed to fish almost nothing, and he decided to ask for help to his brother, but he just shutted the door in his face laughting at him. Even more depressed, the little fisherman returned home when a very old man, with a long white beard said to him: "I have seen all that has happened, I know that you are a good guy. I want to help you". In his hands, he had a wooden coffee grinder with a beautiful golden crank arm. Nico, incredulous, looked at the white beared man and responded: "How can a coffee grinder help me, if I have no money for the grains?" The man laughted and said: "This grinder is magic, I will tell you how it works if you promise me that you will never tell anybody, deal?". Without trusting, Nico accepted.


The man explained: "if you turn the crank arm clockwise and ask for a wish, the grinder will make it real, and when you want to stop it, you just have to say these exact words <> and the grinder will stop". The old man taught Nico the performance asking for strawberry candy and gave the grinder to him. Nico was really excited and, since then, he asked the grinder to build a new house, new fishing gears, a better boat... and always, when he had enough, he stopped the coffee grinder.

His new wealth reached his evil big brother's ears, who ran to ask him how did he get them. Nico, remembering what the old man told him, didn't tell him anything.

Thus, Bruno started to spy his brother to discover his secret, and one night, Bruno saw his brother getting the grinder: "grinder, grind me some money for the fishermen who lost the ships in the storm". The next day, when Nico was distracted, Bruno got the coffee grinder and ran away, took the boat and ran offshore, somewhere to enjoy his endless riches.

One day, in the middle of the sailing, the cooker didn't have salt, and the fisherman got the grinder and said: "grinder, grind a little bit of salt". The grinder started to grind, and when he had enough, Bruno commanede: "Grinder, stop grinding, stop it", but the grinder went on and on. Bruno didn't know the words he had to use to stop the grinder, and it just continued grinding more and more money, never stopping. The miser robber said and repeated: "stop it, stop grinding, stupid grinder, I don't want more salt!" But the grinder went on and on and on...

sábado, 8 de febrero de 2014

¡Hay muchos peces en el mar! // There are many fishes in the sea!

Y según parecen indicar los datos de la expedición Malaspina (en los que participa el CSIC), más de los que creíamos.

En estos estudios, los científicos han utilizado herramientas de acústica (la ecosonda) para contabilizar la biomasa de la zona mesopelágica, comprendida entre los 200 y los 1000m de profundidad (imagen), y han descubierto que es unas 10 veces mayor a lo que se creía.

Zonas del océano // Ocean areas

jueves, 6 de febrero de 2014

Organismos microscópicos invaden las costas de Brasil

National Geographic ha publicado recientemente la imagen arriba capturada por el Aqua, un satélite de la NASA el 19/01/2014 que muestra una mancha verde oscura de unos 800 km cerca de la costa de Brasil.

Esta mancha indica que una gran cantidad de microorganismos, normalmente de una misma especie o ecológicamente similares se acumulan en esa zona (floración o bloom).

En este caso, los biólogos han determinado que se trata de Myrionecta rubrum, que aparece en la imagen abajo.



viernes, 22 de noviembre de 2013

Caulerpa taxifolia: Invasive algae in Posidonia oceanica seagrass in the mediterranean


INTRODUCTION:

Nowadays, the Mediterranean Sea suffers a terrible problematic with the algae called Caulerpa taxifolia (Vahl), a green algae from the Clorophyta division, with blades ranging 2-15cm. C. taxifolia has a tropical origen, with presence in warm seas. It reaches the Mediterranean Sea, most likely due to the water draining from the Oceanographic institute of Monaco, although it was also discussed that the invassive algae was carried on the hull of a boat. The first record of C. taxifolia was near Monaco, in 1984. Right now, it occupies about 15 000 000 square meters of seabed and it represents a threat for the ecosystem since one of its methabolic prodcuts, the caulerpine, is toxic for the mediterranean organisms, cause for wich is called killer algae or green plague. One of the worst consequences of the existence of C. taxifolia in the mediterran is the tendence to occupy the space of Posidonia oceanica (Linnaeus), a flowering underwater plant endemic to the Mediterranean, with elongated and plaane leaves up to 1 m long. That plant is forced to move, causing the same to the fauna hosted by P. oceanica acoge, because the caulerpine avoids the depredation of C. taxifolia (except for the fish Sarpa salpa). The ecological consequences can be terrible, and that's why they are doing awareness campaigns for the elimination and non-spreading of the C. taxifolia.