SO.... I have been a bit MIA lately and that is because, well, life really gets in the way of starting things. With work, family trips, sickness (that was a hellish week...), and personal traveling, there have been a lot of things that have been keeping me away from here. And I apologize for that! I have had so many cool things that I've wanted to share and just haven't gotten the chance so I'm gonna start back up with a BANG!
JELLYFISH!
Who doesn't like Jellyfish, right? Well, actually, probably a lot of people. And most have them have been stung by them. Personally, I've never been stung by a jellyfish. However, I have been stung by sea grass anemones and those things hurt so.... I can only imagine!
But, I'm going to talk about Jellyfish today because I have been seeing a lot of them. Big ones too, not the small ctenophors (which are still really cool and I want to see them because they are adorable!). At work I've actually been seeing a large amount of Lions Mane Jellyfish. One day alone I counted about 8 in a small harbor just drifting by, scaring all of the shore shrimp onto the docks. This may be a common thing, but I found it interesting because they were all at least the size of a dinner plate. For those of you that don't know, the Lions Mane Jellyfish has been recorded as the largest species of jellyfish, growing in size up to 8 feet in diameter. The largest ever recorded had tentacles reaching 120 feet long, making it one of the largest known animals in the world, not just the largest jellyfish. That, my friends, is scary. You don't want to run into one of those in the open water.
The gif below shows one of the larger ones that I saw. The stick in the water is at least 1 1/2 feet long and you can see the tentacles floating in the water doing beneath the dock. And that one's probably just a baby baby.
FACTS!
So, let's get down to the brass tax that is Jellyfish.
Jellyfish make up the subphylum, Medusozoa, from the Cnidaria phylum. They are cousins of coral reefs but express the medusal body form as their main life stage (while coral express the polyp stage mainly). The medusa is the umbrella-like body that everyone recognizes as jellyfish, with the long, extending tentacles that everyone is scared and fascinated by. Though they express the medusal stage as their main form, jellyfish do have a polyp stage in early development. Once an egg has been fertilized, it will develop into a planula. The planula, essentially, is a swimming egg and it looks for a suitable place for it to develop into the polyp stage of it's life cycle. Once it has attached to a surface, usually a rock or a sandy bottom, the polyp, also known as the scyphistoma, will begin to bud. Budding is the process of producing multiple copies of the same individual, in this case the individuals are known as ephyra (immature jellyfish). Each planula can produce a varied number of ephyra and can produce these individuals in one or many intervals through time. Once released, the ephyra develop into fully grown jellyfish. Personally, I find these little guys adorable. They don't quite have the bell shape needed to move properly and look like sheets of ripped up paper trying to squish together real quick to move around in the water. So cute.
I'll put something into perspective: When an ephyra is released, it is about the size of a quarter. Very small. A jellyfish has a very fast growth rate. A lions mane jellyfish, for example, can grow up to 8 feet in diameter and their life span is only 1 year. One year. Think on that one.
In order to move, a jellyfish does not use its tentacles to swim. Instead, it uses the bell shape of the medusa to pulsate water in and out, known as jet propulsion. You can see this is the gif, to the left. They are not very strong swimmers and are mainly influenced by the movement of the currents but this jet propulsion allows them to have a minor degree of control over their direction. Their tentacles trail behind them, as they are only used to capture prey and deter predators.
How do these tentacles deter predators and capture prey, you ask? Well, in a very ingenious way. Jellyfish tentacles are lined with cells called cnidoblasts that act independently to sting anything that comes into contact with them. Each cnidoblast houses a nematocyst, a pocket filled with a spring loaded stinging thread that shoots venomous nerotoxin into its victims. The spring is "sprung" (so to speak) when an unsuspecting fish or human "victim" rubs up against the trigger and ends up causing all sorts of pain. For small fish, they can be paralized, but for humans it causes pain, rash, fever, stomach aches, and the like. In some cases, like with box jellies, which are TERRIBLE creatures, people are left with scars from stings and in some cases death (extreme cases but cases none the less). In Australia, box jellies are so dangerous that they shut down beaches when they are spotted to prevent people from getting harmed.
Because these things are activated by touch and not controlled by the jellyfish itself, you don't even have to be in the water to get stung. SO! If you see a jellyfish on the beach or on the ground or anywhere at all, alive of dead, DO NOT touch the tentacles for they can still sting you and make you cry.
If you do get stung: Use rubbing alcohol, ammonia, vinegar, or even URINE (yes, when Monica got stung by a jellyfish and Joey had to pee on her, it actually worked) to counteract the stings. Using fresh water will only make it worse and rubbing or scratching will only activate the stingers more.
Just remember: Jellyfish are pretty and, honestly, really cool for things that don't really have a brain (yeah, they don't have a brain) but they are not something you should touch. Unless you're like Dory, and bounce on top of their heads. Just watch out for those tentacles!
Any comments or questions? Feel free to leave a comment below! I'd love to hear from ya!
So, as most television watchers know, last Sunday, April 12th, was the premier for the new series of Game of Thrones. Now, I'm know a fan of the show, meaning that I just haven't watched it, but a few friends of mine are and they threw a party. And I, being the amazing person that I am, figured I'd show up with some delicious goodness. I mean what kind of guest would I be if I didn't show up with SOMETHING? A bad one, that's what kind!
In deciding that I would do this, I had to educate myself on a few things about the show. First off, I learned that that show is hella complicated! I mean, really, who needs to have so many families to follow! So I picked two, which were chosen due to my host's preferences. Without knowing I was already planning on making something, he requested a cake with a wolf and a dragon on them. Silly boy! I was way ahead of you! So I chose the House of Targaryen (weird name, by the way) and the House of Stark, and their family crests look like this:
Having the design down, I had to figure out cakes which was indeed a challenge. Why you ask? Well, my host was allergic to gluten. And, as I'm sure you know, gluten-free food has a tendency to taste well..... like cardboard. And that just wouldn't do, I don't serve cardboard when I make food! Nope! Personally, I am not skilled enough with gluten-free baking to make my own recipe from scratch so I went in search of recipes that I could stand behind. And I found some! Yaaaaay!
Cakes!
Seeing as there were two family crests, I had to make two cakes and they couldn't be the same! A vanilla cake and a chocolate cake sounded the best to me, simple yet delicious and crowd pleasing. For the vanilla cake, I used the recipe from Yammie's Gluten Freedom, here. I just made one minor change: instead of butter, I used Crisco shortening. I feel like it makes cakes in general a little fluffier and yummier. And for the chocolate, I made a double batch of the Gluten-Free Cake Pan Cake from King Arthur Flour, found here. I have made the chocolate cake recipe before and it is yummy! Also, I go for the suggestion to use milk instead of butter as well and Crisco/shortening instead of vegetable oil. If you do try these recipes, I will tell you that when making the chocolate cake with the shortening, it will be lumpy with shortening until completely mixed but it's not too hard, just don't get scared about it!
I baked both of the cakes in a 9 x 13 inch pan and then transferred them onto a cardboard cake board for transport once they were cooled. After that I cute them into the shape of a shield and split them down the middle, like a hamburger roll, and set them aside while I made the fillings and frostings.
Fillings!!!
For the vanilla cake, I filled it with pineapple. Simple enough right? Just opened a can of crushed pineapple and drained it before putting it on the cake so that it didn't make it soggy. Moist is good but soggy is just not fun!
And for the chocolate cake, I made a mixed berry filling. For that, I took 1 cup of water and 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, whisked them together in a sauce pan and put on the stove. Then I added 2 1/2 cups of mixed frozen berries (I personally did not thaw them because I was pressed for time but you can and chop them into smaller bits if you see fit) and 1 cup of sugar to the water/cornstarch and turned on the heat to medium. This cooked for about 10-15 minutes, or until the sauce thickened. Once at the right consistency, I removed it from the heat and let it cool completely. I put part of it in the fridge to cool faster since I wasn't going to use all of it at once.
Frosting!!!!!!!!!!
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE buttercream and I just so happen to make an awesome buttercream, if I do say so myself :) So, buttercream frosting was the only way to go for both of these cakes.
Vanilla cake all crumb coated and ready for frosting!
For the vanilla cake, I kept it simple, sticking with a traditional buttercream frosting. To make this, it takes 2 sticks of butter at room temperature, 3 cups of powdered sugar, 2 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla (I like a lot of vanilla in mine), and 2 teaspoons of milk. Just beat the butter and sugar together until fully combined, add the vanilla and the milk at the end, and Ta-da! You've got buttercream!
Now, the chocolate had to have a little more Pazaz! but it was still going to be a buttercream at heart. So to get that extra Pazaz! I was going to do a chocolate buttercream but then I stumbled upon a mocha buttercream from Wilton that I just had to try! You can find the recipe for it here and oh my god is it delicious! Just the smell alone will get you intoxicated by sugar and coffee! Yum!
Chocolate cake ready for crumb coating!
Both cakes were crumb-coated with their assigned frostings, after they were filled, and refrigerated overnight to set. Then, they were coated with the frostings for optimal yummy-ness!
DECORATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!! GAH!
Here is where things get amazing! PIPING began!
I am not someone that does short cuts when I'm going for amazing so I wasn't going to be cheep and print out one of those transferable edible pictures on top of the cake when I have the ability and skill to do it myself and be way more impressive. If you do that, that's just fine but I just couldn't. :)
So, the crests we printed out and piping began. I used frosting coloring gels to color each frosting. Using black for the grey colors (i couldn't quite get pure black sadly but I worked with what I could) and red to make the red frostings. The dark color of the mocha frosting helped getting the dark colors for the Targaryen Family crest so I would advise using a chocolate based frosting if you need to make dark colors.
To begin, the crests were printed as MIRROR images so that when they were put on the cake they were pointing in the correct direction. These prints were then taped under a sheet of parchment paper and put on a flat surface. I started with the House of Stark because it was less complicated, thus quicker. The outline was laid out in the darker of the grey frosting colors, pictured below. I was very meticulous and used a fine pointed piping tip to get exact lines. Took a bit of time but it was well worth it!
Slow going!
Almost done!
Once the outline was completely done, it was put in the fridge to set before adding the filler color. And while that set, I worked on the Targaryen crest! And to be frank, that one hurt my hand because it is WAY more complicated than that dierwolf. But so pretty!
LOOK at the detail! It is not perfect but it gets the point across perfectly!
Now for the filling! That, I got a bit sloppy with because as long as the blank spaces are filled, it's all good! I used a brush to push down the frosting in some spots because they were tighter than others and needed some help.
Light grey for the wolf!
Red for the dragon!
Both designs were put in the fridge for a good amount of time (I would suggest an hour if you were to do this but I didn't have that....) while the cakes were iced. Before they were placed on the cake, I added some un-colored frosting to the bottom of the wolf and around the edges of the dragon to aid in stability since there were a lot of pointy details on each of them. This also helped with putting them on the cake because it added some height and girth.
I must say, putting these on the cake was Nerve Racking! I was so scared I was going to drop them or put them on wrong that it took a few breaths before I turned them over and put them on. But thankfully, they were placed on there correctly and I got it on video! So yaaaay!
The parchment paper was NOT removed immediately because the frosting was not cold enough. Both cakes were placed back in the fridge to set and make it easier.
And here is the outcome!
Both cakes tasted delicious and were a huge hit!
Hope you all enjoyed! if you have any questions/comments/ect. please Please PLEASE leave some, I would LOVE to hear feedback on these babies!
So what do you think you see here? A rock? A fish buried into the sand? A... cartoon? Well, you'd be wrong on all accounts. That right here would be a crab. An incredibly cool crab. The one and only Shamefaced Crab. He's so embarrassed by his face that he has cover it up with his claws. How sad, right? Wrong!
The reason their claws are hiding their face is a common thing between crabs actually, only these crabs have larger than normal claws. Most crabs have their claws held out in front and usually they don't cover their faces entirely... except for the shamefaced crab, hence the name. Their claws are so large due to their choice of prey: They LOOOOOOVE snails. And, as we all know, snails aren't exactly easy to... open? I guess that's the right word for it. So their claws are built like special tools to get the job done. Specifically, they're built like a can opener.
Can you see the right claw (on the left hand side) in this picture? You would think that that part at the bottom was it's tiny claws but it's actually a pair of nodules to crack open the shell of a snail while the other claw holds and turns the snail. These nodules are only found on the right claw of ALL shamefaced crabs! Which is a strange characteristic seeing as all crabs, as well as lobsters, will have a larger, more dominant claw but it doesn't have specific side. So usually there are righties and lefties.... but not in this case, they're always righties.
Not only do they use these claws for opening food and protecting their face (clearly), they also use them to burrow. It might sound a little weird, but they use their claws like boards out in front of them, pushing sand away and then scurrying the rest of their body into the sand. They do this repeatedly until they are fully covered with only their eyes and antennae sticking out to find prey. If you can't really picture that, check out the video below, that should help. Unfortunately for the crab pictured, the tank it is in does not have deep enough sand for it to hide fully under so it's stuck half way out and staring at us blankly.
Personally, I think these little beauties are pretty cool and don't get the recognition they deserve like the hermit crab or the fiddler crab. They should be just as celebrate! I mean look at that face! It's adorable. Even if it is all hiding behind those ginormous claws.
If you have any comments or questions, make sure to leave them! Would love to hear from my viewers!!!
Hope you enjoyed! make sure to check back for more Marine Biology Facts coming up in the following weeks!
The other day, we were making this really yummy turkey stew from out leftover turkey dinner from Thanksgiving (yes, I know that was months ago, and yes, the meat was frozen so it was just as good as the day we made it) and we wanted something substantial to go with it. Something... bread like. But we didn't want to go with everyone's go to: Italian bread. So, I made this yummy cheesy, spicy, corny cornbread and figured I'd share it all with you.
If you haven't already heard, Jiffy corn muffin mix = heaven when it comes to baking ANYTHING corn like. It creates an awesome base to mess with and tweak as you see fit. Also, it's pretty delicious on its own, but we're not doing that today. That being said, I used 2 boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin mix because one box just doesn't do it.
So, this recipe is really supper supper simple! The only thing that you really want to be careful of is over mixing the batter. If that happens, the cornbread will loose that light fluffiness that everyone loves when it comes to corn bread. And I personally like when my corn bread has loads of chunks of corn in it so I know that I'm not just eating corn meal, thus canned corn and canned creamed corn.
And this recipe is supposed to be spicy and cheesy right? So I have one jalapeno chopped up, along with about 1/2 of a red bell pepper and 1/2 of an orange bell pepper for color. And of course, 1 whole cup of shredded cheddar cheese. You can leave any of those out if you'd like or replace them with different types of peppers or cheese, maybe add some onion if you'd like. These were just personally what I liked in there.
Ready? Awesome!
To begin, take your wet ingredients: 1/3 C milk, 1/3 C sour cream, 1 egg, 7 oz can of kernel corn, 14.75 oz can of creamed corn, and 1/3 C melted butter (which is about 5 1/3 tablespoons) and mix them together until fully combined. It will obviously be very chunky and runny, but that will change soon.
You can see the wet mixture underneath the powder from
the Jiffy mix... forgot to take a picture before
I tossed it in. Oops!
Your next step is to add the two boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix and 1 tsp baking powder (be careful not to use baking soda... no good). Again, DO NOT OVER-MIX. You just want the mixture to be just wet enough that it is combined. There will be chunks of dry Jiffy mix Remember that we will be mixing it more once we add the peppers and cheese.
Now for the pes de résistance: the additives! Jalapeno, bell peppers, and cheese. Can't go wrong with that. You want to make sure the jalapeno is chopped up nice and small. I made them into really tiny squares, like you would see in salsa. A good thing to keep in mind: these things can be really spicy and can irritate your hands when handling them so I suggest using gloves. This keeps your hands from stinging like crazy if you have any invisible cuts and cuts down on mess! Won't have to wash your hands between each thing. The bell peppers I made a bit bigger, still small but larger squares. Cutting them into strips and then into squares is probably the best bet to do it.
I suggest adding all of the peppers at once, mixing them so they're evenly distributed. Just remember to be gentle with that batter. No over mixing. After they've been mixed in there nicely, add the cheese and mix it in there well. With the cheese, it will probably stick together and create chunks, which is fine. You'll just get nice pockets of cheesiness which is always fun.
Red, green, and orange. Remember, you can add different fillings if
you'd like, like onion or other peppers or nothing at all.
Cheese! Again, add any type you'd like. Mozzarella would probably
make a good addition, for example. And you can increase or decrease
the amount according to your preferences
You're batter should come out looking something like this:
Once fully mixed, place inside a baking tin. It can be square or round, depending upon how you would like to serve it. I used a 1 1/2 inch deep round cake pan and mu batter fulled it up pretty well. There's no need to grease the pan, the corn bread will be nice and moist and slip right out when you cut into it. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes until brown on the top and edges (depending upon your oven, you may need to have it in for a longer period of time. I left mine in for about 70 minutes). You can split it between two pans if you'd like, there is definitely enough batter for that, just make sure to adjust the time for cooking so that they both come out perfect.
After a little over an hour, my corn bread was ready! And it seems there was a little bit of a mishap... Maybe I should have used 2 pans instead on 1... Oh well, still turned out delicious and fluffy. Look at the golden brown! Mm, mm, good!
Just a little spillage. Still tasty!
Perfectly golden all around!
And there you have it! I served it along side my turkey stew creation with some basmati rice. But you can serve it along side anything you see fit. It's fluffy and light in flavor with a little kick but will still fill you up!
I hope you all enjoy and make sure to leave me comments letting me know how yours came out and how you liked it!!
Extr-e Extr-e!! Read all about it! Spotted: Seahorse Mating Dance!
Yesterday, for the first time, I got to see some live action seahorse mating! Honestly, it was so cool to see. It's one of those things that I knew about but seeing it all in action is just... so different.
For those of you that don't know the process of seahorse mating, let me explain!
The process for seahorse mating is truly a beautiful thing. The male and female with join in a kind of dance to "woo" each other, entwining their tails together and drifting up and down in the water column. Once the female has decided upon who will be the father, the male fertilizes her eggs internally. Sexy sexy time! At this point, this start to change up a bit. Instead of the female carrying the eggs during gestation, the male will carry them. Male seahorses have a specialized sack below their stomachs that allows them the ability to carry the eggs for the female. You can see the sack in larger seahorses, smaller individuals are more difficult to see. the sack tools like an extra bulge below the stomach that is sometimes a lighter color than the rest of the body. When the eggs have been fertilized, the male will begin to dance with the female again, opening and closing it's sack to take the eggs from her. He will then hold onto the eggs until they are ready for live birth. This can take anywhere between 14 days to 4 weeks, depending upon the species of seahorse.
When the eggs are through their gestation period, the male will squirt them out like a water gun. The babies will be fully recognizable as seahorses only very small. Once born, the babies will have to swim to the waters surface in order to take a tiny gulp of air to fill their gas bladder. Many aquatic animals are born with already filled gas bladders, but seahorses need to fill theirs with air upon birth. This action creates some challenges for seahorses in captivity because, often enough, the babies will sometimes get caught at the surface and die due to the inability to sink easily from the stagnant water of tanks. To remedy this, many aquariums, including the one that I volunteer at, Biomes in North Kingston, RI, have specialized tanks that create a circular current throughout the tank. These tanks are usually circular in shape and are specially made for creatures that need a constant current, like seahorses and jellyfish. This circular current prevents the seahorses from being caught at the surface once their gas bladder has been filled, prolonging their life in that instance.
Below is a video I recorded of the males seahorses dancing with a female opening and closing their egg sacks. I can't stress enough how in aw I was to actually see this in action. And to top it off, there was a little girl there who knew EXACTLY what was happening between them. She's a regular at the a aquarium and she wants to become a marine biologist when she grows up and it just makes me feel so good when I see her because she has such a passion and love for the ocean and the animals within it. I Love seeing that!
Welcome to Echinoderms, Part 2! Who's excited! I am because the two classes we're talking about today are awesome (just like the rest of them :P ). Today's topics are brittle stars and sea cucumbers! Just like what we talked about in Part 1, these guys are part of the Echinoderm phylum. If you haven't seen Part 1 you should! I covered Starfish in there and they are some freaky creatures!
So let's just get started, shall we?!?!? Brittle Stars / Basket Stars - Ophiuroidea
The central disc of brittle stars are reminiscent of starfish. Source
Brittle stars and basket stars are very similar to starfish. They have the same general shape, just a bit more lengthy, and they have tube feet, just like starfish. But they are very different in their own ways.
To begin, brittle stars are just a different version of starfish. They only have 5 arms and have the same body shape. Only.... they don't. A central disc makes up their body and their arms are snake-like extensions. Unlike starfish, the internal organs of brittle stars are compressed into the central disc and have a one way digestive system, meaning they don't have an anus and that food passes in and out of the mouth (gross right?). Also, their madreporite, which allows them to suck in water for their circulatory system, is found on the underside of their body.
Their arms, instead of being solid and stiff, are segmented by plates and are extremely flexible. Small ventral plates make up their arms, connecting their internal organs (the same set up as starfish) and allowing their tube feet to exchange water to attach to surfaces and food. These arms can be voluntarily dropped at a moments notice just by disconnecting the plates at a specific point in order to avoid predators or get themselves out of a sticky situation. These plates can then be grown back through regeneration. On top of voluntarily dropping their arms, the segmented structure makes brittle stars the fastest echinoderms out there. Each plate has a spine on each side, allowing them to grip onto surfaces better than tube feet alone would. This gives them snake-like movement through the water, which fits their class, "Ophiuroidea", which means "snake-like".
A basket star wrapping it's branched arms around a
coral colony. Source
Now, for Basket Stars. They are similar to brittle stars only.... their 5 arms branch like crazy, which is where they get their name. Their exceedingly complicated network of branched arms creates as "basket" of sorts in order to catch prey. Instead of having exposed ventral plates like brittle stars, their body is covered in a thin leathery skin. This allows them to grip surfaces and catch prey better. This skin is extremely thin and is easy to rip off of them to expose their ventral plates beneath.
Basket stars only come out at night to catch prey and can look pretty creepy. When "sleeping", they curl up their tentacle like arms and can easily be mistaken for some sort of growth on rocks or coral (pictured over there << ). But when unfurled in the current, they look monstrous. If you came upon one of those on a night dive, you'd probably be in stunned aw at the size it could be come. They climb on top of corals or rocks or anything really that gets them into the gentle currents of the water and unroll their crazy tentacle arms, swaying in the water to catch plankton or small fish and crustaceans.
So... If you're ever go night diving... Be careful of these creepy cool creatures!
Sea cucumbers are what I consider to be the "Redheaded step child" of the Echinoderm phylum. Why is this? Well, they really don't look like a starfish... or a brittle star... or a sea urchin.... or anything really. And if you just look at it, it doesn't seem to have the same symmetry as the rest of the phylum, which it doesn't. Instead of being radially symmetrical, sea cucumbers are bilaterally symmetrical. This means that they can only be equally split in half lengthwise (like you would a lobster).
Sea cucumbers are cylindrical in shape and have tube feet around their bodies in rows, multiples of fives like the rest of the echinoderms. But! In addition to that, they have these weird tentacles around their mouth that are actually modified tube feet that are used to catch food and shove it into their mouths. Pretty ingenious for an animal that looks and feels like a slug without a shell.
In terms of defense, these guys have some weird ways of doing it. When moved, picked up, or taken out of the water, sea cucumbers do this weird thing with their molecular structure to make them feel like... well, goo. Their whole body goes limp and becomes this gelatinous mess. This action discourages any attack because there's really not much to attack. Plus it feels really really weird in your hands. Now, when they feel there is danger about, they spit out their insides. It's called self-evisceration. Poisonous threads that sit in their digestion tract are expelled to ward off would be attackers and allow the sea cucumber to slowly wiggle away! These threads can be regenerated over time so that they can do it all over again. So... just imagine fending off a bully by pooping threads out of your bum..... Weird right?
I hope you've enjoyed this weeks Marine Biology Facts! Come back next week for more! And if you have any questions or comments, please, leave them below!
In order to move, a jellyfish does not use its tentacles to swim. Instead, it uses the bell shape of the medusa to pulsate water in and out, known as jet propulsion. You can see this is the gif, to the left. They are not very strong swimmers and are mainly influenced by the movement of the currents but this jet propulsion allows them to have a minor degree of control over their direction. Their tentacles trail behind them, as they are only used to capture prey and deter predators. 
