Florida’s Ocean
Name an ocean animal you might find at a Florida beach
Any answer – sea gull, jellyfish, sea turtle, manatee, fish, shark, etc
Which ocean is frozen most of the year?
A) Atlantic
B) Arctic
C) Pacific
D) Caribbean
B) Artic Ocean
Name 1 animal from the ocean that humans eat
Any animal that we eat
What animal was used as fertilizer and fish bait in some indigenous cultures?
Lobsters
Do rivers connect to the ocean?
Yes! Most rivers eventually let out into the ocean. They’re connected.
Manatees, which are native along Florida’s coasts, are mammals which means they come up to the surface to breath air. How many minutes on average do they come up to the surface to breath air?
True! Manatees are slow-moving mammals who surface to breath every 3-5 minutes on average.
True or False: Kelp has roots
False. Kelp does not have roots. Instead, it is secured by holdfasts that lock onto substrates made of rock, or cobble.
What is the greatest threat to most dune plants?
Humans! Human traffic is the greatest threat to dune plants. Be careful to stay off fragile dune grasses when visiting the beach!
How long can a Whale Shark get?
60 Feet Long
True of False: Litter from a land-locked state can reach the ocean
True! Trash, particularly light-weight plastic items like straws, have been proven to travel hundreds of miles downstream, rivers and watersheds that all eventually lead to an ocean.
What is the world’s largest reef complex? Where is it located?
The Great Barrier Reef in Australia
What do underwater earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, or explosions generate?
A) Freak waves
B) Whirlpools
C) Tsunamis
D) Eddies
C) Tsunamis
How many tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year?
8 million
What is the largest species of seat turtle in the world?
A) Loggerhead
B) Kemps Ridley
C) Leatherback
D) Hawksbills
The Leatherback – they can weigh up to 2000 pounds!
True or False: Harmful Algal Blooms (Red Tide is a famous type of these) can worsen from excess nutrient runoff from land.
True! Nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizer runoff can make algal blooms worsen and last longer
How long have sea turtles existed? For the last..
A) 500 years
B) 10,000 years
C) 110 Million years
D) We don’t know
C) The last 110 million years! Based on fossil studies, sea turtles came to be before dinosaurs
Roughly how deep is the deepest part of the ocean?
A) 36,000 ft
B) 15,000ft
C) 28,000ft
D) We don’t know
A) 36,000 ft. The challenger deep (on the southern end of the Mariana Trench) is approximately 36,200 feet deep.
How many Americans visit the beach each year?
A) 300 Million
B) 400M
C) 500M
D) 250M
B) 400 Million
How can you determine the gender of most species of crabs?
You can determine this by the shape of their abdominal plate
What is the largest inland body of water in the United States?
Lake Superior
In which ocean would you find the Gulf Stream?
The North Atlantic Ocean
Which of the following will result in an increase in the speed of sound transmission in ocean water?
A) Increased temperature
B) Decreased salinity
C) Decreased pressure
D) Increased turbulence
Increased temperature – the higher temperature of the water molecules creates a medium that allows sound to travel faster
What submarine was used in the discovery of the Galapagos hydrothermal vents in the late 1970’s?
The Alvin
How many brains does an octopus have?
9!
What are two things that someone living inland can do to help the state of our oceans?
Anything reasonable