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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.