Kelp can be good for you

Kelp is one of the most common salt water plants. Commonly known as seaweed, because of its rapid growth rate, kelp is found in most of the world's oceans. Large areas of kelp growing are called kelp "forests." Sea otters just love making their home among the long strands of kelp and humans harvest kelp for a multitude of products.

Kelp is dried and eaten, it is added to supplements, weight loss pills, pet foods and even cosmetics. Kelp is high in vitamin C as well as lesser known trace elements.

Kelp also has another very important role in the world's ecology. It helps oxygenate the worlds oceans so that ocean life can survive and it gives off oxygen into the atmosphere.

Are you munching on sea shells?

It is amazing to me what people will put in their mouths without even knowing where it came from. Don't you remember that old saying your mother use to tell you....."get that out of your mouth, you don't know where it has been."

Are you just one of the many millions of people that are eating sea shells? Did you know that The best diet pill on the market contains sea shells? The ingredient is called Chitosan and is made from sea shells.

Chitosan is been researched to help in all sorts or other industries as well as the medical industry. It has a rich history of being researched for applications in agriculture and horticulture dating back to the 1980s.

Sea shells by the seashore are not what you thought they were.

The awful truth about fish oil harvesting

How many of you use fish oil supplements in your diet or even your pets' diet. Fish oil is used in everything from dog food to male enhancement pills. Do you ever wonder where that fish oil comes from?

Most people think that the oil comes from the fish that are harvested for human consumption, sort of a by-product. That is not entirely true. The fish the oil comes from is a by-product of sorts but not how you would normally think of.

Fish oil is extracted from fish that are not headed for the human or pet food industry. The fish that were caught while net fishing for other fish are the poor victims of the fish oil trade. I bet you thought that non-edible fish that were caught in the fish nets were tossed back into the ocean, didn't you? Nope, they are headed for the fish oil industry.

Humans.......they want to rape the ocean for everything when they put a net in the water.

Camouflage among marine fish

Have you ever wondered why some marine fish have a large black dot on their bodies? Those black dots are the camouflage pattern of the fish that will confuse the larger fish. The dots are to mimic dark eye circles so the larger fish will aim for the wrong end while hunting for the fish. That allows the smaller fish a chance to get away.

That's my trivia fact for the day.

Should I change the way this blog looks?

After blogger came out with all those new templates, I have been thinking about giving this blog a new look. I guess I am kinda reluctant to change because I like the "clean" look that this blog has right now. I'll give it some thought. Right now I have got a quick chore, a neighbor wants help changing her spa filter. While I am doing that, I'll think about changing the layout. The one thing I do like about the new themes that blogger offers is the option of adding pages. Right now I have no idea what my added pages would be, but it is a nice option to have around.

Aquarium culture

It has been a while since I wrote a blog post about aquariums and keeping fish. Although I am totally against wild caught fish for the home aquarium, I have nothing against captive bred and raised aquarium fish. I also realize that many people and children often have their first experiences with live fish via a home aquarium. What sparked this post was something I saw at a local pet store.

I have seen some pretty odd stuff in the fish sections of pet stores. A few years back it was "painted fish," followed by "neon fish." Both of them had been treated with a chemical that would make them "pretty" to the customer but would kill the fish. This time what I saw was not as harmful but odd to say the least.

Aquarium plants are not only very plentiful, pretty and do well in fresh water aquariums, providing the amount of lighting is correct, they provide extra aeration to the fish and water. That being said, do not buy land plants and stick them completely under water and expect them to survive. One pet store I was in, was doing that. They had potted lucky bamboo, which is a low light terrestrial plant and had them in the tanks with goldfish, completely submerged. What customers will not realize is the fact that the lucky bamboo (which is not at real bamboo at all, but that is another matter) will slowly deteriorate over time. It does make a great semi-wet terrarium plant where it is only partly submerged but not entirely underwater.

Do your research on what aquatic plants do well with your fish and leave the terrestrial plants on land.