Spiny Dogfish

Spiny dogfish, also known as Mud Shark, Piked Dogfish, Skittledog, Spotted Dogfish, White-spotted Dogfish, Codshark, Thorndog, and Squalus acanthias (in Latin) lives in Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on both sides of North America.

The spiny dogfish/mud shark has dorsal spines, located in front of its two dorsal fins, no anal fin, and white spots along its back.

If the mud shark is captured, it can arch its back to pierce the attacker with its two dorsal spines. The spines are mildly poisonous. The venom of the shark is held in the tissue which is embedded in the groove along the spine. The poisonous sting can be very painful for humans. Their sting might even be lethal, but it is not yet confirmed.

Mud sharks have the longest gestation period among all vertebrates. About 2 to 11 pups are in each litter.

Mud sharks live from 25 to 100 years.

Crabs

Crabs are Crustaceans. Crustaceans don't have backbones and wear their skeletons on the outside. This group includes 52000 species - lobsters (which are bugs), barnacles and crabs. They live on land and in the water. But most - in the water. Once I ate a crab and found cartilage inside the claw. 

Some crabs put sea anemones on their backs to protect themselves from octopuses. Some anemones eat crabs, like this one in the picture from National Geographic.


This is a Ghost Crab. They have this name because they can appear and disappear very fast - jumping in and out of their sandholes.

Platypus

Platypus is a mammal that lays eggs. It has webbed feet. Platypus lives in Australia. It is venomous. It has a duck bill, otter feet and beaver tail. The male platypus has a spur on the hind foot that can deliver the venom and cause pain to humans. An Australian 20 cent coin has an image of a platypus.


We live in Arlington - we cannot get a platypus as a pet. Platypus is a carnivore. It eats shrimp and worms, like that one on the left (anelid worm). Every day the platypus needs to eat one fifth of his weight in food.



This picture on the right is the platypus’ foot with the venomous spur. Platypus does not make a good pet because it has a venomous spur, it eats a lot and its poop smells. When animals flex their muscles they send electric signals.That’s how the platypus finds its prey. It is called “electrolocation”. Platypus find its food by digging with its bill at the bottom of streams where he dives. It swims only by its front feet. And it uses its rear feet to steer.


This is two platypus eggs and an Australian 20 cent coin. They are very small. In the picture down below - these little platipi are young. They just hatched.

Mangos

There are several names for the mango plant: Mango, Mangot, Manga, Mangou. Mangos grow in Burma, India, Eastern Asia and in California. There are two types. One is red and round and comes from India. The other one is pale green (pale orange), elongated shape. It comes Philippines. That’s the kind that grows in California. The fruit grows hanging from the tree by a long stringy stem like in the picture on the left.






Planting
First - eat the mango.

To plant a mango tree you don't have to go through all the trouble of opening the seed pod. All you do is lay the clean hairy mango seed flat on top of a pot of soil and gently press into soil but don't completely cover it. This is the way they do it in Bolivia.

Another way of planting is to open the seed pod and plant the seed about 1/2” below the surface of the soil and water.

If you want fruits you need two plants. But you can start with one.

Snakes

Once I was at Beaver Brook. It was in the Summer. Close to my birthday. I found a snake that was all black with only one yellow stripe along its back. It was about an inch thick and 6 inches long. First I heard my Mom yelling and I ran to her and I saw the snake. When I saw it it just slithered away. Because they can’t run.

I did as best as I could to draw the snake on the right. We looked on the internet and all we found that looks the most like it was the Garter snake.

I know a lot of snake names: Garter snake, Worm snake, Corn snake, Anaconda, Rattlesnake, Cobra, Ringneck snake Redbelly snake, Coral snake. Coral snakes are poisonous. They different colors in different combinations. The colors are black, yellow and red. The poisonous snake has red color touching yellow. Not poisonous has red touching black.

Maybe the snake I found is a new type. If it is I call it the Stripodona.