Blue Scholars Initiative

Welcome to Day 11 of The 12 Days of Biscayne Bay! 🪸🐠🐬🌊 Today's CALL TO ACTION is: SEAS the day and create a path to advocacy and opportunity through swimming. 🤿🏊🩵 - Presented by Karen Beber Futernick, Surfrider Miami

Welcome to Day 10 of The 12 Days of Biscayne Bay! Today's CALL TO ACTION is: Preserve historical sites to maintain our culture and environment. - Presented by Amy Exum, The Barnacle Society

Welcome to Day 9 of The 12 Days of Biscayne Bay! 🐙🪸🐠🌊 Today's CALL TO ACTION is: Reduce your environmental footprint and promote environmentally sustainable behaviors. 🙏🏻♻️🌎💚 - Presented by Barbara Martinez-Guerrero, Dream in Green

Welcome to Day 8 of The 12 Days of Biscayne Bay! Today's CALL TO ACTION: Create STEAM learning opportunities to help youth explore, understand, and positively impact the world. - Presented by Anne Haywood, Mountain to Sea Education

Welcome to Day 7 of The 12 Days of Biscayne Bay! Today's CALL TO ACTION: Utilize art to communicate science and encourage new ways of confronting the climate crisis. - Presented by Beatriz Chachamovits, Environmental Artist

Welcome to Day 6 of The 12 Days of Biscayne Bay! Today's CALL TO ACTION is: Enhance our coastal environments as a Museum Volunteer for the Environment. - Presented by Lauren Reilly, Frost Science MUVE

Welcome to Day 5 of The 12 Days of Biscayne Bay! Today's CALL TO ACTION is: Help promote awareness, understanding, and respect of Florida’s natural world through the Florida Master Naturalist Program. - Presented by Ana Zangroniz, Florida Sea Grant

Welcome to Day 4 of The 12 Days of Biscayne Bay! Today's CALL TO ACTION is: Eliminate single-use plastics to keep our ocean and neighborhoods clean. - Presented by Maggie Winchester, Ocean Conservancy 🌊🛑✋🍴

Welcome to Day 3 of The 12 Days of Biscayne Bay! Today's CALL TO ACTION is: Address environmental threats and raise awareness through sport. - Presented by Merle Liivand, Athlete & Ocean Ambassador

Welcome to Day 2 of The 12 Days of Biscayne Bay! 🪸🐟🐠 Today's CALL TO ACTION is: Champion your local waterways through the “1,000 Eyes on the Water” program. 👀👀 - Presented by Erin Cover, @MiamiWaterkpr

Today, in honor of #GivingTuesday, we launch our 2023 digital outreach campaign to deliver a daily call to action in support of Biscayne Bay. Welcome to Day 1! 🪸 Today’s CALL TO ACTION is: Foster ocean stewardship through Biscayne Bay connections. - Presented by Meredith Bass

Ever wonder what happens to your pumpkin now? Throwing out your pumpkin means a surge for our landfills and more methane gas released into our atmosphere. Instead consider #composting your pumpkin! On Halloween we can also be creative how we dispose of our decorations too! 🎃

Ever wonder about the Colossal Squid? The Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis Hamiltoni) is a massive squid that lives in the deep sea around Antarctica. Measuring up to 46 feet and weighing at least 1100 pounds, it’s the largest invertebrate on 🌎and also has the biggest eye! 👁️

Today is Earth Gives Day! Please support our efforts to engage and empower youth and the community through a connection to Biscayne Bay. We invite you to be an “Earth Giver” to help us continue our mission for our community and our planet. earthgives.org

Ever wonder about Black Mangrove leaves? Some scholars at @SSEDSorg discovered that they are salty on our last Floating Classroom! Black Mangroves have special glands on their leaves that secrete salt, a process that leaves visible salt crystals on the upper surface of the leaf

Ever wonder about sea sponges?These “sessile” invertebrates feed by pumping sea water through the pores covering them filtering out small particles of food. They can filter an amount 100,000 times their size. A basketball size sponge can filter out a pool size amount each day!

Ever wonder about coral spawning? This annual event is where corals simultaneously reproduce. During this synchronized breeding coral polyps release millions of tiny egg and sperm bundles into the water.  Each bundle must find another bundle from the same species to fertilize!

Ever wonder what’s in a name? Scientific names make so much sense! Case in point, the family Surgeonfish (Acanthuridae), a common tropical reef fish that is named because of its sharp spines at the base of their tail or caudal fin that resemble a scalpel used by surgeons! #name

Ever wonder why fish swim in schools? 🐟🐠 It turns out that fish have evolved to swim in schools and exhibit schooling behavior during some phase of their life cycle. They do it to better protect themselves from predators, improve their foraging and swim more efficiently. 🐠

El Nino is a weather pattern where regional ocean waters warm above normal. Warmer ocean = greater chance of hurricanes. But during El Niño, the warm ocean temps change the atmospheric circulation in the tropics resulting in wind shear that can actually tamp down hurricanes! 🌀