BIOME
The saltwater biome, which consists of oceans and some saltwater bays and lakes, is home to many interesting flora and fauna. Herds of sea otters float near the shores of western North America and Siberia and they seldom leave the water except for mating season. It eats and sleeps while floating on its back. It also wraps itself in floating kelp leaves that are growing from the rocky bottom to keep it from floating away in the middle of the night. The female otters carry its pup on her chest while she paddles on her back until its old enough to swim for itself. The female only has 1 pup at a time. Sea Otters eat abalone, clams, crabs, fish, mussels, tiny octopuses, sea urchins, and squids. They use their teeth or paws, pound one clam or mussel against another, or hammer the shellfish on a rock to break open a shell. Another mammal that lives in saltwater is the Orca. Orcas, or killer whales, swim in pods in oceans around the world, but preferably the cold oceans of the Arctic and Antarctica. Orcas are large mammals and a member of the dolphin family that can measure up to 20 to 30 ft. long and weigh up to 2.7 to 9 tons. It has a glossy back and white underside so if you look at it above or below it, it blends in with the ocean. It has up to 48 teeth in all with 10 to 12 teeth on each side of each jaw. They eat salmon and other fish and sometimes attack small dolphins, seals, and baleen whales. It is not known to attack humans. Each pod communicates with its own set of sounds, called dialect, and their language, delphenese. The saltwater biome is also home to many interesting and beautiful plants. Kelp, commonly known as seaweed, is one of those plants. It is large and brown or green that grows in underwater on rocky shores in cold water throughout the world. It has a variety of size and form. Kelp yields a substance called algin that is used in ice cream, cheese, salad dressing, beer, paper, cosmetics, and many more products to help keep it fresh. It can grow up to 200ft or less than 3ft and when it grows abundantly; it can grow into a giant kelp forest. One species called Giant Kelp has hundreds of branches, each with hundreds of leaves. Another species of saltwater plants is eelgrass. It is found in quiet water in sheltered bays along the middle and northern Atlantic Seaboard. Eelgrass provides a food source for small animals and shelter for many species of marine life. It’s about 1 cm wide and reed-like. Scientists have to plant eelgrass farms to prevent it from extinction. It grows in sandy, shallow waters.