Biology Buds

The Tale of the  Anemone Monster   Among the wonderful fish and colorful corals of the coral reefs,  there  lives a feared monster,  living at the bottom of the sea floor.  Mothers and fathers alike warn their children to never go near  it , for there is no escaping the  vicious   poisonous arms of the Anemone monster.  A curious goby,  and an intelligent one,  was always out swimming into the wonders of the coral reefs. He felt no fear  exploring every inch of the coral reefs for he believed the tales of the Anemone Monster were fictional nonsense.  But on one  particular day , his curiosity and arrogance would get the best of him.  Sifting through the sand of the sea floor, the goby tried to search for  mysis  and brine shrimp  but failed to no avail. He kept searching the floor, tirelessly looking for a snack until he ended up face to face  with the feared monster. At first,  the little goby was not alarmed but instead, interested with what he had encountered . What appear

Every morning for the past few months, to find relaxation in my already relatively stress-free COVID-19 life, I go to my beautiful garden. I go out about at 10 AM to water my plants. Usually, it's sunny, but today the rain did the job for me! I find my garden a quiet place, where I can reflect on my actions, listen to music, read, and paint peacefully. But that's not everything. My garden is also a fascinating ecosystem!   Usually, the green grass, leaves, and long brown vines come to mind when I think of my garden. The considerable rose tree (I'm not sure it's a rose but I hope it is) also comes with that. Magenta, long honeysuckle vines cover one side of my antique white fence, and the other hand flares out with a vibrant bright green passionfruit vine. Hidden between a beautiful jasmine plant is a small spruce green olive tree (an essential symbol in Mediterranean cultures!). Next, to is a diluted green non-ripe Geranium vine just waiting to spur growth. In this

Hi! I decided to do a fairy tale-like analogy! Enjoy😍

It was a cloudy overcast morning, right after a night of rain. While strolling through the streets of the neighborhood ,  I came across these flowers planted on a front yard.  The neighborhood is often quite but later in the afternoon, you will be able to hear children's laughter playing at the school playground nearby.  Crows often make their way to the grasses, picking at whatever food they can find and digging holes into the ground.   This neighborhood is located on a high hill  and  if  I  walk far up the hill enough,  I  can see the water past Montrose Park and even the mountains. It’s peaceful for a morning walk and if you wanted to, biking down the hill is always fun to do.  I see a lot of green in the area, but  also  splashes of pink, purple, yellow and blue from the plants adorning the many lawns of the neighborhood.  On this day though, these colors seemed dull, contrasted by the clouds glooming over and the lack of sunlight.  The mood is somber because of the weather  

            During this Co-vid 19 pandemic, a great place for me to be is on my balcony. My observation is during mid-day with an armada of clouds, a bit of light shining through and a nice breeze. I chose this place because I have a great view of all the trees and plants. I can just watch and listen to the leaves rustling, birds chirping and people laughing. My neighbourhood also has many green trees, grass and colourful flowers I can admire from afar. I can smell the trees and the fresh air and also the sounds I hear are very soothing. When I’m up here I see a lot of green from the trees, blue from the sky and colours from the beautiful houses. When I close my eyes, I hear so many different birds chirping and some few barks from the neighbourhood dogs. Our neighbourhood has many loud birds waking us up at 7 in the morning and dogs barking quite a lot. I can hear the trees moving and their leaves being blown by the winds. When I’m on this balcony I feel happy and calm, all the soun

Anemone Analogy           Anemones are like electric fences for clownfish. We know that anemones have nematocysts that can shock its prey. Just like an electric fence, the fence can also shock anyone who tries to get in. Nemo and Marlin actually live in an anemone because they have a “key” to their home. Their key is a special mucus that they have on their bodies which protect them from the anemone’s nematocyst shocks. With electric fences, people can go through with a “key” as well. They have the ability to turn them off from the energizer panel. So, with the clownfish being able to live in anemones, the anemone acts as an electric fence for the fish and keeps out all the bad guys.