Marine Life with Brenda

Tides  Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the Moon and Sun exerted tidal forces and the Earth's rotation.Tides differ between hours and years due to a variety of factors that decide the lunitidal period. Tide gauges at fixed stations monitor water levels over time to make precise records. Gauges disregard wave-induced variations of intervals shorter than minutes. These data are correlated with the reference (or datum) level usually referred to as mean sea level. Tidal phenomena are not restricted to oceans, yet can occur in other systems when there is a gravitational field present which varies in time and space. For example, Earth tide subtly affects the form of the solid portion of the Earth, but this is not as readily visible as the water tidal movements.

Cockles  A cockle is a marine, nutritious bivalve mollusc. While several small edible bivalves are loosely referred to as cockles, true cockles are species within the Cardiidae genus. True cockles exist across the globe in warm, sheltered beaches. The distinctive rounded shells are bilateral symmetrical, and, when viewed from the top, are heart-shaped. There are over 205 species of cockles living here, and many more fossil forms. In Eastern and Western cuisine, cockles are a common form of edible shellfish. At low tide they are gathered by raking them out of the beaches. In the United Kingdom cockles are sold freshly cooked as a snack, particularly in those parts of the British coastline where cockles thrive. Boiled, then seasoned with malt vinegar and white pepper, they can be purchased from seafood stalls, which often also have moulds, whelks, jellied eels, crabs and shrimps for sale.

Mackerel  Mackerel is a general term attributed to a multitude of different pelagic fish species, mainly of the Scombridae family. These are found across both temperate and tropical oceans, mostly living in the oceanic setting along or offshore.  Generally, mackerel species have vertical bars on their backs, and deep forked tails. Most are limited in their ranges of distribution and live in different populations or geographically dependent fish stocks. Several stocks migrate to suitable spawning grounds in large schools along the coast, where they breed in relatively shallow waters. By the way, they look really delicious don't they?! Hahaha