The wonders of water

Anorak Issue 3

Water is amazing. Most living things need it to clean, cook, splash about and even to survive. In fact scientists think that all life began in water. It is ancient. Most of the water around us was created when the earth was forming so your bath water tonight may have once been a drink for a dinosaur. Imagine that!

Anorak loves water even when it comes down from the clouds because it means we can splash about in puddles. Anorak invites you to celebrate the wonders of this precious liquid at a time when we all need to appreciate it and respect it more than ever.
Water inside us: More than half of the human body is made up of water, which is pretty amazing when you consider all the other things we are made of. It is the most important nutrient of our body. So where does this water exist inside our bodies? Muscles contain around 75% water, Blood contains 83%, Fat contains 25%, Bones contain 22%.

Have you ever wondered what happens when you drink water? Here is its magical journey inside you:
It goes down a tube, called the oesophagus, into the stomach.
The stomach looks like a sack and mixes up water with food and digestive juices.
Water helps to turn any food you have eaten into mush, which is then squeezed into another tube called the small intestine.
Nearly all of the water that enters the small intestine travels into the blood where it reaches the kidneys.
The kidneys take any water the body needs to work. The rest is unwanted, so it gets mixed up with other unwanted liquids from the blood to become urine.
This travels down a tiny tube to the bladder, where it sits until we go to the bathroom.

Water outside us
The earth has a limited amount of water that keeps going around and around and around. This is called the water cycle.
This cycle is made up of three main components:
Evaporation: This is when the sun heats the sea and the water turns into steam or vapour and rises high up in the air.
Condensation: When the water vapour in the air gets cold and turns back into liquid it creates condensation.
Precipitation: Once the air is so heavy and full of water it has to drop it and that’s when it rains or snows.
Then the water cycle starts all over again…
It is widely believed that our seas and oceans are as much as 500 million years old. The seawater travels hundreds of miles before it reaches the sea; it may come down as rain or in a snowstorm then fall into a river that flows to the sea.
The water cycle means that one drop of water will go around the earth. As it travels it collects tiny bits of plants, stones or insects, which all make the water taste salty. The salt and other particles in seawater are important to help keep sea creatures alive. Molluscs, such as oysters and clams take calcium from the seawater to build their shells and skeletons.
So while too much salt is bad for human beings it is actually essential for a lot of creatures.
The saltiest sea in the world is the Dead Sea which has so many minerals and salts in it you can actually float on the surface!

Largest sea creatures:
The blue whale is the largest animal that has ever lived on earth. It can measure as much as 30 metres long. The whale shark is the largest fish in the sea and can grow to be as long as a bus!
Smallest sea creatures:
Plankton are miniature floating plants and animals, which are eaten by small fish. They are so small we can barely see them with the human eye even if we get up close. Krill are tiny shrimps – one krill is probably the same size as your thumb so you would need to eat a lot of these for dinner to fill your tummy.

Ten amazing sea creatures:
The cool Violet Snail spends most of its adult life hanging upside down from a row of bubbles floating on the sea’s surface. The snail blows these bubbles from its own slime as it gulps air.
The cuttlefish is related to squids and octopuses and is very colourful. It can send stripes “flowing” up and down its body. This mesmerizes fish and shrimp that stop swimming to stare until the cuttlefish grabs them in its two longer tentacles ready to eat. Crafty.
The sea turtle eats jellyfish but often confuses plastic bags with jellyfish, which is very harmful to its stomach. It is therefore very important to these creatures and many others that we do not litter.
The coconut octopus protects itself with the shells of coconuts. The octopus walks underwater on the tips of its tentacles with one half of the coconut hanging beneath its body and the other half on top of its head, closing the shells over its body at the first sign of danger. A very clever one we say…
The hagfish (also called the slime eel or slime hag) is one of the most unusual fish in the world. It is the only fish capable of sneezing (which it does to clear its own slime from its nostrils) and the only vertebrate animal that can tie itself in a knot.
The orca or killer whale is the largest member of the dolphin family. It lives in all oceans, both in open waters and close to shore. Groups of killer whales are called PODS. Did you know? The most famous of all whales is the giant sperm whale who was written about in the novel Moby Dick.
The seahorse and pipefish are not only beautiful but they are the only species in which it is the males who become pregnant.
The walrus seal has a huge body with thick, wrinkled, hairy skin like an elephant. The tusks, about 1m (about 3ft) long in some males, are used as weapons in fighting and as hooks in climbing on the ice. Walruses are very gentle creatures and when they are attacked the whole heard will come to the aid of the group member in trouble. How lovely is that?
The pom-pom anemone is a mystery. It can take on a variety of shapes – from low and flat to round and puffy. Scientists aren’t sure why pom-pom anemones change shape and roll around – they might be looking to find somewhere where there’s more food to eat.
The mimic octopus is so intelligent that to confuse fish it actually twists its body into the shapes of other sea creatures. It can copy seahorses, stingrays, flatfish, sea snakes, jellyfish, squid, starfish, crabs, lionfish, and more.