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Nuestro objetivo es mostrar lo maravilloso que es el océano y crear consciencia para protegerlo ��

Nuestra web: oceanmar-project.org

Instagram: oceanmar_project
No te pierdas nuestras stories! ��

23/08/2026

🐧❄️ The love that survives the harshest winter on Earth

In Antarctica, emperor penguins star in one of the most extraordinary parenting stories in the animal kingdom.

🐧 She lays a single egg and, after weeks of fasting to form it, heads back to the sea to feed... leaving the male with full responsibility.

🐧 He balances the egg on his feet, covered by a fold of skin called a brood pouch, and stays like that for over 60 days, without eating, enduring winds of up to 200 km/h and temperatures of -60°C.

🐧 Hundreds of males huddle together in a tight mass, rotating positions to share the cold.

🐧 When the chick hatches —or just before— the mother returns, recognizing her mate by his unique call, bringing food in her crop.

🐧 From there, both parents take turns traveling to the sea to feed the chick, until it can fend for itself.

A lesson in resilience, cooperation, and parental love in the harshest place on Earth. 🌍🐧

19/08/2026

✨🫍 How young orcas learn ✨🫍

Orcas are very special animals because of their unique culture, complex communication 💬 and matriarchal system ♀️. They have a highly complex culture that is passed down by the females from one generation to the next.

But how do they manage to teach all this to the young orcas? 🤔 There are many strategies; below we’ll explain some of the most interesting ones 🫍

1️⃣ Catching prey. Mothers give their calves weak, live prey so that they can learn to hunt in a simple way. 🐠

2️⃣ In slow motion. Mothers hunt slowly and repeatedly in front of their calves so that they can learn how to do it. ⌛

3️⃣ Intentional stranding. They push their calves towards the shore so that they can learn to hunt sea lions; if they become stranded, the mothers help them. This behaviour is common in areas such as Patagonia (Argentina). 🦭

4️⃣ Coordinated wave-making. They teach them to swim in synchronisation to create giant waves and thus knock over blocks of ice. This behaviour is common in Antartica.❄️

5️⃣ Selective echolocation. They guide them to use echolocation to locate the most nutritious parts of their prey. 😋

✍🏼 Have you learnt as much as an orca calf? Share any other strategies you know of.

Share the post to reach more people or save it to view later. 🙌

📸Photographer unknown — happy to update credit upon request.
🖥️ AI-generated images (calf orca)

didyouknow

17/08/2026

🐧 Baby penguins go to preschool

Baby penguins, or chicks, enjoy the shared and devoted care of their parents, who protect them with their body heat until they develop juvenile plumage that insulates them from the extreme cold. However, while they are in their early growth stage and their parents require more food, these chicks gather in groups and protect each other collectively; we call these groups “daycare centers,” also known as crèches.

These groupings occur when the parents head out to sea in search of food, and it is the penguin mothers who work together to care for the chicks.

🦭🥶This is what keeps the chicks safe from predators and the cold, since the mortality rate in the early stages is very high.

Which species use them?

👑 King Penguin: They form dense groups of chicks within their colonies on islands in the South Atlantic and Patagonia.

🔱 Emperor Penguin: The chicks gather in massive nurseries in Antarctica while their parents go out fishing.

How Penguin Nurseries Work

Protection from the Cold: The chicks huddle closely together in large groups to conserve body heat in icy, windy climates.

Defense Against Predators: By staying together, the chicks are better able to defend themselves against predatory birds and other dangers.

Parental shifts: While the vast majority of adults travel to the water to forage for food, a few remain behind to watch over the group of chicks.

What other interesting facts do you know about penguin nurseries?

15/08/2026

¡La competencia más tierna del océano ya comenzó! 💙🌊

En el mar, ser un buen padre o una buena madre puede significar dejar de comer durante meses, cargar a una cría sobre el hielo, proteger cientos de huevos o incluso... ¡que sea el papá quien dé a luz! 🤯

🩵 Esta semana conocerás ocho increíbles estrategias de cuidado parental:
🐙 Pulpo
🦭 Lobo marino de California
🐬 Delfín mular
🦭 Elefante marino
🐧 Pingüino emperador
🐳 Cachalote
🐊 Cocodrilo marino
🐟 Caballito de mar

🗳️ ¿Cómo participar?
✅ Vota cada día en nuestras historias.
🏆 El ganador recibirá un post especial el domingo con todos los datos científicos.
📢 Comparte esta publicación con alguien que ama los animales marinos.
💾 Guárdala para no perderte la competencia.

💙 ¿Quién crees que tiene la estrategia de cuidado parental más sorprendente?

¡Te leemos en los comentarios y no olvides votar en nuestras historias! 🌊

12/08/2026

How far can maternal care go?

Believe it or not, octopuses are molluscs — relatives of snails and clams — and are considered the most intelligent invertebrates on the planet.

Of the more than 300 species, the giant Pacific octopus is the largest, with an arm span exceeding 4 m and some individuals weighing over 50 kg. But its most extraordinary story begins with motherhood...

A female can lay up to 100,000 eggs and spend months guarding them — cleaning, oxygenating and protecting them — without eating. When they finally hatch, her life is almost over.
And this isn’t simply starvation. After reproduction, glands near her eyes trigger a hormonal cascade that drives her body into its final life stage.

Why did such an extreme strategy evolve? Scientists still don’t know for sure. One hypothesis is that this post-reproductive death may help reduce competition (and even the risk of cannibalism) for the next generation.

Months of care. Thousands of eggs. One chance to reproduce. 🐙💙

06/08/2026

🦈 If a shark stops swimming, does it die? (The ocean's biggest myth) 💤

Do you think sharks have to swim 24/7 so they don't drown? 🦈🚫 Hold on! That is actually one of the biggest myths of the ocean.

It is true that SOME sharks must keep swimming to survive, but the reality is that NOT ALL of them need to. It all comes down to how each species breathes. There are mainly two ways sharks breathe: 👇

💨 1. Ram Ventilation:
Species like the Great White, Whale Shark, or Mako DO need to swim constantly. They swim with their mouths open so water is forced to flow over their gills. If they stop, they suffocate.

🧽 2. Buccal Pumping:
Sharks like the Nurse, Lemon, or Reef sharks are much more chilled out. They use their cheek muscles to "suck" water in and actively pump it over their gills. This allows them to lie completely motionless on the seafloor to rest without drowning!

Nerd fact: Many of them have spiracles (small holes right behind their eyes) that act like snorkel tubes to pull in clean water even when they are buried in the sand. 🤿

😴 But wait, how do they sleep?
Sharks don't experience deep sleep like humans do, and they don't have eyelids to close their eyes. Instead, they enter a state of lethargy or active rest. The ones that can pump water simply lie on the bottom of the ocean to take a "nap."

🤖 Autopilot Mode:
And what about the ones that have to keep swimming (like the Great White)? They sleep while swimming! They enter a sort of "autopilot" mode. Their brain rests, but their spinal cord takes over and keeps coordinating their tail movements. They are fast asleep but keep moving forward!

Can you imagine being able to turn off your brain and keep walking to work on autopilot? 🤯🦈

The next time someone tells you that sharks can never stop moving, you know exactly what to say.

👇 Did you know about this shark "superpower"? Save this post and share it with someone who sleeps like a rock at the bottom of the sea!

📸 Visuals by Canva. If any photo used here belongs to you, let us know in the comments and we will gladly update the credits!

03/08/2026

🚫 19 KG OF "NOTHING": The Giant That Died With a Full Stomach
This is the S***m Whale (Physeter macrocephalus), a titan of the North Atlantic capable of diving into the darkest abyss. But behind their massive size lies one of the most human-like and beautiful family structures in the ocean.

💖 The Midwife "Aunts": An Incredible Discovery
Just a few weeks ago, the world was stunned by the first-ever high-quality footage of a S***m Whale giving birth. The most touching part wasn't just the newborn; it was seeing the "aunts" (other females in the pod) surrounding the mother, supporting her, and protecting her during the delivery.

They are a society built on mutual care, loyalty, and family love.

💔 The Tragedy: When Family Can't Protect You
The same species that stays so united is being defeated by something you and I use for minutes and then toss away.
In the Faroe Islands, a whale was found with 19 kilograms of plastic in its stomach. Not even its pod could save it from this human trap:

Artificial Hunger: Plastic tricks the whale’s brain into feeling "full." The giant stops hunting and slowly starves with a "heavy" stomach.

Thirst in the Ocean: As expert Naty A.O. points out, these giants get their water from their prey. Without real food, they die of severe dehydration while surrounded by water.

Fatal Infections: Sharp debris causes internal ulcers and organ failure, leading to a slow and painful end.

🔥 Facts to Think About (and Share):
Natural Nannies: Female S***m Whales babysit each other's calves so the mothers can dive deep to hunt. They are a true "tribe."

Failed Echolocation: Their sonar is powerful enough to detect a squid miles away, but it sometimes confuses the acoustic echo of a plastic bag with that of its prey.

💬 The Question That Hurts:
Knowing that "Auntie" whales work together to bring life into this world... don't you think we should work together to protect their home from plastic? 👇

***mWhale

31/07/2026

🦑💎 Jewel Squid (Histioteuthis)

There are wonders in the ocean, but without a doubt, the creature we’ll be discussing today is a strange yet incredible creature that inhabits the depths of the world’s oceans.

It is the Jewel Squid, also known as the Strawberry Squid (Histioteuthis), a species of cephalopod that stands out for its fascinating and unique characteristics, such as its skin and eyes, which it uses to catch prey and, at the same time, survive its predators in the depths.

It belongs to the class Cephalopoda, family Histioteuthidae, genus Histioteuthis, and inhabits twilight zones known as the mesopelagic zones in all the world’s oceans, at depths of approximately 200 to 1,000 meters.

💎 Skin: It stands out at first glance because it has reddish skin that includes photophores—light-producing organs—along its body. These photophores serve two functions: emitting intense light and blending into the deep-sea environment. This camouflage technique obscures its silhouette from predatory fish below by using backlighting.

👀 Unique ocular asymmetry: This peculiar adaptation has caught the attention of scientists because the creature is born with eyes of equal size, but as it grows, its eyes reach different sizes. The right eye is small and blue, while the left eye is several times larger and yellow, allowing it to capture the scarce sunlight from the surface and detect shadows cast by other creatures as it scans downward in search of bioluminescence from other species on the dark seafloor—a sign that may indicate danger or potential prey.

⚠️ The design of its eyes is potentially useful for surviving in a particularly dark and dangerous environment.

Did you know about this species of squid? Tell us which of its characteristics you found most interesting.

29/07/2026

🌊 The ocean is changing… and it’s only the beginning.

This year, El Niño has officially developed in the tropical Pacific, and scientists expect it to continue strengthening over the coming months.

But what does that mean for marine life?

🌡️ Sea surface temperatures become warmer than usual.
⬇️ Upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water decreases.
🦐 Fewer nutrients mean less phytoplankton.
🐟 And less phytoplankton means less food for fish, rays, sharks, seabirds, and many other marine species.

As a result, many animals shift their distribution, alter their migration routes, or change their behavior in search of better conditions.

Warmer waters also increase the risk of marine heatwaves, which can stress coral reefs, kelp forests, and entire marine ecosystems.

Although the ocean may look the same from the surface, beneath it an entire ecosystem is being reshaped.

If current forecasts hold, these changes are expected to become even more pronounced in the coming months.

🌎 The ocean is always sending us signals. Understanding them is the first step toward protecting it. 💙

27/07/2026

Did you guess it from the first clue or did you need to make it all the way to the end? 🌊
The giant oceanic manta ray (Mobula birostris) is one of the most extraordinary animals in the ocean. With a wingspan of up to 7 meters and the largest brain relative to body size of any fish, it is capable of recognizing itself in a mirror—an ability it shares only with dolphins, elephants, and great apes. 🧠
Despite its impressive size, it is completely harmless. It feeds solely on plankton and can dive to depths of up to 1,000 meters. In Mexico, fishing for manta rays has been banned since 2007, and at the Revillagigedo Archipelago, you can actually swim alongside them. 🤿
Getting to know them is the first step toward protecting them. 🐾
Let us know in the comments which slide you guessed it on! 👇

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