Episode 20: Just how many kinds of creatures fill Earth’s oceans? We try to check out as many basic classes of animals possible and take some time to mourn the loss of those we only know from fossils. Then, we hear a report on God’s fastest sprinter, the Cheetah!
We get to start on Creation Week, Day 5!
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life…
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind,…: and God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas,…
And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Genesis 1:20-23
Today, I decided to just spend some time blowing our minds with the vast array of creatures God designed to fill the oceans.
Major Classes of Fish:
I found a couple unexpected places to learn about the basic groupings we put fish into:
British Sea Fishing.co.uk: Fish Species Classification (helpful photos of the different types of fins)
Islandic Fisheries.is Cartilaginous fishes
Marine Mammals
The Marine Mammal Center in California has a basic page talking about the families of these fascinating creatures.
Invertebrates:
Star Crinoids: Sea Lilies
Unfortunately, they don’t have many pictures, but Marine Bio has a great article introducing us to the huge array of classes for sea creatures without backbones.
The Permian extinction
We spend a minute learning about a point in the fossil record where many creatures vanish.
Encyclopedia Britannica: The Permian extinction was characterized by the elimination of over 95 percent of marine species.
Since we accept God’s testimony about the World-Wide Flood, we don’t think this happened millions of years ago. Answers in Genesis has a good article to learn more about how Young Earth Creationists look at this sad extinction event.
Extinct Sea Reptiles
Plesiosaur at the Paleo Hall of HMNS Image by Kim Alaniz
I found a listing of the main categories at About.com Education. Unfortunately, they didn’t have many good pictures, so you’ll want to take some time to find out more about them in an image search.
Kids Answers by Answers in Genesis had an interesting mini article on Open Ocean Crocodiles with one cool picture.
Extinct Whale
The Smithsonian is quite proud of their original fossil of the Basilosaurus and the fossil’s history makes an interesting read.
Cheetahs
Image by Zambog
Charity did most of her research at the library, but we found a couple good websites to check out:
PBS’ Wild Kratts episode on the cheetah really got her interested in this animal.
There’s a whole website Cheetah Kids.com to explore
The University of Wisconsin has a page on how the Ancient Egyptians used cheetahs to hunt
Cheetah Populations over the past hundred years is an indepth look at how dependent these creatures are on a healthy environment.
South Africa’s Cheetah Outreach has an accurate breakdown of where current populations are living
National Geographic has some amazing photos, of course, and the ones with cubs are particularly helpful
Shopping
Two useful affiliate links
Running this website and podcast isn’t free. Plus, these materials will help strengthen your kids’ love of learning and trust in God’s faithfulness.
Click to Buy!
Creation Ministries International carries a book called Dragons of the Deep telling about “Sixteen spectacular sea giants” with words written for 12 year olds and up
Click to Buy!
Answers in Genesis has The Complete Aquarium Adventure Book: A Field Trip in a Book for ages 8 and up
…the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? Job 12:8-9
