Sea Wolves and Sea Hedgehogs

Mama called us on deck one morning when we were working on school. Without hesitation, Rabbit and I went on deck. A loud barking and a bad smell greeted us. Daddy told us that there were hundreds of sea lions but I couldn't see a single one. As Sila motored toward shore, I searched the water and I was rewarded for my careful searching with nothing. I could hear the sea lions, I could smell them, but I could not see them. With a start, I saw all of them.

Hundreds of sea lions flopped around on the tan shoreline. They blended in pretty well but now that I saw them, they were obvious. Huge males roared at each other as ten or so females grouped around each one. They are called Lobo Marino de un Pelo or, in English, Southern Sea Lion; although the direct translation is Southern Sea Wolves. We all wondered what supported the huge number of sea lions.

As we drew closer, they began to freak out. The young flopped desperately up the rock toward their calling mothers while the huge males snarled at each other as they moved their females up toward the top of the rock. We turned away, not wanting to disturb them too much, and they soon relaxed. We have seen many sea lions in the last few months, including a couple on the poop deck in the Galápagos and several on the docks at Marina del Sur but we have never seen so many in one place. It was incredible.

I stretched out and hooked the buoy with the boat hook. I hauled in the line attached to the crab trap, fingers crossed. Big Jack and I took turns pulling up the trap. When it reached the surface, a major annoyance and disappointment greeted me. The trap was far from empty. In fact there were at least one hundred beings in it. The trap was covered by sea urchins. We had to shake the trap to Mae them drop off and then I picked out the last bunch with needle nose pliers. I learned a cool fact from Florentine Berger, who we met in the BVI. He taught me that the name for these critters in Swiss German translates to English to mean sea hedgehog. Although the name is fitting, it seems a little weird to me. Other than the spines, there is nothing in common between the two. One is a mammal, one is a shellfish. Sea urchins have been around for a long time and have evolved considerably in comparison to the relatively new hedgehog. Also urchins can be microscopic or, in the deep, they can reach the size of beach balls with spines a few feet long. Ours were the size of marbles. There are still a few on the trap although I did my best to remove them.

You may be wondering why I chose to write about these of all animals. We have seen many but these jumped out the most for two reasons. The most noticeable reason is the cool names in different languages. This is not the only reason. I could easily have come up with other interesting name factoids for different animals. The reason that these appealed to me the most was the fact that they are special to this trip. The facts that I know about them, I learned on this trip. Also I would not have seen these animals if we had stayed in Leadville. I think this is the reason for my choice and I hope more special animals will show up. - Porter