The sea temperature data that your class took on the boat is called a surface temperature reading. Do you remember looking at the temperature gauge on the mast of the boat? The temperature gauge is connected to a thermometer at the bottom of the boat, just under the surface of the water.
The Monterey Bay is in a temperate zone; it is an area of the earth mid-way between tropical and cold temperatures.
The temperate zone is a very comfortable place for plants and animals to live. Due to the Monterey Bay’s geographic location, there is a wide variety of animals living in and migrating through it, like the California Gray Whale.
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Questions:
The Sea Otter. The California Sea Otter and the Alaskan Sea Otter are the same species of animal Ehydra lutris, but are divided into different sub-species; Ehydra lutris nereis California, and Ehydra lutris lutris, Alaskan.
Gray whales have their young (calves) in the warm waters of Mexico and then travel up to Alaska to feast on the zooplankton that live in the cold water.