Tautog are fish found on the East Coast of United States ranging from Nova Scotia to Chesapeake Bay. They can grow as long as three feet and live as long as 30 years. Tautog feed on clams, crabs and snails. Tautog has been fished mostly for recreational purposes and until recently they did not have much commercial value. Because Tautog grow very slowly there is a slight threat of over fishing.

The largest animal on Earth is the blue whale. In fact, the blue whale is the largest animal to ever exist on Earth being nearly double the size of the largest dinosaur. Blue whales, can grow as long as 90 feet and have been known to be as long as 100 feet. It is not uncommon to see blue whales weighing nearly 150 tons. When young, a blue whale can gain much as 200 pounds per day. Blue whales, as big as they are, actually eat tiny shrimp called Krill using baleen instead of teeth to filter out sea water in their mouths and leaving the shrimp behind.

Maine produces the most lobster in the United States harvesting nearly 30,000 metric tons per year. This is more than three quarters of all lobsters produced in the United States. Lobsters are caught via traps that are placed on the bottom of bays and other waterways and marked with specially coded buoys, so that each fisherman knows which traps to pull. People visiting Maine will often see stuffed or toy lobsters colored red in the many gift shops they visit. This makes some people believe that lobsters are red, but in reality they are blue and only turn red when cooked.

Calamari is another name for squid, but it also refers to the popular ringed seafood dish. Calamari is made by cutting the body or mantle into rings. It is usually fried or baked with breadcrumbs and dipped in sauce. The tentacles are also edible and actually have more flavor than the body. The calamari squid are somewhat smaller than the true squid, but both are edible. Other species include cuttlefish can also be eaten.

The well-known work by Herman Melville, Moby Dick, featured an albino sperm whale that attacked whaling ships. Melville's famous story was most likely based on a real albino sperm whale called Mocha Dick that existed in the 1820s. Mocha Dick escaped whalers several times with harpoons in his back, but continue to taunt and attacked whaling ships for several years. Another event that may have inspired Moby Dick was the demise of the Nantucket whaling ship Essex. Sperm whales, although not the largest whale, are the largest toothed whale. Sperm whales are known to dive to extreme depths and eat giant squid. Evidence of this is the ring markings on the sperm whale's skin.

Orcas are killer whales which are part of the dolphin family. Killer whales are social marine mammals that travel and hunt in large packs. They hunt and eat other marine mammals including seals, whales and even dolphins. Orcas hunt in packs similar to wolves by chasing and surrounding their prey. Killer whales live from 30 to as much as 80 years and can grow as long as 30 feet or more. Orcas almost never attack humans in the wild, but there have been several incidents of captive killer whales attacking or even killing their trainers in marine parks.

Red tide is caused by an algae bloom and is the term preferred by scientists. Red tide has nothing to do with the actual lunar tides themselves. One known cause of red tide is the effects of flooding near the coast caused by heavy rains. The water runs off bringing pollutants which could easily spawn an alpha bloom. The algae create toxins that are absorbed by shellfish. When this occurs the shellfish become poisonous to humans and cannot be eaten or harvested which causes major disruptions to the shellfish industry. Eating contaminated shellfish is often fatal.

Georges Bank is a large shelf in the North Atlantic located east of the Gulf of Maine and Cape Cod Massachusetts. During the last Ice Age, Georges Bank was actually an island complete with timber and lakes. When the ice melted, Georges Bank became submerged and transformed into a rich feeding ground for many types of fish and other sea life. The two main commercial fish are haddock and cod. However, it was cod that made Georges Bank famous as early fisherman recall fish so abundant that they would jump right into their boats. Today, due to decades of overfishing, commercial fish populations have crashed.

Salmon are part of a family of fish that are born in rivers, live in the ocean and returned to freshwater to spawn. Trout are also part of this family of fish. Salmon are a very important commercial and recreational fish. Over 90% of salmon return to the same area they were born to spawn. Some communities have ceremonies and traditions related to the salmon runs. There are also several predators that salmon attract including eagles, hawks and grizzely bears. Some salmon runs have been overfished or damned which has reduced populations, but many Canadian and Alaskan runs still produce abundant fish due to strict guidelines in fishing.

Although shark attacks are rare, there are some areas where they are much more common. Even though shark attacks are related to surfers, Florida has the most shark attacks of any other state. This is due to the higher population, warm water and frequent diving. Surfers are often attacked due to the fact that their surf boards and hands looks look to a seal from below which is one of the shark's favorite food. Shark attacks can be reduced with the nets, search boats and watch towers on the beach. Flailing in the water will only attract more sharks.

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