THE SIX SIDED OCEAN
Having lived most of my life in the Upper Midwest, I nevertheless feel a very strong connection to the ocean, which serves as the basis for my ongoing collection of felted sea creatures. Along with their amazing backstories, the creatures help bring attention to the environmental plight, and the hope for recovery, of ocean life. I’m drawn to the most unusual looking species: those that seem to defy construction in felt due to their striking morphology, detail, and coloration. The inherent challenges provide insights not only into their remarkable anatomy but also into their strategies for survival.
Sea creatures are under direct threat from overfishing and from death as bycatch, but also from many types of pollution. Plastic/trash (my particular focus) is a significant contributor. The plastics—which eventually break down due to sun, wind and currents—work their way up the food web as they are ingested by larger and larger predators, or become airborne as microscopic particles. In advocating for clean water at the local level by preventing trash from entering our rivers and streams, we are also connecting to the health of the ocean, source of the air we breathe; the ocean which these creatures call home.
Three ways to meet the creatures!
1. Choose your favorite creature in the list below to be taken directly to that creature
2. Tap to see the images with text
3. Use expanded arrows to see full size images without text
Leafy Sea Dragon
Wolf Eel
Water Spider
Warty Frogfish
Splendid Toadfish
Sawsharks
Nudibranch 'Spanish Shawl'
Mola Mola
Nudibranch Halgerda tessellata
Masked Pufferfish
Laysan Albatross
Hawksbill Sea Turtle
Chain Catshark
Bumphead Parrotfish
Selected bibliography
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
LEAFY SEA DRAGON
Steene, Roger. Oceanic Wilderness. 2006. New York:Firefly Books (U.S.) Inc.
Scubazoo. Reef. 2011. New York:Metro Books.
WOLF EEL
WATER SPIDER
Nouvian, Claire. The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss. 2007. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Marshall, N. Justin, and Carol Diebel. "Deep-Sea Spiders That Walk Through The Water." 1995. The Journal of Experimental Biology 198.
WARTY FROGFISH
Steene, Roger. Oceanic Wilderness. 2006. New York: Firefly Books (U.S.) Inc.
Paxton, Dr. John R. and Dr. William N. Eschmeyer (Editors). Encyclopedia of Fish: A Complete Visual Guide. 2015. UK: Red Lemon Press.
SPLENDID TOADFISH
Ibid.
SAW SHARKS
Doubilet, David. Fish Face. 2003. London: Phaidon Press Limited.
American Museum of Natural History. Ocean: The World's Last Wilderness Revealed. 2006. New York: DK Publishing.
Jorgensen, Salvador. Sharks: Ancient Predators in a Modern Sea. 2013. New York: Firefly Books (U.S.) Inc.
NUDIBRANCH 'Spanish Shawl'
Rotman, Jeffrey L., and Barry W. Allen. Beneath Cold Seas. 1983. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc.
Cobb, Gary, and Richard C. Willan. Undersea Jewels: A Colour Guide to Nudibranchs. 2006. Canberra, Australia: Australian Biological Resources Society.
Stone, Gregory S., and David Obura. Underwater Eden: Saving the Last Coral Wilderness on Earth. 2013. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Behrens, David W., and Alicia Hermosillo. Eastern Pacific Nudibranchs. 2005. Monterey, CA: Sea Challengers.
MOLA MOLA
National Geographic. November 2002
NUDIBRANCH 'Halgerda tessellata'
Cobb, Gary, and Richard C. Willan. Undersea Jewels: A Colour Guide to Nudibranchs. 2006. Canberra, Australia: Australian Biological Resources Society.
MASKED PUFFERFISH
Rotman, Jeffrey L. Underwater Eden: 365 Days. 2007. New York: Abrams.
LAYSAN ALBATROSS
Littschwager, David, and Susan Middleton. Archipelago: Portraits of Life in the World's Most Remote Island Sanctuary. 2005. Washington, D.C. National Geographic Society.
HAWKSBILL SEA TURTLE
Witherington, Blair, and Dawn Witherington. Our Sea Turtles. 2015. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc.
Spotila, James R. Sea Turtles. 2004. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Young, Karen Romano. Mission: Sea Turtle Rescue. 2015. Washington, D.C. National Geographic Kids.
National Geographic, October 2019.
CHAIN CAT SHARK
Jorgensen, Salvador. Sharks: Ancient Predators in a Modern Sea. 2013. New York: Firefly Books (U.S.) Inc.
Parker, Steve, and Jane Parker. The Encyclopedia of Sharks. 1999. Ontario, Canada: Firefly Books Ltd.
Forbes. August 26, 2019.
BUMPHEAD PARROTFISH
Scubazoo. Reef. 2011. New York: Metro Books.
https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/fish/tough-teeth-and-parrotfish-poop (Ashley Galllagher, March 2018)
Honeyborne, James, and Mark Brownlow. Blue Planet II: A New World of Hidden Depths. 2017. UK:Penguin Random House.
SPECIAL THANKS...
Former Monterey Bay Aquarium Staff:
Jim Covel, Director of Training and Interpretation
Simone Mortan, Manager: Guide Programs