Cree asks about sharks...

Hello!

Cree Housholder has requested information on sharks! COOL! I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about sharks in Norway and on my PhD research on fish stock management. These pictures show the spiny dogfish (scientific name: Squalus acanthias) which is the most common shark in Norway. They don't usually get very big, around 4 feet in length or so. Dogfish got their name because they hunt in packs like dogs. They are piscivorous which means they are fish that eat smaller fish. Spiny dogfish are not considered dangerous to humans, but you bet they'll bite if someone grabs their tail! 'Spiny' dogfish get their name from a spine located on their dorsal (back) fin which can have some poison on it. Careful not to touch the spine if you get one on your hook while fishing in Norway!

Do you think this spiny dogfish above looks scary? It's an albino! That means that it lacks the special pigments that make skin color. So instead is it's totally white with pink eyes! This dogfish also has some black dots on it, so it's not a 100% albino, then. More like 98%! Weird!

Spiny dogfish are fished by fishermen in Norway. People in Germany and England eat dogfish due to the taste and the fact that dogfish has healthy elements of Omega-3 fat and the minerals calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and selenium (Se). These letters I just put in parentheses (()) represent the symbol for these minerals in the Periodic Table of the Elements. The table lists all the chemical elements which make up everything in the world...wow!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table

Here is a dish of spiny dogfish. D o you think it looks tasty? It's ok if you think it's mean to eat sharks. There are many people who do not think it is good to eat wild animals and that they should be left alone. Fishermen have to be very careful that they don't take ALL the fish out of the sea. If this happens then some fish species (types) could go extinct! This means that they all die and can therefore never come back to earth again. Can you imagine the ocean without any fish? I can! The ocean would turn from blue to a green color! This would happen because there would be no more fish to eat the green algea (seaweed) and then the algae would just grow and grow and grow! Yuck! That would be very sad. But if fishermen are careful and smart, they can take only what we humans need to eat and the extra fish can swim around and spawn (reproduce and make fish babies) so that fishermen can take more fish during the next year. This is called "sustainable fishing" and is responsible fishing.

Cold-water marine (saltwater) fish are popular to eat in Norway. Tasty fish that are high in good minerals and good fats (Omega 3 & 6 & 9) are mackerel, herring, salmon, halibut, cod and saithe. These fish help kids grow big and strong and adults to stay healthy with strong hearts and muscles. This is good!

OK, thanks Cree for your interest in sharks! Do you or anyone else have more questions about sharks or fish? Then you can post a comment or question to this blog or send me an e-mail (dolly4fish@gmail.com).

Have a fishy day!!
LOVE, Dolly

FA-Cup: Liverpool vs. Birmingham

Liverpool plays against Birmingham tonight in the quarter-finals of the FA cup. Sorry Hockley's (David is from Birmingham!), it's going to take a lot to stop the Reds' scoring streak! This pic from the 2-1 at Newcastle says it all: Go you Reds!

more BSI team members at the banquet at Mood

SM 2006 (Anne, Astrid, Nina!)

Some pix from the tournament March 17, 2006

Last but not Least

All's well that ends well and we had a great night at Mood in downtown Bergen for the Student Championship banquet dinner. We got last place after being beat 3 games (game against NHH was lost in overtime) but I think we deserved first place for having the most fun at the party!

First we have a team picture, and then a table picture of the other teams in our club. You see Øystein and Sebastian (former players on my men's B-team from 2 years ago, ow playing for the A-team) with a very sentimental trophy given by Stig. Even Marte has high regards for the precious trophy!!
Above you can see Nina really getting into the sing-a-long and finally one last 'skål' BSI A-team women's silver medal! Thanks to all for a fun SM! :)

Basketball Student Championships (Studentmesterskapet)

Hi!

Today the Norwegian Student Championship in Basketball starts. Seven women's university teams from around Norway are participating this year. My team, the B-team for Bergen University, (with me coaching and playing) have a shot for 2nd or 3rd place if we work hard!

So now I just have to get my uniform out of the dryer and get on my bike for the 15 min ride to NHH (Norwegian School of Business, where Aric and James went!) where the tournament is. Our first game is ahainst Oslo University.

For those of you who can read Norwegian, heres the newspaper article about my team's big win (22points) over NHHI (Norwegian Business School). We meet them again this afternoon: they have told us they're looking for revenge!! :)

http://www.studvest.no/sport.php Here's the pic that was in the paper. My teammate, Marte, is picture in white. Look closely to the right and you see my arm! haha!

I'll come back for more tournament updates!

Love, Dolly.

Good news and pix from Ringebu

Hello!

The good news is that I found our camera! I thought I ad lost it on the Biology ski trip to Voss, but instead I had put it in an obscure pocket I hardly use in my backpack. So now I'm posting some pix from my trip to Ringebu (in eastern Norway, 3.5 hours north of Oslo) on the farm (pigs and sheep) visit Ane's sister and her 2 kids (Einar, 9, and Serine, 6) as well as Ane's father, Einar. Ane's mom, Rut, also came the 2 days before I left. You can see a picture of us at the dinner table right before I left.)

We did a lot of skiing and I took Serine to kindergarten every morning at 8 am on the 'spark' or Norwegian sled which you can see pictured. The weather was great! Sunny and very cold, -10 degrees C on average (around -20F ?)

Highlights on the farm were helsping with chores: feeding the sheep and helping Anes sister, Live, give iron shots to the piglets! And we also went swimming at a mountain resort cabin that had a climbing wall over the pool!

Enjoy the pix!
Love, Dolly.

More Pix from Ringebu

Last night Liverpool sadly bowed out of the Champions League (European club tournament), the tournament they won last year (0-2 to Benfica). Oh well, we'll root for Arsenal with Gaute (Ane's boyfriend) now, I guess! And for England (Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carrager, Steve Finnan and Peter Crouch all from Liverpool) and USA in the World Cup this summer.

Simon and I bought 2 new bikes today! Here's the model we got on sale, except ours have hydraulic disc brakes, ideal for rainy Bergen weather with steep conditions. Mine also has a luggage rack on the back for easy load transport.