Answer Key
3rd -5th Grade South Carolina Aquarium Worksheet
Created by Aquarium staff and Aquarium Master teachers, Karey Santos and Colette Dryden

Draw a line from the name of each major South Carolina region to the region's location on the map above.

Which region covers the most area in South Carolina?
The Coastal Plain is the largest region covering about 60% of the area in South Carolina.

Which region covers the least area in South Carolina?
The Mountains is the smallest region covering only about 2% of the area in South Carolina.

What is the name of the ocean that borders South Carolina?
The Atlantic Ocean borders South Carolina along 187 miles of coastline.

Draw a small circle on the map where your home is located.

The Mountains
River Otter Exhibit: Watch the otters move through the water. Name three body parts that otters have that help them to survive (adaptations):

Find an example of each of the following in the mountains. Draw a picture of each and label your picture with the name of the living thing.

Producer (a living thing that can get food energy directly from the sun):
All of the plants in the mountains are producers. Some of the plants that may be found in the Mountain Forest Aviary are: trees such as eastern hemlock, mountain laurel and red maple; flowering plants such as trillium, hydrangea and rhododendron; vines such as Virginia creeper; and ferns such as maidenhair fern.

Consumer (a living thing that must eat other living things to get food energy):
All of the animals (the fish, birds, snakes, salamanders and river otters) in the mountains are consumers.

Carnivore (an animal that only eats meat):
Trout, snakes and salamanders are all example of carnivores found in the mountains.

Omnivore (an animal that eats both plants and animals):
River otters and birds such as bobwhites are examples of omnivores found in the mountains.

Piedmont Gallery
Piedmont Shoals and Reservoir Exhibits:
Compare and contrast the fish in the Piedmont Shoals exhibit to the fish in the Reservoir exhibit. List two ways the fish are the same and two ways the fish are different.

Similarities (ways the fish are the same)

Shifting Shorelines Exhibit:
Study the Shifting Shorelines Exhibit then explain why fossilized sharks' teeth can be found in the Coastal Plain region?
Periodically, the Earth's climate has risen in temperature causing polar ice caps to melt and sea level to rise. At these times, the ocean covered the Coastal Plain of South Carolina, and marine animals such as sharks lived there and left behind their fossilized remains.

Coastal Plain Gallery
Brownwater swamp exhibit: What makes the color of Brownwater swamps brown?
Brownwater swamps are brown because of the sediment brought into them by flooding rivers from the Piedmont. The brown color is the clay particles suspended in the water.

Blackwater swamp exhibit: What makes the color of Blackwater swamps black?
The black color of blackwater swamps is caused by tannins, a chemical in tree leaves that stains water reddish-black. The tannins are released when the leaves fall in the water and begin to decompose.

Blackwater swamp: Study the mouth of the longnose gar. Based on its position, where in the water would you expect it to feed? On the bottom or up at the top? Explain your reasoning.
The gar's mouth is shaped to allow it to feed easily near the surface of the water. The gar floats near the top resembling a stick in the water. When the gar is close to a smaller fish, it will quickly snap its scissor-like mouth to the side to catch its prey.

Longnose Gar:

Carolina Bay exhibit: Find a plant that catches insects for food. Do you see any insects in the plant? Why might a plant depend on insects for food?
Carolina bays contain Venus flytraps and species of pitcher plants, both of which are carnivorous plants. These plants trap insects because the soil they live in is low in nutrients. The trapped, decaying insects provide the nutrients the plants need to survive.

Alligator exhibit: How do the shape of an alligator's head and the position of the eyes help it to be a successful predator?
The shape of an alligator's head allows it to swim in the water with only its head visible, which makes it resemble a floating log. The eyes and nostrils are on top of the head, allowing the alligator to see and breathe when all of the rest of its body is submerged. These adaptations camouflage the alligator and allow it to sneak up on its prey.

Saltmarsh Aviary
Find one example of each of these groups of living things. Draw a picture of each one. Label each picture with the name of the living thing.

Vertebrate (an animal with a backbone):
Vertebrates in the Saltmarsh Aviary include the fish, such as the red drum and the stingrays, the birds, such as the white ibis and the great blue heron, and the diamondback terrapins.

Invertebrate (an animal without a backbone):
Invertebrates in the Saltmarsh Aviary include blue crabs, hermit crabs, periwinkle snails and oysters.

Plant:
Plants in the Saltmarsh Aviary include Spartina grass (cordgrass), palmetto trees, black needlerush, yucca, sea ox-eye and sweetgrass.

Why is the saltmarsh a good home for so many different types of animals?
The saltmarsh is home to many different animals because it is a place where freshwater, saltwater and land animals meet. Animals from each of these habitats can be found there. It is a good home for these animals because there is a large amount of nutrients there supporting many food chains.

Coast
Loggerhead Sea Turtle Exhibit and neighboring video: Do the loggerhead sea turtles look like they can walk easily on land? What is different about them as compared to the freshwater turtles in other exhibits?
The flippers of loggerhead turtles are effective for swimming through the water, where the turtle spends the majority of its life. They do not work as well for carrying the turtles 200 to 350 pound bulk up on the beach, so they have great difficulty when they are trying to lay their eggs.
Freshwater turtles are different from sea turtles because they are much smaller (sea turtles are in larger aquatic habitats and the water helps to carry their weight). Because freshwater turtles spend time on land as well as in the water, they have webbed feet instead of flippers, which allow them to walk easily on land as well as swim in the water.

Camouflage exhibit; explain how camouflage helps animals to "hide in plain sight". Why would camouflage be an important adaptation for animals that live in the coastal region of South Carolina?
In the coastal region of South Carolina animals must be able to "hide in plain sight" because their environment is mostly sandy bottom without many crevasses for hiding. Flounder can change their color to blend in with the sandy bottom. By blending in with the sand, these camouflaged animals can hide anywhere in their sandy environment from both predators and prey.

How many flounder can you find in this exhibit?
There are usually about 20 flounder in the exhibit.

Ocean
Consider the various body shapes of fish to complete this table.

Structural adaptation - description of purpose	Animal name and sketch of body shape
This body allows the animal to dart into narrow crevasses in the reef to hide or feed.	Blenny (also wrasses)
This body allows the animal great speed and maneuverability in open water.	Sharks (also crevalle jacks, snook, tarpon, cobia)
This body can change size and shape to discourage predators.	Porcupinefish and other puffers
This body allows animal to fit into irregular spaces to hide and seek prey.	Green moray eels and other eels

List three things you can do to protect South Carolina habitats for other living things.