All about sea animals. Fauna of the seas and oceans
An animal that lives in water for a period of time or its entire life. Many insects, such as mosquitoes, mayflies, dragonflies and caddisflies, begin their life cycle as aquatic larvae before developing into winged adults. Aquatic animals can breathe air or obtain oxygen dissolved in water through specialized organs called gills or directly through the skin. Natural conditions and that live in them can be divided into two main categories: aquatic or.
Groups of aquatic animals
Most people only think of fish when asked about aquatic animals. However, there are other groups of animals that live in water:
- mammals, for example (whales), sirenians (dugongs, manatees) and pinnipeds (seals, eared seals and walruses). The concept of "aquatic mammal" also applies to animals with a semi-aquatic lifestyle, such as river otters or beavers;
- shellfish (eg sea snails, oysters);
- (for example, corals);
- (eg crabs, shrimp).
The term "aquatic" can be applied to animals that live as in fresh water(freshwater animals) and in salt water (marine animals). However, the concept of marine organisms is most often used for animals that live in seawater, that is, in oceans and seas.
Aquatic fauna (especially freshwater animals) are often of particular concern to conservationists due to their fragility. They are exposed to overfishing, poaching, pollution, etc.
Frog tadpoles
Most are characterized by an aquatic larval stage, for example, tadpoles in frogs, but adults lead a terrestrial lifestyle near bodies of water. Some fish, for example, arapaima and walking catfish, also breathe air to survive in oxygen-poor water.
Do you know why the hero of the famous cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants" (or "SpongeBob Square Pants") is depicted in the form of a sponge? Because there are aquatic animals called marine animals. However, sea sponges do not look like a square kitchen sponge like the cartoon character, but have a more rounded body shape.
Fish and Mammals
School of fish near a coral reef
Did you know that there are more species of fish than amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles combined? Fish are aquatic animals because their entire lives are spent in water. Fish are cold-blooded and have gills that receive oxygen from the water to breathe. In addition, fish are vertebrates. Most fish species can live in either fresh or saltwater, but some fish, such as salmon, live in both environments.
Dugong is an aquatic mammal from the order of sirens.
While fish live only in water, mammals can be found on land and in water. All mammals are vertebrates; have lungs; They are warm-blooded and give birth to live young instead of laying eggs. However, aquatic mammals depend on water to survive. Some mammals, such as whales and dolphins, live only in water. Others, such as beavers, are semi-aquatic. Aquatic mammals have lungs but no gills and are unable to breathe underwater. They need to come to the surface at regular intervals to breathe air. If you've ever seen what a fountain of water looks like coming out of a whale's blowhole, it's an exhalation followed by an inhalation before the animal dives back underwater.
Molluscs, cnidarians, crustaceans
The giant tridacna is the largest representative of bivalve mollusks
Molluscs are invertebrate animals that have soft, muscular bodies without legs. For this reason, many shellfish have a hard shell to protect their vulnerable bodies from predators. Sea snails and oysters are examples of shellfish. Squids are also classified as mollusks, but they do not have shells.
Swarm of jellyfish
What do jellyfish, sea anemones and corals have in common? All of them belong to cnidarians - a group of aquatic animals that are invertebrates and have a special mouth and stinging cells. The stinging cells around the mouth are used to catch food. Jellyfish can move around to catch their prey, but sea anemones and corals are attached to rocks and wait for food to approach them.
Red crab
Crustaceans are aquatic invertebrate animals with a hard chitinous outer shell (exoskeleton). Some examples include crabs, lobsters, shrimp and crayfish. Crustaceans have two pairs of antennae that help them receive information about their environment. Most crustaceans feed on the floating remains of dead plants and animals.
Conclusion
Aquatic animals live in water and depend on it for survival. There are various groups of aquatic animals, including fish, mammals, molluscs, cnidarians and crustaceans. They live either in freshwater bodies (streams, rivers, lakes and ponds) or in salt water (seas, oceans, etc.), and can be either vertebrates or invertebrates.
A huge number of living creatures live in water. Life in the World Ocean is more diverse than on the surface of the Earth: it is represented by microscopic organisms, animals, fish, and plants. The world's oceans are formed by four oceans - the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic, each of which is inhabited by its own inhabitants.
Flora
Plants of the World Ocean are represented by various species. Each of the four oceans is home to its own species of plants.
Rice. 1. Diverse plants of the World Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The flora here is represented by phytoplankton. There are about 400 species of algae in the Pacific Ocean. Sea grasses and flowers are represented by only 30 species. Tropical areas are home to coral reefs and red and green algae. Where the water is colder, brown algae live. Most of the plants are in shallow water. Giant algae up to several meters long live at depth.
Arctic Ocean
The conditions here are quite harsh, so the underwater flora is not very diverse. Only unicellular algae actively develop here. IN cold water There are about 200 species of them in the ocean.
Atlantic Ocean
The flora here is more diverse. Both algae and flowering plants live in warm water. The most common flowers are Oceanic Posidonia and Zostera.
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Posidonia is the most ancient plant species. Its age is 100,000 years. Plant organisms living at the bottom are the largest.
Fig.2. The oldest plant in the ocean
Indian Ocean
The plants here are mainly represented by red algae. The Indian Ocean has the largest number of coral reefs.
Animal world
The animals that live in the oceans are very diverse. This depends on the depth of their residence and the temperature of the water. The animals of the World Ocean are far from fully studied.
Arctic Ocean
Like plants, there are very few animals in this cold water. Large inhabitants of this ocean:
- all types of cetaceans,
- belugas,
- narwhals,
- a rare species - the bowhead whale.
Several species of seals live here.
Rare fish are found in the Arctic Ocean. That's what it's called - ice fish. Her blood does not freeze even at sub-zero temperatures.
Indian Ocean
The fauna of this ocean is very diverse. Here you can find a huge number of deep-sea crabs of the most different types. An interesting representative of the fauna of the Indian Ocean is a fish called the mudskipper. Her peculiarity is that she can jump to a height of more than 30 cm.
There are a lot of sharks in the Indian Ocean. The following species live here:
- The mako shark is the fastest shark in the world, it can move at a speed of 50 km. per hour;
- big blue shark - its length reaches 4 m, its back is dark blue;
- great white shark - can reach up to 6 meters in length.
Atlantic Ocean
About 1000 species of animals live here. There are quite a lot of dangerous predators here: barracuda is a 2-meter fish with a lot of sharp teeth. The moray eel is a three-meter eel that hides in the reefs.
Pacific Ocean
Since it is the largest in the world, its waters are home to more than half of all ocean inhabitants. A lot of whales live here.
The seas and oceans are home to several million species of amazing creatures. This rich biodiversity is truly amazing, as underwater you can find creatures of all colors, shapes and sizes. Some of them seem creepy and dangerous, while others delight in their beauty. In this selection you will find some of the most spectacular sea creatures. No depths of space can yet compare with the beauty hidden in the depths of the Earth’s oceans, and it’s time to see it for yourself!
25. Tangerine fish
This colorful fish lives in the tropical waters of the western Pacific Ocean. The mandarin duck is a small elongated coral fish up to 6 cm long. This animal gained fame precisely for its rich color and unusual shape, which is why it is even sometimes called the “psychedelic mandarin duck.” It is very popular as an aquarium pet, but is extremely picky when kept in captivity and often dies of hunger, refusing to eat store-bought food.
24. Ceriantharia 
Here is a coral polyp that lives in various parts of the world, mainly in subtropical waters. As a larva, the ceriantharia usually lives right inside the plankton, and, having matured, it prefers to burrow into the ground and hunts using its mouth end with many sensitive tentacles. This animal comes in a wide variety of fluorescent shades and color combinations, which is why it is considered a popular aquarium pet.
23. Flamingo tongue or thick tsifoma 
Photo: Laszlo Ilyes / flickr
Widely distributed among the reefs of the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans, the flamingo's tongue is a brightly colored mollusk that feeds on poisonous polyps. When a tsifoma absorbs the poison of its prey, it itself becomes toxic, but this does not threaten it with death.
22. Blue Tan 
Photo: Tewy/wikimedia
One of 70 species of surgeonfish, the blue tan lives in coastal waters, on coral reefs and among rocks or seaweed along the coastline from New York to Brazil and is even found as far east as Ascension Island. The fish is famous for its spines, which resemble a surgical scalpel, which is why this species got its unusual name.
21. Mantis Shrimp 
Photo: prilfish / flickr
This crustacean lives in warm waters Pacific and Indian oceans, and is rightfully considered one of the most attractive and colorful species of underwater animals. This shrimp has very unusual and extremely complex eyes. The mantis crab sees in the optical, ultraviolet and infrared spectrum, and is also capable of converting polarized light, in which it is assisted by millions of light-sensitive cells.
20. French angelfish or angelfish 
Photo: Brain Gratwicke / flickr
Angelfish are found in the west Atlantic Ocean, in the Strait of Mexico and in the Caribbean Sea. This amazing tropical fish is easy to distinguish from other inhabitants of the underwater kingdom by its dark color with bright yellow stripes.
19. Leaf sea dragon or rag seahorse 
Photo: lecates/flickr
This delightful creature is found in the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean off the Australian coastline. The favorite habitat of the leafy (sometimes deciduous) sea dragon is coral reefs and shallow waters, where it is warm enough, but not too hot, and there are all the conditions for camouflage during hunting and to hide from predators. The raghorse grows up to 20 cm in length, and is in danger of destruction due to industrial waste and poaching - it has become too popular among aquarium enthusiasts.
18. Sea Spider 
Sea spiders are in no way related to land spiders, and are a much simpler form of life. These small marine arthropods live in almost all parts of the world and in most seas. In the world they are found almost as often as their land namesakes.
17. Formosa jellyfish or flower cap jellyfish 
Photo: Chris Favero / flickr
This animal is very similar to the common jellyfish, but in fact it belongs to the class of hydroid invertebrates, while the jellyfish belongs to the scyphoid cnidarians. The flower-cap jellyfish is found in the western Pacific Ocean off the coastal waters of Japan. The beauty of the Formosa is both captivating and dangerous, because it is better not to get to know it better, because this animal can sting very painfully.
16. Harlequin crab 
Photo: Bernard Dupont / flickr
The harlequin crab (Lissocarcinus laevis) has caught our attention with its amazing color and is most often found near the coral polyps of coastal areas or among the rocky reefs of the Indo-Pacific region. It is noteworthy that his last pair of legs have fused into a single fin.
15. Banggai cardinal fish 
Photo: Bernard Dupont / flickr
This charming fish lives in warm tropical waters and is easily recognized by its silver color with vertical black stripes. Unfortunately, the cardinal is an endangered species, and today its habitat has narrowed to the coastal waters of the Indonesian island of Banggai.
14. Spotted bracken 
Photo: Brian Gratwicke / flickr
The flat, disc-shaped body of this impressive stingray reaches up to 3 meters in width, making it the largest of the eagle rays, with the exception of the giant sea devil (4 - 4.5 m). The spotted eagle ray is very active and swims long distances in its life, hunting marine invertebrates and small fish.
13. Clownfish 
Photo: Ritiks/wikimedia
She is an orange amphiprion, she is also an anemonefish. The clown anemone is famous for its white and orange striped color, and is rightfully considered one of the most recognizable corals. Amphiprion grows up to 11 cm in length, and its favorite habitat is sea anemones, a group of coral polyps. In order to successfully hide from predators among the stinging tentacles of sea anemones, the clown fish reproduces the composition of the mucus of the polyp and enters into a symbiotic relationship with this species of sea cnidarians.
12. Harlequin shrimp 
Photo: Chad Ordelheide/wikimedia
The harlequin shrimp is a popular aquarium pet. This arthropod is native to the tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans and is easily recognized by its white body with large light blue spots. Male harlequin shrimp are smaller than females of their species.
11. Blue Dragon 
Photo: Sylke Rohrlach / flickr
The blue dragon is a species of gastropod and a member of the order nudibranch gastropods (snails). It is small in size and grows only 3 cm in length. The blue dragon is found in many temperate and tropical seas.
10. Discus fish 
Photo: Biotopica, criadero de peces disco / Wikimedia
One of the most beautiful tropical fish in the world lives in the Amazon River basin in South America. The expressive shape and bright color of the discus have become the reason for its great popularity among aquarium enthusiasts. Among the people, discus even received the nickname “king of aquariums”.
9. Sea anemone Venus flytrap 
Photo: NOAA Photo Library / flickr
Nicknamed after its namesake plant, this anemone deserves this comparison because it has a similar digestive mechanism. The marine Venus flytrap is a large deep-sea polyp that hunts by capturing prey in its “mouth” as it swims into a living “trap.” The bright anemone scares off predators, but is great for attracting the smallest underwater inhabitants.
8. Royal starfish 
Photo: Julie Worthy Photography
Here is one of the most outstanding sea stars, living at a depth of 20-30 m in the mid-continental shelf in the western Atlantic Ocean. The starfish is a carnivore and feeds on shellfish, which it catches with its ray-like arms, throwing the prey directly into its mouth.
7. Slug of the species Berghia Coerulescens 
Photo: Wikimedia
The shellless sea snail Berghia Coerulescens is a species of sea slug that lives in the central and western Mediterranean and the northern Atlantic Ocean. This underwater animal of a charming color grows up to 7 cm in length, and has so far been little studied by biologists.
6. Zebra Lionfish 
Photo: Alexander Vasenin / wikimedia
It is also called zebra fish or striped lionfish. The zebra lionfish lives on the reefs and rocky crevices of the Indo-Pacific region, although it has recently begun to be found in the tropical waters of other oceans around the world. They are eaten in some countries, but striped lionfish are much more famous among aquarium hobbyists than among gourmets.
5. Short-faced seahorse 
Photo: Hans Hillewaert / wikimedia
The short-faced seahorse is an inhabitant of the Mediterranean and northern waters of the Atlantic Ocean. This animal is medium in size and grows up to 13 cm in length. The Mediterranean seahorse loves murky shallow waters, estuaries and seagrass beds.
4. Lagoon triggerfish or triggerfish 
Photo: Wikimedia
This remarkable tropical fish is native to the Indo-Pacific region and prefers to lurk on reefs. The lagoon triggerfish is also sometimes called the Picasso triggerfish, and in Hawaii locals call it "humuhumunukunukuapuaa." Did you read everything without hesitation?
3. Green sea turtle 
Photo: Brocken Inaglory / wikimedia
The green or soup turtle lives in tropical and subtropical coastal waters around the world. This is a large and heavy animal with a wide and smooth shell. The green turtle deservedly received the title of the world's largest turtle, since some representatives of this species weigh up to 320 kg.
2. Nudibranch Phyllidia Babai 
Photo: Nick Hobgood/wikimedia
This nudibranch species of sea slug is distinctively colored and is found in the Pacific waters of Papua New Guinea, South Korea and Australia.
1. Crown of thorns starfish 
Photo: Jon Hanson/flickr
This cute bottom dweller of the Indo-Pacific region feeds on coral reefs. Despite its attractive appearance, this starfish is considered a serious pest due to its gluttony, and poses a great danger especially to the Great Barrier Reef. For humans, this animal is also not best friend, because his injections are painful and quite toxic. The crown of thorns can be very different colors from deep red to orange, green or shades of blue.
The underwater world is extremely diverse; new species of marine fish and animals are constantly being discovered. Over 30,000 species of fish and an uneven number of mollusks and crustaceans live on Earth. Let's try to illuminate a small part of them.
SHARKS- one of the most formidable inhabitants of the ocean. The absence of bone tissue and gill covers, the structural features of the scales and many other structural features indicate their ancient origin, which is confirmed by paleontological data - the age of the fossil remains of the first sharks is approximately 350 million years. Despite the primitiveness of their organization, sharks are one of the most advanced predatory fish in the ocean.
Over a long period of existence, they have managed to perfectly adapt to life in the water column and now successfully compete with bony fish and marine mammals. Unlike bony fish, sharks and rays do not spawn, but lay large, cornea-covered eggs or give birth to live young.
Whale sharks (up to 20 meters) and the so-called giant sharks (up to 15 meters) reach the largest size. Both of them, like baleen whales, feed on planktonic organisms. With their mouths wide open, these sharks slowly swim in the thick of plankton accumulations and filter water through gill openings covered with a network of special outgrowths of the surrounding tissue. A giant shark filters up to one and a half thousand cubic meters of water in an hour and removes from it all organisms larger than 1-2 millimeters.
There is very little information about the reproduction of planktonic sharks. The eggs and embryos of the basking shark are generally unknown. The smallest specimens of this species are 1.5 meters long. A whale shark lays eggs. It is safe to say that these are the largest eggs in the world, their length reaches almost 70 centimeters, width - 40. Planktivorous sharks are slow and not at all aggressive. Whale sharks are not at all dangerous to humans.
Some species of sharks live near the bottom and feed on bottom-dwelling mollusks and crustaceans. These are small (no more than a meter in length) cat sharks. They live near the coast, often forming large schools.
Sharks of other species are found in the open ocean, and they do not form schools, but prowl alone or in small groups. It happens that such sharks approach the shores, and most of the attacks on swimming people are carried out by them. Among these predators, the most dangerous are white, blue-gray, tiger, blue, longarm and hammerhead sharks. Although statistics show that there are much fewer cases of deaths from sharks than is commonly believed, you should still be wary of any shark whose length exceeds 1 - 1.2 meters, especially when there is blood or food in the water. Sharks have a phenomenal ability to detect a wounded or helpless animal at a great distance by its convulsive movements or by blood entering the water.
Different types of sharks lead different lifestyles and are quite different from each other in body structure and behavior. Together with stingrays, sharks belong to the most primitive group of fish, which is called cartilaginous, since their skeleton consists only of cartilage and is completely devoid of bone tissue. If you stroke a shark or ray from head to tail, their skin will appear only slightly rough, but when you move your hand in reverse direction You will feel sharp teeth like coarse sandpaper. This happens because each scale of cartilaginous fish is equipped with a small spine, pointing backwards. The outside of the pin is covered with a layer of durable enamel, and its base in the form of an expanding plate is embedded in the skin of the fish. Inside each scale are blood vessels and a nerve. At the edges of the mouth there are larger scales, and in the oral cavity of sharks the spines of the scales reach a significant size and no longer serve as coverings, but as teeth. Thus, shark teeth are nothing more than modified scales.
Sharks' teeth, like their scales, are staggered and sit in several rows. As one row of teeth wears out, new ones grow to replace them, located in the depths of the mouth. The shark does not chew food, but only holds, tears and tears at it, swallowing pieces as large as can pass through its wide throat.
Cartilaginous fish do not have gill covers, so on each side of the shark’s body, 5 to 7 gill slits are visible behind the head. By this external feature, sharks can be easily and accurately distinguished from other fish. The stingray's gill slits are located on its ventral side and are hidden from the observer's eye.
It should be noted that these animals, despite the aversion people feel towards them, are of great commercial importance. Their meat, skin and liver oil are used, which contains several tens of times more vitamin A than cod liver oil. Salted, smoked and specially prepared fresh meat of many species of sharks is distinguished by high taste. One of these fish, whose fins are used to make soup (the pride of Chinese cuisine), was even called a soup shark.
WHALES- the largest animals on our planet.
The prehistoric ancestors of whales lived on land and walked on four legs. True, in those days they were not as large as they are now. The body structure of whales began to change about 50 million years ago - it was then that they moved to the ocean, and it was in the water that some of them became giants. This is how the largest animals on Earth appeared - blue whales. Their length can exceed 26 meters and their weight is 110 tons.
Whales move through the water using a tail equipped with two powerful blades. This is the tail fin. Unlike fish, which swim by moving their tail from side to side, cetaceans swing their tail forcefully up and down.
Whales have pectoral fins located in front on both sides of the body. Even before whales moved to the sea, they used their current pectoral fins to move on land. Now whales use them as steering and braking rudders, and sometimes to repel enemy attacks, but not for swimming.
Most whales have a fixed fin on their back that helps them maintain stability when moving through the water. Fins can be small or large, depending on the size of the whale.
The blowholes of whales are located on the top of the head; they open only for a short moment of inhalation and exhalation, when the whale floats to the surface of the water. Whale lungs have a large volume, and whales can stay under water for a long time without breathing, and even dive to a depth of more than 500 meters, and sperm whales - to a depth of more than one kilometer.
Whales look like huge fish, but they are not fish, but mammals, and internal structure they have almost the same as humans. And whales, like other mammals, feed their young with milk. Whales are warm-blooded animals, and they are protected from hypothermia by a thick layer of subcutaneous fat.
From the very moment it is born underwater, a whale calf is completely dependent on its mother and stays close to her all the time. It will take many months, and sometimes years, before the baby whale can take care of itself.
The first thing a newborn whale does, even though it cannot swim yet, is to float to the surface of the water and breathe in air. The mother and sometimes other females help in this matter. After about half an hour, the cub will learn to swim on its own.
Baby whales learn by imitating adults. They tumble, dive and float to the surface with their mother. Kithi not only teach babies, but also play with them with pleasure. Female gray whales love a special game: they swim under their calves and blow air bubbles from their blowholes, thus causing the little whales to spin.
The cubs swim, almost clinging to their mother. They are carried by the waves that form around her body and underwater currents. And it’s really easy to swim if you hang on the mother’s dorsal fin.
For orientation, whales make sounds that the human ear cannot detect. The whale's brain is a real sonar that picks up sound signals reflected from various items in the water, and determines the distance to them.
Whales feed mainly on fish or small crustaceans. They swim with their mouths open, filtering water through special plates called whalebone. Whales consume up to 450 kilograms of food every day. That's why they grow so huge!
Some whales, called odontocetes, do not have baleen, but do have teeth. Toothed whales, sperm whales, feed on huge squids, in search of which they dive to great depths.
Despite their size, whales are unusually graceful. They are not only excellent swimmers, but also acrobats: they can jump, wave their butterfly-like tail over the water, and glide through the waves, sticking their heads out of the water like a periscope. Some scientists believe that the noise that whales make when they hit the water with their tails or splash into the water after a jump is a conditioned signal for their relatives. But perhaps the whales are just playing.
People have been hunting whales for a long time. Nowadays, there are very few of these sea giants left, and they are taken under protection.
RAYS are a superorder of elasmobranch cartilaginous fishes, which includes 5 orders and 15 families. Stingrays are characterized by pectoral fins fused to the head and a rather flat body. Stingrays mainly live in the seas. Several freshwater species are also known to science. The color of the upper part of their body depends on where exactly the stingrays live. It can be either black or very light.
Stingrays are found throughout the world, including the Arctic Ocean and the coast of Antarctica. But the easiest way to see them with your own eyes is off the coast of Australia, where stingrays love to scratch their bellies on the coral reef.
Stingrays are the closest relatives of sharks. Outwardly, of course, they are not similar, but they, like sharks, are made of cartilage, not bones. Stingrays, along with sharks, are one of the most ancient fish, and in earlier times their internal similarities were complemented by external ones. Until life begins to flatten the stingrays, excuse me. As a result, sharks are doomed to scurry around in the water, and rays are doomed to lie sluggishly on the bottom.
The lifestyle of stingrays has determined their unique respiratory system. All fish breathe through gills, but if a stingray tried to be like everyone else, it would suck silt and sand into its delicate insides. That's why stingrays breathe differently. They inhale oxygen through squirters, which are located on their back and are equipped with a valve that protects the body. If, nevertheless, some foreign particle gets into the sprayer along with the water - sand or plant remains, the stingrays release a stream of water through the sprayer and throw out the foreign object along with it.
Stingrays are unique waterfowl butterflies. This analogy can be drawn based on how stingrays move in water. They are also unique in that they do not use their tail when swimming, as other fish do. Stingrays move by moving their fins, resembling butterflies.
Stingrays come in a wide variety of sizes, from a few centimeters to seven meters. And they also differ from each other in behavior. While most of them lie at the bottom, buried in the sand, some of them love to jump above the water, shocking impressionable sailors for a long time and inspiring them to write sea legends. Particularly distinguished by this is perhaps the most famous of all stingrays, the manta ray or sea devil. When suddenly a seven-meter winged creature weighing two tons flies out of the sea abyss and a moment later disappears again into the depths, dragging a black pointed tail behind it - this spectacle is truly worthy of a detailed story.
But the sea devil is not as scary as the electric stingray. The cells of his body are capable of generating electricity up to 220 volts. And there are countless divers who have been electrocuted by an electric stingray.
However, all stingrays produce electricity, but not as strong as the electric stingray. The spiny-tailed ray prefers a different type of weapon. He kills with his tail. It plunges its sharp tail into the victim, then pulls it back - and since the tail is studded with spikes, the wound ruptures.
But they enter into battle only for the sake of self-defense. They feed on mollusks and crustaceans. For this reason, they do not even need sharp, shark-like teeth. Stingrays grind their food with spike-like protrusions or plates.
SWORDBA- the order of perciformes, the only representative of the swordfish family. Length up to 4-4.5 m, weighs up to 0.5 tons. The upper jaw is elongated into the xiphoid process. It is found mainly in tropical and subtropical waters, and is found sporadically in the Black and Azov Seas. When swimming, it can reach speeds of up to 120-130 km/h. It is an object of fishing.
Among the numerous and diverse inhabitants of the seas and oceans, swordfish is one of the most interesting predators. The swordfish received its name due to its highly elongated upper jaw, called the rostrum, which has the shape of a pointed sword and makes up up to a third of the entire length of the body. Biologists consider the rostrum to be a weapon that swordfish use to stun prey by bursting into schools of mackerel and tuna. The swordfish itself does not suffer from the blow: at the base of its sword there are peculiar fatty shock absorbers - cellular cavities filled with fat and softening the force of the blow. There are known cases when swordfish pierced through thick planks of ship plating. The reason for the attack of swordfish on ships has not yet received a precise explanation. Interpretations such as, for example, mistaking the vessel for a whale due to fast swimming, and “rabies” are purely speculative.
Swordfish is rightfully considered the fastest swimmer among all the inhabitants of the deep sea. She can swim at a speed of 120 km per hour. The swordfish is capable of developing such speed due to some structural features of its body. The sword greatly reduces drag when moving in dense water. In addition, the torpedo-shaped, streamlined body of an adult swordfish is devoid of scales. In swordfish and its closest relatives, gills are not only a respiratory organ, they serve as a kind of hydrojet engine. There is a continuous flow of water through the gills, the speed of which is regulated by the narrowing or widening of the gill slits. The body temperature of such fish is 12 - 15 degrees higher than the ocean temperature. This provides them with a high “starting” readiness, allowing them to unexpectedly develop amazing speed when hunting or evading enemies.
Swordfish reaches a length of 4.5 meters and weighs up to 500 kg. She lives mainly in the open ocean and approaches the shore only during the spawning season. Swordfish are solitary wanderers. Sometimes in the ocean near a large concentration of fish you can see several dozen swordfish, but they do not form schools - each predator acts independently of its neighbors.
Swordfish meat is very tasty. However, consuming its liver is dangerous - it contains excess vitamin A.
OCTOPUS. They do not have a hard skeleton. Its soft body has no bones and can bend freely in different directions. The octopus was named so because eight limbs extend from its short body. They have two rows of large suction cups, which the octopus can use to hold prey or attach to rocks at the bottom.
Octopuses live near the bottom, hiding in crevices between rocks or in underwater caves. They have the ability to change color very quickly and become the same color as the ground.
The only hard part of an octopus's body is its horny beak-like jaws. Octopuses are true predators. At night they get out of their hiding places and go hunting. Octopuses can not only swim, but also “walk” along the bottom by rearranging their tentacles. The usual prey of octopuses are shrimp, lobsters, crabs and fish, which they paralyze with poison from the salivary glands. With their beak they can break even the strong shells of crabs and crayfish or shells of mollusks. Octopuses take their prey to a shelter, where they slowly eat it. Among octopuses there are very poisonous ones, the bite of which can be fatal even to humans.
Octopuses often build shelters from stones or shells, using their tentacles as hands. Octopuses guard their home and can easily find it even if they have gone far away.
For a long time, people have been afraid of octopuses (octopuses, as they called them), writing terrible legends about them. The ancient Roman scientist Pliny the Elder talked about a giant octopus - “polypus”, which stole fishing catches. Every night the octopus climbed onto the shore and ate the fish lying in the baskets. The dogs, smelling the octopus, started barking. The fishermen who came running saw the octopus defending itself from the dogs with its huge tentacles. The fishermen had difficulty coping with the octopus. When the giant was measured, it turned out that its tentacles reached a length of 10 meters, and its weight was about 300 kilograms.
GARFISH- or “sea pike” is a fish of the garfish genus.
The turquoise-colored common garfish is one of the fish that can dance above the surface of the water. Faster and faster they move towards the light, just for fun or to “escape” from danger. This fast and graceful predator has a narrow body. Small sharp teeth on a peculiar beak allow the garfish, while swimming quickly, to grab small prey - herring, crustaceans. Garfish are found in large numbers in the Black and other seas.
In the spring, garfish begin their reproductive period: along the coast they lay round eggs, which are attached to algae and other aquatic vegetation with the help of thin sticky threads. Garfish larvae are born without a beak; it appears only in adult individuals. In winter, garfish move to the open sea.
Garfish are predominantly marine inhabitants, distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate oceans. Some of them reach a length of 1.5 m and a weight of 4 kg. This large family, numbering about 12 genera, is represented in the Black Sea by only one species - Belone belone euxini.
The Black Sea garfish, or, as it is also called, sea pike, has a typical arrow-shaped body covered with small silvery scales. The back is green. The length is usually up to 75 cm. This schooling pelagic fish has elongated jaws in the form of a sharp beak.
Lives 6-7 years, reaches sexual maturity in one year.
Once upon a time, garfish, being one of the most delicious fish of the Black Sea, was rightfully one of the top five commercial species caught off the coast of Crimea. The total annual catch of garfish reached 300-500 tons. Often large specimens were caught in the nets of Crimean fishermen - about 1 m long and weighing up to 1 kg.
SEA STARS- animals whose body shape resembles a star. They have warts or spines on the surface of their body. Five rays, called arms, usually extend from the body of a starfish.
They appeared on Earth more than 400 million years ago, but about 1,500 species of these peculiar animals still live in the seas and oceans of our planet. Some are found on sand mixed with stones and on shell rocks.
Starfish come in a variety of colors. For example, the Pacific star is dark purple. There is also a black star. It is easily distinguished by its black back. There are dark gray starfish, and on the rays against a dark background there may be yellowish and whitish spots, sometimes arranged in the form of stripes.
The Japanese star lives in the waters of Japan. Its dorsal side is bright crimson, often mixed with purple shades. The tips of the needles and belly are whitish.
But the most beautiful starfish is the reticulated starfish. Her belly is orange. On the crimson back there are rows of turquoise-blue needles. They seem to form a network or bizarre bright patterns. That's why they gave these starfish the name reticulated.
Starfish are active animals. They walk along the shores of seas and oceans with the help of tiny legs. Under a microscope, several elongated “bones” can be seen on her body, working like scissors or forceps. With these tongs, the starfish cleans off various insects that bite it - after all, they so like to sit on such comfortable “hosts” as stars.
The starfish usually feeds on other animals, mainly mollusks. For example, a shell is not such a reliable protection for a mollusk. The star clasps the shell with its hands, sticks to it with its legs and due to muscle tension spreads the shell flaps and eats. But mollusks also sometimes resist and do not allow themselves to be caught. They, sensing the approach of a starfish, release the mantle between the valves and manage to “wrap” the entire shell in it: the tentacles of the starfish slide over the saucer, and they cannot grab it.
Sometimes starfish even eat sea urchins, which are as spiny as themselves. The starfish is a real predator. Her abilities are very diverse.
Starfish are capable of absorbing objects that are sometimes several times their own size. To do this, they have a curious adaptation: they crawl onto the victim from above and turn the stomach out through the mouth, surrounding potential food on all sides as if in a kind of bag. Gastric juice is secreted into this sac, where digestion occurs. After a few hours, the star collapses its stomach and crawls away.
Most starfish play the role of seabed orderlies, eating all sorts of remains of dead animals.
Once upon a time, 50 years ago, people deliberately destroyed starfish. There were too many of them and they destroyed many sea animals. Hundreds of people went out to sea on boats and cutters and, protecting their hands with gloves, collected starfish, loaded them into baskets and took them ashore.
But the number of starfish still did not decrease. They began to destroy coral reefs, turning them into a lifeless desert. Once upon a time, the bottom of the Pacific coast was covered with magnificent gardens of coral colonies, which looked like a wonderful underwater kingdom. Nowadays desolation reigns here due to the harmful influence of starfish. Those coral reefs that still exist are sometimes hidden under huge moving clusters of starfish, after the invasion of which life leaves the reef.
Scientists have come to the conclusion that a program is needed scientific research, which would allow us to thoroughly study the peculiarities of the relationship between starfish and other inhabitants of coral reefs in order to restore balance.
SEA URCHNISHES- very prickly creatures. Their entire body is protected by long, sharp needles, attached to the body using cleverly designed hinges.
Stepping on such a hedgehog is both painful and dangerous: its needles are covered with mucus, saturated with bacteria, which cause severe suppuration. With the help of poisonous needles, sea urchins fight enemies, such as starfish. However, not all sea urchins are so dangerous and scary. Most of them are completely harmless to humans.
Some sand dollars are covered with such fine spines that their surface appears velvety rather than prickly.
Sea urchins- the most multi-legged animals in the world. The total number of legs of sea urchins is enormous. They are shaped like suction cups. With the help of its legs, the animal can not only move from place to place and crawl even along steep rocks, but also firmly attaches itself to stones and soil in places where there are a lot of waves. The hedgehog seems to stick to what it stands on so that it does not get washed away by water.
Sea urchins live on rocks, stones, and coral reefs. Some bury themselves in the ground or sand. Sometimes on the seashore, sea urchins gather in such quantities that their spines come into contact with each other. Some species occupy various recesses in the rocks, others are able to drill shelters for themselves, which serve them as protection from waves. Often, hedgehogs cover themselves with fragments of shells, pieces of algae or small stones, in order, obviously, to protect themselves from exposure to direct sunlight or to camouflage themselves from enemies. There are species that hide under stones all day and come out to feed only at night.
They eat what they can catch in the water or on land. For example, shellfish, which are crushed with powerful teeth. They hunt very interestingly. As soon as any animal touches the hedgehog, its legs immediately begin to move and try to grab the prey. As soon as one of the legs manages to catch the prey, the hedgehog squeezes it tightly and holds it until the prey dies. After this, the prey is passed from one leg to the other until it reaches the mouth. When feeding, hedgehogs hold food with their spines, push it into their mouths and bite off small pieces. With the help of sharp teeth, sea urchins can scrape algae from the surface of stones and capture other food.
But neither sharp needles nor teeth can sometimes save a hedgehog from its enemies. Such an animal as the sea otter deals with sea urchins very interestingly. She collects sea urchins in coastal waters, takes them in her front paws and swims on her back, holding the prey on her chest in front of her, then breaks the urchins' shells on rocks or other hard objects and eats the eggs. Birds hunt for sea urchins at low tide. Birds have been observed dropping collected hedgehogs from a height onto rocks, breaking them and pecking out the soft parts.
Sea urchins are also eaten by people. Sea urchin caviar is especially prized. Hedgehogs lay eggs several times a year.
The mother hedgehog lays eggs and then carries them on her back all the time. Larvae emerge from the eggs. And among the larvae - hedgehogs. Hedgehogs grow rather slowly and reach adult size within a few years. Only then do they become independent.
SEA HORSE- a strange, charming creature. It has a head like a small horse, a flexible tail like a monkey, an exoskeleton like an insect, and an abdominal pouch like a kangaroo. These features, inherent in other animals, make the seahorse unlike most fish, and it behaves unusually. And yet this little creature is a real fish. Their size is about 30 centimeters, there are seahorses and 2 centimeters each.
The seahorse has its own special style of movement: it swims proudly, like the leader of a majestic parade. Working with barely noticeable fins at an incredible speed - up to 35 strokes per second, it glides smoothly.
Seahorses usually live in the water near the shore among algae. Spiked armor protects them from danger. A seahorse has bones both inside and outside. The internal skeleton is the same as that of all fish, and the external skeleton is made of bony plates. When a seahorse dies and decomposes, the exoskeleton retains its shape. People are so fascinated by this strange fish that they use dried seahorses for jewelry and inlays.
The seahorse's head is designed in such a way that it can only move it up and down, and cannot turn it to the sides.
If other animals were designed like this, they would have vision problems. However, the seahorse, due to its special structure, never has such problems. His eyes are not connected to each other and move independently of each other, they can move and look in different directions. Therefore, although the seahorse cannot turn its head, it can easily observe what is happening around it.
The most amazing thing about seahorses is that the babies are born to the father. On his belly, the horse daddy has a pouch in which he carries caviar. From these eggs the fry hatch. After the fry appear, the skate carries them in a bag for some time. By bending his body upward, he opens the bag, and the fry come out of it for a walk, but in case of danger they hide there again. Immediately after birth, small pipits must rise to the surface of the water and take air into their swim bladders, otherwise they will die from suffocation.
Almost all fish swim using their tail, but not the seahorse. Its unusual tail, long and thin, is not topped with a fin and looks more like a hand. The seahorse tightly wraps its tail around algae or coral and can stand there, frozen, for hours. And if it happens that two seahorses lock their tails, then they have to play “tug of war.”
Weddings around seahorses are very interesting. They sing and dance. They walk hand in hand (with their tails intertwined) and gracefully spin among the algae. Seahorses cannot live alone for long. If a husband or wife dies, then after a short time the other horse dies of melancholy. That's what the legends say.
Seahorses are masters of camouflage, changing color to match their surroundings. By blending into the background, they both protect themselves from predators and camouflage themselves while hunting for food.
Seahorses are unusually voracious. They catch anything living that can fit into their mouth. Their mouth acts like a pipette: when the skate's cheeks swell sharply, the prey is abruptly drawn into the mouth.
Skates feed mainly on small crustaceans. Having noticed a crustacean, the seahorse looks at it for a second or two and then draws in the crustacean even at a distance of several centimeters. Young seahorses are able to feed for 10 hours a day and eat 3-4 thousand crustaceans during this time.
In nature, there are only a few natural enemies of seahorses - shrimp, crab, clown fish and tuna. In addition, they are often eaten by dolphins.
The most serious enemies of these creatures are people: seahorses are endangered.
The main reasons for the extinction of this species: water pollution, destruction of natural habitat, fishing for aquatic trade, accidental catching in nets while catching shrimp or other fish.
Since the Middle Ages, seahorses have been attributed healing properties; they were once even used in the preparation of magical potions.
More than 20 million pipits are captured and killed every year.
CRABS- pugnacious creatures.
Fights between crabs are always preceded by threatening demonstrations: they rise on outstretched legs and spread their claws. All this is necessary to appear larger: usually in fights the larger one wins. The threatening poses of one crab are most often repeated exactly by the other, so that immediately before the fight both fighters stand in front of each other for quite a long time in the same pose, assessing the size and mood of the enemy. A small crab, as a rule, retreats without a fight, but if the difference in size is small, it can win, but in this case the fight is longer and more violent. It is very important who starts the fight, because the one who starts first usually wins, even if he is smaller. Demonstration of strength in crabs is as common and important as, for example, in dogs.
Some crabs get seriously injured after a fight. Large crabs fight longer than small ones, and it does not matter whether they are fighting an enemy larger or smaller than themselves.
During a fight, crabs begin to breathe more often. The longer and more intense the fight, the faster the fighters breathe. The breathing rate increases equally in the winner and the loser, but after the fight the winner calms down much faster than the loser, who even after a day breathes more often than usual.
Often contractions follow one after another. For example, a crab has just had a fight with one opponent and immediately begins to fight with another.
Crabs do not live only by fights; they are also known for tender feelings. Everyone knows how monkeys express friendship: they search each other, choose insects from their fur (or pretend to choose) and eat them. So, something similar is characteristic of some crabs.
Researchers have found that crabs have two types of “stranger cleaning”: long-term and short-term cleaning. A cleaner crab approaches another crab slowly, on half-bent legs, and cleans it for about a minute. The crab that is being cleaned feeds on mud all this time, and after the procedure, already clean, goes into the hole.
With short-term cleaning, everything happens a little differently. The cleaner crab, quickly rising above the surface of the bottom, approaches the object of cleaning. Cleaning lasts no more than 15 seconds. How much will you collect in these moments? The crab that is being cleaned stands calmly and motionless. This cleaning is observed mainly in the summer.
It happens that a large crab - the owner of a hole - attacks a small one that approaches its home. Then the small crab begins the lengthy procedure of cleaning the large one - it calms down and calmly goes into the hole. So this behavior is a way to calm the aggressor. Well, and, of course, cleaning brings benefits - is it bad to become clean, since you can’t reach your own back with claws?
Crabs live in colonies on muddy shores and dig deep holes. During the day, at low tide, they wander through drained areas, collect the thin top layer of silt with their claws, roll them into balls and put them in their mouths, and spend the night (and at high tide, when the water is rough and there are a lot of waves) in burrows.
The body of crabs is small. They have sharp claws. With their help, they move and collect food for themselves, and also fight. Some of them are good swimmers. They are called "swimmers". The hind legs can act as oars. Most swimming crabs are bottom-dwelling predators. Although they are able to swim, they do not do so for long.
There are such huge crabs that reach a length of 1.5 meters and weigh about eight kilograms. One adult person will not be able to lift such a crab. These crabs are called king crabs. They are less mobile than other crabs; they lie in wait for prey, hiding at the bottom among pebbles, plants, or buried in the sand.
Under the shell, the body of the mollusk is soft. There is a head, a torso and one leg. This leg is needed to bury itself in the sand at the bottom. It helps the mollusk move and even attach to stones like a suction cup. Under the shell there is a fold of skin - the mantle. The shell, like a shell, covers the body of the mollusk, which can be easily injured.On the underside of the head there is usually a mouth with a pharynx, in which there is a muscular tongue with teeth, similar to a grater. The animal uses its tongue to scrape off the soft surface of plants. On the sides of the head there are sensitive tentacles - sensory organs. With these tentacles, the mollusk touches objects and understands what they are. There are eyes near the tentacles.
All mollusks move very slowly.
There are mollusks whose shell consists of two halves. Scientists call them bivalves. Their body consists of a torso and legs and is covered with a mantle. At the posterior end of the body, the folds of the mantle are pressed against each other, forming two siphons: lower and upper. Through the lower siphon, water enters the mantle and washes the gills. And through the upper siphon the water is thrown out.
There are mollusks called “chitons”. Their form amazes with diversity, and their beauty with perfection. Because of such beauty, they are used to make necklaces and amulets that can decorate the human body and vases.
After the death of a mollusk, shells usually end up on the bottom surface. During wind waves or storms, they are thrown onto gently sloping sandy beaches and often form large accumulations, turning the deserted coast into a motley carpet of colors.
However, the “life” of empty shells on beaches is short-lived. Under the influence of waves, high tides, wind surges and precipitation, some of them again fall to inaccessible depths, while the other part is destroyed. However, after some time, a new storm or waves of a different direction bring new shells to the shore. You can walk along the seashore or ocean and collect shells.
A collection of shells can be useful for various crafts and decorations.
In this section of the site you will read how and where sea animals live, you will be able to find out interesting facts about them, see photos of sea animals!
More than two thirds of the earth's surface is covered by seas and oceans. This huge mass of water is necessary for life on our planet: winds carry moisture throughout the world, it evaporates and is restored again in the form of rain and snow, feeding flora and fauna. The sea is teeming with life, and strangely enough, both the microscopic and the largest sea creatures, such as the blue whale, manta ray or whale shark, feed on a large amount of food invisible to the naked eye - plankton.
Jellyfish more than 90% consists of water; Some jellyfish can cause a painful burn.
U octopus eight tentacles; it lives on the seabed and can change color to adapt to its environment.
Hawksbill turtle (caretta)- very dexterous swimmer; feeds mainly on jellyfish and crustaceans. Lays eggs in the sand on the shores of small bays.
Blue whale- this is the largest animal in the world: one female, caught in 1947, weighed 190 tons. A blue whale calf is born eight meters long and weighs up to three tons.
Marine flora consists of algae- plants without a trunk. Their life depends on sunlight, and therefore at great depths, where the rays of the sun do not penetrate, there are no algae.
Moon fish usually swims in the open sea almost at the very surface, which is why its fin emerging from the water is often mistaken for the fin of a shark; In contrast, the moon fish is completely harmless.
Monkfish. This amazing predatory fish lures its prey by swinging its “antenna”, at the end of which there is a growth similar to a delicious worm.
Zebra lionfish. Her spectacular appearance is fraught with serious danger - on the back of this fish there is a fin that secretes poison as strong as that of a cobra.
Needlefish. It hunts in a completely unique way: it approaches the prey, often hiding behind other fish, and with lightning speed sucks it into its long “beak”. In terms of its characteristics, the needle fish is very similar to the seahorse.
Acne. For centuries, scientists, starting with the Greek philosopher Aristotle, have tried to understand how this fish reproduces. Today it is known that it lays eggs in the Sargasso Sea, between Bermuda and the Caribbean islands. Small larvae travel many thousands of kilometers to return to the rivers where their parents come from. The eel is a very strong fish; It is found in fresh water and can remain out of water for a long time: it often makes part of its journey on land.
Seabirds. The sea provides food for many animals that live on the coast. Among them are numerous seabirds. These birds have a lot in common: they all fly well, can land on water, swim with webbed feet, and their beaks are adapted for fishing. Many of them, such as the cormorant, are capable of chasing fish underwater.
Cormorant. The inhabitants of Japan taught this bird to fish: with every fish caught, the bird returns to its owner.
Gull. Many different species of seabirds are called gulls. You can often see flocks of seagulls chasing fishing vessels returning from fishing: they pick up waste that sailors throw overboard. Seagulls have learned to find food even in landfills in the interior of the continent, tens of kilometers from the sea.
Frigate. The male of this large fish, which lives on the shores of warm seas, during courtship inflates a huge bright red crop to attract the attention of the female.
Sea depths.
Far from the coast at great depths, the algae that require sunlight; there are only phytoplankton, formed by microscopic algae that float freely in the water. For this reason, at great depths there are mainly predators; other fish are content with phyto and zooplankton. Consisting of tiny invertebrates.
In open expanses of water, where there are no shelters, only large sizes can instill fear in a predator and prevent an attack. Therefore, it is only far from the coast that large marine life is found: from cetaceans such as killer whales and whales to large fish such as shark, tuna or swordfish.
Small fish use other methods of defense: flying fish jump high out of the water, and sardines and mackerel find salvation by gathering in large schools.
The Earth is washed by four oceans: Indian, Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific. The largest is the Pacific Ocean, its area is 180 million square kilometers. The average depth of the oceans is about 4,000 meters. The enormous length and depth do not allow exploring the bottom of the oceans; in fact, it is extremely difficult and expensive to create machines that can withstand the highest pressure that exists in the abyss of the sea.
The greatest depth of the ocean is the Mariinsky Trench in the Pacific Ocean: 11,022 meters.
Flying fish. The flying fish has highly developed lateral fins, with the help of which it makes gliding flights over the surface of the sea, escaping from predators.
A complex combination of winds, currents and tidal patterns causes waves to move. The sea rarely has waves higher than 10 meters, but waves even higher than 30 meters have been observed.
Plankton.
A large number of microscopic organisms float in the sea that are not able to withstand currents - animal (zooplankton) and plant (phytoplankton) in origin; together they make up plankton. Carried by currents, it serves as food for both the smallest fish and crustaceans, and huge mammals, such as the blue whale. Animals that can actively swim form nekton.
Zooplankton- part of plankton formed by animal organisms.
Phytoplankton- this is the part of plankton that consists of microscopic algae floating in the water. A large amount of phytoplankton gives sea water its characteristic greenish color.
One liter of water contains millions of microscopic organisms that are invisible to the naked eye. They not only constitute food for marine animals, but are also necessary for the restoration of oxygen.
Cetaceans.
These are large mammals, inhabitants of the seas and oceans. Over millions of years of evolution, their body has acquired a shape similar to that of fish, thanks to which they swim quickly. But cetaceans, unlike fish, cannot breathe rarefied oxygen. They need to breathe air, so they are forced to swim to the surface of the sea from time to time. Their young are born in water; immediately after birth, the mother pushes them to the surface to take their first breath. This is a very important moment, and parents must be extremely careful not to encounter a predator.
The smallest cetacean is the dolphin, and the largest is the sea whale, which is also the largest animal in the world.
"Fountain". The whales may appear to be breathing out sprays of water; in fact, what we see is a stream of air mixed with a small amount of water.
The sei whale, humpback and blue whales feed on plankton, which they filter through dense horny plates called baleen. These plates prevent large animals from entering the mouth, so these whales do not need teeth.
Humpback whale. Unlike other whales, which prefer the open sea, the humpback whale lives close to the coast, sometimes even swimming into bays and rivers. Despite its weight of 30 tons, this frisky animal loves to “dance” when it sticks out of the water.
Sperm whale. This large animal reaches up to 20 meters in length. It feeds mainly on cephalopods, such as squid, as well as fish. When getting food, it can dive to a depth of up to two thousand meters, where giant squids weighing several centners are found. A sperm whale can hold its breath for almost two hours!
Narwhal. Due to its long, straight, horn-like tooth, the narwhal cannot be confused with anyone else. This friendly animal lives in cold Arctic waters.
Killer whale. Has a reputation as a cruel and very dangerous predator; in fact, the killer whale, like other carnivores, attacks the animals on which it feeds, but there is no evidence that it has attacked people.
Dolphin. Dolphins are very easy to tame due to the fact that they are very intelligent and have exceptional learning abilities. Dolphins, like all cetaceans, make many different sounds; This dolphin “language” is being studied by scientists. Dolphins are incredibly friendly; Once upon a time, it was a dolphin who saved a shipwrecked man from attacking sharks.
Sharks. These are very ancient fish; Due to the streamlined shape of the body, when moving forward, sharks experience the negligible resistance of the water, so they swim very quickly. Unlike fish, sharks reproduce by laying eggs; Some place them at the bottom, attaching them to algae or rocks; in others, the eggs develop completely in the mother's body, and the young are born already formed. Sharks range from fearsome predators, such as the blue shark, to peaceful plankton eaters, such as the huge whale shark, which, despite its terrifying appearance, is completely harmless. The whale shark is the largest fish in the world, its body length reaches 12 meters! The blue shark is considered a man-eating shark, and there is considerable evidence that it attacks people injured in shipwrecks and swimmers.
Gray shark. Lives in tropical seas, exploring the shallows in search of fish and crustaceans. It does not attack people, but if a person gets scared and tries to escape, this shark can become very dangerous.
Sawfish. Found in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. A distinctive feature is the long and flat snout with small teeth arranged like the teeth of a saw. It serves the fish to comb the sandy bottom in search of small prey. Occasionally, the sawfish uses its “nose” to protect itself from enemies. Often the shark is accompanied by pilot fish; they feed on the remains of shark food, and, oddly enough, sharks do not attack them. There is an opinion that the pilot fish shows the shark the way to large schools of fish. In fact, this is just a legend without any basis.
Scat. It has a highly flattened body, which gives the impression that it is “flying” on water. Basically, the stingray lives on the bottom, at moderate depths, where it is remarkably camouflaged. Some species of stingray have a long spine on their back that secretes a strong poison. The mouth, located on the belly, has a lot of sharp teeth.
Tiger shark. This fish is called so because of the color of its skin. It swims close to the shore and feeds on everything: fish and crustaceans, birds and mammals.
Darkness.
Sunlight does not penetrate water deeper than several tens of meters. Below there is constant darkness, and it is impossible to distinguish day from night. Plants cannot live without light, so there are no algae here at all. This is the reason that only predatory fish live at the depths, luring prey in various ingenious ways.
Many deep-sea fish have special luminous organs, so-called phosphors; they serve as bait that other fish cannot resist and, attracted by such “bait,” are often eaten.
Deep-sea fish are able to withstand the highest pressure; moreover, they cannot tolerate low pressure, and if they floated to the surface, they would die.
Organic substances slowly descend to the bottom of the ocean - the remains of animals and plants that died in the surface layers. All this constitutes the food of small benthic animals - this is the name given to the collection of organisms living on the bottom. Benthos, in turn, serves as food for fish and larger shellfish, which are watched by other predators that penetrate the abyss of the sea from shallower layers, for example, the sperm whale, which can dive to depths, despite the fact that it breathes atmospheric air.
Giant squid. One representative of this species of animal, “stranded” on the island of Newfoundland in Canada, weighed two tons. Giant squids have a body length together with tentacles that reaches 13-18 meters; it is even suggested that they get involved in fierce battles with sperm whales in the depths of the oceans: traces left by tentacles are often seen on the bodies of which, and the remains of giant squids are found in the stomachs.
Pelican-like largemouth.
Always swims in the dark, keeping his huge mouth wide open; in this way he collects all the food that comes his way.
Arboreal linophryne. Very little is known about this deep-sea fish due to the difficulty of studying it in its natural habitat. Probably most of the time she lies calmly on the bottom, swaying a long antenna with a phosphor - a luminous organ located on her head. Other fish, having been caught on such bait, inevitably end their lives in the throat of linophryne.
Coral reefs.
Corals- these are small animals, in whose colonies there are millions of individuals, they live in tropical seas, attached to their bottom. Over time, one calcareous skeleton generated by them grows and forms real coral reefs in coastal areas, on which waves break; because of this, between the shore and the coral fence the sea is calmer, like in a port harbor.
coral reef- an ideal habitat for both animals and plants: the sea here is calm and warm, there is a lot of sunshine. If you look underwater through a scuba mask, you can see countless different picturesque fish “walking” among starfish and sea anemones.
If you dive on the other side of the reef, towards the open sea, you may experience a feeling of extreme dizziness: there is no more bottom - only bright blue water.
The largest coral reef, more than 2,000 kilometers long, is located along the coast of Australia. These coral fortresses are called large quarry reefs and pose a serious danger to mariners.
Atolls. The peaks of underwater volcanoes can rise above the water, forming small islands, or be located near the surface of the ocean. If coral colonies form around them, they take on an almost circular shape, forming atolls - coral islands.
Madrepores. Relatives of corals are also formed by colonies of polyps of calcareous nature. At night, they extend their tentacles, grabbing food consisting of plankton.
By the shore.
In the ocean near the coast, the most favorable conditions for the inhabitants to thrive underwater world: sunlight penetrates the water, promoting the rapid growth of algae and providing food for the animals that feed on them; these animals, in turn, themselves serve as food for predatory fish. And finally, the movement of the waves, which never reaches a depth of more than a few tens of meters, here causes mixing at the bottom, which contributes to its fertility.
The bottom can be rocky, muddy or sandy, and sometimes covered with algae. Depending on the type of seabed, it is inhabited by different animals. For example, on a sandy bottom you can find a flounder that hides in the sand, burying itself halfway into it, and an octopus finds shelter on a rocky bottom, where it is almost invisible among the rocks.
Among the rocks washed by the sea, which provide a hospitable welcome to countless animals, there is a rich life. Some of the local inhabitants, such as mussels, patellas, urchins, starfish and sea anemones, do not swim. Crustaceans, octopuses and fish such as sargus, grouper, rockfish and moray eels lurk in the shadows of crevasses and cliffs. The flounder and the baby dragon hide in the sand, and the sultan explores it with her long antennae in search of food. All this potential prey attracts hunter fish that live in the open sea to the coast - bayfish, large serioles and zubans.
Sea urchins. When swimming in the sea, you need to be very careful not to step on these animals: the consequences can be very sad! The sea urchin's mouth is called an Aristotelian lantern and contains five constantly growing teeth. Some hedgehogs have short and dense spines, others have long and sparse spines. They differ in color.
Crustaceans. All of these animals, most of them marine, have two pairs of antennae, and some also have two solid claws that can close forcefully. During the day they usually hide in rock crevices, but at night they become more active and go in search of food, which usually consists of mollusks and dead animals.
lobster found in seas almost all over the world; its weight can reach eight kilograms.
Lobster is like lobster, this is a very popular seafood product; Lobsters are caught using special traps called tops. Unlike the lobster, it has claws.
A distinctive feature of the crab is its specific way of moving sideways.
Crustaceans have a permanent burrow, where they certainly return after night forays for food: this indicates that crustaceans have a good sense of orientation. Some of them, for example, lobsters, make mass migrations over long distances.
