The marine animal world is the kingdom of many millions of living beings. Those who at least once had to descend into the depths of the sea were struck by the charming beauty and bizarre shapes of the underwater world.
Amazing fish, fabulous algae, creatures that are sometimes difficult to distinguish from plants. For example, sponges. For a long time, scientists have argued where to attribute them to animals or plants. After all, there is no bark, no stomach, no brain, no nerves, no eyes in the lips - nothing that makes it possible to immediately say that this is an animal.
photo: Jim McLean
Sponge
The sponge is a primitive multicellular animal that mainly lives in the seas and oceans, from the very coast to great depths, clinging to the bottom or to underwater rocks. There are more than 5000 species of these animals. Most of them are thermophilic animals, but some have adapted to the harsh conditions of the Arctic and Antarctic.
Sponges have a variety of shapes: some are like a ball, others are like tubes, and others are like glasses. They come in not only different shapes, but also have different colors: yellow, orange, red, green, blue, black and others.
The body of the sponge is very uneven, easily breaks, crumbles, and everything is permeated with numerous holes, pores through which water penetrates and brings oxygen and food to the sponges - small planktonic organisms.
photo: Katalin Szomolányi
Despite the fact that the sponge does not move and cannot even move, it is very tenacious. Sponges have few enemies. Their skeleton consists of a large number of needles, and they protect the sponges. In addition, if a sponge is divided into many particles, even into cells, it will still unite and live.
During the experiment, two sponges were separated into parts and joined into two former sponges, each part of the sponge joining its own. The life span of the sponges is different. It is short in freshwater - several months, in others - up to 2 years, and some of them are long-livers - up to 50 years.
Coral
Corals, or rather coral polyps, are called primitive marine invertebrates, which belong to the type of coelenterates. The coral polyp itself is a small animal, shaped like a grain of rice covered with tentacles. Each small polyp has its own famous skeleton - corallites. When the polyp dies off, the corallites joined together form a reef that the polyps re-colonize, changing generation after generation. This is how reefs grow.
photo: Charlene
Colonies of corals are striking in their beauty, sometimes they form real underwater gardens, reefs. There are three types: 1) stony or limestone, living in colonies and forming coral reefs 2) soft corals 3) horny corals - gorgonian, which are distributed from the polar regions to the equator.
Most corals can be found in the waters of tropical seas, where the water is never colder than + 20 degrees. Therefore, there are no coral reefs in the Black Sea.
Now science knows more than 500 species of coral polyps that form reefs. Most corals live in shallow waters and only 16 percent sink to 1000m.
photo: LASZLO ILYES
Although corals create strong reefs, the polyps themselves are very delicate, vulnerable creatures. Corals lie on the bottom or grow in separate bushes and trees. They come in yellow, red, purple and other colors and reach a height of 2m and 1.5m in width. They need clean salt water. Therefore, corals do not live near the mouths of large rivers, which carry a lot of fresh muddy water into the ocean.
Sunlight plays an important role in the life of corals. This is due to the fact that microscopic algae live in the tissues of the polyps, which provide respiration to the coral polyps.
Corals feed on small marine plankton that adhere to the animals' tentacles, and then pull their prey into the mouth, which is located under the tentacles.
Sometimes the ocean floor rises (for example, after an earthquake), then the coral reef comes to the surface and forms an island. Gradually, it is colonized by plants and animals. These islands are also inhabited by people. For example, the islands of the oceans.
Starfish, hedgehogs, lilies
All these animals are of the echinoderm type. They are very different from other types of animals.
Echinoderms live in salt water, so they only inhabit seas and oceans.
Starfish have 5, 6, 7, 8 and even 50 "rays". At the end of each is a tiny eye that can perceive light. Starfish come in bright colors: yellow, orange, red, purple, less often green, blue, gray. Sometimes starfish reach a size of 1m across, small - a few millimeters.
photo: Roy Ellis
Starfish swallow small molluscs whole. When a large mollusk comes across, it embraces it with its "rays" and begins to pull the sash by the sash away from the mollusk. But this is not always possible. The star is able to digest food from the outside, so a 0.2 mm gap is enough for the star to push its stomach there! They are able to throw the stomach even on live fish. For some time the fish swims with the star, gradually digesting it while still alive!
Sea urchins omnivores, they devour dead fish, small starfish, snails, molluscs, their own relatives and algae. Sometimes hedgehogs settle in granite and basalt rocks, making themselves a small burrow with their incredibly strong jaw.
photo: Ron Wolf
Sea lilies- creatures that really look like a flower. They are at the bottom of the ocean and lead an immobile lifestyle as adults. There are more than 600 species of them, most of which are stemless.
Jellyfish- unique marine animals that inhabit all the seas and oceans on Earth.
Most jellyfish bodies are transparent, as 97 percent water.
Adult animals do not look like young jellyfish. First, the jellyfish lays eggs, from which larvae appear, and already from them a polyp sprouts, which resembles an amazing bush. After a while, small jellyfish break away from it, which grow into an adult jellyfish.
photo: Mukul Kumar
Jellyfish come in a variety of colors and shapes. Their sizes range from a few millimeters to two and a half meters, and the tentacles sometimes reach 30 meters in length. They can be found both on the surface of the sea and at great depths, which sometimes reach 2000m. Most jellyfish are very beautiful, they seem to be creatures, not capable of offending. However, jellyfish are active predators. On the tentacles and in the mouth of the jellyfish there are special capsules that paralyze the prey. In the middle of the capsule there is a coiled long "thread" armed with thorns and a poisonous liquid, which is thrown out when the victim approaches. For example, if a crustacean touches a jellyfish, it will immediately stick to the tentacle and poisonous stinging threads will stick into it, paralyzing the crustacean.
photo: Miron Podgorean
Jellyfish venom affects humans differently. Some jellyfish are quite safe, others are dangerous. The latter includes the cross jellyfish, the size of which does not exceed the usual five-kopeck coin. A dark cross-shaped pattern can be seen on her transparent yellow-green umbrella. Hence the name of this very poisonous jellyfish. Having touched the crosspiece, a person receives a severe burn, then loses consciousness and suffocation begins. If you do not provide timely assistance, then a person may die. Jellyfish move due to the reduction of the domed umbrella. In one minute, they carry out up to 140 such movements, so they can move quickly. Most of the time jellyfish spend near the surface of the water. In 2002. a huge jellyfish was discovered in the central part of the Sea of Japan. The size of her umbrella was over 3m in diameter and 150kg in weight. Until now, no such giant has been recorded.
It is interesting that jellyfish of this species, 1m in diameter, began to be found in the thousands. Scientists cannot explain the reasons for their sudden increase. But it is believed that this is due to an increase in water temperature.
photo: Amir Stern
There are also many mammals inhabiting the oceans, seas and fresh water bodies. Some of them, like dolphins, spend their whole lives in the water. Others go there mainly to search for food, as otters do. All water animals swim beautifully, and some even dive to great depths. The size of land animals is limited by the strength of the limbs that can support the weight. In water, body weight is less than on land, so many species of whales have reached enormous sizes in the process of evolution.
photo: Alaska Region U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Four groups of mammals live in the seas and oceans. These are cetaceans (whales and dolphins), pinnipeds (real seals, eared seals and walruses), sirens (manatees and dugongs) and sea otters. Pinnipeds and sea otters go out on land for rest and breeding, while cetaceans and sirens spend their entire lives in the water.
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The marine world is inhabited by millions of living creatures. Those who dived to the seabed know how mesmerizing the depths are. The bizarre forms of the underwater inhabitants amaze the imagination.
Amazing fish live on the seabed and unusual algae grow. Creatures can be so unusual that they can be difficult to distinguish from plants.
For example, scientists could not decide for a long time who the sponges belong to, to plants or animals, because they have no nerves, no brain, no organs of vision, no digestive organs.
Sponge
Sponges are the simplest multicellular creatures that live, as a rule, in the oceans and seas, from great depths to the coast. These marine animals cling to the bottom or underwater rocks. There are more than 5 thousand types of sponges in nature. Most of them are thermophilic creatures, but there are some that have been able to adapt to the harsh climate of Antarctica and the Arctic.
There is a wide variety of forms of sea sponges: some have a spherical shape (), others resemble a glass in shape, and still others are tubules. Not only the shape of the sponges differs, but also their color, they can be red, yellow, blue, orange, green, and the like.
The body of these creatures is uneven, permeated with a large number of holes, so it tears very easily. Through the pores of the sponge, water enters, which brings food and oxygen with it. These animals feed on small planktonic organisms.
Although sponges are not only unable to swim, they are not even able to move, but they are still very tenacious. These creatures do not have many enemies, since their skeleton is formed from a huge number of needles, which are their protective weapon. If this strange animal is divided into many parts, even into cells, they will join together, and the sponge will live. In the course of the experiment, two sponges were separated into parts, over time, each part joined with its own, and again whole sponges were obtained.
The lifespan of these underwater creatures is different. Freshwater sponges do not live long - several months, some live for about 2 years, but there are marine centenarians that live up to 50 years.
Coral
Corals or coral polyps are marine invertebrates of the coelenterate type. The polyp itself is small and similar in shape to a grain of rice with tentacles. Each polyp has a calcareous skeleton called corallite. When a polyp dies, reefs form from the corallites and new polyps settle on them. This is how the generation changes. Thus, the reefs grow.
Coral reefs are very beautiful, sometimes they form real underwater gardens. There are 3 types of corals:
- Limestone or stony corals that live in colonies and from which coral reefs form;
- Horny corals called gorgonians, found from the equator to the polar regions;
- Soft corals.
Most of the corals are concentrated in tropical waters, in which the temperature does not drop below + 20 degrees. That is why there are no coral reefs in the Black Sea.
To date, there are about 500 species of coral polyps, from which reefs are obtained. Most are found in shallow waters, but 16% of the total mass lives at a depth of about 1000 meters.
Although coral reefs are very sturdy, the polyps themselves are delicate and fragile creatures. Corals grow as trees or bushes. They can be of various colors: red, yellow, purple and other colors. They reach about 2 meters in height and up to 1.5 meters in width.
Coral polyps live in salty clear water. Therefore, they do not live near river mouths, from where fresh water and mud come from. Also, sunlight is of great importance for the life of polyps. The fact is that in the tissues of the polyps there are microscopic algae, with the help of which coral polyps breathe.
Corals are more like plants. but in reality they are animals. These sea creatures feed on small plankton that stick to their tentacles. When the prey is caught, the polyp pulls it up to its mouth and eats it.
If the ocean floor rises due to natural phenomena, for example, due to an earthquake, then the coral reef rises above the surface of the water and an island is obtained. Plants and animals gradually appear on it. People also settle on such islands, for example, on the islands of the oceans.
Sea urchins, stars and lilies
All these sea creatures are representatives of the echinoderm type, which are radically different from other types of animals. Echinoderms need salt water to live, so they are found only in the oceans and seas.
Sea urchins can have 5 to 50 rays. At the tip of each ray there is a tiny eye that perceives light. The color of sea urchins is bright: red, orange, yellow, green, purple and blue. The size of sea urchins can be up to 1 meter, but there are also tiny creatures that do not exceed only a few millimeters.
They move very slowly, in 1 hour they cover no more than 10 meters.
Although these creatures are very slow and have no teeth, they are predators. Starfish feed on fish, oysters, crabs and sea urchins. These voracious creatures eat everything in the way. They swallow molluscs whole. If the mollusk is large, then the starfish embraces it with rays and opens its valves. If this fails, then the star finds a way out - it can digest food from the outside, this amazing creature needs a gap of only 0.2 millimeters to push its stomach into it. Starfish throw their stomachs on live fish, for a certain time the fish will swim with the star and slowly digest.
The sea lily is a creature of extraordinary beauty. Sea urchins are omnivores, they can eat snails, starfish, dead fish, shellfish, algae and even their fellows. Sea urchins live in basalt and granite rocks, and they make minks on their own with the help of their powerful jaws.
Sea lilies are really similar in appearance to flowers. They live at the bottom of the ocean. Adult sea lilies are immobile. There are about 600 species of sea lilies, most of them stemless.
Jellyfish
- marine animals that live in any oceans and seas. As a rule, they have transparent bodies, since 97% of these creatures are water.
Young jellyfish do not look like adults. Jellyfish lay eggs, from which larvae are formed, from which a polyp similar to a bush grows. After some time, jellyfish detach from the bush, from which adults are obtained.
Jellyfish can be of different shapes and colors. In length, they can reach several millimeters, and can grow up to 2.5 meters. Their tentacles sometimes reach 30 centimeters. These creatures can live at a depth of about 2000 meters and on the very surface of the sea.
Most of the jellyfish are very beautiful. It seems that these transparent creatures are completely harmless, but jellyfish are active predators. At the jellyfish, special capsules are concentrated in the mouth and on the tentacles, which paralyze the victim. In the middle of the capsule there is a long thread, which is in a folded state. When the victim approaches, this thread with a poisonous liquid is thrown out. If the crustacean touches the jellyfish, it will instantly stick to the tentacles, and poisonous threads will immediately scream into it, paralyzing it.
On humans, jellyfish poison can affect in different ways. Some individuals are completely harmless, while others pose a threat. Dangerous for humans is the cross jellyfish, which is no larger than a 5 kopeck coin in size. The yellow-green transparent umbrella has a dark cross-shaped pattern. Thanks to this pattern, this poisonous jellyfish got its name. When a cross is touched, a person gets a severe burn, after which he loses consciousness, and an attack of suffocation begins. If assistance is not provided on time, the victim will die on the spot.
Jellyfish are creatures that seem weightless. Jellyfish swim thanks to the contraction of the domed umbrella. In a minute, the jellyfish makes about 140 contractions with an umbrella, so it can swim quite quickly. Most of the time these creatures spend on the surface of the water.
In 2002, a huge jellyfish was found in the Sea of Japan, the umbrella of which exceeded 3 meters in size, and it weighed about 150 kilograms. It is the largest recorded jellyfish. It is noteworthy that thousands of jellyfish of this type, about 1 meter in size, began to be found. Scientists cannot understand why these jellyfish have increased so much in size, but it is believed that they were influenced by an increase in water temperature.
Mammals
Dolphins are marine mammals. In addition, a large number of mammals live in the oceans, seas and fresh waters. For example, mammals such as dolphins live in water all their life. And some dive into the water only in search of food, for example, an otter. All marine life can swim great, and some are capable of diving to great depths.
The size of land animals is limited by their ability to bear weight, and body weight becomes less in water, so many whales grow to incredible sizes.
Sea otter - sea otter. 4 groups of mammals live in the oceans and seas:
- Cetaceans - whales and dolphins;
- Sirens - dugongs and manatees;
- Pinnipeds - seals and walruses;
- Sea otters.
Pinnipeds and sea otters go out on land to rest and produce offspring, while sirens and cetaceans never leave the expanses of water.
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The seas and oceans are home to several million species of amazing creatures. Such a rich biological diversity is truly amazing, because under the water you can meet inhabitants of all colors, shapes and sizes. Some of them seem creepy and dangerous, while others delight in their beauty. In this collection, you will find some of the most spectacular sea creatures. No depths of space can yet compare with what beauty is hidden in the bowels of the Earth's oceans, and it's time to see for yourself!
25. Tangerine fish
This colorful fish lives in tropical waters in the western Pacific Ocean. Mandarin is a small elongated coral fish up to 6 cm long. This animal has gained fame precisely for its rich color and unusual shape, which is why it is sometimes called "psychedelic tangerine". It is very popular as an aquarium pet, but it is extremely picky about keeping in captivity and often dies of hunger, refusing to eat store food.
24. Ceriantaria 
Here is a coral polyp that lives in various parts of the world, mainly in subtropical waters. As a larva, ceriantharia usually lives right inside the plankton, and, having matured, prefers to bury itself in the ground and hunt with the mouth end with many sensitive tentacles. This animal comes in very different fluorescent shades and color combinations, for which it is considered a popular pet in aquariums.
23. Flamingo tongue or thick cypher 
Photo: Laszlo Ilyes / flickr
Widespread among the reefs of the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean, the flamingo tongue is a brightly colored mollusk that feeds on venomous polyps. When cyfoma 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 surgeon fish, the blue tan lives in coastal waters, on coral reefs and among rocks or algae along the coastline from New York to Brazil, and is even found far to the east around Ascension Island. The fish is famous for its thorns, which resemble a surgical scalpel, for which this species received its unusual name.
21. Mantis Shrimp 
Photo: prilfish / flickr
This crustacean lives in the warm waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans, and is rightfully considered one of the most attractive and striking species of underwater animals. This shrimp has very unusual and extremely complex eyes. The mantis shrimp sees in the optical, ultraviolet and infrared spectrum, and is also able to transform polarized, in which it is assisted by as many as millions of light-sensitive cells.
20. French angelfish or scalar 
Photo: Brain Gratwicke / flickr
The scalar is found in the western Atlantic Ocean, the Strait of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. This amazing tropical fish can be easily distinguished from other inhabitants of the underwater kingdom by its dark color with bright yellow stripes.
19. Leafy sea dragon or rag-picker seahorse 
Photo: lecates / flickr
This delightful creature is found in the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean off the coastline of Australia. 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 also all conditions for camouflage while hunting, and to hide from predators. The Rag Piper grows up to 20 cm in length, and is threatened with destruction due to industrial waste and poaching - it has become too popular among aquarium hobbyists.
18. Sea spider 
Sea spiders are in no way related to terrestrial 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 almost as common as their land namesake.
17. Jellyfish formosa or jellyfish "flower cap" 
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 flies. The flower cap jellyfish is found in the western Pacific Ocean in 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 for its amazing color, and is most often found near coral polyps of coastal zones or in the middle of the rocky reefs of the Indo-Pacific region. It is noteworthy that the last pair of legs has grown together into a single fin.
15. Banggai cardinal fish 
Photo: Bernard Dupont / flickr
This adorable fish lives in warm tropical waters and is easily recognized by its silvery color with vertical black stripes. Unfortunately, the cardinal is an endangered species, and today its range has narrowed to the coastal waters of the Indonesian island of Banggai.
14. Spotted eagle 
Photo: Brian Gratwicke / flickr
The flat disc-shaped body of this impressive stingray is up to 3 meters wide, making it the largest of the eagles, with the exception of only the giant sea devil (4 - 4.5 m). The spotted bracken is very mobile, swims long distances during its life, hunting marine invertebrates and small fish.
13. Clown fish 
Photo: Ritiks / wikimedia
She is an orange amphiprion, she is an anemone fish. The clown anemone is famous for its white and orange striped color, and is considered to be one of the most recognizable coral. Amphiprion grows up to 11 cm in length, and its favorite refuge is anemones, a detachment of coral polyps. To successfully hide from predators among the stinging tentacles of anemones, the clownfish reproduces the composition of the mucus of the polyp and enters into a symbiotic relationship with this species of sea gadgets.
12. Harlequin Shrimp 
Photo: Chad Ordelheide / wikimedia
The harlequin shrimp is a popular aquarium pet. It is an arthropod native to the tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and is easily recognizable by its white body with large light blue spots. Male harlequin shrimp are smaller than females of their own species.
11. Blue dragon 
Photo: Sylke Rohrlach / flickr
The blue dragon is a species of gastropods and a representative of the order of nudibranch gastropods (snails). It is small in size and grows to 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 has even received the nickname "king of aquariums".
9. Actinia venus flytrap 
Photo: NOAA Photo Library / flickr
Named after the plant's namesake, this sea anemone has earned this comparison in that it shares a similar digestive mechanism. The sea venus flytrap is a large deep-sea polyp that hunts by capturing prey with its “mouth” when it swims into a live “trap”. The bright anemones scare away predators, but perfectly attract the smallest underwater inhabitants.
8. Royal starfish 
Photo: Julie Worthy Photography
Here is one of the most prominent starfish living at a depth of 20-30 m in the mid-continental shelf in the west of the Atlantic Ocean. The starfish is a carnivore, and feeds on mollusks, which it catches with its own hands-rays, throwing prey directly into the mouth opening with them.
7. Berghia Coerulescens slug 
Photo: Wikimedia
The shellless sea snail, Berghia Coerulescens, is a species of sea slug that lives in the central and western Mediterranean as well as the northern Atlantic Ocean. This underwater animal of an enchanting 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 reefs and in the middle of the rocky crevices of the Indo-Pacific region, although for some time it began to be found in tropical waters of other oceans around the world. In some countries they are eaten, but striped lionfish are much more famous among aquarium lovers 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 muddy shallow waters, estuaries and seaweed.
4. Lagoon triggerfish or triggerfish 
Photo: Wikimedia
This remarkable tropical fish is native to the Indo-Pacific region and prefers to hide on the 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. It 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 sea slug is a colorful species found in Pacific waters around Papua New Guinea, South Korea and Australia.
1. Starfish "crown of thorns" 
Photo: Jon Hanson / flickr
This cute Indo-Pacific seabed dweller feeds on coral reefs. Despite its attractive appearance, this starfish is considered a serious pest for its voracity, and poses a great danger especially to the Great Barrier Reef. For humans, this animal is also not a best friend, since its injections are painful and rather toxic. Crown of thorns come in very different colors, from deep red to orange, green, or shades of blue.
The underwater world is extremely diverse, new and new species of marine fish and animals are constantly being discovered. There are over 30,000 fish species on Earth, countless numbers of molluscs and crustaceans. Let's try to highlight a small part of them.
Shark Are some of the most formidable inhabitants of the ocean. The absence of bone tissue and gill covers, the features of the structure of the scales and many other signs of the structure 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 the organization, sharks are one of the most advanced predatory fish of 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, corneous eggs or give birth to live young.
Whale sharks (up to 20 meters) and so-called giant sharks (up to 15 meters) reach the greatest size. Both of them, like baleen whales, feed on planktonic organisms. Jaws wide open, these sharks slowly swim in the thick of plankton accumulations and filter the water through the gill openings, covered with a network of special outgrowths of the surrounding tissue. A giant shark per hour filters up to one and a half thousand cubic meters of water and extracts from it all organisms larger than 1-2 millimeters.
There is very little information about the reproduction of planktonic sharks. Giant shark eggs and embryos are generally unknown. The smallest specimens of this species are 1.5 meters long. The 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 aggressive at all. Whale sharks are not dangerous to humans at all.
Some shark species live near the bottom and feed on benthic molluscs 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 singly or in small groups. It happens that such sharks come to the shores, and they are the ones who make most of the attacks on bathing people. Among these predators, the most dangerous are white, blue-gray, brindle, blue, long-armed sharks and hammerhead sharks. Although statistics show that there are much fewer 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 stingray from head to tail, their skin will appear only slightly rough, but when you move your hand in the opposite direction, you will feel sharp teeth like on coarse-grained sandpaper. This is due to the fact that each scale of cartilaginous fish is equipped with a small spine facing backward. Outside, the pinch is covered with a layer of strong 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. Larger scales are located at the edges of the mouth, and in the oral cavity of sharks, the spines of the scales reach a significant size and no longer serve as integuments, but as teeth. Thus, shark teeth are nothing more than modified scales.
Shark teeth, like their scales, are staggered and sit in several rows. As one row of teeth wears out, they are replaced by new ones located in the depths of the mouth. The shark does not chew food, but only holds, tears and tears it, swallowing pieces of such size that can only pass through its wide pharynx.
Cartilaginous fish do not have gill covers, so on each side of the shark's body, 5-7 gill slits are visible behind the head. By this external characteristic, sharks can be easily and unmistakably distinguished from other fish. The gill slits of the stingray are located on its ventral side and are hidden from the eye of the observer.
It should be noted that these animals, despite the disgust people felt for them, are of great commercial value. They use their meat, skin and liver fat, which contains several tens of times more vitamin A than cod liver oil. Salted, smoked and specially prepared fresh meat of many shark species is distinguished by its high taste. One of these fish, whose fins are used to make soup (the pride of Chinese cuisine), is even called the soup shark.
Whales Are 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 big as they are today. The body structure of whales began to change about 50 million years ago - just then 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 - blue whales - appeared. Their length can exceed 26 meters, and their weight is 110 tons.
Whales move through the water column 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 forcefully swing them up and down.
In whales, the pectoral fins are located in front on both sides of the body. Even before the whales migrated to the sea, they used their current pectoral fins to move overland. Now whales use them as rudders and brakes, and sometimes to repel enemy attacks, but not for swimming.
Most whales have a fixed fin on their backs, which helps them to maintain stability when moving in the water. There are small and large fins, depending on the size of the whale.
The whales' breaths 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. The lungs of whales have a large volume, and whales can stay under water for a long time, not 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 their internal structure is almost the same as that of humans. And whales, like other mammals, feed their young with milk. Whales are warm-blooded animals, and a thick layer of subcutaneous fat protects them from hypothermia.
From the very moment when it is born under water, a whale cub is completely dependent on its mother and keeps close to her all the time. It will take many months, and sometimes years, before the kitten can take care of itself.
First of all, a newborn kitten, although he still does not know how to swim, needs to float to the surface of the water and breathe in air. In this matter, the mother helps, and sometimes other females. In about half an hour, the cub will learn to swim on its own.
Kittens learn by imitating adults. They tumble, dive and float to the surface with their mother. Kitiha not only teach kids, but also play with them with pleasure. Gray whale females love a special game: they swim under their cubs and blow air bubbles from the blowhole, thus forcing the little whales to twirl.
Cubs swim, almost snuggling to their mother. They are carried by waves that form around her body and underwater currents. And it's very easy to swim if you hang on the mother's dorsal fin.
For orientation, whales make sounds that the human ear cannot pick up. The whale's brain is a real sonar that picks up sound signals reflected from various objects 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 - a whalebone. Whales consume up to 450 kilograms of food daily. That's why they grow so huge!
Some whales, they are called toothed whales, do not have a whalebone, but they have teeth. Toothed whales sperm whales feed on huge squid, 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, swing their tail like a butterfly over the water, and slide over the waves, stick their heads out of the water like a periscope. Some scientists believe that the noise that whales create when they hit the water with their tail or flop into the water after a jump is a conditional signal for relatives. But maybe whales just play like that.
People have long hunted whales. Nowadays, these sea giants are very few, and they are taken under protection.
SKATES are a superorder of lamellar cartilaginous fish, which includes 5 orders and 15 families. Stingrays are characterized by pectoral fins fused with the head and a rather flat body. Mostly stingrays live in the seas. Several freshwater species are 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 all over the world, including the Arctic Ocean and the coast of Antarctica. But it is easiest to see them with your own eyes off the coast of Australia; stingrays love to scratch their belly on a coral reef there.
Stingrays are the closest relatives of sharks. Outwardly, of course, they are not similar, but they are, like sharks, made of cartilage, not bones. Stingrays, along with sharks, are one of the most ancient fish, and in former times their internal similarity was supplemented by the external one. Until the life of the stingrays begins, excuse me, flatten. As a result, sharks are doomed to scurry about in the water, and stingrays are doomed to lie sluggishly at the bottom.
The way of life of stingrays has determined their unique respiratory system. All fish breathe with gills, but if the stingray tried to be like everyone else, it would draw silt and sand into its delicate insides. Therefore, stingrays breathe differently. They breathe in oxygen through the sprays, which are located on their backs and have a valve that protects the body. If, nevertheless, some foreign particle - sand or plant remains - gets into the sprinkler along with the water, the slopes release a stream of water through the sprinkler and together with it they throw out a foreign object.
Stingrays are a kind of waterfowl butterflies. This analogy can be drawn based on how the rays move in the water. They are also unique in that they do not use their tail when swimming, like other fish do. Stingrays move due to the movements of the fins, while resembling butterflies.
Stingrays come in a wide variety of sizes, from a few centimeters to seven meters. And the behavior is also different from each other. If for the most part they lie at the bottom, buried in the sand, then some of them like to jump over the water, for a long time shocking impressionable sailors and inspiring them to write nautical legends. This is especially distinguished by perhaps the most famous of all stingrays, manta rays or sea devil. When, unexpectedly, a seven-meter winged creature weighing two tons flies out of the sea abyss and after a moment again disappears into the depths, pulling a black pointed tail with it - this is a sight truly worthy of a detailed story.
But the sea devil is not so terrible as the electric ray. The cells in his body are capable of generating electricity up to 220 volts. And there are no divers who have been electrocuted by an electric slope.
However, all rays generate electricity, but not as strong as an electric ray. 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 thorns, the wound is torn.
But they enter the battle only for the sake of self-defense. They feed on molluscs and crustaceans. For this reason, they do not even need sharp teeth like sharks. Stingrays are ground into food with spike-like protrusions or plates.
SWORD-R SBA- a detachment of perchiformes, 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, it is found singularly 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 many and varied inhabitants of the seas and oceans, the swordfish is one of the most interesting predators. The swordfish got its name due to the highly elongated upper jaw, called the rostrum, which has the shape of a sharpened sword and makes up a third of the entire length of the body. Biologists consider rostrum a weapon used by swordfish to stun prey, breaking into schools of mackerels and tuna. The sword-fish itself does not suffer from the blow: at the base of its sword there are peculiar fat absorbers - cellular cavities filled with fat and softening the force of the blow. There are cases when the sword-fish pierced through and through the thick boards of the ship's hull. The reason for the swordfish attack on ships has not yet been accurately explained. Interpretations such as, for example, mistaking a vessel for a whale due to fast sailing and “fury” are purely speculative.
The 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 able to develop such speed due to some features of the structure of its body. The sword greatly reduces drag when moving in a dense aquatic environment. In addition, the torpedo-shaped, streamlined body of an adult swordfish is devoid of scales. In the swordfish and its closest relatives, the gills are not only the respiratory organ, they serve as a kind of hydrojet engine. A continuous stream of water flows 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 develop unexpectedly amazing speed when hunting or dodging enemies.
The swordfish reaches a length of 4.5 meters and weighs up to 500 kg. She lives mainly in the open ocean and approaches the coast only during the spawning period. 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.
The swordfish meat is delicious. However, consuming her liver is dangerous - it contains an excess of vitamin A.
OCTOPUS... They don't have a solid 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. There are two rows of large suction cups on them, with which the octopus can hold prey or attach to stones at the bottom.
Octopuses live at the bottom, hiding in crevices between stones or in underwater caves. They have the ability to very quickly change color and become the same color as the ground.
The only solid part of the octopus' body is the horny jaws, similar to the beak. Octopuses are real predators. At night, they get out of their hiding places and go hunting. Octopuses can not only swim, but also, by rearranging the tentacles, "walk" along the bottom. The usual prey of octopuses are shrimps, lobsters, crabs and fish, which they paralyze with poison from the salivary glands. With their beak, they can break even the sturdy shells of crabs and crayfish or the shells of molluscs. The octopuses take their prey to a shelter, where they slowly eat it. Among the octopuses there are very poisonous ones, the bite of which can be fatal even to humans.
Often, octopuses build shelters from stones or shells, wielding tentacles like hands. Octopuses guard their home and can easily find it, even if they are far away.
For a long time, people were afraid of octopuses (octopuses - as they called them), composing 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 would go ashore and eat the fish in the baskets. The dogs, smelling the octopus, raised their barks. The fishermen who came running saw how the octopus defends itself from the dogs with huge tentacles. The fishermen barely coped 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" - fish of the sarganov family.
The common turquoise garfish is one of the fish that can dance over the surface of the water. Faster and faster they move towards the light, just for fun or fleeing from danger. This fast and graceful predator has a narrow body. Small sharp teeth on a peculiar beak allow the garfish to grab small prey - herring, crustaceans during fast swimming. Garfish are found in large numbers in the Black and other seas.
In spring, the reproduction period begins for garfish: along the coast, they lay round eggs, which, with the help of thin sticky threads, attach to algae and other aquatic vegetation. Garfish larvae are born without a beak; it appears only in adults. In winter, garfish move to the open sea.
Sarganids are mainly marine inhabitants, distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate zones of the 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. Length, as a rule, 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, the garfish, being one of the most delicious fish of the Black Sea, was rightfully included in the top five commercial species caught off the coast of Crimea. The total annual harvest of garfish reached 300-500 tons. Often in the nets of Crimean fishermen came across large specimens - about 1 m long and weighing up to 1 kg.
SEA STARS- animals whose body shape resembles a star. They have warts or thorns on the surface of their bodies. Five rays usually extend from the body of a starfish, which are called the arms.
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 sands with an admixture of stones, on shell rock.
Starfish come in a variety of colors. For example, a Pacific star is dark purple in color. There is also a black star. It can be 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 in the form of stripes.
The Japanese star lives in the waters of Japan. The dorsal side is bright crimson, often with an admixture of purple hues. The tips of the needles and the abdomen are whitish.
But the most beautiful starfish is the reticulated one. Her belly is orange. On the crimson back are rows of turquoise blue needles. They seem to form a web or fancy bright patterns. Therefore, they gave these starfish the name - reticulated.
Starfish are mobile animals. They walk along the shores of the seas and oceans with the help of tiny legs. Under the microscope, several elongated "bones" can be seen on her body, working like scissors or forceps. With these tongs, the starfish removes from itself 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 a very reliable protection for a mollusc. The star clasps the shell with its hands, sticks to it with its legs and, due to muscle tension, pushes the shells apart and eats. But mollusks also sometimes resist and do not allow themselves to be caught. Sensing the approach of a starfish, they release their mantle between the flaps and manage to “wrap” the entire shell in it: the tentacles of the starfish slide on the saucer, and they cannot grab it.
Sometimes sea stars even eat sea urchins, as thorny as themselves. The starfish is a real predator. Her abilities are very diverse.
Starfish are capable of absorbing objects, sometimes several times their size. To do this, they have a curious adaptation: they crawl onto the victim from above and through their mouths turn the stomach outward, surrounding the potential food from all sides with a kind of bag. Gastric juice is secreted into this bag, and digestion takes place in it. After a few hours, the star collapses its stomach and crawls away.
Most starfish play the role of orderlies of the seabed, eating all kinds of remains of dead animals.
Sometime 50 years ago, people deliberately destroyed sea stars. There were too many of them, and they exterminated many sea animals. Hundreds of people went out to sea in boats and boats and, protecting their hands with gloves, collected sea stars, loaded into baskets and taken ashore.
But the sea stars still did not diminish. They began to destroy coral reefs, turning them into a lifeless desert. Once the bottom of the Pacific coast was covered with magnificent gardens of coral colonies that looked like a wonderful underwater kingdom. Now desolation reigns here due to the harmful influence of sea stars. Those coral reefs that still exist sometimes hide under huge wiggling clusters of starfish, after the invasion of which, life leaves the reef.
Scientists have concluded that a scientific research program is needed that would allow a thorough study of the peculiarities of the relationship between sea stars and other inhabitants of coral reefs in order to restore balance.
Sea urchins Are very prickly creatures. Their entire body is protected by long, sharp needles, which are attached to the body with cleverly arranged hinges.
Stepping on such a hedgehog is both painful and dangerous: its needles are covered with mucus saturated with bacteria that 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 flat hedgehogs are covered with needles so small that their surface appears more velvety than prickly.
Sea urchins are the most many-legged animals in the world. The total number of legs in sea urchins is enormous. They resemble suckers in shape. With the help of the legs, the animal can not only move from place to place and crawl even on steep rocks, but also firmly attach itself to stones and ground in places where there are many waves. The hedgehog, as it were, clings to what it stands on so that it is not washed off with water.
Sea urchins live on rocks, stones, coral reefs. Some are buried in the ground or sand. Sometimes on the seashore, sea urchins gather in such quantities that their needles touch each other. Some species occupy various depressions in the rocks, others are able to drill their own shelters, which serve as protection from waves for them. Often, hedgehogs cover themselves with shell fragments, pieces of algae or small stones in order, obviously, to protect themselves from exposure to direct sunlight or to disguise themselves from enemies. There are species that hide under stones all day and go out to feed only at night.
They eat what they can catch in water or on land. For example, molluscs, which are gnawed with powerful teeth. They hunt very interestingly. As soon as some animal touches the hedgehog, its legs immediately set in motion and try to grab the prey. As soon as one of the legs manages to catch the victim, the hedgehog squeezes it tightly and holds it until the prey dies. After that, the prey is transferred from one leg to the other until it reaches the mouth. When feeding, hedgehogs hold the food with needles, push it into the mouth and bite off small pieces. With the help of sharp teeth, sea urchins can scrape algae from the surface of stones, grab other food.
But sometimes neither sharp needles nor teeth can save a hedgehog from enemies. It is very interesting to deal with sea urchins such an animal as the sea otter. She collects sea urchins in coastal waters, takes them in front paws and swims on her back, holding prey on her chest in front of her, then breaks hedgehog shells on rocks or other hard objects and eats eggs. Birds catch sea urchins at low tide. It has been observed that birds throw collected hedgehogs from a height onto stones, break them and peck out soft parts.
Also eaten by sea urchins and people. Caviar of sea urchins is especially appreciated. Hedgehogs lay eggs several times a year.
The hedgehog mother lays eggs, then carries it on her back all the time. Larvae emerge from the eggs. And from the larvae - hedgehogs. Hedgehogs grow rather slowly, reaching adult sizes within a few years. Only then do they become independent.
SEA HORSE- a strange, charming creature. He has a head like a small horse, a flexible tail like a monkey, an external skeleton like an insect and an abdominal pocket like a kangaroo. These features inherent in other animals make the seahorse different from most fish, and it behaves in an unusual way. Yet this little creature is a real fish. Their size is about 30 centimeters, there are seahorses and 2 centimeters.
The seahorse has its own special style of movement: it floats proudly, like the leader of a majestic parade. Working with barely visible fins at an incredible speed - up to 35 strokes per second, it glides smoothly.
Seahorses usually live in the water near the coast among algae. Barbed armor protects them from danger. The seahorse has bones inside and out. The internal skeleton is the same as in all fish, and the external one is made of bone plates. When the seahorse dies and decomposes, the outer skeleton 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 so that it can only move it up and down, but cannot turn it around.
If other animals were so arranged, they would have problems with their eyesight. 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.
The most amazing thing about seahorses is that the cubs are born to the daddy. The skate dad has a bag on his belly, in which he carries caviar. Fry appears from this caviar. After the appearance of the fry, the skate carries them in a bag for some time. Bending the body upward in an arc, he opens the bag, and the fry go out of it for a walk, but in case of danger they hide there again. Immediately after birth, small skates must rise to the surface of the water and draw air into their swim bladders, otherwise they will die from suffocation.
Almost all fish swim with their tail, but not the seahorse. Its unusual tail, long and thin, is not crowned with a fin and rather looks like an arm. The seahorse tightly wraps its tail around algae or corals and can stand like that, frozen, for hours. And if it happens that two seahorses grapple with their tails, then they have to play tug-of-war.
Weddings are very interesting at seahorses. They sing and dance. They walk arm in arm (weaving their tails) and gracefully whirl among the seaweed. Seahorses cannot live long alone. If a husband or wife dies, then after a short time the other horse dies of melancholy. So the legends say.
Seahorses are masters of disguise, they change color to match their surroundings. Merging with the background, they simultaneously protect themselves from predators and camouflage themselves while hunting for food.
Seahorses are unusually voracious. They catch all living things that can fit in their mouth. Their mouth acts like an eyedropper: when the cheeks of the ridge swell sharply, the prey is sharply drawn into the mouth.
Skates feed mainly on small crustaceans. Noticing the 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 eat 10 hours a day and eat 3-4 thousand crustaceans during this time.
There are only a few natural enemies of seahorses in nature - shrimp, crab, clownfish and tuna. In addition, dolphins often eat them.
The most serious enemies of these creatures are humans: seahorses are endangered.
The main reasons for the extinction of this species are: water pollution, destruction of natural habitats, fishing for the water trade, accidental falling into the nets while fishing for shrimp or other fish.
Since the Middle Ages, seahorses have been credited with healing properties, once they were even used in the preparation of magical potions.
More than 20 million skates are captured and killed every year.
CRABS- pugnacious creatures.
Fights between crabs are always preceded by threatening demonstrations: they rise on outstretched legs, spread their claws. All this is necessary to appear larger: usually in fights the bigger one wins. The threatening poses of one crab are most often repeated exactly by the other, so immediately before the fight, both fighters stand in front of each other for a long time in the same pose, assessing the size and mood of the enemy. Small crab, as a rule, retreats without a fight, but if the difference in size is small, it can win, then in this case the fight is longer and more violent. It is very important who starts the fight, because whoever starts first usually wins, even if he is smaller. Demonstration of their strength in crabs is just as common and important as, for example, in dogs.
Some crabs are seriously injured after a fight. Large crabs fight longer than small ones, and it doesn't matter if they fight an enemy larger or smaller than themselves.
During a fight, crabs begin to breathe more often. The longer and more intense the fight, the more often the fighters breathe. The breathing rate increases in the same way for the winner and the loser, but after the fight, the winner calms down much faster than the defeated one, who breathes more often than usual even after a day.
Often the contractions follow one another. For example, a crab has just had a fight with one opponent and immediately starts fighting another.
Crabs do not live only with fights, they also know tender feelings. As monkeys express friendship, everyone knows: they search each other, choose insects from wool (or pretend to choose) and eat them. So, something similar is characteristic of some crabs.
The researchers found that crabs have two types of "alien cleaning": long-term and short-term cleaning. A cleaner crab walks up to another crab slowly, on bent legs and peels it for about a minute. The crab, which is being cleaned, feeds on silt 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, rapidly rising above the bottom surface, approaches the object to be cleaned. Cleaning lasts no more than 15 seconds. How much can you collect in these moments? The crab, which is being cleaned, stands calmly and motionless at the same time. Such cleaning is observed mainly in summer.
It so happens that a large crab - the owner of the hole - attacks a small one that approaches its dwelling. Then the small crab begins the procedure for a long cleaning of the large one - it calms down and quietly goes into the hole. So this behavior is a way to calm the aggressor. Well, and, of course, cleaning is beneficial - is it really bad to become clean, since you can't reach your back with your pincers yourself?
Crabs live in colonies on muddy shores, dig deep holes. During the day, at low tide, they wander through the drained areas, collect a thin upper layer of silt with claws, roll balls out of it and send them into the mouth, and at night (and at high tide, when the water is stormy and there are many waves) they spend in burrows.
The body of crabs is small. They have sharp pincers. With their help, they move and collect food for themselves, and also fight. Some of them swim well. They are called "swimmers". The hind legs can work like paddles. Most swimming crabs are predators roaming the bottom. Although they are able to swim, but not for long.
There are such huge crabs that reach a length of 1.5 meters and weigh about eight kilograms. One adult will not be able to raise 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 burrowing in the sand.
Under the shell, the body of the mollusks is soft. There is a head, torso and one leg. This leg is needed for burying in the sand at the bottom. It helps the mollusk to move around and even attach itself to rocks like a sucker. Under the sink is a fold of skin - the mantle. The shell, like a carapace, 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 a muscular tongue with teeth, like a grater, is located. The animal scrapes the soft surface of the plants with its tongue. On the lateral sides of the head there are sensitive tentacles - sense organs. With these tentacles, the mollusk touches objects and understands what it is. There are eyes near the tentacles.
All mollusks move very slowly.
There are molluscs in which the shell consists of two halves. Scientists call them bivalve. Their body consists of a torso and legs and is covered with a mantle. At the rear 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, water is thrown out.
There are shellfish called chitons. Their form strikes with variety, and beauty - perfection. Because of such beauty, they make necklaces and amulets that can adorn the human body and vases.
After the death of a mollusk, shells usually end up on the surface of the bottom. During wind waves or storms, they are thrown onto gentle sandy beaches and often form large clusters, turning the deserted coast into a motley carpet of colors.
However, the "life" of empty shells on the beaches is short-lived. Under the influence of waves, high tides, wind surges and atmospheric precipitation, some of them again fall to inaccessible depths, the other part is destroyed. However, after a while, 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 seashells.
A collection of shells can come in handy for a variety of crafts and decorations.
The depths of the sea are full of amazing secrets and they are inhabited by no less amazing living creatures, which will be discussed today. The largest ocean animal on the planet is the whale. Despite the fact that he himself is huge, his throat is very small, and his mouth is blocked by horny plates with fringed along the edges, which is also called a whalebone. This whalebone is intended for filtering food. And the whale eats like this: having collected sea water in its mouth, it filters it through the whalebone, as if through a huge sieve.
The water is filtered and poured out, and small living creatures - crustaceans and fish, remain inside the pharynx. Although they are not fish, they are large marine animals. Whale females feed their little cubs with milk and whales breathe, like earthly animals - air.
And then there are toothy whales that. They do not have a whalebone, but huge and sharp teeth grow in their mouths. A sperm whale dives deep into the sea and grabs with these teeth or squid.
Octopuses are very strange animals. They are called cephalopods because the legs grow straight out of the head. Although these legs are more like tentacle arms with powerful suction cups with which it grabs prey. The octopus has eight such tentacles. It will touch the fish with the suckers, and it will stick tightly to the tentacle. The octopus can move very quickly, since it has its own natural jet engine. The octopus will pick up water in its water bag and push it out with tremendous force, moving in the opposite direction.
The swordfish gets its name from its sharp, bony nose that truly resembles a sword. The swordfish rushes into the thick of the fish school and begins to strike the prey right and left with its swordfish. The blow from her sword is so strong that it can pierce a fishing boat.
Many animals do not live in the sea-ocean. There are even sea horses. The seahorse is constantly and merges with the environment so that they cannot be detected.
And the sea rooster, despite its name, does not know how to crow, it only cracks loudly, as if. But it is painted so brightly that it will give odds to any earthly rooster.
We met only with a small number of amazing and fish living in the depths of the ocean. In fact, the varieties of living things in the ocean are as vast as the ocean itself. And ocean scientists are still discovering more and more new types of marine life.
