In this section of the site you will read how and where sea animals live, you can find out Interesting Facts about them, see photos of animals of the seas!
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 around the world, it evaporates and is restored again in the form of rain and snow, feeding the flora and fauna. The sea is teeming with life, and oddly enough, but also microscopic, and the largest marine life, such as blue whale, manta ray or whale shark, feed on large amounts of food invisible to the naked eye - plankton.
Jellyfish more than 90% water; some jellyfish can cause painful burns.
Have octopus eight tentacles; he lives on seabed and can change color, adapting to the environment.
Bissa turtle (caretta)- very dexterous swimmer; feeds mainly on jellyfish and crustaceans. Lays eggs in the sand on the shores of small coves.
Blue whale is the largest animal in the world: one female, caught in 1947, weighed 190 tons. A blue whale cub 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 that appeared from the water is often mistaken for a shark's fin; by contrast, the fish moon is absolutely harmless.
Angler. This amazing predatory fish lures its prey by shaking its "antenna", at the end of which there is a growth that looks like an appetizing worm.
Zebra lionfish. Her spectacular appearance conceals in itself serious danger- on the back of this fish there is a fin that secretes poison as strong as that of a cobra.
Needle fish. It hunts in a completely unique way: it approaches its prey, often hiding behind other fish, and sucks it into its long "beak" with lightning speed. In terms of its characteristics, the needlefish 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 to lay eggs in the Sargasso Sea, between Bermuda and the Caribbean. The small larvae travel many thousands of kilometers to return to the rivers where their parents are from. Eel is a very strong fish; found in fresh water and can long time stay out of water: part of its path is often made by land.
Sea birds. The sea provides food for many of the animals on the coast. Among them are numerous seabirds. These birds have a lot in common: they all fly perfectly, can sink into the water, swim with the help of webbed paws, and their beaks are adapted to fishing... Many of them, such as cormorants, are capable of chasing fish underwater.
Cormorant. The inhabitants of Japan taught this bird to fish: with each fish caught, the bird returns to the owner.
Gull. Many different types of seabirds are called gulls. Flocks of seagulls can often be seen pursuing fishing vessels returning from the fishery, picking up waste that sailors dump overboard. Seagulls have learned to find food even in landfills in the inner part of the mainland at a distance of tens of kilometers from the sea.
Frigate. The male of this large, living on the banks warm seas, during courtship inflates a huge bright red goiter to attract the attention of the female.
Depths of the sea.
Far from the coast on great depth algae that need sunlight do not grow; there is only phytoplankton, formed by microscopic algae that float freely in the water. For this reason, predators are mainly found at great depths; other fish are content with phyto and zooplankton. Composed of the smallest invertebrates.
In open water spaces, where there are no shelters, only big sizes able to instill fear in a predator and prevent an attack. Therefore, only far from the coast are large marine life found: from cetaceans, such as killer whales and whales, to big fish such as shark, tuna or swordfish.
Small fish use other methods of protection: flying fish jump high out of the water, and sardines and mackerel find salvation in the fact that they gather in numerous flocks.
The earth is washed by four oceans: Indian, Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific. The largest is the Pacific Ocean, with an area of 180 million square kilometers. The average depth of the oceans is about 4,000 meters. The enormous length and depth do not allow you to explore the bottom of the oceans; indeed, it is extremely difficult and expensive to create machines that can withstand highest pressure that exists in the depths of the sea.
The deepest ocean is the Mariinsky Trench in the Pacific Ocean: 11,022 meters.
Flying fish. Have flying fish the lateral fins are highly developed, with the help of which it makes gliding flights over the surface of the sea, fleeing predators.
A complex combination of winds, currents and alternations of ebb and flow causes the waves to move. On the sea, waves rarely rise above 10 meters, but waves were observed even more than 30 meters high.
Plankton.
A large number of microscopic organisms that are unable to resist the currents swim in the sea - animals (zooplankton) and plants (phytoplankton) in origin; together they make up plankton. Carried by currents, it serves as food for the smallest fish and crustaceans, as well as for huge mammals, for example, for the blue whale. Animals capable of swimming actively form a nekton.
Zooplankton- a 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 and gives sea water characteristic greenish color.
In one liter of water, millions of microscopic organisms live, invisible to the naked eye. They not only constitute the food of 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 a fish, thanks to which they swim quickly. But cetaceans, unlike fish, cannot breathe rarefied oxygen. They need to breathe air, so they have to swim to the surface of the sea from time to time. Their babies are born in the water; immediately after birth, the mother pushes them to the surface for their first breath. This is a very crucial moment, and parents should be extremely careful not to meet a predator.
The smallest of the cetaceans is the dolphin, and the largest is the sith whale, which is also the largest animal in the world.
"The fountain". Whales may appear to be breathing out spray of water; in fact, what we see is a stream of air mixed with a little water.
Willow whale (sei whale), humpback and blue whales feed on plankton, which they filter through frequent horny plates called a whalebone. These plates prevent large animals from entering the mouth, so these whales do not need teeth.
Humpback whale. Unlike other whales that prefer the open sea, the humpback whale lives close to the coast, sometimes even swimming in bays and rivers. Despite its weight of 30 tons, this frisky animal loves to "dance", leaning 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. Obtaining food, he can dive to a depth of two thousand meters, where giant squids weighing several hundredweight are found. The sperm whale can hold its breath for almost two hours!
Narwhal. Narwhal's long, straight tooth, like a horn, cannot be confused with anyone else. This friendly animal lives in cold arctic waters.
Killer whale. Has a reputation as a fierce and very dangerous predator; in fact, the killer whale, like other carnivores, attacks the animals it feeds on, but there is no evidence that it attacked humans.
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" of theirs is being studied by scientists. Dolphins are unusually friendly; once it was a dolphin who saved a shipwrecked man from sharks attacking him.
Sharks. These are very ancient fish; due to the streamlined shape of the body, when moving forward, sharks experience the most negligible water resistance, therefore they swim very quickly. Unlike fish, sharks breed by laying eggs; some place them at the bottom, attaching them to algae or rocks, while others develop eggs completely in the mother's body, and the young are born already formed. Among sharks, there are both terrifying predators, such as the blue shark, and peaceful plankton eaters, such as the huge whale shark, which, despite its frightening appearance, is completely harmless. The whale shark is the most large fish in the world, her body length reaches 12 meters! The blue shark is considered a man-eating shark, and there is ample evidence that it attacks shipwrecked people and bathers.
Gray shark. Lives in tropical seas, exploring shallows in search of fish and crustaceans. It does not attack people, but if a person gets scared and tries to flee, this shark can become very dangerous.
Sawfish. It is found in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. A great feature is the long and flat snout with small teeth set like the teeth of a saw. It serves the fish for combing the sandy bottom in search of small prey. Occasionally the sawfish uses its "nose" to defend itself against enemies. The shark is often accompanied by pilot fish; they feed on the remains of shark food, and, oddly enough, sharks do not attack them. It is believed that the pilot fish shows the shark the way to the large schools of fish. In fact, this is just a legend, devoid of any foundation.
Scat. He has a strongly flattened body, which gives the impression that he "flies" on the water. Basically, the stingray lives at the bottom, at moderate depths, where it is remarkably camouflaged. Some stingray species have a long thorn on their back that secretes a strong venom. The mouth, located on the belly, has a lot of sharp teeth.
Tiger shark. This fish is called so because of the color of the skin. She swims close to the shore and feeds on everything: fish and crustaceans, birds and mammals.
Darkness.
Sunlight does not pass through the water column deeper than several tens of meters. Below is constant darkness, and it is impossible to distinguish day from night. Plants cannot live without light, so there are no algae at all. This is the reason that only predatory fish live in the depths, which lure prey in various clever ways.
Many deep-sea fish have special luminous organs called phosphors; they serve as a bait before which 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 stand precisely low pressure, and if they surfaced, they would die.
Organic matter, the remains of animals and plants that have died in the surface layers, slowly descend to the bottom of the ocean. All this constitutes food for small animals of benthos - this is the name for the totality of organisms living at the bottom. The benthos, in turn, serves as food for fish and larger molluscs, which are watched by other predators that penetrate into the depths of the sea from shallower layers, such as the sperm whale, which can dive to depths despite the fact that it breathes atmospheric air.
Giant squid. One member of this species, "stranded" on the island of Newfoundland in Canada, weighed two tons. In giant squids, the length of the body, together with tentacles, reaches 13 - 18 meters, it is even assumed that they are involved in fierce battles with sperm whales in the depths of the oceans: traces left by tentacles are often noticed on their bodies, and the remains of giant squids are found in their stomachs.
Pelican largemouth.
Always swims in the dark, keeping a huge mouth wide open; thus he collects all the food that comes his way.
Arboreal linophrina. 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 quietly at the bottom, swinging a long tendril with a phosphor - a luminous organ located on her head. Other fish, caught on such a bait, inevitably end their lives in the throat of the linophrina.
Coral reefs.
Coral- these are small animals, in colonies of which there are millions of individuals, that live in tropical seas, attached to their bottom. Over time, one calcareous skeleton generated by them grows and forms in coastal zones the most real coral reefs, on which the waves break; because of this, between the coast and the coral fence, the sea is calmer, like in a harbor.
Coral reef- an ideal habitat for both animals and plants: the sea is calm and warm, there is a lot of sunshine. If you look under the water through a scuba mask, you can see countless different picturesque fish "strolling" among the sea stars and anemones.
If you dive on the other side of the reef, in the direction open sea, there may be a feeling of severe dizziness: the bottom is no longer there - only the water is bright blue.
The largest coral reef, more than 2000 kilometers long, is located along the coast of Australia. These coral fortresses are called the great quarry reef and pose a serious danger to sailors.
Atolls. The tops 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 an almost circular shape, forming atolls - coral islands.
Madreporas. Coral relatives are also formed by colonies of calcareous polyps. At night, they stretch out their tentacles, grabbing food consisting of plankton.
By the shore.
In the ocean just off the coast, the most favorable conditions for the prosperity of the inhabitants of the underwater world: sunlight penetrates the water, contributing to 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 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, sometimes covered with algae. Various animals inhabit it according to the type of seabed. For example, on a sandy bottom, you can find a flounder, which hides in the sand, burying itself in half, and the octopus finds shelter on a rocky bottom, where it is almost invisible among the rocks.
Among the cliffs washed by the sea, which welcome countless animals, there is a rich life. Some of the inhabitants here, such as mussels, patella, hedgehogs, starfish and sea anemones, do not swim. In the shade of crevasses and cliffs, crustaceans, octopuses and fish such as sargus, grouper, rock perch and moray. The flounder and the dragon are hiding in the sand, and the sultanka explores it with her long antennae in search of food. All this potential prey attracts hunting fish living in the open sea to the coast - lavraks, large seriols and Zubans.
Sea urchins. Swimming in the sea, you need to be very careful not to step on these animals: the consequences can be the most sad! The mouth of the sea urchin is called the Aristotelian lantern, and it houses five ever-growing teeth. Some hedgehogs have short and frequent needles, while others have long and sparse needles. They differ in color.
Crustaceans. All of these animals, most of them marine, have two pairs of antennae, and some have two solid claws that can close with force. During the day they usually hide in crevices of rocks, but at night they activate and go in search of food, consisting, as a rule, of shellfish and dead animals.
Spiny lobster found in seas almost all over the world; its mass can reach eight kilograms.
Lobster like lobster, it is very popular marine product; lobsters are caught using special traps - traps. Unlike spiny lobster, it has claws.
A distinctive feature of the crab is a specific way to move sideways.
Crustaceans have a permanent burrow, where they will certainly return after night forays for food: this indicates that crustaceans have a good sense of orientation. Some of them, for example, lobster, make massive migrations over long distances.
The underwater world is extremely diverse, new and new species are constantly being discovered sea fish and animals. 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. Absence bone tissue and gill covers, features of the structure of scales and many other signs of the structure speak of their ancient origin, which is confirmed by paleontological data - the age of the fossil remains of the first sharks is determined by about 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 those and others, 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. Eggs and embryos giant shark 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 at all aggressive. Whale sharks absolutely not dangerous to humans.
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 significantly 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 phenomenal ability detect a wounded or helpless animal at a great distance by its convulsive movements or by blood that has got into 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 because each scale cartilaginous fish 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 (pride Chinese food), even received the name of 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, with the help of the current pectoral fins moved by land. 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 are 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 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. These days these sea giants there are very few left, 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. Science knows several freshwater species... 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 abyss of the sea, and a moment later disappears into the depths again, pulling a black pointed tail with it - this is a sight truly worthy of a detailed story.
But not so scary sea Devil like an electric stingray. 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.
Swordfish is considered to be the fastest swimmer of all inhabitants. 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 tight 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, the Pacific star is dark purple. There is also a black star. It can be easily distinguished by its black back. There are dark gray starfish, and on the rays on 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 this starfish name - mesh.
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 turn the stomach out through their mouth, surrounding potential food from all sides like 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 because of harmful influence starfish. 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 such small needles that their surface seems 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 even crawl along sheer cliffs, but also firmly adheres to rocks and soil 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 smashes it on rocks or other solid objects shells of hedgehogs and eats caviar. 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 little horse, a flexible tail like a monkey, 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 through a short time dying of melancholy and another horse. 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 in nature natural enemies seahorses are 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: water pollution, destruction natural environment habitat, fishing for the water trade, accidentally falling into the net while catching 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 out on 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.
The collection of sinks can come in handy for various crafts and decorations.
Yesterday, September 26, was World Maritime Day. In this regard, we bring to your attention a selection of the most unusual sea creatures.
World Maritime Day has been celebrated since 1978 on one of the days of the last week of September. This international holiday was created in order to draw public attention to the problems of pollution of the seas and the extinction of animal species living in them. Indeed, over the past 100 years, according to the UN, some species of fish, including cod and tuna, have been caught by 90%, and every year about 21 million barrels of oil enter the seas and oceans.
All this causes irreparable damage to the seas, oceans and can lead to the death of their inhabitants. These include those that we will talk about in our selection.
1. Octopus Dumbo
This animal received this name due to ear-like formations protruding from the top of its head, which resemble the ears of Disney's elephant Dumbo. However, the scientific name of this animal is Grimpoteuthis. These cute creatures live at depths of 3,000 to 4,000 meters and are among the rarest octopuses.
The largest individuals of this genus were 1.8 meters in length and weighed about 6 kg. Most of the time, these octopuses swim above the seabed in search of food - polychaete worms and various crustaceans. By the way, unlike other octopuses, these ones swallow their prey whole.
2. Short-necked bat
This fish attracts attention, first of all, for its unusual appearance, namely, bright red lips on the front of the body. As previously thought, they are necessary to attract marine life, which the bat eats. However, it was soon found out that this function is performed by a small formation on the head of the fish, called esque. It emits a specific odor that attracts worms, crustaceans and small fish.
The unusual "image" of the bat complements the no less amazing way of its movement in the water. As a poor swimmer, he walks along the bottom on his pectoral fins.
Short-necked bat - deep sea fish, and lives in the waters off the Galapagos Islands.
3. Branched ophiura
These deep sea animals have many ramified rays. Moreover, each of the rays can be 4-5 times larger than the body of these ophiurs. With the help of them, the animal catches zooplankton and other food. Like other echinoderms, branched ophiuria lack blood, and gas exchange is carried out using a special water-vascular system.
Usually branched ophiura weigh about 5 kg, their rays can reach 70 cm in length (in the branched ophiura Gorgonocephalus stimpsoni), and their body is 14 cm in diameter.
4. Trumpet harlequin
This is one of the least studied species, which, if necessary, can merge with the bottom or imitate a sprig of algae.
It is near the thickets of the underwater forest at a depth of 2 to 12 meters that these creatures try to stay so that in a dangerous situation they can acquire the color of the ground or the nearest plant. In a "quiet" time for harlequins, they slowly swim upside down in search of food.
Looking at the photo of the harlequin pipe nozzle, it is easy to guess that they are related to seahorses and needles. However, they are noticeably different in appearance: for example, the harlequin has longer fins. By the way, this shape of fins helps ghost fish to bear offspring. With the help of elongated pelvic fins covered with inside threadlike outgrowths, the female harlequin forms a special bag in which she bears eggs.
5. Crab Yeti
In 2005, an expedition exploring the Pacific Ocean found extremely unusual crabs at a depth of 2,400 meters, which were covered with "fur". Because of this feature (as well as their coloration), they were called “yeti crabs” (Kiwa hirsuta).
However, it was not fur in the literal sense of the word, but long feathery bristles covering the chest and limbs of crustaceans. According to scientists, many filamentous bacteria live in the bristles. These bacteria purify the water from the toxic substances emitted by the hydrothermal vents, near which the "yeti crabs" live. And there is also an assumption that these same bacteria serve as food for crabs.
6. Australian pine cone
It is found in the coastal waters of the Australian states of Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia on reefs and in bays. Due to its small fins and hard scales, it swims extremely slowly.
As a nocturnal species, the Australian pine cone spends the day in caves and under rock ledges. So, in one marine reserve in New South Wales, a small group of pine cones has been recorded that have been hiding under the same ledge for at least 7 years. At night, this species emerges from its shelter and goes hunting on sandbanks, illuminating its path with the help of glow organs and photophores. This light is produced by a colony of symbiotic bacteria Vibrio fischeri, which has taken up residence in the photophores. Bacteria can leave the photophores and simply live in seawater. However, their luminescence dims a few hours after they leave the photophore.
It is interesting that the light emitted by the organs of luminescence is also used by fish to communicate with congeners.
7. Sponge-lyre
The scientific name for this animal is Chondrocladia lyra. It is a type of carnivorous deep-sea sponge, and was first discovered in the Californian at a depth of 3300-3500 meters in 2012.
The lyre sponge gets its name from its appearance, which resembles a harp or lyre. So, this animal is kept on the seabed with the help of rhizoids, root-like formations. From their upper part stretches from 1 to 6 horizontal stolons, and on them, at an equal distance from each other, there are vertical "branches" with spade-like structures at the end.
Since the lyre sponge is carnivorous, with these "branches" it captures prey, for example, crustaceans. And as soon as she manages to do this, she will begin to secrete a digestive membrane that will envelop the prey. Only then will the lyre sponge be able to suck in the split prey through the pores.
The largest recorded lyre sponge reaches almost 60 centimeters in length.
8. Clowns
Found in almost all tropical and subtropical seas and oceans, clownfish are one of the fastest predators on the planet. After all, they are able to catch prey in less than a second!
So, having seen a potential victim, the "clown" will track it down, remaining motionless. Of course, prey will not notice it, because fish of this family usually resemble a plant or a harmless animal in their appearance. In some cases, when the prey comes closer, the predator begins to move the eskoy, an outgrowth of the front dorsal fin, which resembles a "fishing rod", which makes the prey even closer. And as soon as a fish or other sea animal is close enough to the "clown", he will suddenly open his mouth and swallow the prey, spending only 6 milliseconds on it! Such an attack is so lightning fast that it cannot be seen without slow motion. By the way, the volume of the mouth of the fish during the catching of the prey often increases 12 times.
In addition to the speed of clowns, an equally important role in their hunt is played by unusual shape, color and texture of their cover, allowing these fish to mimic. Some clownfish resemble rocks or corals, while others resemble sponges or ascidians. And in 2005, sargassum was discovered sea clown that mimics algae. Clown “camouflage” can be so good that sea slugs often crawl over these fish, mistaking them for corals. However, they need "camouflage" not only for hunting, but also for protection.
It is interesting that during the hunt, the "clown" sometimes sneaks up on the prey himself. He literally approaches her using his pectoral and pelvic fins. These fish can walk in two ways. They can alternately move their pectoral fins without using the pelvic fins, or they can transfer body weight from the pectoral fins to the pelvic fins. Gait in the latter way can be called a slow gallop.
9. Smallmouth Macropyne
Inhabiting the depths of the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, the smallmouth macropyne has a very unusual appearance. She has a transparent forehead through which she can look out for prey with her tubular eyes.
The unique fish was discovered in 1939. However, at that time it was not possible to study it well enough, in particular, the structure of the cylindrical eyes of fish, which can move from a vertical position to a horizontal position and vice versa. This was done only in 2009.
Then it became clear that the bright green eyes of this small fish (it does not exceed 15 cm in length) are in the chamber of the head filled with a transparent liquid. This chamber is covered by a dense, but at the same time, elastic transparent shell, which is attached to the scales on the body of the smallmouth macropyne. Bright green color the fish eye is explained by the presence of a specific yellow pigment in them.
Since the smallmouth macropinous is characterized by a special structure of the ocular muscles, its cylindrical eyes can be both in a vertical position and in a horizontal position, when the fish can look directly through its transparent head. This way, the macropinna can spot prey both when it is in front of it and when it is floating above it. And as soon as the prey - usually zooplankton - is at the level of the fish's mouth, it quickly grabs it.
10. Sea spider
These arthropods, which are not actually spiders or even arachnids, are common in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, as well as in the Arctic and Southern Oceans. Today, more than 1300 species of this class are known, some of which reach 90 cm in length. However, most sea spiders are still small.
These animals have long legs, of which there are usually about eight. Also, sea spiders have a special appendage (proboscis) that they use to suck food into the intestines. Most of these animals are carnivorous and feed on flies, sponges, polychaete worms and bryozoans. For example, sea spiders often feed on anemones: they insert their proboscis into the body of the anemone and begin to suck in its contents. And since anemones are usually larger than sea spiders, they almost always survive after such "torture".
Sea spiders live in different parts the world: in the waters of Australia, New Zealand, off the Pacific coast of the United States, in the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas, as well as in the Arctic and Southern Oceans. Moreover, they are most common in shallow water, but can be found at a depth of up to 7000 meters. They often hide under rocks or camouflaged among algae.
11. Cyphoma gibbosum
The shell color of this orange-yellow snail appears to be very bright. However, only the soft tissues of a living mollusk have this color, not the shell. Typically, Cyphoma gibbosum snails reach 25-35 mm in length, and their shell is 44 mm.
These animals inhabit the warm waters of the western Atlantic Ocean, including the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the waters of the Lesser Antilles at depths of up to 29 meters.
12. Mantis shrimp
Inhabiting shallow waters in tropical and subtropical seas, mantis shrimps have the most complex eyes in the world. If a person can distinguish 3 primary colors, then the mantis shrimp is 12. Also, these animals perceive ultraviolet and infrared light and see different types polarization of light.
Many animals are able to see linear polarization. For example, fish and crustaceans use it to navigate and locate prey. However, only mantis shrimps are able to see both linear polarization and the rarer, circular polarization.
Such eyes enable mantis shrimp to recognize Various types corals, their prey and predators. In addition, during the hunt, it is important for the crayfish to deliver accurate blows with their sharpened grasping legs, in which the eyes also help it.
By the way, to cope with a prey or a predator, which can be much larger in size, mantis crayfish are also helped by sharp, jagged segments on the grasping legs. So, during an attack, the mantis shrimp makes several quick blows with its legs, which causes serious damage to the victim or kills it.
Cancers move backward, occupied people in ancient times. She was even born about how the crab and the crab accompanied the sea king for a walk, and when he met a shark, the crab, frightened, recoiled back, and the crab retreated sideways into the nearest thicket of seaweed. The sea king punished both subjects for cowardice, forcing one to back away all his life, and the other to walk sideways.
Of course, a modern person will not be satisfied with such a fabulous explanation.
Crab anatomy
Crabs have very long and powerful legs, which are slightly turned forward. Thanks to this, the joints cannot rise above the abdomen. This is very important for an animal that spends most of its time in shallow water and has many natural enemies. In case of danger, it is easy for a crab to spread out on a sandy bottom, without attracting attention, or quickly hide under stones.
But for such a structure of the limbs, the crab has to pay by the fact that it can develop the greatest speed when moving sideways. When speed is not critical, the crab can walk in any direction, but when it senses danger, it seeks to escape and begins to move in the most convenient way for it. This does not interfere with monitoring the source of danger, because his eyes are on the stalked outgrowths, which creates an all-round view.
There is another reason for sideways movement in case of danger. The claws of a person, like the hands of a person, are asymmetrical - it is easy to see this by looking at him: one of the claws is larger than the other. Like humans, the leading claw in most individuals turns out to be the right claw, with it the crab grabs food, and with the left one, if necessary. Running away from someone dangerous, he covers himself with a "protective" claw, and this is also more convenient, moving sideways.
Cancer moves backwards
A close "relative" of crabs also has an interesting peculiarity of movement - crayfish... This animal swims with its tail forward, since it is in this direction that the body of the cancer has the most streamlined shape, and when moving in the opposite direction, large pincers would interfere.
Cancer can walk in any direction, but maximum speed develops when moving backwards. At the same time, the tail bends under the abdomen and throws out a stream of water, which "works" according to the principle jet engine, increasing the speed of movement of the animal.
The crab does not always walk sideways, and the crab moves backward - both do this only in case of danger. Animals perceive a meeting with a person as a danger, therefore people most often observe just such a movement of crabs and crayfish.
walks along the bottom sideways
Alternative descriptionsDecapod crustacean
Marine arthropod
Sea crayfish
The world's first Russian underwater minelayer
Forced migrant from shell to tin can
Russian Submarine, the world's first underwater minelayer
Raw materials for sea sticks (delicacy)
Arthropod on a cap
The emblem on the sailors' uniform cap (colloquial)
Walks along the bottom barefoot
Palm thief
Russian submarine
Who was Sebastian in The Little Mermaid?
... "Sea" hairpin
... "Live" hairpin
Short-tailed crayfish
Who in the animal kingdom is called the "palm thief"?
Sailor's cockade
Crustacean animal
Underwater minelayer
Clawbearer
Claw "clack-clat"
Pincer in Breakwater
Hair clip
Gift of the sea on the table
Delicacy from Nakhodka
Hairpin type
Antenna splitter
Antenna splitter
Clawed thing
Someone with claws
Sea creature
Claw hairpin
Handshake
Sebastian, friend of Ariel
Badge on a sailor's cap
He has a claw
Gift of the sea to the table
... "Palm thief" in the world of fauna
His meat supposedly goes to sticks
Relatives of cancer
Minelayer
He's a claw-claw
Carapace with claws
Claw holder
Marine Edible Sticks Supplier
Arthropod on a sailor's cap
Cockade in nautical jargon
What do sailors call a cockade?
Sea strigon
Kindred to cancer and lobster
Moves along the bottom sideways
Sticks
Sailor badge
Cancer sea brother
Delicacy with claws
Cap badge on the midshipman's cap
... Arthropod cockade
Cockade in the mouth of a sailor
Crayfish marine cousin
Sideways Cancer Kindred
Stick cancer
Cartoon Sebastian
... Seafood kamchadal
Relatives of cancer
... "Sea" cockade
One of the sea crayfish
Marine claw holder
Claw treat
Cancer sea relatives
Cancer without cervix
... "Shaped cancer"
Cancer's Marine Companion
The emblem on the sailors' uniform cap
Decapod crustacean
Short-tailed crayfish
Genus of sea crayfish
Marine arthropod
The emblem on the cap
The world's first Russian underwater minelayer (commissioned in 1915)
Seafood
... "Live" hairpin
... "Kamchadal" from seafood
... "Marine" hairpin
... "Marine" cockade
... "Palm Thief" in the world of fauna
... "Formative cancer"
... "Arthropod" cockade
Hairpin - "claw"
What sailors call a cockade
Who in the animal kingdom is called the "palm thief"
M. round sea crustacean, different sizes and types
Bark backwards
Anagram for marriage
Bark backwards
Anagram for the word "marriage"
Marine supplier edible chopsticks
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