Interesting facts about marine life. Interesting facts about the inhabitants of the underwater world. Searching for a couple in the depths of the waters

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 sea pollution and the extinction of animal species living in them. Indeed, over the past 100 years, according to the UN, some types 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 and oceans and can lead to the death of their inhabitants. These include those that we will talk about in our selection.

1. Dumbo the Octopus

This animal received its name due to the ear-like structures protruding from the top of its head, which resemble the ears of Disney's baby 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 one of 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 swallow their prey whole.

2. Short-snouted pipistrelle

This fish attracts attention, first of all, with its unusual appearance, namely with bright red lips on the front of the body. As previously thought, they are necessary to attract marine life, which the pipistrelle bat feeds on. However, it was soon discovered that this function is performed by a small formation on the fish’s head, called the esca. It emits a specific odor that attracts worms, crustaceans and small fish.

The unusual “image” of the pipistrelle bat is complemented by an equally amazing way of moving in water. Being a poor swimmer, it walks along the bottom on its pectoral fins.

The short-snouted pipistrelle is a deep-sea fish and lives in the waters near the Galapagos Islands.

3. Branched brittle stars

These deep-sea marine animals have many branched arms. Moreover, each of the rays can be 4-5 times larger than the body of these brittle stars. With their help, the animal catches zooplankton and other food. Like other echinoderms, branched brittle stars lack blood, and gas exchange is carried out using a special water-vascular system.

Typically, branched brittle stars weigh about 5 kg, their rays can reach 70 cm in length (in the branched brittle stars Gorgonocephalus stimpsoni), and their body is 14 cm in diameter.

4. Harlequin pipe snout

This is one of the least studied species that can, if necessary, merge with the bottom or imitate a branch 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 soil or the nearest plant. During “quiet” times for harlequins, they slowly swim upside down in search of food.

Looking at a photograph of a harlequin tubesnout, it is easy to guess that they are related to seahorses and pipefish. However, they differ markedly in appearance: For example, the harlequin has longer fins. By the way, this shape of fins helps the ghost fish bear offspring. With the help of elongated pelvic fins, covered on the inside with thread-like outgrowths, the female harlequin forms a special pouch in which she bears eggs.

5. Yeti Crab

In 2005, an expedition exploring the Pacific Ocean discovered extremely unusual crabs that were covered in “fur” at a depth of 2,400 meters. Because of this feature (as well as their coloring), 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 water from toxic substances emitted by hydrothermal vents, near which “Yeti crabs” live. There is also an assumption that these same bacteria serve as food for crabs.

6. Australian coneberry

This species lives in the coastal waters of the Australian states of Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia and is found on reefs and bays. Due to its small fins and hard scales, it swims extremely slowly.

Being a nocturnal species, the Australian conefish spends the day in caves and under rocky outcroppings. Thus, in one marine reserve in New South Wales, a small group of conefish was recorded hiding under the same ledge for at least 7 years. At night, this species comes out of hiding and goes hunting on sandbanks, illuminating its path with the help of luminescent organs, photophores. This light is produced by a colony of symbiotic bacteria, Vibrio fischeri, which has taken up residence in the photophores. Bacteria can leave photophores and simply live in sea water. However, their luminescence fades a few hours after they leave the photophores.

Interestingly, fish also use the light emitted by their luminescent organs to communicate with their relatives.

7. Lyre sponge

The scientific name of this animal is Chondrocladia lyra. It is a type of carnivorous deep-sea sponge, and was first discovered in the California sponge 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 held on the seabed with the help of rhizoids, root-like formations. From 1 to 6 horizontal stolons extend from their upper part, and on them, at equal distances from each other, are vertical “branches” with spade-shaped structures at the end.

Since the lyre sponge is carnivorous, it uses these “branches” to capture prey, such as crustaceans. And as soon as she manages to do this, she will begin to secrete a digestive membrane that will envelop the prey. Only after this the lyre sponge will be able to suck in the split prey through its pores.

The largest recorded lyre sponge reaches almost 60 centimeters in length.

8. Clowns

Living in almost all tropical and subtropical seas and oceans, fish from the clown family are among 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, the 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 tail, an extension of the front dorsal fin that resembles a “fishing rod,” which forces the prey even closer. And as soon as a fish or other sea animal is close enough to the “clown”, it will suddenly open its mouth and swallow its prey, spending only 6 milliseconds! This attack is so lightning fast that it cannot be seen without slow motion. By the way, the volume of the fish’s oral cavity often increases 12 times while catching prey.

In addition to the speed of clownfish, an equally important role in their hunting is played by the unusual shape, color and texture of their cover, which allows these fish to mimic. Some clownfish resemble rocks or corals, while others resemble sponges or sea squirts. And in 2005, Sargassum clown sea, which imitates algae, was discovered. The “camouflage” of clownfish can be so good that sea slugs often crawl over these fish, mistaking them for coral. However, they need “camouflage” not only for hunting, but also for protection.

Interestingly, during a hunt, the “clown” sometimes sneaks up on its prey. He literally approaches her using his pectoral and ventral fins. These fish can walk in two ways. They can alternately move their pectoral fins without using the pelvic fins, and they can transfer their body weight from the pectoral fins to the pelvic fins. The latter method of gait can be called a slow gallop.

9. Smallmouth macropinna

Living in the depths of the North Pacific Ocean, the smallmouth macropinna 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 the fish, which can move from a vertical position to a horizontal one and vice versa. This was only possible in 2009.

Then it became clear that the bright green eyes of this small fish (it does not exceed 15 cm in length) are located in a head chamber 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 macropinna. Bright green color The fish's eyes are explained by the presence of a specific yellow pigment in them.

Since the smallmouth macropinna is characterized by a special structure of the eye muscles, its cylindrical eyes can be in both a vertical position and in a horizontal position, when the fish can look directly through its transparent head. Thus, macropinna can notice prey both when it is in front of it and when it swims 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 Seas, as well as the Arctic and Southern Oceans. Today, more than 1,300 species of this class are known, some representatives of which reach 90 cm in length. However, most sea spiders are still small in size.

These animals have long legs, of which there are usually about eight. Moss spiders also have a special appendage (proboscis) that they use to absorb food into the intestines. Most of these animals are carnivorous and feed on cnidarians, sponges, polychaete worms and bryozoans. For example, sea spiders often feed on sea anemones: they insert their proboscis into the body of the sea anemone and begin to suck its contents into themselves. And since sea anemones are usually larger than sea spiders, they almost always survive such “torture.”

Sea spiders live in different parts 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 also be found at depths of up to 7000 meters. They often hide under rocks or camouflage themselves among algae.

11. Cyphoma gibbosum

The shell color of this orange-yellow snail seems very bright. However, only soft fabrics a living mollusk, not a shell. Typically, Cyphoma gibbosum snails reach 25-35 mm in length, and their shell is 44 mm.

These animals live in warm waters the western part of the 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 crab

Living at shallow depths in tropical and subtropical seas, mantis crayfish have the most complex eyes in the world. If a person can distinguish 3 primary colors, then the mantis crab can distinguish 12. Also, these animals perceive ultraviolet and infrared light and see different types of polarization of light.

Many animals are able to see linear polarization. For example, fish and crustaceans use it to navigate and detect prey. However, only mantis crabs are able to see both linear polarization and a rarer, circular one.

Such eyes enable mantis crayfish to recognize Various types corals, their prey and predators. In addition, when hunting, it is important for the crayfish to deliver precise strikes with its pointed, grasping legs, in which its eyes also help.

By the way, sharp, jagged segments on the grasping legs also help mantis crayfish cope with prey or predators, which can be much larger in size. So, during an attack, the mantis crab makes several quick strikes with its legs, which causes serious damage to the victim or kills it.

Everything inaccessible enchants. And what could be further from a person than the ocean floor? Sea creatures are so different from terrestrial creatures. I really want to know more about them. What do they eat? How do they live and protect themselves? There is so much that I really want to know.

Looking at the surface of the water, it is difficult to imagine the diversity of life that lurks below. But these are not only animals, fish and plants. The basis of the marine food chain is plankton.

What is plankton?

The entire world of marine animals would cease to exist without him. Plankton are microscopic creatures that are invisible to the naked eye. Their design does not allow them to move arbitrarily in the water. The position of this creature depends on the current, they are not able to resist it.

There are two types of plankton in nature:

zooplankton, which is formed from living organisms;
phytoplankton are special marine plants.

The latter gives the water a slightly green tint. There is so much plankton in the water that in one liter of it millions of these creatures are found. Moreover, they not only serve as food that all marine life eats, but also participate in the restoration of oxygen in the water.

Transparent antiquity, or Why the jellyfish is interesting

These inhabitants of the deep sea consist of 90 percent water. Moreover, jellyfish appeared on Earth so long ago that their distant ancestors witnessed the life of dinosaurs.

Some species of these animals have poison that can cause a burn on the skin of a person or even kill. For example, the box jellyfish is extremely dangerous. It kills as many people a year as do not die from all other inhabitants of the seas and oceans. The bite of this jellyfish kills in three minutes, and it moves at a speed of 2 m/s. It is difficult to escape from it, and surviving a bite is almost impossible.

The range of sizes of these creatures of different species is striking. The smallest of them are the size of a pinhead, while the largest have a dome with a diameter of two and a half meters, and their tentacles grow up to fifty meters.

Since jellyfish mostly die after reproduction, their life span is very short. Very rare specimens live in nature for more than two years. Most often they are given only a few months. In captivity, these marine inhabitants can live for quite a long time.

Boneless Giant - Octopus

These sea creatures are very interesting for children due to their unusual structure. After all, octopuses have tentacles instead of legs, and they have no bones at all. Thanks to the latter fact, this creature can easily squeeze into a tiny hole, the diameter of which is only one centimeter.

Here are some interesting facts about sea creatures - octopuses:

the blood of these creatures is blue;
they have three hearts at once;
octopuses are deaf;
they can separate any part of the body, which will then grow back;
octopuses easily change their color to adapt to their environment;
they turn completely white with fear;
in order to confuse the pursuer, these animals throw out a cloud of ink.

Some types of octopuses are extremely poisonous. For example, the blue-ringed one, which has a diameter of about 3-4 cm and weighs only 100 g. Its bite stops swallowing after 5 minutes. And after 30 minutes the person suffocates. Moreover, there is no effective antidote yet. The only way to save a person is to do artificial ventilation lungs until the poison stops acting.

Wonderful cetaceans

These inhabitants of the deep sea are mammals. Even though their bodies are quite similar to those of fish, they are still very different. The main difference is in the way of breathing. Marine fish breathe air dissolved in water. Cetaceans lack this ability. They need to breathe air from the atmosphere. For this purpose, they are forced to float to the surface. There they inhale and exhale. The latter is visible as a fountain of air with Not big amount water.

These mammals give birth to their young in water. Therefore, the mother immediately after birth pushes to the surface for the first breath.

The largest marine mammals are blue whales. By the way, they are the largest animals on Earth. The dolphin is the smallest of the cetaceans.

A little about different types of whales

Blue whales are already born giants. Their length reaches 8 meters, and they weigh about 3 tons. The largest female of this whale that was caught weighed 190 tons.

Most cetacean species prefer the sea. The exception is humpback whale, which lives near the coast. There are cases when these animals were spotted in bays and rivers. These sea creatures love to perform acrobatic stunts. They emerge from the water and dance gracefully.

These species of whales do not have teeth. Instead, the mouth is filled with horny plates called baleen. Through them, mammals filter plankton, which they feed on.

Such sea predators as sperm whale, feed on cephalopods and fish. They are wonderful divers. They can dive for squid to depths of up to two kilometers. While searching for prey, sperm whales are capable of not breathing for about two hours.

Another carnivorous mammal - killer whale. She has proven herself to be a brutal killer. But there are no documented facts about attacks on people.

Amazing whale narwhal differs from all others in having a long straight tooth. Despite their menacing appearance, they are very friendly.

The most famous cetaceans are dolphins. They are incredibly smart and quick-witted. They are easy to tame and train. By the way, they have a well-developed vocal apparatus and produce a large number of different sounds.

Unusual fish

The names of sea creatures such as: sunfish, needlefish, flounder and swordfish. The first of them floats near the surface of the sea. This makes its fin visible above the water. From a distance it looks like a shark fin. However, it is completely harmless.

Needlefish has a unique way of hunting. She hides behind other fish and approaches the prey. At the right moment, she instantly sucks the poor thing into her mouth.

Angler invented his own style of hunting. This predator shakes its antenna with a growth that resembles a worm in appearance. The fish “bite” at him, and he eats them.

A flying fish invented a way to escape from enemies. She learned to glide over the sea. This is facilitated by its well-developed lateral fins.

Fish with eyes on one side

Flounders can have eyes only on the right or left side of the body. It all depends on the species. These marine fish are unique in that their eggs do not contain fat. This causes the eggs of most flounder species to float near the surface.

These fish do not like deep water. They live mainly near the coast. Rare individuals swim to depths of more than one kilometer.

Interestingly, flounder species are differentiated by mouth size. They can be largemouth or smallmouth. The first of them are predators, whose mouth is symmetrical and “equipped” with teeth on the sighted and blind sides of the body. Examples of such fish are halibut and flounder. They feed mainly on worms and small fish, mollusks and crustaceans, as well as brittle stars.

Warlike Swordfish

This name arose due to the unusual xiphoid process, which is located on its upper jaw. This is not the only feature. Swordfish have no scales. All this, plus a sickle-shaped tail and special shape fins, allows her to be the fastest creature on Earth. Swordfish can swim for a long time at a speed of about 130 km/h.

For such speeds you need space. Therefore, it can only be found in the open ocean.

Swordfish fry feed on plankton. But after they grow to 2 cm, they begin to hunt. Their prey is small fish. At the same time, they begin to develop a sword-shaped appendage. The fry grow very quickly, and after a year their length is about 50 cm.

The predator feeds on everything that comes in its way. And the size of the prey doesn't matter. With her sword she strikes the sea dweller. There are known facts that pieces of shark bodies were found in the stomachs of caught fish.

A little about predators living in the seas

The most famous sea predators are sharks. They were able to survive the dinosaurs. Their sizes depend on the species. The largest of them reach 10-12 meters. Moreover, not all types of sharks are predators. There are some that feed on plankton. Sharks move very quickly due to their streamlined body shape. Unlike fish, they lay eggs, not eggs. These eggs may be attached to the bottom or algae. And some species of sharks carry eggs inside themselves. Shark eggs hatch completely viable.

Prominent representatives of this family: brindle and gray shark. The first one is painted in a very original way. So much so that it resembles a tiger. She doesn't swim far from the coastline. Its diet consists of fish and crustaceans, birds and small mammals.

Gray shark also does not swim far into the sea. She looks for fish and crustaceans in the shallows. It does not purposefully attack people. But a person running in panic can be mistaken for a victim.

Other unusual predators - stingrays. Their bodies are strongly flattened and resemble a scarf. When the stingray lies on the bottom, it is perfectly camouflaged. His swimming style resembles flying in the water column. Some species of stingrays are poisonous. They have a spike on their back that releases a poisonous substance. And their mouth is on their belly. Moreover, it is equipped with a large number of sharp teeth.

Leopard seal is a formidable and dangerous predator. This seal got its name because of its color, similar to the spots of a leopard. It feeds on penguins and other warm-blooded animals of the Antarctic. But the leopard seal does not mind picking up carrion or feasting on squid or fish.

Amazing facts about sharks

Only the facts are listed here. There is so much made up about marine life that we need to get more reliable information.

These creatures are excellent at recognizing odors. Blood has a special place in this. They feel it even at very low concentrations.
If the victim does not smell of blood, then the shark perceives its movement. To do this, it has a lateral line, consisting of cells sensitive to vibrations.
Baby sharks are born with a large number of teeth and can immediately begin to get their own food.
By the way, about teeth. In sharks they are attached to the gums, not the jaws. Moreover, they form from 4 to 6 rows. Her teeth grow throughout her life, moving forward to replace the lost ones.
The force of pressure of each tooth of a white shark is the same as if a load of 3 tons pressed 1 cm 2.
These gluttons eat everything. Moreover, even inedible things are found in their stomachs. But this is not the most surprising thing. A shark can hold food in its stomach without digesting it for several weeks.
The entire skeleton of a shark is made of cartilage. There is not a single bone in it.
This sea creature does not have a swim bladder. This feature forces the shark to constantly move so as not to drown.

Enchanting reefs

Corals are formed from small animals. Although many believe that these are marine plants. Coral reefs are home to many animals and plants. This is due to the calm sea inside them. In addition, they have a lot of light and warmth. The inside of the reef is teeming with life, while the outside is empty and bottomless.

The largest coral has a length of more than two thousand kilometers. It is located off the coast of Australia.

Underwater volcanoes sometimes rise to the surface of the ocean. Regularly shaped coral reefs can form around such craters. They form coral islands called atolls.

The underwater world is mysterious and unique. It contains secrets that have not yet been solved by man. We invite you to get acquainted with the most unusual sea creatures, plunge into the unknown thickness of the water world and see its beauty.

1. Atoll Jellyfish (Atolla vanhoeffeni)

The unusually beautiful Atoll jellyfish lives at such depths where it does not penetrate sunlight. In times of danger, it can glow, attracting large predators. Jellyfish do not seem tasty to them, and predators eat their enemies with pleasure.

This jellyfish is capable of emitting a bright red glow, which is a consequence of the breakdown of proteins in its body. As a rule, large jellyfish are dangerous creatures, but you should not be afraid of the Atoll, because its habitat is where no swimmer can reach.

2. Blue Angel (Glaucus atlanticus)

This very tiny mollusk rightfully deserves its name; it seems to float on the water surface. To become lighter and stay at the very edge of the water, it swallows air bubbles from time to time.

These unusual creatures have an outlandish body shape. They are blue above and silver below. It is not for nothing that nature has provided such camouflage - the Blue Angel remains unnoticed by birds and sea predators. A thick layer of mucus around the mouth allows it to feed on small, poisonous sea creatures.

3. Harp sponge (Chondrocladia lyra)

This mysterious marine predator has not yet been sufficiently studied. The structure of its body resembles a harp, hence the name. The sponge is inactive. It clings to the sediment of the seabed and hunts by gluing small underwater inhabitants to its sticky tips.

The harp sponge covers its prey with a bactericidal film and gradually digests it. There are individuals with two or more lobes, which are connected in the center of the body. The more blades, the more food the sponge will catch.

4. Dumbo Octopus (Grimpoteuthis)

The octopus got its name because of its resemblance to the Disney hero, Dumbo the elephant, although it has a semi-gelatinous body of rather modest size. Its fins resemble elephant ears. He waves them around as he swims, which looks quite funny.

Not only the “ears” help to move, but also the peculiar funnels located on the octopus’ body, through which it releases water under pressure. Dumbo lives at very great depths, so we don’t know much about him. Its diet consists of all kinds of mollusks and worms.

Octopus Dumbo

5. Yeti Crab (Kiwa hirsuta)

The name of this animal speaks for itself. The crab, covered with white shaggy fur, truly resembles Bigfoot. It lives in cold waters at such depths where there is no access to light, so it is completely blind.

These amazing animals grow microorganisms on their claws. Some scientists believe that the crab needs these bacteria to purify the water from toxic substances, others suggest that the crabs grow food for themselves on the bristles.

6. Short-snouted pipistrelle (Ogcocephalus)

This fashionable fish with bright red lips can't swim at all. Living at a depth of more than two hundred meters, it has a flat body covered with a shell and fin-like legs, thanks to which the short-snouted bat slowly walks along the bottom.

It obtains food using a special growth - a kind of retractable fishing rod with an odorous bait that attracts prey. The discreet coloring and spiked shell help the fish hide from predators. Perhaps this is the funniest animal among the inhabitants of the world's oceans.

7. Sea slug Felimare Picta

Felimare Picta is a species of sea slug that lives in Mediterranean waters. He looks very extravagant. The yellow-blue body seems to be surrounded by a delicate airy frill.

Felimare Picta, although a mollusk, does without a shell. And why does he need her? In case of danger, the sea slug has something much more interesting. For example, acidic sweat that is released on the surface of the body. It's really bad luck for anyone who wants to treat themselves to this mysterious mollusk!

8. Flamingo tongue clam (Cyphoma gibbosum)

This creature is found on the western coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Having a brightly colored mantle, the mollusk completely covers its plain shell with it and thus protects it from negative influence marine organisms.

Like an ordinary snail, the Flamingo's Tongue hides in its shell in case of impending danger. By the way, the mollusk received this name due to its bright color with characteristic spots. It prefers poisonous gongonaria as food. While eating, the snail absorbs the poison of its prey, after which it becomes poisonous itself.

9. Leafy sea dragon (Phycodurus eques)

The sea dragon is a true virtuoso of mimicry. It is all covered with “leaves”, which help it appear invisible against the backdrop of the underwater landscape. It is interesting that such abundant vegetation does not help the dragon move at all. Only two tiny fins located on its chest and back are responsible for its speed. The leaf dragon is a predator. It feeds by sucking prey into itself.

Dragons feel comfortable in the shallow waters of warm seas. And these sea inhabitants are also known as excellent fathers, because it is the males who bear the offspring and take care of them.

10. Salps (Salpidae)

Salps are invertebrate marine inhabitants that have a barrel-shaped body, through the transparent shell of which the internal organs are visible.

In the ocean depths, animals form long chains of colonies, which are easily broken even by a minor wave shock. Salps reproduce by budding.

11. Piglet squid (Helicocranchia pfefferi)

This strange and little-studied underwater creature resembles “Piglet” from the famous cartoon. The completely transparent body of the piglet squid is covered with pigment spots, the combination of which sometimes gives it a cheerful appearance. Around the eyes there are so-called photophores - organs of luminescence.

This mollusk is leisurely. It's funny that the piggy squid moves upside down, which is why its tentacles look like forelocks. He lives at a depth of one hundred meters.

12. Ribbon moray eel (Rhinomuraena guaesita)

This underwater inhabitant is quite unusual. Throughout its life, the ribbon moray eel is capable of changing sex and color three times, depending on the stages of its development. So, when the individual is still immature, it is colored black or dark blue.

Growing up to one hundred centimeters, the moray eel turns into a male and turns blue, and at the peak of maturation, the unique fish turns out to be a female and acquires a bright yellow color. Its body has no scales and is covered with bactericidal mucus, its nose resembles two delicate petals, and its mouth is always wide open, which gives the fish a menacing appearance. In fact, the moray eel is not at all aggressive, but keeps its mouth open due to underdeveloped gills.

13. Blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus)

Drop fish - pretty

14. Christmas tree worm (Spirobranchus giganteus)

Would it be possible to think that these unusual Christmas trees are worms, although not simple ones, but marine polychaetes? Their shape and bright coloring make these creatures elegant and unique.

The bristles are very similar to feathers, but they are just digestive and respiratory organs, and the body is a calcareous tube. The “Christmas Tree” worm is a homebody. He spends his whole life in the hole of the coral, where one day he attaches himself, considering it the most suitable place for its existence.

The editors of the site invite you to get acquainted with the most unusual natural phenomena.
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River dolphins are found in Brazil, China and India, but only Amazon-dwelling dolphins are Pink colour.

Only 6 species of lungfish have survived on earth, 4 of which, protoptera, live in Africa. When the water in rivers and lakes dries up, protopters are saved by the fact that they have lungs. They dig nests in the soft muddy bottom and sleep in them until the next rainy season, sometimes for more than a year. At the same time, they breathe with air entering through the top of the nest. And local fishermen go fishing with hoes and shovels instead of fishing rods and nets.

The longest animal on Earth is not the blue whale, but the lion's mane jellyfish. Its tentacles reach 37 meters in length.

The heart of a blue whale beats 9 times per minute and reaches the size of an average car.

The largest blue whale in history was caught by Norwegian whalers in 1926. With a length of 34 m, the whale weighed 177 tons.

The length of the giant squid reaches 18 m. Whalers often observed deep scars from suckers on the bodies of sperm whales.

The noisiest creature in the ocean is the shrimp. The noise of a large school of shrimp can “blind” the sonar of a submarine.

The whale doesn't blow fountains, he exhales like that carbon dioxide, shrouded in splashes. The fat content of whale milk is 50%.

The largest mollusk - tridacna - lives in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Its shell can reach 2 m in diameter and 250 kg in weight.

Dalliya is the most durable fish in the world. In the fresh waters of Chukotka and Alaska, it survives by freezing into ice for several months.

The fish Abyssobrotula galatheae was discovered in the Puerto Rico Trench at a depth of 8370 m. The pressure at this depth exceeds 800 atmospheres, or 800 kg per 1 square centimeter.

Fish species such as salmon and trout do not exist. This is the collective name for more than three dozen species of fish of the salmon family.

The communication system of dolphins is so developed that each dolphin has its own name, to which it responds when its relatives address it.

The octopus has not eight legs, but two. The remaining six tentacles are essentially arms. So it is more correct to call the octopus “two-legged six-armed.” If an octopus loses a tentacle in a fight, it will grow a new one.

The rapana predator mollusk was brought into the Black Sea in 1947 from the Sea of Japan and has now eaten almost all the oysters, mussels and scallops. Rapana was able to proliferate so much because its natural enemies - starfish - are absent in the Black Sea.

Male right whales have the largest testicles among animals - each weighs up to 500 kg.

Whales, capable of diving to depths of hundreds of meters, do not suffer from decompression sickness because before diving they do not inhale, but exhale, almost completely emptying their lungs. The oxygen dissolved in the blood is enough for them to stay at a depth for 40 minutes or more.

The only one known to science The cephalopod, capable of living at depths of more than 1000 meters, looks terrifying and is called accordingly - the hellish vampire squid.

When fish swim against the current, they expend less energy than when swimming in calm water. This is explained by the ability of fish to catch emerging whirlpools, maneuvering with minimal muscle tension. This method of sailing can be compared to moving a sailing yacht against the wind.

Pisces can suffer from seasickness, which manifests itself in the form of dizziness and loss of orientation.

Despite their creepy reputation, piranhas rarely attack people. However, in September 1981, when a ship capsized near the city of Obidus in the Amazon. And, according to eyewitnesses, many of the 310 dead did not drown, but were torn apart by piranhas.

If you keep an aquarium with goldfish in the dark, the fish will turn white.

Sea turtles cry constantly. In this way, they get rid of excess salt in the body - their lacrimal glands perform the function of kidneys.

Oysters contain 20 times more cholesterol than chicken eggs.

If you cut a starfish into pieces, over time each piece will grow into a full-fledged star.

The coelacanth fish (Latimeria chalumnae) was considered extinct tens of millions of years ago. When local residents told scientists that such fish exists and is often sold at the local market, the scientists only shrugged it off with annoyance. So what should we take from uneducated fishermen? Imagine their surprise when in 1938, at a market in the Comoros Islands, scientists saw... coelacanth!
But imagine that the learned men did not calm down and declared that this was an isolated case, the latter and generally untrue. In 1997, coelacanth was again found at a fish market in Indonesia!

Warm seas are home to amazing single-celled organisms - Radiolaria, one of the oldest living creatures on earth. And they are surprising in that, being single-celled, they have... a skeleton made of silicon oxide or strontium salts. Their skeletons are so beautiful that they have served as inspiration for many artists.
But... how do they reproduce then? After all, single-celled organisms usually reproduce by division! Radiolarians found interesting way for reproduction - through holes in the skeleton they release embryos - amoeboid flagella, which then grow into an adult. But it has not yet been possible to study this in detail...

The top of the food pyramid in nature is crowned by predators who eat more numerous prey. Biologists exploring one of the last intact ecosystems in the world - the Kingman Reef in Oceania - have discovered a stunning fact - 85% of the biomass at the Kingman Reef is... predators! Of these, 3/4 - different kinds sharks How is this possible? After all, if there are more lions than antelopes, they will simply die out!
The answer is quite simple: the fertility of fish, eaters of algae and plankton, is so high that for such a large number of predators there is always prey. What happens if you destroy predators? Unfortunately, this has already happened on some coral reefs in neighboring Kiribati, where sharks have been caught en masse. The number of non-predatory fish increased explosively, and the number of microbes in a cube of water increased 10 times. And first the corals began to die, and then the epidemic destroyed the fish. As a result, the biomass also explosively decreased by 4 times! Alas! This is how nature suffers from human stupidity...

Do you know that in most species of cetaceans, newborn calves are so weak that... they cannot swim? This is why mothers with children are very vulnerable at first - mothers have to constantly support the baby with flippers so that it does not drown. Breast-feeding A baby whale's life lasts on average up to one year, and the surface tension of the mother's milk is 30 times stronger than that of water, so the stream of milk does not spread out in the water.

According to the World Register of Sea Creatures (WoRMS), there are currently 199,146 named sea creatures. There are probably at least 750,000 sea creatures still in existence (50% of the 1.5 million creatures), and possibly as many as 25 million sea creatures (50% of the 25 million).

Swordfish and marlin are the fastest fish in the ocean, reaching speeds of up to 121 km/h in bursts. And bluefin tuna can reach and maintain speeds of up to 90 km/h for a long time.

The blue whale is the largest animal on our planet that has ever lived (exceeding the size of known dinosaurs) and has a heart the size of a car.

The kingfish is the longest bony fish in the world. She has a snake-like body with an amazing red fin along the entire length of her 15.25 m body, a horse-like snout and blue gills.

Many fish can change sex throughout their lives. Others, especially rare deep-sea fish, have both male and female reproductive organs.

The study of the deep-sea community discovered 898 species from more than 100 families and a dozen types of organisms in an area roughly half the size of a tennis field. More than half of these organisms were new to science.

The gray whale travels more than 10,000 miles per year, the longest migration of any animal.

Interesting facts about sharks

Sharks attack about 50-75 people a year worldwide, with 8-12 fatal, according to data compiled by the International Shark Attack Facility (ISAF). While shark attacks get quite a bit of attention, they are far less than the number of people killed each year by elephants, bees, crocodiles, lightning and many other natural hazards. On the other hand, we kill about 20 million sharks a year from fishing.

Of the 350 species of sharks, about 80% grow to less than 1.6 m and are not capable of harming humans, and are also rarely encountered. Only 32 species have been recorded attacking humans, and another 36 species are considered potentially dangerous.

Almost any shark 6 feet or more in length is potentially dangerous, but three species are most likely to attack humans: the great white shark, the tiger shark, and the bull shark. All three species are found throughout the world, reaching large sizes and feed on large prey such as marine mammals and sea turtles. White sharks are more likely to attack swimmers, divers, surfers and boats than any other species. However, about 80% of shark attacks occur in the tropics and subtropics, where other shark species predominate and white sharks are quite rare.

Sharks eat EVERYTHING. Boat wrecks were found in the stomachs of these predators, car tires and even knightly armor.

The blunt-nosed shark, or bull shark, reaching 3.5 m in length and 300 kg in weight, can swim far into rivers. They have been observed in the Mississippi River near St. Louis, Lake Michigan, the Ganges and the Amazon. The bull shark is very aggressive, and there are known cases of it attacking people.

Sharks can reproduce by parthenogenesis, that is, without the participation of males. In 2007, a DNA study of the cub was carried out, which showed that only the genes of the mother were present in it. Thus, it was proven that sharks can reproduce “virtually.”

Sharks are unable to pump water through their gills on their own, so in order not to die from lack of oxygen, they must constantly be on the move.

The most big fish on the planet - a whale shark. Its length reaches 12 m and its weight is 14 tons. The smallest - Schindleria - weighs only 2 mg and is 11 mm long. And the most prolific one, the sunfish, is capable of laying 300 million eggs in one season.

A 55-kilogram tuna was found swallowed whole in the stomach of a 330-kilogram mako shark.

Tiger shark embryos fight each other in the womb. Only one is born, eating all the others.

There are squids that fly

In addition to the well-known flying fish, there are also flying squids that live in Pacific Ocean. But their flight methods are completely different. Fish use fast and strong tail strokes to jump out of the water, and then soar with the help of wide fins. While squids both in the water and above its surface move due to jet thrust, that is, in the direction opposite to the ejected stream of water.
However, in terms of flight range, squids are much inferior: their maximum distance, according to observations, does not exceed 30 meters, while the flying fish record is 400 meters.

MUNICIPAL BUDGETARY INSTITUTION

ADDITIONAL EDUCATION

STATION FOR YOUNG NATURALISTS

VYAZMA, SMOLENSK REGION

"INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SEA LIABILITIES"

teacher additional education

Vyazma

Smolensk region

Interesting facts about marine life.

Everyone knows that about 70% of the Earth's surface is covered with water. Ultimately, about 1.3 billion cubic kilometers of water on the planet in seas, rivers and oceans are still poorly understood on Earth, as are the creatures that live in them.

Atoll jellyfish (Atolla vanhoeffeni)

The unusually beautiful Atoll jellyfish lives at such depths where sunlight does not penetrate. In times of danger, it can glow, attracting large predators. Jellyfish do not seem tasty to them, and predators eat their enemies with pleasure.

The Atoll jellyfish lives at a depth of over 700 meters.

Blue Angel (Glaucus atlanticus)

This very tiny mollusk rightfully deserves its name; it seems to float on the water surface. To become lighter and stay at the very edge of the water, it swallows air bubbles from time to time.

Blue angel grows no more than 3 cm.

Blue Angel also called glavkom or dragon.

Harp sponge (Chondrocladia lyra)

The harp sponge is a predator.

The harp sponge lives at a depth of 3-3.5 km.

Dumbo Octopus (Grimpoteuthis)

The octopus got its name because of its resemblance to the Disney hero Dumbo the elephant, although it has a semi-gelatinous body of rather modest size. Its fins resemble elephant ears. He waves them around as he swims, which looks quite funny.

Dumbo the octopus looks like a baby elephant.

Yeti crab (Kiwa hirsuta)

Yeti crab.

Short-snouted pipistrelle (Ogcocephalus)

The batfish lives at a depth of 200 to 1000 meters.

The bat can lie motionless for a long time, lying in wait for prey.

Sea slug Felimare Picta Felimare Picta- one of the types of sea slugs that lives in the waters of the Mediterranean. He looks very extravagant. The yellow-blue body seems to be surrounded by a delicate airy frill.

The sea slug Felimare Picta grows up to 20 centimeters.

The bright slug looks funny.

Flamingo tongue clam (Cyphoma gibbosum)

The mollusk carries a fungus that leads to the death of the coral.

Leafy sea dragon (Phycodurus eques)

Dragons feel comfortable in the shallow waters of warm seas. And these sea inhabitants are also known as excellent fathers, because it is the males who bear the offspring and take care of them.

The sea dragon is the official emblem of the state of South Australia.

Salps (Salpidae)

Salps are invertebrate marine inhabitants that have a barrel-shaped body, through the transparent shell of which the internal organs are visible.

Salps can form chains up to a meter long.

In the ocean depths, animals form long chains of colonies, which are easily broken even by a minor wave shock. Salps reproduce by budding.

Salps are found in all oceans except the Arctic Ocean.

Piglet squid (Helicocranchia pfefferi)

The piglet squid does not grow more than 10 cm.

This mollusk is leisurely. It's funny that the piggy squid moves upside down, which is why its tentacles look like forelocks. He lives at a depth of one hundred meters.

The piggy squid looks like a cartoon character.

Ribbon moray (Rhinomuraena guaesita)

The ribbon moray is a hermaphrodite.

Moray eels feed on small fish.

Blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus)

The blob fish is a rather unusual creature. The body, completely devoid of scales, looks like jelly, and the flattened nose, large mouth and bulging eyes make the fish sad and unattractive.

The drop fish lives at depths of over 200 m.

Being an inhabitant of deep water, the strange fish does not need swim bladder and fins. The gel-like structure of the body helps it stay on the surface. The drop fish feeds on those sea inhabitants that, through negligence, swam into its mouth.

Christmas tree worm (Spirobranchus giganteus)

Would it be possible to think that these unusual Christmas trees are worms, although not simple ones, but marine polychaetes? Their shape and bright coloring make these creatures elegant and unique.

"Christmas Tree" is a very unusual worm.

The bristles are very similar to feathers, but they are just digestive and respiratory organs, and the body is a calcareous tube. The “Christmas Tree” worm is a homebody. He spends his entire life in a hole in the coral, where one day he attaches himself, considering it the most suitable place for his existence.

The worm became the prototype of Pandora's plants.

Australian sea wasp (Chironex fleckeri)

The beautiful but deadly Australian sea wasp (Chironex fleckeri) is the most poisonous jellyfish in the world. Since 1880, 66 people have died from its heart-paralytic poison near the coast of Queensland; in the absence of medical care, victims died within 1-5 minutes. One of effective means protection are women's tights. Lifeguards in Queensland now wear oversized tights while surfing.

Interesting facts about sea animals

River dolphins are found in Brazil, China and India, but only those found in the Amazon are pink.

The longest animal on Earth is not the blue whale, but the lion's mane jellyfish. Its tentacles reach 37 meters in length.

The heart of a blue whale beats 9 times per minute and reaches the size of an average car.

The largest blue whale in history was caught by Norwegian whalers in 1926. With a length of 34 m, the whale weighed 177 tons.

The length of the giant squid reaches 18 m. Whalers often observed deep scars from suckers on the bodies of sperm whales.

The noisiest creature in the ocean is the shrimp. The noise of a large school of shrimp can “blind” the sonar of a submarine.

The whale does not blow fountains; it exhales a stream of carbon dioxide, shrouded in spray. The fat content of whale milk is 50%.

The largest mollusk, tridacna, lives in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Its shell can reach 2 m in diameter and 250 kg in weight.

Dalliya is the most resilient fish in the world. In the fresh waters of Chukotka and Alaska, it survives by freezing into ice for several months.

The fish Abyssobrotula galatheae was discovered in the Puerto Rico Trench at a depth of 8370 m. The pressure at this depth exceeds 800 atmospheres, or 800 kg per 1 square centimeter.

Fish species such as salmon and trout do not exist. This is the collective name for more than three dozen species of fish of the salmon family.

The communication system of dolphins is so developed that each dolphin has its own name, to which it responds when its relatives address it.

The only cephalopod known to science that can live at depths of more than 1000 meters looks terrifying and is called accordingly - the hellish vampire squid.

Pisces can suffer from seasickness, which manifests itself in the form of dizziness and loss of orientation.

If you keep an aquarium with goldfish in the dark, the fish will turn white.

Sea turtles cry constantly. In this way, they get rid of excess salt in the body - their lacrimal glands perform the function of kidneys.

If you cut a starfish into pieces, over time each piece will grow into a full-fledged star.

But imagine that the learned men did not calm down and declared that this was an isolated case, the latter and generally untrue. In 1997, coelacanth was again found at a fish market in Indonesia!

But... how do they reproduce then? After all, single-celled organisms usually reproduce by division! Radiolarians have found an interesting way to reproduce - through holes in the skeleton they release embryos - amoeboid flagella, which then grow into an adult. But it has not yet been possible to study this in detail...

The answer is quite simple: the fertility of fish, eaters of algae and plankton, is so high that for such a large number of predators there is always prey. What happens if you destroy predators? Unfortunately, this has already happened on some coral reefs in neighboring Kiribati, where sharks have been caught en masse. The number of non-predatory fish increased explosively, and the number of microbes in a cube of water increased 10 times. And first the corals began to die, and then the epidemic destroyed the fish. As a result, the biomass also explosively decreased by 4 times! Alas! This is how nature suffers from human stupidity...

Do you know that in most species of cetaceans, newborn calves are so weak that... they cannot swim? This is why mothers with children are very vulnerable at first - mothers have to constantly support the baby with flippers so that it does not drown. Breastfeeding of a baby whale lasts on average up to one year, and the surface tension of mother's milk is 30 times stronger than that of water, so the stream of milk does not spread out in the water.

Swordfish and marlin are the fastest fish in the ocean, reaching speeds of up to 121 km/h in bursts. And bluefin tuna can reach and maintain speeds of up to 90 km/h for a long time.

The blue whale is the largest animal on our planet that has ever lived (exceeding the size of known dinosaurs) and has a heart the size of a car.

The kingfish is the longest bony fish in the world. She has a snake-like body with an amazing red fin along the entire length of her 15.25 m body, a horse-like snout and blue gills.

Many fish can change sex throughout their lives. Others, especially rare deep-sea fish, have both male and female reproductive organs.

The gray whale travels more than 10,000 miles per year, the longest migration of any animal.

Interesting facts about sharks

Almost any shark 6 feet or more in length is potentially dangerous, but three species are most likely to attack humans: the great white shark, the tiger shark, and the bull shark. All three species are found throughout the world, grow to large sizes, and feed on large prey such as marine mammals and sea turtles. White sharks are more likely to attack swimmers, divers, surfers and boats than any other species. However, about 80% of shark attacks occur in the tropics and subtropics, where other shark species predominate and white sharks are quite rare.

Sharks eat EVERYTHING. In the stomachs of these predators, fragments of boats, car tires and even knight's armor were found.

Sharks are unable to pump water through their gills on their own, so in order not to die from lack of oxygen, they must constantly be on the move.

The largest fish on the planet is the whale shark. Its length reaches 12 m and its weight is 14 tons. The smallest - Schindleria - weighs only 2 mg and is 11 mm long. And the most prolific one, the sunfish, is capable of laying 300 million eggs in one season.

A 55-kilogram tuna was found swallowed whole in the stomach of a 330-kilogram mako shark.

Tiger shark embryos fight each other in the womb. Only one is born, eating all the others.

There are squids that fly

In addition to the well-known flying fish, there are also flying squids that live in the Pacific Ocean. But their flight methods are completely different. Fish use fast and strong tail strokes to jump out of the water, and then soar with the help of wide fins. While squids both in the water and above its surface move due to jet thrust, that is, in the direction opposite to the ejected stream of water.

However, in terms of flight range, squids are much inferior: their maximum distance, according to observations, does not exceed 30 meters, while the flying fish record is 400 meters.