MUNICIPAL BUDGETARY INSTITUTION
ADDITIONAL EDUCATION
STATION FOR YOUNG NATURALISTS
VYAZMA, SMOLENSK REGION
"INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SEA LIABILITIES"
additional education teacher
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.
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.
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.
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. 
Medusa begins to glow when in danger.
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.
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.
The Blue Angel is also called Glaucus or the Dragon.
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 is a predator.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yeti crab.
These amazing animals grow microorganisms on their claws. Some scientists believe that the crab needs these bacteria to purify the water from toxic substances, while others suggest that the crabs grow food for themselves on the bristles.
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.
The batfish lives at a depth of 200 to 1000 meters.
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.
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.
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!
The bright slug looks funny.
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 the negative influence of marine organisms. 
The Flamingo Tongue snail grows up to 4.5 cm.
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 itself becomes poisonous.
The mollusk carries a fungus that leads to the death of the coral.
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. Interestingly, 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. 
The sea dragon has beautiful plumage.
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)
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.
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)
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.
The ribbon moray is a hermaphrodite.
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.
Moray eels feed on small fish.
Blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus)
The blobfish 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 a swim bladder or 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 gets sucked in, 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 the effective means of protection is 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.
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 longer 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 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 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.
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 cephalopod known to science that can live 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.
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!
In the warm seas live amazing single-celled organisms - radiolarians (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 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 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 are different types of 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. 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.
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, 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.
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 mother's genes were present. 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 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.
Many of us know from early childhood that the ocean occupies almost the entire surface of our green planet, or rather 70%. The waters of the world's oceans are home to both the largest mammal on Earth - the well-known blue whale - and the smallest known today - the Schindleria fish. And an incredible number of organisms between these extremes, such as octopuses, cuttlefish, and mollusks, are replenished every year.
All the mysteries and secrets of these deep waters have not yet been solved by scientists, but humanity is doing everything possible to discover more and more new species of previously unknown animals and plants. Thus, fish species were discovered that, according to scientists, became extinct millions of years ago.
Searching for a couple in the depths of the waters
In the deep waters of the sea, it is very difficult to find a partner for procreation. That is why many species of deep-sea fish find a unique approach to solving this problem. Young males, as soon as they see their chosen one, simply “stick” to her. Thus, soon their bodies literally grow together. They become extensions of each other's bodies. And as soon as the time comes, the males fertilize the eggs. This is how they spend their entire lives, their bodies fused with the female.
Related materials:
Storks - interesting facts
A shark's main weapon is its teeth. She grabs them and kills her victim, which often becomes the reason for creating another horror film. But the terrible instrument of death of this sea predator is capable of tearing meat and bones into small pieces, which inevitably leads to timely wear of the teeth. Nature has provided for this problem too, because every 10 days a shark grows a new row of teeth. Thus, while using the first and second rows of teeth, they keep the third and fourth rows in reserve, ready to replace the old ones.
Losing rays
A relative of the well-known starfish, the brittle star gets its quirky name from the way it escapes predators. Once the Brittle Star is attacked, it is forced to get rid of one of its rays. By losing him, she gets the opportunity to escape persecution. It is curious that in particularly dangerous situations, a star can lose all five of its rays. However, the increased ability to regenerate allows you to restore them all.
Related materials:
Interesting facts about the polar wolf
Fish - stuck
The fish stuck This inhabitant of the deep sea feeds on carrion, attaching itself to the bodies of large fish and animals using peculiar suction cups. And after the owner’s dinner, the fish feeds on his leftovers. This method of transportation is very convenient for long trips. An unusual sucker is located on the fish’s head and is a modified fin. At will, the sticky fish can either separate from the old owner or choose a new one. In Australia, these marine inhabitants are used to catch large sea turtles. As soon as the hunters notice such a nearby surface, they release the sticky fish into the water, its tail pre-wrapped with a strong fishing line.
Sea anemones are very poisonous, their tentacles kill small fish that get into them. However, there is only one fish that they are not afraid of: the clown fish. She lives among the tentacles of sea anemones. Special mucus serves as protection for the clown fish. The anemone's poisonous shelter saves the fish from predators. In turn, the bright fish serves as bait for many small fish, which fall into the anemone’s trap and become prey themselves.
The sea is always a mystery. Endless and deep, which humanity has been unraveling for centuries and cannot solve in any way. Low tides, Bermuda triangles and the nature of storms are all, of course, a mystery. But more people were and continue to be interested in marine life - from small fish to a huge whale. Each of the species of inhabitants of the underwater world is, in fact, a separate people, professing their own traditions and protecting their tribe in all possible ways.
One has only to listen to the stories of divers: even the least experienced of them retains in their memory some interesting fact about marine life and can spend hours describing the amazing landscapes of the deep sea.
People who find themselves in the underwater kingdom or a specially equipped observation aquarium are touched by everything: living corals, colorful baby fish (if you stay away from them) and even evil sharks - some of them, as it turned out, are not at all bloodthirsty. But for many years now, clever dolphins have remained a hit with human sympathies.
Intelligent, sociable, capable of empathy
Oceanologists who know a lot about sea creatures have long come to the conclusion: dolphins are the most perfect and unique of them. Firstly, no one among the citizens of the underwater state is closer to the person. Moreover, dolphins are very similar to us: they love to have fun and come up with ways to diversify their underwater and above-water leisure (for example, as fun, they blow air bubbles and rings underwater, using their blowhole as a tool); They feel responsible for weakened or in trouble relatives, will never abandon an elderly or injured dolphin to the mercy of fate, and are always close to a female whose birth process is complicated. In all these cases, they are not just present, but help and support.
Dolphin: doctor or medicine?
Dolphins are the friendliest for children; they can become swimming coaches, nannies in the pool, and a cure for mental disorders, and a whole range of unpleasant diseases: cerebral palsy, autism, depression. By the way, now adults are not ashamed to undergo dolphin therapy: it is both pleasant and effective.
Dolphins rank third among mammals in terms of mental abilities.
The intellectual abilities of these cute mammals are supported by their habit of using available means during hunting, for example, protecting their nose from prickly fish with a sea sponge.
In the dolphin's mouth there are hundreds of small teeth, which he never uses for their intended purpose one hundred percent - with their teeth, dolphins only capture prey, but never chew.
The height of a dolphin's jump above the water can reach 6 meters, and the maximum dive depth can be up to 305 m, but only during hunting. Dolphins usually live at a depth of 2-10 m.
Miracle Yudo Fish Whale
No less remarkable are the largest marine inhabitants - whales. At the mere mention of these giants, many interesting facts about maxi-sized marine life emerge.
Just because a whale is huge doesn't mean it's slow. In the waves, whales play and frolic like children, demonstrating graceful (almost graceful) diving.
Whales are capable of diving to enormous depths - up to 1000 m. And the pressure is strikingly different from the pressure on the surface. This is how whales adapt: during a dive, their pulse slows down to ten beats per minute, ensuring blood flow only to the heart and brain. The skin, fins and tail remain “disconnected” from the energy supply.
The pattern on a whale's tail is as individual as a person's fingerprints.
There are only two species of mammals in the world that can sing. This is a man and... a whale. The shortest whale song lasts about six minutes, and the longest lasts half an hour. Both males and females sing. At the same time, it has been noticed that “female” whales often indulge in singing; the songs are intended for their children. And what is most surprising is that whales completely lack vocal cords.
Another interesting fact about marine whales that cannot be ignored: these giants are constantly busy analyzing the sounds made by the sea. Their hearing is well developed, but their sense of smell is absent and their vision is atrophied.
"We are funny jellyfish"
Many representatives really have a very “cheerful” coloring, simply carnival-like. Having such a bright appearance, they cannot help but defend themselves, which is why they are poisonous.
Perhaps the following fact is not entirely interesting about marine life, but very instructive: when getting to exotic latitudes, you need to be wary of a jellyfish called the Flecker sea wasp. She's a killer. It accounts for one death every year. Its poison acts as a powerful cardiac paralytic. The only effective way to escape from a deadly substance is nylon tights. This item of women's clothing is very popular among Queensland fishermen.
And in the Caribbean, farmers have learned to use jellyfish venom to great advantage - with its help they poison rats and other harmful rodents that cause damage to the farm.
The main thing is the pattern on the shell
The most incredible facts about marine life do not arise without human help. And the point is not that he composes them - he even provokes them. In the good sense of the word.
For example, heikegani crabs, which live off the coast of Japan, survived and developed their population only thanks to the pattern on the shell. He very much resembles the stern face of an angry samurai.
When a crab with such a pattern fell into a fishing net, it was reverently released, sincerely believing that a restless samurai soul had settled in this creature.
Thanks to the belief of Japanese fishermen in reincarnation, an artificial selection mechanism was launched that saved the heikegani from extinction.
The shrimp wants to live too!
For some reason anyone in parallel, having received the status of yummy, is tied to culinary characteristics: weight, amount of protein in milligrams, benefits for the body.
Even a child knows that the tiger shrimp is the largest. But how big is it? The length of the female reaches 36 centimeters, and the weight is 650 grams. Among tiger species there are also kilogram specimens.
Some of these sea crustaceans can kill fish using sound. These are called shooting shrimp and have a device on their claw that can produce a loud click that is lethal to fish swimming nearby.
The shrimp also hunts, also defends itself and really does not want to end its life as a snack.
I am a star!
The most beautiful sea creatures are stars. Anyone who has seen the bottom covered with these bright creatures claims that all the most interesting facts about marine life simply fade before this amazing sight.
For his sake, divers dive underwater with cameras to show the world the real stars of the deep sea.
We can safely state the uniqueness of starfish: they are not fish, since they cannot swim, but move along horizontal and vertical planes with the help of tenacious suction cups.
They are varied in color and shape, but they all have the same “shape” - in the form of a five-pointed star. But five rays are not the limit. Maximum - 50.
The star is the only sea creature whose limbs are called hands. It reproduces in two ways: by throwing eggs and sperm into the water or by dividing one individual into parts.
Where do “coral beads” live?
Like all other types of marine life, corals have their own “zest”, which is interesting not only to researchers of the seas and oceans, but also to researchers of fashion boutiques.
Corals are thermophilic, so an almost continuous line of reefs is located along the equator along almost the entire circumference of the planet.
The sea kindly provides people with various types of marine life for observation and study. But among them there are some that are downright scary and unpleasant to study.
Sea devils, or anglerfish, are recognized as the ugliest inhabitants of the ocean depths. They live at the greatest depths, as if hiding from prying eyes and realizing their unattractiveness.
The viper fish is also disgusting; before the meal it looks like a standard snake, and after it looks like an inflated balloon.
Fearsome creatures include dragonfish, saberfish, largemouth and Atlantic giant squid.
Interesting fact about sea life - Horror stories have been around since World War II, when surviving sailors from sunken ships spoke in horror about a huge monster that dragged their comrades to the depths.
They really look like people from and live in the darkest recesses of the ocean, so meeting such “fish” is very rare, although you need to know about their existence. Just in case.
1. A starfish can turn its stomach inside out. This is how she digests prey - outside the body.
2. Flying fish rises above the water to escape from albacore - fish from the tuna category. However, the fish are not safe at the top either - frigates are waiting for them here.
3. Swordfish can reach speeds in water of up to 130 km/h. This is the fastest fish in the ocean and in the whole world.
4. Catfish have taste buds throughout their body. But not only that, catfish have 25-50 times more of these receptors than humans!
5. Each baby dolphin has its own name. The baby dolphin responds to the same signal from its parents.
6. Narwhal - long-horned arctic dolphin. The narwhal is often called the unicorn dolphin. But, despite its terrifying appearance, it never attacks a person (at least first).
7. A fish called batfish has an amazing formation - thick, bright red lips.
8. Surprisingly, mantis crabs can distinguish as many as 12 primary colors, tens of millions of their combinations, as well as infrared and ultraviolet radiation!
9. The Black Crookshanks have such an elastic stomach that it can swallow prey twice its size! At the same time, the belly bends outward, and a small ball grows, as it were.
10. The largest squids live in the Southern Ocean (the ocean bordering Antarctica), their length is 10 meters, their weight is almost half a ton. Interestingly, their digestive system passes through the brain. But, despite its impressive size, it is not dangerous to humans; its food is plankton.
11. There are crabs whose claws are completely covered with fur. Because of their extremely bizarre appearance, they were nicknamed “Yeti crabs.”
12. Monkfish attracts its prey with a small antenna on its forehead. Again, it does not attack a person first, despite its creepy name and terrifying appearance.
13. The most poisonous fish is called the “terrible wart”. One injection can kill you within 3 hours if you do not use an antidote. True, it all depends on the dose of poison administered.
14. The barnacle, or balanus, lives by attaching itself to solid objects. At birth it looks like a water flea. At first he has 14 legs and 3 eyes, then another 10 legs grow, and the eyes atrophy.
15. Dumbo the octopus is named for the formations on its head, similar to the ears of a baby elephant from the Disney cartoon of the same name. It lives at a depth of 3-4 km, and is an extremely rare species.
16. Sea snails have as many as 25 thousand microscopic teeth!
17. Barreleye Fish can easily look at its brain, since its eyes look like 2 green hemispheres inside its head. She can rotate them in all directions.
18. During the mating season, the female sea worm bites off the male’s tail and eats it. The tail contains gametes, which travel through the digestive tract to the egg and fertilize it.
19. The mudskipper can jump on land, despite being a fish.
20. Bottlenose dolphin calves do not sleep at all until they are 1 month old. And even after this, they sleep with one eye open, since their brain hemispheres sleep in turns.
We all know something about the oceans and seas. This amazing layer of water that envelops the Earth makes up almost 71% of the surface of our planet! The seas and oceans are full of life, home to plankton, crustaceans, dolphins, sharks and many other creatures of all sizes and colors. But what we know about the world’s oceans from personal experience and from movies is not all that its depths conceal. We know much less about the seas than even about the Moon, if you think about it. Scientists are still making amazing discoveries and still asking unanswered questions. You might be in for some shocking news right now...
10. The ocean is the richest carbon reservoir on Earth
Carbon is the most common substance on Earth, forming the basis of all life on our planet. From time immemorial, it was underground and in water, but from the moment the industrial revolution started in the world, and people began to get rid of industrial waste, dumping tons of carbon derivatives into the natural environment, the world ecology began to face a terrible danger. Where does all the surplus and garbage go, which we are getting rid of at an increasing pace and volume?
Carbon dioxide, which we also call greenhouse gas, undoubtedly influences climate change on a planetary scale. Emissions accumulate in our atmosphere, and this inevitably leads to global warming. And the world's oceans are the largest waste sink, where a significant part of the processed carbon ends up, and it is stored there for a very long time. Carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean, descending deeper and deeper into its deepest depths, and can remain there for years until nature returns all this waste back. Industrial emissions have a detrimental effect on the global climate, and everything in nature is cyclical. For example, the ocean absorbs about 37 gigatons (37*1012 kg) of carbon waste every year, but also releases... 88 gigatons! Moreover, the current level of environmental pollution is much worse than the worst-case scenarios that environmental government agencies could only imagine as recently as the 1990s.
9. Irukandji jellyfish are more dangerous than sharks
Photo: GondwanaGirl
Which sea animal do you think is the scariest and most dangerous? Who is most often presented in films as the real monster and the main killer of the seas? Most people will think about sharks. However, don't be too quick to nod your head, because there is something more terrifying and deadly in the ocean. For example, jellyfish...
Most jellyfish are poisonous, but their bite is not fatal. They sting with a simple touch and do not control their bites, and sometimes burns can even be obtained from contact with a dead jellyfish. The Irukandji jellyfish is the smallest and deadliest animal species on the planet. They are almost the size of a fingernail and almost transparent in appearance. Innocent in appearance, these creatures can cause a lot of pain. Just 5 to 10 minutes after the bite, a person experiences such severe pain that even morphine cannot immediately cope with it. In addition, the unfortunate person will experience a number of paralytic effects, including vomiting, muscle spasms, sweating, hypertension, tachycardia, pulmonary edema and cerebral hemorrhage. The agony can last for days and often leads to the death of the stung person. Approximately 30% of victims die from toxic cardiomyopathy (heart failure) or spend the rest of their days on life support due to severe complications.
Most of these jellyfish stings have been reported in Australia. For many years, no one could understand the cause of the terrible deaths and illnesses, and as a result, as a precaution, the authorities stretched nets around the most visited beaches, swimming beyond which was prohibited due to the threat to health. However, tiny Irukandji jellyfish leaked through these barriers and the deadly stings continued. This forced the coasts to be completely closed for a time, especially those where mysterious accidents occurred. Researchers eventually figured out the cause of the disaster, but an effective antidote is still in the process of being developed.
8. Why do so many sea creatures swim off the coast?
Photo: NOAA
Have you ever wondered why marine life loves to scurry off the coast so much, and why they don’t swim somewhere far from the beaches? The answer lies in one word - upwelling. Upwelling is a natural process in which cold, nutrient-rich water continually rises to the surface and exchanges places with warmer water. Typically, nutrients feed algae and also attract the attention of plankton and other marine microfauna that live near the surface of the water under the sun's rays. This entire process also serves larger species. For example, whales and sea lions swim closer to the shore precisely in order to feast on smaller inhabitants of the seas.
Upwelling occurs due to strong winds, which help the water layers rotate in accordance with their temperature - the cold deep-sea layer rises to the surface, replacing heated water. This occurs all over the world, especially in the richest regions. One of the most successful places for observing this cycle is considered to be Monterey Bay in the US state of California (California, Monterey Bay), where the spring rise of waters provides optimal conditions for the life of a huge number of marine inhabitants. In general, if you are an avid fisherman, you will really like it here in the spring.
7. The highest mountain
Photo: Vadim Kurland
If you think that the tallest mountain on Earth is Everest, you are mistaken. Above it is the peak of Mauna Kea, located on the island of Hawaii. This gigantic volcano is taller than Everest by as much as 1,200 meters, and its height from its base to its highest point is estimated at 9,750 meters, although other sources claim that the Hawaiian landmark rises a full 10,203 meters! Most of the mountain is underwater - approximately 6,000 meters are hidden below the surface of the ocean. So if you're already thinking about traveling to Hawaii to see the incredible giant, don't expect to see all 10 thousand meters at once. But when you return, you can boast that you walked along the slopes of the highest mountain in the world, and it was much easier and more enjoyable than climbing Everest, whose slopes sheltered many corpses on the way to the top.
Mauna Kea is a magnificent proof of how big the ocean is, because it managed to camouflage the highest peak on Earth. Everest, of course, is not without reason called the highest peak, because it is higher than other mountains in relation to world sea level. But the Mauna Kea phenomenon perfectly illustrates that most of our planet is hidden under the waters of the world’s oceans. There are still so many wonderful discoveries ahead of us!
6. Ocean acidification
Photo: Plumbago
To understand what ocean acidification is, you first need to remember what the pH scale is. A measure of the activity of hydrogen ions in a solution, which quantifies its acidity, varies from 0 to 14, where 0 is acidic, 14 is alkaline, and 7 is neutral. Pure water has a pH value of just seven. Lemon has a pH of 2, while bleach usually has a pH of 11. The pH of ocean water is more alkaline and averages 8.1–8.2. But if this is the case, where does the acidification of the seas come from?
Oxidation, caused by the dissolution of carbon dioxide in the ocean, produces a chemical compound called carbonic acid. Acidic liquids have a large number of free-floating hydrogen atoms, which is very bad for marine life because hydrogen likes to form bonds with other elements, most often creating formations with calcium carbonate (CaCO3, a salt of carbonic acid). This substance is involved in the formation of shells of crustaceans and many other types of fauna. Over time, ocean acidification not only destroys existing calcite shells, but also prevents the formation of new ones.
In general, acidification caused by industrial emissions is a serious problem for the inhabitants of the world's oceans, since most marine species are extremely sensitive to changes in pH. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the pH of the ocean has changed by 0.1 unit, which may sound like a fairly small jump, but in reality we are talking about a 30% change.
5. Humpback whale fins are real hydrofoils
Whales are amazing creatures for many reasons, and each species has its own special characteristics. For example, blue whales are not only the largest creatures on the planet, but also the largest animals that have ever existed on Earth, taking into account the size of even dinosaurs that lived many millions of years ago. Humpback whales are smaller than blue whales, but they also have something to be proud of. The fins of long-armed minke whales (another name for humpback whales) have evolved over time in such an amazing way that even design engineers are now turning their attention to their anatomy. Everything for creating artificial mechanisms.
The humpback whale weighs on average about 40 tons, but at the same time it manages to remain incredibly “light”, agile and agile. There is no other way, because they need to be maneuverable and nimble to hunt their prey, which most often are tiny shrimp and schooling fish. All this is possible thanks to the incredible fins of the humpback whale. They are designed specifically to allow this giant to glide under and over water with virtually no effort.
Along the back of the fin are ridges that allow water to flow through the fin gently and without causing turbulence. In addition, the fin is positioned at an angle that is ideal for good acceleration and does not create unwanted braking during powerful movements. To better understand how it all works, just remember how you felt when you stuck your hand out of the car window. As children, we all loved to put our fingers together and imagine that our hand was a fin floating against the air flow. Remember its resistance to the plane of your palm? When it is at the perfect angle, the air glides smoothly along its surface, and when the hand turns around, it is literally knocked down by the air flow. In the case of fins in water, everything happens almost the same.
Everything about humpback whales' anatomy is designed and developed to allow them to make sharp turns and move as quickly as possible, despite their enormous size and weight. In addition, humpback whales have ideal appendages to reduce water resistance. The fins of minke whales are constantly being studied for applications in human technologies such as airplane wings, wind turbines and even tiny laptop coolers.
4. Eye worms
Photo: Michael Wunderli
3. Dead zones
Dead zones are exactly what you think they are. Dead zones in the ocean are usually the result of nutrient overload caused by human intervention. These nutrients (most often nitrogen and phosphorus) cause strong algae blooms, which will then return to their normal state when the excess nutrients are absorbed. But while this bloom is fading, as it fades, the oxygen content in the water is greatly depleted, which leads to a hypoxic state of the oxygen environment. Hypoxia is the reduced amount of oxygen in a habitable environment or living tissue, and in the case of dead zones it is defined as an oxygen level of 2 parts per million. This means that for every 1 million particles there are only 2 units of oxygen.
Any species of marine fauna that can move (fish, for example) leave dead zones, but immobile organisms (corals, starfish, sea urchins) are not able to migrate from an uninhabitable area and die. The region is literally turning into a dead zone. Most often this happens along the coasts of farmlands, where producers prefer to dump their waste directly into the water. The largest dead zone in the world's oceans is located in the Gulf of Mexico, and its formation was caused by the agricultural industry.
2. "Self-disembowelment"
Many people know that starfish and crustaceans (crabs and lobsters, for example) can throw off a limb if they are scared and feel danger. Later, these animals can regrow the lost organ thanks to their incredible regenerative abilities. It sounds cool, but some people might be even more surprised. We are talking about sea cucumber, otherwise called sea cucumber (Holothuroidea).
Sea cucumbers are echinoderm representatives of the class of invertebrate animals. Essentially, holothuria is a small slug that lives underwater. Most of them feel very similar to rough and wrinkled skin. They move slowly by turning over themselves and only along the bottom, which makes these creatures quite an attractive target for sea predators. But slugs are not as defenseless as they seem, and their defensive tactics may surprise you. Holothurians have developed the ability to expel their internal organs from the anus. In this way they scare away and distract the predator, who decides that its prey is either sick or already dead, and swims away in search of something more tempting. Over the next few months, the sea cucumber grows its internal organs back and is completely restored. It's amazing that a creature that has gutted itself inside out can survive!
This “self-evisceration” is used only in extreme cases, and first the holothurian resorts to another trick. The slug takes in more water to swell and let the predator know that the opponent is too large. Sea cucumbers are commonly preyed on by small fish, crustaceans, gastropods and starfish.
1. Amazonian molly fish
Photo: PA
It's incredible what evolution can do to keep animal species alive. For example, Amazonian molly fish (or mollies), rightly nicknamed after the most severe Amazon warrior, are only female and are viviparous fish (the embryo develops in the mother’s body).
Molly reproduces by deceiving males of other species. They don’t even need to take a special approach to selecting a candidate, the mollies simply match with everyone, and in the end almost clones of their mothers are born.
Of course, reproduction by “cloning” is inferior to sexual reproduction within a single species. For example, molly sometimes gives birth to offspring with three sets of chromosomes, which makes the new generation quite vulnerable compared to other fish. Trichromosomal mollies live much shorter than their other relatives. And yet, despite such a gap in the system, this species of females is not yet in danger of extinction, and the Amazons are coping well.
