The American Manatee may not be one of the most beautiful animals, but they are one of the few mammalian species that eat underwater vegetation. Having suffered greatly from hunting, the manatees are currently one of the most endangered sea creatures. American Manatees live in tropical and subtropical seas in the waters adjacent to the
Physalia, sometimes also called “Portugese Man of War” is actually a colony made up of many polyps. This warm ocean creature deceives with its beautiful colours, but in fact it’s very dangerous. The Physalia’s venom kills quickly and efficiently. A Physalia, having just caught a number of fish Physalias inhabit the warm seas in the
The brightly coloured Clownfish are a true treasure of the coral reefs. They belong to the group of screaming bright coloured fishes that called coral fishes. These inhabitants of the coral reefs are immune to the venom of actinias and thus can cover in the relatively safe parts of the ocean, out of the predators’
The interesting creature of the day is the Lungfish a.k.a salamanderfish. As with many animals, the name already tells you what’s so special about this fish – it’s got lungs! The swimming bladders that are common to almost all the fish have modified so that they can also absorb oxygen. In fact some species of
The Mediterranean Moray is an eel of the large Moray family. It is also called the Roman Eel because it was a fine delicacy for the ancient Romans. These large eels, reaching up to 1.5 metres (5 feet) in length and up to 15 kilograms in weight, are on the higher part of the food
The Great White Shark, also known as the Great White or White Death has obtained it’s dreadful reputation because of it’s striking appearance and massive size. Also, the novel and the film Jaws helped support this image of the Great White as a man-eating predator. In reality, the stories of this great sea creature hunting
The hammerhead sharks can be recognized by their flat hammer-shaped head, called cephalophoil. The use of the cephalophoil is unknown, although scientists suggest it maximizes the area of the shark’s sensory organs. The Great Hammerhead Shark is the largest of the hammerhead sharks, reaching up to 6.1 metres in length and weighing up to 450
The American Paddlefish is an incredibly old species of fish, found only in the Mississippi River, therefore being also called the Mississippi Paddlefish. Being a fisherman’s feast for many years, their population is facing a decline. These 2 metre long and 50 kg heavy fish used to inhabit many large rivers and lakes in America,
The Vampire Squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) is the only surviving member of the order Vampyromorphida which means it’s a phylogenetic relict. Its scientific name literally means “Vampire squid from hell”, but despite this it doesn’t actually suck the blood out of other creatures of the sea. Its size is relatively small – only 30 cm (1
Like all whales, the Sperm Whale is a mammal, with it’s natural habitat in the seas and they can be seen in every ocean of the world, in both topic and cool oceans. It can grow up to 20.5 metres (67 ft) and is the largest toothed animal in the world. Sperm Whales can easily be
The Greater siren is a aquatic salamander with a slender body, bushy gills and no hind limbs. The Greater siren can be found on the south-eastern coastal plains of North America. This large siren is fortunately not classified as endangered and although generally thought of as pretty common there are not current estimations on population.
The Franciscana is one of the worlds smallest dolphins and can be found off of the east coast of South America. These bashful dolphins share many physical traits with river dolphins despite the fact that they are not closely related at all. There is currently not much information available on the population of the Franciscana
The Dugong or otherwise known as the ‘sea cow’ is a mammal that lives exclusively underwater and has close genetic ties to the elephant despite its appearance. The Dugong feeds only on sea grass found on the ocean and this is one of the reasons the Dugong is currently classed as vulnerable due to human
The Amazonian manatee is the only fresh water manatee in the world and is found only in the Amazon river basin. This unique species of manatee is currently classed as vulnerable and the exact population numbers are unknown. The last population estimate on the Amazonian manatee was just over 30 years ago where there was
The Cuttlefish is one of the most intelligent invertebrates in the world and contrary to what the name suggests the Cuttlefish is actually a mollusk and is part of the same family as squids and octopus’s. Like its close relatives the Cuttlefish utilities internally produced ink and also has a neuro-toxin that can be used
