Animals Of Coastal Landscapes : The Spiny Porcupine Fish

Sea-horses adapt to there environment because they like warmer water and the grass at the bottom of corals and the floor of the ocean.They like to hide in this grass , not eat it.The sea-horses like the slow moving currents because it brings these tiny little micro earth like creature through that slow moving current , and the sea-horses wait for the plankton to go by and boom there eaten.Sea-horses don't have stomachs , they turn all the food they eat into energy .Sea-horses have thick armed plates that surround there body with the protection they need to survive in there habitat.Sea-horses have camouflage so they can hide from much bigger mammals like fish,eel,and even sharks. The sea-horses learn to adapt to there surroundings,they learn

Shark mating rituals vary from the size of the shark and its specie. In smaller, more flexible species, the male coils around the female, while the male of the larger specie orients himself parallel and head-to-head with the female (Woums & Demski 1993). Some species mating rituals also consists of males biting females on the pectoral fins or the middle of the back to hold on to them (Woums & Demski 1993). The female will often bear scars or marks, after the ordeal. Due to the fact that sharks are cold blooded animals, there is no precise gestation time. The development of the embryo will depend solely on the temperature of the water, however, the gestation period can last anywhere from 2 months to 2 years (Woums & Demski 1993). Within shark species there are two methods of reproduction. In some cases a female shark will lay eggs in a coastal nursery where the presence of other sharks are absent. And in other cases, usually in the larger sharks, females give birth to live offspring (Wourms & Demski 1993). In which case the young are born fully developed, and once they are born they shoot away fast or they risk being eaten.

The first thing is the ability to camouflage. Sea horses being able to camouflage is a very great way to survive in their habitats because they can hide from anything that tries to harm them. In source 1 paragraph 3 sentences 1 through 3 it states “(1)

A seahorse has a long curled mouth that helps it eat small animals. They also have a long curly tail that can help them hang on to coral and sea grass.

Smallmouths have both external fertilization and external development. Feeding for smallmouth tops when the temperature is around 78 degrees and starts to slow down once the temperature goes below 40 degrees. The male always guards the eggs and the babies which are known as fry. The spawning usually occurs in April or May unless the temperature stays cold than it can be delayed. The first person to describe a smallmouth bass was Lacepede is 1802. The fry hatch out of their eggs in about a week and then continue to develop for another week. Young smallmouths are fed upon by yellow perch, Northern pike or muskellunge. Bigger bass are only eaten by northern pike, musky but the main predators of smallmouth bass are humans. The lifespan in the wild is normally about seven years, but some will live up to 20 years. In captivity the average age is ten years. When the young hatch out of their eggs they are about 0.2 inches long, very easy prey for a variety of animals. Multiple females will spawn in the nest of one male and an individual female will spawn in more than one. Smallmouth dance and bite each other, this is their mating ritual. In New York the record smallmouth was 8 pounds, 4 ounces caught out of Lake Erie on 6/4/1995 by Andrew C Kartesz. Smallmouth bass are beginning to destroy Brooke trout fisheries and Atlantic salmon fisheries. The meat of a smallmouth is very firm and good tasting so many people catch the fish not only for the fun of the

Spawning occurs once a year in the spring, mid-April through early June in this region, with ideal water temperature of 14.5-24°C. Females prefer a more gravelly substrate when laying eggs, which is the type of habitat they already reside in. If they can’t find this substrate, they will migrate to the right location. Males excavate bowl-shaped pits in the gravel close to riffles and guard them until a female arrives. Females typically choose bigger males if they can. Once spawning is successful, they both leave; no care by either parent is given to the eggs. A maximum of 4,800 eggs are laid and appear bright yellow when fertilized. The eggs hatch in about 3 days, and the young grow very fast. They are quite large by the end of one year, but continue to grow. Central Stonerollers typically live 4-6 years at most (Etnier, 140 and

Aside from butterflies, we have the Northern Beach Tiger beetle which is a tiny, sand colored beetle that lives on sandy beaches throughout the middle and lower Chesapeake Bay (Chesapeake Bay Program).

Lobsters that are smaller than 1-1/2 inches hide in coral or see weeds. This provides shelter from predators such as flounder, cod, ocean pout, monkfish, sculpin, wolffish, and dogfish. When lobsters are adults they are much less vulnerable. The only predator for adult lobsters is man. Big lobsters inhabit offshore areas and only return home seasonally to shallow warmer waters. A female lobster can carry up to 50,000 eggs. A female lobster can only mate after it has molted. The developing embryos remain attached to the female for an estimated 9 to 11

espite their small size, sea dragons are carnivorous animals and therefore have a purely meat-based diet. The sea dragon uses its pipe-like snout to suck its prey into its oddly tooth-less mouth. Sea dragons hunt crustaceans, plankton, shrimp and even small fish, using their camouflage to their advantage. Sea dragons have numerous natural predators in the south and western coastal waters of Australia but are rarely even spotted to the elaborate camouflage of the sea dragon. Those few sea dragons that are unlucky enough to be found, are usually spotted by large fish. As with sea horses, it is the male sea dragon who care for the eggs once they have been laid by the female. The female lays around 250 eggs onto the long tail of the male sea horse.

Since they are capable of living for lengthy amounts of time, their diet is very simple because of the availability of their food. All green sea turtles that reach adult hood are herbivores that primarily consume sea grasses and algae. Juvenile green sea turtles, on the other hand, are carnivores primarily consuming on both plants and animals such as crustaceans, sea grasses, and tubeworms ("Green Sea Turtle - National Wildlife Federation" par. 9). Through research, it is said that green sea turtles are able to consume about 275 different species of seaweed. To help them cope with this diet, they have micro flora living in their large intestine to breakdown the cellulose that is indigestible (NOAA Fisheries par. 6). Green sea turtles reach their sexual maturity between 25-35 years old. However, the length of reproductively can vary ranging from about 17-23 years. As soon as they become fertile, they return to the nesting beaches of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to lay their eggs from every two to three years. They will deposit three to six clutches per nesting season with about twelve days in between (NOAA Fisheries par. 10). Each clutch can contain about 100 eggs that will take 60 days to incubate. Once they hatch and reach the water, they rarely return to land. They instead feed on the seaweed and crustaceans that are off shore. Green sea turtles inhabit the shallow waters until it is time for breeding season. They are very particular in finding a nesting spot that they will often travel many oceans to reach their ideal nesting

In the article, “How a Seahorse Dad is like a Pregnant Woman” by Sarah Zielinski, may sound comical, but much to my surprise, has some biological information that is worth reading. Unlike human, beings male seahorses carry the babies, instead of the women. A male seahorse carries the eggs of his mate in a pouch. Inside the male is where the eggs become fertile and start the growing process. The pouch, or the homes of the eggs are inside the male, around the stomach region. The male’s pouch is very adaptable. When the male is not pregnant the pouch is not sealed off, but when there are eggs in the pouch it becomes sealed, isolated from anything else. When eggs occupy the pouch it adapts its size and the nutrients it realizes according to the

Axolotls live from 10 to 20 years. There are about 500 offspring per litter. Their main predators are birds and fish. They can be one of five different colors including black, white, pink, grey, and brown. (I personally prefer the pink ones, so much more cute) They can travel in the water

It was dark outside. Clouds loomed over the skies as I walked into the enormous colorful building. Blazing rays of LED lights shone through the entrance’s translucent windows. Brightness and gleams engulfed my vision like a wildfire. My eyes blink, trying to focus where I was walking. As I paced myself through the crowded corridors of the large hallway trying to find my group of friends, I could see murals of sea animals everywhere and signs directing where each exhibit was. Animated and overjoyed, I pranced to the first exhibit where the baby sand sharks were. They were extraordinary, swimming around their tank but sadly not able to leave their confined space. Their tank only allowed them to swim continuously in circles. Although animals in captivity tend to live longer than animals in the wild, it is depressing to mull over how they were stripped of their freedom. There was nowhere to escape when housed in such small enclosures.

A fishery by definition, is “the occupation, industry, or season of taking fish or other sea animals (shrimp, squid, clams) and selling them for profit” (Webster Dictionary). Atlantic Cod used to be considered as one of the richest fisheries in the world. Atlantic Cod, scientifically known as,Gadus morhua, are heavily bodied, blunt snouted fish that are typically brown or grayish in color with a series of spots located on their bodies along with a pale lateral line. This species of fish have a schooling behavior when feeding but remain isolated when traveling. The Atlantic Cod once densely populated the waters of the Atlantic ocean, from Greenland to North Carolina. Despite the wide range in location, Atlantic Cod are a nonmigratory species

Mystery fish # 5 : This mystery fish is a steady swimmer because of its depressed fusiform body shape with a broad head, the presence of the depressed head shows it is sit and wait kind of predator. Its body shape shows it swims along the floor of the ocean. It has an emaciated caudal fin shape with a medium aspect ratio which reduces the drag. The fish has a stiffened 1/3 upper body as compared to the posterior part and also its tail is emarginated, therefore its mode of swimming is sub-carangiform.. The mystery fish #5 has an inferior mouth because the mouth is locate on flattened ventral side of the fish. To enable feeding it has a cardiform tooth which are numerous but small teeth found on the