Animals Under the Sea
By Amanda Schoch
Standards CCSS Science- L.S. 2. The environment is a combination of the interactions between living and non-living components. Living things can cause changes in their environment, which can be observed. These interactions can cause changes in groups of living things and the physical environment (soil, rocks, and water).
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A is for‌ ANGLER FISH
A deep sea fish with a light attached to its head. The angler is found throughout the world's oceans at depths of over 3,000 feet. It uses its illuminated lure as its hunts for prey. It is known to remain completely motionless, waving its lure back and forth like a fishing pole. 3
B is for‌ BLUE WHALE
The world’s largest animal. The Blue Whale is found in subtropical and polar waters worldwide. They are known to produce the loudest sound of any creature on the planet. They survive on a diet that is mainly comprised of krill and small crustaceans, along with the occasional small fish.
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C is for‌ CLOWNFISH
A small tropical fish of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The clown fish also inhabits the Great Barrier Reef. It is also famous for its seeming immunity to the stings of the sea anemone. Most clown fish are found either in or around sea anemones which they inhabit both for protection from predators and readiness of food.
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D is for‌ DOLPHIN
An intelligent, vocal, and social sea mammal. The common dolphin is generally found around the Mediterranean Sea. Common dolphins are among the fastest swimming marine mammals. Dolphins travel in groups of around 10-50 in number. These groups are generally very active socially by surfacing, jumping and splashing together.
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E is for‌ ELEPHANT SEAL
The elephant seal is the largest species of seal in the world. It lives in the waters around western North America and Antarctica. These seals get their name from the large nose of the adult male elephant seal which closely resembles an elephant’s trunk. 7
F is for‌ FLYING FISH
A tropical fish with wing-like pectoral fins. It can glide nearly 650 feet in order to escape its predators. The gliding motion is produced by the fish flapping its wings like a bird and moving his back tail fin in a swimming movement.
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G is for‌ GIANT SQUID
One of the largest living animals. It grows up to 43 feet long and is found in the world’s deep oceans. The squid is similar to the octopus. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. It has eight arms and two tentacles arranged in pairs.
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H is for‌ HALIBUT
The world’s largest flatfish. It is diamond-shaped, with one dark side and one light. It can grow to more than 8 feet long and 700 pounds. The largest Alaskan halibut ever caught while sport fishing was 459 pounds in Unalaska Bay.
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I is for‌ ISOPODS
Isopods are crustaceans that are seagoing relatives of sowbugs and pillbugs. They can grow up to half an inch. Isopods have seven armor plates, called "pereonites," which protect them. Just like crustaceans, isopods have gills and need water to breathe. Since they live on land, and not in the water, they must stay in moist places.
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J is for… JELLYFISH
A boneless animal that floats freely through the world's oceans with a soft, jelly-like “bell” and tentacles. It can be found in all shapes and sizes from just a few inches in diameter to well over three feet. The jellyfish use their tentacles to both catch and sting their prey.
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K is for‌ KRILL
Krill are tiny shrimp-like crustaceans. They are very numerous in all oceans and important food for other creatures. The small krill averages only about two inches in length, but it represents a giant-sized link in the global food chain. Without krill, most of the life forms in the Antarctic would disappear.
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L is for‌ LEAFY SEA DRAGON
A small, delicate fish with seaweed-like appendages that is found in the tropical coastal waters of south and west Australia. The leafy sea dragon is the master of camouflage. Since it is able to hide itself so easily amongst the plants the leafy sea dragon is rarely eaten, despite having numerous potential predators in the surrounding water.
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M is for… MANATEE
Also called the “Sea Cow”, the average manatee can often weight more than 1,100 pounds and can grow to lengths of over 15 feet. Despite their large size it is not uncommon for the manatee to reach more than 70 years old. The manatee spends most of its time grazing on plants in warm, shallow waters that are seldom deeper than a couple of meters. The manatee is a herbivore and therefore only really feeds on aquatic plants.
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N is for‌ NUDIBRANCH
A colorful marine slug. Nudibranchs live in the waters off the coast of Indonesia. These snails have no shells, but they release chemicals that make them inedible. Their bright colors warn predators of their poisonous defense.
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O is for‌ OCTOPUS
A color-changing mollusk with eight suction-cupbearing tentacles. The most intelligent invertebrate. The octopus is well known for being a master of disguise and is able to blend into almost any background using its elaborate camouflage. It can be found in all of the world’s oceans, and it often has a sharp beak.
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P is for‌ PUFFRFISH
A poisonous fish that inflates into balloon-like shapes when threatened. It is also known as the blowfish or toadfish. It inhabits warmer, coastal waters around the world. The pufferfish has the remarkable ability to expand its body extremely quickly when faced with danger, unavailing the long poisonous spikes that cover its body.
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Q is for‌ QUEEN TRIGGERFISH
These odd-shaped fish are known for their bright blues, purples, greens, and yellows that change to match their surroundings if they are stressed. Triggerfish are named after their smaller upper spines that lock their larger upper spines upright after the fish wiggles into a tight hole in the reef to sleep or escape a predator. This ensures that the triggerfish cannot be pulled out and made vulnerable. 19
R is for‌ RED WARATAH ANEMONE
It has stinging tentacles and lives on the shores of Australia and New Zealand. At low tide the Red Waratah Anemone looks like a small red blob on crevices near rock pools. In this state it has all its tentacles drawn in to minimize its exposure to the air while it waits for the return of the tide. When the anemone opens out to feed, it unfurls its beautiful red tentacles.
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S is for‌ SEAHORSE
A small, upright-swimming fish with a horse-like head. Commonly found around coral reefs where there is plenty of food and places for it to hide. It camouflages itself to hide from predators. It has a long snout for sucking in food and a long tail. The tail is used both for moving through the water and clinging onto coral and aquatic plants.
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T is for‌ TIGER SHARK
The fourth biggest shark in the world. Found in warmer and tropical waters. A fierce predator that hunts everything in the water including fish, seals, birds, turtles and even other sharks. The tiger shark gets its name from the black stripes it has when it is young. They can reach a top speed of around 20 miles per hour, which is very fast in the water.
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U is for‌ UNICORNFISH
An Indo-Pacific fish with a horn-like protrusion on its forehead. When these fish are about 20 centimeters in length, a long horn develops from a bump anterior to the eye. The horn of mature unicornfish can be as long as the head. It usually grows to about three feet long. 23
V is for‌ VELVET CRAB
A small swimming crab of the North Atlantic and western Mediterranean. The fast-moving velvet crab has a flattened shell, which is wider than it is long. The upper surface is blue but has a reddishbrown velvety covering, which disguises the blue coloration and earns the species its common name.
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W is for‌ WALRUS
A large Arctic marine mammal with long tusks and whiskers. The second largest ocean-dwelling mammal that comes ashore to breed after Elephant Seals. Walruses are incredibly sociable animals that live in large herds on the ice floes that can contain up to thousands of individuals.
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X is for‌ XIPHIAS
The name is Latin for "swordfish." The Xiphias has a very long flattened bill, but lacks teeth, scales and pelvic fins. The species occurs in marine waters worldwide, with the exception of the cold waters of high latitudes. It is mostly found in deeper water, down to a maximum depth of 2,100 feet, but will sometimes come inshore.
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Y is for‌ YELLOW TANG
A small bright yellow fish of Indo-Pacific reefs, popular in saltwater aquariums. It is found around shallow coral reefs where there is an abundance of food and plenty of places to hide from approaching predators. The tang is named after the razor-sharp scalpel (also known as tang) at the base of the tail.
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Z is for‌ ZEBRA LIONFISH
A spotted-and-striped spiny fish of shallow tropical Indo-Pacific waters. Its striking coloration is a "warning" to potential predators that the species has poisonous dorsal fin spines. In Australia it is found from Shark Bay, Western Australia, around the tropical north, and south to Sydney, New South Wales.
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References Animals. (2016). Retrieved April 04, 2016, from http://a-z-animals.com/animals/ Arkive. (n.d.). Explore and Discover. Retrieved April 04, 2016, from http://www.arkive.org/ Australian Museum. (2016). Australian Museum. Retrieved April 04, 2016, from http://australianmuseum.net.au/ Google Images. (n.d.). Retrieved April 04, 2016, from https://www.google.com/imghp?gws_rd=ssl/ Isopod. (n.d.). Retrieved April 04, 2016, from http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/isopod.htm/ National Geographic. (2016). Animals - Animal Pictures - Wild Animal Facts - Nat Geo Wild - National Geographic. Retrieved April 04, 2016, from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/ Sea and Sky - Explore the Oceans Below and the Universe Above. (2016). Retrieved April 04, 2016, from http://www.seasky.org/ Wood, L. (2016). List of Sea Animals A-Z. Retrieved April 04, 2016, from http://hubpages.com/education/sea-animals-list
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