They walk and look: the residents of the house on Vertkovskaya Street have fenced off pedestrians. The most unusual sea creatures

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 was performed little education on the head of a fish, called an eska. 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 next to the thickets of the underwater forest at a depth of 2 to 12 meters that these creatures try to stay in order to dangerous situation they were able to 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 noticeably 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 one that lives in coastal waters Australian states of Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia are 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 their upper part stretches from 1 to 6 horizontal stolons, and on them equal distance vertical “branches” with spade-shaped structures at the end are located apart from each other.

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 most fast 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 chamber of the head filled with 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, the majority 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 the soft tissues of a living mollusk have this color, and not the shell. Typically, Cyphoma gibbosum snails reach 25-35 mm in length, and their shell is 44 mm.

These animals live in warm waters western part Atlantic Ocean, including in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and in 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 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 the 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 fast strikes with their own feet, causing serious damage or killing the victim.

A resident of Omsk has been keen on hardening for a year and shocks passersby - he walks around the city barefoot, and in cold weather he feels fine in just a T-shirt.

As 17-year-old Nikita Maksimov told NGS.OMSK, he has been into hardening and walking barefoot for a year and has been into a raw food diet for two years now. Nikita admits that he is interested in testing himself for strength and experiencing everything on himself. A resident of Moskovka loves minimalism in everything - he sleeps on the floor, does not smoke or drink alcohol, and gets by with a minimum of clothing.

In the summer, Nikita can be found on the street barefoot, bare-chested and in shorts, and in the fall he dresses warmer - he puts on a T-shirt over a sweater from his thermal underwear set. In winter, Nikita wears sneakers, jeans, a T-shirt and a thin jumper, sometimes without a hat. He travels, like everyone else, on minibuses and buses, and waits for his transport in the same way, standing at a bus stop. Nikita learned to tolerate the cold. The idea to accustom his body to thermoregulation and stop being afraid of the cold came to the guy after he saw a video on the Internet.

This is how Omsk residents travel on public transport.

“I was surfing the Internet and saw an interview with a man who was walking barefoot in the snow without a T-shirt, wearing only shorts, and it was minus 10 degrees outside...And I thought - is this possible? And away we go. I haven’t read any information about this, I do everything through my own experience, based on my feelings,” says Nikita. He gradually got used to the cold and now plans to train his body to such an extent that he can do without shoes in winter.

"What a fine fellow!" - a passerby admired, looking at Nikita, who, as if nothing had happened, was standing on the marble at +2 degrees

“According to my feelings, this requires another 8 years to really not feel the cold. This all needs to be done very gradually. Last winter I wore a jacket 10 times, and at -24 degrees I wore a T-shirt for 1.5 months. I realized: there is nothing scary about the cold. I stopped getting sick, I went to the pharmacy once in two years - to get a band-aid, I injured my leg. And before, when I went to school, I was constantly sick, colds, acute respiratory infections... Now this is not the case,” says the Omsk resident, standing barefoot on the granite paving of Chokan Valikhanov Street. He believes that all diseases are due to poor nutrition.

“I studied the topic of nutrition for a long time and realized that a person needs fruits - fruits, vegetables, the healthy pulp around the seeds, seeds. When a person starts eating in his own way, all illnesses go away,” argues the Omsk resident, and passers-by continue to look askance at the strange guy who walks down the street barefoot. Every day he eats persimmons and grapes and drinks only water - Nikita does not accept tea, coffee and other drinks.

Nikita is already accustomed to the reaction of passers-by who turn around looking at him

He is supported by his family and friends. He was able to convince his mother that if she wanted to help him, then she should not interfere with hardening the body. “My mother is the best, she worries about me, of course. Now, when I come home, she jokes: “Why are you without clothes?”,” the Omsk resident says, smiling. He has a younger three-year-old sister. Nikita left school after ninth grade and entered Medical College, but could not study there: I was disappointed. After working at the vegetarian cafe Govinda, Nikita left and decided to prepare for university. Now he lives separately from his parents, rents a small family from friends and works part-time. The young man admits: for a month, 8-10 thousand rubles are enough for him to cover all his needs - utilities, food and travel. Nikita is already accustomed to the reaction of passers-by who offer their help in winter.

Nikita learned to tolerate the cold. 2 years ago he was no different from other schoolchildren and often had colds

“Often in winter they come up and ask if you need clothes, if everything is okay. Once the police came up and took me to the police station - they thought I was on something. I had to sit at the police station and explain. And the police called my relatives and asked if I was interested in hardening. Today the police came up again - they recognized me, so there were no questions,” Nikita laughs. His photos have been circulating on social networks for a long time - since 2015, the guy is often photographed on the street in cool weather. Last year in winter, eyewitnesses shot a video of a guy in a hat and T-shirt coming out of the entrance. Then in the comments, users suggested that the guy’s jacket was taken away from him at school.

“Walking through puddles is so cool! This is my favorite part of the walk,” Nikita says enthusiastically, looking at the puddles.

“I’m not cold, I’m fine, no one took my jacket. My favorite weather is when the sun is shining and the cool wind is blowing. I love walking through puddles. In summer I also like the weather, I love the sun, but I miss the cold. It’s great for me: you walk, your legs hurt, your hands are burning, but it’s cool, I enjoy it: every time I become more resilient,” the guy smiles. After the conversation, he goes to the stop straight through the puddles and gets on his bus.

Omsk is happy to leave footprints on Chokan Valikhanov Street - he also loves rain, but does not recognize winter swimming

NGS.OMSK contacted several institutions for comment. Doctors are very cautious about the case of Nikita Maksimov and are reluctant to comment on such hardening methods.

“As a doctor, I cannot comment on this. I think that such examples need to be covered very carefully. What can you say from medicine: yes, I trained. There is such a person, and this does not mean that go ahead [everyone barefoot on the street]. Hardening should be in moderation,” says Nadezhda Gulyeva, head of the medical and physical education clinic. “This is something unique for Siberia, of course. I don't want to say it's great and promote these things. Each body is individual, I don’t know what abilities and capabilities it has, but apparently it can. The average person does not have such things,” the specialist concluded.

All of us schoolchildren are very happy when the summer holidays come. And if this wonderful time with family or friends was spent at sea, then there will be enough impressions for the entire next school year.

I really like to relax by the sea. We were a family on the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and dad was also on the Red Sea. Each sea is beautiful in its own way. Each sea has its own name, history, and marine inhabitants. So I decided to collect all the known inhabitants of the seas that wash the country in which I live, the Russian Federation

1. BLACK SEA

The most famous of all the seas washing Russia is the Black Sea.

An important feature of the Black Sea, which determines most of its other unusual properties: it is an almost closed sea, separated from the Ocean, into which many deep rivers flow.

The modern name of the sea is the Black Sea, first mentioned in chronicles in the 13th century. There are many hypotheses why the sea is called Black.

According to one of them, the Turks and Tatars, who decided to conquer the local population, met fierce resistance from wild tribes, and at first they called this sea Pontos Aksenos - an inhospitable, hostile sea. True, having lived here longer, they renamed it - Pontos Euxinos - fertile, favorable sea.

There is a Turkish legend according to which a heroic sword rests in the waters of the Black Sea, which was thrown there at the request of the dying wizard Ali. Because of this, the sea is agitated, trying to throw out deadly weapons from its depths, and turns black.

Another reason, according to some researchers, may be the fact that during storms the water in the sea becomes very dark. In cloudy weather, under black clouds, the surface of the sea darkens - it is believed that this is why the Black Sea got its name: Turkic nomads who came here from Central Asia, they called it Kara-Deniz - Black Sea, and later this name migrated to other languages: in Bulgarian - Black Sea, in Ukrainian - Chorne More, in Romanian - Marea Neagra.

In Ancient Rus' in the 10th-16th centuries, the name “Russian Sea” was found in chronicles.

There is another plausible assumption about the origin of the name of the Black Sea. It has been known since ancient times that all objects that have been in its abyss turn black. This is due to the fact that the Black Sea water at a depth of more than 200 meters is enriched with hydrogen sulfide. Therefore, shell shells lying in the ground also turn black - they can always be found on the beach. At great depths, due to the presence of hydrogen sulfide, there is no vegetation or animals, only bacteria are found that feed on it, and therefore the Black Sea is sometimes called the sea of ​​“dead depths”.

In winter, the Black Sea does not freeze completely. Only in the northwestern part (near Odessa) a small area of ​​the sea freezes for a short time. True, in the Byzantine chronicles there are references to the complete freezing of the Black Sea in 401 and 762 AD. e.

Animals of the Black Sea are represented by 2.5 thousand species.

At the bottom of the Black Sea live mussels, oysters, and also the predator mollusk rapana.

Numerous crabs live in the crevices of coastal rocks and among stones, there are shrimps, and different kinds jellyfish (the most common are cornet and aurelia), sea anemones, sponges.

Among the fish found in the Black Sea: various types of gobies, Black Sea anchovy (anchovy), flounder-gloss, mullet of five types, bluefish, hake (hake), sea ​​ruff, red mullet, haddock, mackerel, horse mackerel, etc. There are sturgeon (beluga, Black Sea-Azov sturgeon).

Among the dangerous fish of the Black Sea - sea ​​dragon(the most dangerous - the spines of the dorsal fin and gill covers are poisonous), stingray (sea cat) with poisonous thorns on the tail sea ​​fox, as well as the Black Sea spiny shark(katran) - rarely grows more than one meter in length, is afraid of people and rarely approaches the shore. At the same time, the katran is a rather valuable fishing trophy (it is believed that the liver oil of this shark has healing properties). Echinoderms are also dangerous: sea urchins, cucumbers)

Mammals are represented in the Black Sea by two species of dolphins (the common dolphin and the bottlenose dolphin), the Azov-Black Sea harbor porpoise (often called the Azov dolphin), and the white-bellied seal.

The bottlenose dolphin is the largest Black Sea dolphin. It has a body length of up to 3 m and a weight of about 300 kg (average - 120). It feeds on bottom fish. Bottlenose dolphins are easy to train and live happily in the dolphinarium.

The common dolphin is the most common dolphin in the Black Sea. It has a body length of up to 2.5 m, weight up to 100 kg. The common whitetail lives in small herds, swims relatively quickly, and plays often. Dolphins feed their young with milk for up to 4 months; the milk is very fatty, up to 50%, and very high in calories. Dolphins breathe oxygen from the air, have a well-developed brain, and have a variety of features that can be used by humans in exploring the depths of the sea.

Since ancient times, the Black Sea has created not only aesthetic pleasure, but also provides material wealth - fish, plants, gems, various salts, Construction Materials. The sea, with its healing waters, heals people from ailments and improves health. Great are the gifts of the Black Sea to man. And many more treasures are hidden by the waters and secretly kept in the depths of the sea. Science is constantly searching for keys to underwater storehouses of sea treasures.

Every year on October 31, all countries of the Black Sea region celebrate International Black Sea Day.

2. 1. 2. SEA OF AZOV

Yours modern name The Sea of ​​Azov received its name somewhere in the middle of the 13th century - its name comes from the name of the ancient trading center Azak.

Because of his geographical location– the peoples inhabiting its shores were constantly changing – the Sea of ​​Azov has changed a large number of names in the past:

The Scythians called it Kargulak - rich in fish;

The Meotians called Timirinda - the mother of the sea;

The ancient Greeks called him Maeotis - nurse;

The ancient Romans called Palus Meotis - Meotian swamp;

Arabs – Bahr el-Azov, (dark blue sea);

Eastern Slavs - Blue.

One of the most interesting features of the Sea of ​​Azov is the variety of coastal forms. Along coastline you can see spits, sandbanks, small islands, floodplains and much more. The spits of the Azov Sea are sandbanks that extend tens of kilometers into the open sea.

The Sea of ​​Azov is the smallest on our planet. The maximum depth of the Azov Sea is 14.4 meters. The average depth level of 5 meters is located 2 kilometers from the shore. To summarize, we can add that the average depth of the Azov Sea is within 6-8 meters.

The Sea of ​​Azov remains amazing, unique sea, where thousands of Russians come to rest. Just think about it, the most valuable fish of the Azov Sea are sturgeon: beluga (length up to 9 m, weight up to 1000 kg); sturgeon (length up to 5m, weight up to 200kg); and stellate sturgeon are animal contemporaries of ichthyosaurs, dinosaurs and pterodactyls. They have existed on our planet for sixty million years.

Along the banks of rivers and reservoirs, on the spits of the Azov Sea there are a lot of waterfowl - geese, ducks, steppe waders, lapwings, red-breasted geese, mute swans, curlews, black-headed gulls, laughing gulls, quacks.

The steppe reservoirs are home to the marsh turtle, lake frog, pond frog, pond snail, lawn snail, crayfish, some reel clams and about 80 species of fish. Highest value have bream, pike perch, herring, ram, anchovy, large flounder, goby, common eel, catfish. Pike, one of the most famous freshwater fish, widespread in the Azov Sea basin. The group of predators in the Sea of ​​Azov includes: spiny shark (sea dog), stingray (sea fox), and sea cat.

3. BALTIC SEA

Until the 11th century. The Vikings were the only major force in the Baltic Sea region, which is why the ancient Slavs called the sea Varangian. There is also a hypothesis by an Italian scientist who derives the name of the Baltic Sea from the word “balta” - swamp, pond, standing water.

The geographical location of the Baltic Sea, its shallowness and difficult water exchange are the main factors that play a vital role in the formation natural features Baltic Sea and causing its extremely low ability to self-purify (the average time to completely replace water in it is about 30-50 years), therefore the ecology of the sea is very bad and if the rate of pollution is the same, then for 10 years the water will not be able to be used for food purposes , and the fauna risks disappearing forever.

Basic environmental problem The Baltic Sea is due to its pollution from the era of the Second World War. After World War II, about 3 million tons were dumped into the Baltic Sea chemical weapons, which contained 14 toxic substances. According to experts, at the bottom of the Baltic Sea there are 267 thousand tons of bombs, shells and mines, sunk after the end of World War II, inside of which there are more than 50 thousand tons of chemical warfare agents. For more than half a century, ammunition has been lying on the bottom of the Baltic, potentially creating dangerous threat for the environment and human health. Due to insufficient self-purification ability, poisons hazardous substances from landfills and sewage basins end up in the Baltic Sea. In addition, in the depths of the Baltic Sea lie several sunken nuclear Soviet ships. submarines. All this has led to the fact that fish caught in the Baltic Sea contains a lot of toxic substances.

All this resulted in the emergence of toxic algae in the sea, due to which animal world The sea is dying out, as well as the presence of poisonous jellyfish. The thin tentacles of cross jellyfish contain stinging cells. When you come into contact with them, a burn occurs. As a result, a person’s temperature rises, weakness and chills appear. From all of the above it follows that the fauna of the Baltic Sea is poor in diversity.

The lack of diversity of Baltic animals is compensated by the number of fish living in it. Fish live in the sea: Baltic herring, three-spined stickleback (up to 9cm).

Another celebrity of the Baltic is the Baltic sprat, or sprat (up to 5 cm). An important commercial fish, widely known in the form of canned food “Sprats in Oil”. One of the most numerous fish was salmon, or noble salmon. salmon (up to 39 kg).

A delicacy in our time, salmon used to be an ordinary dish on the table of the poorest peasant, and farm laborers, when hired, even made it a condition not to feed them salmon too often.

Baltic commercial fish include sabrefish (up to 2-3 kg), whitefish (up to 60 cm) and European vendace (30-40 cm up to 1.2 kg). Since ancient times, European vendace has been highly valued for its unsurpassed taste. It was even delivered to the table of the Russian tsars, and then it was proudly called “royal herring”.

Despite the environmental situation, there are still many resorts on the eastern and southern coasts of the sea where people relax and receive treatment: Jurmala in Latvia, Palanga in Lithuania, and others. Vacationers are attracted pine forests, sandy beaches, soft maritime climate without the sweltering summer heat.

2. 2. SEA OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN

The seas of the Arctic Ocean are marginal; only the White Sea is inland. The seas of the Arctic Ocean are separated from each other and by islands.

The most striking distinctive feature of the northern seas is the year-round presence of ice in all Arctic seas. Most of the Arctic Ocean all year round bound by ice. Off the coast in winter, young, motionless ice forms, attached to the shore; this is coastal fast ice. In addition to sea ice, powerful blocks of continental ice - icebergs - are found in the polar seas.

1. WHITE SEA

The White Sea belongs to inland seas The Arctic Ocean, that is, it is located in the northern hemisphere, it is limited by land on almost all sides and is separated only by a water border on the northern side.

The White Sea is an ocean bay deeply cut into the mainland. In ancient times, the White Sea was called Icy (before the 18th century), Solovetsky, Northern, Calm, and sometimes it was called the White Bay. The White Sea does not freeze completely: a strip of ice fast ice forms around all land areas, the width of which, although it depends on the winds, temperature regime and other reasons.

The fauna of the White Sea, although it is poorer than other northern seas, is extremely interesting and unique. On the treeless cliffs of the islands there are bird colonies of various species - cormorants, gulls, terns and others nest here. There are especially many cormorants here - in August chicks of different ages sit in their nests.

The underwater world of the White Sea is rich and unique. The surface of the rocks is overgrown with soft corals and sponges. Starfish, crabs and shrimp crawl in the cracks and between the rocks. The most common fish are catfish, cod, sea ​​bass, flounder, salmon, brown trout, pink salmon and lumpfish. You can see hermit crabs and a rare brittle star with an exotic name - the head of a gorgon.

Biological resources of the White Sea are widely used in Food Industry. Extensive fishing (up to 600 tons); caught: herring, salmon, cod, navaga, smelt, etc. Significant marine fisheries - they kill seals (coots); They collect eggs and beat wild birds - seagulls, barks (eider down).

For people who love the beauty, severity of the north and fishing, the White Sea is a great place to relax.

2. 2. 2. BARENTS SEA

The Barents Sea was named in 1853 in honor of the Dutch navigator Willem Barents, and until 1853 it was called the Murmansk Sea, Murman is the marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean. Scientific study of the sea began at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Barents Sea is one of the Arctic seas, but unlike other Arctic seas, it is never completely covered with ice. This occurs due to the influx of Atlantic waters, bringing such an amount of heat that does not allow the water to cool to the freezing point.

The sea is highly productive, with developed fishing: capelin, cod, navaga, catfish, flounder, halibut (all year round), herring, cod, pollock, haddock (in summer), salmonids - salmon, char, nelma. At the edge of the ice live seals, walruses, ringed seals, khokhlachi. Beluga whales, killer whales, blue whales, sperm whales, porpoises, bottlenose, white-sided and white-faced dolphins come to visit.

2. 2. 3. CHUKOTKA SEA

The Chukchi Sea is a marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean, located between Chukotka and Alaska, that is, the sea that washes Chukotka.

This is the easternmost of the seas washing the northern coast of Eurasia. Floating ice cover it most of the year. In autumn, winds contribute to the appearance of waves up to 7 meters high. But despite the extremeness and diversity climatic conditions The fauna of the sea is diverse.

Due to its coastal position with access to the seas of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, the Chukotka Peninsula has rich habitats for marine mammals: Pacific walrus, bowhead, blue and gray whales, humpback whale, killer whale, beluga whale, ringed seal, bearded seal, white-winged porpoise, etc. On the coast you can see countless bird colonies - guillemots (thin-billed and thick-billed), guillemots, auklets, and kittiwake gulls gather here.

In the depths of the icy kingdom of the Chukchi Sea, polar bears bask in the rays of the polar sun and breed.

2. 2. 4. LAPTEV SEA AND EAST SIBERIAN SEA

East Siberian Sea, marginal sea of ​​the North. Arctic Ocean, between the New Siberian Islands and about. Wrangel. The name was assigned in 1935 according to the assumption of Yu. M. Shokalsky by the Russian Geographical Society.

The Laptev Sea was named in 1935 in honor of the Russian explorers of the North, the brothers Khariton and Dmitry Laptev. This is a marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean. Located between the Taimyr Peninsula and the New Siberian Islands. One of the harshest Arctic seas, the surface of which is covered with ice almost all year round.

These seas are the harshest northern seas, since they are almost not influenced by warm ocean waters. Their fauna is not rich.

The zooplankton contains mostly ciliates, crustaceans and chaetognaths - “sea shooters”.

Both marine and migratory fish are found in the open sea. The most common species are Siberian vendace, char, omul, musk, nelma, smelt, navaga, polar flounder, cod, and sturgeon.

Some mammals also live here: seals, sea ​​hares, narwhals, walruses and polar bears (New Siberian Islands).

Many birds live on the coast and islands, among them the white-fronted goose and the bean goose, the combed eider, rare bird- black goose. Some birds, such as guillemots, kittiwakes, and gulls, form huge bird colonies.

2. 2. 5. KARA SEA

The Kara Sea is a marginal sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean. The name of the sea comes from the name of the Kara River, which flows into it.

The Kara Sea is home to a large number of invertebrates, and, consequently, fish. Here you can find navaga, omul, nelma, muksun, whitefish, cod, char and flounder. Walruses, seals, sea hares and beluga whales live in the waters of the sea.

Birds nest on the banks: razorbills, guillemots and little auks. You can see noisy bird colonies.

The island's mammals are visited by polar bears and arctic foxes.

2. 3. PACIFIC SEA

2. 3. 1. BERING SEA

On Russian maps In the 18th century, the sea was called the Kamchatka, or Beaver Sea. The name Bering Sea first appeared in the last quarter of the 18th century.

The famous Vitus Bering, who was ordered to find the strait dividing Asia with America, failed to cope with the task. But the strait separating the two continents received the name of an unlucky navigator, just like the northernmost sea of ​​the Pacific, or as they said in the old days of the Great Ocean in 1725. However, it was introduced into wide use only in 1818 by the Russian navigator V.M. Golovnin.

The Bering Sea completes the top ten largest seas on the planet.

The fauna of the Bering Sea is very diverse.

The Bering Sea is home to 402 species of fish, 50 of which are commercial species. The most important of them include herring, salmon (chum salmon, pink salmon, chinook salmon, sockeye salmon), smelt, cod, pollock, pike, navaga, halibut, and flounder.

Fishing objects also include 4 types of crabs, 4 types of shrimp, 2 types of octopus, and mussels.

Marine mammals live in the sea: whales, seals, including sea lions, walruses, fur seals, etc. However, their numbers are relatively small, so the production of whales and sea animals is limited and is carried out for the needs of the local population.

2. 3. 2. SEA OF OKHOTSK

The Sea of ​​Okhotsk got its name from the small Okhota River flowing into it. The Okhota River is rich in fish. Previously called the Lama Sea, as well as the Kamchatka Sea. The Japanese call this sea "Ohotsuku-kai" (オホーツク海).

The Sea of ​​Okhotsk holds many living treasures, but its main wealth is the Kamchatka crab, it is called the knight of the Far Eastern seas.

The Sea of ​​Okhotsk is home to about 300 species of fish, including herring, flounder, cod, pollock, naga, capelin, pink salmon, chum salmon, coho salmon, Chinook salmon; seals, sea lions, sperm whales.

In addition to humans, the northern fur seal hunts salmon in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. Salmon is not the main food for seals; much more often they come across cod, pollock or flounder. Having fattened up over the winter in the open sea and gained strength, seals head to the shores for rookeries, opening the mating season. Male loppers gather harems, fighting fiercely for females. Northern seals- the smallest in the family of eared seals, their males do not exceed 2 m and weigh no more than 180 kg.

Seals live on Tyulenev Island, which is located in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. Length 636 m, width 40-90 m. height up to 18 m. Abrasion remnant of a coastal terrace, composed of clastic rocks of the Upper Cretaceous age. Completely deprived fresh water and woody vegetation.

Unregulated use of the rookery by humans in late XIX centuries, when tens of thousands of seals were hunted, led to the threat of their complete extinction

On the rocks there are huge bird colonies, formed mainly by guillemots. Also nesting here are: puffin puffin, rhinoceros puffin, mottled puffin, great auklet, white-bellied auklet, fulmar, cormorant, kittiwake. Large vessels are prohibited from approaching within 30 miles of Seal Island or sounding horns in its area, and airplanes and helicopters are prohibited from flying over it.

2. 3. 3. SEA OF JAPAN

IN South Korea The Sea of ​​Japan is called the "East Sea" (Korean: 동해), and in the North - the Korean East Sea (Korean: 조선동해). The Korean side claims that the name “Sea of ​​Japan” was imposed on the world community by the Empire of Japan. The Japanese side, in turn, shows that the name “Sea of ​​Japan” has been found on most maps since the first half of the 19th century and is generally accepted.

Flora and fauna. The Sea of ​​Japan is home to more than 800 species of plants and more than 3.5 thousand species of animals, including more than 900 crustaceans, about 1000 fish, and 26 species of mammals.

Among the valuable animals: crustaceans - shrimp and crabs, shellfish - oysters, scallops, mussels, cuttlefish, squid, etc.; from echinoderms - sea cucumbers, from fish - flounder, herring, saury, cod, pollock, mackerel, smelt, etc.

In modern Japan, they take great care in preserving marine fauna.

The Japanese are perhaps the greatest connoisseurs of seafood, so marine fishing in the Sea of ​​Japan has been developed for thousands of years. Originality Japanese cuisine lies in the ability to make a delicacy from any product obtained from the sea. The Japanese even turned poisonous fish, called dogfish, into a signature dish of oriental cuisine - fugu. The venom of dogfish is deadly, so chefs are specially trained in the art of cooking fugu. Only a certified specialist is allowed to handle this complex matter.

Another delight of oriental cuisine is sea cucumber. Several species are called sea cucumbers sea ​​cucumbers, consumed as food. Its meat is soft, lean and rich in vitamins and minerals. Sea cucumbers are eaten raw, as well as salted and dried.

Shellfish play a significant role in Japanese cuisine - squid, cuttlefish, octopus, as well as oysters, mussels and scallops.

The Japanese spider crab lives in the Sea of ​​Japan, each leg of which reaches 1.5 m in length. This crab is not only the largest of all crustaceans, it is the largest arthropod in the world. Adult spider crabs are not hunted, as they live at depths of more than 300 m, do not form large aggregations, and their meat has a rough taste. But young “spiders” stay in shallow water, their tender meat is highly valued, so they are large quantities caught using baited traps. If measures to protect the crab are not taken as soon as possible, the giant arthropod will disappear in nature.

There are dangerous inhabitants in the Sea of ​​Japan. Occasionally large sharks, poisonous, come here from the south sea ​​snakes and stingrays. You should be wary of injections sea ​​urchins. They are very painful, and if the needles are not removed immediately, they can remain in the body for a long time.

In the waters Sea of ​​Japan There are also other large animals that pose a danger to swimmers. It is very unpleasant to meet a jellyfish - the cross. These jellyfish are difficult to see in the water. Its “bite” can incapacitate a person for several days. To minimize the possibility of encountering a jellyfish, you should avoid areas with abundant thickets of sea grass. IN coastal waters Another jellyfish that is dangerous to humans is often found - Aurelia eared. Her body has the shape of an umbrella, which thickens towards the middle. Aurelia's size is 40 cm in diameter. The venom of this jellyfish in large quantities leads to a skin reaction that will last for many hours. In this case, the person experiences unpleasant sensations.

2. 4. CASPIAN SEA-LAKE

The Caspian Sea is the world's largest closed lake, on the border of Europe and Asia, called a sea for its size (371 thousand km2) and salinity of water.

The Caspian Sea had about 70 names: Hyrkan, Khvalyn, Khazar. Abeskunskoe, Saraiskoe, Sikhai, Derbentskoe and others. The sea received its modern name in honor of the ancient Caspian tribes (horse breeders) who lived in the 1st century BC. e. on the northwest coast.

101 species of fish have been recorded in the Caspian Sea, where most of the world's sturgeon stocks are concentrated.

Sturgeons existed 200 million years ago, during the time of dinosaurs, so they can be called living fossils. At that time, sturgeon lived in many ancient seas. Later, in the process of evolution, perhaps due to competition with bony fish, sturgeon began to die out, but were able to survive in the Caspian Sea. This giant lake contains more than 90% of the world's sturgeon stocks. Moreover, the Caspian Sea is home to many rare species crustaceans and molluscs. The Caspian Sea is world famous for its fish stocks and especially the delicious Caspian sturgeon caviar. Also in the sea there are fish such as roach, carp, and pike perch.

The Caspian Sea is the habitat of such fish as carp, mullet, sprat, kutum, bream, salmon, perch, pike, roach, carp, pike perch. The Caspian Sea is home to a marine mammal - the Caspian seal.

The fish resources of the sea are known all over the world, being the main source of proteins in the diet of the coastal population.

3. CONCLUSION

In the first part of this work, I collected material on marine inhabitants that live in the seas surrounding the Russian Federation. They are all different and peculiar. In some ways they are similar, in some ways they are different, since their living conditions are different. And they depend on the climate, the location of the seas, where they are located. But despite this, they all need our protection and protection.

I devoted the second part of the work to studying techniques for creating applications and made crafts using different techniques. They are located in Appendices No. 2 to No. 15 with illustrations and descriptions.

In the course of all the work, I can conclude that we must take care of “our little brothers,” nature, and it will thank us.

The underwater world is extremely diverse, new species are constantly being discovered sea ​​fish and animals. Over 30,000 species of fish and an uneven number of mollusks and crustaceans live on Earth. Let's try to illuminate a small part of them.

SHARKS- one of the most formidable inhabitants of the ocean. The absence of bone tissue and gill covers, structural features of scales and many other structural features indicate their ancient origin, which is confirmed by paleontological data - the age of the fossil remains of the first sharks is approximately 350 million years. Despite the primitiveness of the organization, sharks are one of the most advanced predatory fish ocean.

Over a long period of existence, they managed to perfectly adapt to life in the water column and now successfully compete with bony fish and marine mammals. Unlike bony fish, sharks and rays do not spawn, but lay large, cornea-covered eggs or give birth to live young.

Whale sharks (up to 20 meters) and the so-called giant sharks (up to 15 meters) reach the greatest size. Both of them, like baleen whales, feed on planktonic organisms. With their mouths wide open, these sharks slowly swim in the thick of plankton accumulations and filter water through gill openings covered with a network of special outgrowths of the surrounding tissue. A giant shark filters up to one and a half thousand cubic meters of water in an hour and removes from it all organisms larger than 1-2 millimeters.

There is very little information about the reproduction of planktonic sharks. The eggs and embryos of the basking shark are generally unknown. The smallest specimens of this species are 1.5 meters long. A whale shark lays eggs. It is safe to say that these are the largest eggs in the world, their length reaches almost 70 centimeters, width - 40. Planktivorous sharks are slow and not at all aggressive. whale sharks not at all dangerous to humans.

Some species of sharks live near the bottom and feed on bottom-dwelling mollusks and crustaceans. These are small (no more than a meter in length) cat sharks. They live near the coast, often forming large schools.

IN open ocean There are sharks of other species, and they do not form schools, but prowl alone or in small groups. It happens that such sharks approach the shores, and most of the attacks on swimming people are carried out by them. Among these predators, the most dangerous are white, blue-gray, tiger, blue, longarm and hammerhead sharks. Although statistics show that there are much fewer cases of people dying from sharks than is commonly believed, you should still be wary of any shark whose length exceeds 1 - 1.2 meters, especially when there is blood or food in the water. Sharks have a phenomenal ability to detect a wounded or helpless animal at a great distance by its convulsive movements or by the blood that has entered the water.

Different types of sharks lead different lifestyles and differ quite greatly from each other in body structure and behavior. Together with stingrays, sharks belong to the most primitive group of fish, which is called cartilaginous, since their skeleton consists only of cartilage and is completely devoid of bone tissue. If you stroke a shark or ray from head to tail, their skin will feel only slightly rough, but when you move your hand in the opposite direction, you will feel sharp teeth like coarse sandpaper. This happens because each scale of cartilaginous fish is equipped with a small spine, pointing backwards. The outside of the tweezer is covered with a layer of durable enamel, and its base in the form of an expanding plate is embedded in the skin of the fish. Inside each scale are blood vessels and a nerve. At the edges of the mouth there are larger scales, and in the oral cavity of sharks the spines of the scales reach a significant size and no longer serve as coverings, but as teeth. Thus, shark teeth are nothing more than modified scales.

Sharks' teeth, like their scales, are staggered and sit in several rows. As one row of teeth wears out, new ones grow to replace them, located in the depths of the mouth. The shark does not chew food, but only holds, tears and tears at it, swallowing pieces as large as can pass through its wide throat.

Cartilaginous fish do not have gill covers, so on each side of the shark’s body, 5 to 7 gill slits are visible behind the head. By this external feature, sharks can be easily and accurately distinguished from other fish. The stingray's gill slits are located on its ventral side and are hidden from the observer's eye.

It should be noted that these animals, despite the aversion people feel towards them, are of great commercial importance. Their meat, skin and liver oil are used, which contains several tens of times more vitamin A than cod liver oil. Salted, smoked and specially prepared fresh meat of many species of sharks is distinguished by high taste qualities. One of these fish, whose fins are used to make soup (the pride of Chinese cuisine), was even called a soup shark.

WHALES- the largest animals on our planet.

The prehistoric ancestors of whales lived on land and walked on four legs. True, in those days they were not as large as they are now. The body structure of whales began to change about 50 million years ago - it was then that they moved to the ocean, and it was in the water that some of them became giants. This is how the largest animals on Earth appeared - blue whales. Their length can exceed 26 meters and their weight is 110 tons.

Whales move through the water using a tail equipped with two powerful blades. This is the tail fin. Unlike fish, which swim by moving their tail from side to side, cetaceans swing their tail forcefully up and down.

Whales have pectoral fins located in front on both sides of the body. Even before whales moved to the sea, they used their current pectoral fins to move on land. Now whales use them as steering and braking rudders, and sometimes to repel enemy attacks, but not for swimming.

Most whales have a fixed fin on their back that helps them maintain stability when moving through the water. Fins can be small or large, depending on the size of the whale.

The blowholes of whales are located on the top of the head; they open only for a short moment of inhalation and exhalation, when the whale floats to the surface of the water. Whale lungs have a large volume, and whales can stay under water for a long time without breathing, and even dive to a depth of more than 500 meters, and sperm whales can dive to a depth of more than one kilometer.

Whales look like huge fish, but they are not fish, but mammals, and internal structure they have almost the same as humans. And whales, like other mammals, feed their young with milk. Whales are warm-blooded animals, and they are protected from hypothermia by a thick layer of subcutaneous fat.

From the very moment it is born underwater, a whale calf is completely dependent on its mother and stays close to her all the time. It will take many months, and sometimes years, before the baby whale can take care of itself.

The first thing a newborn whale does, even though it cannot swim yet, is to float to the surface of the water and take a breath of air. The mother and sometimes other females help in this matter. After about half an hour, the cub will learn to swim on its own.

Baby whales learn by imitating adults. They tumble, dive and float to the surface with their mother. Kithi not only teach babies, but also play with them with pleasure. Female gray whales love a special game: they swim under their calves and blow air bubbles from their blowholes, thus causing the little whales to spin.

The cubs swim, almost clinging to their mother. They are carried by the waves that form around her body and underwater currents. And it’s really easy to swim if you hang on the mother’s dorsal fin.

For orientation, whales make sounds that the human ear cannot detect. The whale's brain is a real sonar that picks up sound signals reflected from various objects in the water and determines the distance to them.

Whales feed mainly on fish or small crustaceans. They swim with their mouths open, filtering water through special plates called whalebone. Whales consume up to 450 kilograms of food every day. That's why they grow so huge!

Some whales, called odontocetes, do not have baleen, but do have teeth. Toothed whales, sperm whales, feed on huge squids, in search of which they dive to great depths.

Despite their size, whales are unusually graceful. They are not only excellent swimmers, but also acrobats: they can jump, wave their butterfly-like tail over the water, and glide through the waves, sticking their heads out of the water like a periscope. Some scientists believe that the noise that whales make when they hit the water with their tails or splash into the water after a jump is a conditioned signal for their relatives. But perhaps the whales are just playing.

People have been hunting whales for a long time. These days sea ​​giants There are very few left, and they are taken under protection.

RAYS are a superorder of elasmobranch cartilaginous fishes, which includes 5 orders and 15 families. Stingrays are characterized by pectoral fins fused to the head and a rather flat body. Stingrays mainly live in the seas. Science knows several freshwater species. The color of the upper part of their body depends on where exactly the stingrays live. It can be either black or very light.

Stingrays are found all over the world, including Northern Arctic Ocean and the coast of Antarctica. But the easiest way to see them with your own eyes is off the coast of Australia, where stingrays love to scratch their bellies on the coral reef.

Stingrays are the closest relatives of sharks. Outwardly, of course, they are not similar, but they, like sharks, are made of cartilage, not bones. Stingrays, along with sharks, are one of the most ancient fish, and in earlier times their internal similarities were complemented by external ones. Until life begins to flatten the stingrays, excuse me. As a result, sharks are doomed to scurry around in the water, and rays are doomed to lie sluggishly on the bottom.

The lifestyle of stingrays has determined their unique respiratory system. All fish breathe through gills, but if a stingray tried to be like everyone else, it would suck silt and sand into its delicate insides. That's why stingrays breathe differently. They inhale oxygen through squirters, which are located on their back and are equipped with a valve that protects the body. If, nevertheless, some foreign particle gets into the splash pads along with the water - sand or plant remains, the stingrays release a stream of water through the spray pads and throw out the foreign object along with it.

Stingrays are unique waterfowl butterflies. This analogy can be drawn based on how stingrays move in water. They are also unique in that they do not use their tail when swimming, as other fish do. Stingrays move by moving their fins, resembling butterflies.

Stingrays come in a wide variety of sizes, from a few centimeters to seven meters. And they also differ from each other in behavior. If for the most part they lie at the bottom, buried in the sand, then some of them like to jump above the water, shocking impressionable sailors for a long time and inspiring them to write sea ​​legends. Particularly distinguished by this is perhaps the most famous of all stingrays, the manta ray or sea devil. When suddenly a seven-meter winged creature weighing two tons flies out of the sea abyss and a moment later disappears again into the depths, dragging a black pointed tail behind it - this spectacle is truly worthy of a detailed story.

But not so scary sea ​​Devil, like an electric ramp. The cells of his body are capable of generating electricity up to 220 volts. And there are countless divers who have been electrocuted by an electric stingray.

However, all stingrays produce electricity, but not as strong as the electric stingray. The spiny-tailed ray prefers a different type of weapon. He kills with his tail. It plunges its sharp tail into the victim, then pulls it back - and since the tail is studded with spikes, the wound ruptures.

But they enter into battle only for the sake of self-defense. They feed on mollusks and crustaceans. For this reason, they do not even need sharp, shark-like teeth. Stingrays grind their food with spike-like protrusions or plates.

SWORDBA- the order of perciformes, the only representative of the swordfish family. Length up to 4-4.5 m, weighs up to 0.5 tons. The upper jaw is elongated into the xiphoid process. Found mainly in tropical and subtropical waters, it is found sporadically in the Black and Seas of Azov. When swimming, it can reach speeds of up to 120-130 km/h. It is an object of fishing.

Among the numerous and diverse inhabitants of the seas and oceans, swordfish is one of the most interesting predators. The swordfish received its name due to its highly elongated upper jaw, called the rostrum, which has the shape of a pointed sword and makes up up to a third of the entire length of the body. Biologists consider the rostrum to be a weapon that swordfish use to stun prey by bursting into schools of mackerel and tuna. The swordfish itself does not suffer from the blow: at the base of its sword there are peculiar fatty shock absorbers - cellular cavities filled with fat and softening the force of the blow. There are known cases when swordfish pierced through thick planks of ship plating. The reason for the attack of swordfish on ships has not yet received a precise explanation. Interpretations such as, for example, mistaking the vessel for a whale due to fast swimming, and “rabies” are purely speculative.

Swordfish is rightfully considered the fastest swimmer among all the inhabitants of the deep sea. She can swim at a speed of 120 km per hour. The swordfish is capable of developing such speed due to some structural features of its body. The sword greatly reduces drag when moving in dense water. In addition, the torpedo-shaped, streamlined body of an adult swordfish is devoid of scales. In swordfish and its closest relatives, gills are not only a respiratory organ, they serve as a kind of hydrojet engine. There is a continuous flow of water through the gills, the speed of which is regulated by the narrowing or widening of the gill slits. The body temperature of such fish is 12 - 15 degrees higher than the ocean temperature. This provides them with a high “starting” readiness, allowing them to unexpectedly develop amazing speed when hunting or evading enemies.

Swordfish reaches a length of 4.5 meters and weighs up to 500 kg. She lives mainly in the open ocean and approaches the shore only during the spawning period. Swordfish are solitary wanderers. Sometimes in the ocean near a large concentration of fish you can see several dozen swordfish, but they do not form schools - each predator acts independently of its neighbors.

Swordfish meat is very tasty. However, consuming its liver is dangerous - it contains excess vitamin A.

OCTOPUS. They do not have a hard skeleton. Its soft body has no bones and can bend freely in different sides. The octopus was named so because eight limbs extend from its short body. They have two rows of large suction cups, which the octopus can use to hold prey or attach to rocks at the bottom.

Octopuses live near the bottom, hiding in crevices between rocks or in underwater caves. They have the ability to change color very quickly and become the same color as the ground.

The only hard part of an octopus's body is its horny beak-like jaws. Octopuses are true predators. At night they get out of their hiding places and go hunting. Octopuses can not only swim, but also “walk” along the bottom by rearranging their tentacles. The usual prey of octopuses are shrimp, lobsters, crabs and fish, which they paralyze with poison from the salivary glands. With their beak they can break even the strong shells of crabs and crayfish or shells of mollusks. Octopuses take their prey to a shelter, where they slowly eat it. Among octopuses there are very poisonous ones, the bite of which can be fatal even to humans.

Octopuses often build shelters from stones or shells, using their tentacles as hands. Octopuses guard their home and can easily find it even if they have gone far away.

For a long time, people have been afraid of octopuses (octopuses, as they called them), writing terrible legends about them. The ancient Roman scientist Pliny the Elder talked about a giant octopus - “polypus”, which stole fishing catches. Every night the octopus climbed ashore and ate the fish lying in the baskets. The dogs, smelling the octopus, started barking. The fishermen who came running saw the octopus defending itself from the dogs with its huge tentacles. The fishermen had difficulty coping with the octopus. When the giant was measured, it turned out that its tentacles reached a length of 10 meters, and its weight was about 300 kilograms.

GARFISH- or “sea pike” is a fish of the garfish genus.

The turquoise-colored common garfish is one of the fish that can dance above the surface of the water. Faster and faster they move towards the light, just for fun or to “escape” from danger. This fast and graceful predator has a narrow body. Small sharp teeth on a peculiar beak allow the garfish, while swimming quickly, to grab small prey - herring, crustaceans. IN large quantities garfish are found in the Black and other seas.

In the spring, garfish begin their reproductive period: along the coast they lay round eggs, which are attached to algae and other aquatic vegetation with the help of thin sticky threads. Garfish larvae are born without a beak; it appears only in adult individuals. In winter, garfish move to the open sea.

Garfish are predominantly marine inhabitants, distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate oceans. Some of them reach a length of 1.5 m and a weight of 4 kg. This large family, numbering about 12 genera, is represented in the Black Sea by only one species - Belone belone euxini.

The Black Sea garfish, or, as it is also called, sea pike, has a typical arrow-shaped body covered with small silvery scales. The back is green. The length is usually up to 75 cm. This schooling pelagic fish has elongated jaws in the form of a sharp beak.

Lives 6-7 years, reaches sexual maturity in one year.

Once upon a time, garfish, being one of the most delicious fish of the Black Sea, was rightfully one of the top five commercial species caught off the coast of Crimea. The total annual catch of garfish reached 300-500 tons. Often large specimens were caught in the nets of Crimean fishermen - about 1 m long and weighing up to 1 kg.

SEA STARS- animals whose body shape resembles a star. They have warts or spines on the surface of their body. Five rays, called arms, usually extend from the body of a starfish.

They appeared on Earth more than 400 million years ago, but about 1,500 species of these peculiar animals still live in the seas and oceans of our planet. Some are found on sand mixed with stones and on shell rocks.

Starfish come in a variety of colors. For example, the Pacific star is dark purple. There is also a black star. It is easily distinguished by its black back. There are dark gray starfish, and on the rays against a dark background there may be yellowish and whitish spots, sometimes arranged in the form of stripes.

The Japanese star lives in the waters of Japan. Its dorsal side is bright crimson, often mixed with purple shades. The tips of the needles and belly are whitish.

But the most beautiful starfish is the reticulated starfish. Her belly is orange. On the crimson back there are rows of turquoise-blue needles. They seem to form a network or bizarre bright patterns. That's why they gave it starfish name - mesh.

Starfish are active animals. They walk along the shores of seas and oceans with the help of tiny legs. Under a microscope, several elongated “bones” can be seen on her body, working like scissors or forceps. With these tongs, the starfish cleans off various insects that bite it - after all, they so like to sit on such comfortable “hosts” as stars.

The starfish usually feeds on other animals, mainly mollusks. For example, a shell is not such a reliable protection for a mollusk. The star clasps the shell with its hands, sticks to it with its legs and, due to muscle tension, pushes the shell flaps apart and eats. But mollusks also sometimes resist and do not allow themselves to be caught. They, sensing the approach of a starfish, release the mantle between the valves and manage to “wrap” the entire shell in it: the tentacles of the starfish slide along the saucer, and they cannot grab it.

Sometimes starfish even eat sea urchins, which are as spiny as themselves. The starfish is a real predator. Her abilities are very diverse.

Starfish are capable of absorbing objects that are sometimes several times their own size. To do this, they have a curious adaptation: they crawl onto the victim from above and turn the stomach out through the mouth, surrounding potential food on all sides as if in a kind of bag. Gastric juice is secreted into this sac, where digestion occurs. After a few hours, the star collapses its stomach and crawls away.

Majority starfish play the role of orderlies of the seabed, eating all kinds of remains of dead animals.

Once upon a time, 50 years ago, people deliberately destroyed starfish. There were too many of them and they destroyed many sea animals. Hundreds of people went out to sea on boats and cutters and, protecting their hands with gloves, collected starfish, loaded them into baskets and took them ashore.

But the number of starfish still did not decrease. They began to destroy coral reefs, turning them into a lifeless desert. Once upon a time the bottom of the coast Pacific Ocean was covered with magnificent gardens of coral colonies, which looked like a wonderful underwater kingdom. Nowadays desolation reigns here due to the harmful influence of starfish. Those coral reefs that still exist are sometimes hidden under huge moving clusters of starfish, after the invasion of which life leaves the reef.

Scientists have come to the conclusion that a program is needed scientific research, which would allow us to thoroughly study the peculiarities of the relationship between starfish and other inhabitants of coral reefs in order to restore balance.

SEA URCHNISHES- very prickly creatures. Their entire body is protected by long, sharp needles, attached to the body using cleverly designed hinges.

Stepping on such a hedgehog is both painful and dangerous: its needles are covered with mucus, saturated with bacteria, which cause severe suppuration. With the help of poisonous needles, sea urchins fight enemies, such as starfish. However, not all sea urchins are so dangerous and scary. Most of them are completely harmless to humans.

Some flat urchins covered with such small needles that their surface seems velvety rather than prickly.

Sea urchins are the most multi-legged animals in the world. Total number Sea urchins have huge legs. They are shaped like suction cups. With the help of its legs, the animal can not only move from place to place and crawl even along steep rocks, but also firmly attaches itself to stones and soil in places where there are a lot of waves. The hedgehog seems to stick to what it stands on so that it does not get washed away by water.

Sea urchins live on rocks, stones, coral reefs. Some bury themselves in the ground or sand. Sometimes on the seashore, sea urchins gather in such quantities that their spines come into contact with each other. Some species occupy various recesses in the rocks, others are able to drill shelters for themselves, which serve them as protection from waves. Often, hedgehogs cover themselves with fragments of shells, pieces of algae or small stones, in order, obviously, to protect themselves from exposure to direct sunlight or to camouflage themselves from enemies. There are species that hide under stones all day and come out to feed only at night.

They eat what they can catch in the water or on land. For example, shellfish, which are crushed with powerful teeth. They hunt very interestingly. As soon as any animal touches the hedgehog, its legs immediately begin to move and try to grab the prey. As soon as one of the legs manages to catch the prey, the hedgehog squeezes it tightly and holds it until the prey dies. After this, the prey is passed from one leg to the other until it reaches the mouth. When feeding, hedgehogs hold food with their spines, push it into their mouths and bite off small pieces. With the help of sharp teeth, sea urchins can scrape algae from the surface of stones and capture other food.

But neither sharp needles nor teeth can sometimes save a hedgehog from its enemies. Such an animal as the sea otter deals with sea urchins very interestingly. She collects sea urchins in coastal waters, takes them in her front paws and swims on her back, holding the prey on her chest in front of her, then smashes them against rocks or other hard objects shells of hedgehogs and eats caviar. Birds hunt for sea urchins at low tide. Birds have been observed throwing collected hedgehogs from a height onto the stones, break them and peck out the soft parts.

Sea urchins are also eaten by people. Sea urchin caviar is especially prized. Hedgehogs lay eggs several times a year.

The mother hedgehog lays eggs and then carries them on her back all the time. Larvae emerge from the eggs. And among the larvae - hedgehogs. Hedgehogs grow rather slowly and reach adult size within a few years. Only then do they become independent.

SEA HORSE- a strange, charming creature. It has a head like a small horse, a flexible tail like a monkey, an exoskeleton like an insect, and an abdominal pouch like a kangaroo. These features, inherent in other animals, make the seahorse unlike most fish, and it behaves unusually. And yet this little creature- real fish. Their size is about 30 centimeters, there are Sea Horses and 2 centimeters.

Sea Horse has its own special style of movement: it floats proudly, like the leader of a majestic parade. Working with barely noticeable fins at an incredible speed - up to 35 strokes per second, it glides smoothly.

Seahorses usually live in the water near the shore among algae. Spiked armor protects them from danger. A seahorse has bones both inside and outside. The internal skeleton is the same as that of all fish, and the external skeleton is made of bony plates. When a seahorse dies and decomposes, the exoskeleton retains its shape. People are so fascinated by this strange fish that they use dried seahorses for jewelry and inlays.

The seahorse's head is designed in such a way that it can only move it up and down, but cannot turn it to the sides.

If other animals were designed like this, they would have vision problems. However, the seahorse, due to its special structure, never has such problems. His eyes are not connected to each other and move independently of each other, they can move and look in different directions. Therefore, although the seahorse cannot turn its head, it can easily observe what is happening around it.

The most amazing thing about seahorses is that the babies are born to the father. On the belly of the horse daddy there is a bag in which he carries caviar. From these eggs the fry hatch. After the fry appear, the skate carries them in a bag for some time. By bending his body upward, he opens the bag, and the fry come out of it for a walk, but in case of danger they hide there again. Immediately after birth, little pipits must rise to the surface of the water and take air into their swim bladders, otherwise they will die from suffocation.

Almost all fish swim using their tail, but not the seahorse. Its unusual tail, long and thin, is not topped with a fin and looks more like a hand. The seahorse tightly wraps its tail around algae or coral and can stand there, frozen, for hours. And if it happens that two seahorses lock their tails, then they have to play “tug of war.”

Weddings around seahorses are very interesting. They sing and dance. They walk hand in hand (with their tails intertwined) and gracefully spin among the algae. Seahorses cannot live alone for long. If a husband or wife dies, then a short time The other horse also dies of melancholy. That's what the legends say.

Seahorses are masters of camouflage, changing color to match their surroundings. By blending into the background, they both protect themselves from predators and camouflage themselves while hunting for food.

Seahorses are unusually voracious. They catch anything living that can fit into their mouth. Their mouth acts like a pipette: when the skate's cheeks swell sharply, the prey is abruptly drawn into the mouth.

Skates feed mainly on small crustaceans. Having noticed a crustacean, the seahorse looks at it for a second or two and then draws in the crustacean even at a distance of several centimeters. Young seahorses are able to feed for 10 hours a day and eat 3-4 thousand crustaceans during this time.

There are only a few in nature natural enemies seahorses are shrimp, crab, clown fish and tuna. In addition, they are often eaten by dolphins.

The most serious enemies of these creatures are people: seahorses are endangered.

The main reasons for the extinction of this species: water pollution, destruction natural environment habitats, fishing for aquatic trade, accidentally getting caught in nets while catching shrimp or other fish.

Since the Middle Ages, seahorses have been attributed healing properties; they were once even used in the preparation of magical potions.

More than 20 million pipits are captured and killed every year.

CRABS- pugnacious creatures.

Fights between crabs are always preceded by threatening demonstrations: they rise on outstretched legs and spread their claws. All this is necessary to appear larger: usually in fights the larger one wins. The threatening poses of one crab are most often repeated exactly by the other, so that immediately before the fight both fighters stand in front of each other for quite a long time in the same pose, assessing the size and mood of the enemy. A small crab, as a rule, retreats without a fight, but if the difference in size is small, it can win, but in this case the fight is longer and more violent. It is very important who starts the fight, because the one who starts first usually wins, even if he is smaller. Demonstration of strength in crabs is as common and important as, for example, in dogs.

Some crabs get seriously injured after a fight. Large crabs fight longer than small ones, and it does not matter whether they are fighting an enemy larger or smaller than themselves.

During a fight, crabs begin to breathe more often. The longer and more intense the fight, the faster the fighters breathe. The breathing rate increases equally in the winner and the loser, but after the fight the winner calms down much faster than the loser, who even after a day breathes more often than usual.

Often contractions follow one after another. For example, a crab has just had a fight with one opponent and immediately begins to fight with another.

Crabs do not live only by fights; they are also known for tender feelings. Everyone knows how monkeys express friendship: they search each other, choose insects from their fur (or pretend to choose) and eat them. So, something similar is characteristic of some crabs.

Researchers have found that crabs have two types of “stranger cleaning”: long-term and short-term cleaning. A cleaner crab approaches another crab slowly, on half-bent legs, and cleans it for about a minute. The crab that is being cleaned feeds on mud all this time, and after the procedure, already clean, goes into the hole.

With short-term cleaning, everything happens a little differently. The cleaner crab, quickly rising above the surface of the bottom, approaches the object of cleaning. Cleaning lasts no more than 15 seconds. How much will you collect in these moments? The crab that is being cleaned stands calmly and motionless. This cleaning is observed mainly in the summer.

It happens that a large crab - the owner of a hole - attacks a small one that approaches its home. Then the small crab begins the lengthy procedure of cleaning the large one - it calms down and calmly goes into the hole. So this behavior is a way to calm the aggressor. Well, and, of course, cleaning brings benefits - is it really bad to become clean, since you can’t reach your own back with claws?

Crabs live in colonies on muddy shores and dig deep holes. During the day at low tide they wander through the drained areas, collecting thin upper layer silt, roll balls out of it and put it in the mouth, and spend the night (and at high tide, when the water is rough and there are a lot of waves) in holes.

The body of crabs is small. They have sharp claws. With their help, they move and collect food for themselves, and also fight. Some of them are good swimmers. They are called "swimmers". The hind legs can act as oars. Most swimming crabs are bottom-dwelling predators. Although they are able to swim, they do not do so for long.

There are such huge crabs that reach a length of 1.5 meters and weigh about eight kilograms. One adult person will not be able to lift such a crab. These crabs are called king crabs. They are less mobile than other crabs; they lie in wait for prey, hiding at the bottom among pebbles, plants, or buried in the sand.

Under the shell, the body of the mollusk is soft. There is a head, a torso and one leg. This leg is needed to bury itself in the sand at the bottom. It helps the mollusk move and even attach to stones like a suction cup. Under the shell there is a fold of skin - the mantle. The shell, like a shell, covers the body of the mollusk, which can be easily injured.

On the underside of the head there is usually a mouth with a pharynx, in which there is a muscular tongue with teeth, similar to a grater. The animal uses its tongue to scrape off the soft surface of plants. On the sides of the head there are sensitive tentacles - sensory organs. With these tentacles, the mollusk touches objects and understands what they are. There are eyes near the tentacles.

All mollusks move very slowly.

There are mollusks whose shell consists of two halves. Scientists call them bivalves. Their body consists of a torso and legs and is covered with a mantle. At the posterior end of the body, the folds of the mantle are pressed against each other, forming two siphons: lower and upper. Through the lower siphon, water enters the mantle and washes the gills. And through the upper siphon the water is thrown out.

There are mollusks called “chitons”. Their form amazes with diversity, and their beauty with perfection. Because of such beauty, they are used to make necklaces and amulets that can decorate the human body and vases.

After the death of a mollusk, shells usually end up on the surface of the bottom. During wind waves or storms, they are thrown onto gently sloping sandy beaches and often form large accumulations, turning the deserted coast into a motley carpet of colors.

However, the “life” of empty shells on beaches is short-lived. Under the influence of waves, high tides, wind surges and precipitation, some of them again fall to inaccessible depths, while the other part is destroyed. However, after some time, a new storm or waves of a different direction bring new shells to the shore. You can walk along the seashore or ocean and collect shells.

A collection of shells can be useful for various crafts and decorations.

The White Sea is one of the most dangerous on the planet. And the reason for this is not only its ecological state, but also its currents, which can, for example, carry a swimmer far from the shore and drag them into the depths of the sea.

White calm

Among the residents of countries located in the Baltic Sea basin, there is a legend about the so-called white calm - a phenomenon when, at first glance, the sea is absolutely calm, a wave suddenly appears that can capsize not only a fishing boat, but also a larger ship. And bathers are completely powerless to resist this element.

The head of the emergency services of the Svetlogorsk municipal district, Mikhail Tabakov, does not completely refute this myth, but explains it in his own way. According to him, the Baltic Sea, which is one of the most closed on the planet, does not have constant underwater currents, such as, for example, the Gulf Stream, but wind and surge currents are often found there. While they do not pose a real threat to ships and vessels, they are extremely dangerous to a bathing person.

Tabakov calls them “squeeze currents” (another name is “rip currents”): they seem to squeeze a person away from the shore and carry him far out to sea. According to statistics, every summer dozens of vacationers in the Baltic waters fall into a deadly trap. Russian rescuers call the sea areas near Baltiysk and the Baltic Spit the most dangerous. However, due to the constantly changing terrain, it is almost impossible to accurately identify the places where rip currents occur.

Deputy Director for Scientific Work of the Atlantic Branch of the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences named after P.P. Shirshova Boris Chubarenko also believes that swimming even close to the shore, where rip currents pass, is deadly. The scientist says that the black spots are festoons, “bay-like concavities of the coastline 100-150 meters in size, bordered by small capes - shoals.”

Rip currents arise due to the movement of surface water masses under the influence of wind force. The water entering the bay under the pressure of the wind raises the water level in it over the entire area by 15-25 cm. This creates an excess of the water level in the bay relative to the water level in the sea itself. When the wind subsides all this huge water mass, possessing colossal kinetic energy, rushes back into the sea, carrying away unwary swimmers and small ships with it.

Typically, such a current can carry a person 150-200 meters from the shore. The first problem in this case, according to rescuers, is panic. Animal fear turns off consciousness and the person begins to desperately work with his arms and legs to get back to the shore. But this is absolutely forbidden to do, rescuers warn. After all, even an experienced swimmer, trying to fight the elements, can become exhausted. However, you shouldn't stay still either. There is only one way out: swim along the shore. Rescuers say that after about 50, maximum 100 meters, you can detect a weak current and eventually get out of it.

Underwater razors

In the coastal waters of the Baltic, you can sometimes find the remains of piles that were driven by the Germans to retain sand and prevent the destruction of beaches. At first they used expensive sequoia wood, but later switched to iron to save money.

IN Soviet time in Zelenogradsk, at the base of the Curonian Spit, the metal piles were not destroyed, but in Svetlogorsk, by someone’s strong-willed order, they were cut off, believing that they were dangerous for swimmers. There really was a danger, but, as it turned out later, it lay in something else.

Today, the water has sharpened part of the edge of the cut piles so much that it has become razor sharp. Bathers, entering the water, do not even suspect that they risk running into rusty blades that can cut their legs to the bone. Local authorities are required to put up warning signs in these places: “Swimming is prohibited!”, but careless vacationers constantly break them.

Another problem is the abundance broken glass. There is such a Svetlogorsk fun - breaking a bottle on stones. There are practically no whole bottles at the bottom of the sea - they are carried into the open sea by squeezing currents, but there are many fragments that are more difficult for water to pick up. It will take years for the waves to smooth out the sharp edges of the broken glass, but before that more than one bather will be injured.

Delayed action mine

Researcher at the Latvian Institute of Hydroecology Rita Poikane draws attention to a significant problem in the Baltic Sea - the constant accumulation of harmful substances in bottom sediments, which is favored by stagnant waters. Under special circumstances, for example, when there is a lack of oxygen, according to a specialist, these substances can rise to the top and then a disaster cannot be avoided.

The most serious danger is posed by the burial of World War II weapons in the depths of the Baltic. Many experts warn that explosives and toxic substancessooner or later they will make themselves felt, and then a real apocalypse awaits the residents of the coastal regions.

The Interfax agency, citing Polish experts, reports that the shells and bombs that rest on the bottom of the Baltic Sea contain about 15 thousand tons of various dangerous chemical compounds. Scientists are still wondering whether it is necessary to raise the sunken ammunition or whether it is better not to touch them.

Polish scientists have found that chemical weapons that were sunk after the end of World War II in the Baltic Sea cause genetic changes and mutations in fish. Biologists from the Baltic region countries have encountered a similar problem before. They say that fish that live in chemical weapons dumps have a greater range of diseases than those that swim in other areas of the Baltic. According to experts, the mutations are directly related to exposure to mustard gas, mustard gas, which is emitted by time-damaged ammunition.

True, ecologist Rita Poikane is not inclined to exaggerate the danger. According to her, the combat substances are buried at a depth of 120 meters, where there is little oxygen, and fish, with which a person could get a dose of harmful chemicals, do not live there. Toxic substances dissolve in water, but bottom currents gradually reduce their concentration, the expert notes.

In some issues, for example, on heavy metals, the situation in the Baltic has even improved, Poikane reassures. Thus, the peak of water pollution with phosphorus and nitrogen, which occurred in the eighties of the 20th century, has already been passed. But in general, the environmental situation in the Baltic Sea remains alarming, as some types of pollution are replaced by others.

Today, many vacationers can observe water blooms in the Baltic. This process is provoked nutrients, which would be useful for fertilizing the land, but in the sea they are extremely dangerous. The soup-like water becomes unsuitable for marine life and is also toxic to humans and pets.

Inedible fish

One of the most harmful substances entering the waters of the Baltic Sea is mercury. It is easily absorbed by fish, and then by the person who consumed it as food. Doctors do not prohibit eating fish from the Baltic, but they advise you to monitor how much fish you eat per day, per week, so as not to face serious health problems. The main rule: the smaller the size of the fish itself, the less mercury it has accumulated during its life.

Doctors in Sweden and Finland do not recommend that breastfeeding women add it to their diet. Baltic fish. For example, Marie Storra-Paulsen, a researcher at the Danish institute DTU Aqua, notes that salmon heavier than five kilograms cannot be eaten: the larger the fish, the more dioxin it contains. And, according to research, even in small doses, dioxin can lead to consequences such as low birth weight of newborns, impaired fertility and diabetes.

Latvian experts say that the residents of the Baltic countries themselves continue to destroy their sea. So, household chemicals and cosmetics, falling into the sewer system and then into the sea, create conditions for oxygen starvation, which causes the death of caviar and fish.

Experts are confident that if fish meat from disadvantaged regions of the Baltic Sea is subjected to unbiased analysis, the results will be so disastrous that a complete ban on trade may follow. However, the already established facts speak for themselves: herring in the Baltic Sea is five times more saturated with harmful elements than herring from the Atlantic Ocean.