Sea World inhabited by millions of living beings. Anyone who has dived to the seabed knows how mesmerizing the depths are. The bizarre forms of underwater inhabitants amaze the imagination.

They live on the seabed amazing fish and unusual algae grow. The creatures can be so unusual that they are difficult to distinguish from plants.

For example, scientists could not for a long time decide whether sponges belong to plants or animals, because they have neither nerves, nor a brain, nor organs of vision, nor digestive organs.

Sponge

Sponges are the simplest multicellular creatures that live, as a rule, in oceans and seas, from great depths to the shore. These sea animals cling to the bottom or underwater rocks. There are more than 5 thousand species of sponges in nature. Most of them are heat-loving creatures, but there are also those that have been able to adapt to the harsh climate of Antarctica and the Arctic.

There is a wide variety of shapes of sea sponges: some are spherical (), others resemble a glass, and others are tubes. Not only the shape of the sponges differs, but also their color; they can be red, yellow, blue, orange, green, and the like.

The body of these creatures is uneven, riddled big amount holes, so it breaks very easily. Water enters through the pores of the sponge, bringing with it food and oxygen. These animals feed on small planktonic organisms.

Although sponges not only cannot swim, they are not even able to move, but they are still very tenacious. These creatures do not have many enemies, since their skeleton is formed from a huge number of spines, which are their defensive weapon. If this strange animal is divided into many parts, even into cells, they will connect with each other, and the sponge will live. During the experiment, two sponges were separated into parts, over time, each part was connected to its own, and whole sponges were obtained again.

The lifespan of these underwater creatures varies. Freshwater sponges do not live long - a few months, some live for about 2 years, but there are marine centenarians who live up to 50 years.

Corals

Corals or coral polyps are invertebrate marine animals belonging to coelenterate type. The polyp itself is small in size and similar in shape to a grain of rice with tentacles. Each polyp has a calcareous skeleton called a corallite. When a polyp dies, reefs are formed from corallites, and new polyps settle on them. This is how generational change occurs. So the reefs grow.

Coral reefs are very beautiful, sometimes they form real underwater gardens. There are 3 types of corals:

1. Limestone or stony corals that live in colonies and form coral reefs;
2. Horn corals called gorgonians, found from the equator to the polar regions;
3. Soft corals.

Most of the corals are concentrated in tropical waters, where the temperature does not drop below +20 degrees. That is why there are no coral reefs in the Black Sea.

Today, there are about 500 species of coral polyps that form reefs. Most are found in shallow waters, but 16% of total mass lives at a depth of about 1000 meters.

Although coral reefs are very strong, the polyps themselves are delicate and fragile creatures. Corals grow as trees or bushes. They can be of various colors: red, yellow, purple and other colors. They reach a height of about 2 meters and a width of up to 1.5 meters.

Coral polyps live in salty clean water. Therefore, they do not live near river mouths, where fresh water and dirt come from. Also for the life of polyps great importance It has sunlight. The thing is that in the tissues of the polyps there are microscopic algae, with the help of which coral polyps breathe.

Corals are more like plants. but in reality they are animals.

These sea ​​creatures They feed on small plankton that stick to their tentacles. When prey is caught, the polyp pulls it to its mouth and eats it.

If the ocean floor rises due to ongoing natural phenomena, for example, due to an earthquake, a coral reef rises above the surface of the water and an island turns out. Gradually, plants and animals appear on it. People also settle on such islands, for example, on the islands of the oceans.

Sea urchins, stars and lilies

All these sea creatures are representatives of the echinoderm type, which have fundamental differences from animals of other types. To live, echinoderms need salty water, so they are found only in oceans and seas.

U sea ​​urchins can be from 5 to 50 rays. At the tip of each ray there is a tiny eye that senses light. Sea urchins are brightly colored: red, orange, yellow, green, purple and blue. The size of sea urchins can reach up to 1 meter, but there are also tiny creatures, not exceeding only a few millimeters.

They move very slowly, in 1 hour they cover no more than 10 meters.

Although these creatures are very slow and have no teeth, they are predators. Starfish feed on fish, oysters, crabs and sea urchins. These voracious creatures eat everything in their path. They swallow shellfish whole. If the mollusk is large, then the starfish wraps its rays around it and opens its valves. If this cannot be done, then the star finds a way out - it can digest food from the outside, this amazing creature A gap of only 0.2 millimeters is enough to push your stomach into it. Starfish also attach their stomachs to living fish; for a certain time, the fish will swim with the star and slowly digest.

The sea lily is a creature of extraordinary beauty.

Sea urchins are omnivores; they can eat snails, starfish, dead fish, shellfish, algae, and even their own fellow creatures. Sea urchins live in basalt and granite rocks, and they make their own burrows using their powerful jaws.

Sea lilies by appearance really look like flowers. They live at the bottom of the ocean. Adult sea lilies lead a sedentary lifestyle. There are about 600 species of sea lilies, most of them stemless.

Jellyfish

- marine animals that live in any oceans and seas. As a rule, they have transparent bodies, since these creatures are 97% water.

Young jellyfish do not look like adults. Jellyfish lay eggs, from which larvae are formed, from which a polyp grows, similar to a bush. After some time, jellyfish break away from the bush, from which adults emerge.

Jellyfish may be various shapes and colors. They can reach several millimeters in length and can grow up to 2.5 meters. Their tentacles sometimes reach 30 centimeters. These creatures can live at a depth of about 2000 meters and on the very surface of the sea.

Most of the jellyfish are very beautiful. These transparent creatures seem completely harmless, but jellyfish are active predators. The jellyfish has special capsules concentrated in its mouth and tentacles that paralyze the victim. In the middle of the capsule there is a long thread that is in a curled state. When the victim approaches, this thread with a poisonous liquid is thrown out. If a crustacean touches a jellyfish, it will instantly stick to the tentacles, and poisonous threads will immediately shoot into it, paralyzing it.

Jellyfish venom can affect people in different ways. Some individuals are absolutely safe, while others pose a threat. The cross jellyfish, which is no larger in size than a 5-kopeck coin, is dangerous to humans. The transparent yellow-green umbrella has a dark cross-shaped pattern. Thanks to this pattern, this poisonous jellyfish and got its name. When the cross is touched, a person gets a severe burn, after which he loses consciousness, and an attack of suffocation begins. If assistance is not provided in time, the victim will die on the spot.

Jellyfish are creatures that seem weightless.

Jellyfish swim by contracting their dome-shaped umbrella. The jellyfish performs about 140 contractions per minute with its umbrella, so it can swim quite quickly. These creatures spend most of their time on the surface of the water.

In 2002, a huge jellyfish was found in the Sea of ​​Japan, the umbrella of which exceeded 3 meters in size and weighed about 150 kilograms. It is the largest recorded jellyfish. It is noteworthy that jellyfish of this species, measuring about 1 meter in size, began to be found in the thousands. Scientists cannot understand why these jellyfish have increased in size so much, but it is believed that they were influenced by rising water temperatures.

Mammals

Dolphins are marine mammals.

In addition, in the oceans, seas and fresh waters A large number of mammals live. For example, mammals such as dolphins live their entire lives in water. And some dive into water only in search of food, for example, otters. All marine life can swim excellently, and some are capable of diving to great depths.

The size of land animals is limited by their ability to bear weight, and in water the body weight becomes smaller, so many whales grow to incredible sizes.

Sea otter - sea otter.

There are 4 groups of mammals living in the oceans and seas:

1. Cetaceans – whales and dolphins;
2. Sirens - dugongs and manatees;
3. Pinnipeds - seals and walruses;
4. Sea otters.

Pinnipeds and sea otters come to land to rest and produce offspring, while sirenians and cetaceans never leave the waters.

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The underwater world is fraught with many mysteries, and humanity has studied the surface of many planets much better than the bottom of the ocean. Amazing, unique sea animals live underwater. All the largest, strongest and most poisonous animals also live in the abyss of the ocean, and not on land.

With some amazing inhabitants underwater world we'll meet today.

Pygmy seahorse
This is one of the most well-camouflaged inhabitants of the ocean. It takes a lot of effort to see this tiny creature measuring 2.5 cm among the dense thickets of coral. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Squid on the hunt
Typically, squids measure up to 50 cm, but there are also giant squids that reach 20 meters (counting tentacles). They are the largest invertebrates. (Photo by David Doubilet):

A pair of stingrays
Stingrays are fish, and most of them live in sea ​​water. Special weapons endowed with a squad of electric stingrays that can paralyze prey with electrical discharges from 60 to 230 volts and over 30 amperes. Photograph from the Tuamotu group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, belonging to French Polynesia. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Gastropod- flamingo tongue
Found on many coral reefs Caribbean and Atlantic basins. The mollusk feeds on poisonous sea gorgonians, but their poison does not harm the snail. "Flamingo's tongue" absorbs toxic substances and he himself becomes poisonous. These mollusks leave behind noticeable trails of dead coral tissue. (Photo by Wolcott Henry):

Eel catfish
The only species of catfish that lives on coral reefs. Their first rays of the anterior dorsal and pectoral fins are jagged, poisonous spines. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Sea eel
Peeking out of his hole. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Fish and sea ​​sponge
Currently, about 8,000 species of sponges have been described. They are animals. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Underwater laboratory "Aquarius"
The only operating laboratory in the world, located at a depth of 20 meters underwater off the coast of Florida. (Photo by Brian Skerry):

Humboldt squid
Giant squid or Humboldt squid. These carnivorous predators reach a length of 2 meters and weigh more than 45 kilograms. (Photo by Brian J. Skerry):

Crab and sea urchins
The body of sea urchins is usually almost spherical, measuring from 2 to 30 cm, and the length of the spines ranges from 2 mm to 30 ms. Some species of sea urchins have poisonous spines. (Photo by George Grall):

Shrimp and crab
Almost perfect underwater camouflage. (Photo by Tim Laman):

Nudibranch
National Park Komodo in Indonesia. Nudibranchs lack a shell. They are one of the most brightly colored and variegated marine invertebrates. (Photo by Tim Laman):

Body fish family
They feed on sea urchins, starfish, crabs, and shellfish, deftly blowing them out of the ground with a stream of water released from their mouths. (Photo by Wolcott Henry):

Lipped perches
Schools of these fish move through the ocean as a unit to protect themselves from predators. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Bell fish
This inhabitant of coral reefs is truly unique fish, reaching 80 cm in length. She does not swim most of the time, but spends it in an upright position, hanging upside down. In a similar way, it disguises itself as a stick, protecting itself from predators and waiting for prey. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Colony of ascidians and sticky fish
Ascidians are a class of sac-shaped animals with a length from 0.1 mm to 30 cm, distributed in all seas. Sticky fish usually stick to big fish, whales, sea ​​turtles, the bottoms of ships. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Red starfish
The sizes of these brightly colored animals range from 2 cm to 1 meter, although most are 12–25 cm. Starfish are sedentary and have from 5 to 50 arms or arms. These animals are predators. Photo by David Doubilet:

Giant spider crab
This is one of the largest representatives of arthropods: large individuals reach 3 m in the span of the first pair of legs! (Photo by David Doubilet):

Big White shark
Reaching a length of over 6 meters and a mass of 2,3000 kg, the great white shark is the largest modern predatory fish. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Magnificent mantis crab (harlequin)
One of the largest mantis shrimp. It is about 14 cm in length, and the largest individuals measure up to 18 cm. (Photo by Tim Laman):

Inhabitants underwater world
Undersea world. Underwater inhabitants . Inhabitants of the underwater world.
Photo of the underwater world. Photos of underwater inhabitants.

It is fraught with many mysteries, and humanity has studied the surface of many planets much better than the bottom of the ocean. Amazing, unique sea animals live underwater. All the largest, strongest and most poisonous animals also live in the abyss of the ocean, and not on land.

Today we will meet some amazing inhabitants of the underwater world.

This is one of the most well-camouflaged inhabitants of the ocean. It takes a lot of effort to see this tiny creature measuring 2.5 cm among the dense thickets of coral. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Typically, squids measure up to 50 cm, but there are also giant squids that reach 20 meters (counting tentacles). They are the largest invertebrates. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Stingrays are fish, and most of them live in seawater. A squad of electric stingrays is equipped with a special weapon, which can paralyze prey with electrical discharges from 60 to 230 volts and over 30 amperes. Photograph from the Tuamotu group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, belonging to French Polynesia. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Found on many coral reefs in the Caribbean and Atlantic basins. The mollusk feeds on poisonous sea gorgonians, but their poison does not harm the snail. The “flamingo tongue” absorbs toxic substances and becomes poisonous itself. These mollusks leave behind noticeable trails of dead coral tissue. (Photo by Wolcott Henry):

The only species of catfish that lives on coral reefs. Their first rays of the anterior dorsal and pectoral fins are jagged, poisonous spines. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Peeking out of his hole. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Fish and sea sponge

Currently, about 8,000 species of sponges have been described. They are animals. (Photo by David Doubilet):

The only operating laboratory in the world, located at a depth of 20 meters underwater off the coast of Florida. (Photo by Brian Skerry):

Giant squid or Humboldt squid. These carnivorous predators reach a length of 2 meters and weigh more than 45 kilograms. (Photo by Brian J. Skerry):

The body of sea urchins is usually almost spherical, measuring from 2 to 30 cm, and the length of the spines ranges from 2 mm to 30 ms. Some species of sea urchins have poisonous spines. (Photo by George Grall):

Almost perfect underwater camouflage. (Photo by Tim Laman):

Komodo National Park in Indonesia. Nudibranchs lack a shell. They are one of the most brightly colored and variegated marine invertebrates. (Photo by Tim Laman):

They feed on sea urchins, starfish, crabs, and shellfish, deftly blowing them out of the ground with a stream of water released from their mouths. (Photo by Wolcott Henry):

Schools of these fish move through the ocean as a unit to protect themselves from predators. (Photo by David Doubilet):

This inhabitant of coral reefs is a truly unique fish, reaching 80 cm in length. She does not swim most of the time, but spends it in an upright position, hanging upside down. In a similar way, it disguises itself as a stick, protecting itself from predators and waiting for prey. (Photo by David Doubilet):

Ascidians are a class of sac-shaped animals with a length from 0.1 mm to 30 cm, distributed in all seas. Sticky fish usually stick to large fish, whales, sea turtles, and the bottoms of ships. (Photo by David Doubilet):

The sizes of these brightly colored animals range from 2 cm to 1 meter, although most are 12–25 cm. Starfish are sedentary and have from 5 to 50 arms or arms. These animals are predators. Photo by David Doubilet:

This is one of the largest representatives of arthropods: large individuals reach 3 m in the span of the first pair of legs! (Photo by David Doubilet):

Reaching a length of over 6 meters and a weight of 2,3000 kg, it is the largest modern predatory fish. (Photo by David Doubilet):

One of the largest mantis shrimp. It is about 14 cm in length, and the largest individuals measure up to 18 cm. (Photo by Tim Laman):

Amazing, unlike anything else, sea animals live underwater. All the largest, strongest and most poisonous animals also live in the abyss of the ocean, and not on land.

Giant spider crab

This is one of the largest representatives of arthropods: large individuals reach 3 m in the span of the first pair of legs!

Pygmy seahorse

This is one of the most well-camouflaged inhabitants of the ocean. It takes a lot of effort to see this tiny creature measuring 2.5 cm among the dense thickets of coral.

Squid on the hunt

Typically, squids measure up to 50 cm, but there are also giant squids that reach 20 meters (counting tentacles). They are the largest invertebrates.

A pair of stingrays

Stingrays are fish, and most of them live in seawater. A squad of electric stingrays is equipped with a special weapon, which can paralyze prey with electrical discharges from 60 to 230 volts and over 30 amperes. Photograph from the Tuamotu group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, belonging to French Polynesia.

Gastropod - flamingo tongue

Found on many coral reefs in the Caribbean and Atlantic basins. The mollusk feeds on poisonous sea gorgonians, but their poison does not harm the snail. The “flamingo tongue” absorbs toxic substances and becomes poisonous itself. These mollusks leave behind noticeable trails of dead coral tissue.

Eel catfish

The only species of catfish that lives on coral reefs. Their first rays of the anterior dorsal and pectoral fins are jagged, poisonous spines.

Sea eel

Peeking out of his hole.

Fish and sea sponge

Currently, about 8,000 species of sponges have been described. They are animals.

Underwater laboratory "Aquarius"

The only operating laboratory in the world, located at a depth of 20 meters underwater off the coast of Florida.

Humboldt squid

Giant squid or Humboldt squid. These carnivorous predators reach a length of 2 meters and weigh more than 45 kilograms.

Crab and sea urchins

The body of sea urchins is usually almost spherical, measuring from 2 to 30 cm, and the length of the spines ranges from 2 mm to 30 ms. Some species of sea urchins have poisonous spines.

Shrimp and crab

Almost perfect underwater camouflage.

Nudibranch

Komodo National Park in Indonesia. Nudibranchs lack a shell. They are one of the most brightly colored and variegated marine invertebrates.

Body fish family

They feed on sea urchins, starfish, crabs, and shellfish, deftly blowing them out of the ground with a stream of water released from their mouths.

Lipped perches

Schools of these fish move through the ocean as a unit to protect themselves from predators.

Bell fish

This inhabitant of coral reefs is a truly unique fish, reaching 80 cm in length. She does not swim most of the time, but spends it in an upright position, hanging upside down. In a similar way, it disguises itself as a stick, protecting itself from predators and waiting for prey.

Colony of ascidians and sticky fish

Ascidians are a class of sac-shaped animals with a length from 0.1 mm to 30 cm, distributed in all seas. Sticky fish usually stick to large fish, whales, sea turtles, and the bottoms of ships.

Red starfish

The sizes of these brightly colored animals range from 2 cm to 1 meter, although most are 12–25 cm. Starfish are sedentary and have from 5 to 50 arms or arms. These animals are predators.

Great white shark

Reaching a length of over 6 meters and a mass of 2,300 kg, the great white shark is the largest modern predatory fish.

Magnificent mantis crab (harlequin)

One of the largest mantis shrimp. It is about 14 cm in length, and the largest individuals measure up to 18 cm.

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. Eggs and embryos giant shark 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.

Sharks of other species are found in the open ocean, 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 blood entering 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 cartilaginous fish 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. 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 breathe in 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 dorsal fin mother.

For orientation, whales make sounds that the human ear cannot detect. The whale's brain is a real sonar that detects sound signals, reflected from different 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. While most of them lie at the bottom, buried in the sand, some of them love 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.

The swordfish is rightfully considered the fastest swimmer of all the inhabitants. depths of the 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 aquatic environment. 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 venom 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 onto the shore and ate the fish lying in the baskets. The dogs, smelling the octopus, started barking. The fishermen came running and 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. Garfish are found in large numbers 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.

Most starfish play the role of seabed orderlies, eating all sorts 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, and 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 deals with sea urchins very interestingly as sea ​​otter. 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 is a 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. Internal skeleton the same as that of all fish, and the outer one is made of bone 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, thanks to special structure, such problems never arise. 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 his belly, the horse daddy has a pouch 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, once they were 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 bottom surface. 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 atmospheric precipitation some of them again fall to hard-to-reach depths, 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.