10 Facts About Seahorses
After much debate over the years, scientists finally that seahorses are fish. They breathe using gills, have a swim bladder to control their buoyancy, and are classified in the Class Actinopterygii, the bony fish, which also includes larger fish such as cod and tuna. Seahorses have interlocking plates on the outside of their body, and this covers a spine made of bone. While they have no tail fins, they have 4 other fins - one at the base of the tail, one under the belly and one behind each cheek.
9 Facts About Lobsters
When you think of a lobster, you might think of a bright red creature. Most lobsters are a brown to olive-green color in the wild, with only a reddish tinge.
Lobsters have a carotenoid pigment called astaxanthin in their shell, which provides a red coloring. However, in most lobsters, this reddish color is mixed with other colors to form the lobster's normal coloration. Astaxanthin is stable in heat, while the other pigments are not. This means that when a lobster is cooked, the other pigments break down, leaving only the bright red astaxanthin, thus a bright red lobster on your plate! More on lobster coloration.
10 Facts About Sharks
The term “cartilaginous fish” means that the structure of the animal’s body is formed of cartilage, instead of bone. Unlike the fins of bony fishes, the fins of cartilaginous fishes cannot change shape or fold alongside their body. Even though sharks don't have a bony skeleton like many other fish, they are still categorized with other vertebrates in the Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Vertebrata, and Class Elasmobranchii. This class is made up of about 1,000 species of sharks, skates and rays.
10 Facts About Seahorses
After much debate over the years, scientists finally that seahorses are fish. They breathe using gills, have a swim bladder to control their buoyancy, and are classified in the Class Actinopterygii, the bony fish, which also includes larger fish such as cod and tuna. Seahorses have interlocking plates on the outside of their body, and this covers a spine made of bone. While they have no tail fins, they have 4 other fins - one at the base of the tail, one under the belly and one behind each cheek.
Facts About Sawfish
With their very distinctive, flattened snout, sawfish are intriguing animals. What is their "saw?" How is it used? Where do sawfish live? Learn the answers to these questions and more below.
The "teeth" on the sawfish's snout are not true teeth, but modified scales. A sawfish's real teeth are located inside its mouth, which is on the fish's underside.
There is some debate over the number of sawfish species, especially since sawfish are relatively understudied. According to the World Register of Marine Species, there are 4 species of sawfish. The largetooth sawfish and the smalltooth sawfish occur in the U.S.
Sawfish can reach lengths over 20 feet. The smalltooth sawfish might be small in teeth size, but not in length. According to NOAA, the maximum length of a smalltooth sawfish is 25 feet. The green sawfish, which lives off Africa, Asia and Australia, can reach lengths of at least 24 feet.
Sawfish eat fish and crustaceans, which they can find using the sensory capabilities of their saw, and which they can kill by slashing their saw back and forth. The saw may also be used to detect and dislodge prey on the ocean bottom.
10 Facts About Sharks
The term “cartilaginous fish” means that the structure of the animal’s body is formed of cartilage, instead of bone. Unlike the fins of bony fishes, the fins of cartilaginous fishes cannot change shape or fold alongside their body. Even though sharks don't have a bony skeleton like many other fish, they are still categorized with other vertebrates in the Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Vertebrata, and Class Elasmobranchii. This class is made up of about 1,000 species of sharks, skates and rays.
10 Facts About Scallops
You may have eaten a scallop, but do you know exactly what you were eating? You also may have found a brightly-colored scallop shell on the beach. Here you can learn more about this popular seafood - where scallops live, how big they get and how they feed and reproduce.
Unlike other bivalves like mussels and clams, most scallops are free-swimming. They swim by clapping their shells quickly, which moves a jet of water past the shell hinge, propelling the scallop forward. Click here to see a video of a swimming scallop.