Cardinalfishes are considered non-monogamous pairs. The females are promiscuous and are wiling to mate with multiple males. The Banggai Cardinalfishes are easy to breed once a mated pair forms. The females usually defend the male during and after reproducing. Cardinalfishes are paternal mouthbrooders, meaning the male keeps the eggs.
Scientists call a sea urchin's mouth Aristotle's Lantern. The name comes from the Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle who described a sea urchin's mouth in his book, "History of Animals." Specifically, he described a sea urchin's mouth as looking like a horn lantern, only with its panes removed. However, that later proved to be a mistranslation of Aristotle's writings, as explained by British scholar D'Arcy Thompson. Modern scholars now realize that Aristotle never actually meant to describe the sea urchin's mouth in that passage. Instead, Aristotle actually described the whole sea urchin, which resembled the lamps used in Greece at the time. That said, the term "Aristotle's Lantern," still remains in use among scientists to refer to a sea urchin's mouth.
The beautiful purple shell of the violet sea snail (Janthina janthina) is only part of what makes this gastropod so interesting. Otherwise known as the bubble-raft snail, the critter collects bubbles in its mucus, then uses its bubbly concoction as a raft for long-distance ocean travel. Floating is their only means of transportation as they cannot swim. They can be found in warm tropical and temperate waters worldwide but high concentrations of them occur in the subtropical Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. (bubble raft pictured below)
Two species of Scleropages occur in Australian waters. One is the Gulf saratoga and the second is the spotted-barramundi (S. leichardti). Impressive in body length, the Gulf saratoga is laterally compressed, with a large upturned mouth, big scales, and barbels on the lower lip. These freshwater fishes have large, wing-like pectoral fins. Several reddish or pinkish spots are arranged in a crescent shape around the trailing edge of the scale, giving it a pearly appearance. It can be distinguished by the relatively straight dorsal profile and lower dorsal. This fish has its distribution in parts of Australia like the Northern Territory, Northern Queensland, the Adelaide River, and also in parts of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
Warm water is a must for the West Indian and West African manatee species. With low metabolic rates and minimal fat protection from cold water, they stick to water that is 60 degrees or warmer. They may look fat and insulated, but the large body of the manatee is mostly made up of their stomach and intestines! In colder months, they find their way to warm river tributaries or warm water outputs from power plants. In 2010 at least 246 manatees died in Florida due to cold stress from the colder-than-normal winter. (photo provided by lle)
The expression to cry "crocodile tears" means a false display of emotion or insincerity. It is actually derived from crocodiles appearing to weep while eating their prey. This is because as they chew, the air gets pushed through their sinuses into their tear ducts and leaks from their eyes, making it look like they're actually crying. Crocodiles' eyes water because of the hisses and huffs during feeding, but not with remorse. And that's where we got the notion of crocodile tears from.
While modern medical knowledge has shown that bloodletting does nothing to help cure a person of their ailments, leeches do still serve a purpose. Hospitals around the world continue to use the critters because of some remarkable properties that are hard to replicate synthetically. Chemicals within the saliva of medicinal leeches contain powerful anticoagulation properties. This is essential to allow the creature to feed because it needs a constant flow of blood. In reconstructive surgeries, leeches are often utilized as these chemicals prevent blood clots from forming and ensure that blood flows into the new body parts properly. Without them, the new tissue could die because it would receive no oxygen or nutrients.
The British Museum in London, England has collections of old spearheads and arrowheads that were made with the stingers from stingrays on New Zealand and some Polynesian islands in the Pacific Ocean. Stingray spears could only be used one time because the stingers would stick in the body due to all the tiny barbs on the stingers. The stingers would detach from the spear and stick in a body.
Some people believe that the sound you hear when putting a seashell to your ear is that of your blood rushing though the blood vessels in the ear, but that is not true. It is the ambient noise that's produced when the air entering the seashell, The unique shape of seashells amplifies the ambient sound, which means that any air that makes its way through the seashell produces sound when bounced about in the curved inner surface. The sound that is produced sounds ocean-like but isn't.
The ragfish (Icosteus aenigmaticus) is a ray-finned fish of the northern Pacific Ocean; although a perciform, its skeleton is mostly cartilage, and the larvae have pelvic fins that disappear as they mature. It is the sole member of the family Icosteidae, and some authorities place it into its own order Icosteiformes. The ragfish body is scaleless and limp, because of its cartilaginous skeleton and its flabby muscles. None of the fins have any spines. The dorsal and anal fins extend much of the length of the body, while the pelvic fins are absent. The coloration is generally a dark brown, and maximum known length is 2 m.