... an intricate system where everything is connected. We know more about space than we do about our oceans. Meet some of the creatures that call the ocean's home; the famous, the bizarre, the ugly, the beautiful and everything in between.
Coral reefs, the rainforest of the seas, cover less than 2% of the ocean’s bottom but provide food and shelter for a quarter of all marine species.
Echinoderms have radial symmetry: their body parts are arranged around a central axis. They have no right or left, just top side and bottom side.
Crustaceans have an exoskeleton, which they moult to grow. After moulting, they intake water to swell, ensuring room to grow in the new skeleton.
Clams, Tridacna sp., spend one week as larvae to choose where they will spend the rest of their life, which could be up to 100 years.
Unicornfish, Naso sp., have a hornlike extension on their forehead. When they fight they use sharp blades near their tail, not the horn.
Sharks and rays are cousins in the family Elasmobranch. Their skeleton is made of cartilage (like our ears and nose), as opposed to bones.
Marine mammals are those that nourish their young with milk and have skin covered with hair, even fine hair, like dolphins, whales, and seals.
Reptiles are cold-blooded meaning they can’t regulate their body temperature. Their bodies are also covered in scales.
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