FISH GOTTA SWIM…THEY ALSO GOTTA BREATHE. Or, more properly, they need to continuously restock their blood supply with oxygen from the surrounding water column to maintain the functions of living. Key to how fish breathe is the constant streaming of water past thin, permeable membranes in their gills that enable the diffusion of oxygen from the water into the blood stream. Fish maintain that flow of water by either of two methods – ram ventilation
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FAR FROM BEING FREE-RANGING LONERS, MANTA RAYS BOND WITH EACH OTHER in relationships that often last for extended periods, according to a five-year study of manta ray socializing in Indonesia. Some mantas form loosely connected groups to hang out with. Not surprisingly, like their human counterparts, female mantas form much tighter friendships with other females than males do among themselves. The males? Well, the boys’ groups were looser and they tend to cruise more. MANTA
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GOOGLE THIS FISH, THE SPOTTED PRAWN GOBY, and most of the posts you’ll find are for the aquarium trade. Amblyeleotris guttata appears to be a popular fish for home saltwater aquariums. Www.fishbase.org carries a listing for it, but it’s largely related to it colors, size and distribution (which is the Western Pacific from the Philippines down to the Great Barrier Reef at Australia. This photo was taken on the GBR). IT’S A SHRIMPGOBY All
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THREE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MANGROVE FORESTS: 1) They aren’t swamps. They grow in shallow ocean waters along tropical coasts, surviving tidal fluctuations and thriving on the edge between land and sea. 2) Mangrove trees generate the freshwater they need for survival by using a variety of mechanisms to filter the salt out of the ocean water. 3) They’re essential parts of reef systems, key to the reef life. ABOVE AND BELOW Above water,
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SEA ANEMONES ARE PROBABLY BETTER KNOWN FOR THE COMPANY THEY KEEP than for their unassuming, hard-working selves. On Caribbean dives, I rarely pass by one without checking it out for exotic little cleaner shrimps that might be in residence. If there aren’t any, I’m disappointed and move on. In the Pacific, of course, you hardly have to check them out to be aware of their frenetic, constantly on-the-move, high-visibility companions – clowns and other anemonefishes.
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POCKET SHARKS ARE SO SINGULAR THAT AS FAR AS THE WORLD KNOWS there are only two known species – and only one specimen of each. The first resides in a museum in Russia. The second, found in the Gulf of Mexico and just identified, has been given a scientific name but it’s probably going to be known as the American pocket shark. If having one specimen each of two species makes them the world’s rarest
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LIONFISHES HAVE BEEN AROUND IN THE INDO/PACIFIC FOR EONS, yet almost all talk about them focuses on their presence in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Google “lionfish” and you’ll find a zillion articles on them as an invasive threat in the Atlantic basin for each one about them in their native habitat. Okay. That’s a bit of hyperbole, but the idea is good. There’s an enormous disparity in Atlantic and Pacific lionfish articles. Almost all of
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The terms Osteichthyes and Chondrichthyes may seem a trifle wonkish, as opposed to street talk like “bony fish,” “sharks” and “rays,” but you will encounter them from time to time and should at least be aware of them. • Osteichthyes (os-tee-ik’-thee-eez, from the Greek for “bone” and “fish”) is the taxonomic class of bony fishes, those with hard, rigid skeletons based on calcium, phosphate and other minerals, smooth scales, covered gills and flexible fins. With
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IF IT LOOKS LIKE A PIG AND IT WALKS LIKE A PIG AND IT’S UNDERWATER, THEN IT MIGHT BE A…SEA CUCUMBER. Specifically, a member of the genus Scotoplanes. Or, to its multitudinous fans worldwide, a sea pig. Whereas most of us are used to seeing sea cucumbers that actually more or less resemble cucumbers in body shape, Scotoplanes species like S. globosa really do remind people of pigs. Plump, pink and sporting rather porky “legs,”
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TO BE SURE, CELEBRATING OCTOPUSES, SQUIDS AND THEIR COUSINS DOESN’T NEED A SPECIAL DATE. But it’s Cephalopod Week, so here are some awesome cephalopod facts, by the numbers: 1. Cephalopods, best known by octopuses and squids, are remarkable for their braininess, and also their brains. Physically, their heads are often larger than their bodies, which perhaps explains why they’re very smart, as well. The term cephalopod is taken from the Greek for, literally, “head-feet.”
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