WHERE’S WALDO? That might be the question this yellow stingray (Urobatis jamaicensis) hopes we’re asking, as it fluffs up sand to try to hide itself. In this case it didn’t work since we watched it approach and then proceed to bury itself – most ineffectively. YELLOW STINGRAY FACTS U. jamaicensis typically measures 12 to 15 inches across, excluding the tail (although the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, which has yellow stingrays in its collection, says they
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TO MOST DIVERS, SEA CUCUMBERS WOULD SEEM LIKE THE INACTION FIGURES of the oceans. Mainly, they come off as inert, sausage-shaped lumps lying randomly on the sandy bottom and perhaps the least interesting objects on the reef. It’s time for real sea cucumber facts. Actually, some of them have real Captain Echinoderm moves in them. For one thing, they’re nocturnal so what you see in the daytime isn’t what you’d get at night, when they
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WHAT’S MORE ENDEARING THAN WATCHING A TRUNKFISH SWIM? Watching a baby trunkfish jiggle about trying to. Trunkfishes at their best are relatively inept swimmers, with bulky, triangular bodies and limited tailfin propulsion. They row furiously, they move slowly and awkwardly. As juveniles, they’re small and round. Their tails are barely there, almost negligible, making for less control, with a certain amount of yeeing and yawing. It’s both irresistible to watch them work to master their
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EVERYBODY RAVES ABOUT THE BEAUTY OF CHRISTMAS TREE WORMS (Spirobranchus giganteus), with their fantastic arrays of bright colors and shapes like perfect fir trees. The wormy bodies behind the gorgeous finery, maybe not so much. The spiraling crowns we see are specialized tentacles, called radioles, that filter plankton from the surrounding waters for food, passing it down to the worm’s mouth in cilia-lined grooves. They also work like “gills” to let the animals absorb oxygen.
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PARROTFISH ARE SO COLORFUL, SO RELATIVELY APPROACHABLE AND SO ABUNDANT ON TROPICAL REEFS that it’s easy to take them for granted and focus on looking for “exciting” animals like sharks, frogfish and seahorses. It doesn’t help that, often, the species of parrotfishes are hard to identify. SPECIES, PHASES, COLORS & PATTERNS In reality, parrotfishes live complex lives that can involve changes of colors, patterns, size and gender. At one time naturalists thought there were about 350
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MANTIS SHRIMPS ARE HOT. Not as hot as sharks and manta rays always are, but in recent years they’ve been experiencing a flurry of attention, from a NatGeo special – “KILLER SHRIMP” (naturally) – to a spate of research looking at their speed of attack, strength and visual acuity. Despite their common nomenclature, mantis shrimps are neither shrimps nor assassins of divers or other human beings. They are highly efficient predators of other marine animals, they’re strong, tough
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