Sea Creature Catalogue!

Hi I'm Charlie I run this blog for a yearlong school project! I'm a high school senior and I plan to continue running this update blog even after the year is up if I still have the motivation.

This blog will contain posts on many sea creatures, feel free to request a creature! Every source will be sited in these posts and I plan to post at least once a week when I can. Sea creature of the week posts will be on Fridays!

Name: Gray Whale

Scientific Name: Eschrichtius robustus

Family: Eschrichtiidae

Location: They are found near Alaska and off the West Coast.

Status: Least Concern

Fun Facts:

• Gray whales are filter feeders. They eat by scooping sediment from the ocean floor and filtering it out through their baleen, which are keratin plates in their mouth.

• They have one of the longest annual migrations of any mammal. It can get up to 20,000 km per year.

• Due to humans hunting them, gray whales nearly went extinct! However their population made a massive comeback and they now sit at a stable ~20,000 individuals.

Name: Guitarfish/Shovelnose Ray

Scientific Name: Rhinobatos rhinobatos

Family: Rhinobatidae

Location: The Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea

Status: Threatened

Fun Facts:

• Guitarfish breathe through small holes on their heads called "spiracles".

• These rays have existed for over 100 million years.

• They hunt by burying themselves in the sand and ambushing prey such as crabs, clams and worms.

Name: Asian Sheepshead Wrasse / Kobudai

Scientific Name: Semicossyphus reticulatus

Family: Labridae

Location: "Native to the western Pacific Ocean, it inhabits rocky reef areas and prefers temperate waters around the Korean Peninsula, China, Japan, and the Ogasawara Islands."

Status: Data Deficient

Fun Facts:

• All Kobudai are born female, but they become male if they reach a length of about 50cm.

• They are able live for about 40-50 years typically, the females can reach 40cm long while the males can reach 100cm long.

• They are crucial to their habitats as they control sea urchin populations by eating them.

Name: Pennant Coralfish or Longfin Bannerfish

Scientific Name: Heniochus acuminatus

Family: Chaetodontidae

Location: "..widespread throughout the Indo-West Pacific"

Status: Least Concern

Fun Facts:

• As juveniles they eat mostly parasites from other fish, however fully grown ones will eat pretty much anything offered.

• They have adapted to eat from small cracks and crevices by developing a long snout with small, spiny teeth.

• As adults they are very social and tend to gather in large groups. Young pennant coralfish are more solitary and keep to themselves.

Name: Nurse Shark

Scientific Name: Ginglymostoma cirratum

Family: Ginglymostomatidae

Location: "..nurse sharks can be found in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Eastern Atlantic coast, Eastern Pacific and Western Atlantic."

Status: Data Deficient

Fun Facts:

• Nurse Sharks are generally friendly, and no fatal attack from them has ever been recorded. Still refrain from bothering them if you ever come across one though!!!

• The origin of the nurse shark's name is widely debated; some say it's due to the sound they make while searching for prey, while others say it could come from the Latin word 'Nusse'.

• They have a powerful suctioning mouth which they often use to feed on bottom-dwellers like crabs and snails. They will often swim along the sea floor with their mouth open, sucking food in.

Name: Cuttlefish

Scientific Name: Ascarosepion latimanus

Family: Sepiidae

Location: "Found around all coasts of the UK, more common on south and west coasts."

Status: Least Concern

Fun Facts:

• Cuttlefish eggs are round and exist in clusters, earning them the nickname 'sea grapes'

• They can change color, they do it for both camouflage and mating rituals. They are the best at dramatic color changing of all cephalopods.

• Cuttlefish bones are used as dietary supplements for birds; it helps with things like beak maintenance, bone formation, and blood clotting.

Name: Giant Oceanic Manta Ray

Scientific Name: Mobula birostris

Family: Mobulidae

Location: "...found worldwide in tropical, subtropical, and temperate bodies of water..."

Status:

Fun Facts: Threatened

• These rays occasionally do 'barrel rolls' to hunt, similar to gators.

• They have the largest brains of any fish as far as we've researched.

• They are the largest type of ray in the world.

Name: Giant Isopod

Scientific Name: Bathynomus giganteus

Family: Cirolanidae

Location: They're found in most oceans at around 170-2100 m deep!

Status: Least Concern

Fun Facts:

• They have limbs for swimming and respiration called pleopods.

• Giant Isopods are the largest type of isopods, hence their name!

• When in a protected environment, they have been known to live up to 4 years without any food!

Name: Horseshoe Crab

Scientific Name: Limulus polyphemus

Family: Limulidae

Location: "Although spawning as been observed as far north as Augustine Beach, in Delaware and Alder Cove in New Jersey, prime spawning beaches within the Delaware Bay consist of sand beaches between the Maurice River and the Cape May Canal in N.J. and between Bowers Beach and Lewes in DE."

Status: Vunerable

Fun Facts:

• Horseshoe crabs actually aren't crabs! They're more closely related to spiders, tics, and scorpions.

• They have existed for at least 445 million years; they've remained mostly unchanged throughout it all, prompting some to call them 'Living Fossils'.

• They have blue blood which contains LAL, a very important substance used for sterilisation in the medical industries. If you've ever been vaccinated, thank a horseshoe crab!!

Name: Halloween Moon Crab

Scientific Name: Gecarcinus Quadratus

Family Name: Gecarcinidae

Location: "...along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of tropical North, Central, and South America. They can be found in coastal forests along both the Atlantic...and Pacific...coasts of the Americas."

Status: Vunerable (unofficially)

Fun Facts:

• These crabs live in burrows which their skills are specifically adapted to thrive in for days or weeks at a time.

• Scientists have tried separating the Halloween Moon Crab from the Blackback Land Crab, but they are so similar that they can sometimes be treated as synonyms.

• They make 2 different noises when they are disturbed. One is made by creating friction between the claws and the carapace, and the other is the bubbling of a defensive fluid being pushed from their mouths when grabbed.

Name: Ghost Shark / Chimaera

Scientific Name: Callorhinchus milii

Family Name: Callorhinchidae

Location: The Pacific Ocean, along the coasts of Australia and New Zealand.

Status: Least Concern

Fun Facts:

• They're not sharks at all! They're an independent species, 39 of which are known to exist. (There was a new one discovered quite recently! I made a brief post on that here.)

• Ghost Sharks have 3 tooth plates. These teeth continue to grow throughout their lives and, unlike sharks, they are never replaced.

• They find prey by using organs on their snouts. They can sense movement and minor electric fields. Chimaera eat mostly mollusks, shellfish, and worms

Name: Skeleton Shrimp

Scientific Name: Caprella

Family Name: Caprellidae

Location: They can be found in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Antarctic oceans.

Status: Not Evaluated.

Fun Facts:

• The shrimp can only mate if the female is between new exoskeletons. Their offspring hatch as juvenile adults.

• Each type of skeleton shrimp molt at most 20 times in their life span. This means that their life span is roughly a year maximum.

Name: Zombie Worm

Scientific Name: Osedax Roses

Family Name: Siboglinidae

Location: They are found worldwide.

Status: Least Concern

Fun Facts:

• Zombie worms eat bones! they are most commonly found in whale carcasses.

• They have no mouth or stomach, so they consume their food by secreting acrid. This dissolves the bone and allows them to access the nutrients inside. We still don't know exactly how they get the nutrients from there.

• Female zombie worms usually have 50-100 tiny males living inside of them. The females continually find new males to reside in them.

Name: Vampire Squid

Scientific Name: Vampyroteuthis infernalis

Family: Vampyroteuthidae

Location: "Vampire squid are found in the temperate and tropical regions of the ocean. They occupy meso- to bathypelagic depths where very little light penetrates between 300-3,000 m and are typically found between 600-1,200 m."

Status: Least Concern

Fun Facts:

• Instead of ink, Vampire squid squirt a bioluminescent mucus when threatened! This helps as a defense even in their very dark environment.

• They aren't technically squid, nor are they octopus. They are the only species of their family.

• Vampire squid have two long 'tentacles', or filaments, that can extend up to 8 times the length of their bodies. This is a feature unique to the species.

• Despite the spooky name, vampire squid don't drink blood! They actually eat dead organic material such as marine snow.

Giant Isopods are lined up for November!!