The Yellow-Tail Acei Cichlid (Pseudotropheus Acei) is a freshwater fish in the Cichlidae family of cichlids. It is a Mbuna cichlid.
The Yellow-Tail Acei Cichlid has a yellow tail. Its body is blue, blue-purple, or grey.
Continue reading “Yellow-Tail Acei Cichlid”
Scientists think that adult fish are getting smaller as sea temperatures rise.
Research scientists have been studying the size of fish in the ocean over the past 50 years, since 1970, and they think that they are shrinking in size due to warmer oceans.
At the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom, Idongesit Ikpewe and his colleagues have found that warmer seas are linked to changes in fish size. They looked at trends in four commercially fished species: cod, haddock, whiting, and saithe. They researched these fish in two locations: (1) the North Sea and (2) in the waters of Scotland.
Continue reading “RESEARCH: Fish are getting smaller as sea temperatures rise”
What is a group of sharks called?
A group of sharks is called a shiver of sharks.
Continue reading “What is a group of sharks called?”
The Straightfin Barb (Enteromius paludinosus) is a freshwater fish in the Cyprinidae family of cyprinid fish.
The Straightfin Barb is silver with a golden lateral line or bar across the length of its body. Its body is elongated and cyclindrical. It has a straight dorsal (back) fin. Its fins are translucent (clear).
Continue reading “Straightfin Barb”
The Sabaki Tilapia (Oreochromis spilurus spirulus) is a medium-sized freshwater ray-finned fish in the Cichlidae family of cichlids.
The Sabaki Tilapia male is a golden-yellow colour with bright blue areas on its fins. The female is yellowish with a series of side blotches. It has rounded yellow eyes. It has thick lips and a down-turned mouth.
Continue reading “Sabaki Tilapia”
What is a group of clams called?
A group of clams is called a bed of clams.
Continue reading “What is a group of clams called?”
The Red Coral (Corallium rubrum formally Gorgonia nobilis) is a marine (saltwater) coral in the Corallidae family of branched limestone coral. It is also called Precious Coral. Coral is an animal, not a plant.
The Red Coral is red or pink-orange. It has branches, made from calcium carbonate, that are tree-like. It has retractable transparent white polyps with a round mouth disc surrounded by eight hollow tentacles. The tentacles have mild venom (poison). It is sessile (it does not move).
Continue reading “Red Coral”
The Yellow Cluster Anemone (Parazoanthus axinellae) is a marine (saltwater) zoanthid coral in the Parazoanthidae family. It is also known as the Sea Mimosa. It is an animal, not a plant.
The Yellow Cluster Anemone is yellow or orange. It is a cluster of individual polyps connected by a tissue called coenenchyme. Each polyp has 24-36 tentacles in two whorls. The polyps retract into their tube when threatened.
Continue reading “Yellow Cluster Anemone”
The Barrier Reef Chromis (Chromis nitida) is a marine (saltwater) fish in the Pomacentridae family of damselfish. It is also called the Yellowback Puller or the Shining Puller.
The Barrier Reef Chromis has a yellowish-brown back, a separating dark stripe, and silvery sides and underbelly. The dark stripe is diagonal, starting at the eye and ending at the tail. It has one dorsal (back) fin.
Continue reading “Barrier Reef Chromis”
The Staghorn Coral (Acropora muricata) is a marine (saltwater) branching, acroporid stony coral in the Acroporidae family. Coral is an animal, not a plant.
The Staghorn Coral can be blue, brown, or cream-coloured. It has cyclindrical branches that look like the antlers of a stag, a male deer.
Continue reading “Staghorn Coral”
The Elegance Coral (Catalaphyllia jardinei) is a marine (saltwater) photosynthetic coral in the Euphyllidae family of stony coral. It is also known as the Wonder Coral or the Ridge Coral. It is an animal, not a plant.
The Elegance Coral has large polyps with a large, branching coralite skeleton. The polyps have long tendrils and a large, fleshy, disc-shaped (round) mouth. It can be fluorescent green, lime green, and brown.
Continue reading “Elegance Coral”
The Zebra Shark (Stegostoma fasciatum) is a marine (saltwater) fish in the Stegostomatidae family of carpet sharks. It is an elasmobranch cartilaginous fish — a fish that does not have a bony skeleton.
The Zebra Shark has a slim, cylindrical body with a slightly flattened head, and a short, blunt snout (nose). It is pale with a pattern of dark spots that is different for each shark. It has five ridges along its body. It eyes are small. Its mouth is almost straight with rows of sharp teeth. It has gill slits on the sides of its body to breathe underwater.
Continue reading “Zebra Shark”
The Atlantic Mudskipper (Periophthalmus barbarus) is a marine (saltwater) fish in the Oxudercidae family. It is similar to the Goby. It is also found in freshwater and brackish water. It is amphibious – it can live in the water and on land – but it is not an amphibian (like a frog or toad) because it does not have lungs.
The Atlantic Mudskipper has a long brown or greenish body. During the mating season it develops coloured spots, such as red, green or blue. It has close-set, bulging eyes. It has forward fins that are similar to legs that enable it to walk, or skip, along the surface of the mud. It can even climb trees.
Continue reading “CREATURE FEATURE: Atlantic Mudskipper”
The Red Hook Silver Dollar (Myloplus rubripinnis) is a medium-sized freshwater fish in the Serrasalmidae family of silver dollars. It is also called the Redhook Myleus.
The Red Hook Silver Dollar is rounded in shape and laterally compressed. It has a grey body with yellow flecks.
Continue reading “Red Hook Silver Dollar”
The Sandbar Shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus) is a marine (saltwater) fish in the Carcharhinidae family of requiem sharks. It is an elasmobranch cartilaginous fish — a fish that does not have a bony skeleton. It is also known as the Thickskin Shark or the Brown Shark. It is related to the Bull Shark.
The Sandbar Shark has a bluish-grey or brownish-grey streamlined body, with a very high, triangular dorsal (back) fin and long pectoral fins. It has a white underbelly. It has a broad, rounded snout and large, round eyes. The upper and lower jaws each have 13 or 14 triangular-shaped teeth.
Continue reading “Sandbar Shark”
The Yellow Boxfish (Ostracion cubicus) is a small marine (saltwater) fish in the Ostraciidae family of boxfish.
The Yellow Boxfish has hexagonal scales that form a solid, triangular box-like shell called a carapace. The male and the female look similar. It is bright yellow at birth and the colour fades as it ages. It is yellow with blue-black spots, which are smaller on its white underbelly and larger on its sides. It has a small mouth and large, bulging blue and yellow eyes.
Continue reading “Yellow Boxfish”
The Blue Coral (Heliopora coerulea) is a species of hard marine (saltwater) coral in the Helioporidae family of octocorals. It is an animal, not a plant.
The Blue Coral has a blue skeleton made of calcium carbonate. Often it is hidden by individual greenish-grey or blue polyps that live in tubes within the skeleton. Each polyp has eight tentacles.
Continue reading “Blue Coral”
The Spotted Scat (Scatophagus argus) is a marine (saltwater) fish in the Scatophagidae family of scats. It is also called the Red Scat, the Ruby Scat, the Green Scat, Tiger Butterfish, or Tiger Scat.
The Spotted Scat is varied in colour from greenish brown to red-brown to silver, with many brown spots. It is rounded in shape and laterally compressed. It has a rounded snout (nose).
Continue reading “Spotted Scat”
The Small European Locust Lobster (Scyllarus arctus) is a marine (saltwater) crustacean in the Scyllarus family of lobsters. It is also called the Slipper Lobster, the Lesser Slipper Lobster, and the Broad Lobster. Crustaceans include crabs, crayfish, and shrimps.
The Small European Locust Lobster is a decapod with ten legs, including a pair of claws. It has a reddish-brown exo-skeleton. Its abdomen has six segments, ending with a flattened, fan-shaped tail called a telson. It has a dark-brown spot in the centre of each abdominal segment. It also has dark-blue rings around each segment. It has eye-stalks. It has gills to enable it to breathe oxygen from the sea water.
Continue reading “Small European Locust Lobster”
The Greater Pipefish (Syngnathus acus) is a small marine (saltwater) fish in the Syngnathidae family of seahorses, pipefish, and seadragons. Acus means needle.
The Greater Pipefish looks like a thin, straight seahorse or a small sea snake. It is a long, tube-like, cyclindrical brown-coloured fish with a small mouth. Its snout (nose) is a long tube ending in a narrow mouth which opens upwards and is toothless. It has a dorsal (back) fin, which is always moving because it helps the Pipefish to swim. It has small gill openings, called slits, which enable it to breathe underwater.
Continue reading “Greater Pipefish”