What is the most poisonous animal in the sea for humans?
The Pufferfish, the Australian Box Jellyfish, and the Stonefish are extremely poisonous marine animals – so toxic that they can kill a human within minutes. But which one is the most poisonous?
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The Golden King Crab (Lithodes longispina) is a marine (saltwater) crustacean in the Lithodoidea family of crabs. However, many scientists think it should be classified in the Paguroidea superfamily of hermit crabs. It is a decapod because it has 10 limbs.
The Golden King Crab has five pairs of spiny limbs – 10 limbs. The front pair of legs has claws, or nippers. Its rounded-triangular exoskeleton shell (carapace) is pale orange with spines.
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What are the similarities and differences between the Common Sea Urchin (Echinus esculentus), the Green Sea Urchin (Psammechinus miliaris or Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis), and the Purple Sea Urchin (Paracentrotus lividus or Strongylocentrotus purpuratus)?
The Common Sea Urchin, Green Sea Urchin, and Purple Sea Urchin are all spiny marine (saltwater) echinoderms in the Parechinidae family. Echinoderm means hedgehog skin.
The Common Sea Urchin, Green Sea Urchin, and Purple Sea Urchin are all spherical with short spines. They all have a hard shell called a test.
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The Green Sea Urchin (Psammechinus miliaris) is a marine (saltwater) echinoderm in the Parechinidae family. It is also known as the Shore Sea Urchin.
The Green Sea Urchin is spherical-shaped (ball-shaped). Its rounded “body” is called a test. The test is covered with short, thick spines of about the same length. It is purple-brown in shallow water and greenish in deeper water. The spines are a paler colour with purple tips. It has tubed feet in groups of five or six in a small arc shape. It has a small mouth. It does not have eyes. It is sensitive to touch, light, and chemicals due to the numerous sensitive cells in its spines, tube feet, and around its mouth.
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The Bristle-Tail Filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus) is a marine (saltwater) fish in the Monacanthidae family of Leatherjackets. It is related to Pufferfish.
The Bristle-Tail Filefish has a laterally-compressed, rhomboid-shaped body and rough skin like sandpaper. It has many spines. It can rapidly change colour, skin texture, and even skin patterns to avoid predators. It has a tapered snout (nose) and its orange-brown eyes are located high on its head. It has small fins, so it is not a good swimmer.
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The Urchin Climber (Mespilia globulus) is a small marine (saltwater) in the Temnopleuridae family. It is also known as the Ball Urchin.
The Urchin Climber is spherical (ball-shaped) with broad bright blue stripes from top to bottom. In between the blue stripes are bands of short, thin spines called quills that are positioned close together. The quills are black or brown with white tips.
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The Purple Sea Urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) is a marine (saltwater) animal in the Parechinidae family of urchins.
The Purple Sea Urchin is spherical with long, sharply-pointed purple spines. The spines can also be dark-brown, light-brown, or olive-green. It has 5-6 pairs of pores on each plate. It has tubed feet in groups of five or six in a small arc shape. It has a small mouth.
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The Piked Dogfish (Squalus acanthias) is a small marine (saltwater) cartilaginous fish in the Squalidae family of dogfish sharks. It is also called the Spiny Dogfish, Spurdog, or Mud Shark.
The Piked Dogfish is a greyish-brown shark with white spots on its back. It has two spines on its dorsal (back) fins.
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The Large-Scaled Scorpionfish (Scorpaena scrofa) is a venomous marine (saltwater) fish in the Scorpaenidae family of scorpionfish. It is also known as the Red Scorpion Fish, the Bigscale Scorpionfish, or the Rascasse.
The Large-Scaled Scorpionfish ranges in colour from rusty-red to light pink to beige, with dark-coloured markings. It has 12 venomous dorsal (back) spines. It has a plump, knobbly body with small frontal eyes and a down-turned mouth.
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Do animals eat cactus plants?
Cactus plants in the Cactaceae family of spiny plants. Most cactus plants live in dry, desert environments. They are common in America, South America, and Africa.
The plural of cactus is cacti or cactuses.
Cacti can be tree-like with branches, domed or ball-shaped, and thick or thin columns. They have flowers of various colours, shapes, and sizes. Fruit is produced after the flowers are fertilized.
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The Spineless Sea Urchin (Abatus cordatus) is a marine (saltwater) invertebrate echinoderm. It is also known as the Kangaroo Sea Urchin because the female keeps her eggs in a pocket or pouch. It is related to starfish (sea stars).
The Spineless Sea Urchin has a hard, spherical (ball-shaped) shell, called a test, with no backbone and no spines sticking out of its body (like the Spiny Sea Urchin). Its mouth, with a small jaw, is in the centre of the urchin on its underside. It does not have eyes. It is sensitive to touch, light, and chemicals, due to the numerous sense cells around its mouth.
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The Short-Beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) is a medium-sized monotreme (egg-laying) mammal in the Tachyglossidae family. It is also called the Short-Beaked Spiny Anteater.
The Short-Beaked Echidna is a stocky animal with a heavy coat of black or brown fur and spines (modified hairs). It looks similar to a Hedgehog. It has a straight beak with a long sticky tongue. The beak acts as a nose and a mouth. It does not have teeth. It has short legs with sharp, curved claws. The male Echidna has venomous spurs on its hind (back) feet.
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The West European Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is a mammal. It is also known as the Common Hedgehog.
The West European Hedgehog is brownish with up to 6,000 brown and white spines. It has a stumpy, domed-shaped body with a short tail.
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The Bristlenose Catfish (Ancistrus cirrhosus) is a freshwater fish in the Loricariidae family. It is also known as the Bushynose Catfish.
The Bristlenose Catfish has an armour-plated body – it is covered with bony plates. It has a suckermouth and a flattened, wide head. The male has fleshy tentacles, similar to spines, on his head. The female has much smaller tentacles on her nose. It can be brown, grey, grey, golden, or albino, with tiny white or yellowish spots.
The Broadbent’s Frogfish (Batrachomoeus trispinosus) is a tropical marine (saltwater) fish. It is also known as the Three-Spined Frogfish or the Broadbent’s Toadfish. Both of the terms Toadfish and Frogfish are frequently used.
The Broadbent’s Frogfish has a scaleless mottled brown body with sharp spines on its back. Its eyes are set high on its forehead. It has a large, downward-curved mouth. It has small gills on the side of its head.
The Common Sea Urchin (Echinus esculentus) is a spiny marine (saltwater) echinoderm in the Echinidae family. It is an animal that lives on the bottom of the ocean. It is related to the Starfish (Sea Star). It is also called a Sea Hedgehog.
The Common Sea Urchin has a hard shell, called a test. It is spherical (round like a globe), shiny and spiny. Young urchins have bilateral symmetry, and as they become adults, they have fivefold symmetry (similar to starfish with five appendages). Its mouth, with a small jaw, is in the centre of the urchin on its underside.
It does not have eyes. It is sensitive to touch, light, and chemicals, due to the numerous sensitive cells in its spines, tube feet, and around its mouth.
The Starlet Cushion Starfish (Asterina gibbosa) is a small marine (saltwater) invertebrate (without an inner skeleton) echinoderm. It is not a fish. Zoologists prefer to call it the Starlet Cushion Sea Star.
The Starlet Cushion Starfish has five short blunt arms and a puffy appearance that looks like a cushion. Its upper surface has short, sharp spines. It can be blue, brown, green, or orange. Its mouth is on its underside in the centre.
The Slate-Pencil Sea Urchin (Eucidaris sp) is a marine (saltwater) cidaroid.
The Slate-Pencil Sea Urchin is covered with spines for protection. The spines are thick and straight, with blunt tips, that look like lead pencils. The spines are called tubercles. They radiate around a central point – its beak-like mouth. There are also shorter secondary spines.
The Spiny-Headed Tree Lizard (Plica plica) is an arboreal lizard. It is also called the Collared Tree Lizard, the Collared Tree Runner, or the Harlequin Racerunner.
The Spiny-Headed Tree Lizard is usually olive-green or greenish, with dark-brown mottled markings on its body. Its chin is whitish and its throat is black. Its body is flattened and adapted to living on, and sticking to, the bark of trees. It has a collar, called a ruff, around its neck. It also has spines on its neck. It has green eyes.
The Green Iguana (Iguana iguana) is also known as the American Iguana, or just Iguana. It is a large arboreal lizard, native to Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. It is a reptile.
The Green Iguana is not always green. It can be various colours, such as blue, purplish, and pinkish. It is a strong, stout-bodied lizard, with a row of spines on its back and tail to protect itself from predators. Its tail can be ‘dropped’ to allow it to escape danger. The tail can be regenerated (re-grown).