The ocellaris clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) is also known as the common clownfish or false percula clownfish, and was named by Georges Cuvier in 1830. It belongs to the Amphiprion genus, which consists of 29 extant species. However, the subfamily Amphiprioninae also contains another genus, Premnas, which has a single member. They are closely related to damselfishes with which they create the Pomacentridae family. The ocellaris clownfish is oftentimes confused with A. percula, the orange clownfish, which is similar in colour and pattern, but has thicker black outlines, less dorsal spines.
A. ocellaris grows up to 11 cm in length. Its bright orange colouration with three vertical white bars that are separated from the orange colour by thin black outlines is a key feature in the identification of the species. The species exhibits sexual dimorphism, whereas females are larger than males. Found in the eastern part of Indian Ocean and West Pacific, the species inhabits sea anemones on the outer slopes of coral reefs. A. ocellaris is known to live in three species of sea anemone: Hetera...
Because of its size and abundance, T. californicus is commonly regarded as the insect of the sea. This creature is generally very small, from 1-3 mm in size as adults. They are cylindrically shaped, and have a segmented body (head, thorax, abdomen) though no noticeable division between body regions (Powlik 1966). Each segment of the body has a pair of legs. They use their 'legs' to propel themselves through the water in short rapid jerks. They have 2 pairs of long feathered antennae, a chitin us exoskeleton and a single eye in the middle of their head, this simple eye can only differentiate between light and dark.
Parrotfishes are the common name for members of the large fish family Scaridae, which live in coral reef ecosystems throughout the Caribbean as well as the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. They vary in color and pattern between males, females and juveniles, with each going through a variety of color changes as they mature (Polychromatism). (Jamaica Environment Trust, 2013) “There are about eighty identified species, ranging in size from less than one to four feet in length.” (National Geographic Society, 2013). Powerful jaws of fused teeth “beaks”, and bright colors gives Parrotfish their common family name. This paper seeks to describe the diversity, geographic range, habitat, physical description, development, reproduction, lifespan, behavior, food habits, predation and threats to Parrotfish. Additionally, this paper will examine the importance of this species to the coral reef ecosystems in the Caribbean.
The Longlure Frogfish can be found in the tropical western part of the Atlantic Ocean next to sea sponges. It is disbursed from Bermuda and the Bahamas to the coasts of the central and south America. It is referred to as a frogfish because of its similar characteristics compared to those of a frog. The Frogfish has really thick skin and highly modified scales called dermal spicules. It is round and short, generally growing up to 11cm. Since one of their main purposes is to prey for food, they rarely use their fins to swim and instead, they have fins that act as feet which help them walk across the ocean. It has very small eyes and a large mouth pointing up which helps them eat their prey. Their big mouth allows them to eat big animals. Usually,
A poem without any complications can force an author to say more with much less. Although that may sound quite cliché, it rings true when one examines “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop. Elizabeth’s Bishop’s poem is on an exceedingly straightforward topic about the act of catching a fish. However, her ability to utilize thematic elements such as figurative language, imagery and tone allows for “The Fish” to be about something greater. These three elements weave themselves together to create a work of art that goes beyond its simple subject.
Have you ever wondered if all fish were the same? I am going to tell you about some of the characteristics and similarities of these fish.
Seaworld is a giant marine life theme park. The greatest attraction to these many theme park would be those killer whales. In fact, these killer whales are the face of the park. As gigant as these mammals are, seaworld is keeping them in some pretty tight quarters. Mr. Jett and Mr.Ventre says “Wild killer whales can swim a hundred miles daily as they socialize, forage, communicate, and breed. In stark contrast, with little horizontal or vertical space in their enclosures, captive orcas swim only limited distances, with most spending many hours surface resting.” The animals don't have the freedom they need. Also when taking the whales out of their natural habit the whales tend to be depressed and not as heath in that situation. They need their freedom in the big ocean blue. Bring them into the small living units, breeding whales in captivity all for the entertainment of humans. At young ages the calves are taken away from their mothers on to a new seaworld park. Mothers of the calves have even been seen denying their offspring.
Film Essay I came away from watching Big Fish with the impression that Will Bloom (Billy Crudup) finally understood his father (Albert Finney) after many years. Directed by Tim Burton and written by John August, the film Big Fish has a warm welcoming with several characters that impacted Edward. All the characters had their own adventures with Edward and he felt the need to share with others. It does not necessarily mean he told them exactly like they happen, and that is where Edward and his son has concerns.
They live at the bottom of shallow waters and in warmer areas. The clownfish don’t live alone, though. They live in and alongside sea anemone, a marine animal that looks less like an animal and more like an aquatic plant. The colorful tentacles that make up the sea anemone attract different types of marine life that it then shocks and immobilize before consuming the paralyzed creatures.
Part A of the experiment focuses on the Rockskipper Blenny population on the island of Mo’orea, French Polynesia and how isolation effects the microbiome of the fish. Mo’orea consists of many tidal pools, the ideal habitat for the Rockskipper Blenny. Because these fish are found living in the supralittoral and midlittoral zone of tide pools, populations in each tide pool are possibly isolated from each other. If different tide pools experience different environmental conditions and pressures, this could act as geographic isolation, which could lead to allopatric speciation and reproductive isolation over a large time frame (Mayr 1942). Proof of different animal-microbes interactions over large geographic regions have been shown for coral-microbe interactions (LaJeunesse et al. 2010), but
The outer layer of a reef consists of living animals, or polyps, of coral. Single-celled algae called zooxanthellae live within the coral polyps, and a skeleton containing filamentous green algae surrounds them. The photosynthetic zooxanthellae and green algae transfer food energy directly to the coral polyps, while acquiring scarce nutrients from the coral. The numerous micro habitats of coral reefs and the high biological productivity support a great diversity of other life.
Nothing is better than Southern cooking. From mouthwatering biscuits to fried meats, the food from the south has comforted Americans all around the world. And as every foodie knows, the cornerstone of any southern dish is a great catfish. We, here at Isle of Capri Lula, love our deep fried catfish. So much so that we’ve got a special devoted to it the month of December. More on that later. But first, read on to learn more about how to cook your own delicious catfish from home.
The elephant nose fish is a species of weakly electric fish from Africa that produces pulses of electric current from an electric organ in the abdomen. These pulses, referred to as electric organ discharges (EODs), are produced and later picked up by electroreceptors in the “nose” of the fish. These pulses serve as a method of navigation and communication. We recorded the EODs of the elephant nose fish using electrodes fixed to a PVC pipe. It was found that the EODs were variable in interval, as illustrated by the large standard deviation (75.6 ms). It was also found that the duration of each pulse was very short (mean = .84 ms) and punctuated by an average interval of 113.3 ms, approximately 134.9% longer than the duration of each pulse.
This research focuses on Gambierdiscus toxicus which is an armored, marine, benthic species in the phylum Dinoflagellata. It has an epitheca and a hypotheca, that is very similar in size, compressed anterio-posteriorly. The theca is covered with numerous deep and dense pores which are very thick. This species is autotrophic creating energy via several golden-brown chloroplasts (Hackett et al 2004), but is also heterotrophic and hence is referred to as mixotrophic. It has a ventrally – oriented crescent shaped nucleus. (Adachi & Fukuyo 1979). It usually inhabits warmer waters such as bay, mediterranian, tropical/sub – tropical in North/Central America (Shiumuzu et al 1982; Loeblich & Indelicato 1986), Asia/Pacific (Holmes & Tao 2002; Lu & Hodgkiss 2004) and has recently been identified in the Mediterranean (Aligizaki & Nikolaidis 2008). These authors identified the organisms to genus level, at best of their effort, so may have been one of the less common members of its genus although it is unlikely.
This article discusses how important the organisms symbiotic with coral reefs are, as well as how important coral reefs are to our environment. Also explained is how natural and non natural things things like hurricanes and overfishing affects them. A study is quoted about how water acidity also plays a role in the bleaching of corals. Lastly, restoration and conservation efforts are discussed and how we could possibly help our oceans.
"Pipefishes and Seahorses (Syngnathidae) - Information on Pipefishes and Seahorses - Encyclopedia of Life." Encyclopedia of Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. .