1. Piranha
A piranha is a ferocious freshwater fish. Piranhas live in
lakes and rivers in South America. They require warm water to survive and do not eat
when the water temperature is less than 12°C (54°F) degrees Fahrenheit. The total number of
piranha species is unknown and contested, and new species
continue to be described. Estimates range from fewer than 30 to more than 60. They live up to 25
years in the wild and 10-20 years in captivity.
Piranhas are normally about 15 to 25 centimeters (6
to 10 inches) long, although some specimens have been reported to be up
to 50 centimeters (20
inches) in
length. Piranhas range in color from yellow to steel-grey to bluish
to partly red to almost black. Most piranhas are shy and non-aggressive, unless they are
hunting or protecting their young. Black piranhas and red-bellied piranhas are considered the most dangerous
and aggressive toward humans. Despite the carnivorous nature of
the piranha, the piranha is actually an omnivore and will eat almost anything that it can
find. A typical piranha diet consists of insects, fish, crustaceans,
worms, carrion, seeds, fruit and
other plant material. They will also eat whatever meat crosses their path, and
because they hunt in groups, they can take down large animals.
Piranhas rarely attack humans. Fatal attacks are extremely rare.
These voraciously hungry fish tend to have a lurk-and-ambush style of attack that occurs en masse,
with large groups of piranha feeding at once. Shoals of piranhas can be found in numbers of up to 1000. Piranhas have the standard respiratory system that
most fish have. They take
water in through their gills and then absorb oxygen from the water. The oxygen
then goes to the blood stream. After the oxygen is absorbed the carbon dioxide
is exhaled through the gills.
The female lays around 5000 eggs then the male will fertilize the eggs.
The male will then protect the eggs and become very territorial of them. The
piranhas will spawn from the eggs after a few days. They have two spawning
periods, one in April/May and a second in the late summer time.
Many animals prey
upon piranhas (especially young piranhas), including other
piranhas, larger fish, caimans, water
snakes, turtles,
birds, otters and
people.
2. Stingrays
Stingrays are flat-bodied rays noted for the long,
sharp spines on their tails. There are about 220 known stingray
species organized into 10 families and 29 general. Stingrays
are common in coastal tropical and subtropical marine
waters throughout the world. There are species in warm temperate oceans,
and some found in the ocean. A stingray has lifespan between 15 and 25 years in
the wild.
Stingrays are disk-shaped and have flexible, tapering
tails armed, in most species, with one or more saw-edged,
venomous spines. Most stingrays have one or more barbed stings on the tail,
which is used only for self defending. They vary in size:
Dasyatis sabina, a small western North Atlantic species, is mature at a width
of about 25 cm (10 inches), but the Australian D. brevicaudata reportedly
attains a width of about 2 meters (7 feet) and a length of 4 meters.
Stingrays typically have mottled skin that
looks similar to the colors found on the sea floor. Their colors differ based
on species and where they typically live, ranging from a light sand color to a
darker, spotted brown for more rocky areas. Stingrays settle on the bottom
while feeding, often leaving only their eyes and tail visible. The flattened
bodies of stingrays allow them to hide themselves.
Stingrays agitate the sand and hide beneath it.
Because their eyes are on top of their bodies and their mouths on
the undersides, stingrays cannot see their prey after capture; instead, they
use smell and electroreceptors (ampullae
of Lorenzini) similar to those of sharks. Some stingrays’ mouths contain
two powerful, shell-crushing plates, while other species only have sucking
mouth parts. Stingrays feed on
mollusks, worms, crustaceans, fish,
clams, crabs,
and shrimps.
3. Clownfish
Clownfish also knwn as anemonefish is
a small tropical marine fish with
bright coloration. There are 30 species of clownfish. Clownfish are native to
wormer waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans,
including the Great Barrier Reef and
the Red Sea. The lifespan of
clownfish is about 6 to 10 years in the wild and about 3 to 5 years in
captivity. The largest can reach a length of 15 to 16
centimeters (5.9 to 6.3 inches), while the smallest barely
achieve length
of 7 to 8 centimeters (2.8 to 3.1 inches).
Depending on species, clownfish colorations are
overall yellow, orange, or a reddish or blackish color, and many show white
bars or patches. Clownfish live at the bottom of the sea in sheltered reefs or
in shallow lagoons, usually in pairs. They live in a symbiotic
relationship with certain anemones. A symbiotic relationship
essentially means a relationship between two organisms, which may or may not
benefit one or both. They can only live in
ten out of more than one thousand species of sea
anemone.
Clown fish have a mucus covering
that protects them from the sting of the sea anemone’s tentacles. This mucus
prevents them from being harmed, and allows clownfish to live in sea anemone.
The anemone’s tentacles provide
the clownfish with protection from predators. Clown fish are a large help to the anemone as
they clean the anemone by eating the algae and other food leftovers on them.
They also protect the sea anemones by chasing away polyp-eating fish, such as
the butterfly fish.
Clownfish are omnivores, which means they eat meat and plants.
They typically
eat algae, zooplankton, worms and small crustaceans. Because
they are quite active, the clown fish are thought to be “clowning around”.
They defend their territory and the sea anemone that they live in. In a group of clownfish, there is a strict hierarchy of
dominance. The largest and most aggressive female is found at the top. Only two
clownfish, a male and a female, in a group reproduce through external
fertilization. All
clownfish are born male. As they mature, they usually pair off
with another clownfish, and the dominant individual becomes a female. The
female lays eggs, which are defended and aerated by both parents until they
hatch.
Salmon is the common name for several species
of fish in
the family Salmonidae. They are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic and
Pacific Ocean. There
are seven species of Pacific salmon. Five of them occur in
North American waters: chinook, coho, chum, sockeye, and pink. Masu and amago
salmon occur only in Asia. There is one species of Atlantic salmon.
Chinook/king salmon are the largest salmon and range in size from
61 to 91 centimeters (24 to 36 in), but may be up to 1.5 meters (58 in) in
length; they average 4.5 to 22.7 kg (10 to 50 lb), but may reach 59 kg (130
lb). Pink salmon are the
smallest at up to 76 cm (30 inches) long and 5.4 kg (12
lb), although they average 1.3 to 2.3 kg (3 to 5 lb). Salmon
appearance varies greatly from species to species. They can be silvery, greenish covered with black
spots or/and stripes.
Typically, salmon are anadromous,
meaning they hatch in fresh water; migrate to the ocean, then return to fresh
water to reproduce. The journey made by those salmon that survive this quest to
reproduce is one of nature’s greatest triumphs. The salmon must swim hundreds
miles, to get back to the stream where they
hatched. Whilst many simply do not have enough fat stores to
make the trip, others must battle through fishermen’s nets, over power dams, up
waterfalls and rapids, and struggle past eagles, otters and bears to
reach their destination
Salmons change the color of the body on their
way from the ocean to the freshwater habitats during the mating season.
They may also grow a hump, develop canine-like teeth, or develop a kype (a
pronounced curvature of the jaws in male salmon). Salmon spend between 1 and 7
years out in the ocean, depending on the species. They come back to the
stream where they were ‘born’ because they ‘know’ it is a good place to spawn;
they won’t waste time looking for a stream with good habitat and other salmon.
Scientists believe that salmon navigate by
using the Earth’s magnetic field like a compass. When they find the river they came from, they start
using smell to find their way back to their home stream. They build their
‘smell memory-bank’ when they start migrating to the ocean as young fish. They use all their
energy for returning to their home stream, for making eggs, and digging the
nest. Most of them stop eating when they return to freshwater and
have no energy left for a return trip to the ocean after spawning. After they
die, other animals eat them (but people don’t) or they decompose, adding
nutrients to the stream.
5. Butterfly fish
Butterflyfish also spelled butterfly fish are
a group of conspicuous tropical marine fish in
the family Chaetodontidae. There are
about 129
species in 12 genera. Butterflyfish live mostly
on the reefs of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
They are most often found in shallow (less than 20 m / 65 ft) water near coral
reefs, but some are deepwater dwellers descending to 200 m (655 ft).
Some occur in
seagrass habitats, deep mudflats, or shallow lagoons.
The butterfly fish can live up
to 7 years in the
wild and up to 10 years in a well kept aquarium. Butterflyfish mostly range from 12 to 22 cm (4.7 to 8.7 in) in length.
The largest species, the lined butterflyfish and the saddle butterflyfish, C.
ephippium, grow to 30 cm (12 in). They
are deep-bodied and thin from side to side, with a single dorsal fin and a
small mouth with tiny bristlelike teeth.
The common name references the brightly colored and
strikingly patterned bodies of many species,
bearing shades of black, white, blue, red, orange, and yellow. Butterflyfish
are also known for their beautiful and unique patterns. However, there are some
species are dull in color. Most butterflyfishes have a dark band obscuring
the eye, and often have a false eye spot in contrasting
colors near the tail. These two attributes may confuse
predators.
Butterflyfish are diurnal animals,
which means they are active and feed during the day and rest on the coral during
the night. At
night, the butterflyfish’s brilliant colors fade to blend in
with the reef’s dark crevices. Butterflyfish
generally stay
in groups unless they are a particularly territorial
species. A solitary Butterflyfish is usually travelling in search of a mate.
They are one of the very few fish who find a mate, and then hunt, live and
travel together for life.
Referensi :
Sumber Gambar :
www.pinterest.com
0 Comments:
Post a Comment