Mesmerizing Sea Life

All of us have special favorite food. But have you ever thought what would be the favorite dish for cuttlefish? To find out, scientists from Cambridge University have set out an experiment. An experiment that reveals that they would actually save room for their favorite meals. To perform this, they have tested twenty-nine cuttlefish five times a day for five days, by putting crab and shrimp at the same distance from the cuttlefish. All showed a preference for shrimp.  So, they decided to split the group. Where the first group was fed with crab in the day and shrimp in the evening. While the group has given small amounts of crab and shrimp at irregular intervals. The cuttlefish could not predict their favorite food. But, when conditions changed, the first group used to eat less crab in the day and save themselves to eat their delicious snack. It has miraculously mesmerizing powers. It's skin flashes like a strobe, hypnotizing its prey. Cuttlefish don't have...

At an ocean depths of greater than 200 m, there is very little ambient sunlight. The bioluminescence animals provide a light source which reveals animals to the predators and prey. But deep in the ocean, the animals exhibit several strategies to hide from the predators: they are transparency, mirrored surfaces, counterillumination, and pigmentation. The dragonfish might be known as the fangtooth, is a deep-sea fish that wears black to disappear into the darkness. These fish live in the ocean deeps to take a cover. Even they can be caught due to the bioluminescent animals. So they disappear with a trick of their own: the stealth wear. Scientists reported that the 16 species out of 18 collected exhibit less than 0.5% of reflectance at 480 nm. They exhibit their disappearance through a close layer of melanosomes present within their skin cells. On a microscopic level, the melanosomes present in the ultra-black skin are of different shape and are arranged in geometry.  ...

A giant triton snail is the largest, spindle-shaped marine snail and can reach up to 2 ft in length. Which makes them the largest mollusc species in the world. The shell can be used to make a trumpet-like sound which gives them the name Triton's trumpet. They live in the Indo-Pacific Oceans and in the Red Sea.  The giant triton is famous for eating the venomous crown of thorns starfish. A specialist that feeds upon the flesh of live corals and damages the reef. This causes the major biological cause of coral loss especially in the great barrier reef, Australia. Even though the starfish can sense and run from the incoming predator, the triton swims faster. As soon as they catch their prey with their muscular foot, they inject the paralyzing saliva. Then, the triton feeds slowly, eating only the whole and spitting out the unwanted parts. Reproduction Giant tritons reproduce through internal fertilization where the females lay their larvae in white capsules. These larv...

Beneath the ocean, the octopus has very rich proteins which are essential for its predators. In order to stay alive, it has to possess some truly enormous skills. The octopus ancestors have been trying to live in the ocean for almost 500 million years. We all know that the octopus has 3 hearts but in order to survive from predators, it should have surviving patterns or techniques.  The most important survival feature is that camouflage, in only 3 tens of a second it can completely change its color and pattern, it is called rapid adaptive coloration. The secret of quick changing of its color is hidden just beneath its surface of the skin. The tiny elastic bags like structure has numerous color pigments called chromatophores, which are surrounded by muscle fibers which may contract and open up a new color, and when the muscle relaxes it comes back to the normal position. But changing that quickly its pattern there must surely be a shortcut. while here is the short cut, ...

California sea lion is one of the six species of the sea lion, known for their intelligence and playfulness. They live in the coastal waters and on beaches, buoys, seaside rocks, jetties and docks. Usually make bark-like sound and uses it as a way to communicate with females and the pups. California sea lions mainly feed on offshores. Their prey includes squid, anchovies, rockfish, sardines, and mackerel. Can sprint to 25 miles per hour avoiding the predators or catching prey. How Do They Look? Females can reach 6 feet and 220 pounds and the males can grow up to 7.5 feet and can weigh 700 pounds. When it comes to color, adult females are blonde to tan in color while the adult males are dark brown to black. Experienced moms flip upside down to take a breath but keep an eye on their little ones. The California sea lions are the deep divers, they can collapse their lungs and slow their hearts from 90 beats per minute to just 20. Blood is shunted away from tissue that d...

Fish that is super powerful, super-fast, and travels through the Atlantic. Like many other fishes, Atlantic bluefin tuna starts as tiny larvae with few millimeters in length and weighs only a few kilograms. They become sexually mature and grow can lengths up to 3m within three to five years. As tiny larvae, they feed on zooplankton, and their prey increases with the size. While they are newly hatched, the hunt for them is fierce and only a few reach adults. Once they reach the adult stage, they are eaten only by the very largest billfishes, toothed whales, and some open-ocean shark species. How Can They Survive In Any Extreme Conditions? Unlike many other cold-blooded fishes, bluefin tuna are warm-blooded. They have a specialized blood vessel structure called countercurrent exchanger, which makes them maintain their body temperatures greater than the surrounding temperatures. This advantage makes them easily and intelligently hunt for their prey in the cold waters. The blue...