Interesting Animals that Live in the Water
Imagine that you are able to dive into the ocean and swim like a fish. You would see a lot of amazing and interesting animals around you. Some might be familiar like the sand dollars and starfish, but others would be unusual creatures that you have never seen.
You might see the flat goosefish that lies flat against the bottom of the ocean. Only his eyes and large, wide mouth can be seen because his body blends in with the sandy floor on which he rests.
Perhaps you would be lucky enough to swim with some of the seahorses. These tiny animals are the only fish that hold onto things with their tails under the water.
If you look around some of the rocky areas you might be able to spot an orange blob swimming slowly about. This is probably the frogfish which is a very lumpy and bumpy animal. This frogfish might be an enchanted prince, but no princess would want to kiss it to find out.
The Manta Ray has very large fins that look like outstretched wings. The Spotted Stingray has fins that create a circle all around its body. The Spotted Stingray has to wiggle these circular fins in order to swim. Which ray do you think can swim the fastest?
Should you see a beautiful, purple balloon floating in the water, be careful. You have probably just spotted a large Portuguese Man-of -War. This jellyfish deliver stings with its body and tentacles. It also catches many small fish with its tentacles and eats them for its supper. These jellyfish move by opening and closing their balloon shaped tops.
If you are searching for starfish you will find the young ones floating in the water. They even have tails that they can use for swimming. Once they are grown the starfish will lose the tail and must spend the rest of its life at the bottom of the ocean.
The yellow object on the ocean floor that looks like a yellow feather is probably the Sea Pen. This animal uses a pointy stem to anchor itself to the bottom of the sea.
The round, red shapes that look like hollow vases might just be Strawberry Sponges. They stay in one spot near or on rocks or corals and feed on small plants that they find in the water.
The colourful green, blue and yellow fish hiding in the coral with large teeth that always show is a parrotfish. This fish always seems to have a smile on its face because the teeth are always visible.
The Orange Garibaldi looks like a big goldfish. Whenever a starfish wanders too close to its home this fish will pick the starfish up by one of its arms and move it to some other location.
It must be fun to watch the scallops sailing about in the ocean. These underwater creatures move through the water by opening and closing their shells. If they are frightened they can open and close their shells very fast so they can move even faster.
On the bottom of the ocean things are not always what they seem to be. Do not step on the stonefish. It might look just like an unmoving stone, but it has spines on its back with strong, painful poison that it uses on any enemy.
This is an original news article © The Kids Window
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