SomeFacts | Sea Creatures

Sea Creatures

How does the dugong protect its baby?
Female dugongs give birth to a single calf, a year after mating. A ...

Which young fish eats its brothers and sisters?
Sand tiger shark eggs hatch out inside their mother's body. The tiny ...

What fish swims a long way to breed?
Young salmon hatch out and grow in shallow streams inland. After ...

What glues its eggs to the roof of its cave?
Female octopuses breed only once in their lifetime. After mating, the ...

How do young sea otters learn their skills?
Otters are naturally playful creatures. Young sea otters chase each ...

What creature’s birth was a mystery for centuries?
Eels were once a common sight in European streams and rivers. But ...

Which male fish gets pregnant?
Sea-horses have extraordinary breeding habits. The female lays her ...

How does the damsel fish look after its eggs?
Most fish take little care of their eggs they just spawn (lay and ...

How do octopuses show their feelings?
Octopus and squid can change their skin color from brown to green, or ...

What makes a fiddler crab sexy?
Male fiddler crabs have a built-in "sex symbol" - one claw that is ...

Which creature has a midwife at the birth?
Pregnant dolphins give birth to a single baby up to a year after ...

How do deep-sea creatures light up each others’ lives?
In the darkness of the deep sea, many fish use light to attract a ...

How do humpback whales go courting?
Humpback whales make many different sounds, including clicks, ...

Which is the friendliest sea creature?
Dolphins are naturally playful and friendly to humans. They often ...

What eats its lunch in a bubble?
Humpback whales feed on small fish and krill floating near the sea ...

What sleeps in a duvet of seaweed?
The sea otter makes its home among the kelp weed beds, of the eastern ...

What hunts by sonar?
Dolphins hunt with the aid of their own built-in sonar system, called ...

Can dolphins talk?
Dolphins make all sorts of noises, from clicks and squeals, to groans ...

What creature holds the record for long-distance ocean travel?
Gray whales are the champion travelers of the oceans. Each year, they ...

What is the world’s most deadly shark?
The great white shark is the world's most feared sea creature. It is ...

What makes one shark bite another?
The smell of blood sometimes excites sharks so much they go into a ...

What would sink if it didn’t swim?
Most fish have a special organ, called a swim bladder, that helps ...

Are all sharks deadly?
No. Scientists have identified about 380 different kinds of shark. ...

What has up to 3,000 teeth?
Hunting sharks have triangular teeth with serrated (jagged) edges ...

Do unicorns live in the sea?
Narwhals are small whales that swim in icy Arctic waters. Male ...

What fish carries the “sword of the sea”?
The killer whale has a tall, thin back fin 6.5 feet (2 m) long, that ...

Who survived being eaten by a whale?
According to the Bible's Old Testament, a man called Jonah was ...

Which nymph ate sailors?
An ancient Greek legend tells of a beautiful nymph, called Scylla, ...

Are there sea monsters in Massachusetts?
Early American settlers lived in fear of a huge sea serpent that was ...

Which white whale ate Captain Ahab’s leg?
Herman Melville's classic novel, Moby Dick, tell the story of Captain ...

Which fish has devil’s horns?
The manta ray or devilfish has two fins that curve forward from its ...

What is a mermaid’s purse?
Dogfish are small sharks. The tough case, in which a baby dogfish ...

What is a kraken?
In olden days, myths and legends about dangerous sea creatures ...

Which is the fastest marine mammal?
The orca, or killer whale, is the speed champion among sea mammals. ...

What are the tiniest sea creatures?
Thousands of kinds of tiny creatures live in the world's oceans. The ...

What is the biggest fish?
Fish vary more in size than any other group of animals with backbones ...

What record-breaking fish came back to life?
Coelacanths are giant primitive fish that scientists knew from ...

What is the world’s biggest crab?
The Japanese spider crab is the giant of the crab world. Its body ...

What is the smallest fish?
The dwarf goby holds the record for the world's smallest fish. Adult ...

Which marine reptile is the biggest?
The saltwater crocodile is the world's largest sea-going reptile. ...

What is the stingray’s secret weapon?
Stingrays live and hunt on the ocean bottom. Their long, thin tails ...

Which deadly fish looks like a toad?
The toadfish is a poisonous fish that dwells on the sea-bed in warm ...

What sea creature can sting a person to death in four minutes?
Jellyfish look fragile, but many species are armed with painful ...

Which poisonous fish do people eat?
The entrails of the pufferfish contain a powerful poison. Yet other ...

Which is the world’s most poisonous reptile?
The bite of the yellow-bellied sea snake is 50 times more powerful ...

How does a jellyfish sting?
The long, trailing tentacles of jellyfish are armed with thousands of ...

What brings an octopus out in spots?
The bite of the blue-ringed octopus is deadly poisonous. Normally, ...

What hunts with a luminous “worm”?
Like other anglerfish, the deep-sea angler has a long, thin spine ...

Why don’t gulper eels get hungry?
Food is scarce in the ocean depths, for no water plants and few ...

How do deep-sea creatures light up the dark?
As many as 1,000 different fish make light in the deep oceans. Some ...

Can deep-sea fish see in the dark?
For many deep-sea fish, vision is little use in the inky darkness. ...

How do deep-sea creatures find their food in the dark?
In the black depths, many deep-sea fish sense their prey by smell, ...

How do fish hide in dark seas?
Deep-sea fish are camouflaged to blend in with their surroundings. ...

What clams up in a hurry?
Giant clams live on the Great Barrier Reef. Their huge, hinged shells ...

Which fish can attack with a scalpel?
Surgeonfish, of tropical seas, have sharp little blades like scalpels ...

Which fish has the head of a horse and the tail of a monkey?
The sea-horse is an unusual fish, with a head shaped like the knight ...

Why does a crown-of-thorns threaten coral reefs?
The crown-of-thorns starfish is a reef-killer. It fastens on to the ...

What are dead man’s fingers?
Dead man's fingers is a species of soft coral that grows on rocks. ...

Where is the world’s biggest coral reef?
The Great Barrier Reef off the north-east coast of Australia is the ...

What needs a new suit of armor every year?
A crab's shell gives good protection. The disadvantage is that there ...

Which fish would disappear on a chess board?
Plaice are flatfish that live on the sea-bed. In a matter of minutes, ...

Why do crabs walk sideways?
All crabs have ten legs - eight for walking and two with powerful ...

Which creature has five sets of jaws?
Underneath its round, spiny body, the sea urchin has a mouth with ...

How does a limpet grip its rock?
The limpet clamps its muscular foot on to a seaside rock, and grips ...

How did the butterfish get its name?
Butterfish are long, slender fish that live in pools on rocky ...

Which fish “walks” on three legs?
The tripod fish is a strange fish that lives in deep, dark waters. ...

What makes a pistol shrimp go bang?
Pistol shrimps are named after the cracking noise they make by ...

Which creature throws ink at its enemies?
Cuttlefish are relatives of squid and octopus. Like their cousins, ...

Which creature can grow four new arms?
The starfish is a five-limbed sea creature. If a hungry predator ...

Why does the hermit crab need a home?
Unlike other crabs, the hermit crab has no hard case to protect it. ...

Which fish makes eyes at its enemies?
The twinspot wrasse has two dark patches on its back. Hunting fish ...

What is slimy and hides in anemones?
In tropical seas, clownfish hide from their enemies among the ...

How do herring avoid being eaten?
Fish, such as herring and mackerel, swim in groups called shoals. ...

What fish is a thirsty bloodsucker?
Lampreys are strange fish with eel-shaped bodies. Instead of jaws, ...

How do parrotfish eat their meals?
Parrotfish have hard mouths shaped like parrots' beaks. With their ...

Which fish shoots to kill?
On tropical sea coasts, skilled archerfish can catch prey, such as ...

Which fish has a secret weapon?
The torpedo ray. It can generate electricity using special muscles in ...

How does the anemone catch its dinner?
Sea anemones are armed with a crown of stinging tentacles. When small ...

How do barracuda surprise their prey?
The barracuda is a fierce hunting fish of tropical seas. It has keen ...

Which fish can walk on land?
Mudskippers are fish that live in swamps and muddy estuaries on ...

How do jellyfish get about?
Jellyfish are soft creatures with bodies shaped like bells or ...

Which fish “flies” underwater?
Rays are flattened fish that live near the sea-bed. They swim along ...

Which sea creature uses jet-propulsion?
The octopus has a funnel-shaped siphon sticking out from its body. It ...

How do fish swim?
Most fish swim by arching their bodies, and swishing their tails from ...

Which sea creature is the deepest diver?
Sperm whales are expert divers. Like all whales, they breathe at the ...

Which fish is the fastest swimmer?
Sailfish are large hunting fish that live in the open ocean. With ...

What sea creature looks like a pair of false teeth?
Scallops have a hard, hinged shell to protect their soft bodies. Some ...

What fish looks like seaweed?
Pipefish are long, slim, dark green fish that look just like strands ...

Why do some fish have bright colors?
Many fish that live in tropical seas are brightly colored, or marked ...

What creatures plant a garden on their backs?
Spider crabs make their own disguises, from materials they find in ...

How do fish hide in the open sea?
Herring, mackerel and many other fish, that swim near the surface of ...

What is the world’s longest fish?
Oarfish are giant, eel-shaped fish that regularly grow to over 20 ...

Why are flatfish flat?
Flatfish such as plaice, halibut, and dab live on the sea-bed. Their ...

Which is the tallest fish?
Ocean sunfish are tall fish that can measure over 14 ft (4 m) high, ...