The amazing sawfish
LINK: THE FIRST WARM BLOODED FISH DISCOVERED
Fish are coldblooded water animals with a backbone and skeleton. They migrate, have gills, teeth, and no eyelids, lay eggs, and swim in schools.
European eel have the longest migration of 4,660 miles
Fish may have headlights, be round or flat, have both eyes on one side of head, and generate electricity! Their scales are a thin layer of skin that secretes slime and get larger with age.
The mudskipper breathes air. The lungfish breathes in or out of the water and is the last link between land and sea.
There are 2 classes of fish:
1. Cartilaginous such as sharks, rays, and mantas. They have no air bladder
2. Those with Bony Skeletons and air bladders. These are true fish.
There There are many strange and beautiful fish in the ocean. Many of them we eat. Some fish live in both fresh and salt water such as the sturgeon, salmon, and eels.
There are jawless fish such as the blind hagfish and lampreys with rasp-like teeth. They have no bones, fins, or nervous system. They are suckers.
Some odd fish:
The parrotfish sleeps in a cocoon of mucus.
The porcupine fish fills with water and blows up.
The archerfish shoots pellets of water and the anglerfish actually fishes with a light.
The cleaner wrasse grooms other fish.
Stickelbacks build nests and live where the river meets the ocean.
Flying fish have four wings and actually glide.
The barracuda feeds by sight not smell.
The butterfly fish has an eyespot.
The male cardinal fish carries the eggs around in its mouth.
A seahorse male carries the young.
Flounders are flat as a pancake and have 2 eyes on one side of their body.
The drum makes a drumming sound and toadfish squeak.
The hatchet fish have binocular eyes.
The viperfish has needlelike fangs and rows of lights along its body.
Cuttlefish are the camouflage champions and produce an ink.
The wrasse changes sex.
The dragon fish has poison fins.
Sharks have a cartilaginous skeleton and are living garbage cans with 2 rows of teeth. Bluefin tuna have ferocious feeding frenzies.
Eels spawn in the Sargasso Sea. The ocean sunfish can lay 300 million eggs and is the bulkiest bony fish.
The electric eel can generate 600 volts of electricity.
The largest living animal, a mammal, is the blue whale – 33.5 miles long and 160 tons.
The biggest fish is the whale shark measuring 50 feet long and weighing 3 tons. The largest recorded fish is a whale shark 18 miles long and weighing 43 tons. The blue fin tuna reaches 14 feet and 1 ton. The smallest fish is the goby ½ “ long.
The stonefish is the most poisonous. The tuna is a fast swimmer and maintains its body heat. A sailfish is faster than a cheeta at 68.18 mph. A cheeta’s speed is 63mph, a marlin 57.6mph and a wahoo is 48.5 mph .
The mermaids purse or devils pocketbook is the egg case of a skate. The tan chains of little round pockets we find on the beach are the egg cases of welks. Open one. You may find some tiny baby welks inside! My students love to open them and see the tiny shells.
These animals are not fish , but the cuttlefish is a mollusk, the starfish is an echinoderm, and dolphins and whales are mammals.
You can find a variety of ocean animal replicas for children to examine or you might examine a real fish and then do a “gyotaku” or fish print. Add some goldfish in a tank after you do the program and let the children watch the, draw them and learn to care for them. The department of natural resources has a chart of freshwater fish and one of saltwater fish. Sometimes I talk about their teeth and the fact that fish always get new teeth if they lose any, but we are diphyodonts and will only have 2 sets of teeth. If kids are older I will give them a sharks tooth.
Red Lipped Batfish
Puffer Fish
PUFFER FISH CIRCLES
Underwater Crop Circles-The unexpected artist of this sand circle was found to be a tiny male puffer fish. It spent days and nights to make the circle using only a flapping fin to attract a mate. After completing the circle the fish actually decorated it with broken pieces of shells.
The ugliest animal in the world is the blobfish. Endangered and…squishy, this deep sea creature lives in waters off the coast of Australia.
BLOBFISH