Sharks: Some sharks have a pointed snout and sharp teeth. Other sharks have a rectangular shaped head and flat teeth. Bull sharks are powerful sharks that have been seen spotted swimming in rivers. Scary! Sharks were made long before the dinosaurs. They have five to six gills on there head. Sharks have no bones! Instead they have cartilage. Cartilage is a tough fiber substance. Its not nearly as hard as bone. A whale shark is the largest fish in the world. Its 68 feet! A sharks skin is rough like sandpaper. Half of the 168 shark species are under 38 inches long. Sharks have up to 3,000 teeth at once. The diet of a shark depends on the species, but most species eat things like fish, crustaceans, mollusks, plankton, krill, marine mammals and other sharks. A shark baby are called pups. Sharks lay eggs (like birds). They can have up to 1 to 100 baby's at once!
Whales: Whales are the largest and heaviest animals in the world. They swim using their large flippers and tale. They are mammals. A blue whale makes the tallest blow of water out of its blow hole. Its up to 50 feet high. The blow hole is on the top of its head. Whales breath air. They breath by taking air through there blow hole. Whales can't sleep very long because they need to remember to go to the surface for the air they need. Whales are larger then dinosaurs of prehistoric times. There are two types of whales, toothed and baleen. All whales belong to a group called crustaceans. Did you know that whales have hair? Its very thin and very light. You can only see it up close. Whales can swim at about 30 miles an hour. whales make lots of different sounds. The humpback whale songs are made out of moans, click, cries and howls. It can last up to half an hour. The dorsal fin on top of a killer whale can grow up to six feet. That's as tall as a man. Killer whales have been recorded swimming as fast as 34 miles an hour.
Dolphins: Dolphins belong to the whale family. A dolphins two tailed flippers are called flunks. Dolphins travel in small groups called pods. Pods have been known for helping a injured dolphin to the surface. Dolphins are excellent swimmers- some can even jump into the air and spinning up to seven times. dolphins are carnivores (meat eaters). Bottle nose are most common and well known type of dolphin. Female dolphins are called cows, males are called bulls and young are called calves. Dolphins communicate with each other by clicking, whistling, and other sounds.
Sea turtles: Turtles are reptiles. Female green turtles lay the most eggs of any sea turtle in one season. They lay up to 1,100 eggs. Kemp ridy is the smallest sea turtle. Its 30 inches. What a sea turtle eats depends on the subspecies, but some common items include jelly fish, see weed, shrimp and snails. The seven turtle species that can be found today have been around for 110 million years ,since the dinosaurs. Its thought that sea turtles will sleep under water. Leather back sea turtles produce male or female hatch lings depending on the temperature of the nest. A cooler tempter means that they will produce males and a warmer temperature produce females. A logger head turtle was recorded diving for 10 hours . Turtles have flippers like legs that they use to swim. They often swim a long way to find food and a mate. This journey is called a migration.
Jellyfish: All jelly fish live in the sea and are found in all oceans. Some are found in fresh water. They look like umbrellas. They can also be large and brightly coloured. Jelly fish can often be transparent(see through). Jelly fish have a soft body and has lots of tentacles. There tentacles are covered in tiny strings witch they use to sting and kill their prey. They have no brains, no heart, no bones and no eyes! Some jelly fish glow in the dark. There almost entirely made up of water. The box jelly fish is the most dangerous animal in the world. Its sting can kill a human. Jelly fish eat plankton. A group of jelly fish is called a bloom, swarm or a smack.
The sea is really cool. How some animals use others for food and how some sea animals protect their babies. Whales and dolphins are both in the same family and are both mammals, but a whale is bigger than a dolphin. Squids and octopus both have 8 arms and they both can camouflage but, a squid has two hearts and an octopus has one. All creatures in the sea are all different one way or an other. In conclusion, there are many different forms of life under the sea. Some are cute, some are friendly, some are scary and some are deadly. Studying the ocean can be very fun and rewarding.
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