PORTUGUESE MAN OF WAR

The Portuguese man of war, or blue bubble, man of war, or floating terror, is a marine cnidarian. The Portuguese man of war is not a jellyfish, but it is a siphonophore, and is a siphonophore because it is made up of other animals called zooids. The man o' war's gas filled bladder, floats at the surface of the ocean, while the rest, are submerged. storms and strong wind blow man o' wars to shore, making them beached but, they still are very deadly with their venom. man o' wars can have a gas bladder the size of 9- 30cm, and tentacles as long as 10- 30m. 

Catfish

Catfish are fish in the order Siluriformes named for there whisker like sensor barbels. Catfish all have different sizes and behavior, and can range from sizes of 9 centimeters to 2 meters. Some species of catfish are parasitic, like the candiru. Some species have armored plates and some just have soft skin. Despite its name some catfish don`t have whiskers. Catfish are identified by their skull and swimbladder. 

 

Flying squid

The ommastrephidae is a family of squid containing 3 subfamilies, 11 genera, and about 25 species. They are distributed globally and fished for food. The Japanese flying squid makes around half the worlds cephalopod catches. Some members of ommastrephidae are known to have the ability to glide out of the water like a flying fish, earning their common name of flying `squids`. 
 

Ammonites

Ammonites are an extinct group of mollusks in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class cephalopoda. The ammonites are more related to octopus and squids than nautiloids (shelled cephalopods), such as the living nautilus. The first species appeared in the Devonian period, then died out in the late crutaceous- paleogene period, but fossils can still be found today.

Minnows

'Minnow' is used for small freshwater fish, especially those used in fishing bait. Specifically, fish in the family Cyprinidae.  In Ireland they are known as pinkeens.

Nautiloids 

Nautiloids are a reasonably large group of cephalopod mollusks in the subclass Nautiloidea that existed since the Late Cambrian and are still found today as nautiluses.   

SQUIDS

Squids are Cephalopods in the order Teuthida, which has 
about 304 species. Like all Cephalopods, squids have a head, arms, bilaterally symmetrical, fins, and mantle. Like cuttlefish squids have 8 arms arranged in pairs of two, most of the time longer. Squids are strong swimmers, some can even `fly` through the water doing a long glide or propels themselves through the water fast.


 Squids are in the class Cephalopoda, subclass Coleoidea, and order Teuthida, which has two major suborders, Myopsina and Oegopsina. Teuthida is the biggest cephalopod order including 300 species and 29 families.

The order Teuthida is a member of the suborder Decapodiformes (in Greek meaning `ten legs`). Two other orders of Decapodiformes cephalopods are squids, recognizable for their long slimy arms and elongated body. They are bobtail squids in the order Sepiolida and the rams horn squid Spirulida. The vampire squid is more related to octopuses than squids.


Members of Cephalopoda:

Nautiloids: nautiluses
Ammonoidea: Ammonites
Belemnoidea: extinct belemnoids
Spirulida: ram`s horn squid
Sepiida: cuttlefish
Sepiolida: bobtail squids
Teuthida: squid
Octopoda: octopus
Vampyromorphida: vampire squid
Loliginidae: inshore, calamari, grass squid
Ancistrocheiridae: sharpear enope squid
Architeuthidae: giant squid
Batoteuthidae: bush-club squid
Chtenopterygidae: comb-finned squids
Cranchiidae: glass squids
Gonatiae: armhook squid
Histioteuthidae: jewel squid
Joubiniteuthidae: Joubin`s squid
Lepidoteuthidae: Grimaldi scaled squid
Magnapinnidae: bigfin squid
Mastigoteuthidae: whip-lash squid
Ommastrephidae: flying squid

SHARKS

Sharks are a group of fish characterized by their cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gills on the side of their head, and pectoral fins not fused to the head. Sharks now are classified in the genus Selachimorpha and are closely related to stingrays.  

 

POLYCHAETE WORMS

Polychaete worms are scale worms found in marine habitats. These worms are sometimes called 'bristle worms' because they often bear spines. These worms can be found in small rivers, all the way to the deepest depths of the ocean, as in the Challenger Deep expedition, a small 2-3cm polychaete worm was found right at the bottom of the Mariana trench. There are more than 100,000 species of polychaete worms. Common representatives of polychaete worms are the lugworm, sandworm, and clamworm. Only 2% (168 species) of the polychaetes are found in fresh water. Polychaetes range in size from 2cm to 3m.    

CONCH

A conch is a type of marine shell. The family of
conchs is called Strombidae.

GULPER EEL

The gulper eel is a deep sea eel with an expandable stomache, able to swallow prey twice its size. It has a bioluminescent lure to attract fish just like the anglerfish. it is found at depths down to 3,000m (10,000f).

COMB JELLIES 


Comb jellies, or Ctenophores, are related to jellyfish, but are not true jellyfish. Comb jellies are unique because they have a unique feature- tiny combs (or cilia) that propel them through the water. They are also the largest animals that move with cilia.

JELLYFISH

Jellyfish or jellies, are jellylike invertebrates in the phylum Cnidaria. They are free swimming animals that contain an umbrella like gelatinous bell with trailing stinging tenticals. Jellyfish are found world wide, from shallow waters to the deepest depths. Jellyfish roamed the oceans for about 500 million years, possibly 700 million years, being the longest lived multi-organ animal.  


The popular English name for these creatures are jellyfish, and other creatures that have a gelatinous body, like comb jellies (or Ctenophores)  

EELS

An eel is a skinny thin fish in the family Anguilliformes. Most eels are predators, like the gulper eel, preys on passing copepods. The word 'eel' is used for other elongated thin fish too, like electric eels and spiny eels, that are not from the family Anguilliformes.    

BLOBFISH

The blobfish is a deep-sea fish in the family Psychrolutidae. It lives in deep waters off the coast of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. Blobfish are usually shorter than 30cm. They are found at depths of 600- 1,200m. 

OCTOPUS

An octopus (or octopi, or octopodes) is a cephalopod mollusk in the order Octopoda. It has 2 eyes and eight arms (hence name octo, meaning eight) and like other cephalopods it is bilaterally symmetric. The octopus also has a beak right in the center of the tenticals. The octopus does not have an external or internal skeleton, though some species have shells like the nautilus.  

ANGLERFISH

Anglerfish are fish from the order lophiiformes, they are bony fish that are predatory, using a fleshy stalk growing from the head, as a bioluminescent lure. Anglerfish occur basically worldwide, some are pelagic (living in the open ocean), and some are benthic (living on the bottom of the ocean), and some live just along the continental shelf. Pelagic forms are laterally compressed, where benthic forms are often extremely dorsoventrally compressed.


Fossils have shown that anglerfish lived in the depths of the ocean since 130 million years ago, ranging in color from brown to dark red, and sizes varied from 8.9cm to more than 1 meter, and weights of up 100 lb.


Most adult female anglerfish have a bioluminescent organ called the esca. The organ is used for luring fish to the anglerfish as the lure looks like bioluminescent prey, the prey would come to the lure and the anglerfish would eat the prey. The lure is also used for attracting males, which then attach to the female for the rest of its life providing nutrients for the anglerfish to produce. The source of this glow is from tiny microscopic bacteria which glow.