Jellies

The most dangerous marine creatures to humans are jellyfish. Jellyfish are the most venomous creatures around. These jellyfish are known for their ability to kill a victim within 4 minutes, faster than any snake .Jellyfish have existed on the face of this planet for over 650 million years. Both sea anemones and jellyfish have no circulatory system, heat or blood. Some jellyfish have ways of detecting obstacles that can be compared to sight but they don’t have real eyes. It is a mystery how they can process the information from their “sight” since they doesn’t have any brain. They react directly on food and danger stimuli. Jellyfish use tentacles with stinger cells to catch their prey, typically plankton and small fish. The tentacles transport the prey they killed with their stingers to the mouth and the jellyfish promptly devours the animal. It is the same stinger cells that stings humans that ventures to close.

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Bonnethead Sharks

Bonnethead sharks are in the order Carcharhiniformes, the family Sphyrnidae, the genus Sphyrna, and the species tiburo.

They are limited to the warm waters of the Northern Hemisphere, ranging in the Atlantic Ocean from the south of New England, to the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil. They are more common throughout the Caribbean Sea including Cuba and Bahamas. The Bonnethead is also occasionally found in Bermuda. In the Pacific, this shark can be found from southern California to waters off the coast of Ecuador. Bonnetheads move closer to the equator as waters grow colder during the winter months.

Bonnetheads feed during daylight hours primarily on crustaceans, dominated by blue crabs. They also feed on mantis shrimp, pink shrimp, mollusks, and small fish.

They are believed to mate during the spring and autumn or perhaps even year-round. In the waters off the coast of Brazil, mating occurs during the spring. After mating, the females can store sperm for up to four months prior to actually fertilizing the eggs. The control that they have over the fertilization period is believed to be an adaptation to ensure that the pups are born during the best conditions for their survival. Considered harmless to humans, this species is rather shy. There has been only one recorded unprovoked attack attributed to the Bonnethead. Larger sharks are potential predators of the Bonnethead. Vision and hearing capabilities are exceptional as well as the sensitivity of the lateral line to small vibrations, alerting them to nearby potential prey.

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Giant Pacific Octopus

Since I didnt attend the Mystic Aquariam field trip, I researched the Giant Pacific Octopus.They are  very intersting and intelligent sea creatures. Having eight legs and great eyesight these creatures are able to move and lift up to more then 700 pounds. They live in the northern pacific ocean ranging from Alaska to California.The Giant Pacific Octopus lives in rocly areas, kelp forests, and caves. They range from the shores to deep depth of water ranging more then 500 ft deep. They  can be up to 20 feet from tip to tip of there outstreched arm. They weight up to 150 pounds and a lifespan of 1-5 years. The mollusk family is where the octopus is from,which means they are related to clams, mussels,  oysters, squid and nautilus. The Giant Pacific Octupuses are able to lay up to 75,000 eggs in their small caves. It can take up to six months for the eggs to hatch. For food they feed on the following fishes, shrimps, crabs, scallops, clams and other shellfishes.There predators include wolf eels, halibut, seals and otters. These sea creatures are surprisingly very adaptable to changes in living conditions as well extensive fishing and threats to there enviorment. Octopuses also have a intersesting trait of changing there skin color also known as camoflauge. Overall these sea creatures are a very intregeing subject to learn about.

By: Jena H.

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