What does marine life look like. Sea animals pictures for kids

The underwater world is extremely diverse, new and new species are constantly being discovered. marine fish and animals. There are over 30,000 species of fish on Earth, an even number of mollusks and crustaceans. Let's try to highlight a small part of them.

SHARKS- one of the most formidable inhabitants of the ocean. The absence of bone tissue and gill covers, the structural features of the scales and many other signs of the structure indicate their ancient origin, which is confirmed by paleontological data - the age of the fossil remains of the first sharks is determined by about 350 million years. Despite the primitive organization, sharks are one of the most advanced predatory fish in the ocean.

Over a long period of existence, they have managed to perfectly adapt to life in the water column and now successfully compete with bony fish and marine mammals. Unlike bony fish, sharks and rays do not spawn, but lay large, cornea-covered eggs or give birth to live young.

The greatest size is reached by whales (up to 20 meters) and the so-called giant sharks (up to 15 meters). Both those and others, like baleen whales, feed on planktonic organisms. Opening their mouths wide, these sharks swim slowly in the thick of plankton accumulations and filter the water through gill openings covered with a network of special outgrowths of the surrounding tissue. A giant shark filters up to one and a half thousand cubic meters of water in an hour and extracts from it all organisms larger than 1-2 millimeters.

There is very little information about the reproduction of planktonic sharks. Eggs and embryos giant shark generally unknown. The smallest specimens of this species are 1.5 meters long. The whale shark lays eggs. It is safe to say that these are the largest eggs in the world, their length reaches almost 70 centimeters, width - 40. Plankton-eating sharks are slow and not at all aggressive. Whale sharks are not at all dangerous to humans.

Some species of sharks live near the bottom and feed on bottom mollusks and crustaceans. These are small (no more than a meter in length) cat sharks. They live near the coast, often forming large shoals.

Sharks of other species are found in the open ocean, and they do not form schools, but roam alone or in small groups. It happens that such sharks come to the shores, and most of the attacks on swimming people are made by them. Among these predators, the most dangerous are white, blue-gray, tiger, blue, long-armed sharks and hammerhead sharks. Although statistics show that there are much fewer deaths from sharks than is commonly believed, you should still be wary of any shark whose length exceeds 1 - 1.2 meters, especially when there is blood or food in the water. Sharks have a phenomenal ability to detect a wounded or helpless animal at a great distance by its convulsive movements or by blood that has fallen into the water.

Different types of sharks lead a different lifestyle and are quite different from each other in body structure and behavior. Together with rays, sharks belong to the most primitive group of fish, which is called cartilaginous, since their skeleton consists only of cartilage and is completely devoid of bone tissue. If you “stroke” a shark or stingray in the direction from head to tail, their skin will seem only slightly rough, but when you move your hand in the opposite direction, you will feel sharp teeth like on coarse sandpaper. This is because each scale cartilaginous fish equipped with a small spine, pointing backwards. Outside, the pinch is covered with a layer of durable enamel, and its base in the form of an expanding plate is embedded in the skin of the fish. Inside each scale are blood vessels and a nerve. Larger scales are located at the edges of the mouth, and in the oral cavity of sharks, the spines of the scales reach a significant size and serve no longer as integuments, but as teeth. Thus, shark teeth are nothing more than modified scales.

Shark teeth, like their scales, are staggered and sit in several rows. As one row of teeth wears out, new ones grow to replace them, located in the depths of the mouth. The shark does not chew food, but only holds, tears and torments it, swallowing pieces of such a size that they can only pass through its wide throat.

Cartilaginous fish do not have gill covers, so 5-7 gill slits are visible behind the head on each side of the shark's body. By this external sign, sharks can be easily and unmistakably distinguished from other fish. The gill slits of the stingray are located on its ventral side and are hidden from the observer's eye.

It should be noted that these animals, despite the disgust people feel towards them, are of great commercial importance. Their meat, skin and liver fat are used, which contain several tens of times more vitamin A than cod liver oil. Salted, smoked and specially prepared fresh meat of many species of sharks is distinguished by high palatability. One of these fish, whose fins are used to make soup (the pride of Chinese cuisine), has even been called the soup shark.

WHALES are the largest animals on our planet.

The prehistoric ancestors of whales lived on land and walked on four legs. True, in those days they were not as big as they are now. The structure of the body of whales began to change about 50 million years ago - just then they moved to the ocean, and it was in the water that some of them became giants. This is how the largest animals on Earth appeared - blue whales. Their length can exceed 26 meters, and weight - 110 tons.

Whales move through the water column with the help of a tail equipped with two powerful blades. This is the tail fin. Unlike fish, which swim by swinging their tails from side to side, cetaceans swing their tails up and down with force.

In whales, the pectoral fins are located in front on both sides of the body. Even before the whales moved to the sea, they used the current pectoral fins to move on land. Now the whales use them as steering and braking rudders, and sometimes to repel an enemy attack, but not for swimming.

Most whales have a fixed fin on their backs to help them stay stable when moving through the water. Fins are small and large - depending on the size of the whale.

The blowholes of whales are located on the top of the head, they open only for a short moment of inhalation-exhalation, when the whale floats to the surface of the water. The lungs of whales have a large volume, and whales can stay under water for a long time without breathing, and even dive to a depth of more than 500 meters, and sperm whales to a depth of more than one kilometer.

Whales look like huge fish, but they are not fish, but mammals, and internal structure they are almost the same as humans. And whales, like other mammals, feed their young with milk. Whales are warm-blooded animals, and a thick layer of subcutaneous fat protects them from hypothermia.

From the moment it is born under water, the baby whale is completely dependent on the mother and keeps close to her all the time. It will be many months, and sometimes even years, before the kitten can take care of itself.

First of all, a newborn whale, although it does not yet know how to swim, needs to float to the surface of the water and breathe in the air. In this case, the mother helps, and sometimes other females. After about half an hour, the cub will learn to swim on its own.

Kittens learn by imitating adults. They tumble, dive and float to the surface with their mother. Kitihi not only teach kids, but also play with them with pleasure. Female gray whales love a special game: they swim under their cubs and blow air bubbles out of the blowhole, thus making the small whales spin.

Cubs swim, almost clinging to their mother. They are carried by waves that form around her body, and undercurrents. And it’s quite easy to swim if you hang on your mother’s dorsal fin.

For orientation, whales make sounds that the human ear is not able to catch. The whale's brain is a real sonar that picks up sound signals reflected from various objects in the water and determines the distance to them.

Whales feed mainly on fish or small crustaceans. They swim with their mouths open, filtering water through special plates - whalebone. Whales consume up to 450 kilograms of food daily. That's why they grow so big!

Some whales, they are called toothed, do not have a whalebone, but they do have teeth. Toothed whales sperm whales feed on huge squid, in search of which they dive to great depths.

Despite their size, whales are unusually graceful. They are not only excellent swimmers, but also acrobats: they can jump, wave their tail like a butterfly over the water, and glide along the waves, stick their heads out of the water like a periscope. Some scientists believe that the noise that whales make when they hit the water with their tail or plop into the water after a jump is a conditioned signal for relatives. But maybe the whales are just playing like that.

People have hunted whales for a long time. Today, there are very few of these sea giants left, and they are taken under protection.

SCATS are a superorder of elasmobranch cartilaginous fishes, which includes 5 orders and 15 families. Stingrays are characterized by pectoral fins fused with the head and a rather flat body. Mostly stingrays live in the seas. Science knows several freshwater species. The color of the upper part of their body depends on where exactly the stingrays live. It can be either black or very light.

Stingrays are found all over the world, including the Arctic Ocean and the coast of Antarctica. But it is easiest to see them with your own eyes off the coast of Australia, stingrays love to scratch their belly on the coral reef there.

Rays are the closest relatives of sharks. Outwardly, of course, they do not look alike, but they, like sharks, consist of cartilage, not bones. Rays, along with sharks, are among the most ancient fish, and in former times their internal similarity was supplemented by external ones. Until the life of the stingrays began, sorry, squash. As a result, sharks are doomed to scurry about in the water, and stingrays are doomed to lie listlessly at the bottom.

The way of life of stingrays determined their unique respiratory system. All fish breathe with gills, but if the stingray tried to be like everyone else, it would draw silt and sand into its delicate insides. Therefore, stingrays breathe differently. They inhale oxygen through sprinklers, which are located on their backs and are equipped with a valve that protects the body. If, nevertheless, some foreign particle gets into the sprinkler along with the water - sand or plant remains, the stingrays release a stream of water through the sprinkler and throw out the foreign object with it.

Stingrays are a kind of waterfowl butterflies. Such an analogy can be drawn based on how stingrays move in water. They are also unique in that they do not use their tail when swimming, as other fish do. Stingrays move due to the movements of the fins, while resembling butterflies.

Slopes come in a wide variety of sizes, from a few centimeters to seven meters. And they also differ in behavior. If for the most part they lie at the bottom, buried in the sand, then some of them like to jump over the water, shocking impressionable sailors for a long time and inspiring them to compose sea legends. Particularly distinguished by this, perhaps the most famous of all stingrays, manta or sea devil. When suddenly a seven-meter winged creature weighing two tons suddenly flies out of the abyss of the sea and after a moment disappears into the depths again, dragging a black pointed tail behind it - this spectacle is truly worthy of a detailed story.

But the sea devil is not as scary as the electric stingray. The cells of his body are capable of generating electricity up to 220 volts. And there are no number of divers who were electrocuted by an electric stingray.

However, all stingrays produce electricity, but not as strong as an electric stingray. The spiny-tailed stingray prefers a different type of weapon. He kills with his tail. It plunges its sharp tail into the victim, then pulls it back - and since the tail is studded with spikes, the wound ruptures.

But they enter the battle only for the sake of self-defense. They feed on mollusks and crustaceans. For this reason, they do not even need sharp, shark-like teeth. Stingrays grind food with spike-like protrusions or plates.

SWORDSBA- a perch-like order, the only representative of the swordfish family. Length up to 4-4.5 m, weighs up to 0.5 tons. The upper jaw is extended into the xiphoid process. It is found mainly in tropical and subtropical waters; it is found singly in the Black and Azov Seas. When swimming, it can reach speeds of up to 120-130 km / h. It is an object of fishing.

Among the numerous and diverse inhabitants of the seas and oceans, swordfish is one of the most interesting predators. The swordfish got its name due to the strongly elongated upper jaw, called the rostrum, which has the shape of a pointed sword and makes up to a third of the entire length of the body. Biologists consider the rostrum to be a weapon used by the swordfish to stun its prey, breaking into schools of mackerel and tuna. The swordfish itself does not suffer from a blow: at the base of its sword there are peculiar fatty shock absorbers - cellular cavities filled with fat and softening the force of the blow. There are cases when the sword-fish pierced through the thick boards of the ship's plating. The reason for the attacks of swordfish on ships has not yet received an exact explanation. Such interpretations as, for example, mistaking a ship for a whale due to fast swimming, and "rabies" are purely speculative.

The swordfish is considered to be the fastest swimmer of all the inhabitants. sea ​​depths. She can swim at a speed of 120 km per hour. Swordfish are able to develop such speed due to some features of the structure of their body. The sword greatly reduces drag when moving in dense aquatic environment. In addition, the torpedo-shaped, streamlined body of an adult swordfish is devoid of scales. In the swordfish and its closest relatives, the gills are not only a respiratory organ, they serve as a kind of hydrojet engine. Through the gills there is a continuous flow of water, the speed of which is regulated by the narrowing or expansion of the gill slits. The body temperature of such fish is 12-15 degrees higher than the ocean temperature. This provides them with a high “starting” readiness, allowing them to suddenly develop amazing speed when hunting or evading enemies.

The swordfish reaches a length of 4.5 meters and weighs up to 500 kg. She lives mainly in the open ocean and approaches the coast only during the period of spawning. Swordfish are solitary wanderers. Sometimes in the ocean, near a large concentration of fish, you can see several dozen swordfish, but they do not form flocks - each predator acts independently of its neighbors.

Swordfish meat is very tasty. However, eating her liver is dangerous - it contains an excess of vitamin A.

OCTOPUS. They do not have a hard skeleton. Its soft body has no bones and can bend freely into different sides. The octopus was named so because eight limbs extend from its short body. They have two rows of large suction cups, with which the octopus can hold prey or attach to the stones at the bottom.

Octopuses live at the bottom, hiding in crevices between stones or in underwater caves. They have the ability to change color very quickly and become the same color as the ground.

The only hard part of the body of octopuses is the horny beak-like jaws. Octopuses are real predators. At night, they get out of their hiding places and go hunting. Octopuses can not only swim, but also, by rearranging their tentacles, “walk” along the bottom. The usual prey of octopuses are shrimp, lobsters, crabs and fish, which they paralyze with poison from the salivary glands. With their beak, they can even break the strong shells of crabs and crayfish or mollusk shells. The octopus takes the prey to the shelter, where they slowly eat it. Among the octopuses there are very poisonous ones, the bite of which can be fatal even for humans.

Often, octopuses build shelters from stones or shells, while wielding their tentacles like hands. Octopuses guard their home and can easily find it even if they are far away.

Since ancient times, people have been afraid of octopuses (octopuses - as they called them), writing terrible legends about them. The ancient Roman scientist Pliny the Elder spoke about a giant octopus - "polypus", which stole fishing catches. Every night the octopus got out on the shore and ate the fish lying in the baskets. The dogs, smelling the octopus, started barking. The fishermen who came running saw how the octopus defended itself from the dogs with its huge tentacles. The fishermen struggled with the octopus. When the giant was measured, it turned out that its tentacles reached a length of 10 meters, and its weight was about 300 kilograms.

GARFISH- or "sea pike" - a fish of the genus garfish.

The common turquoise garfish is one of the fish that can dance above the surface of the water. Faster and faster they move towards the light, just for fun or to "flight" from danger. This fast and graceful predator has a narrow body. Small sharp teeth on a peculiar beak allow the garfish to grab small prey during fast swimming - herring, crustaceans. In large numbers, garfish are found in the Black and other seas.

In spring, the garfish begin their breeding season: along the coast, they lay round eggs, which are attached to algae and other aquatic vegetation with the help of thin sticky threads. Garfish larvae are born without a beak; it appears only in adults. In winter, garfish move to the open sea.

Garfish are predominantly marine inhabitants, distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate zones of the oceans. Some of them reach a length of 1.5 m and a weight of 4 kg. This large family, numbering about 12 genera, is represented in the Black Sea by only one species, Belone belone euxini.

The Black Sea garfish, or, as it is also called, the sea pike, has a typical arrow-shaped body covered with small silvery scales. The back is green. The length, as a rule, is up to 75 cm. This schooling pelagic fish has elongated jaws in the form of a sharp beak.

Lives 6-7 years, reaches sexual maturity in one year.

Once the garfish, being one of the most delicious fish of the Black Sea, was rightfully included in the top five commercial species caught off the coast of Crimea. The total annual catch of garfish reached 300-500 tons. Often, large specimens came across in the nets of Crimean fishermen - about 1 m long and weighing up to 1 kg.

SEA STARS- animals whose body shape resembles a star. On the surface of the body they have warts or spikes. From the body of a starfish, five rays usually depart, which are called hands.

They appeared on Earth more than 400 million years ago, but about 1,500 species of these peculiar animals still live in the seas and oceans of our planet. Some are found on sands with an admixture of stones, on shell rocks.

Sea stars come in a variety of colors. For example, the Pacific star is dark purple. There is also a black star. It is easy to distinguish by the black color of the back. There are dark gray starfish, and on the rays against a dark background there may be yellowish and whitish spots, sometimes located in the form of stripes.

The Japanese star lives in the waters of Japan. The dorsal side of her bright crimson, often with an admixture of purple hues. The tips of the needles and the belly are whitish.

But the most beautiful starfish is the reticulated one. Her belly is orange. On the crimson back are rows of turquoise-blue needles. It seems that they form a network or fancy bright patterns. Therefore, they gave it starfish name - mesh.

Sea stars are mobile animals. They walk along the shores of the seas and oceans with the help of tiny legs. Under a microscope, several elongated "bones" can be seen on her body, working like scissors or tongs. With these tongs, the starfish cleans off various insects that bite it - because they like to sit on such comfortable "hosts" as stars.

The starfish usually feeds on other animals, mainly mollusks. For example, a shell is not such a reliable protection for a mollusk. The star clasps the shell with his hands, sticks to it with his legs and, due to muscle tension, pushes the shell flaps apart and eats. But mollusks also sometimes resist and do not allow themselves to be caught. They, having felt the approach of a starfish, release a mantle between the valves and manage to “wrap” the entire shell in it: the tentacles of the starfish slide along the saucer, and it is not possible to grab it.

Sometimes starfish even eat sea urchins that are as prickly as themselves. The starfish is a real predator. Her abilities are very diverse.

Starfish are able to absorb objects, sometimes several times larger than themselves in size. To do this, they have a curious device: they crawl on the victim from above and turn the stomach out through the mouth, surrounding potential food from all sides, as if in a kind of bag. Gastric juice is secreted into this sac, and digestion takes place in it. A few hours later, the star collapses its stomach and crawls away.

Majority starfish play the role of orderlies of the seabed, eating all kinds of remains of dead animals.

Sometime 50 years ago, people deliberately destroyed starfish. There were too many of them, and they exterminated many marine animals. Hundreds of people went out to sea in boats and boats and, protecting their hands with gloves, collected starfish, loaded them into baskets and took them ashore.

But the starfish still did not get smaller. They began to destroy coral reefs, turning them into a lifeless desert. Once upon a time, the bottom of the Pacific coast was covered with magnificent gardens of coral colonies, which looked like a wonderful underwater kingdom. Now it's deserted because of harmful influence sea ​​stars. Those coral reefs that still exist are sometimes hidden under huge moving clusters of starfish, after the invasion of which, life leaves the reef.

Scientists have come to the conclusion that a scientific research program is needed that would allow a thorough study of the relationship between starfish and other inhabitants of coral reefs in order to restore balance.

SEA urchins- very prickly creatures. Their whole body is protected by long, sharp needles, attached to the body with the help of ingeniously arranged hinges.

Stepping on such a hedgehog is both painful and dangerous: its needles are covered with mucus saturated with bacteria that cause severe suppuration. With the help of poisonous needles, sea urchins fight enemies, such as starfish. However, not all sea urchins are so dangerous and scary. Most of them are completely harmless to humans.

Some flat hedgehogs covered with such small needles that their surface seems more velvety than prickly.

Sea urchins are the most multi-legged animals in the world. The total number of legs in sea urchins is huge. They are shaped like suckers. With the help of legs, the animal can not only move from place to place and crawl even on sheer cliffs, but also firmly attached to stones and soil in places where there are many waves. The hedgehog, as it were, sticks to what it stands on so that it is not washed away with water.

Sea urchins live on rocks, stones, coral reefs. Some burrow into the ground or sand. Sometimes on the seashore, sea urchins gather in such numbers that their spines touch each other. Some species occupy various depressions in the rocks, others are able to drill their own shelters that serve as protection from the waves. Often, hedgehogs cover themselves with fragments of shells, pieces of algae or small stones, apparently to protect themselves from exposure to direct sunlight or to disguise themselves from enemies. There are species that hide under stones all day and come out to feed only at night.

They eat what they can catch in the water or on land. For example, mollusks, which are gnawed with powerful teeth. They hunt very interestingly. As soon as some animal touches the hedgehog, its legs immediately begin to move and try to grab the prey. As soon as one of the legs manages to catch the prey, the hedgehog squeezes it tightly and holds it until the prey dies. After that, the prey is passed from one leg to another until it reaches the mouth. When feeding, hedgehogs hold food with needles, push it into their mouths and bite off small pieces. With the help of sharp teeth, sea urchins can scrape algae from the surface of stones and capture other food.

But neither sharp needles nor teeth can sometimes save a hedgehog from enemies. It is very interesting to deal with sea urchins such an animal as sea ​​otter. She collects in coastal waters sea ​​urchins, takes them in its front paws and swims on its back, holding the prey on its chest in front of it, then smashes the urchin shells on rocks or other hard objects and eats the eggs. Birds forage for sea urchins at low tide. Birds have been observed to drop collected hedgehogs from a height onto stones, break them and peck out the soft parts.

People also eat sea urchins. The caviar of sea urchins is especially valued. Hedgehogs spawn several times a year.

The mother hedgehog spawns, then carries it on her back all the time. Larvae emerge from the eggs. And from the larvae - hedgehogs. Hedgehogs grow rather slowly, reaching adult sizes within a few years. Only then do they become independent.

SEA HORSE- a strange, charming creature. He has a head like a small horse, a flexible tail like a monkey, an external skeleton like an insect and an abdominal pocket like a kangaroo. These features, inherent in other animals, make the seahorse unlike most fish, and it behaves unusually. And yet this little creature is a real fish. Their size is about 30 centimeters, there are seahorses and 2 centimeters each.

Sea Horse has its own special style of movement: it floats proudly, like the leader of a majestic parade. Working with barely noticeable fins at an incredible speed - up to 35 strokes per second, it glides smoothly.

Seahorses usually live in the water near the shore among algae. Barbed armor protects them from danger. A seahorse has bones both inside and out. The internal skeleton is the same as that of all fish, and the external one is made of bone plates. When a seahorse dies and decomposes, the outer skeleton retains its shape. People are so fascinated by this strange fish that they use dried seahorses for jewelry and inlays.

The seahorse's head is designed in such a way that it can only move it up and down, but cannot turn it around.

If other animals were so arranged, they would have problems with their eyesight. However, the seahorse, due to its special structure, never has such problems. His eyes are not connected to each other and move independently of each other, can move and look in different directions. Therefore, although the seahorse cannot turn its head, it can easily observe what is happening around.

The most amazing thing about seahorses is that the cubs are born to dad. On his stomach, the skate dad has a bag in which he carries caviar. From this caviar fry appear. After the appearance of fry, the skate carries them in a bag for some time. Bending the body in an upward arc, he opens the bag, and the fry come out of it for a walk, but in case of danger they again hide there. Immediately after birth, small skates must rise to the surface of the water and take air into their swim bladders, otherwise they will die by suffocation.

Almost all fish swim with their tails, but not the seahorse. Its unusual tail, long and thin, is not crowned with a fin and is more like a hand. The seahorse tightly wraps its tail around algae or corals and can stand frozen for hours. And if it happens that two seahorses clash with their tails, then they have to play tug of war.

Seahorse weddings are very interesting. They sing and dance. They walk "under the arm" (weaving their tails) and gracefully spin among the algae. Seahorses cannot live long alone. If a husband or wife dies, then through a short time dies of longing and another fad. That's what the legends say.

Seahorses are masters of camouflage, changing color to match their surroundings. Blending into the background, they both protect themselves from predators and camouflage themselves while hunting for food.

Seahorses are unusually voracious. They catch everything living that can fit in their mouth. Their mouth acts like a pipette: when the cheeks of the skate swell sharply, the prey is sharply drawn into the mouth.

Skates feed mainly on small crustaceans. Having noticed a crustacean, the seahorse examines it for a second or two and then draws in the crustacean even at a distance of several centimeters. Young seahorses are able to eat for 10 hours a day and eat 3-4 thousand crustaceans during this time.

In nature, there are only a few natural enemies seahorses are shrimp, crab, clownfish and tuna. In addition, they are often eaten by dolphins.

The most serious enemies of these creatures are people: seahorses are endangered.

The main reasons for the extinction of this species are: water pollution, destruction of natural habitats, fishing for the aquatic trade, accidentally getting caught in nets while catching shrimp or other fish.

Since the Middle Ages, seahorses have been credited with healing properties, once they were even used in the preparation of magical potions.

More than 20 million skates are caught and killed every year.

CRAB- pugnacious creatures.

Fights between crabs are always preceded by threatening demonstrations: they rise to outstretched legs, spreading claws. All this is necessary to appear larger: usually in fights, the larger one wins. The menacing postures of one crab are most often exactly repeated by the other, so that immediately before the fight, both fighters stand in front of each other in the same position for quite a long time, assessing the size and mood of the enemy. A small crab, as a rule, retreats without a fight, but if the difference in size is small, it can win, in which case the fight is longer and more furious. It is very important who starts the fight, because the one who starts first usually wins, even if he is smaller. Demonstration of strength in crabs is just as common and important as, for example, in dogs.

Some crabs get seriously injured after a fight. Large crabs fight longer than small ones, and it doesn't matter if they fight with an enemy larger or smaller than themselves.

During a fight, crabs begin to breathe more often. The longer and more intense the fight, the faster the fighters breathe. The respiratory rate increases equally in the winner and the loser, but after the fight the winner calms down much faster than the loser, who even after a day breathes more often than usual.

Often contractions follow one after the other. For example, a crab has just fought with one opponent and immediately starts fighting with another.

Crabs do not live only in fights, they also know tender feelings. Everyone knows how monkeys express friendship: they search each other, choose insects from wool (or pretend to choose) and eat them. So, something similar is characteristic of some crabs.

Researchers have found that there are two types of alien purge in crabs: long-term purge and short-term purge. A cleaner crab approaches another crab slowly, on half-bent legs, and cleans it for about a minute. The crab, which is being cleaned, feeds on silt all this time, and after the procedure, already clean, it goes into a hole.

With short-term cleaning, everything happens a little differently. The cleaning crab, rapidly rising above the bottom surface, approaches the object of cleaning. Cleaning lasts no more than 15 seconds. How much can you collect in these moments? The crab, which is being cleaned, stands calmly and motionless. Such cleaning is observed mainly in the summer.

It happens that a large crab - the owner of a hole - attacks a small one that approaches its dwelling. Then the small crab begins the procedure of long-term cleaning of the large one - it calms down and calmly goes into the hole. So this behavior is a way to calm the aggressor. And, of course, cleaning is beneficial - well, is it bad to become clean, since you can’t reach your own back with claws?

Crabs live in colonies on muddy shores, dig deep holes. During the day, at low tide, they roam the drained areas, collect a thin upper layer of silt with claws, roll balls out of it and send it to the mouth, and spend the night (and at high tide, when the water is stormy and there are many waves) in holes.

Crabs have a small body. They have sharp claws. With their help, they move and collect food for themselves, and also fight. Some of them are good swimmers. They are called "floaters". The rear legs can work like paddles. Most swimming crabs are predators roaming the bottom. Although they are able to swim, but not for long.

There are such huge crabs that reach a length of 1.5 meters and weigh about eight kilograms. One adult person will not be able to lift such a crab. These crabs are called king crabs. They are less mobile than other crabs, lie in wait for prey, hiding at the bottom among pebbles, plants or digging into the sand.

Under the shell, the body of the molluscs is soft. There is a head, a body and one leg. This leg is needed for burrowing into the sand at the bottom. It helps the mollusc move around and even attach itself to rocks like a sucker. Under the shell is a skin fold - the mantle. The shell, like a shell, covers the body of the mollusk, which can be easily injured.

On the underside of the head is usually placed a mouth with a pharynx, in which is located a muscular tongue with teeth, similar to a grater. With its tongue, the animal scrapes the soft surface of plants. On the sides of the head are sensitive tentacles - the sense organs. With these tentacles, the mollusk touches objects and understands what it is. Near the tentacles are the eyes.

All mollusks move very slowly.

There are mollusks in which the shell consists of two halves. Scientists call them bivalves. Their body consists of a trunk and legs and is covered with a mantle. At the posterior end of the body, the folds of the mantle are pressed against each other, forming two siphons: lower and upper. Through the lower siphon, water enters the mantle and washes the gills. And through the upper siphon, water is thrown out.

There are molluscs called "chitons". Their form strikes with variety, and beauty with perfection. Because of this beauty, they are made into necklaces and amulets that can decorate the human body and vases.

Shells after the death of a mollusk usually end up on the bottom surface. During wind waves or storms, they are thrown onto gentle sandy beaches and often form large clusters, turning the deserted coast into a motley carpet of colors.

However, the "life" of empty shells on the beaches is short-lived. Under the influence of waves, high tides, wind surges and precipitation some of them again fall to hard-to-reach depths, the other part is destroyed. However, after some time, a new storm or waves of a different direction bring new shells to the shore. You can walk along the coast of the sea or ocean and collect shells.

The collection of shells can be useful for various crafts and decorations.

A report about marine animals will briefly tell a lot of learning information. Also, information about marine life will deepen your knowledge of biology and help you prepare for the lesson.

Message about marine life

More than 2/3 of the planet's surface is covered by oceans and seas. Life is in full swing in sea waters: both microscopic organisms and large inhabitants live here, like the whale shark, the blue whale. It is noteworthy that all marine animals directly or indirectly depend on the plankton they feed on. It is at the base of the marine food chain. Underwater sea ​​world quite varied. Picturesque animals with a variety of body shapes, fins, patterns on the body, and coloring live at depths of many meters. The inhabitants of the seas are divided into such groups - mammals; invertebrates; turtles and snakes; crustaceans and fish.

• invertebrate marine animals

Invertebrates lack an axial skeleton. These include crustaceans, sea anemones and corals, sea anemones, sponges, sea worms. In size, they are very different - tiny as zooplankton and gigantic as cephalopods. Some swim freely in the water, others are attached to the bottom or stone all their lives, others are equipped with bristles or tentacles.

• shellfish

This is the most large group sea ​​animals. It includes snails, bivalves, sea slugs and octopuses.

• marine mammals

Their life is either wholly or partly connected with the marine environment. Representatives marine mammals are (true seals, eared seals, walruses), sirens, representatives of the bear families ( polar bear) and mustelids (sea otter and sea otter).

• Crustaceans

The class of arthropods of aquatic animals includes crabs, spiny lobsters, crayfish, lobsters and shrimps. Shellfish are the most valuable products, as they are rich in iodine, protein, phosphorus and other substances. Some are listed in the Red Book.

• Fish

They make up the majority of marine life. Pelagic fish live near the surface of the sea and its upper layers; bottom and bottom fish live at the bottom and in the bottom horizons. Commercial marine fish are bred in artificial reservoirs.

In this section of the site you will read how and where sea animals live, you can learn interesting facts about them, see photos of sea animals!

More than two thirds of the earth's surface is covered by seas and oceans. This huge mass of water is necessary for life on our planet: the winds carry moisture around the world, it evaporates and is restored again in the form of rain and snow, nourishing the vegetable and animal world. The sea is teeming with life, and oddly enough, both microscopic and the largest marine life, such as the blue whale, manta or whale shark, feed on a large amount of food invisible to the naked eye - plankton.

Jellyfish more than 90% consists of water; some jellyfish can cause a painful burn.

At octopus eight tentacles; he lives on seabed and can change color to suit its environment.

Turtle hawksbill (caretta)- very dexterous swimmer; Feeds mainly on jellyfish and crustaceans. Lays eggs in the sand on the shores of small bays.

Blue whale- this is the largest animal in the world: one female, caught in 1947, weighed 190 tons. A baby blue whale is born eight meters long and weighs up to three tons.

Marine life consists of algae- plants without a stem. Their life depends on sunlight, and therefore at great depths, where the rays of the sun do not penetrate, there are no algae.

moon fish usually swims in the open sea almost at the very surface, which is why its fin that has appeared from the water is often mistaken for a shark fin; unlike her, the moon-fish is completely harmless.

Angler. This amazing predatory fish lures its prey by shaking its "antenna", at the end of which there is a growth that looks like a delicious worm.

Zebra winged. Its spectacular appearance is fraught with serious danger - on the back of this fish is a fin that releases poison as strong as that of a cobra.

Needle fish. It hunts in a completely unique way: it approaches the prey, often hiding behind other fish, and with lightning speed sucks it into its long "beak". According to its characteristics, the needlefish is very similar to the seahorse.

Acne. For centuries, scientists since the Greek philosopher Aristotle have tried to understand how this fish reproduces. Today it is known that she spawns in the Sargasso Sea, between Bermuda and the Caribbean. The little larvae travel many thousands of kilometers to return to the rivers where their parents come from. The eel is a very strong fish; found in fresh water and maybe for a long time stay out of the water: part of its path is often done on land.

Sea birds. The sea provides food for many animals living on the coast. Among them are numerous sea birds. These birds have a lot in common: they all fly perfectly, can sink into the water, swim with webbed feet, and their beaks are adapted to fishing. Many of them, such as the cormorant, are able to chase fish underwater.

Cormorant. The inhabitants of Japan taught this bird to fish: with each fish caught, the bird returns to its owner.

Gull. Many different types of seabirds are called gulls. Flocks of seagulls can often be seen chasing fishing boats returning from fishing: they pick up waste that sailors throw overboard. Seagulls have learned to find food even in landfills in the interior of the mainland at a distance of tens of kilometers from the sea.

Frigate. The male of this large, living on the banks warm seas, during courtship, inflates a huge bright red goiter to attract the attention of the female.

Sea depths.

Far from the coast, at great depths, algae do not grow, which need sunlight; there is only phytoplankton formed by microscopic algae floating freely in the water. For this reason, predators are found mainly at great depths; other fish are content with phyto and zooplankton. Consisting of the smallest invertebrates.

In open water spaces, where there are no shelters, only large sizes can instill fear in a predator and prevent an attack. Therefore, only far from the coast and large marine life is found: from cetaceans, such as killer whales and whales, to large fish, such as shark, tuna or swordfish.

Small fish use other methods of protection: flying fish jump high out of the water, and sardines and mackerel find salvation in the fact that they gather in large flocks.

The Earth is washed by four oceans: Indian, Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific. The largest is the Pacific Ocean, its area is 180 million square kilometers. The average depth of the oceans is about 4,000 meters. The vast extent and depth do not allow to explore the bottom of the oceans; in fact, it is extremely difficult and expensive to create machines that can withstand highest pressure that exists in the deep sea.

The greatest depth of the ocean is the Mariinsky Trench in pacific ocean: 11,022 meters.

Flying fish. Flying fish have strongly developed lateral fins, with the help of which it makes gliding flights above the sea surface, escaping from predators.

A complex combination of winds, currents, and alternating tides cause the waves to move. Waves above 10 meters rarely rise on the sea, but waves even more than 30 meters high have been observed.

Plankton.

A large number of microscopic organisms swim in the sea, which are not able to resist the currents - animals (zooplankton) and vegetable (phytoplankton) in their origin; together they make plankton. Carried by the currents, it serves as food for the smallest fish and crustaceans, as well as for huge mammals, such as the blue whale. Animals that are able to actively swim form a nekton.

Zooplankton- part of plankton formed by animal organisms.

Phytoplankton- this is that part of the plankton, which consists of microscopic algae floating in the water. A large amount of phytoplankton and gives sea ​​water characteristic greenish color.

Millions of microscopic organisms, invisible to the naked eye, live in one liter of water. They not only constitute the food of marine animals, but are also necessary for the restoration of oxygen.

cetaceans.

it large mammals, inhabitants of the seas and oceans. Over millions of years of evolution, their body has acquired a shape similar to that of the body of fish, thanks to which they swim quickly. But cetaceans, unlike fish, cannot breathe rarefied oxygen. They need to breathe air, so they are forced to float to the surface of the sea from time to time. Their young are born in the water; immediately after birth, the mother pushes them to the surface to take their first breath. This is a very crucial moment, and parents should be extremely careful not to meet with a predator.

The smallest of the cetaceans is the dolphin, and the largest is the sity whale, which is also the largest animal in the world.

"The fountain". It may appear that whales exhale water spray; in fact, what we see is a jet of air mixed with a small amount of water.

Ivasy whale (seyval), humpback and blue whales feed on plankton, which they filter through frequent horny plates called baleen. These plates prevent large animals from getting into their mouths, so these whales do not need teeth.

Humpback whale. Unlike other whales that prefer the open sea, the humpback whale lives close to the coast, sometimes even swimming in bays and rivers. Despite its mass of 30 tons, this frisky animal loves to "dance" leaning out of the water.

Sperm whale. This large animal reaches up to 20 meters in length. It feeds mainly on cephalopods, such as squid, as well as fish. Getting food, he can dive to a depth of two thousand meters, where there are giant squids weighing several centners. A sperm whale can hold its breath for almost two hours!

Narwhal. Because of the long straight tooth, similar to a horn, the narwhal cannot be confused with anyone else. This friendly animal lives in the cold Arctic waters.

killer whale. Has a reputation for being cruel and very dangerous predator; in fact, the killer whale, like other carnivores, attacks the animals that it feeds on, but there is no evidence that it attacked people.

Dolphin. Dolphins are very easy to tame due to the fact that they are very intelligent and have exceptional learning abilities. Dolphins, like all cetaceans, make many different sounds; this their dolphin "language" is studied by scientists. Dolphins are unusually friendly; once it was a dolphin who saved a shipwrecked man from sharks attacking him.

Sharks. These are very ancient fish; due to the streamlined shape of the body, when moving forward, sharks experience the most negligible resistance of water, therefore they swim very quickly. Unlike fish, sharks reproduce by laying eggs; some place them at the bottom, attaching them to algae or rocks, in others the eggs develop completely in the mother's body, and the cubs are born already formed. Sharks range from fearsome predators like the blue shark to peaceful plankton eaters like the huge whale shark, which, despite its fearsome appearance, is completely harmless. The whale shark is the largest fish in the world, its body length reaches 12 meters! The blue shark is thought to be a man-eating shark and there is plenty of evidence that it attacks shipwrecked people and bathers.

Gray shark. Lives in tropical seas, scouring the shallows for fish and crustaceans. It does not attack people, but if a person gets scared and tries to flee, this shark can become very dangerous.

Sawfish. It is found in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. A distinct feature is the long and flat snout with small teeth arranged like the teeth of a saw. It serves the fish for combing the sandy bottom in search of small prey. Occasionally, the sawfish uses its "nose" to protect itself from enemies. Often the shark is accompanied by pilot fish; they feed on leftover shark food and, oddly enough, they are not attacked by sharks. There is an opinion that the pilot fish shows the shark the way to large schools of fish. In fact, this is just a legend, devoid of any foundation.

Skat. It has a strongly flattened body, which gives the impression that it "flies" through the water. Basically, the stingray lives at the bottom, at moderate depths, where it is remarkably camouflaged. Some species of stingray have a long spike on their back that releases a strong poison. In the mouth, located on the belly, there are a lot of sharp teeth.

Tiger shark. This fish is called so because of the color of the skin. She swims close to the shore and feeds on everything: fish and crustaceans, birds and mammals.

Dark.

Sunlight does not penetrate deeper than several tens of meters through the water column. Below is constant darkness, and it is impossible to distinguish day from night. Plants cannot live without light, so there are no algae here at all. This is the reason that only predatory fish live at the depths, which lure prey in various ingenious ways.

Many deep-sea fish have special luminous organs, the so-called phosphors; they serve as bait before which other fish cannot resist and, attracted by such a "bait", are often eaten.

Deep-sea fish are able to withstand the highest pressure, moreover, they do not tolerate low pressure, and if they surfaced, they would die.

Organic matter slowly sinks to the bottom of the ocean - the remains of animals and plants that died in the surface layers. All this makes up the food of small benthic animals - this is the name of the totality of organisms living on the bottom. The benthos, in turn, serves as food for fish and larger mollusks, which are on the lookout for other predators that penetrate the depths of the sea from shallower layers, such as the sperm whale, which can dive to depths despite the fact that it breathes atmospheric air.

Giant squid. One representative of this species of animals, "stranded" on the island of Newfoundland in Canada, weighed two tons. In giant squids, the length of the body, together with tentacles, reaches 13 - 18 meters, it is even suggested that they get involved in the abyss of the oceans in fierce battles with sperm whales: on the body of which traces left by tentacles are often noticed, and the remains of giant squids are found in the stomachs.

Pelican-like bigmouth.

Always swims in the dark, holding a huge mouth wide open; thus he collects all the food that comes across his path.

Woody linophrine. About this deep sea fish very little is known due to the difficulty of studying it in natural environment a habitat. Probably, most of the time she lies quietly at the bottom, shaking her long antennae with a luminophor - a luminous organ located on her head. Other fish, caught on such a bait, inevitably end their lives in the throat of linophrine.

Coral reefs.

corals- these are small animals, in the colonies of which there are millions of individuals, live in tropical seas, attached to their bottom. Over time, one calcareous skeleton generated by them grows and forms real coral reefs in coastal zones, on which waves break; because of this, between the coast and the coral fence, the sea is calmer, as in a harbor.

coral reef- an ideal habitat for both animals and plants: the sea is calm and warm, there is a lot of sunlight. If you look underwater through a scuba mask, you can see countless different picturesque fish "walking" among starfish and sea anemones.

If you dive on the other side of the reef, in the direction high seas, there may be a feeling of severe dizziness: the bottom is no more - only the water is bright blue color.

The largest coral reef, with a length of more than 2000 kilometers, is located along the coast of Australia. These coral fortresses are called the great quarry reef and pose a serious danger to sailors.

Atolls. The tops of underwater volcanoes can rise above the water, forming small islands, or they can be located close to the surface of the ocean. If coral colonies form around them, they take an almost round shape, forming atolls - coral islands.

Madrepores. Relatives of corals are also formed by colonies of calcareous polyps. At night, they extend their tentacles, grabbing food consisting of plankton.

At the coast.

In the ocean near the coast, the most favorable conditions for the prosperity of the inhabitants underwater world: sunlight penetrates the water, promoting the rapid growth of algae and providing food for animals that feed on them; these animals, in turn, themselves serve as food for predatory fish. And finally, the movement of the waves, which never reaches a depth of more than a few tens of meters, here causes mixing at the bottom, which contributes to its fertility.

The bottom can be rocky, muddy or sandy, sometimes covered with algae. In accordance with the type of the seabed, it is inhabited by various animals. For example, on a sandy bottom you can meet a flounder that hides in the sand, burrowing halfway into it, and an octopus finds shelter on a rocky bottom, where it is almost invisible among the rocks.

Among the rocks washed by the sea, hospitable to countless animals, there is busy life. Some of the local inhabitants, such as mussels, patellas, urchins, starfish and sea anemones, do not swim. Shaded by crevices and cliffs hide crustaceans, octopuses and fish such as sargus, grouper, rock bass and moray eels. The flounder and the dragon hide in the sand, and the sultan explores it with her long antennae in search of food. All this potential prey attracts to the coast hunting fish living in the open sea - laurels, large serioles and Zubans.

Sea urchins. When swimming in the sea, you need to be very careful not to step on these animals: the consequences can be the saddest! The mouth of a sea urchin is called an Aristotelian lantern and contains five constantly growing teeth. Some hedgehogs have short and frequent spines, while others have long and sparse ones. They differ in color.

Crustaceans. All these animals, mostly marine, have two pairs of antennae, and some have two more solid claws that can close with force. During the day, they usually hide in crevices of rocks, but at night they become active and go in search of food, usually consisting of molluscs and dead animals.

spiny lobster found in the seas almost all over the world; its mass can reach eight kilograms.

Lobster like lobster, it is a very popular marine product; lobsters are caught with the help of special traps - tops. Unlike the spiny lobster, it has claws.

A distinctive feature of the crab is a specific way to move sideways.

Crustaceans have a permanent burrow, where they will certainly return after nightly forays for food: this indicates that crustaceans have a good sense of orientation. Some of them, for example, spiny lobsters, make massive migrations over long distances.

State budget preschool educational institution Kindergarten №67 combined type Krasnoselsky district

G. St. Petersburg "The Magician".

Summary of the event on the theme "Inhabitants of the seas and oceans" for children of the middle group

Technologies: information and communication, gaming, health-saving

Compiled and conducted

Teacher Nikitina S.M.

St. Petersburg

2014

Synopsis of the event on the topic:

"Inhabitants of the seas and oceans" for children of the middle group

Target: Expand, deepen and consolidate children's knowledge about the inhabitants of the seas and oceans.

Tasks:

Continue to acquaint children with marine animals, some representatives (whale, shark, dolphin, sea turtle, crab, jellyfish, octopus, sea horse): their appearance, movement patterns, adaptability to life in the aquatic environment, nutrition, behavior; to acquaint with some forms of protection of marine life.

To intensify cognitive activity: to cultivate a desire to learn more about marine life, to develop the curiosity of children.

Develop fine motor skills.

Enrich and activate children's vocabulary.

Cultivate a caring attitude towards wildlife.

Preliminary work:acquaintance with the sea, its vastness, beauty, specificity; acquaintance with some marine inhabitants: fish, with the features of their appearance, diversity, beauty; a conversation with children on the topic “How I rested in the summer at sea” (a story from personal experience); watching the informative animated film "Inhabitants of the Seas and Oceans"; listening to music "Sounds of the sea"; work with puzzles maritime theme; looking at shells, sea soil (small pebbles); p / and "The sea is worried"; drawing a fish reading S. Sakharnov's stories "Whale", "Octopus", "Medusa", "Sea Urchin", "Pufferfish, or Fish - Hedgehog"; viewing illustrations of the sea and marine life.

Material: illustrations with marine animals; riddles on the marine theme; finger games; poem by V. Lanzetti "Colorful octopus"; red cardboard, a set of cardboard geometric shapes of different colors.

Lesson progress:

Educator: Today we will talk about the inhabitants of the seas and oceans. What marine life do you know?

Children's answers.

Educator: Right. The seas are home to many different kinds of animals. And they are not exactly like animals living on earth. There are also sea cows, and fur seals, and starfish, sea urchins, fish - a needle, fish - butterflies, there are fish - clowns. There are animals that are safe for humans, and there are also dangerous ones. Let's get to know them better, shall we?

Well then, let's go on a trip! Let's get to know the marine life.

What will we travel on? (reasoning of children). Guess the riddle:

The palace floats on the waves,

Are people lucky?

Children's answers.

Educator: That's right, this is a ship.

We will now board our ship and set off!

(Children take their places on an improvised "ship" made up of chairs. The melody "Free Wind" sounds).

Are you seated? Please take your binoculars to make it easier to observe the expanses of the sea and its inhabitants. Connect the thumb with the rest of the fingers of the palm, folded together, and round them. Put the resulting "donuts" to your eyes, as if looking through binoculars.

What do you see? I see the endless expanses of the sea, it is blue - the sky is reflected in it, I see light waves.

Let's draw the sea and the waves. Bend your elbows in front of you, interlacing your fingers. Raise your elbows alternately, making wave-like movements.

While we were depicting waves, the first marine life appeared on the horizon. Listen to the riddle and try to determine who it is:

Island with water palm

Say hello to me!

He puffs offendedly:

"I'm not an island! I…”?

Children: Keith!

Teacher: That's right guys. This is a whale. Why was it compared in a riddle to an island?

Children: It's huge. If his back appears from the water - like a piece of land, an island.

Educator: And what is this "water palm tree" on his back?

Children: This is a fountain.

Educator: Where is this fountain from? - (children's reasoning).

Educator: These are the nostrils that are at the top of the head, and from them, when the animal breathes, a fountain of steam comes out. What else can you say about this wonderful marine life? - (children's statements)

Educator (clarifying and summarizing the statements): That's right. The whale is the largest animal in the world. (Shows an illustration). The body is slender, strongly elongated, rounded, smooth, instead of the front paws it has two fins, and instead of the back legs it has a large, fish-like tail. All this he needs in order to easily move in the water. The body color is dark gray with a bluish tint.

Tell me, please, is the whale a fish or not? - (children's statements).

Educator: Whales are not fish. They, like fish, live in water, but breathe air, floating to the surface of the sea. They feed their young with milk. There are such huge whales that they weigh as much as 25 elephants or more. Some whales have teeth, others don't. Toothless people have mustaches instead of teeth. Such whales feed on small crustaceans, krill. They are eaten in large quantities, as they are large - they require a lot of food. They swallow a large amount of water with various small living creatures, then the water seeps through the mustache, as if through a sieve, and the prey remains in the mouth.

In general, whales are very diverse: there are hulks, and there are relatively small ones.

Now take your binoculars back and see if the next sea dweller has appeared on the horizon?

I see, guess who:

He is a real circus performer -

Kicks the ball with his nose.

They know both the French and the Finn:

Likes to play..?

Children: Dolphin!

Teacher: That's right guys. (Shows an illustration).

What do you know about dolphins? - (children's statements).

Educator (specifying and summarizing the statements): They are one of the smartest and most useful animals for humans. A man teaches them to find sunken ships, drive fish into the net, dolphins protect people from sharks, save drowning people. And for the ability to jump high out of the water and deftly perform various tricks, they were nicknamed "sea acrobats". This is a very friendly animal, it, like a person, breathes with lungs. Dolphins are a type of toothed whale and, unlike fish, cannot breathe underwater. They breathe air, rising to the surface from time to time. They can stay under water for a long time due to the fact that they can hold their breath for a long time. Dolphins are very playful, like whales, they live and hunt in a flock, help each other and do not quarrel with their relatives.

And what do they eat? - (children's answers: eat fish)

Fizminutka

Guys, let's draw whales and dolphins. Jump into the water! First you are whales: interlace your fingers, stretch your arms in front of you and round them. Swim, whales! (Children run after each other around the perimeter of the group room, depicting a "whale").

And now you are dolphins: put your hands together with your palms, stretch your arms forward, connect your thumbs and set them aside - this is the fin of a dolphin. Make wave-like movements with your hands left - right, up - down, showing how the dolphin swims. Swim, dolphins!

Educator: Well done. Swim and go again. To the ship!

Look through binoculars. Guess who I saw this time?

This fish is an evil predator,

Everyone will be swallowed up.

Showing her teeth, she yawned

And went to the bottom...?

Children: Shark.

Educator: Of course, this is a shark. (Shows an illustration).

What do you know about sharks? - (children's statements).

Educator (specifying and summarizing): Sharks are large, fast, toothy fish. Their teeth grow in several rows and are sharp as a saw. They breathe under water thanks to the gills with air dissolved in water. They are very greedy and mobile.

Let's take a look through the binoculars again. Don't you see anyone? Then guess what next marine life I discovered:

For myself at the bottom of the sea

He builds a house with claws.

Round shell, ten paws.

Guessed? It..?

Children: Crab.

Educator: Right. (Shows an illustration).

What can you say about this animal? - (children's statements).

Educator (specifying and summarizing): The body of this animal resembles a smooth thick cake with small eyes and short antennae. The crab does not know how to swim, but quickly runs sideways, walks along the bottom of the sea. He has 10 legs: 8 serve to move, and the two front turned into claws. With their help, he defends himself from enemies and cuts his food into pieces, then sending it to his mouth.

Crabs collect garbage, clean the seabed.

Traveling along the bottom, crabs are forced to hide from predators and disguise themselves. They put on pieces of seaweed, often picking up everything that gets into their claws - empty shells, glass shards, fish heads - and puts it on their backs. Such "decorations" perfectly mask the crab. When a crab is in danger, it exposes its back to the predator with rubbish.

So, what's on the horizon again? Ready for the next riddle?

Pear with long legs

Settled in the ocean.

As many as eight arms and legs!

Is it a miracle..?

Children: Octopus.

Teacher: That's right guys. This is an octopus. (Shows an illustration). Why do you think it was called an octopus? - (children's statements).

Educator: An amazing cephalopod: a head and eight legs (arms, tentacles). The octopus has suction cups on its tentacles, so it can hold any little thing. It crawls using tentacles and suckers. Often prefers to sit in a shelter, in order to avoid the attack of a predator. They settle on the rocky bottom, where there are many caves in which you can hide. They feed on small marine animals. They can change their color, disguise themselves as the surrounding area. (Demonstrates the phenomenon of masking: he applies a geometric figures different colors, it turns out that figures of the same color are better “camouflaged” on a red background).

And he can also let paint (ink) escape from the pursuer.

By the color of the octopus, you can determine its mood: a very frightened octopus is white, at the moment of anger, rage it acquires a reddish tint.

Fizminutka

Get down to the sea. We all turn into octopuses. Let's move our tentacles:

I don't recognize myself

I never get tired of changing my color.

Was in polka dots an hour ago

And now I'm striped.

I swim up to the corals -

I become scarlet - scarlet.

Here I am a clown - an octopus -

Eight colorful legs!

I can become blacker than the night -

Turn off the light. Goodnight!

(Children portray octopuses)

Educator: And now we return to the ship. And here's another riddle for you:

Stone shell - shirt.

And in a shirt..?

Children: Turtle.

The teacher shows the illustration and asks: What can you say about the sea turtle? - (children's statements).

Educator: There are land turtles, and there are marine ones. They are fully adapted to life in the water. Their paws turned into flippers, and the shell became much smaller and lighter. A sea turtle cannot hide in it, like a land turtle in its own. In the water they are mobile and graceful, but on land they move slowly. Turtle at sea ​​turtles hatch from eggs that mother turtles lay in the sand on the seashore.

Listen to the following riddle:

Guess what kind of horses

Rushing into the sea from the chase?

I could hide in the algae

Little marine..?

Children: Skate.

The teacher shows an illustration and asks: Why was it called a skate? - (reasoning of children: it looks like a chess piece of a horse).

Educator: Seahorses live in thickets of sea grass. Hiding in it. Each mouth is a tube. They are good parents: dads have bags on their stomachs, a little danger, the fry - yurk, yurk in them - and hid.

And here is the final riddle:

A transparent umbrella floats.

"I'll burn it! - threatens. - Do not touch!

She has paws and a belly.

What is her name?

Children: Medusa.

Educator: (Shows an illustration). What can you say about jellyfish? - (children's statements).

Educator: These are gelatinous creatures. There are a wide variety of shapes and colors, but the body is almost always transparent and very delicate. Meet very poisonous species. They feed on small marine animals.

Well, we're on our way back home. Let's wave to the marine life and promise to meet them again.

Once again we will look through binoculars, admire the expanses of the sea. (Turn on music).

Educator: Well, here we are at home. You can get off the ship. Did you enjoy the trip?

What marine life did we meet today? - (children's answers).

What do you remember the most? - (children's answers).

Would you like to continue to get acquainted with the inhabitants of the sea? - (children's answers).

The sea is always a mystery. Infinite and deep, which mankind has been unraveling for centuries and cannot unravel in any way. ebb and flow, bermuda triangles and the nature of the storms is all, of course, a mystery. But more people interested and continue to interest marine life - from small fish to a huge whale. Each of the species of inhabitants of the underwater world is, in fact, a separate people, practicing their traditions and protecting their tribe in every possible way.

One has only to listen to the stories of divers: not even the most experienced of them keeps in mind some interesting fact about marine life and can spend hours describing amazing landscapes of the deep sea.

People entering the underwater kingdom or a specially equipped viewing aquarium are touched by everything: living corals, colorful baby fish (if you stay away from them) and even vicious sharks - some of them, as it turned out, are not at all bloodthirsty. But smart dolphins have been a hit of human sympathy for many years now.

Intelligent, sociable, capable of empathy

Oceanologists who know a lot about sea creatures have long come to the conclusion that dolphins are the most perfect and unique of them. Firstly, none of the citizens of the underwater state is closer to a person. Moreover, dolphins are very similar to us: they love to have fun and come up with ways to diversify their underwater and above-water leisure activities (for example, they blow air bubbles and rings underwater using their blowhole as a tool); they feel responsible for weakened or distressed relatives, they will never leave an elderly or injured dolphin to the mercy of fate, they are always next to a female whose birth processes are complicated. In all these cases, they are not just present, but help and support.

Dolphin: doctor or medicine?

Dolphins are the friendliest for children, they can become swimming coaches, and nannies in the pool, and a cure for mental disorders, and a number of unpleasant diseases: cerebral palsy, autism, depression. By the way, now even adults are not shy about undergoing dolphin therapy: both pleasant and effective.

By mental capacity among mammals, dolphins rank third.

In favor of the intellectual abilities of these cute mammals, their habit of using improvised means during hunting, for example, to protect their nose from prickly fish with a washcloth, speaks in favor.

In the mouth of a dolphin - a hundred small teeth, which he never uses for its intended purpose - dolphins only capture prey with their teeth, but never chew.

The height of a dolphin's jump above the water can reach 6 meters, and the depth of maximum immersion - up to 305 m, but only during hunting. Dolphins usually live at a depth of 2-10 m.

Miracle-yudo Fish-whale

No less remarkable are the largest marine inhabitants- whales. At the mere mention of these giants, many interesting facts about maxi-sized marine life emerge.

Just because a whale is huge doesn't mean it's clumsy. In the waves, the whales play and frolic like children, demonstrating graceful (almost graceful) diving.

Whales are capable of diving to great depths - up to 1000 m. And the pressure is strikingly different from the pressure on the surface. That's how whales adapt: ​​during the dive, their pulse slows down to ten beats per minute, ensuring that blood flows only to the heart and brain. The skin, fins and tail remain "disconnected" from the energy supply.

The pattern on a whale's tail is as individual as human fingerprints.

There are only two types of mammals in the world that can sing. This is a man and ... a whale. The shortest whale song is about six minutes long, and the longest is half an hour. Both males and females sing. At the same time, it was noticed that whales-“women” are more likely to sing, the songs are intended for their children. And what is most surprising is that whales have no vocal cords at all.

Another interesting fact about marine inhabitants-whales, which cannot be ignored: these giants are constantly busy analyzing the sounds made by the sea. They have a well-developed hearing, but there is no sense of smell and vision is atrophied.

"We are funny jellyfish"

Many representatives really have a very “cheerful” color, just the same carnival. With such a bright appearance, they cannot help but defend themselves, therefore they are poisonous.

Perhaps the following fact is not entirely interesting about marine life, but it is very instructive: when you get to exotic latitudes, you need to be wary of a jellyfish called sea ​​wasp Flecker. She is a killer. She has one fatality every year. Its venom acts as a powerful heart-paralytic agent. The only one effective method escape from a deadly substance - nylon tights. This piece of women's wardrobe is very popular among Queensland fishermen.

And in the Caribbean, farmers have learned to use jellyfish venom to great advantage - with its help they poison rats and other harmful rodents that damage the economy.

The main thing is the drawing on the shell

The most incredible facts about marine life do not arise without human help. And it's not that he composes them - he even provokes them. In the good sense of the word.

For example, the heikegani crabs that live off the coast of Japan survived and developed their population only thanks to the pattern on the shell. He is very reminiscent of the stern face of an angry samurai.

When a crab with such a pattern fell into fishing nets, it was reverently set free, sincerely believing that a restless samurai soul settled in this creature.

Thanks to the belief of Japanese fishermen in reincarnation, an artificial selection mechanism was launched that saved the heikegani from extinction.

The shrimp wants to live too!

For some reason, anyone simultaneously received the status of yummy, is tied to culinary features: weight, amount of protein in milligrams, benefits for the body.

Even a child knows that the tiger shrimp is the largest. But how big is it? The length of the female reaches 36 centimeters, and the weight is 650 grams. Among tigers, there are also kilogram specimens.

Some of these marine crustaceans can kill fish with sound. They are called shooting shrimp and have a device on the claw that can make a loud click, deadly for fish swimming near.

The shrimp also hunts, also defends itself, and is very reluctant to end its life as a snack.

I'm a star!

The most beautiful sea creatures are the stars. Anyone who has seen the bottom covered with these bright creatures claims that all the most curious facts about marine life simply pale in front of this amazing sight.

For the sake of it, divers dive under water with cameras to reveal to the world the real stars of the deep sea.

We can safely state the uniqueness of starfish: they are not fish, because they cannot swim, but move along horizontal and vertical planes with the help of tenacious suction cups.

They are varied in color and shape, but all have the same "figure" - in the form five pointed star. But five rays is not the limit. Maximum - 50.

The star is the only sea ​​creature whose limbs are called hands. It reproduces in two ways: by throwing eggs and sperm into the water or by dividing one individual into parts.

Where do coral beads live?

Like all other types of marine life, corals have their own “zest”, which is interesting not only for researchers of the seas and oceans, but also for fashion boutique researchers.

Corals are thermophilic, therefore, an almost continuous line of reefs is located along the equator, almost along the entire circumference of the planet.

The sea kindly provides a person for observation and study different kinds sea ​​inhabitants. But there are some among them that are frankly scary and unpleasant to study.

The ugliest inhabitants of the ocean depths are recognized as sea devils, or anglers. They live at the greatest depths, as if hiding from prying eyes and realizing their unattractiveness.

The viper fish is also disgusting, before the meal it looks like a standard snake, and after it - like an inflated ball.

Fearsome creatures include the dragonfish, sabertooth fish, bigmouth fish and the Atlantic giant squid.

Interesting facts about marine life - horror stories came from the time of World War II, when surviving sailors from sunken ships spoke with horror about a huge monster that dragged their comrades to the depths.

They really look like people from and live in the darkest corners of the ocean, so meeting with such "fish" is a rarity, although you need to know about their existence. Just in case.