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Barrack
Heights
Public
School
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Sea
Creatures Information
reports written by Year 2
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The
Seahorse
by Naomi Talbot
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Definition:
Seahorses are true fish,
like goldfish.
Description:
The seahorse has a yellow, thick body. It has little yellow
spines around a curved tummy. It has a long, curly tail. The
seahorse has a tube-shaped mouth. It has a thin, long little
fin. It has a pointy little head.
Habitat:
The seahorse lives near
coral reefs and in shallow inlets and rocky areas around the
southeastern coast. Most seahorses live in warm seas, often
in bays sheltered from storms.
Movement:
Seahorses swim upright, drifting in the sea. They move very
slowly. A seahorse swims weakly using its dorsal fin. It can
move this fin back and forth as many as 35 times a
second.
Behaviour:
The seahorse has a curly tail and it can grab a nearby piece
of coral or seaweed with its tail. Its tail can curl around
the seaweed in shallow water.
Food:
The seahorse sucks food up into its tube-shaped mouth
because it doesn't have any teeth. It can eat up to 3,500
shrimps in a day.
Growth:
Seahorses are usually
less than 15 cms. They can grow to 300mm. Some seahorses
only grow to be 8 cms long. It might grow to 30
cms.
Reproduction:
At breeding time, the female pops up to 200 eggs into her
mate's pouch. For the next month, the babies grow safely
inside. They are little. Male seahorses carry the fertilised
eggs that are put there by the female.
Enemies:
The Amberjack is an enemy to a seahorse. A large fish is an
enemy too. A seahorse can change colour to match its habitat
and hide from its enemy.
Protection:
The seahorse can go into seaweed. They are covered in a
layer of tough plates like a suit of armour that protects
them from hungry enemies.
Interesting
Facts: These fish are
called seahorses because of the shape of their heads. The
male seahorse carries the eggs.
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The
Dolphin 1
by Brittany Reynolds
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Definition:
A dolphin is just a
small toothed whale.
Description:
The dolphin has a large
smooth body. It has a short blue tail. The dolphin has a big
blue beak. It has a small blowhole and a curvy fin. The
dolphin also has a pointy fin. It has small round
eyes.
Habitat:
The dolphin is found in
the world's oceans.
Movement:
The dolphin can swim
fast and sometimes leap right out of the water. The powerful
up and down movement of the dolphin's tail or fluke pushes
it forward.
Behaviour:
The clever, playful dolphin has to come to the surface to
breathe fresh air. The stale air is blown out of the
blowhole on top of its head. There is a little hole behind
the dolphin's eye that is its ear. They jump and spin. The
male will gently stroke and rub the female with his head
when mating.
Food:
The dolphin eats fish. They feed on quid, shrimp, octopus
and cuttlefish.
Growth:
Dolphins are between 1.2 and 6 metres long.
Reproduction:
A baby dolphin is called a calf. The female dolphin has one
calf at a time. The baby comes out tail first. The mother
pushes the calf to the surface for its first breath. Then it
swims.
Enemies:
The dolphin's enemies
are whales and sharks.
Protection:
The dolphin hunts in
groups and that protects them from the killer whales and
killer sharks.
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Starfish
by Stephanie
Jakovceska
The underside of a
starfish
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Description:
The starfish has a red shaped body. It has 5 thick arms and
many small red suckers under its body.
Habitat:
The starfish lives on
the bottom of the sea floor. It lives in coral reefs and the
rocky ocean bottom. It is found in temperate and tropical
oceans.
Movement:
They move using tiny
feet on the bottom of each ray. The tiny feet can be filled
with sea water.
Behaviour:
A sea star can regrow
lost arms. A starfish pulls apart shells like mussels or
stars with its tube feet. When it is eating, it pushes out
its stomach over it prey. When finished eating it pulls its
stomach back in.
Food:
Starfish feed on
oysters, clams, snails, sponges and worms.
Size:
Starfish grow to be about 12 centimetres
long.
Babies:
The starfish eggs form into tiny swimming larvae. After a
while each larva settles on the sea bottom and develops into
a starfish.
Enemies:
It has not many enemies. Moray eels eat
starfish.
Protection:
The starfish have tiny eyespots at the tip of each ray. They
see but can't detect light.
Importance:
The starfish is unusual because it is a larva first then it
forms into a starfish.
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The
Emperor Penguin
by Aaron De Oliveira
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Definition:
The Emperor Penguin belongs to the penguin
family.
Description:
The Emperor Penguin has a white tummy. It has webbed feet.
The penguin has a pointy beak. It has sharp claws. It has
little black eyes. They have wings that are stumpy and
fluffy.
Habitat:
The penguin lives in
Antarctica and on ice in freezing seas.
Enemies:
The penguin's enemies are the sea-leopard and killer
whale.
Behaviour:
Penguins cannot fly. They band together in large groups to
keep warm during the winter.
Food:
Penguins eat a variety of fish and squid.
Growth:
Emperor Penguins can grow up to 1.2m. They are the biggest
penguin.
Movement:
The Emperor Penguin
waddles and skates on its belly for hundreds of
kilometres.
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The
Humpback Whale
by Britny Packer
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A humpback whale is a
mammal.
Description:
The humpback whale has little black eyes and a long fat big
nose. It has a fat blue body and has big lines on the tummy.
It has long thin flippers, a sharp big fin and a smooth
lumpy back.
Habitat:
A humpback whale lives
in icy polar seas all over the world and shallow
waters.
Movement:
The humpback whale can dive for 30 minutes and can dive
500-700 feet. It can swim at 3-9 miles per
hour.
Behaviour:
The humpback whale travels in large, loose groups and can
dive for up to 30 minutes.
Food:
The humpback whale eats krill and small fish. A humpback
eats tonnes of plankton and feeds in summer. It feeds in
groups and cold seas.
Size:
The humpback whale is 19 metres long. It weighs 30-50
tonnes.
Babies:
The baby humpback whales are very small. They are 4-5
metres. Humpbacks breed in winter.
Protection:
The humpback whale
protects itself by wearing a fat blubber to keep itself
warm.
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The
Bottle-nosed Dolphin
by Kelly Scherlowski
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The Bottle-Nosed Dolphin is a
mammal.
Description:
The dolphin has long white pointy teeth. It has a soft,
smooth, blue-grey body and two grey-black oval eyes. It has
a short blue tail. The dolphin has a pointy long
nose.
Habitat:
A dolphin lives in cold
water, warm water and salt water. They live in herds of
about twenty and are known to be intelligent and playful.
They almost live all over the world.
Movement:
It beats its tail up and down and has an amazing sonar
system.
Behaviour:
The dolphin is harmless to
people. The dolphin family is called a pod.
Food:
The dolphin finds food
by sending out sounds which bounce onto another animal. The
sound bounces back to the dolphin. It eats small fish and
octopuses.
Size:
The dolphins are between four and twenty feet in length.
They can grow to between 500 and 800 pounds.
Babies:
The baby dolphins can swim as soon as they are born. They
drink milk from their mother.
Protection:
The dolphin has blubber that keeps it warm. Their blubber is
under their skin.
Enemies:
The dolphin's enemies
are sharks, oil spills and men with fishing nets. They can
get caught in the nets.
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The
Seahorse 2
by Talia
Benavente
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Description.
The seahorse has small, little
spines and a long, yellowish-brown body. It has one dorsal
fin on the back and a long swirling tail. The seahorse has a
small, round head, small black eyes and a long
snout.
What sort of
creature is the seahorse ?
A seahorse is a type of fish
closely related to pipefish.
Where does the
seahorse live ?
The seahorse lives in warm and
tropical waters, around shallow reefs, seagrasses and
mangroves. The common seahorse lives in the Mediterranean
sea and warm areas of the Atlantic. Seahorses do well in
home aquariums.
How does the
seahorse move ?
The seahorse swims upright by
waving a fin on its back. It moves slowly through the water.
Pectoral fins on the sides and a small dorsal fin on the
back of a seahorse’s body wave quickly to move the
seahorse through the water.
How does the
seahorse behave ?
Seahorses uses their curly tails to
hold onto seaplants to keep still. A seahorses large bladder
holds air and helps the fish to stay in a certain
depth.
What food does the
seahorse eat ?
The seahorse eats tiny shrimps and
other small crustaceans. The seahorse sucks up tiny
creatures for food. There is plenty of food for
seahorses.
What size does the
seahorse grow to ?
Seahorses come in several species
and different sizes. A seahorse is not a horse at all just
because it looks like a horse. Depending on the species
seahorses reach length for about 5 to 36 cm.
What are baby
seahorse like ?
The female uses her ovipositor to
deposit her eggs in the male’s brood pouch. She deposit
100 or more eggs. After a period of time, varying from ten
days to six weeks, depending on the species, the male gives
birth to the baby seahorses. The male carries the babies for
10-45 days in the pouch. The baby seahorses often form small
groups by holding each other with their
tails.
How does the
seahorse protect itself ?
They can change colour from yellow
to orange to black in minutes. Seahorses are well
camouflaged between the eel grasses and
seaweed.
Why is the seahorse
important?
There are about 35 species of the
seahorses world wide.
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The
Dolphin 3
by Tiana
Penfold
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Description:
The dolphin has a large, smooth,
grey body. It has a bottle shaped nose. The dolphin has
sharp, pointy teeth and tiny, round, black eyes. The dolphin
has long swimming flippers and a pointy dorsal fin. It has a
large, smooth, grey body and a triangular
tail.
What sort of
creature is the Dolphin?
The dolphins are small-toothed
whales.
Dolphins are mammals. There are at
least 32 species of dolphins.
Where does the
Dolphin live?
Dolphins live in oceans around
Australia and in other parts of the world. Dolphins are
found in warm waters.
How does the
Dolphin move?
The flippers on each side are used
to help the dolphins steer. The flukes on the tail push the
dolphin through the water. Most dolphins swim at about 18
miles [ 30 kilometres] per hour, but they can swim
much faster for short periods of time. Dolphins can swim
faster by leaping out of the water regularly.
How does the
Dolphin behave?
Dolphins need air to
breathe.
Dolphins have 12 to 200 teeth which
none will be lost in their lifetime. When a dolphin needs to
find food or steer away from enemies, they use echolocation.
The dolphin will make a clicking sound which will bounce or
echo off an object. Dolphins have one predator, the shark.
How does the
Dolphin protect itself ?
If a shark approaches and it is
going to kill the dolphin, the dolphin will butt it in the
gills a couple of times or butt it in the gills until it
dies.
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The
Hammerhead Shark
by
Bryce
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Appearance
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The Hammerhead
Shark has a long, shiny grey body. It has
a big head shaped like a hammer. The head
is wide and thick. It has little round
yellow eyes on the ends of the hammer
head. It has a long triangular tail. The
Hammerhead Shark has short, curved, sharp
fins. The teeth are triangular with
extremely serrated edges.
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Habitat
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The Hammerhead
Shark is found in tropical and subtropical
waters worldwide. The Great Hammerhead
swims in warm and relatively warm waters
along coastlines. They live over the
continental shelves and the adjacent
drop-offs (the upper part of the
Mesopelagic Zone) to depths of about 80
metres (200 feet).
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Food
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The Hammerhead
eats meat like rays, water snakes and
dolphins. The Great Hammerhead is a fierce
predator with a great sense of smell that
helps it find its prey. The Great
Hammerhead also eats fish, other sharks,
squid, octopuses &
crustaceans.
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Behaviour
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The Hammerhead
swims all over the world. It moves by
waggling its tail and moving its side
fins.
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Growth
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The average
Hammerhead Shark is up to 3.5 metres (11.5
feet) long. The pups are 70 cm long at
birth. The largest reported Hammerhead
Shark was 6 metres (20 feet)
long.
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Protection
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The Hammerhead's
enemies are dolphins and whales. It
protects itself by fighting its enemies
and trying to kill them.
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General
Information
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The Hammerhead
Shark is a fish and belongs to the
Sphyrnidae family.
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The
Dolphin
by
Kate
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Habitat
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The Common
Dolphin is found in all tropical and
warm-temperate waters. It is found more in
coastal waters and sometimes we can see
them from the shore.
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Appearance:
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The Dolphin has a
long, soft, blue-grey body with a fin on
top. It has a medium-sized head with a
blowhole on top. It has a long grey snout.
It has two small black eyes on the side of
the head. It has a short triangular
tail.
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Food
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The Common
Dolphin feeds on squid and small schools
of fish. In some parts of the world,
Common Dolphins feed at
night.
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Behaviour
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Dolphins are
social animals, like us. They help each
other when injured. Dolphins play
throughout their lives.
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Growth
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Common Dolphins
can reach lengths of 2 to 3 metres(7.5 to
8.5 feet).
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Protection
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Common Dolphins
swim in large numbers to protect
themselves. They are usually found in
large herds of hundreds or even thousands.
They are very active, fast moving, and can
engage in spectacular aerial behaviour to
get away from enemies. The Dolphin's main
enemy is humans.
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General
Information
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Dolphins are
mammals & belong to the Delphinidae
Family.
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The
Sea Urchin
by
Danielle
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Classification
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The Sea Urchin
belongs to the Echinoderm
family.
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Appearance
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The Sea Urchin
has many pointy spines. It has a big round
brown body.
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Habitat
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The Sea Urchin
lives in temperate and tropical seas in
all depths of the water. The Sea Urchin
can burrow in sand. It burrows into rocks
with its mouth. The sea urchin lives on
the ocean floor or in burrows up to 18 cm
deep. It lives on rocky bottoms. It is
found on every seashore. It shelters in
shallow caves in rocks. It also lives in
rock pools.
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Movement
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The sea urchin is
active at night. It has long tube feet to
anchor onto rocks, drag itself and grab
things. The sea urchin uses its tube feet
and bottom spines to walk.
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Food
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The Sea Urchin is
a vegetarian. It grazes on the rocks on
the seashore. It uses its powerful jaws by
scraping the rocks and kelp clean of algae
and small animals. They eat algae, sponges
and tiny plants.
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Growth
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Sea urchins lay
thousands of eggs. At breeding time the
shell gets full of eggs or sperm. Adults
can grow to be ten inches across. The Sea
Urchin has a cushion-shaped skeleton. When
it dies, its spines break off and its body
and feet rot away.
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Other
facts
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The Sea Urchin
has a hard ball-shaped exoskeleton. It is
a cousin of the starfish. The Sea Urchin
has no front end. There are about 7,000
extinct species of sea urchin and about
900 living species.
Many sea urchins
show a five-way symmetry, more irregular
and others are heart-shaped. They're
covered with protective
spines.
A Sea Urchin is
the only invertebrate (no backbone) with a
chewing mouth. There are no similar
animals to the sea urchin.
If a Sea Urchin
spine is stepped on it can give a very
painful wound.
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The
Seal
by
Emma
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Classification
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The Fur Seal
belongs to the mammal family. It is a
warm-blooded animal.
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Appearance
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The seal has long
thin whiskers and a black round nose. It
has two tiny ears and an oval head. It has
a black and grey neck with a fat brown
body. It has a slimy back flippers that
look like a tail. It has long front
flippers and round black
eyes.
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Habitat
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Seals live in
polar and cold temperate waters/ The seals
spend most of their time out in the
ocean.
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Movement
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Seals are
excellent swimmers and love to play. They
are fast swimmers and are good at deep
diving.
Seals can hold
their breath for up to an hour, then they
have to come up to breathe
air.
Fur Seals use
their large front flippers to propel and
the back flippers to steer.
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Food
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Seals have large
eyes to help them see their prey in the
dark water. They have long whiskers which
can detect the movement of fish. Seals can
bring their whiskers forward to feel for
fish in the darkness.
When the pups are
about 8 months old, they go to sea to
learn how to find their own food. The
seals eat cuttlefish, squid, fish,
lobsters, octopus and
crustaceans.
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Growth
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Seals grow 2-5
metres long. In early summer, they some
ashore on remote islands to breed. A
female only produces a single pup, 12
months later. The female looks after the
baby for 8-12 months.
The males are
called bulls; the females are called cows;
and the babies are called pups. Pups drink
their mother's milk. The mother knows her
pup's smell.
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Other
Facts
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Seals have
excellent eyesight and hearing.
They drown if
they get caught in underwater fishing
nets.
Seals are
warm-blooded.
Most seals have
only holes where their ears are with flaps
on the outside.
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The
Great White
Shark
by Andrew
J.
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Classification
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The shark belongs
to the fish family. It is a
fish.
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Appearance
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The Great White
Shark has round big eyes. It has five thin
short gills. It has six triangular fins
and a big triangular tail. It has a long
skinny body. The shark has a small mouth
and tiny nostrils.
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Habitat
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Great White
Sharks are found near shores along most of
the temperate (not very hot and very cold)
coastlines around the
world.
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Movement
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The Great White
Shark swims fast and is a scavenger. The
fins are only used for balance. Their
movement is more like an aircraft's flight
than other fishes'
swimming.
Sharks must swim
or they will sink. They don't have a
bladder to keep them afloat. The pectoral
fins and tail fins keep the shark balanced
in the water.
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Food
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The Great White
Shark eats fish, dolphins, seals , squid,
sea turtles, birds and whale carcasses.
A shark's sense
of smell is so good that it can smell a
drop of blood spilled in the water more
than 200 metres away.
Young Great White
Sharks eat fish, rays and other sharks.
Adults eat larger prey, including
pinnipeds (sea lions and seals) and whales
(like Beluga whales).
The Great White
Shark has 3,000 teeth. They are
triangular, serrated (saw-edged),
razor-sharp and up to 7.5 cms long.
Although it eats fish and seals, it has
been known to attack and kill humans too.
All their teeth are
serrated.
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Growth
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The Great White
Shark grows up to 18 metres long. It's
average length is 3.7-4.9 metres long. The
biggest Great White Shark on record was
about 3,200 kilograms.
Females are
larger than males, as with most sharks.
Shark pups can be
over 1.5 metres long at
birth.
In Autumn, some
females migrate to warmer waters to give
birth to 2-14 pups that are up to 1.5
metres long.
The Great White
Shark is the largest and most deadly
hunting shark.
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Other
Facts
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Most attacks by
Great Whites are not fatal. The Great
White Sharks account for about half to a
third of all 100 annual shark attacks. Of
these only 10-15 people die. No one knows
how long Great White Sharks live
for.
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The
Sea horse
by
Nicole
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Classification
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The sea horse
belongs to the fish family. It is a
fish.
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Appearance
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The sea horse has
tiny round black eyes and a long snout
nose. The sea horse has a spiky, curved,
long tail. The sea horse has a small fin
and a mouth. The sea horse has a bumpy
body.
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Habitat
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Most sea horses
live in warmer seas. They camouflage
themselves in the sea grass and hold onto
it.
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Movement
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The sea horse
moves with its fin and it moves its body.
You can see through the fin. The sea horse
clings onto sea grass with its
tail.
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Food
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Sea horses have
very good eyesight to see their food. They
eat tiny shrimps and sea lice. They don't
have any teeth so when they see something
to eat, they suck it through their tiny
little mouth.
They don't look
after their babies. When they are born
they have to find their own
food.
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Growth
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Some sea horses
only grow to be 8 cms long. Like most
fish, the female sea horse lays the eggs,
but it's the males who get pregnant. About
five weeks later the eggs in the male's
pouch start to hatch. The babies have to
find their own food. It takes 2 years to
grow to their full size.
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Other
Facts
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The sea horse can
change colour from yellow or orange to
black in minutes.
The sea horse is
a strange fish.
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