Anatomy
The internal shell of a cuttlefish
What is a cuttlebone?
A nocturnal cephalopod with eight arms and a beak. It lives in shallow waters, spending most of its time on the sea floor.
What is an octopus?
To re-grow parts of the body in order to recreate it self as it was before
What is regeneration?
An echinoderm found all over the ocean. It typically has five arms radiating out from a central disk and pushes its stomach out of its mouth to digest its prey.
What is a sea star?
These creatures are cnidarians that do not swim but simply float in the water. They are called medusae because they have dangling tentacles.
What are jellyfish?
Sessile (non moving) creatures that come in all different shapes and sizes and are filter feeders in the ocean.
What are sponges?
Animals without backbones
What are invertebrates?
Long structures on a crustacean's head that are sensitive, giving the crustacean strong senses of touch and taste
What are antennae?
A cephalopod with ten arms and a beak
What is squid?
The cephalopod's ability to allow water inside its body, then quickly squeeze it out, sending a jet stream out of its body and propelling it backward
What is jet propulsion?
A fast moving, sea star-looking creature with long, thin, fragile, snake-like arms surrounding a central disk.
What is a brittle star?
These creatures resemble tiny sea anemones. However, they build protective walls around themselves that they leave behind to form large, underwater structures.
What is coral?
A partially transparent filter feeder that looks like a rubbery-looking cup with two openings. (We watched a video of these squirting water.)
What is a sea squirt?
Marine insects with a shell
What are crustaceans?
The small leg-looking paddles under the crustacean's abdomen that help propel the crustacean through the water
What are swimmerets?
A cephalopod that rises and sinks due to gas-filled chambers in its shell. It can have anywhere between 38 and 90 arms!
What is a nautilus?
This animal can change colors for more than just camouflage. If not blending in with its surroundings, it can express itself with its coloring. When it is relaxed, it's a dull, grayish brown or orange-tinged color. When it's angry, it may turn red. When scared, it can turn white.
What is an octopus?
A sausage-shaped benthic animal that has five rows of tube feet stretching the length of its body, enabling it to slowly move around the ocean floor.
(Hint: Think vegetable)
What is a sea cucumber?
A colony of hundreds of jelly-like creatures all linked together, making it appear to be just one creature
What is a Portuguese man-o-war?
Microscopic animals that are slow or "tardy" walkers and resemble bears under a microscope. They are very resilient.
What are tardigrades or water bears?
Nettle-like animals that possess a powerful sting. Jellyfish, sea anemones, and corals are examples of these creatures
What are cnidarians?
The stinging cells of a cnidarian that typically cover each tentacle
What are nematocysts?
A fan-shaped mollusk that is the fastest mover of all the bivalves. It has raised ridges on its shell that forms a wavy, scalloping pattern. It can move by opening and closing its shell quickly.
What is a scallop?
This animal can literally spill its guts out. When threatened by a possible predator, it tosses out long sticky threads that are actually made up of its own internal organs. These sticky threads can glue a predator's gills or throat shut, which will eventually kill the animal.
What is a sea cucumber?
An echinoderm with no arms that is completely covered in spines. It looks like a pin cushion.
What is a sea urchin?
Cnidarians that are often thought of as plants and called the "flowers of the sea"
What are sea anemones?
This is a creature with a giant, armored shell and a long, spiky tail. It's name makes you think it's a crustacean, but it's not.
What is a horseshoe crab?
This type of mollusk has two shell halves that are fan or oval shaped Examples include oysters, clams, scallops, cockles, shipworms, and mussels.
What are bivalves?
A crustacean's claw-feet that are used to fight and capture prey
What are chelipeds?
This gastropod is often mistaken for a conch because of its spiral shell. It is a ferocious predator, using its proboscis to pry open or drill holes into bivalve shells.
What is a whelk?
These creatures are fresh water flatworms. They have an incredible ability to regenerate body parts, even a head!
What are planarians?
Creatures that have feathery arms on top of cup-shaped bodies and are commonly called sea lilies and feather stars.
What are crinoids?
A non-nettle jellyfish that has no sting. Instead, it has a sticky substance on its tentacles to capture prey.
What is a comb jelly?
A kind of bristle worm that builds tubes around itself using bits of sand and shells glued together with mucus
What is a tubeworm?
This type of mollusk has a head with a bunch of tentacles attached. Examples include octopus, squid, nautilus, and the cuttlefish.
What are cephalopods?