fish

WATERY WEDNESDAY# 23

Animals come with so many fun patterns! Yesterday’s tortoise had stars on its shell, and today’s fish has spots! Yep, we found a fish with spots for this Watery Wednesday! Let’s get our snorkel gear on and dive in to the coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific oceans!

MEET THE PANTHER FISH!

Range/Habitat: Indo-Pacific Oceans/ coral reefs

Diet: Carnivore: small fish and crustaceans

Length/Weight: up to 28”/ up to 7 lbs

Conservation Status: Vulnerable

Fun Facts:

• Panther fish are also known as humpback grouper or panther grouper.
• Panther fish are cream with black spots.
• They have small heads with a large hump on their backs.
• Their spots help them camouflage into their surroundings.
• Panther fish are ambush predators.
• They are solitary and territorial.

These fish sure are fancy pants with their polka dots! And those dots aren’t just for show, they help them blend in, so predators won’t see them! Ellie wants to know if she gets a polka dot outfit if it will help her camouflage. Edmond says no way!

WATERY WEDNESDAY# 21

Welcome to Watery Wednesday! We have a neat silvery fish that lives in both fresh and salty water for you today! Who knew fish could do that? Well, let’s go meet them…

MEET THE MILKFISH!

Range/Habitat: Indo-Pacific oceans/ shorelines, marshes, mangroves

Diet: Omnivores: algae, invertebrates

Length/Weight: up to 6ft, up to 30lbs

Conservation Status: common

Fun Facts:

• Milkfish have no teeth and are filter feeders.
• Milkfish have long silvery bodies and unusual forked tails.
• They are very fast swimmers.
• Milk fish are found in schools (meaning a group of fish J).
• They spend most of their lives in freshwaters environments. Then head out to the ocean to spawn.
• Young milkfish spend the first few weeks of their lives in the ocean before heading back to the mangroves.

Milkfish sure are a neat fish because they spend part of their lives in the ocean and part of it in fresh water! Have you ever been to a mangrove before? They are pretty special habitats!

WATERY WEDNESDAY# 20

Happy Watery Wednesday! We have a very special and strange looking member of the shark and ray family for you today! These beautiful fish have a very special built-in tool on the front of their face! Do you have your goggles and wetsuit? Let’s dive in!

MEET THE SMALLTOOTH SAWFISH!

Range/Habitat: Eastern Atlantic Ocean (subtropical-tropical)/shallows, near coastline

Diet: Carnivore: fish, mollusks

Length/Weight: up to 20ft/550-660 lbs

Conservation Status: Critically endangered

Fun Facts:

• Smalltooth Sawfish have a saw-like snout with 24-32 pairs of pointed “teeth”.
• Smalltooth sawfish have long flat bodies.
• They use their saw-like snout to dig prey out of the sand and to slash through schools of fish. They then eat the injured fish!
• Their gills and mouth are on the bottom of their bodies.
• Smalltooth sawfish have spiracles on top of their bodies. These help move water over their gills while they rest on the bottom of the ocean floor.
• Smalltooth sawfish skeletons are made of cartilage (the same tissue that makes up human ears and noses). They are related to sharks and rays!

We think Smalltooth sawfish is a very special and odd looking fish! These neat fish are endangered. The Ocean Conservancy is working very hard to make sure they will be around for a long time! Our oceans wouldn’t be the same without these great fish!

WATERY WEDNESDAY# 16

This Watery Wednesday we are looking upside down! That’s right; we’ve found a little freshwater fish that swims upside down! Isn’t the animal world just amazing? Let’s meet this little fish!

MEET THE UPSIDE DOWN CATFISH!

Range/Habitat: Central Africa/ rivers-streams

Diet: Omnivore: plants, invertebrates

Length: 3 ¾”

Conservation Status: Common

Fun Facts:

• Upside Down Catfish swim upside down at the surface of the water.
• They have reverse counter shading (they are lighter on the top than the bottom) so they blend in.
• Upside down catfish are active at dusk and night.
• Upside down catfish eat plants off the underside off logs and branches.

How cool is it that there are little fish who swim upside down? Can any of you a handstand? If you can try it and see what the world looks like upside down, just like this little catfish!

WATERY WEDNESDAY# 15

A rare and mysterious animal is the spotlight for today’s Watery Wednesday animal! This gentle giant is so elusive that its existence has only been known to people for the last 30 years! Wow! That’s one of the many great things about the world’s oceans; they’re still full of loads of mysteries! Let’s meet this big guy…

MEET THE MEGAMOUTH SHARK!

Range/Habitat: Atlantic Ocean-Pacific Ocean-Indian Ocean

Diet: Carnivore: plankton

Length/Weight: up to 18ft/ up to 2000lbs

Conservation Status: Unknown

Fun Facts:

• Megamouth sharks were discovered in 1976!
• Only 53 sharks have been seen since their discovery.
• Megamouth sharks have large mouths that they use to filter tiny plankton from the water.
• The roof of their mouth is silvery color and is thought to help attract plankton.
• They are believed to live in deep waters. It is most likely though that they swim where the plankton is.

Wow! This large shark doesn’t have a mouth full of sharp and pointy teeth, but instead filters out tiny plankton from the water! Can you believe that they’ve been living in our oceans for a very long time, but we just found them 30 years ago? Crazy!