Fish and Coral
Fish are "water dwelling vertebrates with gills." They are cold blooded and are the most diverse group of vertabrate animals (29,000 species). Sharks are considered fish, and although fish are vertabrates, sharks do not have a backbone made up of solid bone. Instead, sharks have a backbone made up of cartilage. Since fish are cold blooded (which means they cannot produce their own heat, they obtain it from the environment), they have a wide range of tolerance when it comes to tempurature.
original source
Fish use coral reefs as homes and as protection against larger fish and sharks or any sort of threat.
original source
Fish are a highly developed species with a fully developed nervous system and brain. Fish also have color vision that is just as good as a human's!
original source
This clown fish lives inside of a sea anemonie. The sea anemonie releases toxins that the clownfish is immune to but they are harmful to other fish. This aspect of life protects the clownfish from its predators.
wikipedia-fish
Coral is the most biologicaly diverse ecosystem of the ocean! Coral makes up the home of many different sea creatures. These creatures include different species of fish, mollusks, sea urchins, sea anemonie, and jelly fish. Although many people mistake coral to be dead, it is actually living. When we hold coral in our hands we are holding the non-living part of coral but when it was living in the ocean, that hard substance is actually what the coral animal lives in.
Coral is one of the most diverse species of animals... here are some examples of different types of coral.
original source
Coral can be extremely sensitive to changes in its environment. Too many nutrients or even a change in tempurature of one or two degrees can kill the coral animal.
original source
This sun coral is in a shape called polyp shape. Polyp shape means that the tentacles are facing upwards and not downwards.
original source
Although it is very different from the previous two types of coral, brain coral is also a type of coral. Coral are all in the kingdom Animalia and the Phylum Cnidaria.
Coral first appeared in the Cambrian period (570 million years ago) but corals only became widespread in the Ordovivian period. All corals built reefs in the ocean floors. Although coral is dominant in the reefs, reefs are also made up of different sponges and sea anemonies. Most corals live in reefs but they do not have to. They could live on isolated rocks or hard structures but they must have a solid structure to attach themselves to in order to live because they are non-locamotor.
wikipedia-coral
bibliography
