ABCs & Name the parts!

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Irene Pearson
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1 ABCs & Name the parts! Objective: These two activities are used to introduce the students to the variety of marine life living in European waters while learning their ABCs and practicing their letter writing. A short introduction to the simple biology of each animal and plant mentioned Anemone The sea anemone is considered to be the flower of the sea. Sea anemones look like plants, but they are really meat-eating animals. They can be a wide range of colours. In the center of the sea anemone is their mouth surrounded by a ring of tentacles. Barnacle Barnacles are small creatures living upside down in a shell. Barnacles are protected by four, six or eight plates, which form a volcano-like cover. Cod (fish) Fish are animals that live in water and have an obvious head with eyes and a mouth. They are usually covered in scales. Most fish swim by moving their tail left and right. Fish breathe using gills. Water goes in through the mouth and out through the gills, which take oxygen from the water. Dolphin Like us dolphins are mammals not fish. They have lungs and need air to breathe through a blowhole at the top of the head. As they travel through the water they surface about every two minutes to breathe out and in before going underwater again. They have a tail and flippers to help them swim. Eels Eels are long and slender and have a snake-like shape. They have no scales or teeth like fish. Eels swim like by bending their bodies into the oncoming waves very like how you would see a snake move along the ground.

2 Page 2 Feather star Feather stars are composed of a body (small basal attachment known as the stalk) with a number of arms reaching upwards and small legs (cirri) underneath. They can be a wide range of colours. Grey Seal Seals are mammals that spend much of their time in cold water. To help keep them warm, they have a thick coat of fur and a layer of blubber. The blubber also helps seals float and acts as a cushion when seals are out of water. They have a pair of flippers near the front and a pair at the rear. Flippers are like arms and legs. Skin grows between the fingers and toes as webbing. Hermit crab The hermit crab s body fits perfectly in a spiral (gastropod) shell. It can withdraw within its shell when danger threatens and closes the opening with its large claw (Pincer). It has a large shell known as a carapace to protect its body. It has two claws, 3 pairs of walking legs and smaller legs in front of its mouth. Its eyes are at the end of little stalks and it has two antennae Isopod Isopods tend to have a flattened body. They have more than 7 pairs of legs and two pairs of antennae. They have a segmented (divided) shell in overlapping plates for protection. Kelp (a seaweed) Seaweeds attach to surfaces by means of a holdfast. The main body of a seaweed may be divided into fronds or blades, which provide a large surface for the absorption of sunlight. The stem of a seaweed is called a stipe. Seaweeds can be one of three different colours, red, green or brown.

3 Page 3 Lobster The Lobster has a jointed body, a shell, and three or more pairs of legs. Lobsters have two large claws and four smaller legs nearer the mouth. Most lobsters have feelers, or antennae. Mussel A mussel comprises of two shells, joined together by two hinges, which enclose the body. These animals are from a group of animals commonly known as bivalves. Some bivalves attach to rocks or shells on the shore by threads known as byssal threads. Narwhal All narwhals have two teeth in their upper jaw. After the first year of a male narwhal's life, its left tooth grows outward, spirally. This long, single tooth projects from its upper jaw and can grow to be 7-10 feet (2-3 m) long. Tusks are usually twisted in a counterclockwise direction and have a hollow interior. The tusk's function is uncertain. The tusk is not used in hunting. Narwhal has bluish-gray skin with white blotches (young narwhals are brown). Narwhals have a cylindrical body (with no fin on its back dorsal fin) and a round head with a small mouth on their blunt snout. Octopus An Octopus has a circular head or crown with eight large tentacles or arms. The arms are all of equal length. There are pairs of suckers running along the length of each arm. Plankton The oceans and seas contain a large assemblage of microscopic organisms that are freeswimming or suspended in water. These are known as the plankton and include both plants (phytoplankton) and animals (zooplankton).

4 Page 4 Queen Scallop Scallops are composed of two shells joined by a hinge joint at the straight edge of shell (between the ears or wings). They are part of a group known as bivalves due to the two shells joined together to protect the soft body of the scallop. The body has sensory tentacles and some scallops have several small blue eyes. Riftia (giant tubeworm) Riftia is a giant worm which lives in a tube (tubeworm). They look like lipstick and live over a mile deep on the ocean floor. They may grow to about 3 meters (8 ft) long. The worms white tube home is made of a tough, natural material called chitin. Tubeworms have no mouth, eyes, or stomach ( gut ). Starfish A starfish is composed of five arms projecting from a central disk. The mouth is located in the center of the underside of the disk. The body surface is rough to touch. Each arm has numerous small tube feet (podia). They come in all different colours. Turtle Sea turtles, air-breathing reptiles with streamlined bodies and large flippers, are well adapted to life in the marine environment. They have two shells but cannot retract their heads or legs into them as this would affect how they swim. Urchin The Urchin is more or less spherical in shape and armed with relatively long moveable spines. The spines are very sharp, hollow and brittle and contain an irritant. The sea urchin can inflict a dangerous wound if stepped on. Sea urchins are brown, black, purple, green, white and red and some are multicoloured. The mouth is found on the underside of the urchin.

5 Page 5 Viper Fish The Viperfish is a deep sea fish and can be recognised by its large mouth, long fang-like teeth and long first dorsal (top) fin ray (up to half the body length). The Viperfish grows to over 30 cm in length. It is an iridescent dark silver-blue colour with pale fins. Winkle Winkles are gastropod molluscs (having a one-piece coiled shell). They have a soft body which is protected by their shell. The shell can grow to about 35mm in length in some, but usually about 25mm. They are a variety of colours. Xema sabini (Sabine s gull) Xema is a type of sea gull. Gulls are typically medium to large birds, usually grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They have stout, longish bills, and webbed feet. Yellow-fin Tuna The Yellow-fin Tuna is a fish that is dark blue above and grey below. Its fins are tinged yellow and its finlets (small triangular fins towards the tail) are yellow with black edges. This tuna's snout is reasonably sharp. Zostera Zostera is known as sea grass or eel grass. This grass grows on the seabed and can be up to 1m long. It is bright green.

Barnacles attach to hard surfaces and use their legs to catch tiny particles of food, including plankton from the water around them.

Food Web Resources - Food Chain Cards Barnacles attach to hard surfaces and use their legs to catch tiny particles of food, including plankton from the water around them Barnacle Edible crabs use their