LOLIGO SQUID

PHYLUM Mollusca

ORDER Decabrachia

CARD 11

Attracted by the light of the moon shining on the sea, loligo squid gather by the thousands every March to mate and spawn in the shallow waters off Southern California.

KEY FACTS

SIZES Length: Head and body, 8 in. Tentacles: Eight arms, 2 in. Two long tentacles extend to 8 in. for

catching prey.

BREEDING Sexual maturity: 3 years. Mating season: March. No. of eggs: Laid in sacs of 200-300. Each female lays about

20 sacs at a time. Hatching: 3-4 weeks.

LIFESTYLE Habit: Usually solitary, although huge schools gather during mating season.

Range of the loligo squid.

DISTRIBUTION

Diet: Mainly fish. Lifespan: 3 years.

RELATED SPECIES

The loligo squid is found throughout the warmer waters off the west coast of North America, extending south from San Francisco to Mexico.

Closely related to the common squid, Loligo vulgaris. Giant squid of up to 60 ft. (including tentacles) are found in the northern Atlantic Ocean.

CONSERVATION

I Although the loligo squ id is fished extensively each year, the

I fish.ing .is controlled, and this species is not yet in danger of extinction.

------------------------------------~

FEATURES OF THE LOLIGO SQUID

The arms and tentacles of all squid are covered with suckers to provide a powerful grip that is used when hunting. At the center of the tentacles is the SQUid's mouth that has a horny beak with which it tears up prey before swallovying it. It has two well-developed eyes. In some species, notably those that live at great depths, eyes are also light-producing organs.

Two long tentacles used fOT catching food .

Eight arms, some­times called short

Suckers

©MCMXCI IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILETM

Eyes

PRINTED IN U.S.A. 0160200151 PACKET 15

There are more than 300 species

of squid, ranging in size from less than half

an inch to over 60 feet in length. The loligo squid grows

to approximately eight inches and, like all its close

relatives, has eight short arms and two long tentacles

that it uses to catch prey.

~ FOOD &: HUNTING Squid eat fish and crustaceans primarily. The loligo catches a fish by grasping it in its long tentacles. It paralyzes its prey with venom produced by its salivary glands and bites off the prey's head.

The squid's torpedo-shaped body enables it to move rap-

idly over short distances. It changes color to blend in with its surroundings and so becomes invisible to both its prey and predators.

The squid's only defense is to escape behind the dark clouds of "ink" that it squirts into the water.

DID YOU KNOW? I ~ BREEDING • The giant squid, Architeu- I On moonlit nights in March, this, is the world's largest loligo squid gather near the living invertebrate. water's surface. The group • The giant squid's only consists of males and females predator is the male sperm that are ready to mate. whale. A live squid measuring The males find mating 40 feet long has been found partners as quick as possible inside a male sperm whale. since the presence of so many Female sperm whales eat other males creates competi-much smaller squid. tion for available females. As • Squid possess the largest a male becomes excited, his nerve fibers of any animal. head and tentacles become

• The most dangerous squid are found off the coast of Peru . They live in schools and hunt in the same manner as the piranha, tearing their victims to shreds in seconds. • In 1961 a gold medallion was found inside a loligo squid caught off San Sebas­tian, Spain. It had been lost by a swimmer in Barcelona two years earlier and 900 miles away.

flushed. He then seizes a fe­male and retrieves a sac of sperm from his own body that he inserts into her body with one of his tentacles. The eggs are thus fertilized in the fe­male's body and she then lays them in jelly-filled sacs, each containing 200 to 300 eggs.

Each female produces ap­proximately 20 sacs that are joined together in flower-

shaped configurations and are as large as 1 0 feet across. The sacs are attached to each other with a sticky secretion that prevents them from being washed away.

Tiny squid hatch from the egg sacs three to four weeks later. They are moved and spread by coastal currents.

In three years they are fully grown and ready to mate.

Above: Loligo squid lay their eggs in large clumps.

Right: The eggs hatch several weeks later and the tiny squid break free from their jelly sacs.

left: Squid mate in groups.

~ SQUID&:MAN The breeding habits of the loligo squid make it particu­larly easy to catch.

Fishermen in California catch the majority of squid in March, when the squid gather to mate. The squid are attracted to light, so the fishermen hang lamps on their boats to en­courage them to rise to the surface. Several thousand tons of squid are caught each year.

Still, because they produce so many eggs, the loligo squid are in no danger of becoming overfished. But fishing is con­trolled because, if the squid were hunted on a larger scale, it would endanger the other marine life that preys on the squid for food.

LEECH

PHYLUM Annelida

CLASS Clitella

GROUP 6: PRIMITIVE ANIMALS

ORDER Hirudinea

Most leeches are parasites, feeding on the blood of other animals. Some can ingest five times their body weight in blood at a single

feedin~enough to sustain them for up to a year.

KEY FACTS

SIZES Length: Up to 6 in .

BREEDING Sexual maturity: About 3 years.

Mating: Summer. No. of eggs: 5-15 in cocoon.

Hatching time: 4-10 weeks.

LIFESTYLE Habit: Mainly aquatic, although

some are amphibious or terrestrial. Diet: Generally parasitic on the

blood and body fluids of living

animals; some are predatory.

lifespan: Possibly up to 20 years .

RELATED SPECIES

There are some 650 species of leech worldwide. Their closest

relatives are earthworms, marine

lugworms, and ragworms.

Range of the medicinal leech.

DISTRIBUTION

Leeches occur worldwide. Medicinal leech restricted to

Europe and the Ural Mountains, and countries bordering the eastern Mediterranean.

CONSERVATION

The medicinal leech is endangered, due to vast numbers

collected in the last century and, more recently, the disap­

pearance of suitable habitat. They are now protected.

FEATURES OF THE MEDICINAL lEECH

The bloodsucking medicinal leech lives in fresh water where cattle and horses-its main source of food-come to drink.

Body: Long and slightly flattened. Olive green , with reddish- brown stripes.

©MCMXCIIMP BV/IMP INC WILDLI FE FACT FILETM PRI NTED IN U.S.A.

Underside: Green or yellowish­green.

Sucker: Used to hold leech in place while it·feedS.

us P 600 1 12010 PACKET 10

Leeches are generally disliked because

of their bloodsucking feeding habits.

Yet these relatives of the earthworm were

once highly valued by doctors, who believed

that using leeches to drain some of a patient's

blood cured all illness.

~ CHARACTERISTICS A leech is a flattened, seg­mented worm related to the earthworm. Its body is shaped like a compressed cylinder, with an intestine, nerve cord, and vein system running the length of its body. It has dense muscles that allow it to move like a

leech has a highly developed sucker. Bloodsucking leeches attach themselves to their prey with these suckers. When they are not feeding, they attach themselves firmly to rocks or vegetation.

Most leeches live in water because they need moist

snake or curl itself up in a ball conditions in which to survive, as a defense against attack. since they become dehy-

At each end of its body, the drated if they are exposed to

~ FOOD &: FEEDING Many species of leech are active predators that attack and eat other small inverte­brate animals.

The fish leech has mouth­parts similar in function to a hypodermic syringe and uses them to feed on large animals. The fish leech is a good swim­mer; it will attach itself to a passing fish and puncture its skin to feed off its body fluids.

The most well-known leeches are those that suck the blood of land animals and birds. Some of these parasitic leeches live on land, but most are found in shallow or still water.

The medicinal leech feeds off the blood of cows, horses, and humans. It has three serrated, semicircular jaws that can slice a Y-shaped wound into the

skin of its prey. The jaws secrete a fluid that enlarges the animal's blood vessels and prevents the blood from clotting. The fluid also contains an anesthetic, which deadens any pain the animal may otherwise feel, and thus

Above: Leeches live in the stagnant waters of a pond or river to keep from dehydrating.

dry air for too long. Some species live in the ocean, but most live in stagnant pools and slow-flowing rivers.

Most of the species that live out of water are found in the moist, tropical rainforests, where they live among low­lying vegetation.

allows the leech to feed unnoticed. The leech can drink as much as five times its body weight in blood and take several months to digest it.

Below: The victim of the fish leech usually survives the attack, although it may be weakened.

DID YOU KNOW? • Thousands of medicinal leeches are bred for medical research each year at the world's first leech farm in England . • Following a leech bite, blood continues to flow from the wound for several hours .

The leech was once used to leeches had nearly wiped out suck the blood of ailing people the population. But with the in the mistaken belief that the advent of modern medicine, practice would remove the the use of the leech declined poisons along with the blood. and its numbers increased. Doctors applied the medicinal Live leeches are still used in leech to their patients. Due to modern microsurgery and are this practice, the doctors them- applied to patients to pro-selves were referred to as mote healthy blood flow in leeches. grafted skin tissue. They also

By the nineteenth century, secrete a chemical that can the demand for medicinal actually dissolve blood clots.

~BREEDING Every leech has both male and female sex organs. When they mate, one will act as the male and fertilize the other with its sperm. Some species place the sperm directly into the female's genital opening.

The fertilized eggs do not develop inside the leech's body but, rather, are ejected into the water and bathed in a nutrient fluid contained within a sac of mucus. The mucus eventually envelops both the leech and the eggs, forming a protective cocoon. Some species attach their cocoons to submerged ob­jects or bury them in damp soil, and the young emerge four to ten weeks later.

Top right: This medicinal leech is sucking blood from a human hand.

Right: In some species, the eggs will develop inside a cocoon attached to the adult's body, and when the young hatch, the parent allows them to cling to its body.

• The giant Amazon leech grows to a length of 18 inches . • Leech collectors used to catch them by wading bare­foot in the water and then picking them off their skin and transferring them to a jar.

SPONGE

PHYLUM Porifera

GROUP 6: PRIMITIVE ANIMALS ... CLASS ~ Oemospongiae

Sponges look like plants, grow like plants, and even reproduce themselves like plants, but they are not plants. They are one of the

most unusual animals on earth.

SIZES

Length: Up to 6 ft.

BREEDING

Sexual reproduction: All sponges

generate both eggs and sperm.

Sperm is released into the water in

summer to fertilize eggs, which

become mobile larvae.

Asexual reproduction: Seedlike

particles called gemmu/es are re­

leased in fall, lie dormant through

winter, and develop into sponges

in spring. Fragments of adults may

also grow into new sponges. LIFESTYLE

Habit: Sedentary. Filter-feeders.

Diet: Suspended and dissolved

organic debris, bacteria.

RELATED SPECIES

There are some 5,000 species of

sponges worldwide that form the

subkingdom Parazoa.

Range of the sponge.

DISTRIBUTION

Found worldwide in all seas, from the lower shores to the

ocean depths. Some freshwater species are also found in

rivers, lakes, and ponds.

CONSERVATION

The bath sponges Spongia officina/is and Hippospongia equina are overcollected in places, but most species are in

no danger of extinction.

HOW THE SPONG E FEEDS

WATER IN The sponge draws water into central cavities through small pores and chambers. These cavities are lined with cells that digest food particles suspended in the water. Mobile cells called amoebocytes move 'through the sponge and carry nutrients to other cells.

© MCMXCI IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILETM

Flagellae: Whiplike tails lining the cell walls.

PRINTED IN U.S.A.

tWATER OUT Water is driven out of the cells by the whiplike tails of the flagellae.

Osculum: The passage through which water is driven out.

0160200391 PACKET 39

Sponges are found all over the world in lakes,

rivers, and seas. They live in rock pools along

the shoreline as well as in deep ocean trenches.

Some sponges stand alone, forming shapes that

resemble fingers or flasks. Others may fuse together

into shapeless masses that cover submerged rocks.

~ CHARACTERISTICS Sponges have many cells, but these cells can survive inde­pendently of one another, un­like the cells of higher animals. For this reason, sponges are sometimes regarded as colo­nies of single-celled animals that cooperate to obtain food.

A sponge is basically a mass of these cells arranged in a series of tubular or spherical groups, each with a central opening. The entire cell struc­

Right: The skeletons of sponges are 75 times more absorbent than cloth.

ture is reinforced by an inter­nal "skeleton" that is either pinned together with tiny barbs of silica or lime, or held together by a mesh of resilient protein fibers. The fibrous skel­eton of the warm-water ma­rine sponge is what is used as a natural bath sponge.

~BREEDING Each sponge has both female and male organs. In summer a sponge releases clouds of sperm. The sperm cells are drawn in by nearby sponges to fertilize their eggs. The tiny larvae settle on the seabed and grow into new sponges.

Sponges also reproduce asexually. If a sponge is split into two or more parts, it may regrow into separate sponges.

Left: The tubular form of some sponges provides an ideal hide­out for small invertebrates.

Right: Under a microscope, it is possible to see living cells group­ing together to form new sponges.

DID YOU KNOW? • Many sponges produce toxins that can poison sharks. Scientists are now studying ways to use these toxins as shark repellents. • Like geraniums, sponges can be cultivated by taking cuttings. This method is used

It may also grow a lobe of tis­sue that forms a new individual (called budding). In fall many sponges produce seedlike particles called gemmules. The parent sponge disintegrates, but the gemmules sprout into new sponges in spring.

Right: The silicon spikes of some freshwater sponges can cause allergic skin reactions.

to produce bath sponges. • Sponges contain com­pounds of medical interest, including some that have been used to treat arthritis. • Some sponges secrete acids that enable them to bore into coral reefs .

Most sponges have developed effective defense systems to deal with predators. Some spe­cies, such as the river sponge, contain thousands of tiny silica needles that make them hard to eat. Many tropical marine sponges contain chemicals

~FEEDING Sponges feed by drawing wa­ter in and then filtering out any suspended food particles. The group of cells works to­gether to draw the water through minute pores in the structure into chambers that are lined with cells that can "swallow" the food particles. These cells have whiplike tails called f/agel/ae, which drive the water through the system and out through a large cen-

Left: A sponge growing among reef coral takes the shape of the coral's folds.

that are toxic to fish as well as other predators.

Because they are loose com­munities of cells, most sponges can survive being broken up into smaller fragments. Each piece simply reorganizes itself and grows into a tiny sponge.

tral opening. Once taken in, the food is passed to cells called amoebocytes. These cells move through the body of the sponge, carrying nu­trients to other cells and re­leasing materials used to build the skeleton.

Some sponges have algae living in their bodies. These single-celled plants manufac­ture food by photosynthesis -using sunlight to convert chemicals into carbohydrates. The algae may pass some of these nutrients to the sponge.

GIANT OCTOPUS

ORDER Mollusca

FAMILY Cephalopoda Octopus dolfeini

For years the giant octopus was feared as a monster of the deep. But in reality it is a highly intelligent, resourceful animal

that is quite harmless to humans.

KEY FACTS

SIZES Tentacle span: Up to 30 ft. Weight: Up to 600 lb. Studies indicate a trend toward larger individuals in deeper water.

BREEDING Sexual maturity: About 1 year. Male matures at a smaller size than female. No. of eggs laid: Up to 100,000. Hatching time: 6 months.

LIFESTYLE Habit: Solitary. Lives on the seabed. Diet: Crabs, mollusks, and occasionally fish. Lifespan: Averages 3 years.

RELATED SPECIES The giant octopus is a distant rel­

ative of garden snails and slugs. Closer relatives include other octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish.

Range of the giant octopus.

DISTRIBUTION

Found along the coasts of the northern Pacific, from Cali­fornia to Alaska and west to the Sea of Japan.

CONSERVATION

The giant octopus is vulnerable to pollution. But unlike its edible relative, the common octopus, it is not in direct danger from humans.

PECIAL ADAPTATIONS OF THE GIANT OCTOPUS SUcklrs: Suckers are used to rip prey apart and to anchor the octopus to a rock. Sensors surrounding each sucker allow it to reject anything that tastes or feels wrong.

Siphon: The siphon, or funnel ,

takes in water. The octopus can

use it to propel itself through

water.

T .... el.: The octopus has eight strong arms. They are capable of pushing and pulling and can grip prey very tightly.

© MCMXCI IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILETM PRINTED IN U.S.A.

allk: The giant octopus uses its powerful beak to crush crab shells

0160200411 PACKET 41

The giant octopus is a highly developed mollusk

that has very acute senses, excellent mobility,

and remarkable mental agility. It is so well adapted

to its marine environment that many zoologists

consider it the pinnacle of evolution

among invertebrates.

~ HABITS The giant octopus spends most of its day lurking in a rocky crevice. It emerges at night to forage for prey. The site of its hideout is frequent-ly marked by the shells and fragments of its victims--crabs, clams, cockles, and sea snails.

If it does venture out, the oc­topus usually crawls along the sea floor, often with surprising speed. Buoyed up by the wa­ter, it may walk on "tiptoe,"

pushing itself along with the tips of its powerful tentacles. Or it may glide along, pro­pelled by a jet of water thrust out of its gill chamber. If it is alarmed, it can escape at high speed, jetting backward with tentacles streaming. Its soft body lets it squeeze through small openings.

Right: Suckers on its strong tentacles anchor the giant octopus to a rock surface.

DID YOU KNOW? • A giant octopus can live out of water for some time if it stays cool and damp. It may leave the water to search for food on land.

• The giant octopus has the largest brain of all the inver­tebrates. It has a very good

~ BREEDING The male octopus is easy to distinguish from the female­one of his tentacles has no suckers near the end . He mates by inserting this tentacle into the female's mantle cavity. A sperm package is propelled down a tentacle groove into the female's oviduct, where the sperm fertilize her eggs. The male octopus dies soon

after mating. The female may produce up

to 100,000 eggs, which she strings up on the ceiling of her lair. She watches over the eggs for six months, never leaving the nursery or eating.

Each egg hatches into a tiny

Left: Messages from the brain to cells in the skin cause the octo­pus's color to change.

memory and can learn quite complex tasks.

• Although the octopus has three hearts, they are not very efficient. Because it has poor stamina, the octopus cannot sustain a struggle for a long period of time.

------'

octopus only a quarter of an inch long, which immediately swims off to join the plankton. It settles on the seabed and begins to grow at an amazing rate-from a weight of half an ounce to two pounds or more within seven months.

~ DEFENSES Enemies of the giant octopus include seals, sharks, and larger giant octopuses. Its main de­fense is its speed and its ability to squeeze into tiny cracks and crevices. It can also confuse an attacker by squirting it with a dense cloud of ink.

~ FOOD &: HUNTING The giant octopus eats almost anything it catches, but crabs and bivalve mollusks are its main prey. It hunts mainly by sight and has eyes that have a lot in common with ours.

The octopus surges forward and envelops prey with its tentacles. It checks the catch with its suckers, which have touch sensors and chemical receptors, and it will reject anything that feels or tastes

Above: The giant octopus lies outside its lair waiting for prey to enter its territory.

Meanwhile the mother has died, exhausted by the effort of breeding and starved by the six-month vigil she kept over her eggs.

Nerve-controlled color cells in the skin let the octopus change color for camouflage or an intimidating display. As a last resort it will bite. If these defenses fail and the octopus loses tentacles in an attack, it simply grows new ones.

wrong. Sometimes the octo­pus paralyzes its victim with a shot of venom from its sali­vary gland. But usually it rips prey apart with its powerful suckers. The octopus kills crabs with a shell-crushing bite from the parrotlike beak that is concealed at the cen­ter of its radiating tentacles. Then it scoops out the crab flesh and dumps the shells outside of its lair.

NORTHERN RED ANEMONE -----;-- - -- ----- -- ~- ~ - -- -- --- - -- - - --~--;---- ------.--- ..... <l' -----;--- ~----

... ORDER '11IIIIIIII Actiniaria

• r ......

FAMILY Actinidae

GENUS &: SPECIES Teatia fetina

The northern red anemone is a beautiful marine animal that spends most of its life below the tidemark around temperate

shores. It is one of the largest anemones in the North Atlantic.

CTS

SIZE Body: Diameter, up to 5 in.

BREEDING Asexual reproduction: Divides in

two, or small individuals bud off.

Sexual reproduction: Eggs and

sperm are released into the water

to produce tiny free-swimming

larvae.

LIFESTYLE

Habit: Solitary, but may occur in

groups from the tidemark down to

about 325 ft. Prefers to attach itself

to a rocky, shady spot. Diet: Small crustaceans and small

fish.

RELATED SPECIES

There are over 6,000 species of

anemone and coral. The genus

Teatia contains several species,

including several varieties of the

northern red anemone, T. fetina.

Range of the northern red anemone.

DISTRIBUTION

The northern red anemone is a temperate marine species

that occurs in the coastal waters of the North Atlantic and Baltic Sea.

CONSERVATION

Although not specifically threatened, the northern red

anemone is affected by pollution and habitat destruction, as are many inshore marine animals.

FEATURES OF THE NORTHERN RED ANEMONE The northern red anemone exists in a number of different varieties, which may be red, gray-blue, or green. Identification is also complicated by the existence of similar, closely related species.

Tentacles: Tapered and flexible . Over 100 arranged in rings around the central opening. Translucent (light can shine through them), and often red. Armed with poison cells that spring out in attack.

© MCMXCI IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILETM PRINTED IN U.S.A.

Retracted form: Rubbery, jellylike appearance. The anemone gen­erally reverts to this position at low tide to avoid drying out. It also retracts as a defense mechanism.

Protrusions: Sticky warts on

the surface of the body attract

grains of sand and gravel for

camouflage.

Base: A strong foot (hidden) attaches the anemone to a rocky spot from the mid-tidemark down to about 325 feet.

0160200451 PACKET 45

The northern red anemone appears fairly static,

sitting on the seabed with only its brightly colored

tentacles waving gently in the current. But when a

shrimp or small fish brushes past, its /ightning-

fast stinging cells paralyze the animal. The

anemone can then use its tentacles to

draw the victim slowly into its mouth.

~ HABITS The northern red anemone oc-curs on the seabed, from the mid-tidemark down to about 325 feet. To avoid bright light, it attaches itself to a rocky sur­face in a crevice or seaweed.

The column of the northern red anemone is covered with sticky gray warts. Sand and gravel stick to the warts and camouflage the anemone.

When approached by a pred­ator like a large fish, the anem­one pulls in its tentacles so that only the squat, rubbery column shows. If attacked, it squirts out

Right: When exposed at low tide, the anemone retracts its tentacles to avoid drying out.

a jet of water and contracts its tentacles even more.

To avoid drying out at low ti.de when it may be exposed to air for several hours, the anemone retracts its tentacles and shrinks to a jellylike blob. It expands again when the tide covers it.

~ FOOD &: FEEDING The northern red anemone feeds on small invertebrates and fish. Attracted to the anem­one by its colorful tentacles, the prey sees it as potential food or a place to take shelter.

As soon as the prey comes into contact with the anemone, groups of stinging cells resem­bling tiny barbed harpoons are fired from the tentacles into the victim. These cells are called

Left: The northern red anemone lives in fertile waters to depths of about 325 feet.

DID YOU KNOW? • The sting from a northern red anemone's tentacles can cause a rash on sensitive parts of the human body.

• Some anemones use their poisonous tentacles to stop other anemones and corals from settling close to them.

• A few anemone species give

nematocysts, and the tip of each is filled with a poison that para­

lyzes the prey. Chemicals released by the vic­

tim cause the anemone to con­tract its tentacles and open its mouth, drawing the prey into the central body cavity. Nutri­ents are absorbed, then waste material is passed out through the central opening, which serves as both mouth and anus.

Right: The brightly colored ten­tacles vary greatly in different anemones.

birth to live young that form within the parent's body.

• Specimens of the species Tealia columbiana may grow up to three feet across.

• The internal organs of the northern red anemone are arranged in a circle around a central axis.

The northern red anemone can reproduce sexually or asexually. It can release both eggs and sperm into the water where the egg is fertilized by the sperm, producing a larva (an imma-

Left: Underwater, its tentacles make the anemone look like a flower in bloom.

Left: The anemone is a simple animal known as a coelenterate. It has a sac/ike body with a central open­ing that is used as both a mouth and an anus.

ture form between egg and adult). The larva settles on a rocky site, where it then de­velops into a tiny anemone.

It can also produce tiny rep­lica anemones by budding (producing offspring "buds"), or by dividing down the middle to form two individuals.

Left: A strong foot attaches the northern red anemone to a rocky surface. It changes its position with a deliberate creeping motion.

ARMORED MILLIPEDE - - - - - r ~ r- ~~ ,:trt ..,..

.... PHYLUM '1IIIIIIII Arthropoda

CLASS Dip/opoda

.... FAMILY '1IIIIIIII Various

•• _ ~ ~;..... ; i:l.~':. • _ ~ -...

Armored millipedes vary in size, with some species reaching almost a foot in length. Despite their shell-like armor, many rely on

poison glands to deter enemies from attacking.

~ . - -

SIZES Length: The largest millipedes can reach 1 foot in length. Other

species frequently grow to 8 in.

BREEDING Mating: Male and female may embrace for several hours. Fertil­ization takes place within the female's body. Eggs: Depending on species, may

lay up to 300 eggs.

LIFESTYLE Habit: Nocturnal. Range of armored millipedes.

DISTRIBUTION

Diet: Leaves and other decaying vegetable matter on forest floor. Some species forage in trees.

RELATED SPECIES

Found in the United States and in tropical forests around

the world.

There are 8,000 species of millipede worldwide.

CONSERVATION Armored millipedes are not directly threatened. But, like

other inhabitants of tropical forests, they are at risk from the continued destruction of their habitat.

SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS OF ARMORED MilLIPEDES

Defense: The millipede curls into a spiral, exposing only its hard armor plating to an enemy.

Color: Species may be bright­ly colored or striped to deter predators and indicate that the millipede .is inedible.

move in a ripple down the length of the millipede.

© MCMXCI IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILETM PRINTED IN U.S.A. 0160200441 PACKET 44

Armored millipedes rest during the day.

At night they forage for rotting vegetation among

the dead leaves on the tropical forest floor.

The wavelike pulse of their short legs gives them

considerable power when burrowing.

~ HABITAT

Armored millipedes push their way through soil and decaying vegetation with ease. Under

piles of leaf mold or in damp crevices, millipedes can be

found resting by day or feed­

ing at night. There are also some species that climb trees to feed on vegetable matter caught in the branches.

Above: A cluster of eyes at the base of each antenna can be seen on this giant millipede.

~ FOOD &: FEEDING Unlike centipedes, with which they are often confused, ar­mored millipedes do not hunt

living creatures. Instead, they eat the leaves and other mat­ter that fall from trees and de­

cay on the ground in their tropical forest habitat.

Millipedes may also attack crops planted by humans. But they are unlikely to be a prin­cipal source of damage. Their jaws are simply not strong enough to pierce anything

that is not already damaged or decaying.

left: Decaying vegetation on the forest floor provides food and lodging for millipedes.

Right: The millipede's rippling motion can be viewed under a microscope. This way of mov­ing developed many millions of years ago.

~DEFENSES Because armored millipedes move slowly, they are vul­nerable to attack. As a result, they have developed several means of defense.

One defense is the armor

itself. Many species, such a.s the pill millipedes, curl up into a ball when attacked. Some species become as large as a golf ball. Another defense is poison glands. In most cases the poison is constantly se­creted to give the millipede a toxic coating. Some larger species can spray their poison as far as three feet.

Other defenses include bright markings to warn off

predators. A millipede that lives in the sequoia forests of California is even luminous.

~ BREEDING

Armored millipedes may mate for several hours. The male winds around the female and holds her with his front legs. Fertilization occurs within the female's body. Depending on the species, she may lay up to

300 eggs. Unlike earthworms and most

insects, many female centi­pedes and millipedes tend their eggs. Some disguise the eggsbycoatingthemw~h

excrement. Others build an intricate nest and coil them-

DID YOU KNOW? • Millipedes first appeared about 400 million years ago.

• The name millipede means 1/1,000 legs. 1/ But millipedes

rarely have more than 200 or 300 legs.

selves around the eggs. Vari­ous kinds of nests are built. The usual materials are soil and excrement, although some millipedes spin a nest of a silklike substance.

When it hatches, the ar­

mored millipede may have only a fraction of the adult number of legs. It gains more legs every time it molts, or sheds, its hard outer shell.

Below: After elaborate leg-waving courtship rituals, millipedes may mate for many hours.

• One species of millipede was oOnee ground up and

used to poison arrowtips.

• Some millipedes spit a fluid that can cause blind­ness in humans.

Scleractinia Dip/oria, Meandrina, etc.

A brain coral is not a single animal, but rather a colony of tiny creatures. These organisms sift through the water for food,

trapping and paralyzing their prey with miniature poison darts.

KEY FACTS

SIZE

Diameter of colony: Up to 61$ ft.

BREEDING

Sexual reproduction: Spawns in

late spring or early summer, a few

nights after full moon.

No. of eggs: Several thousand,

depending on size of colony.

Asexual reproduction: Colonies

grow by sprouting new but geneti­

cally identical polyps.

LIFESTYLE

Habit: Fixed colonies grow on

skeletal limestone.

DISTRIBUTION Diet: Microscopic floating animals

supplemented by nutrients made

by single-celled plants that live

within the coral.

Brain corals are found on coral reefs in the Caribbean Sea,

Pacific Ocean, and Indian Ocean .

RELATED SPECIES CONSERVATION There are many different species of

brain coral belonging to two fami­

lies. All corals are relatives of sea

anemones and jellyfish.

Like all reef species, brain corals are threatened by pollution,

coastal development, and, in the long term, global w arming.

Some corals are collected and dried as souvenirs for tourists.

FEATURES OF BRAIN CORALS

Form: Domelike or egg-shaped in appearance. Living polyps cover the surface, building upward and outward. Beneath them lie the skeletons of dead polyps.

Habitat: Warm , clear, shallow water with a firm bed . Most corals colonize rocky areas or submerged wrecks. Sunlight is an essential requirement.

Polyp (detail): Tiny organism that is the basic unit of the colony. Arranged in dense rows. Each polyp has a crown of tentacles with poison darts for killing its tiny zooplankton prey.

Mouth: Lies at the center of each polyp's tentacle crown . The prey is

passed to the mouth by the tentacles. The mouth also releases sex cells .

©MCMXCVI IMP BV/IMP INC. WILDLIFE FACT FILETM PRINTED IN U.S.A.

RELEASING SEX CELLS

Sex cell production: Eggs and sperm are formed in small pink bundles that move up to the mouth of each polyp .

Spawning: All the corals in one reef area release their sex cells simultaneously. The bundles float up and burst, allowing sperm cells to fertilize unrelated eggs.

us P 6001 12054 PACKET 54

The spreading, rounded mass of a brain coral

encompasses a highly complex colony made up of rows

of tiny organisms called polyps. These polyps in turn

harbor microscopic single-celled plants within their bodies.

These plants convert light and carbon dioxide into

nutrients, supplementing the polyps diet of live prey

and helping the coral thrive in warm, clear waters.

~ CHARACTERISTICS Brain corals are widespread in coral reefs in the Caribbean as

well as the tropical Pacific and Indian oceans. The reefs have

developed over millions of years. Living corals grow on

the dead limestone skeletons

of their predecessors, building the reef steadily upward as sea levels rise.

Each brain coral is a colony of tiny, anemonelike organ- .

isms called polyps. A polyp is basically a tube with a crown of stinging tentacles .

The polyps stand in long, meandering lines separated

by grooves, which gives the

whole a fissured appearance resembling that of the human

brain . Each polyp is linked to

the next by a stolon-a thin tube of body tissue that allows

nutrients to pass between in­

dividuals . The polyps are also linked by a common nerve network that ensures they all

act in unison. Under the glare of a flashlight, for example,

the polyps simultaneously re­tract their tentacles.

Right: Tentacles on each polyp in­ject poison into tiny animals and then pass them to the polyp's mouth.

~ FOOD & FEEDING Brain corals feed at night on

zooplankton, tiny animals in the water. The coral polyps have tentacles that are armed with

barbed stinging cells, or nema­tocysts. If something bumps

against a tentacle, a sac bursts open and a dart shoots out to inject paralyzing poison into the

victim. The prey is pulled in by the tentacles and passed into the polyp's mouth in the cen­ter. Then digestive juices break

down the prey, and the nutri-

Left: Brain corals may share their living space with stag 's horn coral, a treelike species.

ents pass along the connective

paths to feed the whole colony. Brain corals also benefit from

single-celled plants that live within them. These plants ab­sorb sunlight and then use it to turn carbon dioxide and

water into sugars that help nourish the coral. Without this extra food a brain coral can­

not grow. If the ocean water becomes cloudy or polluted so sunlight does not reach the

plants, the brain coral dies.

Right: Brain corals live only on shallow reefs, where sunlight acti­vates the plants that feed it.

Left: Lines of tightly packed polyps, with deep fissures in between, grow on this brain coral's upper surface. Under­neath the live polyps, the bulk of the coral mound consists of dead polyp skeletons.

DID YOU KNOW? • The coral colony's limestone skeleton has distinct bands like the rings of a tree trunk. Count­

ing the bands gives a rough estimate of the colony's age.

• Corals spawn together to thwart predators that eat the

eggs. Although fish in the area eat the eggs rapidly, they stop

~ BREEDING Brain corals reproduce both

sexually and asexually. For sex­ual reproduction, all the reef's

corals spawn at the same time. For a few days in spring, the

entire reef is flooded with eggs and sperm cells.

Some months before these cells are released, the sex organs

in each polyp begin producing first eggs and then sperm. The

sex cells work their way toward the mouth. At the due time­

usually a few nights after a full moon in late spring-bundles of sex cells are released. They

float to the surface and then

when full, and the remaining eggs survive to reproduce.

• Brain corals are preyed on by the crown-of-thorns starfish, which settles on a colony and

digests polyps with its pushed­out stomach lining. Starfish

epidemics occur periodically, and many corals are killed.

burst apart. The sperm are pre­

vented from fertilizing the eggs they are packed with and drift

off to find other eggs.

When an egg is fertilized by a sperm, it develops into a float­

ing larva. This larva eventually

settles on the reef and turns into a single coral polyp. The

polyp then reproduces itself asexually by budding-pro­ducing budlike offshoots near

its base, which develop into

new polyps. A whole new net­work of stolons and polyps is

created, eventually developing into a new brain coral.

CENTIPEDE

ORDER Chilopoda

FAMILY Lithobiomorpha

GROUP 6: PRIMITIVE ANIMALS ... GENERA

"11IIIIIIII Various

Centipedes are agile, venomous predators. They usually eat insects but will devour any animals-including other centipedes­

that they can catch and stun with their poison fangs.

CHARACTERISTICS

Length: Average, 1-2 in.

Legs: Common centipede has 15

pairs. Other species have up to

101 pairs.

Mouthparts: Chewing jaws sup­

plemented by poison fangs.

BREEDING

Breeding season: Generally spring

to fall in temperate climates.

Eggs: Laid singly in soil or in

batches.

Hatching t ime: About 3 weeks.

LIFESTYLE

Habit: Active at night; solitary.

Diet: Insects, small crustaceans,

worms, slugs, and other centipedes.

Lifespan: Up to 6 years.

RELATED SPECIES

There are about 3,000 species of

centipede found worldwide.

Range of centipedes.

DISTRIBUTION

Centipedes are found worldwide in tropical and temperate

climates. They do not occur in the middle of the Sahara Desert

or in polar regions. The common centipede is found in Europe,

North Africa, and the Americas.

CONSERVATION

Centipedes are under no direct threat from humans. They help

to control garden pests and should not be harmed.

THREE SPECIES OF CENTIPEDES

Necrophlosophagus longicoreis: Spends much of its time burrowing underground. Long, segmented pale body with many pairs of short legs.

J )~

The common centipede, Lithobius forficatus: Molts sev­eral times before reaching adult size. Has 30 legs, with longer legs at rear of body. First pair of legs modified into poison claws. Last2 pairs are dragged.

Scutigera coleoptrata: Short body but very long legs for speed. Long, touch-sensitive antennae.

--

© MCMXCII IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILE'M PRINTED IN USA

/

0160200501 PACKET 50

Centipedes are found all over the world except in

polar regions and the middle of the Sahara Desert.

They are creatures of the dark, emerging only at

night to pursue their prey over damp earth. As dawn

approaches, they return to their moist dens,

where they hide their flat bodies in crevices

to escape the drying effects of the sun.

~HABITS Centipedes are found in tem-perate and tropical climates worldwide. They are heavily armored with strong plates of chitin, a substance that forms a tough outer skeleton. Insects are also protected by chitin, but they have waterproofing that allows them to live in hot, dry climates without dehydrat­ing. By contrast, centipedes must keep moist to survive.

Centipedes respond to the presence of moisture. They move quickly over dry surfaces and slow down when they come to moist ground. They spend most of their time in

moist places-beneath stones, under logs, in rock crevices, or behind loose bark. Many spe­cies spend their lives buried in damp soil. The common cen­tipede comes out at night to hunt among moist vegetation and leaf litter but returns to the shelter of a crevice in daytime.

A centipede's flat, long body is ideally shaped for lurking in narrow gaps. It enters a crevice and crawls forward until its body is wedged in the crack. It often has to emerge backward, guided by the long hindmost pair of legs, which sense obsta­cles in its path.

~ FOOD & HUNTING All centipedes hunt, preying to sense vibrations from their on insects, spiders, wood lice, potential victims . worms, and slugs . They also Once caught, a victim has feed on other centipedes. no chance of escape. A cen-

Catching prey is rarely a tipede is armed with a pair of problem because most cen- poison fangs that curve for-tipedes are very fast runners . ward toward the front of its Scutigera centipedes have very head. The poison injected by long legs and move so fast these fangs instantly para-that they can even dart up to Iyzes the prey. The centipede flies and catch them . Most then devours the impaled centipedes are almost blind. and stunned creature with its They rely on their antennae powerful jaws.

Left: To find prey, centipedes rely on their touch-sensitive long antennae.

DID YOU KNOW? • The common centipede avoids winter frosts by bur­rowing deep in the soil. • Some centipedes produce a bright fluid when alarmed. This defense may frighten off predators. • Some tropical centipedes grow up to one foot long and prey on animals like mice and

Right: Centipedes molt many times before reaching adulthood, emerg­ing each time with more legs.

toads. Their venom can be dangerous to humans but is rarely fatal. • If a centipede loses a leg, it grows another. The new leg gets longer every time the centipede sheds its skin. • Centipedes produce formic acid, "Yhich is the same chem­ical as scorpion venom.

[ J NATUREWATCH Centipedes rarely emerge in daylight. But you may find one in a garden if you disturb the soi l. The common centi­pede likes dark, moist areas and may be found under a large stone or log . When dis­turbed, it runs with surprising

~BREEDING Attracted to a receptive female by scent, the male centipede first circles her. Then he spins a pad of silk on the ground and places a package of sperm on it. The female walks over the pack­age and picks it up using a pair of claspers at her hind end. Claspers are almost the only way to tell the sexes apart.

If the female gathers the sperm in spring or summer and places it on her sex organs, her eggs are fertilized almost immediately. If she mates later in the year, she

Left: The female giant Scolo­pendra wraps around her eggs to protect them.

speed to a new hiding place. Watch a centipede move.

As it lifts one leg after anoth­er, waves of motion ripple down along its legs. Each side moves alternately; while one side is active, the other side stays still.

carries the sperm in her body for months before laying eggs. The common centipede lays eggs singly in the earth and leaves them to develop on their own. In many other species, the female lays batches of eggs, which she cleans and guards.

A newly hatched common centipede has fewer body seg­ments than an adult and only 12 legs. It sheds its skin several times, growing more legs at each molt. A common centi­pede may molt four times be­fore it has all 30 legs. It may be two years old before it is ready to mate.

SEA SQUIRT

Sea squirts spend their adult lives glued to rocks. Although they look more like plants than animals, sea squirts are related to

some of the most complex animals on the planet.

SIZES In a star sea squirt colony, each individual is about ~6 in. long, and the cluster is about 1,1.; in. across.

The clusters are grouped in patches up to 6 in. across.

BREEDING Each individual is both male and female and produces a few large eggs that are fertilized either internally or externally. Mobile larvae colonize new sites.

LIFESTYLE Habit: Adult is sedentary and attached to rocks or the anchors

of large seaweeds. Diet: Floating organic debris, microscopic animals and plants.

Lifespan: About a year.

RELATED SPECIES There are about 2,000 species of sea squirt worldwide. Their near­est relatives are the similar but

free-floating salps.

ANATOMY OF A SEA SQUIRT

Heart ---+--HoiliH4

Adhesive base

© MCMXCI IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILETM

Range of sea squirts.

DISTRIBUTION The star sea squirt is usually found in shallow coastal waters up to the low-tide line in temperate, plankton-rich seas. Other species may be found in deeper waters, where they

feed on decaying matter.

CONSERVATION Sea squirts on coasts are vulnerable to pollution from oil and chemicals. But in general, sea squirts are not in danger.

Nerve cord Intestine Pharynx

Adhesive papillae

Larva: Shaped like a tadpole. Swims around until it finds a place where it can settle and transform into an adult sea squirt.

PRINTED IN U.S.A. 0160200471 PACKET 47

Some species of sea squirt are single individuals.

Other species are small colonies of individuals that are

arranged in clusters like the petals of a flower. Found on

rocky shores, sea squirts form crusts on rocks in sheltered,

permanently moist places. They live on tiny food

particles that they filter from the water.

~ HABITAT On land, most animals have to

move around to find food. But

in the sea, the food itself is on

the move. Suspended in the

dense salt water, millions of

microscopic life forms ebb and

flow with the currents in clouds

of organic debris.

With so much edible matter

floating by, small marine ani­

mals can easily snare any food

that happens to drift past. Since

they don't have to move in

order to find food, animals like

sea squirts can remain attached

to rocks and still survive.

Although they resemble blobs

of jelly, sea squirts are not as

primitive as they seem. A sea

squirt larva has a nerve cord

that runs down its body and a

muscular tail supported by a

crude backbone. The anatomy

of this tadpolelike larva indi­

cates that it is related to fish,

reptiles, birds, and mammals.

~ CHARACTERISTICS A sea squirt is basically a tube

of jellylike matter with water in­

side. When it is touched, a sea

squirt will live up to its name by

squirting water.

Some sea squirts live indepen­

dently, while others live in large

colonies. The star sea squirt,

for example, is a colony. Each

"star" is a cluster of individual

tubes embedded in a jellylike

mat that is shared with other

clusters. The arrangement re­

sembles daisies scattered over

a rock and sealed in a layer of

transparent wax.

Each individual lives by taking

in water at one end of the tube,

drawing it through a fine filter

to strain out the edible particles,

and pumping the water out the

other end.

In solitary sea squirts, which

stand upright on their rocks,

the exhaust end of the tube is

a spout on the side of the ani­

mal's body, like the spout of a

teapot. In star squirts, which lie

Left: Sea squirts pump water in through their large upper open­ing. Here they are grouped on the Mediterranean seabed.

~ BREEDING Sea squirts have both male and

female sex organs, so in theory

they could fertilize themselves.

But they exchange sperm in­

stead, so each offspring con­

tains the genes of two parents.

This provides for variation and

allows the species to evolve.

Some sea squirts release both

eggs and sperm into the water,

where they mingle and join

to form floating embryos. Star

sea squirts keep their eggs, and

on their backs radiating from a

central point, the water is ex­

pelled from the center of the

star along with waste products.

The food filter is actually

the upper end of the intestine.

Water that is drawn into the fil­

ter escapes through perfora­

tions into the body cavity to be

pumped away. The food parti­

cles stay inside, held by the filter

and a sticky mucus that flows

down into the digestive tract,

they fertilize them by drawing

in sperm with their food. The

embryos then develop into lar­

vae in the parent's body.

Sea squirt larvae are free­

swimming creatures that re­

semble tiny tadpoles, with

rounded bodies and long tails.

Each larva drifts in the current

until it is almost mature. Then it

uses a sucker on its head to

attach itself to a rock where it

changes into its adult form.

taking the food along with it.

The food filter also acts as a

gill, absorbing oxygen from

the water that flows through

the animal. The water flow is

maintained by the constant

motion of tiny hairs called cilia. As a result, sea squirts can get

enough oxygen, even though

they live in places with very lit­

tle natural water movement.

Below: Sea squirts gathered on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

DID YOU KNOW? • A common sea squirt can filter over 200 quarts of wa­

ter an hour when feeding.

• Most sea squirts live in shallow, food-rich waters,

but some live in the deep

oceans, more than 16,000

feet beneath the surface.

There they feed on decay­

ing animal fragments that

drift down.

• Some sea squirts attach

themselves to the under­

water structure of oil rigs

and to the hulls of ships.

• Some sea squirts can

reproduce by simply pro­

ducing extra individuals on

the sides of their bodies.

~ NATUREWATCH Species like the star sea

squirt are found on rocky

seashores below the low­

tide mark, beneath rocks,

or under wet seaweed.

Since sea squirts need

constant moisture, they

must be covered after

being examined, or they

may dry out and die.

On exposed shores the

colonies cover rocks, but

in sheltered waters they

can form freestanding

fleshy lobes. Star clusters

may be yellow, orange,

blue, or white, with a

bright red spot at the

tip of each sea squirt.

Left: These sea squirts have translucent bodies that reveal their internal organs. Individual sea squirts can be up to four inches long.

COMMON CUTTLEFISH

PHYLUM Mollusca

CLASS Cephalopoda

... ORDER ~ Sepioidea

... GENUS & SPECIES ~ Sepia officinalis

The common cuttlefish hunts for prey at night, snatching its victims with its two long hunting tentacles. During the day it hides,

changing the color of its skin to match its surroundings.

KEY FACTS

SIZES

Length: 1 ft. Hunting tentacles: Up to 1 ~ ft .

long.

BREEDING

Spawning season: Spring and

summer.

No. of eggs: About 300.

LIFESTYLE

Habit: Sociable; swims in shoals.

Preyed upon by dolphins, por­

poises, sharks and other fish.

Diet: Fish, crabs, shrimps, and

prawns.

RELATED SPECIES

There are about 80 species of

cuttlefish ranging in size from 2

in. to 5 ft. The cuttlefish belongs

to the class Cephalopoda and is

related to the nautilus and the

other tentacled marine animals,

octopuses and squids.

Range of the common cuttlefish.

- DISTRIBUTION

Found in the North Sea, English Channel, Atlantic Ocean, and

Mediterranean Sea.

CONSERVATION

The cuttlefish is in no danger. It is not generally fished for sport but

is sometimes caught for eating in Mediterranean areas. During the

spawning season, a female may be hooked and towed below the

surface to attract males. Then all the fish are netted.

FEATURES OF THE COMMON CUTTLEFISH Skin: Contains hundreds of pigment cells that can be contracted or ex­panded to change color within sec­onds. Color change provides the cuttlefish with camouflage and is al­so used in courtship.

THE CUTILEBONE

A soft, chalky internal shell that supports the soft parts of the body.

Eyes: Large, W~it:ll~~~II'~~~rli all-round vision. Rapidly send information to the brain.

© MCMXCI IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILETM PRINTED IN U.S.A.

Tentacles: Eight short tentacles are used to sense surroundings, to protect the head, and to hold prey when feeding.

Two longer tentacles are used in hunt­ing. The male cuttlefish has one ten­

tacle modified for transferring sperm.

0160200461 PACKET 46

Along with the octopus and the squid, the common

cuttlefish belongs to the class Cephalopoda-

the most highly evolved group of mollusks. Equipped

with strong tentacles and sharp eyes that can see in all

directions, the cuttlefish is a match for prey and predators

alike. It can even shoot backward out of danger by

using an advanced jet propulsion system.

~ HABITS The common cuttlefish is most

often found in shallow sea wa­

ters with a sandy bed. It hides

during the day, changing color

to match its surroundings, and

hunts for prey at night.

The internal shell of the cut­

tlefish is porous and holds both

water and a mixture of gases.

By controlling the amount of

gas or water in its shell, the cut­

tlefish can sink to the seabed

and rest on it, or it can remain

afloat at any depth.

I DID YOU KNOW? • A cuttlefish can color 26 cubic yards of water with its

ink in a few minutes.

• The ink produced by cut­tlefish has been used byart­

ists for centuries to make a

rich brown pigment known

as sepia. • A cuttlefish can regenerate a lost tentacle.

~ FOOD &: HUNTING At night the cuttlefish hunts for

fish, crabs, prawns, and shrimps.

Its large eyes let it see prey from

any direction, even behind.

Moving slowly forward by rip­

pling its lateral fins, the cuttle­

fish extends its eight suckered

tentacles. Two longer tentacles

with suckered ends shoot out

and grab the prey, which is

drawn into the mouth and bro­

ken up by the cuttlefish's beak­

like jaws.

Left: Gentle undulations of the lateral fins propel the cuttlefish through the water.

Right: The cuttlefish snatches prey such as prawns with its long, suck­ered tentacles.

• Schools of badly mangled cuttlefish often wash ashore,

but it is not known what

causes this.

• During the mating period, • the female cuttlefish is said

to be luminous.

• With its highly developed brain, the cuttlefish can

learn by experience.

Left: When courting a female, the male cuttlefish displays zebra­like stripes.

~ ~ SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS The common cuttlefish has

ingenious devices for fooling

predators and prey. While it

hunts, it constantly changes

color to blend in with its sur­

roundings. Entire shoals can

change color in unison.

To escape from predators,

~ BREEDING During spawning season, the

male cuttlefish displays yellow­

ish white and purplish brown

stripes. When another cuttlefish

Left: The young cuttle­fish breaks free from the egg when it is less than halfan inch long. Fully mobile, it swims around and preys on tiny plankton.

the cuttlefish emits a jet of

water from its siphon (a spe­

cial funnel on the underside)

and shoots backward, away

from danger. At the same

time the cuttlefish may re­

lease a"n inky fluid that con­

ceals it from enemies.

approaches, he displays his hec­tocotylus, a modified tentacle

that carries his sperm. If the sec­

ond fish does not do the same,

the male knows it is a female.

He then uses this tentacle to

place sperm in a pouch below

the female's mouth, which con­

tains the reproductive organs.

The female lays about 300

eggs in batches of 20. Each egg

is coated with a rubbery black

solution and has a long tail that

attaches the egg to a plant stalk.