Water Animals

An octopus has eight arms, which trail behind it as it swims. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage.

Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago, before the time of the dinosaurs. Sharks have a covering of dermal denticles that protect their skin from damage and parasites and improve fluid dynamics so the shark can move faster. They also have several sets of replaceable teeth.

There are over 50 species of seahorse, mainly found in shallow tropical and temperate waters throughout the world. They prefer to live in sheltered areas such as sea grass beds, coral reefs, or mangroves. These fish form territories, with males staying in about one square meter of their habitat while females range about one hundred times that area. They bob around in sea grass meadows, mangrove stands, and coral reefs where they are camouflaged by murky brown and grey patterns that blend into the sea grass backgrounds. During social moments or in unusual surroundings, seahorses turn bright colors.