Mudskippers, they have adapted to mangrove environments in a way that is very unique, these fish present a range of peculiar behavioural and physiological adaptations to an amphibious lifestyle. So that means that they are able to move on land and water very well.

 

Mudskippers have many structural adaptations and some of them are: a large single fin that make up 70% of their body, this fin is made out of muscle and because of this is it allows them to move around the water in a series of skips, they can also flip their muscular bodies to catapult themselves up to 2 ft into the air to catch flys or other insects.

 

Mudskippers have the ability to breathe through their skin and the lining of their mouth and throat which means that during low tide at the mangroves mudskippers can stay because they can breathing while out of water becuase of their enlarged gill chambers, where they retain a bubble of water. These chambers close tightly when the fish is above water, keeping the gills moist and makeing it able to breath.

 

They also have two tiny fin like arms which allow them to be able to move on muddy parts of the mangroves and search for food.

 

 

 

 

The Light blue Soldier Crab, ' is one of the most loved crabs by people', because of its small, round, blue body on eight long jointed legs with purple stripes across its whole body. Usually the only time you will see a solider crab is when they are clumped up forming a massive horde of soldier crabs. 

 

The Soldier Crab has adapted to its enviroment through using is eight legs to marches around feeding, it moulds the sand and mud into numerous pellets, sorting through it for organic matter.

 

The Solider Crab has also adapted so that if disturbed, threatened by a predator such as a bird, wandering around minding their own business, or searching for food, they will use there eight long pointed legs and they will all burrow into the mud or damp sand with a corkscrew motion and plung themselves deep into the mud or sand, and then reappear when they think it is safe.  

 

The Soldier Crabs have a behavioural adaptation ans this is that they only ever come out when it is low tide because they do not have the ability to swim in water, you will never see a Light Blue Soldier Crab during hightide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Paddle Crab can vary widely in colour from mottled cream and purple, pale green to olive green and yellow to deep chestnut. They have five spines on their front claws, the reason that they have spines on their claws is because when they grab a small fish, they are able to hold onto that fish and not let it slip away, thay also have six spines to the side of each eye and spines between their eyes.

 

When the Paddle Crab see the presence of a predator they can use the paddles on their ear legs to borrow into the sand for protection, with only their eyes and antennae protruding, waiting to see if it is safe to return to the surface and continue looking for food.

 

They have eight set of legs, four on each side, six of those legs are pointy and meant for running across sand but at the back, their two legs are in the shape of paddle are used to swim in water, and these paddle's allow them to swim very fast in the water while chasing prey and trying to get away from a predator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cockle is a small, edible, saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc.  Cockle live in sandy, sheltered beaches throughout the world, this is only possible because they travel with the tides and get dragged throughout the vast ocean.

 

 

A Behavioral Adaptation for the Cockles is that they prefer to live buried in sediment such as sand, trapping plankton in their shell and feeding on them as the water of high tide comes through.

 

Cockles typically burrow into the sand using the foot that comes out when there is in no dangerous predators near by. Cockles are also capable of "jumping" by bending and straightening the foot, this allows them to move along the sandy shore, but while doing this action they are vulnerable to predators because their shell is wide open

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Waratah Anemone is named after the beautiful red Waratah flower that is the emblem of New South Wales.  

 

At low tide the Waratah Anemone looks like a small red blob on crevices near rock pools. In this state it has all its tentacles drawn in to minimise its exposure to the air so that it does not dry up and die and then it waits for the return of the tide.

 

Quite often, a number of small anemones will be near the adult. This is because the young are released, fully developed, through the adult anemone's mouth and will stay there until they are big enough to feed themselves, otherwise their off spring would die. The offspring attach to the nearest rock surface available with their suckers that are located at the bottom of their body.

 

At high tide or in rock pools with plenty of water, the anemone opens out to feed, unfurling its beautiful red tentacles. These tentacles act are very sensitive, so that means that when plankton or some sort of bacteria gets washed over by the hightide, the tentacles feel them go past them so they grab then and roll the tentacle so that they food gets to their mouth. This is how they have adapted to live in a rocky shore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Acorn Barnacle like Chthamalus antennatus look like miniature volcanoes, they are about 1.2 cm big and you will almost definiatly see atleast one Acorn Barnacle if you go to a rocky shore. 

 

Acorn barnacles are extremely abundant and gather in large groups towards the high-tide mark on rock platform. These Acorn Barnacles have a rather weird adapation that have allowed them to live in rocky shores. Acorn Barnacles have an infamous reputation for their large penis size. Their reproductive organ may be up to 10 times their body size, a useful adaptation for fertilising adjacent females. Most barnacles are hermaphrodites, having both male and female reproductive organs. Barnacles clustered together may exchange sperm. Barnacles separated by long distances are either not fertilised or fertilise themselves to produce clones. 

 

When the tide rises to cover the barnacles, the operculum opens, and their (modified appendages) are extended into the water to filter food from the seawater. When the tide falls, the operculum closes again to prevent drying up; the reduction from the primitive condition of eight wall plates to six is believed to decrease water loss even further by reducing the number of sutures through which water can escape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Great White Shark, also known as the great white, white pointer, white shark, or white death, is a species of large lamniform shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans.

 

The great white shark is mainly known for its size, with mature individuals growing up to 8m in length  and 3,324 kg in weight. The lifespan of great white sharks is now estimated to be as long as 70 years or more, making it one of the longest lived cartilaginous fish currently known. 

 

Great white sharks can accelerate to over 56 km/h with their massive tail fin which is just made up of muscle. This is a very handy trait or adaption for the sharks because they need this speed to catch their food suchs as seals which can move nearly as fast at the Great White or to so surpise there prey from underneath giving the pery no time to react to the situation. That is why The Great White Shark is one of the Primary Marine predator of the sea besides the Killer Whale. 

 

Great white sharks, have rows of serrated teeth behind the main ones, ready to replace any that break off. When the shark bites, it shakes its head side-to-side, helping the teeth saw off large chunks of flesh, the teeth are not straight ones, they are jaggered and Their teeth can cut through the flesh of their prey like knife threw butter. The force (Pressure) of a Great Whites Bite is PSI: 669, (It can pretty much bite your whole body into two halfs). 

 

Great white sharks, like all other sharks, have an extra sense given by the ampullae of Lorenzini which enables them to detect the electromagnetic field emitted by the movement of living animals. Great whites are so sensitive they can detect variations of half a billionth of a volt. At close range, this allows the shark to locate even immobile animals by detecting their heartbeat. 

 

The Great White Shark is quite reliant on their eyes, so they have adapted so that when they go in to kill their prey they pull down like a white sheet of muscle over their eyes so that they don't damage or destroy their eyes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dolphins' are like the peoples best friends when in the Ocean and they are also considered as one of the most intelligent animals on the planet, they range in size from the 1.7 metres long and weigh up to 50 kilograms. 

 

They have streamlined bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers. Though not quite as flexible as seals, some dolphins can travel at 55.5 kilometres per hour. Dolphins use their conical shaped teeth to capture fast moving prey. They have well-developed their hearing, which is adapted for both air and water, they are so well developed in there hearing that some can survive even if they are blind. 

 

Breathing involves expelling stale air from their blowhole, forming an upward, steamy spout, followed by inhaling fresh air into the lungs.

 

You know the high pitched squealing noise that you hear when you go underwater near a dolphin's, well that's the Dolphins using a organ called the melon to make clicking noises to communicate with other dolphins warning each other if there is danger nearby or a school of fish that they can hunt down at eat. 

 

The dolphin eye is relatively small for its size, yet they do retain a good degree of eyesight. As well as this, the eyes of a dolphin are placed on the sides of its head, so their vision consists of two fields. Most dolphins have slightly flattened eyeballs, enlarged pupils (which shrink as they surface to prevent damage), these adaptations allow for large amounts of light to pass through the eye and, therefore, a very clear image of the surrounding area, this is really helpful to dolphins because it means that they can locate the prey or pradator before thye notice them so it gives them time to react to the situation. They also have glands on the eyelids and outer corneal layer that act as protection for the cornea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Green Sea Turtle, known for its beautiful gee color all over its body and loved by people. 

 

The Green Sea Turtle's dorsoventrally flattened body is covered by a large, teardrop-shaped carapace; it has a pair of large, paddle-like flippers and a pair of flippers at the back of it body. 

 

The adults usually inhabit shallow coral reefs, feeding mostly on various species of seagrasses. The turtles bite off the tips of the blades of seagrass, which keeps the grass healthy, they way they cut the seagrass if with their powerful curved jaw line which is made up of just muscle. The diet of green turtles changes with age. Juveniles are omnivorous, but as they mature they become exclusively herbivorous. This diet shift has an effect on the green turtle's skull morphology. Adult green turtles consume so many plants and algae, their flesh becomes greenish in color.

 

The green Sea Turtle's have adapted so th their shells are made of bone and cartilage (the same bendable stuff your ears are made of.) These are covered with thin plates called scutes which are has hard as rock. These shells are so hard and thick because they need to protect themselves against predatos such has tiger sharks, and other larger sharks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Moray Eel, are quite fearsome and very relentless when it come to killing their prey.

 

The Moray Eel has a dorsal fin which extends from just behind the head along the back and joins seamlessly with the caudal and anal fins. Most species lack pectoral and pelvic fins, adding to their serpentine appearance. Their eyes are rather small; morays rely on their highly developed sense of smell, lying in wait to ambush there prey. Their jaws are wide, framing a protruding snout. Most possess large teeth which are sharp and vary in size (large ones at the front, small teeth at the back) and are used to tear flesh or grasp slippery prey. 

 

Moray eels' heads are too narrow to create the low pressure most fishes use to swallow prey. This means that they have a second set of jaws in their throat called pharyngeal jaws, which also possess teeth tio help break down the food even more. When feeding, morays launch these jaws into the mouth, where they grasp prey and transport it into the throat and digestive system.

 

Morays secrete a protective mucus over their smooth, scaleless skin. They have much thicker skin and high densities of goblet cells in the epidermis that allows mucus to be produced at a higher rate than in other eel species. This allows sand granules to adhere to the sides of their burrows in sand-dwelling morays, thus making the walls of the burrow more permanent due to the glycosylation of mucins in mucus (makes the sand stick together creating a hole in the sea floor which does not colapse when the eel removes itself to capture its prey).