30 Fun Facts About Marine Life

30 Fun Facts About Marine Life

The vastness of the ocean is still a significant mystery to us. Even the species that we know continue to surprise us with their behaviour. Check out these amazing facts about marine critters that you won’t believe:

1. Decorator crabs are the masters of disguise:
   To survive, spider crabs use sponges, seaweed, and anything that will let them blend in, as camouflage that they stick to their carapace.

   

2. Lobsters pee out of their face, and they pee on each other to communicate:
   The urine nozzles located under their eyes allow the lobster to communicate. Peeing on another lobster sends messages necessary for survival.

   

3. Flatfish are born like regular fish:
   All flatfish babies are born upright like other fishes. As they grow, however, they begin to flatten gradually.

   

4. AngelFish mate for Life:
   When angelfish choose a partner, it’s for life! If one of them dies, the other one won’t breed with any other mate in their entire lifetime.

   

5. The digestive system of sea cucumbers cleans the ocean:
   Sea cucumbers’ diet consists of anything that sticks to sand at the bottom of the ocean. After they have gotten food out, they poop the sand out clean and tidy.

   

6. Mating leaves male octopi confused for life:
   When a male octopus mates with a female, he experiences chronic memory loss known as dementia, so he forever after swims around with no ability to remember.

   

7. You enjoy walking on parrotfish poop:
   Do you know that soft, white sand in tropical islands that you dream about whenever you’re planning your winter vacation? It’s what parrotfish poop after eating coral.

   

8. Seahorse males carry babies and give birth:
   Seahorses are the only animals on earth that aren’t birthed by the mothers. In this unique species, it is males who get pregnant.

   

9. A blue whale’s tongue is heavier than an elephant:
   As the largest animal on earth, the full-grown blue whale is so heavy. Just its tongue can weigh more than an entire elephant- that means that it can be heavier than 7,000 kilograms!

   

10. Shark teeth can grow back for their entire life:
    Shark teeth are not really teeth, but scales. Because of this, if they ever lose a tooth, it will just grow back.

    

11. Scorpionfish eggs only take two days to hatch:
    Most animals endure painfully long pregnancies, but female scorpionfish don’t waste time. They simply release the eggs into the water to be fertilized by the males and hatched within two days.

    

12. Frogfish can walk:
    Their pectoral fins are unique and can work as legs that these fishes sometimes use to walk along the sand. When you’re scuba diving, don’t be surprised to see these critters strolling along casually!

    

13. A ghost pipefish’s head makes up almost half of its body:
    This unique fish is incredibly challenging to spot. Once you see it, however, its large head will surprise you, as it makes up 44% of its entire body!

    

14. Eating pufferfish can kill you:
    Poison only resides in a part of the pufferfish’ body, which means that it is not only edible but also delicious. Be careful, though! If the chef doesn’t cut the fish in precisely the right way, this delicacy pufferfish will be lethal.

    

15. Stonefish are one of the most dangerous sea animals:
    Though not on the list of fearsome predators, the poison stonefish carry is one of the most lethal in the entire ocean. Combine this with their incredible ability to camouflage, and you understand why they are to be feared.

    

16. Dolphins enjoy getting high:
    Like many animals, dolphins find natural ways to get high. They use pufferfish to get this effect, and sometimes even do it in groups.

    

17. Crab’s have tastebuds on their feet:
    Forget about putting food in your mouth! Crab don’t waste time on formalities and just use their feet to taste food.

    

18. Blennies are one of the few aquatic species that can survive on land:
    These slimy fishes have been blessed by evolution, as they can survive outside the water as long as they are damp.

    

19. Shrimp are the nice guys of the ocean:
    Some species of shrimp have symbiotic relationships with fish and corals. They clean parasites off fish’s mouth and protect corals in exchange for food. (can you see the shrimp on this Spanish dancer fish?)

    

20. Lobster can regrow an eye or an arm:
    Just like the lizards or sea-stars, a lobster can regrow an eye or a claw it lost in the mouth of a predator! But the new one will be smaller than the first.

    

21. Octopuses are the most caring mums in the world!
    Once mummy octopus has laid its eggs, it cares for them until they hatch, never living their sight, not even to feed! It is believed that mummy octopus reach their limit and die as soon as their babies swim off. When they hatch, baby octopuses are smaller than your fingertip and fully functional.

    

22. Prisoners used to eat lobsters:
    In the past lobsters were considered at the bottom of the food chain. Known as cockroaches of the sea and were used as bait or fed to prisoners.

    

23. Seahorses are quite unique:
    Seahorse have no teeth and no stomach, still, they are one of the most vicious predators existing, their sneaky hunting technics give them a 90% killing rate. They are the only fish with a neck and a prehensile tail they can use to grab on the anything, grass, coral, or mating partners, they perform a courtship dance for a week before mating. They are master of disguise and can change the shape and colour of their skin to blend in their environment.

    

24. Dolphins are sleepwalkers:
    Dolphins only sleep with half their brain, and one eye closed at a time!

    

25. Parrotfish use snot pillows:
    During night dive it is common to see a parrotfish sleeping in a crack but have you ever seen the bubble they create around their head made out of their own snot?

    

26. Stonefish have the most painful poison:
    While less poisonous than a king cobra, stonefish can still be deadly, and apparently, the most painful sting human can ever feel.

    

27. Sharks aren’t as bad as they seem:
    On average, Sharks kills less than 20 people per year. People kill 11,500 sharks per hour. Who’s to fear?

    

28. Mantis shrimps are superheroes:
    If your arms could be as fast as those of a mantis shrimp, you could send a ball to the moon in a throw. Easy! It is believed that the blow from a smashing mantis shrimp is as fast as a 22-calibre bullet. So fast the water is boiling at contact creating a shockwave able to kill its prey even if it manages to avoid the impact.

    

29. When Baby Octopi hatch they are tiny:
    When they hatch, baby octopi are smaller than your pinky finger- and they are that cute!

    

30. Harlequin shrimps feed on sea stars:
    Once they found one (which can be 100 times their size), they turn it over so it cannot run away and eat it slowly. They have even seen feeding their hostage to keep them alive longer!!!

    

Do you want to know where we took all these gorgeous pictures?

Besides the dolphins, baby octopus and whale. All pictures above were taken by Franck Fogarolo while cruising the Andaman Sea in Burma or Thailand with The Smiling Seahorse

Article Written By Camille Fogarolo