Clams and Oysters
Giant clams have a shell four feet across found in Australian waters. Clams and oysters are good to eat and they are often eaten without been cooked directly from the shell.
Related
Most Viewed in Science
Elephant
Fishes That Produce Electric Shock
Sea Animals - Echinoderms, Starfish, Urchins
Some of the fishes which inhabit the depths of the oceans are the pale cynothone, a hatchet fish, a gulper, a crocodile lantern fish and a lynophryne.
Deep sea fishes
Fishes live at depths of 2,000 to 20,000 feet in the ocean. At these depths, it is completely dark to the human eye, the temperature is just above freezing, and the ocean currents are very slow. The animals of this dark, cold, still world have developed strange forms and habits which enable them to survive.
Few fishes are found below 20,000 feet. Except at the greatest depths, deep-sea fishes have sensitive eyes and nearly all of them produce their own light. The light organs are arranged in patterns along the body, and as each species has its own pattern, they serve as recognition signals, helping the fishes to find mates and food. Some lantern fishes have large light organs above or below their eyes which illuminate their surroundings.
Food is scarce at great depths. Plant life does not exist below a depth of about 500 feet, where the light becomes too weak for plants to survive. Deep-sea fishes are therefore carnivorous animals with efficient ways of feeding. Their mouths are often gigantic, with rows of razor-sharp teeth. But the fishes themselves are rarely more than a foot long. Many of them attract prey to their mouths by means of a lure attached to their heads. This often takes the form of a feeler with a luminous knob at the end. The dragon fish can stretch its stomach to consume prey six or seven times its own size. Prawns and other fishes are the main foods of deep-sea fishes.
The strangest deep sea fishes are the angler fishes. From six inches up to three feet long, they swim about the bottom, a luminous lure projecting above their mouths. This lure can be moved about, or switched on or off. Any fish or crustacean that comes near is swallowed in a gulp of the huge jaws, with their rows of scimitar-like teeth. The female deep sea angler fish is several hundred times larger than the male, which remains attached to the female's body all its life. The male's only function is reproduction, all its other organs have become useless and it is totally dependent on the female for nourishment.
