Critter Science
The Science of Animals
The Pacific mole crab, aka sand crab is found from Madelena Bay (Baja California) to Kodiak Island (Alaska). They have to deal with crashing waves, constantly shifting sand, tides coming in and out, seasonally changing beaches, and aquatic, land, and aerial based predators
Guadalupe fur seals are members of the “eared seal” family. They are found almost exclusively on Guadalupe Island, off the Pacific coast of Mexico, with recent re-colonization off of San Benito Archipelago. A small group of these fur seals have also been seen on the northern
Angel sharks are quite different from many other sharks. First, they have flat bodies and very long pelvic and pectoral fins, thus making them look much like a ray. These bottom-swimming sharks use their fins to steer, like other sharks do. These sharks can be found along the coasts of
Despite how it looks, the Portuguese man o’ war is not a true jellyfish but rather a siphonophore, which is not actually a single organism (true jellyfish are a single organism), but a colonial creature made up of 4 specialized animals of the same species, called
The spoon worm belongs to the phylum called Echiura. Some place them in the phylum Annelidae, like the earthworm. Spoon worms are not segmented like some other worms. There are only about 150 known species of spoon worms. They can be very common in some marine ecosystems.
Not only is the giant squid the largest of all the cephalopods, it’s also the largest living invertebrate in the world! They can be found in the Northern parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Sea of Japan, the Bering Sea, Northern parts of the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii,
The blanket octopus is as strange as it is beautiful. With a large drapery spanning between their arms, a secret weapon (borrowed from another animal), a massive size difference between males and females, and an ultra secretive lifestyle, these creatures are
The marine iguana of the Galápagos Islands are so infamously unattractive, even Charles Darwin described them as “hideous-looking, clumsy lizards.” But what these relatively unattractive critters lack in looks they make up for with their incredible ecological adaptations. Everything from
Blamed for hundreds of deaths over the course of recorded history, welcome the fearsome oceanic white tipped shark. These sharks are known for attacking humans by first bumping them then attacking. As formidable as they are though, they are also at risk of extinction due to
Ranked #2 of the top 5 most dangerous sharks, behind the great white, it’s the tiger shark. This shark can be found in warm, tropical and subtropical waters all over the world; with a concentration to