Fauna of the fields. Marine animals: jellyfish, octopus, turtle, blue whale, monkfish, eel, cormorant Who lives

Almost three-quarters of the planet is covered by seas and oceans. They are huge sources of moisture and various elements. As water evaporates, it rises and forms clouds, which in turn are carried by air currents. Subsequently, the moisture accumulated in the atmosphere again enters the seas and oceans in the form of precipitation. This is how its cycle in nature occurs. Special meaning have in the system ocean waters. This water area has been the subject of study by many scientists for quite some time.

IN Lately The study has acquired particular relevance ocean floor. Let's look further at what it is.

Secrets of the Ocean

For research, vessels equipped with grabs, sonars, as well as special submarines and bathyscaphes are used. Most of work is carried out on the surface of the water. For example, hydroacoustic measurements are carried out in this way. By uncovering the secrets of the ocean, researchers gain vital information about climate, animals and flora antiquities. A large amount of data was obtained during a large-scale study that unfolded after the completion of Patriotic War. This information becomes available through underwater drilling. As a result of this work, rock cores are obtained. In 1956, for example, underwater drilling was carried out. One of the columns had a length of 14.5 m (the rate of accumulation of sedimentary rocks is about 1 cm per 1000 years). This find was comprehensively studied by domestic researchers.

Relief of the ocean floor

The underwater landscape is very diverse. The ocean floor is top part lithospheric plate on which valleys, chasms, and ridges are located. The main parts of the plate are:

1. Bed.
2. Continental slope.
3. Shelf.
4. Deep sea trenches.
5. Oceanic plateaus.
6. Underwater basins.
7. Mid-ocean ridges.

In the underwater edge of the continent there is a shoal, a slope and a foot. The first one has quite a lot of irregularities. It borders the continents. On the outer side of the sandbank there are rocky outcrops. Its depth is within 130 meters. On the relief of the ocean floor significant influence caused by glaciation. During that period, ice blocks formed on land. At the same time, the sea level has dropped significantly. As a result, river deltas appeared in the areas of the sandbank that exist today. These elements have survived to this day. Besides, in glacial period abrasion platforms formed on the continental boundaries. In those areas of the shelf that were dry land at that time, mammoth bones and human household items were found. On the coasts subjected to icing, due to the movement of blocks, depressions appeared: hollows and depressions. Such areas are located in the Maine region, along Alaska, Norway, in the southern part of the coast of Chile, and also in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

continental slope

The ocean floor in this part has a number of features. In particular, a fairly well-defined, clear boundary with the shelf has been formed here. In addition, in almost all places the continental slope is intersected by deep underwater canyons. At its lower border in the Indian and Atlantic waters there is a surface called the foot. The bottom of the Pacific Ocean does not have such an area. The angle of inclination of the continental slope is on average 4 degrees. But in some areas it can be steeper. The slope usually has a stepped profile. The canyons that cross it can be up to 300 meters or more. The Grand Bahama is considered the deepest. Its depth is five kilometers. Presumably, the canyons and stepped profile were formed due to tectonic movement. The continental foothills are considered an intermediate area and are characterized by a hilly slope. Its depth is from 3.5 km. It contains sedimentary rocks, accumulations of which were formed by landslides and turbidity flows. The ocean bed goes to a depth of 3.5-6 km. It has a flat or hilly surface. As a rule, it is formed by a foundation formed by basalts in the upper part and a cover of deep-sea sediments. The latter are represented by biogenic limestone silt and red clays.

Seamounts

Some of them are of volcanic origin. Due to wave abrasion, their tops were cut off. They are called guyots. The peaks are located at a distance from 1-2 kilometers to several meters from the surface of the water. On the peaks in tropical zone atolls may form. Mountains, rising above the surface, form islands in some areas (St. Helena Island, Hawaii, Easter Island, Azores). On some of them coral structures (atolls) are found.

Ridges

Mid-ocean elevations can be up to 60 thousand km. Transverse faults run along the ridges. Elevations are presented as mountain formations, the width of which is several hundred kilometers. Their height is about 2-3 km. They are made up of several parallel mountain ranges. The slopes descend to the ocean floor in wide steps.

Along the ridges high area in the center the ridges are cut by rift gorges. These areas are of particular interest. These areas have quite high seismic activity. Up to a hundred earthquakes occur here every day. In addition, there is also volcanic activity. Deep rocks of the planet are found in the walls of rift gorges and on the crests of ridges adjacent to them.

Basins

The ocean floor is also formed by swells. They are represented by massive wide uplifts with very gentle slopes. The swells divide the Pacific bed into several fairly large basins:

1. Panama.
2. Northwestern.
3. Chilean.
4. Bellingshausen.
5. South.
6. Central.
7. Marianskaya.
8. North-Eastern.

In addition, the bed is cut by fault zones. They are presented in the form of very long strips of complexly fragmented bottom. A depression begins from the axis of the median ridges towards the basins. The bottom drops from 2.5-3 to 5-6 m. The sharply dissected relief is replaced by the flat surface of abyssal basins. The sedimentary cover becomes more thick, increasing to 600-1000 m in the center. The age of sedimentary accumulations is also becoming more ancient, right up to the Jurassic (upper) period. In the axial narrow zones of the ridges, lava flows out, due to which the basalt foundation builds up. Sedimentary materials begin to gradually cover the irregularities, thus smoothing out the relief.

Breeds

Ferromanganese accumulations are widespread over large areas in abyssal basins. Phosphorites are formed along the edges of some continents (South America, Africa). Along the axis of the median ridges, simultaneously with the appearance of basaltic rocks, high level hydrothermal activity. Associated with it are deposits in the basalt layer of sulfide ores. Useful components are carried into the water. Subsequently, they are deposited as metalliferous sediments in depressions near the median ridges. Such clusters are represented, for example, by the Bowers Basin.

Canyons

They crash into the ocean floor 300 meters or more. As a rule, they are distinguished by steep sides and tortuosity. The bottom of the canyons is quite narrow. The most famous is the Grand Bahama. Underwater canyons are very similar to the continental formations of the same name. However, most of the former are not ancient river valleys.

Gutter

A depression on the ocean floor is formed due to the subduction of the underwater crust under the continental crust. The depth of the trenches ranges from 7 to 11 km. Such depressions form the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Here gutters are very common. The deepest is considered to be Mariana - 11 km. Deep Sea Depressions present both at the bottom of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. In the trenches, the bed bends sharply and descends to a depth of 8-10 thousand m or more. On the oceanic side, the depressions are accompanied by swells, the height of which is up to 500 m. They are complicated by volcanic linear ridges and seamounts present in these areas in large quantities. Most of them appeared due to underwater eruptions.

Biology

There is virtually no life on the ocean floor. Only a small part of the slab surface is in the light zone. In this area, plants receive a sufficient amount sun rays for photosynthesis. This euphotic territory is limited to coastal areas and inland seas. On the surface of the soil and in its thickness live organisms, the totality of which is called benthos. At the bottom of the ocean you can find sea urchins, shrimp, squid, and octopuses.

We will not talk about the marten as such, but about all representatives of the mustelid family, which includes: marten, sable, ermine, weasel, mink, otter, ferret. Because of their skins, these taiga animals are the most sought after for hunting. Their meat is not eaten, it is given only to dogs, and only their fur has a price. In martens challenging behavior and paw motor skills developed at the level of a three-year-old child. They love to do gymnastics. Marten cubs spend almost all their time playing. They make cooing noises when playing. Martens live up to 20 years. They feed on rodents, small birds and bird eggs. During the hunt, the marten breaks the vertebrae of the victim's neck, rolls its tongue into a tube and drinks blood from the still living victim.

The sable is active at dusk, at night, but often hunts during the day. An individual sable hunting area ranges from 150 - 200 hectares to 1500 - 2000 hectares, sometimes more. The boundaries of the individual area are marked by the secretion of the anal glands. Eats willingly plant foods. Favorite food: pine nuts, rowan berries, blueberries. Willingly eats lingonberries, blueberries, bird cherry, rose hips, and currants. Nesting shelters are in fallen hollows and standing trees, in stone placers, under the roots.

Hunting for mustelids is the main activity of professional commercial hunters. They hunt with the help of various self-catchers, mainly bags, dies, and traps. Often they use bait - in the form of a dead bird, for example.

Hare

Most often, populations of the white hare predominate in the northern forests, and the European hare, the brown hare, is very rare. The brown hare differs from its northern counterpart in that it does not change fur color in winter.

Normally, white hares lead a solitary, territorial lifestyle, occupying individual plots of 3–30 hectares. In most of its range it is a sedentary animal, and its movements are limited to seasonal changes in feeding grounds. Seasonal migrations to forests are typical in autumn and winter; in the spring - to open places where the first grass appears.

Mainly crepuscular and nocturnal animal of the forest. Most active in the early morning and early evening hours. Usually feeding (fattening) begins at sunset and ends at dawn, but in the summer there is not enough night time, and hares feed in the morning. Herbivorous forest animal. In the summer, hares in the tundra, escaping midges, switch to daytime feeding. In thaw, snowfall and rainy weather The hare often does not come out to feed at all. On such days, energy loss is partially compensated by coprophagia (eating excrement). In winter in very coldy The hare digs holes 0.5-1.5 m long in the snow, in which it can spend the whole day and leave only when in danger. When digging a hole, the hare compacts the snow rather than throwing it out.

From the resting place to the feeding place, hares run along the same route, especially in winter. At the same time, they trample down paths that are usually used by several animals. In winter, even a person without skis can walk along a well-trodden path. When going to bed, the hare usually moves in long jumps and confuses its tracks, making the so-called. “doubles” (returning to one’s own trail) and “sweeping” (big jumps to the side of the trail).

Wolverine

A very cunning and arrogant beast. Leads a solitary lifestyle. Quite daring in his behavior and, at the same time, very careful. It is not so easy to meet him in the forest. The wolverine makes its den under uprooted roots, in rock crevices and other secluded places, and goes out to feed at dusk. Unlike most mustelids, which lead a sedentary lifestyle, the wolverine constantly wanders in search of prey throughout its individual territory, which occupies up to 1500-2000 sq. km. Thanks to powerful paws, long claws and a tail that acts as a balancer, the wolverine easily climbs trees. Has acute vision, hearing and smell. Makes sounds similar to a fox's yelp, but rougher.

Wolverine with a hunted partridge		wolverine cubs

The wolverine is omnivorous, does not disdain to feast on carrion, and also likes to eat the leftovers after a meal of larger animals of the taiga, for example, a bear. Mainly hunts white hare, black grouse, hazel grouse, partridges, and rodents. Sometimes hunts larger animals, such as elk calves, wounded or sick animals. It often ruins the winter quarters of hunters and steals prey from traps. In summer it eats bird eggs, wasp larvae, berries and honey. Catches fish - near wormwood or during spawning, willingly picks up dead fish. Hunts birds, grabbing them on the ground when they are sleeping or sitting on nests. He is a nurse, destroying weak and sick animals. Can attack a person if cornered.

Wolverines, like lynxes, are well-tamed animals; in captivity they live up to 17 years, in wildlife- about 12.

Beaver

Another animal of the forest, lives everywhere. Habitats: river floodplains. Beaver - large rodent, adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle. The beaver has beautiful fur, which consists of coarse guard hairs and very thick silky underfur. Fur color ranges from light chestnut to dark brown, sometimes black. The tail and limbs are black. Is an object commercial hunting, primarily for its fur, borba meat is also eaten. In the anal area there are paired glands, wen and the beaver stream itself, which secretes a strong-smelling secretion.

The smell of a beaver stream serves as a guide to other beavers about the border of the territory of a beaver settlement; it is unique, like fingerprints. The secretion of the wen, used in conjunction with the stream, allows you to keep the beaver tag in a “working” state for longer due to its oily structure, which evaporates much longer than the secretion of the beaver stream. Due to intensive hunting, by the beginning of the 20th century, the beaver was practically exterminated in most of its range.

Beavers live alone or in families. A complete family consists of 5-8 individuals: a married couple and young beavers - the offspring of the past and current years. A family plot is sometimes occupied by the family for many generations. A small pond is occupied by one family or single beaver. On larger bodies of water, the length of the family plot along the shore ranges from 0.3 to 2.9 km. Beavers rarely move more than 200 m away from water. Beavers communicate with each other using scent marks, poses, beating their tails on the water, and whistling-like calls. When in danger, a swimming beaver slaps its tail loudly on the water and dives. The clap serves as an alarm signal to all beavers within earshot. Beavers are active at night and at dusk.

Beavers live in burrows or huts. The entrance to a beaver's home is always located under water for safety. Beavers dig burrows in steep and steep banks; they represent a complex labyrinth with 4-5 entrances. The walls and ceiling of the hole are carefully leveled and compacted. The living chamber inside the hole is located at a depth of no more than 1 m. The width of the living chamber is a little more than a meter, the height is 40-50 centimeters. Huts are built in places where digging a hole is impossible - on flat and low swampy banks and in shallows.

Beavers are strictly herbivorous. They feed on the bark and shoots of trees, preferring aspen, willow, poplar and birch, as well as various herbaceous plants.

Muskrat

Here's who, the muskrat is truly the rarest animal of the taiga. It is on the verge of extinction and is listed in the Red Book of Russia. It is almost impossible to meet her on the shores of taiga reservoirs. Found mainly in the southern taiga and mixed forests of Europe. A relatively large animal: the body is 18 - 22 cm long, the tail is the same, weight up to 520 g. Muskrats are practically blind, but have a developed sense of smell and touch. Most often they prefer to settle in closed floodplain reservoirs. For most of the year, the animals live in burrows with one exit. The exit is underwater. The main part of the passage is located above the water level.

In summer, muskrats live alone, in pairs or in families, and in winter, up to 12-13 animals of different sexes and ages can live in one hole. Each animal has temporarily visited burrows located at a distance of 25-30 m from one another. The muskrat swims this distance along the connecting trench during the normal period of its stay under water - 1 minute. By earth's surface The muskrat cannot move quickly and becomes a victim of predators.

The muskrat in Russia has been brought to the brink of extinction by factors such as deforestation of floodplain forests, pollution of water bodies where animals live, drainage of floodplain lands, which worsens conditions for food production and protection, construction of dams and dams, as well as development on the banks of reservoirs, creation of reservoirs, grazing near water bodies.

Currently, the muskrat can be preserved thanks to special methods and non-traditional organizational forms, namely the creation of specialized hunting farms, the main principle of which is the rational use and protection of these animals. Natural factors that negatively affect its numbers include long-term winter floods and high water levels.

Squirrel

One of the cutest animals northern forests. Looking like a toy, the squirrel attracts the attention of children. The squirrel is not dangerous to humans, except that it may scratch if it senses a danger to its offspring. One of the widely known distinctive features Many squirrels have their ability to store nuts for the winter. Some species bury nuts in the ground, others hide them in tree hollows. Scientists believe that the poor memory of some types of squirrels, in particular gray squirrels, helps preserve forests, since they bury nuts in the ground and forget about them, and new trees appear from sprouted seeds. Squirrel is a source of valuable fur. It is the object of commercial hunting. A squirrel skin costs between 50 and 100 rubles.

Unlike hares or deer, squirrels are not able to digest fiber and therefore mainly feed on vegetation rich in proteins, carbohydrates and fats. The most hard time for squirrels it is early spring, when buried seeds begin to germinate and can no longer serve as food, and new ones have not yet ripened. Despite popular belief, squirrels are omnivores: in addition to nuts, seeds, fruits, mushrooms and green vegetation, they also eat insects, eggs and even small birds, mammals and frogs. Very often this food replaces nuts for squirrels in tropical countries.

Squirrels often sharpen their teeth on tree branches, but are unable to distinguish branches from electrical wires. In the United States, squirrels have caused the stock market index to decline twice in history. high technology NASDAQ and caused a cascading blackout at the University of Alabama.

Squirrel meat can be eaten if you get the protein with loops while surviving in the taiga. In the old days, the aborigines of the Northern Urals, the Mansi people, used a small-caliber rifle to shoot squirrels directly in the eye - in order not to spoil the skin.

Chipmunk

Another rodent that resembles a squirrel, and for good reason it does, because chipmunks and squirrels are from the same family. Depending on the species, the weight of chipmunks can range from 30 to 120 g, and the size can range from 5 to 15 cm with a tail length of 7 to 12 cm. Distinctive feature All species have five dark stripes along the back, separated by white or gray stripes. The chipmunk, like the squirrel, is a tree dweller. It never lives in open areas and in clean tall forests without an undergrowth of young growth and shrubs. The chipmunk especially loves places littered with windbreaks and dead wood, where it is convenient to hide.

Gnawing a nut		Chipmunk

During the winter, chipmunks do not fall asleep as deeply as, for example, gophers or marmots. They wake up in the middle of winter, eat a little, and then go back to sleep. Chipmunks love warm and clear weather, and at the beginning of spring, when it is still quite cool, they are not at all the same as we are used to seeing them on good days. summer days. Usually cheerful, playful and active, the animals spend only two to three hours a day in the air in the first days of spring and do not move far from their burrows, but, climbing tree branches, eat buds somewhere nearby. Lethargic and inactive, at this time they like to climb to the tops of still bare trees and sit quietly there for hours, basking in the rays of the spring sun.

When a person approaches, the chipmunk emits a jerky “chuck” or whistle. While the person is still far away, this whistle is heard relatively rarely and alternates with prolonged silence, and the animal sits on its hind legs and carefully examines the approaching one. Only after allowing a person or his dog 20-30 steps closer does the chipmunk start running. While running, he often repeats the alarm signal so that from a distance you can tell by the whistle whether the chipmunk is sitting still or running. The chipmunk has many enemies, mainly among small predatory animals and birds of prey. But sometimes he is also pursued by such large predators as a bear.

Hedgehog

Also a very funny representative of the forest animal world. The common hedgehog inhabits a wide variety of places, avoiding vast swamps and continuous coniferous tracts. Prefers edges, copses, small clearings, and floodplains. He may well live next to a person. The common hedgehog is an animal that is active at night. Doesn't like to leave his home for a long time. Hedgehogs spend the day in a nest or other shelters. Nests are built in bushes, holes, caves, abandoned rodent burrows or in tree roots. Hedgehogs use their long middle toes to groom their spines. Animals lick their breasts with their tongues. In nature, these animals live 3 - 5 years, in captivity they can live up to 8 - 10 years.

Common hedgehogs are fairly fast animals for their size. They are able to run at speeds of up to 3 m/s, and can swim and jump well.

Hedgehogs are omnivorous; their diet consists of adult insects, caterpillars, slugs, and sometimes earthworms. Under natural conditions, it rarely attacks vertebrates; most often, the hedgehog's victims are torpid reptiles and amphibians. From plants it can eat berries and fruits.

A hedgehog can be a carrier of diseases such as dermatomycosis, yellow fever, salmonellosis, leptospirosis, and rabies. on them in large quantities There are ticks and fleas. In forested areas, hedgehogs collect ticks, including encephalitis, on themselves more than any other animals, since their prickly cover, like a brush, scrapes hungry ticks from the grass. The hedgehog is unable to get rid of ticks that have gotten between the needles.

Many have an unusually weak effect on hedgehogs strong poisons: arsenic, sublimate, opium and even hydrocyanic acid. They are quite resistant to viper venom. The widespread belief that hedgehogs use needles to prick food is erroneous.

Harvest mouse

More often, mice dig deep holes in which they build nests from grass. Depending on the species, mice can be active during the day or at night. They feed on roots, seeds, berries, nuts and insects. They can be carriers of pathogens of tick-borne encephalitis, tularemia, rickettsiosis, Q fever and other diseases. The meat is suitable for human consumption.

It is known who lives at the bottom of the ocean: fish, shellfish, sea ​​worms, crustaceans and other representatives of fauna characteristic of shallow waters. But only the conditions of existence at depth are very different from the conditions of the continental shelf and upper layers ocean thickness. Therefore, the inhabitants of the depths have developed protective mechanisms, thanks to which their existence became possible.

Light radiation from the solar spectrum penetrates the ocean to different depths. Rays of red and orange light - no more than thirty meters, up to one hundred and eighty - yellow, up to three hundred and twenty - green, up to half a kilometer - blue. And although the most sensitive modern instruments recorded traces sunlight at a depth of up to one and a half kilometers, it can be stated: below five hundred meters, pitch darkness reigns in the ocean. All those who live on the ocean floor below this mark have adapted to the absence of light in different ways. Some have hypersensitive telescopic eyes, capable of capturing the few quanta of light available to devices. Or maybe their sensitivity is even higher and allows them to navigate where even human technology fails. Other animals have completely abandoned their vision and feel quite good about it. And some inhabitants of the bottom acquired the ability to emit light on their own.

A characteristic feature of the ocean floor is poverty of food. Due to the low temperature (2-4 degrees above zero), all processes proceed sluggishly there, and therefore the inhabitants of the ocean depths are not distinguished by high speed of movement or increased activity in obtaining food. Almost all animals there are predators. Due to the small amount of food, deep-sea fish have acquired the ability to swallow creatures larger than themselves.

The ocean floor is covered with a thick layer of silt. In this regard, some of the deep-sea animals (for example, sea ​​spiders) have long limbs, allowing them not to fall into the bottom sediments. Since many fish regularly migrate from bottom to top and back, it can sometimes be difficult to figure out where everyone lives. There is enormous pressure at the bottom of the ocean, little light, food, low temperature. Therefore, some deep-sea species are periodically found in upper layers water, becoming prey for fishermen and surprising them with its unusual appearance. For example, a drop fish is often caught in a net and has a funny growth on its “face” that resembles a hanging nose.

Fish on the ocean floor quite often become the target of fishing, but large specimens are rare there for obvious reasons (lack of food). For example, coal fish. Although it lives at depths of up to 2700 meters, it still often appears on store shelves. In different countries, fish has different names. In our country it is coal fish, in Canada it is black cod, in the USA it is sable fish, in Australia it is oil fish
fish. Among those who live at the bottom of the ocean, this creature is simply a giant. The length of the largest specimens reaches 120 centimeters.

Life on the ocean floor has been studied very little, and it is possible that great discoveries await us. From time to time, information comes up that fishermen met an unknown animal in the middle of the ocean, and some even became prey to a monster. Of course, most of these reports are rumors or ordinary sea stories, but not all. A hundred years ago, hardly any serious scientist could believe that coelacanth, a fish that appeared long before dinosaurs, is our contemporary. However, a little later, its existence was proven by African fishermen who presented scientists with a living specimen.

Current

Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous

In the depths of the sea and ocean there are a huge number of all kinds of creatures that amaze with their sophisticated defense mechanisms, the ability to adapt, and, of course, their appearance. This is a whole universe that has not yet been fully explored. In this rating, we have collected the most unusual representatives of the depths, from beautifully colored fish to creepy monsters.

15

Our rating of the most unusual inhabitants of the depths opens with the dangerous and at the same time amazing lion fish, also known as the striped lionfish or zebra fish. This cute creature, about 30 centimeters long, spends most of its time among the corals in a motionless state, and only from time to time swims from one place to another. Thanks to its beautiful and unusual coloring, as well as long fan-shaped pectoral and dorsal fins, this fish attracts the attention of both people and marine life.

However, behind the beauty of the color and shape of its fins are hidden sharp and poisonous needles, with which it protects itself from enemies. The lion fish itself does not attack first, but if a person accidentally touches it or steps on it, then one injection from such a needle will sharply worsen his health. If there are several injections, then the person will need outside help to swim to the shore, as the pain can become unbearable and lead to loss of consciousness.

14

This is a small sea bony fish families pipefish order Acicularis. Seahorses lead a sedentary lifestyle; they attach their flexible tails to stems, and thanks to numerous spines, outgrowths on the body and iridescent colors, they completely blend into the background. This is how they protect themselves from predators and camouflage themselves while hunting for food. Skates feed on small crustaceans and shrimp. The tubular stigma acts like a pipette - the prey is drawn into the mouth along with water.

Body seahorses in the water it is located unconventionally for fish - vertically or diagonally. The reason for this is the relatively large swim bladder, most of which is located in the upper part of the seahorse's body. The difference between seahorses and other species is that their offspring are carried by the male. On its abdomen it has a special brood chamber in the form of a sac, which plays the role of a uterus. Seahorses are very fertile animals, and the number of embryos borne in a male’s pouch ranges from 2 to several thousand. Childbirth for a male is often painful and can result in death.

13

This representative of the depths is a relative of the previous participant in the rating - the seahorse. Foliar sea ​​Dragon, rag picker or sea pegasus is an unusual fish, so named for its fantastic appearance - translucent delicate greenish fins cover its body and constantly sway from the movement of water. Although these processes look like fins, they do not take part in swimming, but serve only for camouflage. The length of this creature reaches 35 centimeters, and it lives in only one place - at southern shores Australia. The rag picker swims slowly, its maximum speed is up to 150 m/h. Just like seahorses, the offspring are carried by males in a special pouch formed during spawning along the lower surface of the tail. The female lays eggs in this pouch and all care of the offspring falls on the father.

12

The frilled shark is a species of shark that looks much more like a strange sea snake or eel. From the Jurassic, the frilled predator has not changed at all over millions of years of existence. It got its name from the presence of a brown formation on its body, which resembles a cape. It is also called the corrugated shark due to the numerous folds of skin on its body. Such peculiar folds on its skin, according to scientists, are a reserve of body volume to accommodate large prey in the stomach.

After all, the frilled shark swallows its prey mainly whole, since the needle-like tips of its teeth curved inside the mouth are not capable of crushing and grinding food. The frilled shark lives in the bottom layer of water in all oceans, except the Arctic Ocean, at a depth of 400-1200 meters; it is a typical deep-sea predator. The frilled shark can reach 2 meters in length, but the usual sizes are smaller - 1.5 meters for females and 1.3 meters for males. This species lays eggs: the female gives birth to 3-12 young. Gestation of embryos can last up to two years.

11

This type of crustacean from the infraorder crabs is one of the most major representatives arthropods: large individuals reach 20 kilograms, 45 centimeters in carapace length and 4 m in the span of the first pair of legs. Lives mainly in Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan at a depth of 50 to 300 meters. It feeds on shellfish and leftovers and is believed to live up to 100 years. The survival rate among the larvae is very small, so females spawn more than 1.5 million of them. During the process of evolution, the front two legs turned into large claws that can reach a length of 40 centimeters. Despite such a formidable weapon, the Japanese spider crab is non-aggressive and has a calm character. It is even used in aquariums as an ornamental animal.

10

These large deep-sea crayfish can grow more than 50 cm in length. The largest recorded specimen weighed 1.7 kilograms and was 76 centimeters long. Their body is covered with hard plates that are softly connected to each other. This armor design provides good mobility, so giant isopods can curl up into a ball when they sense danger. Rigid plates reliably protect the crayfish’s body from deep-sea predators. Quite often they are found in Blackpool, England, and they are not uncommon in other places on the planet. These animals live at depths from 170 to 2,500 m. Most of the entire population prefers to be kept at a depth of 360-750 meters.

They prefer to live on the clay bottom alone. Isopods are carnivorous and can hunt for slow-moving prey at the bottom - sea ​​cucumbers, sponges, possibly for small fish. They also do not disdain carrion, which sinks to the seabed from the surface. Since there is not always enough food at such great depths, and finding it in pitch darkness is not an easy task, isopods have adapted to do without food for a long time. It is known for sure that cancer is capable of fasting for 8 weeks in a row.

9

The purple tremoctopus or blanket octopus is a very unusual octopus. Although, octopuses in general strange creatures- they have three hearts, poisonous saliva, the ability to change the color and texture of their skin, and their tentacles are able to perform certain actions without instructions from the brain. However, the purple tremoctopus is the strangest of them all. For starters, we can say that the female is 40,000 times heavier than the male! The male is only 2.4 centimeters long and lives almost like plankton, while the female reaches 2 m in length. When the female is frightened, she can expand the cape-like membrane located between the tentacles, which visually increases her size and makes her look even more dangerous. It is also interesting that the blanket octopus is immune to jellyfish venom Portuguese man of war; moreover, smart octopus sometimes tears off the tentacles of a jellyfish and uses them as weapons.

8

The blobfish is a deep-sea bottom-dwelling marine fish of the psycholute family, which, due to its unattractive appearance, appearance often called one of the most terrible fish on the planet. These fish supposedly live at depths of 600-1200 m off the coast of Australia and Tasmania, where fishermen have recently begun to increasingly bring them to the surface, which is why this species of fish is endangered. The blobfish consists of a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than the density of water itself. This allows the blobfish to swim at such depths without expending large quantities.

Lack of muscles is not a problem for this fish. She swallows almost everything edible that floats in front of her, lazily opening her mouth. It feeds mainly on mollusks and crustaceans. Even though the blobfish is not edible, it is endangered. Fishermen, in turn, sell this fish as a souvenir. Blobfish populations are recovering slowly. It takes 4.5 to 14 years for the blobfish population to double.

7 Sea urchin

Sea urchins are very ancient animals of the echinoderm class that inhabited the Earth already 500 million years ago. On this moment known around 940 modern species sea ​​urchins. The body size of a sea urchin varies from 2 to 30 centimeters and is covered with rows of calcareous plates that form a dense shell. According to body shape sea ​​urchins divided into correct and incorrect. U the right hedgehogs body shape is almost round. U wrong hedgehogs The body shape is flattened, and the anterior and posterior ends of the body are distinguishable. Spines of various lengths are movably connected to the shell of sea urchins. The length ranges from 2 millimeters to 30 centimeters. Spines often serve sea urchins for movement, nutrition and protection.

Some species that are distributed mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans have poisonous needles. Sea urchins are bottom crawling or burrowing animals that usually live at a depth of about 7 meters and are widespread on coral reefs. Sometimes some individuals can crawl onto. Correct sea urchins prefer rocky surfaces; incorrect - soft and sandy soil. Hedgehogs reach sexual maturity in the third year of life, and live about 10-15 years, up to a maximum of 35.

6

Largemouth lives in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans at depths from 500 to 3000 meters. The body of the largemouth is long and narrow, in appearance it resembles an eel 60 cm, sometimes up to 1 meter. Due to the giant stretching mouth, reminiscent of the beak bag of a pelican, it has a second name - pelican fish. The length of the mouth is almost 1/3 of the total length of the body, the rest is a thin body, turning into a tail filament, at the end of which there is a luminous organ. The largemouth does not have scales, a swim bladder, ribs, an anal fin or a full-fledged bone skeleton.

Their skeleton consists of several deformed bones and light cartilage. Therefore, these fish are quite light. They have a tiny skull and small eyes. Due to poorly developed fins, these fish cannot swim quickly. Due to the size of its mouth, this fish is capable of swallowing prey that is larger than itself. The swallowed victim ends up in the stomach, which can stretch to enormous sizes. The pelican fish feeds on other deep-sea fish and crustaceans that can be found at such depths.

5

The sac-eater or black eater is a deep-sea representative of perciformes from the suborder chiasmodidae, living at a depth of 700 to 3000 meters. This fish grows up to 30 centimeters in length and is found throughout tropical and subtropical waters. This fish got its name from its ability to swallow prey several times its size. This is possible due to the very elastic stomach and the absence of ribs. A bagworm can easily swallow fish 4 times longer and 10 times heavier than its body.

This fish has very large jaws, and on each of them the front three teeth form sharp fangs, with which it holds the victim when it pushes it into its stomach. As the prey decomposes, a lot of gas is released inside the bagworm's stomach, which brings the fish to the surface, where some black gobblers have been found with swollen bellies. It is not possible to observe the animal in its natural habitat, so very little is known about its life.

4

This lizard-headed creature belongs to the deep-sea lizard-heads that live in the tropical and subtropical seas of the world, at depths from 600 to 3500 meters. Its length reaches 50-65 centimeters. Outwardly, it is very reminiscent of long-extinct dinosaurs in a reduced form. It is considered the deepest sea predator, devouring everything that comes in its way. Bathysaurus even has teeth on its tongue. At such a depth, it is quite difficult for this predator to find a mate, but this is not a problem for it, since the bathysaurus is a hermaphrodite, that is, it has both male and female sexual characteristics.

3

Smallmouth macropinna, or barrel eye - species deep sea fish, the only representative of the genus Macropinna, belonging to the order Smeltfish. These amazing fish have a transparent head through which they can watch their prey with their tubular eyes. It was discovered in 1939, and lives at a depth of 500 to 800 meters, and therefore has not been well studied. Pisces in normal environment habitats are usually motionless, or move slowly in a horizontal position.

Previously, the principle of operation of the eyes was not clear, since the fish’s olfactory organs are located above the mouth, and the eyes are located inside the transparent head and can only look up. Green color The eyes of this fish are caused by the presence of a specific yellow pigment in them. It is believed that this pigment provides special filtering of light coming from above and reduces its brightness, allowing the fish to discern the bioluminescence of potential prey.

In 2009, scientists found that thanks to special structure eye muscles, these fish are able to move their cylindrical eyes from the vertical position in which they are usually located, to the horizontal position when they are directed forward. In this case, the mouth is in the field of view, which provides an opportunity to capture prey. Zooplankton of various sizes, including small cnidarians and crustaceans, as well as siphonophore tentacles along with cnidocytes were found in the macropinna vein. Taking this into account, we can come to the conclusion that the continuous transparent membrane above the eyes of this species evolved evolutionarily as a way of protecting cnidarians from cnidocytes.

1

The first place in our ranking of the most unusual inhabitants of the depths was taken by a deep-sea monster called an anglerfish or devil fish. These are scary and unusual fish They live at great depths, from 1500 to 3000 meters. They are characterized by a spherical, laterally flattened body shape and the presence of a “fishing rod” in females. The skin is black or dark brown, naked; in several species it is covered with transformed scales - spines and plaques, pelvic fins are missing. There are 11 known families, including almost 120 species.

The anglerfish is a predatory sea fish. A special growth on its back helps it hunt other inhabitants of the underwater world - one feather from the dorsal fin separated from the others during evolution, and a transparent sac formed at its end. In this sac, which is actually a gland with liquid, surprisingly, there are bacteria. They may or may not glow, obeying their master in this matter. The anglerfish regulates the luminosity of bacteria by dilating or constricting blood vessels. Some members of the anglerfish family adapt even more sophisticatedly, acquiring a folding fishing rod or growing one right in their mouth, while others have glowing teeth.

Probably few people know that fields or field biome occupy about 25% of the surface of our planet. The field biome is characteristic of all continents. The endless fields seem deserted and uninhabited only in appearance. In fact, they are full of active animal life. It cannot be said that the inhabitants of the fields are distinguished by a variety of species, but each of them is unique in its own way and has its own characteristics.

Who are they - the inhabitants of the fields

The fauna of the fields includes birds, animals and insects. Migration is very characteristic of the animal world of the field biome. Many species have to travel quite long distances to obtain food.

photo: Mick Talbot

Most of the inhabitants of the fields eat grass and other plants, which is why many of them have wide teeth with an unusual flat top. The smallest inhabitants of the fields often become prey to larger individuals. Given that the field cannot provide any natural protection from attack, small animals dig holes in the ground and seek refuge there. That is why all small inhabitants have long claws on their front paws, which are easy to use to dig the ground.

It should be noted that the inhabitants of the fields easily adapt to any conditions. Many animals easily tolerate climate change and are able to survive both hot summers and frosty winters. In addition, the animal world of the fields has...

Dwellers of the fields

There are quite a lot of animal species in the field biome. In places where fields border with small copses, mainland meadows and shrubby vegetation, weasel, fox and even can be found. But the fields are especially populated by rodents. The most famous of them is the mole. He spends almost all his time underground. And although it is quite difficult to detect, the places where he dug his tunnels are easily recognizable. It is noteworthy that the mole separates its moves. For example, some of them are used only as hunting “paths,” while others, deeper and less branched, are used by the mole as a nesting site and lair.

photo: Tristan Martin

Very active inhabitants of the fields - the gray vole, harvest mouse and a hamster. These rodents are very mobile and careful, as they are often the object of prey for more large predators. As a rule, field rodents live in packs and settle in burrows. Any of the holes necessarily has several moves. Rodents live inside burrows during the day and begin to hunt at night. Considering that rodents do not leave fields in winter time, they take care of supplies in advance, and during the summer and autumn they fill their holes with supplies. In addition, these species of rodents are very prolific. The offspring of rodents become independent at the age of 2 weeks.

photo:K Schneider

The birds inhabiting the field biome are typical representatives of the passerine order. The gray flycatcher and lark are the most popular representatives of the fields. Larks live exclusively in open areas. These birds cannot be missed thanks to their beautiful and melodious singing. Like the lark, the gray flycatcher settles in open areas. This bird is notable for the fact that during the hunt it shakes its tail and wings, and only then soars sharply into the air after its prey. The gray flycatcher's hunting object is different kinds insects

In addition, a significant proportion of the birds inhabiting the fields are representatives of the gallinaceae order. The most famous of them are gray partridge, quail and hawk. Almost all birds of the fields fly away for the winter.

Are the inhabitants of the fields fighters or useful animals?

Many species of animals inhabiting fields are considered pests. Indeed, some of them cause significant damage agriculture by eating cereal plants. However, the benefits of some of the representatives of the animal world of the fields are simply invaluable. For example, quail exterminates insect pests, and mole qualitatively changes the structure of the soil, making it loose and saturated with oxygen.

photo: Brad Wilke

Unfortunately, some species of field inhabitants are subject to poaching, so today attention is paid to Special attention conservation of these species of animals and birds.

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