Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Cyclopteridae
This is my all-time favorite fish, the Pacific spiny lumpsucker (Eumicrotremus orbis). They are found in shallow waters and seldom go deeper than 500 ft (152 m). They are found in northern waters from Washington up to Alaska, and also off the coast of Japan. They are so small and cute. The largest they can get is 5 in (13 cm), while your average lumpsucker is 1 in (2.5 cm)
They are very poor swimmers, owing to their round body and small fins. They also lack a swim bladder, so when they stop swimming they sink. What is most distinctive about them is the large suction cup that they have. The suction cup is a pair of highly modified pelvic fins, that helps them stick onto rocks.
The females tend to have a greenish hue to the plates that cover their body, while the males have a red tint. They eat small crustaceans and worms.
Order: Myxiniformes
Family: Myxinidae
This is a close-up picture of a hagfish's slime. The hagfish can produce vasts amounts of slime, enough to fill a bucket that they happen to be captured in. This slime consists of fibrous protein threads, mucus, and seawater. You can see the threads in this picture, if you look carefully.
Recent research suggests that the bulk of the mucus is actually seawater that is trapped in the mucus-coated threads [1]. This makes a certain amount of sense, given that the mucus expands rapidly when in contact with water (much like a sponge). It may also explain how these hagfish can produce such vast quantities of slime...basically, they are just puffing up a little bit of slime with water.
What hagfish use this slime for is still under debate. Most seem to be leaning towards the idea that the slime can clog the gills of potential predators.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Batrachoidiformes
Family: Batrachoididae
This fish is the plainfin midshipman (Porichthys notatus). If you were looking at the top of the fish, you would see a plain grayish fish with a rather large mouth. One of the midshipman's interesting features actually lie underneath the fish. These interesting dots on the underside of the fish are photophores, which can produce a bright light pattern. Its still not clear what the light is for, but some speculate that the midshipman uses them to lure prey closer when hunting. The midshipman will hang in the water column and flash its light to attract prey items.
Interesting thing number 2 is how midshipman reproduce. Like most fish, males are responsible for maintaining the nest and attracting the females to lay their eggs. Male midshipman will hum for hours on end to attract females to their nest. The hum is produced by the fish vibrating their swim bladder, and can be so loud that people walking on a beach can hear it (and people living on boats often find it hard to sleep). Female midshipman who are producing eggs (more estrogen) are more sensitive to the humming noise and more likely to seek out its source [1].
Here's a nice news article on the midshipman's love life, with some sound bytes attached (for Quicktime viewers only).
Here's a pretty well known bridge; the golden gate bridge. What most people don't know is the great variety of life which resides under the golden gate bridge, like the seven gill shark.
This cute little fish is a grunt sculpin. It is not a good swimmer, and it generally moves by using its bright orange pectoral fins to hop across the sea floor. They are generally found in shallow waters (subtidally) and live in crevices. They only get a little over 8 cm (3 .25 in). It has been reported that these fish make little grunting noises when you remove it from water.
Some interesting behaviour has been observed in aquariums during spawing season. Like most fish, males are generally the ones to guard the eggs. What's different is how the eggs are laid and fertilized. Normally, males have to entice (or chase) the females into their chosen nest site to lay eggs, however with grunt sculpins the females chase the males into a cave where they are laying eggs, and won't let them out until they are finished.
Can't get much wider than this. This is a preserved megamouth shark. This shark is known only from 38 specimens captured, salvaged, or recorded world wide. Despite its very large mouth, the megamouth eats small planktonic animals, such as jellies and copepods. It follows its prey, swimming up through the water column during the night and descending as night falls.
I love walking into my workplace and seeing stuff like this. This baby pacific seahorse is just three days old and about a centimeter long. The male gave birth to a batch of babies after a 9 day gestation period. Normally, they can hold 2-3,000 eggs in their pouch, but this particular daddy gave birth to only 75. That could be because the female dropped the eggs when she was transferring them to the male, or because she just did not make that many eggs. I am looking forward to seeing these little cuties grow up.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Carcharhiniformes
Family: Scyliorhinidea
This is a swell shark, or Cephaloscyllium ventriosum. They are common inhabitants of the kelp forests; found during daylight hours laying about on the floor. Swell sharks have a neat trick of inflating by gulping down water or air. They can use this technique to wedge themselves into rocks, making it impossible for predators to get them out. There is a really awesome website describing all of the research done on them here. I am going to summarize some of it, but be sure to check it out for the full detail.
Swell sharks lay eggs, which can take up to a year to hatch. They are poor swimmers and nocturnal, but don't use light cues to initiate activity. Instead they relay on internal cues, general going for a 12 hours of sleep, 12 hours of activity. When they hunt, they use two different tactics: it waits until the fish is close to its head, than sucks it into its mouth with a "gulp", or it slowly opens its mouth and waits till a fish drifts in.
