Lesson 1 - The Diversity of Marine Life

Text by Alan Deidun; Design and images by Martin Galea De Giovanni

 





Cetaceans





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Marine Animals

Frequently-encountered animals in the sea include sponges (the simplest animals obviously not the sponge you eat or you use to wash your plates at home!), coelenterates ( jellyfish , sea anemones and corals), polychaetes (ragworms and bristleworms), crustaceans (lobsters, prawns, shrimps, crabs, etc) and bryozoans (false coral).

The hermit crab has no tough outer skeleton and hence it seeks refuge from predators by sheltering in empty snail shells. Other interesting (and highly intelligent!) molluscs include the octopus, squid and cuttlefish. Contrary to what one might think, these molluscs still have a shell, like their sessile relatives, but this is mostly internal and hence not visible.