 ANSWERS
Intro | The Answers
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1 Cuckoo wrasse: All cuckoo wrasse start life as females and are pink, with a few black and white blotches along the rear of their back. Some females turn into males later in life, depending on the proportion of sexes in the local population. Males have brilliant blue heads with orange and yellow flanks.
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2 Starfish: By arching over their bivalve prey, starfish maximise the number of tube feet that they can attach to either half of the prey's shell. Enough force can then be applied to pull open a tiny crack between the shell halves, and this is all the starfish needs.
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3 Bootlace worm: These slender ribbon worms are usually around 5m long when fully extended, but they can reach up to 30m. The whole body contracts rapidly if touched.
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4 Octopus: The most commonly seen type in UK waters is the lesser (or curled) octopus. Crabs make up a large part of the octopus's diet, so pieces of crab shell piled around a hole are usually a good sign of an octopus lair.
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5 Pipefish: In common with their seahorse relatives, the females lay their eggs into the special brood pouches on the belly of the males.
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6 Sea chervil: Colonies of this bryozoan look like wavy brown fingers of sponge. It seems to cause a type of skin irritation, known as "Dogger Bank Itch" by North Sea fishermen.
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7 Some sea slugs, such as Coryphella lineata: The stinging cells of hydroids deter most predators but certain sea slugs not only eat them, but pass the undischarged cells through their digestive system and out into finger-like protrusions on their backs. If a fish tries to nibble the sea slug, it gets stung by the appropriated weapons!
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8 Sea hare: Like all sea slugs, sea hares are hermaphrodites (all individuals are male and female). Most sea slugs practise "reciprocal fertilisation" in pairs, but sea hares can form chains or rings. In the pictured short chain of three, only the middle one is getting the full experience!
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9 Sea anemone: Though fairly simple animals, the tentacles of sea anemones are covered with intricate stinging cells used both for defence and for capturing prey. Some species catch only small planktonic prey but others (such as this dahlia anemone) can catch prawns and small fish.J
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10 Flatfish such as plaice: Flatfish larvae just hatched from the egg live among the plankton and look similar to conventional fish. By the time they take up life on the seabed, one eye has moved over to join the other eye on what is now the flatfish's top side.
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11 Mussel: Mussels can offer only passive resistance to predators such as crabs and starfish, but a dog-whelk can take hours to drill through a mussel shell; long enough for the mussel and its neighbours to attach byssus threads that immobilise or overturn the attacker.
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12 Conger eel: As they approach their breeding grounds in the mid-Atlantic, congers undergo severe and irreversible body changes, with teeth falling out, gut degenerating and gonads becoming greatly enlarged. They die after spawning.
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13 Hermit crab: Some common hermit crabs carry on their shells a "parasitic" anemone, which is a misleading description, as both parties are thought to benefit. A small hermit crab species and the cloak anemone have an even closer relationship.
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14 Wolf-fish: To cope with their armoured diet, these fierce-looking fish have powerful cheek muscles and strong grinding teeth that are replaced by a new set growing from behind every year.
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15 Barnacle: Barnacles are crustaceans like crabs and shrimps but, because of their appearance, until the 19th century they were thought to be molluscs like limpets and whelks. Unlike many static animals, they do not simply release spawn into the water. A very long penis allows them to mate with their neighbours.
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16 Rock-cook: This small wrasse can be watched cleaning larger ballan wrasse, with certain rocks and pieces of wreckage appearing to act as popular meeting points. Rock-cooks are not generally timid fish, but they appear reluctant to clean when being observed too closely.
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17 Anglerfish: A spiny ray at the front of its dorsal fin forms an angler's "fishing rod". The inward current, created as its huge mouth opens, makes escape for small fish examining the lure extremely difficult. Large inward-curving teeth make it impossible.
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18 Pleurobranchus membranaceus: This particular sea slug can swim well, always upside-down, using undulating movements of its foot. Large groups on migratory swims have occasionally been observed, and these have been assumed to be getting together for mating.
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19 Cuttlefish: Colour cells in the skin of cuttlefish are under direct nervous control from a sophisticated brain, making complex and rapid pattern changes possible. Though comparisons between animal groups are difficult, cuttlefish are considered equal to rats and kittens in their brain-power.
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20 Slipper limpet: These animals form chains, with females at the base and males at the top. The development of a youngster depends on whether they settle in isolation or on top of a ready-made chain. No wonder, with such a peculiar lifestyle, that they are not native but American in origin! Now abundant in southern Britain, they were introduced accidentally in the 19th century.
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