Design a marine animalDesign a marine animal

Learning objectives: Learning objectives:

To learn about animals found in different To learn about animals found in different habitats; and how they are suited to their habitats; and how they are suited to their environment environment (SC AT2 adaptation)(SC AT2 adaptation)

Written by Ms Janet Rymer, Primary School TeacherWritten by Ms Janet Rymer, Primary School Teacher

Your task is to design a marine animal which Your task is to design a marine animal which is well adapted to live in its environment.is well adapted to live in its environment.

• What questions will you need to answer first?What questions will you need to answer first?

Click here for some questions to help you

Click to find some questions you might need to Click to find some questions you might need to answer:answer:

• Where will it spend its time?

•What will it eat and how will it catch its food?

•How does it move?•How does it keep warm?

•How does it protect itself?

To help answer these questions, go to www.hwdt.orgor click on a question.

Add some questions of your own.Add some questions of your own.Then click on the screen.Then click on the screen.

Now click here to return to questions

What type of marine habitat will your creature spend most of its time in?

Does your animal live:

Return to questions

•near the surface of the water or deep down where the pressure is high?

•in warm or cold seas?•where the water temperature changes or stays the same?

•inshore or out in the open sea? •in tidal waters?•where there is little or a lot of wave action?

• Humpback whales have throat grooves so they can expand their mouths to let in more water and more food.

How some marine animals feed and what they eat

Crabs and lobsters have claws to grip and tear their food.

Next page

©HWDT

©HWDT

Porbeagle sharks have rows of teeth. They can keep growing teeth throughout their lives.

• The blue whale is the biggest animal that ever lived on earth, yet it eats tiny shrimp like creatures, called krill.

It does not have teeth. Instead it has comb-like plates called baleen which filter the food out of the sea water.

Return to questions

How some marine animals find their food

• Whales and dolphins echolocate. They make noises that bounce back from objects giving a ‘picture’ of what is there.

• Basking sharks swim along with their mouths open, catching food. They do not need teeth because they filter food.

• Lion’s mane jellyfish have tentacles up to 60ft long which they use to snare fish and plankton.

Return to questions

Jellyfish pic

©HWDT

©HWDT

©HWDT

How some marine animals move

Whales, dolphins and porpoises have lost most of their body hair. This makes them stream-lined so they move quickly in water.

Crabs scuttle sideways.

Many marine animals have flat broad tails which move them quickly through the water. Whales and dolphins move their tails up and

down. Sharks move their tails from side to side.

Turtles have flippers which help them to swim and to move on land

Next page©SLS

Some zooplankton species (called copepods) move by fluttering their feathery legs through the water.

Jellyfish are 95% water so that they float easily.

Octopus use jet-propulsion to move

Seastars and sea urchins have thousands of tiny suction pad legs to help them move.

Return to questions

zooplankton

squid

©HWDT

How some marine animals keep warm

• Whales, dolphins and porpoises have a layer of insulating fat called blubber to keep them warm.

• Otters have thick fur to keep them warm but whales and dolphins have lost most of their body-hair to make them more streamlined.

Return to questions

How some animals protect themselvesCrabs have sharp pincers to

ward off enemies.

Return to questions

•Fin and blue whales can swim faster than a boat travelling at 30km per hour.

Crabs and lobsters have an external skeleton (a hard shell) to protect their bodies. They can tuck their legs in under the shell too.

•Many sea mammals are light on the underside so they don’t show up against the bright sky when looking up at them. •They are darker on the top so they can’t be seen so easily against the dark depths of the ocean.

Continue

©HWDT

©HWDT

Now design your marine Now design your marine animalanimal