“Interesting Facts”
OCEAN PLANET" MARINE LIFE FACTS
BY: Ali Ahmed Khan(A.A.K) & Irtiza Ali
The blue whale, Balaenoptera muscles, is the largest known animal ever to have lived on sea or land. Individuals can reach more than 110 feet and weigh nearly 200 tons more than the weight of 50 adult elephants. The blue whale's blood vessels are so broad that a full-grown trout could swim through them, the, vessels serve a heart the size of a small car.
Green turtles can migrate more than 1,400 miles to lay their eggs.A group of herring is called a siege. A group of jelly fish is called a smack.Many fish can change sex during the course of their lives. Others, especially rare deep-sea fish, have both male and female sex organs. Oils from the orange roughy, Hoplostethus atlanticus, a deep-sea fish from New Zealand, are used in making shampoo. Blue fin tuna, Thunnus thymus, are among the largest and fastest marine fish. An adult may weigh 1,500 pounds and swim up to 55 miles per hour. Prized as sushi in Japan, blue fins are also among the most valuable fish: individual blue fins can bring as much as $20,000 at U.S. docks.
Penguins "fly" underwater at up to 25 miles per hour.
Since the architecture and chemistry of coral are very close to human bone, coral has been used to replace bone grafts in helping human bones to heal quickly and cleanly. Horseshoe crabs have existed in essentially the same form for the past 135 million years. Their blood provides a valuable test for the toxins that cause septic shock, which previously led to half of all hospital-acquired infections and one-fifth of all hospital deaths. Alginates, derived from the cell walls of brown algae, are used in beer, frozen desserts, pickles, adhesives, boiler compounds, ceramics, explosives, paper and toys. The remains of diatoms, algae with hard shells, are used in making pet litter, cosmetics, pool filters and tooth polish. One study of a deep-sea community revealed 898 species from more than 100 families and a dozen phyla in an area about half the size of a tennis court. More than half of these were new to science. Life began in the seas 3.1 billion to 3.4 billion years ago. Land dwellers appeared 400 million years ago relatively recent point in the geologic time line. Most fish reproduce by laying eggs, though some fish, such as great white sharks, give birth to live babies called pups. Starfish are not fish. Neither are jellyfish. Although the fang tooth fish is only a few inches long, it has teeth about the size of a human’s. The mudskipper is a fish that spends most of its time out of water and can “walk” on its fins. It carries a portable water supply in its gill chambers when it leaves the water. It can also breathe through the pores of its wet skin. Catfish have over 27,000 taste buds. Humans have around 7,000.
Since the architecture and chemistry of coral are very close to human bone, coral has been used to replace bone grafts in helping human bones to heal quickly and cleanly. Horseshoe crabs have existed in essentially the same form for the past 135 million years. Their blood provides a valuable test for the toxins that cause septic shock, which previously led to half of all hospital-acquired infections and one-fifth of all hospital deaths. Alginates, derived from the cell walls of brown algae, are used in beer, frozen desserts, pickles, adhesives, boiler compounds, ceramics, explosives, paper and toys. The remains of diatoms, algae with hard shells, are used in making pet litter, cosmetics, pool filters and tooth polish. One study of a deep-sea community revealed 898 species from more than 100 families and a dozen phyla in an area about half the size of a tennis court. More than half of these were new to science. Life began in the seas 3.1 billion to 3.4 billion years ago. Land dwellers appeared 400 million years ago relatively recent point in the geologic time line. Most fish reproduce by laying eggs, though some fish, such as great white sharks, give birth to live babies called pups. Starfish are not fish. Neither are jellyfish. Although the fang tooth fish is only a few inches long, it has teeth about the size of a human’s. The mudskipper is a fish that spends most of its time out of water and can “walk” on its fins. It carries a portable water supply in its gill chambers when it leaves the water. It can also breathe through the pores of its wet skin. Catfish have over 27,000 taste buds. Humans have around 7,000.