Frogfish

Frogfish are some of the most bizarre looking fish in the ocean. They are a type of angler fish with amazing adaptations for camouflage. Their bodies are oddly shaped and they can change colors to blend in with their environment. Most frogfish mimic corals, sponges, seaweed, or rocks. This camouflage keeps predators from identifying them as food, and it keeps their food from identifying them as predators.

Frogfish spend most of their lives scooting along the bottom of the ocean. They lie motionless, resting on specially modified fins that act almost like legs.

Like most angler fish, frogfish have a very clever method of hunting prey. Instead of going out to find their food, they bring their food to them. Frogfish have a small growth on their heads that looks like a small worm or fish. They dangle this lure in front of their mouth, tricking other fish into thinking it is food.

The fish come close, thinking they will eat an easy meal. Instead they become the meal for the frogfish.


Frogfish are found in oceans throughout the world, and they take on a staggering variety of shapes and colors.

Cone Snail Videos

I was happy to see how much attention the post on Cone Snails has gotten. I understand it is hard to picture a snail killing something, so I dug up a couple of videos of these slow but deadly predators on the hunt. It's somewhat disturbing and totally amazing to see these Cone Snails in action.

This is a very good clip from National Geographic showing the full process of a Cone Snail hunting.



And this video from Nature shows how quickly a Cone Snail can subdue a live and very active fish.



One of the reader responses to my previous Cone Snail post asked where Cone Snails can be located. I found a map from National Geographic showing just this.

It's small but you can see the regions where Cone Snails can be found highlighted in yellow. They are mostly located in tropical oceans. Florida is the only place in America that I know of where you can find Cone Snails. Still, if you think you might have found a cone snail, just remember the general rule of the ocean:
When in doubt, don't touch it.

Phytoplankton

Now that I have discussed some of the biggest animals in the ocean, I will now talk about the smallest. The basis of the ocean's food chain is phytoplankton. The term phytoplankton refers to thousands of species of tiny plants and algae that live in the ocean. Phytoplankton work like other plants, turning sunlight and carbon dioxide into energy and oxygen. The phytoplankton in the ocean are responsible for over 50% of all oxygen in our atmosphere.

Phytoplankton comes in many shapes and sizes and all are microscopic. Any time you swim in the ocean, you are immersed in a soup of living plants. Murkier water tends to have more abundant plankton where clear water has very little.

Phytoplankton are the first step in most food chains in the ocean. Tiny animals called zooplankton eat phytoplankton. Larger animals eat zooplankton, and bigger fish and animals eat them. Many larger animals eat just phytoplankton as well. Whale sharks, the biggest fish in the world, eat nothing but phytoplankton.