Photo of a shark.

Sea creatures

List of sea creatures.

Animals, fish and other things that live in water.

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Photo of alalone.

Abalone

An abalone is a very large sea snail. Abalones are a different shape to most snails - they have a wide, flat shell. You can still see the spiral shape in their shell.

Abalones are caught and eaten as food, and their shells are used to make jewellery.

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Photo of anchovies

Anchovy

Scientific name: 
family: engraulidae

Anchovies are small, oily fish that are usually preserved in brine and matured. This process gives them a very strong flavour. Anchovies are used on pizza, on Caesar salad and as an ingredient in numerous other dishes. They are one of the main ingredients of Worcestershire Sauce.

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Photo of sea anemones

Anemone

Scientific name: 
order: actiniaria

Sea anemones are closely related to coral and jellyfish. They eat small sea creatures and small fish that drift past them into their tentacles. The tentacles have poison in them, and the anemone stings them to kill them before it eats them.

Sea anemones spend most of their lives stuck to the same rock or other surface, but can unstick themselves and swim to a new rock if conditions aren't good for them, such as if their rock dries out for too long or something is trying to eat or damage the anemone.

Sea anemones can reproduce in the usual way by releasing eggs and sperm, but they can also reproduce by budding off new anemones or by splitting themselves in half to form a new anemone.

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Photo of an anglerfish

Anglerfish

Anglerfish are small, predatory fish. They have one or more long, thin, flexible spines on their heads with a fleshy lump at the end. They can move this spine around and dangle the lump like bait in front of their mouths.

Anglerfish are fairly rare and have an unusual way of reproducing. Male anglerfish are much smaller than females, and when they are mature they bite onto a female and then wither away to nothing but reproductive organs. They live like parasites on the female's bloodstream.

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Photo of barnacles on a rock

Barnacle

Barnacles live only in the sea. They are related to crabs and lobsters.

Barnacles stick themselves to a surface and live there in the same place for their entire adult lives. You usually see them on the beach stuck to rocks, or stuck to the bottom of boats. They eat small sea creatures that drift past them in the water.

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Photo of a giant clam

Clam

A clam is related to the snail. Clams have shells in two halves with a hinge joining the halves. Clams don't have eyes or brains.

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Photo of cockles

Cockle

Scientific name: 
family: cardiidae

Cockles are related to clams, mussels and snails. They have a shell in two parts joined by a hinge. Cockles burrow into sandy beaches and eat tiny creatures in the water that washes over them.

Cockles can be caught and eaten. They are cooked in much the same way as other similar creatures like mussels.

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Photo of a cod

Cod

Scientific name: 
genus: gadus

Cod is the common name for a number of related fish. Cod eat sea snails, starfish, smaller fish and other sea creatures. Cod are caught for food, and their livers are used to make cod liver oil, which is rich in vitamin A, D and E.

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Photo of coral

Coral

Scientific name: 
class: anthozoa

Coral are tiny animals that grow together to form huge colonies. Sometimes these colonies are so big we call them reefs. Coral do not move around, they live and die fixed in one place, which is more like a plant than an animal. Coral eat small fish and sea creatures by trapping them as they pass with their stinging tentacles.

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Photo of a crab

Crab

Scientific name: 
crustaceans of the infraorder brachyura

Crabs are found all over the world around water, both in the sea and in fresh water. They can range in size from a few centimetres wide to up to four metres wide. They have a very thick outside shell, and people catch them to eat.

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