Name: Angelshark

Written and illustrated by: Nate J.

Size: It ranges from five to eight feet.

Where it lives: Angelsharks are found  in  the  eastern  Pacific  Ocean, southern  Alaska, USA  to  Baja, CA; USA, and  from  Ecuador  to  southern  Chile.

General important information: Angelsharks are bottom-dwellers. They live in sand and mud on the ocean floor. They live in warm temperate oceans, most in the southern hemisphere. Angelsharks have a flat body and long, wide fins that look like wings, which gives them their names. The main prey of  angelsharks  are  small  fish, squid  and  octopuses, and  bivalves  and  sea-snails.

Name: Beluga Whale

Written and illustrated by: Brittany A.

Where it lives: They live in the Arctic.

General important information: Its diet is fish, squid, crustaceans, octopus and worms. Their enemies are killer whales and polar bears. They usually dive for about 3-15 minutes while hunting for food. To open its single blowhole, a beluga contracts the muscular flap that covers it. The beluga’s blowhole is relaxed in closed position..      

 Name: The Bottlenose Dolphin

 Written and illustrated by: Tyler C.

  Size: The bottlenose dolphin can grow up to be almost 12 feet or 3.3m.long.

Where it lives: You can find the bottlenose dolphin in any part of the ocean where the temperature is temperate or tropical in the water. Some live near the shore and some live offshore.

General important information: The bottlenose dolphin can live up to 25 years. Instead of moving their tails (called a fluke) from side to side, dolphins move it up and down. All that bottlenose dolphins mostly eat are fish and squids at the surface of the water. They find their way around and they find their prey by echolocation, which is when they emit a high-pitched click and hear it if it bounces of an object. Many sharks like the tiger shark, husky shark, and bull sharks and orcas eat dolphins.                                                                                                                                                       

Name:  Bowhead whale                                                                                                

Written and illustrated by:  Lace P.                                                                           

Size:  They are 50-60 feet weighing about 80-110 tons.                                                                                     

Where it lives:  It lives at the surface of the ocean in the Artic ocean                                

Name: The Blue Ringed Octopus

Written and illustrated by: Tyler C.

Size: The blue ringed Octopus can grow up to the size of a golf ball or up to eight inches with its tentacles spread out.

Where it lives: It lives in shallow reefs and tide pools around Japan-Australia in depths from 0-20 m.

General important information: The Blue Ringed Octopus is the most venomous octopus in the world and only lives up to 1.5 years. All octopuses grow a new arm if they lose one. The Blue Ringed Octopus digs under large rocks for its den and lays its eggs and the mother doesn’t eat during the one to two months she is caring for her eggs.   

Name: Blue Shark

Written and illustrated by:  Robin N.

Size: 12.5 feet long

Where it lives: It lives in the Atlantic Ocean, but it migrates to the south..

General information: Blue Shark is a large, dark animal with sleek, pointed fins, pointed snout, wide eyes, and a tapered body, that makes it such a great swimmer. It’s elongated tail gives it power as it moves from side to side. These sharks are one of the fastest swimmers and it can leap out of the water. Some people say that they can swim up to 60mph, but we only seen them go 22mph. The teeth are pointed and they help them catch food, fish and squid. Their teeth are also in rows, which rotate into use. Their teeth break and new ones grow back. Blue sharks are pelagic, living in or by water. Most blue sharks are found worldwide. There have been attacks on people, so these sharks are considered dangerous. People have made blue sharks almost endangered due to over fishing. The blue shark travels around from the Caribbean Sea, the African Coast, and coast of U.S.A., A blue sharks form all-female or all-male schools, groups. The sharks in these groups are all usually the same size, nobody knows why they do this. They’re all viviparous, bringing forth young, not eggs. Litters consist of 4 to 135 pups. The gestation period is about a year-long. Females mature faster then the males. They mature at age 5.

Name: French Angelfish

Written and illustrated by: Alec W

Size: It can reach 41. 1 cm in length as an adult.

Where it lives: It is common in shallow reefs. It is usually found in pairs, often near sea fans and sponges.

General important information: The French Angelfish is very common in the Caribbean. They are usually seen in pairs. They have tall, narrow bodies.

Name: Sea Cucumber

Written and illustrated by: Samantha T.

Where it lives: They live in a wave pools.

General important info: There are over 1,100 species of the sea cucumber. You can see them in wave pools. Their feet are rows of tubes that make the sea cucumber move slowly. They eat lots of plankton a day. Some can poison you very badly.

Name:  Manatee

Written and illustrated by: Blake F.

Size:  Manatees average 12 ft. and weigh 1800 ponds.

Where it lives:  They live in warm, shallow, slow moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals, and coastal areas.

General important information:  Manatees, also called sea cows, eat water plants, and a male eats up to 150 pounds a day. They generally live up to 60 years. They have long, paddle-shaped tails, and the female is bigger than the male. Manatees are an endangered species, meaning it’s illegal to kill or injure them. There are only 2600 of them left. A main reason for death of manatees is pollution and careless fisherman.

Name: Pacific White-Sided Dolphins

Written and illustrated by:  Josh  H.

General important information: Squeals you hear from dolphins aren’t just noises its communication between dolphins. When a baby is having a hard time swimming the mom comes and takes it to the top so its blowhole is above water.  The most gregarious of dolphins, the Pacific white-sided dolphins get their jollies by swimming I front of boats that are dolphin surfing.  You could say it's because of a fluke they can swim.  It's actually two flukes.  That is what the sides of the dolphin's tale are called.

Name: Plankton

Written and illustrated by:  Robin N.

Size: It is microscopic.

Where it lives: It lives in oceans and other bodies of water.

General information: Plankton are tiny organisms that float with the water. The word “Plankton” comes from the Greek word planktos which means drifting. Phytoplanktons are plants and producers. They’re the base of the oceanic food chain. They use chlorophyll to convert the energy from sunlight. Zooplanktons are tiny animals that eat other phytoplankton. Plankton is eaten by other animals like birds.

Name: Porcupine Fish

Written and illustrated by: Josh H.

Where it lives: Porcupine fish live in tropical oceans world wide. Adults live in warm water near sharks because they can protect themselves, but babies live in open waters so they don’t get attacked.

General important information: When a shark, the most dangerous predator, attacks the porcupine fish they just suck in water so the spikes pop up. They do this instead of swimming away.

Name: Royal penguin

Written and illustrated by: Makenzie S.

Size: Royal penguins are around 70 cm tall and weigh about 4 to 5.5 kg. 

Where it lives: It only lives on a rocky island called Macquerie Island located far south of Australia in the Pacific Ocean.

General important information: Women are generally smaller than men. They have yellowish-orange and black crests. They often lay two eggs at a time. When the penguin is 65 days old it goes off  by itself.

Name: Sea Anemone

Written and illustrated by: Shelby J.

Size: They are one to four inches across, but a few grow to be 6 feet across.

Where it lives: They live in coastal waters worldwide, in shallow waters, and in deep oceans.

General important information: The sea anemone is the flower of the sea. They are meat-eating animals. Sea anemones come in different sizes and colors. The sea anemone can stick to rocks or coral. The mouth is in the center of the sea anemone. The tentacles protect them and kill food. These invertebrates don’t have a skeleton. Sea anemones are carnivores. They eat fish mussels, zooplankton, and worms. Hardly anyone eats sea anemones. Their predators include grey sea slug and tompot blenny.

Name: Sea Sponge 

Written and illustrated by: Alec W

General important information: A sponge exists by pumping water through its body. It gets its nutrients this way.  Most sponges are colorful.  The scientific name for sponges is Porifera.  Most sponges are both male and female.  A sponge is a bottom dwelling creature.  The two basic sponges are encrusting sponges and free-standing sponges.

Name:  Sea star

Written and illustrated by:  Blake F.

Size:  Sea stars are usually around 8 inches in diameter.

Where it lives:  Sea stars are commonly found along the West Coast of the U. S. on the ocean floor.

General important information:  Sea stars are very interesting creatures. Did you know that they have bumpy skin, no brain, and can move in any direction? They can also re-grow any lost or injured arms, which most of them have five. They are not fish, they're echinoderms, meaning spiny skinned animals. There are about 1800 species of sea stars, but I don’t know all of them. Sea stars feed on almost any plant or animal. They eat by moving their stomachs through their mouth and onto their prey. They digest them. Don’t try that at home.

Name: Silver Arawana

Written and illustrated by: Shelby J                                       

Where it lives: It is found in Amazon drainage basins of Brazil and Peru.  Silver Arawana’s are also found in French Guiana, where they live in freshwater lakes, flooded forests, and occasionally in river systems.

General important information: The arawana, nicknamed the "water monkey" earned the nickname from the way it jumps 3 feet out of the water to eat beetles, birds, frogs, and spiders from branches. The arawana has horizontally divided eyes so it can swim just below the water surface. The arawana can see everything below and above itself. The arawana has tooth- pick like whiskers which are called barbells that help sense vibration from a bug in the water. It has large scales and a bone-protected head. The arawana has elongated fins that reach to the back of its body. The arawana’s low body fat and high protein make them a healthy meal for local people. The people from that area use this fish’s large, bony scales for headbands, necklaces and for more jewelry.

Name: Surfperch

Written and illustrated by: Abby S.

Size: It varies in size from 14 to 18 inches long with the females being the larger gender

Where it lives: It lives in quiet bays, backwaters, estuaries and near-shore areas, but man-made oil platforms, docks and pilings are all used by surfperch as safe havens in which to raise their young.

General important information: Surfperch are born alive, not in eggs like most fish. Actually, young surfperch are replicas of the larger adults. Most species are solid silver but some have bright stripes or barred patterns. Surfperch feed on invertebrates, or animals without backbones such as worms, mussels, and crustaceans. They are in turn fed upon by larger fish like sturgeon, salmon, and barred bass. But the surfperch’s greatest threat is contamination (pollution) and destruction of their habitats from agricultural toxins, urban development (the building of towns and cities) and wetland loss. Silver, walleye, and shiner surfperch are also favored to be caught by fisherman.  

Name: Walrus

Written and illustrated by: Brittany A.

Size: It can grow up to 14 feet ( 4.3 m) long.

Where it lives: It lives in the cold arctic.

General important information: The tusks can grow over three feet long. The walrus can weigh up to 2,000 pounds. The whiskers (called vibrissae) help the walrus sense of touch. Walrus are carnivores; they eat mostly clams, snails, mussels, worms, sea cucumbers, and other animals that they find on the sea floor. If they are very hungry, they will eat seals. A thick layer of fat insulates the walrus from the cold Arctic waters. Both males and females have tusks.  Walruses have sixteen other, much shorter teeth.

Name: Weedy Sea Dragon

Written and Illustrated by: Shawnee P.

Size: The weedy sea dragon can grow to about a foot and a half.

Where it lives: These animals live in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean by Australia.

General Important Information: Weedy sea dragons are close relatives of the seahorse and the pipefish. These are amazing animals. Weedy sea dragons have a longer tail and snout than seahorses do. Male sea dragons carry the eggs under the tail instead of a pouch like seahorses use. These sea dragons are usually found in covered bays, forests of kelp, the sandy edges of Rubble Reef and in deep-water gutters in the ocean.

 Name: Speckled Seahorse

Written and Illustrated by: Ryan A.

Size: The approximate size of a new born Speckled Seahorse is only a half an inch. When adult they can get up to 6 inches.

General important information:

Did you know that another name for the speckled seahorse is hippocampus guttulatus? It can hide itself from predators by camouflage. Instead of females becoming pregnant the males do. The males store their eggs in what is called a brood pouch. When the babies are born they will mature in six months. A seahorse’s life span is unknown. They think they live from 2-4 years. Speckled seahorses are various eaters. They eat crustaceans and larvae. They eat things hole because they have no teeth.