Animals

Parrotfish

DESCRIPTION: Parrotfish have thick, heavy bodies andlarge scales. They are found in tropical waters throughout the world and appearin a wide variety of colors, which may change depending on their sex, status,or maturity.
SIZE: Rainbow parrotfish (Scarus guacamaia) maygrow up to 1.2 m in length
FUN FACTS:

The name "parrotfish" isderived from their fused teeth, which bear close resemblance to a bird's beak.Their teeth are specialized for scraping algae and invertebrates from coral androcks. Another set of teeth (pharyngeal teeth), are located on the floor androof of their throats. The pharyngeal teeth crush the ingested materials.

Parrotfish are generally social and maybe found in schools of around 40 individuals. Sometimes an adult breeding malecalled the supermale leads these schools. Supermales are typically sex-reversedfemales and are strongly territorial and habitually drive other males away fromtheir areas.

Schools of parrotfish graze over a reefmuch like a herd of cattle over a grassy field. Large amounts of calcareousmaterials are consumed and excreted by schools of parrotfish. In just one year,one parrotfish may convert a ton of coral into sand.

Somespecies of parrotfish secrete a mucus cocoon around them before they rest,protecting them from predators that hunt by smell (morays) or by touch(crustaceans). It takes a parrotfish half an hour to secrete the cocoon andalmost as long to get out. Parrotfish do not make these cocoons every night,and it is unknown why a parrotfish chooses a particular night to sleep in acocoon.

Piranhas

DESCRIPTION: Piranhas have a robust, narrow body, ablunt head, and strong jaws with triangular-shaped, razor sharp teeth. Piranhastend to be silvery with red-pigmented patches.
SIZE: Typical size is 20.3-30.5 cm, although adults ofsome species grow larger
FUN FACTS:

Piranhas are well known for their razorsharp teeth, and have a reputation for having voracious appetites. Althoughthey are known to occasionally attack large animals, the reputation is greatlyexaggerated. Most adult piranhas - depending on the species - eat fruit, seeds,and fish. Some have been found with bird fragments, snakes, and small mammalsin their stomachs. Young piranhas may eat copepods, crustaceans, and insects.

Piranhas may feed more aggressivelywhen their normal food resources become scarce. Water levels of their riverhomes fall during the dry season. Piranhas may become trapped in stagnant poolsfor weeks. When all of the food in these pools is consumed, piranhas may eatanything that enters the water.

Fivespecies are considered potentially dangerous to humans: Serrasalmus piraya, S.nattereri, S. niger, S. rhombeus, and S.eigenmanni - but piranha attacks on people are extremely rare. According to Dr.Herbert R. Axelrod, in his Atlas of Freshwater Aquarium Fishes, "In 25years of travel and fishing in almost every river system in South America,nearly all of which had schools of piranha, I NEVER was bitten, nor did I evermeet anyone who was bitten...nor did I ever meet anyone who even knew anyonewho was bitten by a piranha...and these are mostly Indians who live on theriver and swim in it every day."

Pufferfish & Porcupinfish

DESCRIPTION: Tetraodontiformes have bodies that arevery rounded and often tapered at the mouth and caudal (tail) fin regions.Color varies, but many species have light spots and or spines. These fishescommon names reference their ability to inflate their bodies with air or water.
SIZE: Up to a maximum of 90 cm
FUN FACTS:

The order Tetraodontiformes (Latin for"four teeth") is a group of more than 300 fish species that includessunfishes, spike fishes, leatherjackets, boxfishes, puffers, andporcupinefishes. As the Latin translation suggests, most of these fish havefour teeth fused into their jaws. Exceptions include three tooth puffers(Triodon macropterus), as well as porcupinefishes and sunfishes, which have twofused teeth.

Members of the puffer family are notentirely covered with scales. If alarmed, they can inflate themselves withwater or air and balloon up to three times their normal size. This"puffing" ploy is used only in desperation, as the inflated pufferloses most of its maneuverability. A puffer would prefer to escape predators byswimming into a crevice.

Porcupinefishcan also inflate their bodies with water or air, but these fishes are alsoarmed with well-developed spines from head to tail. These spines, which can beup to 5 cmlong, make the porcupine fish even more difficult to attack.

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