Paddington hanging out with a Sea Anemone
Today we went down to the "Touch Tank" here in the Antarctic Science Facility. There are several sea creatures on display in this tank that you are allowed to photograph and even touch with your fingers! (if you can stand the icy cold water on your hands)
There's quite a unique mix of interesting animals. Here are a few that we saw:
Sea Star or "Star Fish" (Odontaster Validus)
Some info about the Sea Star:
- O. Validus is the most abundant seastar in the shallow shelf waters of Antarctica
- It is slow growing. Well-fed individuals need about nine years to reach about thirty grams
- They can live up to 100 years!
- Eats plant matter and small crustaceans (It's an omnivore)
Sea Spider (Colossendeis)
Some info about the Sea Spider:
- They are the largest sea spider with some having leg spans as wide as fifty centimeters.
- They are exlusively marine and mostly bottom dwellers
- Adult sea spiders suck the juices from soft-bodied invertebrates (like jellyfish or anemones) to feed.
Antarctic Isopod (Glyptonotus Antarcticus)
Some info about the Antarctic Isopod:
- Their size can be up to twenty centimeters in length
- Eats seastars, mollusks, sea urchins and a whole mess of other small sea creatures.
- Is nocturnal
Nudibranch "Sea Slug" (Tritonia Challengeriana)
Some info about the Sea Slug:
- They are shell-less mollusks
- Their name "nudibranch" literally means "naked gills" and describes the feather gills and horns that most have on their back
- Some of their outer tissue is chemically toxic to to certain predators
Sea Anemone
Some info about Sea Anemones
- They are predatory and will eat sea urchin and sea stars
- They can also feed on large jellyfish which get close enough to the bottom in shallow water to be captured by the anemone's tentacles.
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