Aquatic group · 30
Jellies, corals, sea stars, and animals that break the fish rules. Each card uses kid-friendly labels without hiding the scientific family tree underneath.
Bay stingerOther aquatic life · Jellyfish
Chrysaora quinquecirrha
The Atlantic sea nettle is a translucent jellyfish found in coastal Atlantic waters and estuaries. Its tentacles carry stinging cells that help it catch plankton and other small animals.
Fast deadly drifterOther aquatic life · Box jellyfish
Chironex fleckeri
The Australian box jellyfish has a transparent, cube-shaped bell and clusters of long tentacles. It lives in tropical Australian coastal waters and is one of the world's most medically dangerous jellyfish.
Regenerating water salamanderOther aquatic life · salamander
Ambystoma mexicanum
The axolotl is an aquatic salamander native to the Valley of Mexico. It usually keeps its larval body form throughout life while retaining feathery external gills.
Shoreline jewelOther aquatic life · Sea anemone
Actinia equina
The beadlet anemone is a small, usually red sea anemone that lives on rocky shores. When the tide falls, it can pull its tentacles inward and resemble a smooth jelly-like blob.
Pacific seafloor cleanerOther aquatic life · sea cucumber
Apostichopus californicus
The California sea cucumber is a large, soft-bodied echinoderm of the northeastern Pacific. It feeds on seafloor material and helps recycle nutrients in rocky and sandy habitats.
Coral-dwelling wormOther aquatic life · polychaete worm
Spirobranchus giganteus
The Christmas tree worm is a small tube-building marine worm that lives embedded in coral. Its paired spiral crowns collect food and oxygen from the water.
Echolocation expertOther aquatic life · dolphin
Tursiops truncatus
The common bottlenose dolphin is a highly social marine mammal found in coastal and offshore waters. It uses echolocation, body language, and learned behaviors to find prey and coordinate with companions.
Spiny suspension feederOther aquatic life · brittle star
Ophiothrix fragilis
The common brittle star has a small central disc and long, fragile arms lined with spines. It often gathers in huge offshore beds where currents carry food particles.
Mussel-bed hunterOther aquatic life · sea star
Asterias rubens
The common sea star is a familiar five-armed predator of North Atlantic shores. It uses tube feet to move and to pull open bivalve shells.
Spiny coral hunterOther aquatic life · sea star
Acanthaster planci
The crown-of-thorns starfish is a large tropical sea star covered in venomous spines. It feeds on living coral tissue and can strongly affect reef communities during population outbreaks.
Seagrass sea cowOther aquatic life · marine mammal
Dugong dugon
The dugong is a fully marine herbivorous mammal that grazes in shallow seagrass meadows. It is the only living member of its family and has a broad, fluked tail.
Reef water filterOther aquatic life · sponge
Xestospongia muta
The giant barrel sponge is one of the largest sponges on Caribbean coral reefs. Its barrel-shaped body filters enormous volumes of seawater and provides shelter for other reef animals.
Tide-pool giantOther aquatic life · Sea anemone
Anthopleura xanthogrammica
The giant green anemone is a large intertidal sea anemone with a vivid green body and a crown of tentacles. It lives on rocky Pacific shores, where it waits for small animals to brush against its stinging tentacles.
Vent-powered giantOther aquatic life · hydrothermal-vent worm
Riftia pachyptila
The giant tube worm lives around deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Pacific. It has no mouth or digestive tract and depends on bacteria living inside its body.
Seagrass meadow grazerOther aquatic life · sea turtle
Chelonia mydas
The green sea turtle is the largest hard-shelled sea turtle. Adults often graze on seagrass and algae, helping shape productive coastal meadows.
Living labyrinthOther aquatic life · Stony coral
Diploria labyrinthiformis
Grooved brain coral is a reef-building coral with winding valleys that resemble the folds of a brain. Individual polyps live in connected ridges and help build a hard limestone colony.
Singing ocean giantOther aquatic life · baleen whale
Megaptera novaeangliae
The humpback whale is a large baleen whale recognized by long flippers, knobby head structures, and powerful songs. It migrates between high-latitude feeding grounds and warmer breeding waters.
Deep-diving ocean travelerOther aquatic life · sea turtle
Dermochelys coriacea
The leatherback sea turtle is the largest living turtle and the only sea turtle without a hard shell. Its flexible, ridged skin-covered carapace supports long migrations through open ocean.
Tentacle giantOther aquatic life · Jellyfish
Cyanea capillata
The lion's mane jellyfish is a large drifting jelly with a golden or reddish bell and many trailing tentacles. It lives mainly in cold northern oceans and uses stinging cells to capture prey.
Reef lawnmowerOther aquatic life · sea urchin
Diadema antillarum
The long-spined sea urchin is a dark tropical reef grazer with exceptionally long, delicate spines. By eating algae, it creates bare surfaces where corals can settle.
Drifting moonOther aquatic life · Jellies and corals
Aurelia aurita
The moon jelly is a soft, see-through animal whose round bell glows like a moon underwater. It has no brain, heart, bones, or true fish parts, yet it senses and survives in seas around the world.
Ancient reef moundOther aquatic life · Stony coral
Orbicella faveolata
Mountainous star coral forms massive, lumpy colonies that helped build Caribbean reefs. Its tiny polyps live with symbiotic algae and grow slowly in tropical reef environments.
Burrowing filter feederOther aquatic life · sand dollar
Dendraster excentricus
The Pacific sand dollar is a flattened echinoderm that lives partly buried in sandy coastal bottoms. Its off-center shape helps it feed while facing into moving water.
Floating colonyOther aquatic life · Siphonophore
Physalia physalis
The Portuguese man o' war is a floating colony of specialized animals, not a single jellyfish. A gas-filled float carries it across tropical and subtropical seas while tentacles below capture prey.
Algae-grazing urchinOther aquatic life · sea urchin
Strongylocentrotus purpuratus
The purple sea urchin is a spiny grazer of northeastern Pacific rocky shores and kelp forests. Its mouth scrapes algae from rock with a complex set of calcium-carbonate teeth.
Reef builderOther aquatic life · Stony coral
Acropora cervicornis
Staghorn coral is a branching reef-building coral whose cylindrical branches resemble deer antlers. Dense thickets in shallow Caribbean water provide shelter for many fish and other reef animals.
Kelp-forest predatorOther aquatic life · sea star
Pycnopodia helianthoides
The sunflower sea star is a very large, fast-moving sea star with many flexible arms. It is a major predator of sea urchins and other seafloor animals.
Bottom-up jellyOther aquatic life · Jellyfish
Cassiopea xamachana
The upside-down jellyfish rests on the seafloor with its oral arms pointing upward. It lives in warm, shallow, sunlit coastal water and often gathers near mangroves.
Living glass latticeOther aquatic life · glass sponge
Euplectella aspergillum
The Venus flower basket is a deep-sea glass sponge with a delicate silica skeleton. Its lattice provides a sheltered home for a pair of tiny shrimp.
Reef-floor recyclerOther aquatic life · sea cucumber
Holothuria fuscogilva
The white teatfish is a large tropical sea cucumber from the Indo-Pacific. It crawls across reef sediments and processes organic material through its digestive tract.