Water covers nearly 70% of the earth’s surface, providing habitat for
an amazing variety of animals to swim and frolic. Aquatic, or water-dwelling
animals inhabit our planet’s oceans, rivers, lakes, seas, and streams.
This huge group of animals occupies various depths, temperature ranges,
nutrient conditions, and light conditions. The have such exotic abilities
as sonar echolocation, bioluminescence, and electric shock production.
They include fish and mammals (dolphins, porpoises, and whales, for example),
among others. Even among the fishes, some have jaws while others
do not. Some sessile animals, such as sponges, have a passive lifestyle,
staying anchored and letting the food flow their way on the currents, whereas
others, such as great white sharks, are active predators, hunting their
food by detecting their prey via small amounts of blood in the water.
All in all, there is an unrivalled amount of fun and interesting facts
to be learned about aquatic life on earth, an integral part of biodiversity
as a whole.
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