Little Monsters of the Ocean: Metamorphosis under the Waves
INTRODUCTION Beware Gooey or grimy spindly or spiny monsters lurk in every ocean on Earth They have guts to gobble venom mucus oozing from their rear ends and a habit of chomping on their brothers and sisters With all that weirdness you’d think we’d be on high alert at the beach You’d think we’d This zoea is a ten legged larva need to protect ourselves from those creatures Would you dare dip your toes in the ocean knowing monsters could be lurking nearby Instead most of us know nothing at all about these little creatures Yet billions of them live with us on Earth Why don’t we know all about them These animals are tiny Many are microscopic One million could hide in 1 teaspoon 5 ml of ocean water Who are these mysterious marine monsters They’re kids That’s right Cute little ocean kids waiting to grow up And as they grow they go through some pretty dramatic changes These changes are far more drastic than the changes you go through as you grow up they’re called metamorphosis 4
5 You've probably heard about butterfly metamorphosis egg caterpillar chrysalis and butterfly and frog metamorphosis egg tadpole froglet and adult But these marine animals don't go for the kind of metamorphosis everyone has heard about These guys go all out with their own unique take on metamorphosis Don't take my word for it though See for yourself by hanging out with these little monsters for a while that is if you are brave enough MEET THE MONSTERS trochophore TROK oh for plural trochophores veliger VEL ih jer plural veligers planula PLAN yuh luh plural planulae phyllosoma FIL loh SOH muh plural phyllosomas zoea zoh EE uh plural zoeae gnathiid praniza NA thee id prah NIZ uh plural gnathiid praniza
CHAPTER 1 Monster Madness What Is Metamorphosis Who is that spiky-headed alien Is he going to stab you with that spike Or whip you with his thorny tail No need to worry about this tyke He’s called a zoea and he’s so tiny you’d need a microscope to see him And he’s not even in control of his own body He just wiggles around in the water spinning in somersaults Why does a zoea look like a monster Maybe that spike scares off hungry critters He needs every bit of defense he can get It’s him against the world And it’s a rough life being little Even though a zoea is always searching for a meal he has a 50 percent chance of starving to death One reason He can hardly swim Zoeae are part of the plankton organisms that drift around in the ocean without control of where they go All they can do is suck water in and hope they slurp up something good 6
7 But finding food isn't the only issue Plankton often become food for other animals Bobbing around in the ocean a zoea is easy prey for a striped bass with a mouth the size of a cave One gulp and swish it's bye bye zoea and a hundred of his buddies A zoea is in the first stage of life At this point our little guy is just a larva He's got more growing to do He'll grow and change and grow and change until he finally becomes a blue crab BOY GIRL BOTH A zoea can be either a male or a female For most marine larvae scientists can't tell what sex they are Some species change from male to female during their lives while others are both female and male In this book the text alternates between male and female pronouns Blue crabs are named for their sky blue claws Adult females have red tipped claws Most blue crabs are right clawed just like right handed people
