ANIMALS, except Birds
24 galleries
"Animals, except Birds" is a collection of galleries derived from various travel locations and places near home in New England, USA.
In the case of birds, I have too many images to include them here, so I have a separate collection for Birds.
Please note this site is being totally reorganized, so there are lots of images herein which have not yet been placed in their proper gallery. Therefore, please do an image search if you don't see what you are looking for.
The traveling I do is centered around SCUBA travel and more recently RV (recreational vehicle) travel taking me as far as the roads and ferries can take me. For full view in the Portfolio slide show mode, click lower arrows.
In the case of birds, I have too many images to include them here, so I have a separate collection for Birds.
Please note this site is being totally reorganized, so there are lots of images herein which have not yet been placed in their proper gallery. Therefore, please do an image search if you don't see what you are looking for.
The traveling I do is centered around SCUBA travel and more recently RV (recreational vehicle) travel taking me as far as the roads and ferries can take me. For full view in the Portfolio slide show mode, click lower arrows.
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12 imagesAmphibians are cold blooded animals which live part of their lives under the water and part on the land. They are born under the water and breath through gills until they morph onto an air-based life. They absorb their tails, develop lungs and grow legs to live on land the second part of their life. Some return to the water later. They have vertebrae, or a backbone. They are cold blooded, meaning they cannot generate heat, but some have remarkable antifreeze abilities. Because many also breath through their skin, amphibians are like the environmental "Canary in the coal mine", and some are struggling badly due to pollution. I am still building this gallery of photographs, and have many images not yet posted, should you be looking for something in particular.
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21 imagesAnnelids, or segmented worms, can be quite beautiful to behold. They come in varied forms, some resembling delicate flowers. Some are toxic to touch. Many live mostly hidden and are "creepy." Polychaetes (Tube Worms) Flatworms, flat worms (Platyhelminthes, or platyhelminths), Burrow-dwelling worms.
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109 imagesArthropods are a group, or Phylum, of animals found both on land and under water. They have the following characteristics: Exoskeleton containing chitin; bilateral symmetrical body; segmented body; specialized jointed appendages. Arthropods account for the largest group of animals today, including Insects, Crustaceans, Chelicerates (spiders, scorpions & horseshoe crabs), Uniramians (Millipedes, etc.). There is also an extinct class of Trilobites.
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71 imagesArthropods form a large group of invertebrate animals with jointed legs. Various classes of Arthropods live above and below the water, and some move freely in between. Insects, crabs, horseshoe crabs, and spiders are all arthropods. I have so many underwater arthropod images, I have put them in their own gallery. To complicate things, some arthropods spend part of their life underwater and part above, such as dragonflies, so I include them here. Dragonflies and Damselflies may spend more time underwater, but are more frequently seen above water, where they are most beautiful.
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6 imagesBryozoans/ Bryozoa* are a phylum of small sessile aquatic animals living as small, tufted colonies. Some appear like hydroids or corals, but their internal structure is more advanced. Most bryozoans are mat-like, forming thin encrustations on rocks, shells, or kelp. (*Storer & Stebbins, General Zoology, 6th ed, p443). Some form bushy spirals and are fern-like in appearance, but tiny.
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3 imagesCtenophora are lobbed Jellies without dangling tentacles containing stinging cells. They are therefore harmless to us. They can actually swim by convulsive body action. The form on some have lobes called Lappets. The Comb Jelly is at the end of an evolutionary line called a dead-end phylum. Comb Jellies are named for the fine cilia which resemble a comb. They use these cilia to move through the water column. They use invisibility, or red coloration not discernable at depth, to camouflage themselves from predator's. warming ocean climate change is thought to be one reason their numbers are increasing a lot. Jellies are increasing in numbers. Large jelly blooms can overeat fish larvae, foul up machinery and power plants and interfere with our recreational water sports. Warming oceans due to human activity are considered a major cause of the increasing numbers of jellies, as is overfishing and fertilizers.
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108 imagesCnidaria include medusa jellies and coral polyps. They are ancient marine Invertebrate animals, having lived in the oceans for at least 500 million years. Cnidaria, with their symmetrical flower-like shapes are considered very pretty by many. I have made a separate gallery for Stinging Jellies. Stinging Jellies are Coelenterates, commonly called jellyfish or jellies, and are free swimming marine animals, typically with a bell-shaped dome and stinging tentacles. They are not fish. They are typically translucent but have definite muscular form, which loco motes them in open water. Jellies are in the phylum Cnidarians; class: Scyphozoa. They are a dome-shaped, usually marine, invertebrate animal that pulses and drifts in the water (pelagic) They have tentacles with stinging nematocysts in their medusa stage. Initially they have a polyp stage. Box Jellies of the subclass cub medusae or cubozoan are somewhat cube-shaped, with one or more stinging tentacles hanging from each corner. They can be dangerous.
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107 imagesFishes (Osteichthyemy) of the Caribbean & Gulf_ (under reconstruction, Pls search)
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55 imagesFishes (Osteichthyemy) of the Indian Ocean_ (under reconstruction, Pls search)
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78 imagesFishes (Osteichthyemy) of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean is a gallery of images I have made of fishes in the northeastern USA and Canada over several years. The water is generally cold, but Cape Cod is a dividing land mass which diverts the warm gulf stream away from the Gulf of Maine. Therefore, New England has a diverse cross section of marine animals from the cold Arctic currents and the warm southern Gulf Stream and temperate water.
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50 imagesThis gallery: Fishes, Sharks, Rays, and Skates, known as Elasmobranch (Elasmobranchii) consists of fishes without a bony skeleton. They are Chondrichthyes: or cartilaginous fishes. Chimaera, or Holocephali, would also fall into this group. I generally do not seek out sharks, but they are commonly seen when SCUBA diving, and I have even touched some types of sharks, whose skin feels much like sandpaper. Sharks are so popular with divers that many dive operators conduct shark dives when they chum to attract them. Often these sharks will hang around the areas they have been fed in the past, and you can dive near them in a less frenzied state. Others simply prefer to hang out around shipwrecks or sleep under favorite ledges. They are more active at night. It is important to distinguish sharks and other Elasmobranchii from other fishes in that they do not reproduce in the quantity that bony fishes do, some bearing live offspring. Therefore, they deserve special conservation considerations. The IUCN states that among the approximately 470 species of sharks, 2.4 percent are Critically Endangered, 3.2 percent are Endangered, 10.3 percent are Vulnerable, and 14.4 percent are Near Threatened. Yet we continue slaughter them at an alarming rate. A keystone species, the loss of sharks in the ocean will imbalance the ecosystem with potentially drastic consequences. Sharks and their relatives are the most graceful animals I have ever observed.
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151 imagesMammals is a gallery highlighting the furry, nurturing mammals near my home, and those I find in my travels. Please also see the Polar Bears in: https://www.mermaidenstudio.net/gallery/Polar-Canada/G00006oieyhxKviA/C0000SIDHqVvk5Dc Marine Mammals and Mammals with Hooves have their own galleries.
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152 imagesMammals with Hoofs (Ungulates, except Cetacea, the marine relatives).
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151 imagesMarine Mammals are aquatic mammals, descending from various evolutionary ancestral lines, which depend on the sea for survival and spend all or much of their time in the water. Whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, sea otters, manatees and polar bears are all included by this definition. This gallery consists largely of those found off the North American continent. Those like me who live in New England are privileged to see the majestic and demonstrative Humpback Whales and their kin close at hand. Many are endangered and scarce, and are so protected, making close approaches only by their choice. I show you here some of my encounters. See also my Gallery: “Polar”.
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25 imagesMollusks: Cephalopods which include Octopus & Squid: The phylum of Mollusca is the second-largest group of invertebrate animals, accounting for nearly a quarter of the animals alive today. (Arthropoda is larger.) Mollusks are the largest marine phylum. The phylum includes Cephalopods, which are squid and octopus; gastropods, which include snails, and slugs, limpets, and bivalves; and five other classes of living mollusks and two extinct classes. Fossil records indicate they were alive during the Cambrian period some 500 million years ago. Mollusks are defined by having a mantled body, like a cloak over the main body organs, a similar nervous system, and having a saw-like tongue called a radula, except for
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76 imagesMollusks include Gastropods, such as snails, slugs, & limpets, and bivalves. The phylum of Mollusca is the second-largest group of invertebrate animals, accounting for nearly a quarter of the animals alive today. (Arthropoda is larger.) Mollusks are the largest marine phylum. It includes Cephalopods, which are squid and octopus which I put into another gallery. Fossil records indicate they were alive during the Cambrian period some 500 million years ago. Mollusks are defined by having a mantled body, like a cloak over the main body and have a saw-like tongue called a radula, except for the bivalves. On mollusks with shells, the mantle forms the outer shell, and it can repair itself, which amazes me.
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55 imagesReptiles are cold blooded animals, meaning they cannot generate their own heat. This is why you may see them sunning themselves and hibernating in the cold months. Reptiles have vertebrae, or a backbone. Sometimes they have legs, and sometimes they do not, such as snakes. They have dry, scaled skin, which is often smooth and beautifully patterned. They dwell on land or spend part of their time on land, breathing air, not water. I am still building this gallery, and have many images not yet posted, should you be looking for something.
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23 imagesRiver herring are a group of anadromous fishes along the mid and Northeast Atlantic west called alewife. This is a story of great decline, overfishing and the people who try to save them. I will be expanding on this soon. actinopterygii, alewife, alosa, alosa pseudo harengusameric, ananadromous alewives, animal, animal, herring, bony fish, branch herring, catch, catch of fish, catches, Clupea parvulaclupea, pseudo harengus, clupeidae, clupeiformes, eastern, environment, fish, fisherman, fishermen, fishers, flowing water, freshwater, gray back, greyback, Maine, North America, Osteichthyes, people, ray-finned, fish, river, river herrings, Shad, spring, united states of America, USA, vertebrate, water, wildlife,
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28 imagesTunicates or Sea squirts and Salps are invertebrates in the chordate Phylum because they have a dorsal nerve and notochord in their larval stage of development. They can be sedentarily attached or fee swimming such as are salps. Individuals live only a few years, but colonies may persist. D.vex is a colonial tunicate; invasive fouling species which grows very fast; It's mat-forming growth dominates hard marine surfaces now worldwide. It is of serious concern to the shellfisheries. A salp (plural salps) or salpa (plural salpae or salpas) are Colonial Tunicates which form transparent chains which contract for locomotion through the water feeding on phytoplankton.
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79 imagesEchinoderms encompass a group of sea stars or commonly called "starfish" and aquatic animals of similar geometric form.
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72 imagesSeashells, sea shells or simply shells are the protective exterior form of an animal called an exoskeleton, most often from a mollusk. But other animals besides mollusks make shells, such as horseshoe crabs, true crabs, and sea urchins, called a “test”. Some animals in the ocean which don’t have an exoskeleton to protect them will use an empty seashell for cover, such as a hermit crab. Even an octopus, also a mollusk, will use a discarded shell for cover. Humans have long appreciated the beauty of seashells. They are wondrous shapes and spirals, challenging the mathematical mind, and their surfaces can be impossibly smooth and colorful. Shells are used as decoration, horns, buttons, and currency. But modern usage is most likely simply a reminder of a peaceful and refreshing day at the beach, where our worries are diminished, and our spirits washed clean. However, with acid rains of today’s climate, the shells formed from calcium carbonate, are forming thinner and thinner layers. This would certainly increase the value of seashells. But remember the true beauty of a seashell is the living creature which creates it.
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26 imagesCoelenterates, commonly called jellyfish or jellies, are free swimming marine animals, typically with a bell-shaped dome and stinging tentacles. They are not fish. They are typically translucent but have definite muscular form, which loco motes them in open water. Jellies are in the phylum Cnidarians; class: Scyphozoa. They are a dome-shaped, usually marine, invertebrate animal that pulses and drifts in the water (pelagic) They have tentacles with stinging nematocysts in their medusa stage. Initially they have a polyp stage. Box Jellies of the subclass cub medusae or cubozoan are somewhat cube-shaped, with one or more stinging tentacles hanging from each corner. They can be dangerous.