Animals Directory

Posts Tagged ‘Small fish’

Of all aquatic animals that live in aquariums, zoos, safaris and so on., Which is certainly better adapted to life in captivity is the dolphin. Animal strong and agile, with great intelligence, dolphins conquered the sympathy of the audience with their fantastic tricks and cute and playful character.

In the wild, dolphins are grouped to form flocks, sometimes over a hundred individuals accompanying the major trends and their jumps are a source of entertainment for passengers and cruise ships.  The dolphin has a characteristic way of swimming, jumping and sinking rhythmically in the water as if they ride the waves. This is because being a mammal, need to surface to breathe, which is increasingly looming head.

The dolphin’s body is spindle-shaped, with a total length of 2 or 2.5 meters. Its head is small and the snout is elongated in a duck-billed. His mouth has 20 to 50 teeth in each jaw. The dorsal fin, tall and slim, is another feature in common with normal fish.

Dolphins are extremely voracious animals. Engulfs all kinds of small fish in large quantities. He lives in warm seas, especially in the Mediterranean and Black Sea.  Its flesh is highly prized, so you will only be pursued in some areas, and usually more than an object to avoid the damage that can be felt while fishing

The gestation (pregnancy) of a dolphin is 12 months and once he is born, the baby dolphin with her mother is 3 to 6 years. During this period they learn fishing techniques and social habits. The dolphins live in relatively small groups and occasionally visit other groups without this being a problem.

Dolphins are very supportive. If a dolphin is dying, other dolphins will come to help his group, supporting all your body to the hole that used to breathe to stay above water level.  The greatest danger to the dolphins are sharks and humans, threatening the dolphin through direct hunting, pollution and because they often get caught in the nets of vessels fishing for other fish such as tuna.

Dolphins use gestures to communicate, but communicate through a noise like a whistle. Some research in the life of dolphins seem to show that the birth of a dolphin, her mother hisses again and again to help your baby recognize your voice and to help the baby to create his own “signature” voice. It is thought that each dolphin has its own “signature” – a staff that is unique whistle, like signing people.

The same family as sharks, can grow to 8.4 meters in size and weigh about 1,400 kg, in some respects it is a great unknown to man. It was first seen by Dondorff in 1798.

Habitat

Seas inhabit temperate waters throughout the world where they feed on plankton, small fish and squid. Generally, like sharks, are opportunistic remoras attached to the bottom, looking for the scraps that remain of their feeding and also seek protection. In areas like the coasts of the Philippines, California and the Gulf of Mexico its population was decimated in the nineties by the lawlessness in the hunting spear. Its population is currently unknown and whether or not in danger of extinction, in any case is considered a vulnerable species in the areas mentioned above.

Reproduction

It is similar to some sharks. The male has a sperm transmitter organ similar to a pair of penises called claspers that develop along the inner pelvic, each has a duct through which sperm is transferred to the female, which produces the fertilization.

During courtship, one or more males pursue a female. In the end the winning male grasps a female’s wings between your teeth and presses his belly against her, bend one of his claspers and inserted into the opening of the female. Copulation lasts about three seconds.

To be ovoviviparous fertilized eggs remain inside the female, for a time unknown but is estimated to be between 9 and 12 months or more. They usually have one or two offspring but it is unknown when and where you stand, but the few records that exist in this regard indicate that they do in shallow water and the hatchlings are between 1.2 and 1.5 m at birth. Between pregnancies could take a year off to recharge. It is estimated that they can live 50 years or more.

It has also been found that the male tends to kill their opponents in part of courtship.

Immigration

Given the dispersed nature of their main food, plankton, it is likely to migrate, but where and when is something that is unknown and currently is studying setting some specimens with labels, or by sonic telemetry at different locations. As you can see, these marine animals are extremely impressive sight.