Meet Little Joule’s Coastal Critters

Duh dum….duh dum…Okay that was meant to be the Jaws music, bear with us. We know sharks are a bit scary sometimes, but we love these fascinating creatures. Don’t you?

Top Facts

1. Did you know there are over 400 species of shark? But the most well knows is the great white shark for its Hollywood appeal!

2. A shark’s skin is very rough, like sandpaper, and is made up of lots of tiny scales.

3. Sharks have been around much longer than we have: scientists think they first appeared around 455 million years ago!

4. The smallest shark in the world is about as big as your hand, and the biggest can grow up to 12 meters long.

5. The basking shark weighs about the same as a British double decker bus!

Who doesn’t love going crabbing? But these pinchy little critters aren’t just found beside the seaside – there are loads of different species of crab, from teeny tiny ones to big long-legged ones. Now that’s one cool crustation.

Top Facts

1. A group of crabs is called a “cast” – like the cast of a play. We imagine those tickets would be snapped up pretty quickly…

2. The hermit crab is actually not a crab at all! They’re in the same family, similar to how slugs are in the same family as snails.

3. All crabs are decapods. That means they have 10 legs, including those two big pincers at the front.

4. Crabs can walk in any direction, but when they need to move quickly they move sideways.

5. Pea crabs live up to their name – they’re about the size of a pea, and are the smallest in the world.

Ever been bitten by a piranha? Probably not…but these feisty fish certainly have a nasty reputation for their sharp teeth and taste for meat! But we don’t think they’re as mean as they sound…

Top Facts

1. Despite their reputation for nipping at toes, some species of piranha are actually vegetarian!

2. Some people keep piranhas as pets in home aquariums — but we don’t recommend this unless you really know your stuff.

3. Piranhas are the oldest species of fish on the planet, and have barely changed from their prehistoric ancestors.

4. To keep their teeth in tip-top shape, piranhas’ teeth grow in four sets which are replaced about every 100 days.

5. Piranhas’ red-toned scales help them camouflage in muddy river waters.

Okay, this fish is pretty creepy, but it’s also pretty cool! It has a little stick coming off their head with a blob on the end called a lure that attracts passing fish right into the anglerfish’s mouth to gobble up for tea. Sneaky!

Top Facts

1. Anglerfish get their name from anglers, who use a fishing pole to catch fish rather than a net.

2. Female anglerfish are about as big as footballs, but the males are much, much smaller!

3. Some anglerfish live in shallow water, and some live right at the bottom of the sea.

4. The lure of the deep-sea anglerfish glows in the dark!

5. Anglerfish aren’t picky eaters, and will scoff anything it can find on the sea floor including fish, squid, snails and shrimp.

How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh? Ten tickles! Although octopuses actually have eight tenticles…why aren’t they called eighticles? Oh well, we love them all the same!

Top Facts

1. The plural of octopus is actually NOT octopi — it is octopuses!

2. An octopus has three hearts. One pumps blood to its organs and the other two pump blood to its gills.

3. The largest octopus in the world is grows up to 16 feet, and the smallest weighs less than a gram.

4. When scared, octopuses squirt a dark liquid that confuses potential predators and masks their senses.

5. Octopuses are about as smart as a common house cat! Unless you have a particularly dim cat in your house…