'Turkeyfish' is another name for lionfish.

Viewed from the right angle, the ornate fins of the lionfish resemble turkey plumage. That's why 'turkeyfish' is one of the many imaginative names people use when referring to the lionfish.

Lionfish are native to the Indo-Pacific, but are now established along the southeast coast of the U.S., the Caribbean, and in parts of the Gulf of Mexico.

Since lionfish are not native to Atlantic waters, they have very few predators. They are carnivores that feed on small crustaceans and fish, including the young of important commercial fish species such as snapper and grouper.

How lionfish will affect native fish populations and commercial fishing industries has yet to be determined. What is known is that non-native species can dramatically affect native ecosystems and local fishing economies. Experts are carefully studying these invaders to better understand their role in, and threat to, Atlantic Ocean ecosystems.

For more information:
Learn more about invasive lionfish from NOAA's Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research

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The name of the green sea turtle is derived from the reptile's greenish-colored fat Adult green turtles are herbivores, which means they eat only plants such as seagrasses and algae. This diet is thought to give them their greenish-colored fat, hence the name, the green turtle.

Green turtles primarily use three types of habitat - beaches for nesting, open ocean convergence zones as juveniles, and coastal areas for benthic feeding as adults. In the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico waters, green turtles are found in inshore and nearshore waters from Texas to Massachusetts, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. In the eastern North Pacific, green turtles have been sighted from Baja California to southern Alaska, but most commonly are seen south of San Diego. Also, in the central Pacific, green turtles are found around most tropical islands, including the Hawaiian Islands.

Green turtles face a host of threats in the marine environment. Incidental capture in fishing gear is an ongoing threat to green turtles, which also affects many other marine species. Green turtles also suffer from a disease known as fibropapillomatosis in some areas of the world. The main cause of the historical, worldwide decline of the green turtle was the long-term harvest of eggs, juveniles, and adults from their nesting beaches and feeding grounds. These harvests still continue in some areas of the world, compromising efforts to recover this species.


For more information:
NOAA Fisheries: Green Turtle Fact Sheet

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Sea stars, commonly called, "starfish," are not fish

Sea stars live underwater, but that is where their resemblance to fish ends. They do not have gills, scales, or fins. Sea stars live only in saltwater. Sea water, instead of blood, is actually used to pump nutrients through their bodies via a 'water vascular system.'

Also, sea stars move by using tiny tube feet located on the underside of their bodies. Adult sunflower sea stars can move at the astonishing speed of one meter per minute using 15,000 tube feet. Tube feet also help sea stars hold their prey.

Sea stars are related to sand dollars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers, all of which are echnioderms, meaning that they have five-point radial symmetry. However, this does not mean that all sea stars have five arms and species with 10, 20, or even 40 arms exist! If one of these arms is lost, a sea star has the amazingly ability to regenerate it.

For more information:
Sunflower sea star, National Marine Fisheries Service
Six-rayed sea star, National Marine Fisheries Service

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Only about five percent of the body of a jellyfish is solid matter; the rest is water

Fascinating, elegant, and mysterious to watch in the water, take a jellyfish out of the water, and it becomes a much less fascinating blob. This is because jellyfish are about 95 percent water.

Lacking brains, blood, or even hearts, jellyfish are pretty simple critters. They are composed of three layers: an outer layer, called the epidermis; a middle layer made of a thick, elastic, jelly-like substance called mesoglea; and an inner layer, called the gastrodermis. An elementary nervous system, or nerve net, allows jellyfish to smell, detect light, and respond to other stimuli. The simple digestive cavity of a jellyfish acts as both its stomach and intestine, with one opening for both the mouth and the anus.

These simple invertebrates are members of the phylum Cnidaria, which includes creatures such as sea anemones, sea whips, and corals. Like all members of the phylum, the body parts of a jellyfish radiate from a central axis. This “radial symmetry” allows jellyfish to detect and respond to food or danger from any direction.


Jellyfish have the ability to sting with their tentacles. While the severity of stings varies, in humans, most jellyfish stings result only in minor discomfort.

For more information:
Jellyfish Gone Wild, National Science Foundation
Mapping Sea Nettles in the Chesapeake Bay

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In California, for example, nesting and migrant seabird populations are significant resources with colonies throughout the state. Over time, these populations have been impacted by a variety of man-made sources, including oil spills, gill-net and other fisheries, various contaminants, habitat destruction, introduced predators, and human disturbance.

These disturbances can cause nesting seabirds to flee from and abandon their nests, leaving eggs or chicks exposed to predators, or causing eggs to fall from the nest. In some cases, disturbances can cause complete breeding failure of a seabird colony, and ultimately may cause colony abandonment. These disturbance events can result in a reduction of the long-term health and survival of affected marine species, and when coupled with changing oceanic conditions and other human-induced stressors, cumulative small impacts can impart large-scale harm.



The Seabird Protection Network at Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary addresses human disturbance to breeding seabird colonies along the central California coast. These efforts are accomplished through an organized outreach and education program combined with law enforcement and other seabird management actions. Monitoring of California seabird breeding colonies helps guide outreach, education, and management efforts of the Network.

For more information:
Seabird Protection Network
Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
Office of National Marine Sanctuaries

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Have you ever wondered about the main differences between seals and their "second cousins," the sea lions?

Both seals and sea lions, together with the walrus, are pinnipeds, which means "fin footed" in Latin.

But seals' furry, generally stubby front feet — thinly webbed flippers, actually, with a claw on each small toe — seem petite in comparison to the mostly skin-covered, elongated fore flippers that sea lions possess.

Secondly, sea lions have small flaps for outer ears. The "earless" or "true" seals lack external ears altogether. You have to get very close to see the tiny holes on the sides of a seal’s sleek head.

Third, sea lions are noisy. Seals are quieter, vocalizing via soft grunts.

Fourth, while both species spend time both in and out of the water, seals are better adapted to live in the water than on land. Though their bodies can appear chubby, seals are generally smaller and more aquadynamic than sea lions. At the same time, their hind flippers angle backward and don't rotate. This makes them fast in the water but basic belly crawlers on terra firma.

Sea lions, on the other hand, are able to "walk" on land by rotating their hind flippers forward and underneath their big bodies. This is why they are more likely to be employed in aquaria and marine shows.

Finally, seals are less social than their sea-lion cousins. They spend more time in the water than sea lions do and often lead solitary lives in the wild, coming ashore together only once a year to meet and mate.

Sea lions congregate in gregarious groups called herds or rafts that can reach upwards of 1,500 individuals. It's common for scores of them to haul out together and loll about in the sand, comprising an amorphous pile in the noonday sun.

For more information
Pinnipeds: Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses, NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources
Marine Mammals, NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources
NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries

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People use the terms dolphins, porpoises, and whales to describe marine mammals belonging to the order Cetacea (from the Greek work ketos, “large sea creature”), and often use them interchangeably. The orca, or killer whale, for example, is actually the largest member of the dolphin family.

Dolphins are by far more prevalent than porpoises. Most scientists agree that there are 32 dolphin species (plus five closely related species of river dolphin) and only six porpoise species.

So what’s the difference? It essentially comes down to their faces (who can forget Flipper’s famous “grin”?), their fins, and their figures. Dolphins tend to have prominent, elongated “beaks” and cone-shaped teeth, while porpoises have smaller mouths and spade-shaped teeth. The dolphin’s hooked or curved dorsal fin (the one in the middle of the animal’s back) also differs from the porpoise’s triangular dorsal fin. Generally speaking, dolphin bodies are leaner, and porpoises’ are portly.

Dolphins are also more talkative than porpoises. Dolphins make whistling sounds through their blowholes to communicate with one another underwater. Scientists are pretty sure that porpoises do not do this, and some think this may be due to structural differences in the porpoise’s blowhole.

Dolphins and porpoises have many similarities, one of which is their extreme intelligence. Both have large, complex brains and a structure in their foreheads, called the melon, with which they generate sonar (sound waves) to navigate their underwater world.

It is likely that more (or fewer) differences between dolphins and porpoises will be revealed as researchers continue to investigate these intriguing sentinels of the sea.

For more information
Cetaceans: Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises, NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources
Marine Mammals, NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources

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The right whale is the most endangered species of whale off the coast of the United States. It was the first whale hunted by American whalers, and it was so depleted that it has not recovered despite being protected for over 50 years.

Adult right whales are generally between 45 and 55 feet (13.7-16.7 meters) in length and can weigh up to 70 tons (63,500 kilograms). Females right whales are larger than males. Like many whales, right whales feed on schools of small, shrimp-like crustaceans. They may also eat small fish near the ocean floor.

North Atlantic right whales inhabit the Atlantic Ocean, particularly between 20° and 60° latitude. It is believed that about 300-400 individual right whales live in the western North Atlantic, while the population in the eastern North Atlantic is probably only numbering in the low tens of animals. These whales are thus listed as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.

Ship collisions and entanglement in fishing gear are the most common human causes of serious injury and mortality of western North Atlantic right whales today. NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service has taken steps to reduce the threat of ship collisions and gear entanglement.

For more information:
North Atlantic Right Whales
National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Protected Resources
Northern Right Whale Early Warning System

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Weighing in at between 550 and 2,000 pounds (250 to 907 kilograms) with lengths of up to six feet, the leatherback is a big turtle! Leatherback sea turtles can be distinguished from other species of sea turtle by its lack of a hard shell or scales. Instead, leatherbacks are covered with a firm, rubbery skin.

You can find leatherback sea turtles as far north as Canada and the northern Pacific Ocean. They tend to nest in the tropics, however. Within the United States, the leatherback is known to nest in southeast Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The leatherback sea turtle feeds primarily on jellyfish.

The U.S. federal government has listed the leatherback as endangered worldwide. Primary threats to the turtles include incidental take in commercial fisheries and marine pollution, as well as the harvest of eggs.


For more information:
Leatherback Turtle, National Marine Fisheries Service
Northeast Fisheries Science Center Fish FAQ

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Penguins are birds, so they do have wings. However, the wing structures of penguins are evolved for swimming, rather than flying in the traditional sense. Penguins do “fly” underwater at speeds of up to 15 to 25 miles per hour.

As adept swimmers, penguins spend a lot of time in the water. Some penguins spend up to 75 percent of their lives in the water. Like other birds, penguins do lay eggs and they raise their chicks on land.

All penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere.

For more information:
Penguin Adaptation, NASA QUEST
Seabird Research Program, Southwest Fisheries Science Center
Arctic & Antarctic Activity Book (pdf)

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