10 MAY 2024
Credit: Google Images
Credit: Google Images
It is easy to understand why this species of Indo-Pacific sea star was given its name; with its sometimes tan hue and chocolate-brown lumps, one could easily mistake it for an exceptionally intricate cookie.
Credit: Google Images
This animal's name requires little to no explanation as well. It resembles a fried egg exactly, except with tentacles! Although it loves cold waters, this strange-looking organism may be found in many oceans across the world.
Credit: Google Images
This fortunate fish has four amusing, evocative names. Because of its unique overlapping scales that resemble armour, it is often referred to as the coat-of-mail fish or the knightfish. It is also called the port-and-starboard light fish because of the two biolumicent organs that are located near the corners of its mouth.
Credit: Google Images
While the first three names on this list came from their likeness to food, additional names come from their diet. The honey badger is one animal that does this; it breaks into beehives in search of honey and larvae to consume. This hardy animal, known for its rough exterior, is not actually a badger.
Credit: Google Images
What's this on the forest floor? A soft, neglected banana? No, that's not a banana slug! There are five distinct species of these vividly coloured gastropods, with the Pacific banana slug being the biggest at 25 cm, or around 1.5 bananas, the second largest terrestrial slug in the world.
Credit: Google Images
The tomato frog's brightness serves as a warning and a signal. Aposematism is the term for this distinctive colouring that serves to signal to predators, "I am bad to eat." When a predator catches a tomato frog, it will swell up and release a poison that will numb the predator's lips and eyes, forcing it to release the frog.
Credit: Google Images
The lemon shark is another species whose coloration has given it a cuisine name. Because of its yellow-brown colour, it can swim across sand-covered sea bottoms without being observed, surprising its victim. The reason they are the most studied sharks is that they usually do well in captivity.
Credit: Google Images
It's simple to understand how this bird received its name derived from food, with its brilliant red plumage sprinkled with white patches that resemble seeds. It is distributed across tropical South and South East Asia and is also referred to as the red avadavat.
Credit: Google Images
The largest land crustacean (and actually the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world) is this intriguing and, to be honest, frightening crab. They got their name from their amazing skill of picking up a coconut from the ground, climbing it up a tree, and dropping it to split open and reveal the flesh within. They are also known for their ability to open coconuts for eating.
Credit: Google Images
Sea cucumbers are a class of organisms, not a single species, with around 1,717 species known to exist. They're in the same family as sea urchins and starfish, or echinoderms. They reside on sea floors, feeding on plankton and decomposing organic waste. They are frequently observed appearing like an inert vegetable dumped on the beach.