This the fish were not lucky with the Russian name. They are often called sea mice, but they do not look like mice at all. Nor do they look like a lyre, which only resembles a little the male of one of the species (Callionymus lyra) in nuptial attire. Perhaps the best used name in Gelendzhik is "minnow"; it perfectly reflects their excellent adaptations to life on sandy soil.

Tangerines and minnows form a small family of demersal fish that lives in all the oceans of the planet, in tropical and temperate latitudes. Only two species of Psychedelic Fish (Synchiropus picturatus) and Mandarin fish (Synchiropus xpiendidus) are highly valued for the marine aquarium.

These are small, up to 7-8, not larger than 30 cm, variegated and brightly colored bottom coastal fish. These are close relatives of gobies and stargazers. They are found almost everywhere in temperate and tropical seas. In total, nine genera and about 130 species are known. The minnows are especially richly represented near the Philippine Islands, there are eight genera and dozens of species; quite a lot of them in southern Japan; about ten species in the west of the Atlantic Ocean, from Bermuda to Brazil, about six species in the east, off the coast of Western and Southern Europe. Some are very beautiful, such as the mandarin duck (Synchiropus splendidus).

Against a dim, monochrome background, their colors and patterns will surely seem catchy, but in their natural environment, among various kinds algae, this fish can perfectly disguise itself. Due to their constant need for camouflage, they are rarely seen among coral reefs, preferring warm tropical lagoons or intertidal zones (areas where strong sea currents occur, such as cracks in coral rock where turbulence is stronger) overgrown with algae. The list of preferred foods includes small crustaceans, microorganisms, marine worms and some types of algae, all of which are ingested by "pecking"/sucking. Unsuitable food particles are ejected through the gills.

Tangerines lay pelagic eggs that float in layers of plankton, hatch and grow, and then, already in the form of young fish, sink back into their natural bottom environment. Mating is a very beautiful and graceful process, when the female and male rise up in the stream of water, bellies to each other. Thus, when the female spawns, the male can be sure of a successful fertilization. Mating can take place between two of the same individuals every evening, at dusk, for many months.

Three species of the minnow (Callionymus) genus are quite common in the Black Sea: lyre, brown and gray. A fourth species has also been noted - the striped minnow (Callionymus fasciatus).

Lyre gudgeon (Callionymus lyra) reaches a length of 25-30cm. Males are larger than females. Its area of ​​​​distribution from the Black and mediterranean seas to southern Norway. In places, this fish is very common in shallow coastal areas. Males and females are so different that they have long been considered separate species.

In the male, the first dorsal fin is very high, reaching the caudal fin. The coloration is bright, especially during the mating season. The head is orange below, above - with purple or blue spots and stripes. The upperparts are reddish-yellow with blue, yellow, and purple stripes and green or blue spots. The fins are also brightly colored. The female has a short first dorsal fin, the color is brown with green spots, surrounded by a brown border and speckles, turning into white below. The gerbil, or lyre fish, is nocturnal, and during the day most of the time it lies at the bottom, half buried in the ground. It feeds on small crustaceans and worms. It spawns along the coast from February to June, and sometimes until August. During the breeding season, complex courtship occurs, which is rare in marine fish. The male, in a highly excited state, rushes from side to side, dispersing other males nearby. Then he swims around the female, raising all the fins and showing her his bright color. When the female succumbs to his persistence, the male raises her with his pectoral fin and both fish swim side by side vertically upwards, releasing eggs and milk at the same time. The eggs are pelagic, 0.69-0.94 mm in diameter. They are easily recognizable by their honeycomb-like hexagonal reticulation of the shell. Fertilization occurs in water, and the eggs float to the surface. The larvae emerge from the eggs in about two weeks. They lead a planktonic lifestyle until winter, when the fry sink to the bottom. Parents do not show concern for offspring.

The brown minnow, or sea mouse (Callionymus festivus), reaches a length of 14 cm. Her body is brown above, with dark and light spots on the sides and fins. The second dorsal and caudal fins in breeding males are unusually elongated, accounting for more than half the length of the body.

The animal we call the sea mouse is actually a worm. He got his "mouse" name thanks to the long bristles that give him the image of this gray little animal. Depending on the angle of incidence of light, they can change their color. This unusual phenomenon has interested scientists involved in the development of nanoelectronics. What did this lead to, you will find out further.

Sea mice belong to the class of polychaete annulus. These worms are distributed in the Mediterranean Sea and the northeastern part of the Atlantic Ocean. They live at various depths, starting from shallow water and ending with a depth of 2000 meters.

The sea mouse can live at depths of up to 2,000 meters.

Among sea mice there are both predatory and herbivorous species. Predators feed gastropods, worms, small crustaceans, etc.

pet

The length of the worms can reach 15-20 centimeters. Their oval body is divided into 35-40 segments, each of which has special processes (parapodia) with which they move along the seabed.

The whole body is divided into segments
Parapodia

The back of the worms is partially covered with long bristles, which, depending on the angle of incidence of light (beam length), can change their color. At right angle bristle falls appear red. With a stream of light falling obliquely, they can be reflected in yellow, green or blue.

Iridescent hairs
Greenish tint

They have a cellular structure, reminiscent of a honeycomb, which are distinguished by amazing orderliness.

This phenomenon is very interested in scientists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. They decided to find out if the hollow channels of the bristles could serve as matrices for producing nanowires. Their expectations were justified. According to one of the authors of the study, usually the length of nanowires did not exceed 0.2 mm, and the structures they obtained could grow up to 2 cm. In addition, the use of this manufacturing method is simpler and more economical.

You see, even annelid worms are useful.

Basic information: planaria is a free-moving worm-like. Class: animals. The worm is a multicellular organism with flat body. Systematic position: included in the class of ciliary worms - primitive invertebrates, which are characterized by bipolar symmetry of the body.

Bilateral symmetry allows worms to live both in water and on land. If the planaria had a different body structure (radical), then it could fully exist only in the aquatic environment.

The Planariidae family has 12 genera, the white planaria belongs to Planaria (there are 25 more invertebrate species in this category).

Habitat and lifestyle

Habitat: marine and terrestrial. Common habitat: freshwater reservoir. Worms can be found under the pebbles at the very bottom. White planarians can live in different conditions. Sometimes they get into aquariums along with untreated soil, snails and small fish (live food). Flatworms can crawl, so they move freely on the surface of the bottom or land.

The freshwater milky white planaria constantly consumes protein, as it is necessary for it to maintain normal life. She feeds on caviar, small fish and crustaceans.

This worm-like predator in every possible way facilitates the process of obtaining food. The creature releases threads into the water, which swell due to exposure to the liquid. With their help, the worm captures and, if necessary, holds the prey.

The external structure of the planaria (Planarii)

This worm-like animal usually does not exceed 2–2.5 cm in length. Dairy planaria, like many representatives of its species, has a pointed body, similar in shape to an oblong leaf. The thickness of her body is from 2 to 5 mm. Two eyes are located at the base of the expanded part of the body. At the front end are also tentacles resembling ears.

Planaria has a perfectly white-milky, more often white, color. The body cover is strewn with cilia, but they can be clearly seen only in close-up photos.

The worm has a cross section that divides its body into two (unequal) parts. In this case, one side of the body is a mirror image of the other due to bipolar symmetry.

What are the systems and organs of the worm

The milky-white planaria has features that distinguish it from a number of flatworms. This creature has an additional tissue (mesoderm) located between the endoderm and ectoderm. This factor indicates the development of a multicellular organism.

Sense organs of the worm:

• vision;
• touch (due to the tentacles on the front of the body);
• equilibrium;
• chemical feelings.

Digestive system

This creature has an unusual structure of the mouth opening - it is located in the center of the belly and leads into a cavity with a retractable pharynx. When the worm eats its prey, it clings tightly and swallows it with the help of a "trapping apparatus". Subsequently, food is distributed along 2 branches of the blindly closed intestine: anterior and posterior. In this case, the hindgut is also divided into 2 branches.

Thus, the digestive system of the worm includes: the mouth, the hindgut and the anterior, connected to the pharynx.

Nervous system

The worm has a paired brain, from which two chains of nerves extend, connected by jumpers. Nerve trunks form a thickening (knot) in the front of the body. Nervous system planaria differs in that the cells are not scattered throughout the body, as, for example, in hydra, but are collected in 2 seals.

reproductive system

Planaria is a hermaphrodite (bisexual) creature, since male and female sex cells are formed in its body. In front of the body, the worm has ovaries in which eggs develop. On the body are the testes, presented in the form of small bubbles. The testicles contain spermatozoa.

Eggs develop in the inner part of a kind of slimy cocoon. The worm lays several eggs at once, protected by a dense shell (cocoon) from exposure environment. A worm-like animal, as a rule, attaches its future offspring to plants located at the bottom of the reservoir.

The internal reproductive organs of the worm are the ovaries, testes.

excretory system

This system is presented in the same way as in all flatworms. The main organs responsible for the excretion of decay products are branched tubules, which in in large numbers pierce the body of the animal. The worm also has excretory pores and protonephridia.

How does he move? The skin-muscle sac is responsible for movement - a muscular layer located under the epithelium and tightly adjacent to it. It consists of longitudinal, annular and spinal muscles. The movement and change in the shape of a worm-like animal is carried out by contracting the skin-muscular sac.

Development cycle

The development of the white planaria can be considered unique, since this animal, unlike its closest counterparts, does not need definitive or intermediate hosts. The development scheme consists of only 2 stages: first an egg is formed, and then a small worm comes out of it. Over time, the creature increases and grows to an adult.

How do white planarians reproduce?

Since the planaria is a bisexual animal, its reproduction can occur in 2 ways:

1. Asexual. The body of the worm is divided in half. As a result, an adult individual grows from each particle.
2. Sexual. For implementation this method breeding 2 individuals should touch their bellies for a few seconds (at this moment fertilization occurs). After contact in the female reproductive system of one worm, the male cells of the other are found. Eggs that have been fertilized form zygotes and begin to accumulate the necessary substances. Final stage: formation of a protective shell and release into external environment. After 2-3 weeks, small worms emerge from the cocoons.

This worm is characterized by pronounced and rapid regeneration. It is for this reason that the creature has a high vitality.

The white planaria is characterized by night and evening activity. These animals move very smoothly in the water due to the constant movement of the cilia on the body.

A bizarre sea animal was discovered on the beach by a resident of Kent, who was resting there with a child. It turned out to be a sea mouse - a type of marine worm that lives at a depth of more than 2 meters under the sea surface. She was washed ashore during a storm. An unusual creature has been seen Julia Sherrard who drew attention to the strange a ball of wool shimmering with bright colors lying among the pebbles and shells. A university worker, Julia, 48, was walking along the banks of the Heath near Folkestone with her 6-year-old son when she spotted a living creature over 10 centimeters long.

Nature lover Julia said: "At first I thought it was some kind of unearthly creature- His fur shimmered with different colors. I've never seen anything like it before. It looked like a dead mouse - fluffy, very fluffy. The animal was still breathing, and so that it would not die, I decided to throw it back into the sea. I threw it into the water, and then I thought with horror that it might not have been a sea creature at all.” She also added, “My son was amazed at the small feet of the animal. He asked me not to touch them so that it would not grab my fingers. But I just wanted to save his life."

Adults of sea mice can reach a length of more than 30 centimeters and live, as a rule, just below the intertidal zone, both on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean. The backs of animals are covered with bristles that shimmer in red, green and blue colors, which serves as animals protective mechanism.

Sea mice are blind and move by means of tentacles, using small, bristly paddle-like appendages to burrow through the decaying carcasses of dead marine animals. They are hermaphrodites with functional reproductive organs of both sexes. According to experts, sea mice are often washed ashore by a storm.

sea ​​mouse(lat. Aphrodita aculeata) or polychaete- sea view polychaete worms from the Aphrodite family. Latin name formed on behalf of the ancient Greek goddess of love Aphrodite, and Russian is associated with numerous bristles covering the dorsal side of the body, resembling felt.

The body of adult worms has an oval shape, it can be up to 10-20 cm long and up to 5 cm wide. One of the features of the sea mouse is large iridescent bristles emitted by the dorsal branch of parapodia. These bristles, due to the structure of the crystal lattice, refract light incident at different angles differently.

The walkers leave entirely (c).

Type: Annelids - Annelides,
Class: Polybristle - Polychaeta
Order: Phyllodocoiformes - phyllodociformes
Family: Aphrodite - Aphroditidae
Aphrodite australis- Aphrodite motley
Aphrodite aculeata- Sea mouse

Aphrodite aculeata- Sea mouse

An extensive class of predominantly marine annelids with at least 10,000 species. The body of polychaetes is distinctly divided into a small head lobe - the prostomium and a long body with numerous segments, bearing special processes on each side - parapodia. At the posterior end of the body there is a small anal lobe - the pygidium. Parapodia in the overwhelming majority of cases bear hard setae, also called setae. Structural features of setae is an important systematic feature in the class of polychaetes. Parapodia are supported from the inside by special internal setae - aciculae. In addition, there are dorsal and ventral antennae (cirrus) and lobes above and below the parapodia.

It can be said without any exaggeration that in no class of marine invertebrates will we see such ecological plasticity, such richness and diversity of morphological structures, as in polychaete worms. They live both in the intertidal zone and at the extreme depths of the ocean and differ greatly in their way of life. Among them there are predators, and herbivorous forms, and consumers of dead organic matter; some species live in the water column, others live in minks or tubes on the seabed.
Source: Institute of Marine Biology named after A.V. Zhirmunsky FEB RAS

About sea mice: Aphrodite australis- Aphrodite is colorful. Very large polychaete (body length up to 13 cm, width up to 6 cm). The number of segments is 35-40. The body is oval, tapering noticeably towards the posterior end. The dorsal side is strongly convex, the ventral side is flat. The head lobe is small, spherical, anteriorly equipped with two hemispherical tubercles, on which there is one pair of eyespots; there are no eye cuttings. There are 15 pairs of dorsal scales hidden under a thick layer of felt from hair-like setae. The parapodia are biramous. The large dorsal setae are very long, curved, forming dense tufts that partially cover the dorsal side of the worm and converge with their ends along the midline of the back in the posterior part of the body. From the dorsal side, the worm strongly irises, large dorsal setae are densely enveloped by adhering small silty particles. Lateral fringe of thin long hair-like setae strongly iridescent. Abdominal setae smooth, with somewhat blunt apex.
On the territory of Russia it is found on the shelves in the Sea of ​​Japan and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, as well as in the Bering Sea.
It lives at a depth of 2 km, to shallow water, in the intertidal zone.
Source: Red Book of the Russian Federation

Aphrodite aculeata- Sea mouse.
A species similar to Aphrodite motley, but living near the coasts of Australia, England, North America.
Interesting fact: The colored hair of the sea mouse has a very unusual structure. If you place these hairs under an electron microscope, their cellular structure, resembling a honeycomb, becomes clearly visible. This structure is remarkably ordered, and the linear dimensions of the cells are commensurate with wavelengths in the range visible light. Due to this, the hair of the sea mouse has the ability to strongly scatter light, and the degree of scattering depends on the color of the beam, that is, on the wavelength. This means this: from the stream of light incident on the hair perpendicularly, only the red component is reflected; in other words, if you look at the hair at a right angle, it appears bright red. From the stream of light falling obliquely on the hair, it reflects - depending on the angle - either yellow, then green, then blue. We can say that the eye, looking at the hair from all sides, it appears in turn in all colors of the rainbow spectrum. The structure that the sea mouse evolved over millions of years is now being studied for use in next-generation fiber optic cables that have higher bandwidth, i.e. having a small diameter, this fiber carries more information.