Author: Green_admin

What do the look like? – A spiky large shell usually cream to white on the top side and pink on the under side. Two long eye stalks are usually protruding from the shell as well as a tube-like mouth. A brown toenail like foot that is uses to move itself along the sand can also be visible. The queen conch can grow up to 12 inches and can weigh as much as 5 pounds. Conches can be found widely throughout the Caribbean and the southern US. They live in shallow waters with sandy seabed and sea grass.

What do they eat??? Adults feed mostly on algae but will also filter through other materials on the sand. How old are they??? Queen conch can live up to 40 years old though most average between 20 and 30 years. Males vs Females…. Females can grow more quickly than males and will also grow to a larger size and weight than males.

What do the look like? – A spiky large

What the look like – The green moray is actually brown! These eels have a yellowy mucus that covers their entire body giving them the green coloring. Green morays are the largest of any eel species and can grow up to 8ft long and weigh as much as 70 pounds!

What they eat – During the day the green moray is sedentary hiding in holes hoping for an ambush attack. At night green morays actively hunt in the reef cruising through coral heads in search of octopus, squid, fish and crabs. While these are the most common diet preference for the moray, they are not picky and will eat almost anything they can easily tear and consume. The morays strongest sense is its ability smell, and they use to primarily find the best snack.

Why do they look so mean??? Green morays get a mean rap because they are constantly showing their teeth. Green morays are RAM ventilators, meaning in order for them to stay stationary, they must pump water over their gills to stay alive. They do this by constantly opening and closing their mouths. As water passes over the gills, they can force it out of a spiracle at the back of their head.

What they look like – Southern Stingrays

are found in Atlantic Ocean as far north as New Jersey to all the way down to off the coast of Brazil. Stingrays are cartilaginous fish meaning they have no bones, and their entire bodies are supported by cartilage just like humans noses. These beautiful rays are flat and shaped like a diamond. Their mouths are on the bottom remaining close to the sand and their eyes and

spiracle are on the top of their body.

Spiracles are used to help the stingray breathe when they are buried in the sand.

Their diamond shape helps the stingrays propel themselves over the ocean floor and

sandy bottoms. Their tail is used as a rudder for steering and in defense against predators.

Southern stingrays are whiptail stingrays, meaning they use their tail like a whip against

attackers. They also have a serrated venomous spine at the base of the tail. Stingrays are usually attacked from above and they use their tail in defense almost like a scorpion. They press up on the sea floor and throw their tail over their heads. The spines are not fatal to humans and generally the stingrays you find around the Cayman Islands are very docile and use to humans.
Size – Female southern stingrays can

grow to be more than twice size of

males. Females can reach greater than 5 feet in wingspan, while males reach just over 2 feet. Large females can weigh upwards of 200 pounds.

What they eat – Southern stingrays hunt in the sand. They use their special

magnetic sense (Ampullae of Lorenzini)

to find invertebrates and fish in the

sand. These stingrays do not really have teeth but have cartilage plates that they use to crush the shells of invertebrates. They also have the ability of suction and are known to suck a conch directly out its shell. The stingrays around Grand Cayman love squid and ballyhoo when they are being fed at the sand bar.

Are they pregnant???

Stingrays give birth to live young and can have between 2 and 10 young. Female stingrays can decide on how long they are pregnant for varying between 135 to 226

days. When you visit the sandbar, we usually find at least one pregnant female looking for some extra food and extra belly scratches.

What they look like – silver fish with a yellow band on top and five vertical black bars, resembling the insignia

of a sergeant rank in military services. Usually around six inches in length and are found all over the Caribbean.

What they eat – A non-picky eater, sergeant majors will feed on algae, plankton, other fish and anything they find floating in the ocean.

Adults will often form large feeding aggregations which can contain hundreds individuals and when they swarm you while snorkeling there is nothing else like it!

Color and Personality Change!

Male sergeant majors will create nests on hard substrates where females will lay their egg masses.

The males then turn a dark blue color and defend their nests violently, making them pound for pound one of the most vicious fish on the reef.

Cayman is home to it very own version of undersea rainbows. Although known as the Red Cushion Starfish, these stars of the Caribbean can be a variety of colors including

brown, yellow, orange, and particularly green when juveniles are camouflaging in the seabed.

What they look like – Red Cushions are the largest of starfish species to be found in the

Caribbean and reach almost 20 inches in width. Most starfish have five arms projecting from the center mouth area, but some have four, six or seven arms. Tubed feet located under the arms possess small suckers that allow the starfish to move along the sandy or grassy bottom and adhere to surfaces. These feet are also linked to their hydro-vascular system which aides in nutrition distribution, waste

management, and respiration. The starfish hydro-vascular system needs to seawater to support and maintain life. Without water and being exposed to air even for a short time, the starfish will drown from carbon dioxide. This hydro-vascular system also makes them much more vulnerable to water pollution.

What they eat – The red cushion starfish eats a diet of both plants and animals. Their main diet includes algae, sponges and small invertebrates that live in the sand. The starfish rakes together a lot of sediment and then turns its stomach inside out engulfs the mass.

Starfish super power – Red cushion starfish

have the ability to regenerate amputate limbs. The predators above may cause the starfish to lose an arm or they might decide to drop an arm in defense. The starfish arms each have tube feet for movement and contains organs for digestion and reproductions. With all of these organs in each arm it allows the starfish easily to survive the loss of a

limb. The regeneration process is slow and can take more than a year for the limb to fully regrow.

Are they male or female??? Sex is determined at sexual maturity usually around 5 years old based on the number of individuals in the environment. Their reproduction is external where males and females need to release gametes into the ocean and hope that the two will meet and fertilize. The fertilized gamete will then drift in the current for several stages and before settling as a juvenile on the sea floor. The starfish can then live up to 35 years.