Biological Strategies: Body shapes

The sea is home to a great diversity of fish, due to the variety of habitats, presenting colors, shapes and adaptations to the environment. The fish in this tank have strategies for protection and predation.

Puffer fish have thorns and moray eels have a very strong bite. Protoreaster nodosus has black protrusions on its body that are used to deter predators due to their threatening appearance.

Tank species

Spotted garden eel

Heteroconger hassi

This species forms colonies on sandy bottoms in lagoons around seaward reefs. They form burrows, where they ensconce most of their body except their heads and feed on zooplankton, and are completely buried during the night.

Choco chip sea star

Protoreaster nodosus

Species of tropical environment that inhabits the Indian and Pacific Oceans, lives associated with the sea bottom, in sandy, muddy, rocky substrates, and can also be found in coral reefs. It feeds preferentially on corals, sea sponges and sea urchins, but it can also feed on algae, biofilms and other dead animals. It reaches a maximum size of 20 cm. It is a species that indicates the quality of reefs.