Scuba Diver Ocean Planet Issue 04/2016 | Page 64

8

SAWTOOTH SHRIMP

Another shrimp with a long, thin underbelly in which she carefully
conceals the eggs, giving them just enough exposure to the external
elements to aerate them and keep them clean from parasites.

9

SUNFISH OR MOLA MOLA

© G. David Johnson/wikicommons

These are probably the weirdest
fish in the sea. Females can
produce up to 300 million eggs at a
time. Newly hatched larvae are only
1 millimetre long. By adulthood,
they can grow more than 60 million
times their birth size, arguably the
most extreme size growth of any
vertebrate animal.

10

MANTIS SHRIMP
After fertilisation
by the male, the
female spawns the
eggs while also
secreting a cementlike substance.
This keeps them
together while she
holds them in her
front maxillipeds.
She uses her legs
to clean the ball of
eggs and circulate
water around them
for aeration as
they develop.

SDOP

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11

SERGEANT MAJOR

The male builds the nest on rocks,
shipwrecks, pieces of wood or
generally flat surfaces. The female
then spawns the eggs on the
nest. The male turns blue while
he vigorously and aggressively
guards the eggs until they hatch
around five days later. SDOP