Predators of the Deep HOCPP 1077 Published: April, 2007 Original Copyright May, 2006

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2 Thank you for your purchase from In the Hands of a Child Your Premiere Lapbook Provider since 2002!! Predators of the Deep HOCPP 1077 Published: April, 2007 Original Copyright May, 2006 Authors: Katie Kubesh Niki McNeil Kimm Bellotto For information about other products available from In the Hands of a Child Call or visit our website at Entire contents of this Project Pack 2007 In the Hands of a Child Pierce Street Coloma, MI Permission is hereby granted to the individual purchaser to reproduce student materials in this project pack for noncommercial individual or classroom use only. In the Hands of a Child gives permission for one copy of all written material to be copied and or printed. Classroom teachers have permission to reproduce one copy for each student in class. Members of co-ops or workshops have permission to reproduce one copy for up to 10 children per unit. Reproducible graphics may be reprinted as many times as needed. Permission is not granted for school wide or system wide reproduction of materials. Printed in the USA. 2

3 Table of Contents Guide Page 7 Small Creatures Protection Page 7 Predators with Fins and Teeth Page 7 Predators with Tentacles Page 13 Predators with Rods and Lights Page 19 The Food Chain Page 20 Vocabulary Page 21 Activity List Page 24 Activity 1 Page 25 Activity 2 Page 30 Activity 3 Page 32 Activity 4 Page 35 Activity 5 Page 38 Activity 6 Page 40 Activity 7 Page 42 Activity 8 Page 45 Activity 9 Page 47 Activity 10 Page 50 Activity 11 Page 53 Activity 12 Page 56 Activity 13 Page 58 Activity 14 Page 61 Activity 15 Page 63 Activity 16 Page 66 Activity 17 Page 69 Activity 18 Page 71 Folder Instructions Page 74 6

4 PREDATORS OF THE DEEP Sharks, barracudas, stingrays, and many other ocean creatures are predators. They are skilled hunters at the top of the food chain and they prey on smaller and weaker animals for their food. Sounds mean, doesn t it? Ocean predators are not bad animals, they actually help the ocean. Predators help maintain a balance of nature by reducing the animal population. Predators use various body parts to kill their prey. Some use their fins and teeth like sharks and other powerful fish. Many sea creatures use poison to attack their prey. Some store the poison, or toxins, in their glands and inject the poison, and others spray it. Other sea creatures club or bump into their prey to stun, paralyze, or capture their prey. Some predators use their teeth and others use tentacles. PREDATORS WITH FINS and TEETH Sharks Sharks have muscular bodies to lunge at their prey, huge jaws for biting down, and sharp teeth for tearing. When a shark attacks, its eyes roll back into the sockets to protect the eyes from being scratched by its prey. Sharks are nature s perfect hunters. That s not surprising, is it? No, but when you think of a shark as a predator, you probably imagine it as a predator of humans. Sharks are very scary animals and they will attack humans, but statistics show that between the years 1580 and 2004, there were 1,969 reported shark attacks around the world (International Shark Attack File). Sharks are definitely predators of the sea, but who is a predator to sharks? Humans are! Fishermen kill 30 million to 100 million sharks each year. There How Smaller Sea Creatures Protect Themselves from Predators of the Deep Many small sea creatures are armed and dangerous to protect themselves from predators. Bright colors and patterns are a way for smaller, poisonous fish to say, Stay away! I am poisonous! The lionfish has sharp spines full of deadly poison. This type of fish has colorful stripes and long, lacy fins that hide its spines. When predators see this colorfully striped fish, they know it s dangerous and stay away! The weever fish sits on the seabed. It gives a painful sting to anything that touches it. Scorpion fishes have a row of poisonous spines along their backs. Anything that presses on these spines receives an injection of deadly poison. When a porcupine fish is threatened, it puffs up its body to make its sharp spines stick out. This makes it impossible for predators to swallow. Predators usually stay away from this ball of spikes. All sea snakes are poisonous (more poisonous than land snakes). They inject poison through fangs in the front of their mouths. The mandarin fish has colorful patterns that remind predators it has slimy, smelly skin that tastes terrible. 7

5 are about 75 species of shark that are in danger of becoming extinct. Shark meat is very nutritious and in Asian cuisine the fins are used to make soup. Shark Sense What if you had an extra sense? What would you choose it to be? Sharks have the same five senses as people do, plus one extra. Sharks use their senses to find their prey, especially their sense of hearing and smelling. Their Sharks that live deeper in the ocean usually have bigger eyes. sixth sense is called an electro-sense. This sense allows sharks to detect weak electrical signals generated by their prey. This sense may also help sharks navigate through the sea. Scientists believe a shark s electro-sense acts as a compass and guides it in its travels. Sharks migrate hundreds of miles and always seem to know where they are going. Shark Teeth Sharks have four or more rows of teeth. That s a lot of chewing, except sharks don t chew their food. They use their teeth to rip and tear their food. This puts a lot of wear on shark teeth, so as the front row wears down, the next row pushes forward. New teeth are always growing in a shark s mouth. One shark goes through thousands of teeth in its lifetime. Diet Sharks eat a variety of foods including fish, seabirds, other sharks, marine mammals, turtles, jellyfish, stingrays, and shellfish. All sharks are carnivores. Life Cycle Shark babies, called pups, are born different ways. Some sharks reproduce by laying eggs. The majority of sharks are called viviparous. Viviparous means they grow the pups inside of them and give birth to a live baby. Depending on the species, a shark may give birth to one pup or up to 24 pups. When a pup is born, it is on its own. The mother shark does not stay to take care of its pups. Types of Sharks There are about 375 species of sharks. All sharks belong to the class of fish called Chondrichthyes, which have skeletons, made of cartilage. Sharks are placed into eight groups, or orders, depending on certain characteristics like anal fins, no anal fins, and fin spines. The smallest is the pygmy shark, which is only about 2 feet (60 cm) long. Some of the largest sharks grow up to 50 feet (15 m). The great white shark is one of the most powerful sharks. At over 20 feet (6 m) long and weighing more than 2 tons, it is the largest of all predatory sharks. This species can eat a seal whole. The color of the great white shark makes it hard to see it in the water. This shark can sneak up on its prey and take them by surprise. Great white sharks attack at high speed and use their strong bodies to lunge at their prey. How does the great 8

6 white shark know where its next victim is? Great white sharks have pores on their snouts that detect electrical signals from prey. Great whites live along the coasts of North and South America, Africa, the Mediterranean, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. They are sometimes spotted in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, especially near seal colonies. An angel shark looks like someone drove a steamroller over a normalshaped shark! Angel sharks are very flat and have very big fins that look like wings (they are sometimes mistaken for sting rays). They rest on the seabed and prey on fish and shellfish. Angel sharks live in coastal waters around the world. The thresher shark has the longest tail of any other sharks. It uses its tail like a whip to stun or kill its prey. Thresher sharks eat squid and fish. They are also strong swimmers and can flip themselves right out of the water. Thresher sharks live in tropical waters including the eastern and western Atlantic, the central Pacific, and the Indo-west Pacific. Hammerhead sharks have a hammer-shaped head that swings from side to side as the shark swims. Hammerhead sharks eat stingrays and catfish. Hammerheads kill their prey by using their hammers to pin them down while taking a bite. Most hammerheads live in warm tropical waters. Marlins The marlin is a large fish that is also a deep-sea predator. The marlin has an upper jaw that forms a long spike. Marlins eat small fish and use their spike-shaped jaw to club their prey. Different species of marlins include the blue marlin, the striped marlin, and the white marlin. The blue marlin, is the best known of the species. It is found in the Gulf Stream and in the north near New York. Blue marlins reach up to 1,000 pounds (454 kg). The striped marlin, found in the Pacific Ocean, reaches 300 to 400 ( kg). The white marlin of the Atlantic Ocean reaches up to 100 pounds (45 kg). Marlins are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Osteichtyes, order Perciformes, family Istiophoridae. Barracudas The barracuda is a ferocious fish that will attack anything that gleams! Also called the Tiger of the Sea, the barracuda is a long, slender fish found in tropical seas. Barracudas have long snouts and a lower jaw that has large, sharp, dagger-like teeth. Barracuda species include the great barracuda, the Pacific barracuda, and the Northern barracuda. 9