Fish Patterns and Camouflage

When we were in Singapore we went to the Aquarium. 

Camouflage

We looked at so many fish with different types of defence.  One of these defences was CAMOUFLAGE.  This is one type of defence that fish use to trick their predators.

Can you see two sharks in the picture below?  When I first looked I only saw one shark.  I couldn't see the other one at all.

Now look at this picture below of the same place.  Can you see the shark now?  He is lying on the rock with his two fins sticking up.  He has patches on his skin to make him look just like the rocks so his prey doesn't see him because it thinks there's no danger around here! he also tricks his predators so that they go "Oh there's no tasty meal around here - let's get out of here."  He even tricks humans like me!

Below is a little red fish who is the same colour as the red coral in her environment.  This means it can camouflage by hiding in the red.

Patterns

Some sea creatures have patterns like spots and stripes to help them blend in with the coral, light rays and shadows.  Look at all the stripy, spotty fish in these pictures.  And the Moray Eel!

Shimmery Fish

These shimmery fish can camouflage because they look like light reflections.  This helps them camouflage in the shallow waters where there are sun rays shining into the water.

Eye Spots

These next two  fish have a very special pattern call an 'eye spot'.  They have spots on their bottoms so that their predators think that their bottom is actually their EYE.  Then if predators attack they will attack their tail which is better than if they attack their head, because the fish will die if they attack his head, but they could recover if they attack their tail.


 

Countershading

Countershading is when an animal is one colour on the top and another colour on the bottom.  These sharks are dark on the top and white on the bottom.  This means that if another creature swims above them then they blend with the dark ocean floor.  If a creature swims underneath them they look up and it blends into the light water and sky above them.

The BEST camouflager of all - The Octopus!

When we got to London we spent some more time learning about camouflage and we found these AMAZING videos of the master of camo.  The first video shows how the octopus can change his colour, shape, and texture (how bumpy or smooth his skin is) to blend in to his environment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmDTtkZlMwM

The next video shows how the mimic octopus can pretend to be so many different creatures that are more scary than it is.  The octopus does this to scare away and trick his predators.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wos8kouz810

I hope you had fun learning all about sea creatures and camouflage!