BIOLOGY books

The Devil Scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis diabolus) is also known as the False Stonefish. They are extremely well camouflaged .  As with all members of the scorpionfish family, they have poison glands for protection in their dorsal and pelvic fins. Devil Scorpionfish are ambush predators that prey on small fishes and crustaceans and pretty much anything that fits in their mouth. They use their proportionally large mouths to create a vacuum and suck in and swallow the prey. Prey is swallowed whole and is sucked into the mouth.

Nudibranchs mullusc Nudibranchs possess a radular feeding organ, but they characteristically lack a shell, gills, and mantle cavity typical of other mollusks. The delicately coloured body has bizarre outgrowths, called cerata, which serve a defensive function, discharging nematocysts that the nudibranch has ingested from cnidarian prey.

Megalodycopia (ghost fish)is a voracious predator. Her mouth is like a hood, in which crustaceans and zooplankton swimming by by irrevocably disappear. The “ghostfish” sea squirt is actually predatory, has a large mouth like a Venus fly trap, and uses it just like that famous predatory plant. When small animals like shrimp or amphipods swim into its mouth, the mouth slams shut and stays shut until the meal is digested. These unique deep sea creatures live on the walls of rocky underwater canyons like the Monterey Canyon off the coast of California.

Blue jellyfish are found on the east coast of Australia and, contrary to their name, range in color from white to brown.

Some squid have special cells in their skin that allows them to change colors. • Most squid have 8 arms and two longer tentacles, but some squids have 10 arms. • Squid have tough beaks that they use to kill and eat their prey. • Many squids that live in deep water have bioluminescent organs that show through their skin. • Squids have three hearts.

Very Rare blue bee. Blue Banded Bees are amongst our most beautiful Australian native bees. They are about 11 mm long and have bands of metallic blue fur across their black abdomens. Blue Banded Bees are solitary bees. This means that each female bee mates and then builds a solitary nest by herself. She builds her nest in a shallow burrow in clay soil or sometimes in mudbricks. Many Blue Banded Bees may build their nest burrows in the same spot, close to one another, like neighbouring houses in a village. Blue Banded Bees can perform a special type of pollination called 'buzz pollination'. Some flowers hide their pollen inside tiny capsules. A Blue Banded Bee can grasp a flower of this type and shiver her flight muscles, causing the pollen to shoot out of the capsule. She can then collect the pollen for her nest and carry it from flower to flower, pollinating the flowers. Quite a few of our native Australian flowers require buzz pollination eg Hibbertia, Senna.

The Researchers have discovered 2 new species: Hedychium mechukanum and Amomum Arunachalense from Arunachal Pradesh, North East India. The species has large white flowers with a pleasant fragrance. It was found to be largely similar to other plants of the Hedychium genus found in northeast India and China, but different in several attributes.

Flower Hat Jellyfish is a kind of colourful jellyfish. They always stink to the ocean floor, and eat small fish. Their sizes is deterred by the amount of food they consumed. They are mainly found in the Japan sea.  

Kitoglav, or royal heron, is a bird from the pelican order. Amazing feature in the appearance of the royal heron is round bright eyes, located on the same plane, and not on the sides, like most birds. This feature makes whale-eye vision voluminous.