E is for .....
Today I am going to discuss on a common marine animal. The eel. If you see a tubular marine creature, you are likely to think of an eel. The more scientific readers will consider the possibility of a sea snake. It could also be a hagfish or a lamprey (I cover about the hagfish later in the article).
Telling sea snakes from eels is quite easy if you know what to look for. Eels have fins and thus appear ribbon-like. Snakes are rounder in appearance even if parts of their body are flatter. Snake need to breathe air so they need to surface. Eels have gills so staying under water is not an issue. One fact to remember is that sea snakes are venomous so it is best to keep a distance. Eels are also known to give nasty bites.
Now come the myth. If you have heard of eel skin products, you will be surprised to learn that no eels were sacrificed for their skin. The so-called eel skin products are actual hagfish skin. But would you want a hagfish product in your pocket?
Lampreys and hagfish are unique because they are both jawless fishes. This feature (or the lack of feature) endears them to palaeontologists as these fishes help us understand how creatures survive without a jaw. Once jaws evolved, the diet of the creatures also increases. They could now grasp prey, cut up the prey into smaller bites and grind their meals. Lampreys differ from hagfish by having a vertebrate.
Finally, the most well known of the eels is the electric eel. It is actually a knifefish. All knifefish are able to produce an electric charge although the electric eel is the only one that uses it for defence.
Telling sea snakes from eels is quite easy if you know what to look for. Eels have fins and thus appear ribbon-like. Snakes are rounder in appearance even if parts of their body are flatter. Snake need to breathe air so they need to surface. Eels have gills so staying under water is not an issue. One fact to remember is that sea snakes are venomous so it is best to keep a distance. Eels are also known to give nasty bites.
Now come the myth. If you have heard of eel skin products, you will be surprised to learn that no eels were sacrificed for their skin. The so-called eel skin products are actual hagfish skin. But would you want a hagfish product in your pocket?
Lampreys and hagfish are unique because they are both jawless fishes. This feature (or the lack of feature) endears them to palaeontologists as these fishes help us understand how creatures survive without a jaw. Once jaws evolved, the diet of the creatures also increases. They could now grasp prey, cut up the prey into smaller bites and grind their meals. Lampreys differ from hagfish by having a vertebrate.
Finally, the most well known of the eels is the electric eel. It is actually a knifefish. All knifefish are able to produce an electric charge although the electric eel is the only one that uses it for defence.
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