Nautilus : there remains only two varieties of nautilus, molluscs which have as ancestors the Ammonites. The calcareous construction of the nautilus is a pure wonder and it is partly what makes it commercially so gravitational; for science, it is it still more; its mysteries start with its daily incursions into deep seas, that is to say 400 to 500 meters and more below this sea level which it gains each night. For that, it empties or fills its ballasts which are the compartments built up progressively by the animal while growing ; because the animal is only installed in the last compartment built, that it makes grow of a scratch each day, according to an exact logarithmic curve of any beauty (*)

Looking into the subject reveal a correlation between the number of days and that of the scratches, then between the number of months and that of the cells; the number of scratches is about 29 to 30 between each cell and the number of the cells is 31 to the maximum. It is the number from 29 to 30 which intrigued two researchers (German and American) because this number could be that of the lunar and nonsolar cycle as it was thought.

(*) a rule posed on external surface (tangent) always formed the same angle (here 78°) with the ray passing by the point of contact of the rule.

In fact, the descent and the increase of Nautilus would be related to the tides. The two researchers then excavated fossils to discover that by going far back in time, the number of scratches per compartment fell until the limit of 9 scratches only 420 million years ago ! Interpretation: the moon was very low at this time there, only 150.000 kilometers is half of the current distance and more quickly turned three times around the ground. Lancelot Herrisman, Science & Vie (extracted)

The largest sea star in the world is the sunflower star, northen Atlantic (Vancouver Island); it has usually 20 to 24 flexible arms. Its diameter can reach 90 cm. (35,4 inch)

Sea urchin Sea urchins are related with starfishes (Echinodermatous) and nourish themselves especially with algae ; they can be necrophagous and shred the died preys using their five very powerful teeth. To move, they have "feet ambulacraires" which lengthen between the prickles until the contact with surface on which they are placed.

Sponges : they are "animals without true bodies"..., who pump water by many microscopic pores in order to nourish themselves with organic particles in suspension into water, waste being rejected by an opening, the oscule.

 Extraordinary fish

Obviously, they have the same characteristics than any else animals, with perhaps in addition electric functions . They gather, camouflaged themselves, measledd others, are capable of extraordinary ability you can not imagine, have unsuspected sensitivities and many other so astonishing behaviors ! (my gold fish, Jojo, who had killed all his congeneric, watched for me at the corner of the corridor and as soon as it saw me appearing, made a strong noise of slapping with its mouth and water !! (it was of course always hungry).

From the smallest which is 0,20 inches long (5 millimetres),(pandaka pygmea, Philippines, to the whale shark which can be 59 feet (18 m) and weigh more than 40 tons, the fish, for their forms and behaviour are a few surprising attitudes and exploits : 

The blue fish tuna can swim fast as 45 miles an hour (70 km hour) and the swordfish at 55 miles an hour (90 km hour). 

The manta ray which is 20 feet (6 meter) and weighs 3300 pounds (1500 kg) can jump 13 feet (4 m) above the water.

The sea unicorn throws ink in case of danger just like the squid of the octopus do.

the male sea horse has a ventral sac like the kangaroos where the eggs are incubated and the fry kept after the hatching.

The filapia abstain from eating and breeds its young in its mouth .

The fish Periophtalmus (Amazonia), get out of the water of the mangrove and climb up on the branches of a tree ; it can see everywhere because its protuberant eyes roll about in any direction being totaly independant each other !

The jumper fish uses its mouth as a sucker to climb the vertical stone wall of the cascades.

A fish walks on the bas of the water (its "fins" are like four legs !

 Flying fish; they fly above the surface of water thanks to their particular fins. Others are satisfied themselves to carry out simple jumps out of water; do they catch insects ? undoubtedly, and surely not birds in the branches, as this crocodile of seven meters do,  propelling out of water up to two meters in height by the propulsion of its tail !

The archer fish chases flying insects throwing water drops 5 feet (1,5m) away with a great accuracy and knock out the prey ; it has also the ability to foresee the fall of the prey so that no one else can eat it before him. 

The velvet fish (Polynesia) :  Does not seem have scales because its body is so smooth. Are they so tiny we can't feel them ? I don't get any further knoledge.

There are of course parasites, which benefit from the others, but there are also agreement associations, justified by an exchange of "utilities" : for example, protection on a side, cleaning of the other.

The pusser fish swallows water and trebles its volume, in the event of danger, transforming itself into a roughcast ball of spikes, impossible  to chew.

The fugu, appreciated so much by Japanese, floats the belly up to mislead the enemy. Among the most dangerous fish, the fugu occupies, if one can say, a place of choice. It is indeed mortal only in the plates of Japanese, which raffolent some.

The labre cleans fish which present themselves at its station ! gestural makes it possible to agree. It is not alone and 45 species would take part in thid job, not to only clean but also look after (parasitic removed, perhaps even cauterization). Certain species enter the mouth, hearing etc. In California, the sharks make wait in line to go and be cleaned one after the other.

The fish can be sensitive both to negligible, nonmeasurable electrical currents, and to the terrestrial magnetic field. Only some examples are known, of which obviously the very media shark (see "sharks"). This fact seems confirmed both by the marks left by their teeth in hulls of boats close to metal parts, and on transoceanic telephone cables ; as for the dead sperm whale found imprisoned in these cables, one can deduce from it the depth to which they go down ( at least 400 m for this whale).

 Others, whose certain eels, can send very violent electric discharges (even for the man). In deep seas, 80 % of the species manufacture light (bioluminescence), One fishe has a "lamp (*)" suspended in front of the mouth. They lights even preys with the infra-reds light so that the prey do not realize it is seen ! jellyfishes flicker and others release "clouds of light" which put in danger those which are enlightened !
Those which cannot produce this chemical gleam "raise" bioluminescent bacteria (case of the "lamp").

The sperm whale, the giant squid, but also of other fish of deep sea, detect the light at more than 1000 meters deep, were it is total night reigns for the man.

The fish’s smell can be very sensitive. A shark can smell blood several hundreds yards away and the salmon is able to trace its native river thanks to its particular smell. 

The side line: Many questions rise observing the marine animals, of which this one: how can fish in bench change abruptly direction all together, in particular when they are attacked, drawing complex and moving volumes of beautiful effects, regulated like a ballet? it would be by observing the reflection of the others, in particular on this "edge line" many fish have.
This edge line would be a  multi detector; it is also supposed that it would enable them to detect many other events (electric or electromagnetic variations, vibrations etc). down (*)

Some "flat" fish, sail needles, turbots, limandas etc rest on the bas where they nourished themselves. Their two eyes are on the top but while looking well, they are not symmetrical and even the mouth is a little distort. At the the birth, they are completely normal, with an eye on each side. Thereafter, this part of the head becomes deformed and an eye passes on other side while the mouth goes below !

More than 25 millions eggs have been found in a cod’s belly.

The fish sometimes cover thousand miles in search of food, warmer waters or just to procreate. The salmons which lives in the sea go back to their native river to lay eggs. The eels leaves their river and travel more than 3000 miles (5000 km) to the Sargasso sea where they lay eggs and die. The young eels travel in the opposite direction for one to three years.

Many other species instinctively migrate each season for reasons which are not understood yet.

(*) the gestural and sound language of all the animals, man included, is well codified for each species, the horse having been undoubtedly studied much more. Fish, birds, insects, have theirs, one of the most beautiful example being with that African bird which involves the man in the forest, leading him to the honey, hoping to have some honey remainders that it cannot go to take itself.

Personally, I collected with the caméscope the starting order of gulls, one evening during vacation in la "Grande Motte" (point Zero). The gulls fluttered in great number at the  sunset and we suddenly heard three powerful cries (recorded in the camcorder): immediately, a column was formed and a good many part of the group thus got away.

The animals imitate men. The animals imitate the sounds of their environment. There was a big surprise to hear that elephants imitated the noise of our cars or trucks which passed nearby !  Scientists and Military think the bélougas would imitate the noise of the submarines. They would have even failed to be torpedoed as such, but the behavior undoubtedly strange and the “signature” of the noise would have saved them at least. What could lead them imitatating ? are they telling they have identified the intruder, that they know that they are there, perhaps also is it an attempt to communicate and to see whether that answers? Unless it is a warning ? It does not matter, let us us alone and let us start imitating them !

Communication of the whales, bélougas, dolphins. The communication would be possible at a very very long distance, from one end to another of an ocean perhaps, by using kinds of corridors, the layers of water of various temperatures or salinity which would channel the waves.

Sonar. They emit ultra sounds which enable them to form an image, which could be more powerful than that of the vision itself; its characteristic is to be able "to cross" the bodies so that they would see the bodies organs functioning as with a radiography. The electromagnetic waves used under water would have disturbed these animals and some, given up by the American army were handed to scientists. Radio Monte-Carlo, 28 06 05

Marine pollution . Effects of the marine pollution, studied by scientist Canadian on the whales belugas (white), show that these animals are soaked with toxins which could be well at the origin of the noted increase in cancers for these animals. On certain corpses, the rate is such as they could be classified like dangerous ! presence of toxins is noted at all animals marine, although qualified specialist  declares:"the dilution is so wide that no effects are to be feared". There is in fact an effect of accumulation which occurs with the time in these animals, which live for the majority close to the coasts, where the concentration is the strongest.

The study of toxicity is practised today on each product taken separately. These researchers explore another approach of pollution, that which comes from the whole of the chemicals, of the by-products by combination or transformation. The result is studied at the end of the chain because it is currently unimaginable to study some 80.000 chemicals, their interactions, their transformations in an alive world ! Example: the bacteria transform mercury into methyl mercury and fish concentrating this poison. In the USA, it was noted that derivatives of chlorine had an impact on the human reproduction, concerning women and men.

 Starfish devourer of corals and sugar canes ..

Since 1960, a starfish which devours the corals reproduces abnormally. In Australia, enquiring comes to establish a bond between the action of fertilizers rejected into the sea, of which nitrogen, and proliferation of the acanthasters. This starfish, known as "thorny bush", observed at idle, devours the corals as a roller of washing brushes a car. It noted that they precisely proliferated in the zones or the rejections were strongest; the storms, while bringing back them to the shore, can accelerate the phenomenon. These places correspond in particular to the intensive exploitation of the sugar cane, with destruction of the "useless" vegetation which slowed down the streaming to the rivers then the sea (trees, bushes, ponds.). Perhaps one will agree a day to lose part of the cultivated surface.

Their tail is  paddle-shaped

They thus move right on their prey, small fish or eel at the bas of a cavity.

This fish will be immobilized by rolling up, then bitten.

Collective fishing ; palms of coconut are assembled to constitute a kind of very long net (I do not know the Polynesian name).

A group of men draws it into not very deep water of the lagoon according to a large circle. Other groups are sometimes charged to strike water to make the fish going back.

Plungers intervene in the process. The fish taken under the leaves takes refuge towards the center where it is trapped and harpooned.

- Approach of the mahi mahi (famous for being wary) ; "I sighted the following day a mahi mahi. I located it by far with his fluorescent wake blue-green. Perhaps it had seen me first and in this case I was to make so that it forgets me; it did not approach, it was also hidding itself. Then I had the certainty that it had seen me". Extract from the book "So far from the world" from Tavae, fishing Tahitien at Faa' a, Papeete, lost at sea during 118 days (started from PAPEETE on March 15, 2002, he had a broke down engine)

- The dugouts." The dugouts which we manufactured were made of boards sewn between them and caulked with coconut flock mixed with sap of bread fruit tree. They were less sturdy than the dugouts they were dug in breadfruit tree trunks, but both faster to build and lighter". Account of Tavae in its book "so far from the world".