Sea Monsters

Manta rays swim with their mouths open to catch any
plankton
floating by. Their horns push the plankton toward their mouths.
    Plankton are tiny plants and animals that float in the water. Many sea creatures eat plankton.
    Even though manta rays look scary, they are not poisonous. They are called “devilfish” only because of their horns.
Steve Irwin and the Stingray
    Stingrays are close relatives of manta rays. Stingrays are only about two feet long. They have poisonous, sharp barbs on their tails. Because stingrays are flat, they can hide easily beneath the sand.

    A stingray caused the death of Steve Irwin. Steve was a wildlife expert known asthe “Crocodile Hunter.” He had a popular television show about animals. When Steve was filming in the ocean near Australia, he startled a stingray. The ray lashed out with its tail. Its barb hit Steve right in the heart. He died within seconds. It was a terrible accident. Sting-rays are not usually dangerous to people.
Giant Mekong Catfish
    For thousands of years, monster fish have lived in the Mekong River inThailand. Giant Mekong catfish are the largest freshwater fish in the world. Some grow to the size of grizzly bears. Mekong catfish don’t have any teeth.
    People living along the river honor them as sacred and special beings.
    In 2005, Thai fishermen pulled in a giant catfish. It weighed 646 pounds and was almost nine feet long! That’s thebiggest catfish anyone has ever seen. The fish fought for over an hour until fishermen finally pulled it in. That night, lots of happy families had catfish for dinner.

GiantJellyfish Invade Japan
    Thousands of hugeNomura’s jellyfish have crowded into the waters off Japan. These jellyfish get to be six feet wide and can weigh over 450 pounds!

    Jellyfish are not really fish, so some scientists call them jellies .
    Besides stinging people, the jellyfish clog up fishing nets and kill fish with their poisonous stings. The fishermen are not happy!
    It is rare to die from a jellyfish sting. But if you ever get one, wash it with salt water and then put vinegar on the wound.
    Jellyfish live in waters around the world. They have soft bodies and trailingtentacles, sometimes hundreds of them. Jellyfish use their tentacles to catch fish. Each one is armed with stinging, poisonous cells.

    You might be surprised to know that the
longest
animal in the world is not a whale. It is a special jellyfish called a
siphonophore
(sy-FON-uh-for). Itstentacles can reach 131 feet long!
    Our ideas about sea monsters seem a little less scary when we know the facts.Squids,octopuses, and all the sea creatures that frighten us are not monsters. They’re just surprising and wonderful animals!

    In 1993, a huge mass of jelly-like flesh washed up on the shore of Chile. It had no head or bones. The mass was forty-one feet long and nineteen feet wide.
    Scientists call unknown remains on beaches “globsters.” This globster caused a lot of excitement. No one knew what it was. Was it a new creature? Even the scientists were stumped. They said, “It doesn’t look like a dead whale.” And then they said, “It doesn’t smell like a dead whale.”

    After lots more testing, the mystery was solved. Guess what? It was a dead whale.

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Millions of years ago, amazing animals lived in the oceans. They lived during
prehistoric times.
Prehistoric times came before anyone could write down what went on in the world.
    Many of these incredible animals lived in the
Mesozoic Era
(mes-uh-ZOH-ick EHR-uh), which began 251 million years ago. We call this time the “Age ofReptiles.”

    The Mesozoic lasted for about 180 million years. There were no humans on earthyet. But during this time and even before, fierce animals lived on the earth and in the seas. Much of what we know about them comes from theirfossils.

    There was just one huge continent when the Mesozoic Era began. It is called
Pangaea
(pan-JEE-uh). Over millions of years, it broke apart into the continents we know today.

    At this time, the earth was much warmer. There was little or no ice at the North and South Poles. The seas were higher. They covered much of the land that exists today. Giant ferns and flowering plants grew in the warm climate.Dinosaurs roamed the earth. Large wingedreptiles flew in the skies overhead. Huge, dragon-like reptiles, monstroussharks, and other scary creatures filled the ocean.
Reptiles of the Sea
    Themarine reptiles that lived in the ancient seas were not