It is a day of celebrating the many unique and ancient species of turtles and tortoises around the world, and bringing awareness to their need for protection. Of the 207 species of turtle and tortoise alive today, 129 of them are listed by IUCN as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered. That's an incredibly 62% of species!
The species listed here are only a few of the many critically endangered turtle and tortoise species. They illustrate that though these species wear a suit of armor, they are incredible fragile and in need of protection by humans, from humans.
Catfish are a group of bottom-feeding fish that are found in freshwater habitats and coastal regions on and around every continent in the world with the exception of Antarctica. Catfish are most easily identified by their flattened broad heads and the long whisker-like barbels that protrude from the mouth of the catfish.
The long barbels of the catfish contain the taste buds of the catfish and so are often most commonly used for smelling and therefore sensing what is about to eat (and to hide from) in the surrounding waters. Despite the name however, not all catfish species have prominent whisker-like barbels.
There are nearly 3,000 known species of catfish in the world but it is
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Corals are marine invertebrates in the class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria. They typically live in compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.
A coral "group" is a colony of myriad genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is a sac-like animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in length. A set of tentacles surround a central mouth opening. An exoskeleton is excreted near the base. Over many generations, the colony thus creates a large skeleton that is characteristic of the species. Individual heads grow by asexual rep
