Vertebrates

Found only in Antarctica only the emperors travel south in the Antarctic Winter. The deepest dive recorded so far was to 565 m or 0.35 miles which is below the night level. Most dives are 3-6 minutes hunting for their food, but dives have been recorded over 20 minutes. Eggs laid in early winter, in May. The mothers go to sea and don’t return until the Spring. They incubate their eggs for 65-75 days, brood their young for about 50 days and rear them to fledging in about 160 days. The emperor males do all the incubating and while they can't go and eat fish they eat snow to prevent dehydration. During the fiercest storms the males huddle together taking their turn on the windward side, most of the time they hang out in rather loose groups. The egg is positioned in a fold of skin protecting it from the elements.

When the sun eventually starts to rise the eggs hatch. This is when their mothers return with food to regurgitate for the chick. The winter increases the sea ice to walk over 30 miles. When the mother returns to feed their chick the father leaves to feed himself. They could be eaten by Leopard Seals or Killer Whales. For the next 5 months the parents alternate fishing and feeding their chicks. They make use of Weddel seal holes in the ice. The chicks get fed very infrequently (once every 2-3 weeks) and the adults can deliver only about 3 kg per time.

Under the ice is a busy world of krill and fish. Krill are eating algae and minerals in the new sun light. They gather in gigantic swarms larger than any other animal on earth. The winter storms are becoming more severe.

Welcome to the Marine vertebrates directory on Dogsbreathdivers.com
Dolphins	Dugong	Eels	Krill	Penguins	Porpoises
Rays	Seals	Sharks	Turtles	Whales
Picture copyright belongs to the photographer mentioned by each picture
Dolphins, Whales and Porpoises Is it a Dolphin, Whale or Porpoise? Scientifically they are all cetaceans and there is no difference, so people usually go by their size, but even that is not fixed. Generally a porpoise is the smallest (below 3m/11feet), and whale the largest (over 10m/33feet). Amongst other things Dolphins eat squid and flounder. Unlike those in captivity they prefer not to be touched. They also get bored with people very quickly unless you play - so go on, roll over and copy them. Their chief enemies are the bull, tiger and reef sharks. Their main protection is to swim away or go to the bottom, lie quietly and wait for the threat to leave. Click here for a lot more information on the 81 varieties of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises.
Picture by www.breezehawaii.com		Picture by www.breezehawaii.com		Picture by www.mantapoint-aonang.com
Dugong There are over 12,000 Dugong in shark bay, Australia. They look like manatees and can weigh a ton. They eat sea grass. Mammals. Eaten by tiger sharks. <photo please>
Eels Eels are fish with long, snake like bodies. They are usually seen in rock crevices or the sand. They eat fish. Electric eels hunt, and defend themselves using electric socks of 600 volts. They breath air. Keep *at least* a metre/3 feet away.
Picture www.deepbluediversdahab.com		Garden eel Sinuous fish that keep their tails firmly in the sand and return to their burrows if danger threatens. e.g. a Flounder. They are often in large shoals in the sand. Picture www.deepbluediversdahab.com
Moray eel Morays are usually seen during the day sticking their head from rock crevices, constantly open and close their mouths to breath. They will also take advantage of a food, and fingers, that gets too close. They swim freely at night foraging for food.
Honeycomb moray eel Picture by www.phiphi-scuba.com		Picture by Caver Colin, Dogsbreath Diver in Aqaba, Jordan.		Picture by Steven McCusker in the North Red Sea, Nov 02
Picture - Tolgus BS-AC , Red Sea.		Picture by www.dive2gether.com
Krill: Small, shrimp like in appearance. Found in vast swarms in the millions in the Antarctic. These are believed to be the most abundant species on our planet.
Penguins: Penguins are birds. They hunt fish, krill and squid. Adélie : Chinstrap : Emperor: Gentoo : King : Macaroni : Magellanic
Adélie Penguins Picture by Barbara.Wienecke		Live in the Antarctic. White body and black head and back. Black feet and flippers. White ring around the eye. They live and breed on islands and feed under the ice. They can only fast for a couple of days...If all goes well, the sea ice breaks out around the time the chicks hatch so that the parents can do quick turn-around feeding trips) Sometimes 2 chicks per pair. Males get to their breeding colonies first, re-pebble their nests then court the females. Lay 2 eggs which they both incubate. Chicks hatch after 2 months and fed in relays. As the days get longer they feed more.
Chinstrap Penguins.		So called because they have a thin white line under their chin. Black backs, white fronts including underside of fins. Black beak. Eat almost only Krill. 50 million chinstraps. Colonised Zabadofski island just off the Antarctic coast. It’s a hot, active volcano so is warm and host to 2 million chinstraps. (photo awaited <please>).
Emperor Penguin Picture by Barbara.Wienecke		Found only in Antarctica only the emperors travel south in the Antarctic Winter. The deepest dive recorded so far was to 565 m or 0.35 miles which is below the night level. Most dives are 3-6 minutes hunting for their food, but dives have been recorded over 20 minutes. Eggs laid in early winter, in May. The mothers go to sea and don’t return until the Spring. They incubate their eggs for 65-75 days, brood their young for about 50 days and rear them to fledging in about 160 days. The emperor males do all the incubating and while they can't go and eat fish they eat snow to prevent dehydration. During the fiercest storms the males huddle together taking their turn on the windward side, most of the time they hang out in rather loose groups. The egg is positioned in a fold of skin protecting it from the elements. When the sun eventually starts to rise the eggs hatch. This is when their mothers return with food to regurgitate for the chick. The winter increases the sea ice to walk over 30 miles. When the mother returns to feed their chick the father leaves to feed himself. They could be eaten by Leopard Seals or Killer Whales. For the next 5 months the parents alternate fishing and feeding their chicks. They make use of Weddel seal holes in the ice. The chicks get fed very infrequently (once every 2-3 weeks) and the adults can deliver only about 3 kg per time. Under the ice is a busy world of krill and fish. Krill are eating algae and minerals in the new sun light. They gather in gigantic swarms larger than any other animal on earth. The winter storms are becoming more severe.
Gentoo Penguins Picture by Barbara.Wienecke		Close relative of the Adélie penguin. Lives at the Antarctic peninsula and sub-Antarctic islands. Small colonies. Usually don't leave their islands over winter and feed relatively close by. Females usually lay 2 eggs. They take about 105 days to rear their chicks.
King Penguins Picture by Barbara.Wienecke		South Georgia in the Antarctic is the home of 80,000 chicks. The 2^nd largest penguins are the Kings and breed here and are flourishing. 100 years ago they were nearly hunted to extinction but ok now. The chicks have a woolly coat and rearing takes longer than a year. The chicks mainly live off their fat for 3 months before the parent returns to feed it. White front, black head, yellow blotch on throat. Flippers have a black back, white front. Black feet and tail. Eaten by bull elephant seals.
Macaroni Penguins.		One of the "crested" penguins. Live mainly on sub-Antarctic islands. Noisy and numerous. Long Yellow feathers above the eye. Black back and flippers, pink feet and beak is dark orange-brown. Eat mainly krill.
Magellanic Penguin		Found in Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands/Malvinas. They are black with white lines running across their cheeks and down the length of their bodies. A pale red patch is above their eyes which is exposed featherless skin; helps with temperature regulation. Often build burrows. They share the task of incubating their eggs over 40 days. They are great hunters; catch fish by pursuit diving.
Rays: Rays are normally split into Sting rays and Manta rays Sting Rays are seen all around the warm water areas of the world. They eat anything living in sandy sea beds by sucking them up through their mouth. They get their name due to the very sharp barbs on their tail which can deliver agonizing poison. They are normally unnoticed as they are covered by a thin layer of skin, which grows back after they have struck something. At a maximum of 15 inches/38cm yellow stingrays are smaller and more round than the Cayman Island rays. Seen in the Florida Keys, USA. Picture awaited. Whales can eat them, but as they are fish they can stay under cover in water, whereas the whale needs to surface eventually for air.
Picture by Anorak, in the Red Sea 2002 Almost all picture are 'thumbnails' so click on them to expand them.		Stingray by www.seawolfdivingschool.com in Montserrat.		Blue Spotted Ray by Monica and Keith Smith
Pictures: Mark Walton, Dogsbreath Diver They are bigger than you think!				A Blue spotted sting ray from www.phiphi-scuba.com in Thailand
Another Blue spotted Ray Pictures by Big Col, Dogsbreath Chairman, Red Sea 2002
Eagle Ray Picture by Mojo of HellfishDivers in St Kitts		Eagle Ray in Abaco, Bahamas by www.robstruelies.com		There's room for your photo here
Manta rays have been seen in: Nagali Pass, Fiji. Galapagos Red Sea
Giant Pacific Manta Ray, Seen in Hawaii and the Seychelles. May be 16 feet/5m across.		Photos by www.phiphi-scuba.com		Picture by www.scubaiguana.com in Galapagos
Picture by Franky Gun, http://www.mantapoint-aonang.com in Thailand		Picture by Franky Gun, http://www.mantapoint-aonang.com in Thailand		Picture by http://www.mvillusions.com in the Seychelles
Seals Grey : Harbour : Elephant : Weddell Seals are found the world over. They eat a wide range of marine food such as cod, haddock, prawns. They have very good hearing. Seal meat is eaten (by people) in Canada, and whales. Here are some locations where you can dive with them: Lundy Island, Devon, England Farne Islands, Northumberland, England Beagle Island, WA, Australia South of San Francisco, USA
Elephant seals The average full grown male weighs 4 tons, a female 1 ton and be 7 metres long, and they’ll defend their group from other males, and you. The males are very aggressive when approached. They may try to kill you on land. An average dive is to 500m and can go to 1.5km/1 mile deep for 25 - 35 minutes. Hundreds of elephant seals have made their home 50 miles south of San Francisco. Elephant seals are territorial and a pack can be 100 strong with one dominant male.
Harbour seals Mainly found in estuaries around the world and they eat both freshwater and marine life. 50,000 in Eyemouth, Northumberland, England Scilly Isles off south west England
Grey seals They eat about 7 kilos/15lb of cod, salmon and other fish daily. In the UK they are protected by the Grey Seal Protection Act 1914. There are over 125,000 grey seals around Britain, of which 90% are in Scottish waters.
Picture Grey seal in the Scilly Isles, UK by James Yonge http://scubadiving.8k.com		Picture Grey seal in the Scilly Isles, UK by James Yonge http://scubadiving.8k.com		Search engines appear to rank web sites higher the more links they have pointing to them, which is why we place links to the sites that permit us to use their pictures. Please add links to us too ~ thank you.
Weddell Seals Weddell seals live in Antarctica. Pictures, biology and hear them sing underwater at URL: www.biology.ucsc.edu/people/williams/antarctic/
		Picture copyright by `Terrie Williams` in the Antarctic
Sea Lions		Picture: www.scubagalapagos.com
Turtles : Green : Hawksbill : Leatherback : Loggerhead :
Green Turtles Green turtles are an endangered species. The shell of a young hatchling is around 3 inches/7cm long and very soft. As they run to the sea they often turn through 360 degrees, presumably to set their navigation. Adult females lay about 100 or so eggs every 2 or 3 years from the age of 20 years.
Picture by Mark Walton, Dogs Breath Diver in the Red Sea				Can be found around the world and especially in: Bali, Indonesia. There's a Green turtle farm at Reef Seen Aquatics Dive Centre Cayman Islands, British West Indies. They raise them here in a turtle farm too. Oman, Musendam Peninsular Malta Indonesia: they breed all year round here. Peak mating season is June to August and December to January.
Hawksbill Turtles Seen in Barbados, around the Caribbean, Galapagos and in Palau where the peak mating season is June to August and December to January.
Picture by Mojo of HellfishDivers in St Kitts		Picture by www.scubaiguana.com Galapagos
Leatherback Nest on the beaches at Maputaland, South Africa and in Mozambique. Shells of mature females are around 6ft/ 2 metres long and leathery. They lay around 100-120 eggs between mid October and February. The eggs hatch 2-3 months after laying.
Loggerhead Turtles Nest on the beaches at Maputaland, South Africa the Seychelles and in Mozambique. Loggerheads have a hard shell. Loggerhead Turtles have bred on the island of Zakynthos / Greece in the Ionian Islands for the last 10,000 years. The breeding and hatching season is between May to early October. They lay 80 to 100 eggs in a night. Only 1 in a thousand hatchlings survive to be adults.
Picture by www.twinoceans.com in Panama (but we're not sure which variety)		Picture by Tamworth John in Mexico		Picture by http://www.mvillusions.com in the Seychelles.
Picture by www.Aquasportlanzarote.com in Spain		We are not sure which type of turtle this is in Thailand 2008. Pictures by Mark Walton, Dogsbreath diver.
Whales: Sperm Whales: Indonesia (Sulawesi) and Antarctic. The bulls arrive from the Antarctic in May in Sulawesi. Pictures awaited. Click here for a lot more information on the 81 varieties of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises. We would just like to say 'thank you' for providing pictures for our pages.