Unusual spiny animals
February 11, 2010 by admin · 3 Comments
Some animals have developed a form of armor called spine – which is a hard, thorny or needle-like structure which grow as a self-defense mechanism.
Egyptian sea star
They can be found to depths of 20,000 feet and the majority of starfishes, now more properly referred to as sea stars, are carnivorous or omnivorous and can eat small fishes, algae, mollusks and coral polyps. In fact, they don’t have to fit their prey into their mouth, as they are capable of expelling their stomach and digesting whatever they are resting upon, such as what the Crown-of-Thorns does to coral polyps.
Matha’s sea urchin
The rock boring urchin, Echinometra mathaei, has a dark, oval shell and sturdy spines in a range of colours from white to pink or olive green. Echinometra mathaei is found in holes and under rocks.
Spiny orb weavers
If that last spider was oddly shaped, then this one is even more so. It belongs to a family of spiders called “spiny orb weavers” (the genus Gasteracantha) which rely on their unwieldy shapes and hard spikes to make themselves a difficult, and potentially even painful, object to swallow. There are many critters that mimic their warningly colored relatives; if the mimic is itself distasteful or poisonous then it’s called a Mullerian mimic, but if it’s only pretending to be toxic then it’s a Batesian mimic.
Spiny oakworm moth caterpillar
Spiny oakworm larvae are aggressive feeders, and generally consume all but stubs of midrib and large veins of leaves. Early stage larvae have cream-white bodies, black heads, and a pair of conspicuous black spines on the second segment of the thorax; these spines are characteristic of the genus. As larvae grow, body color changes. Spiracles are black, and each is enclosed by a white margin. The full-grown caterpillar is 45-55 mm. long.
Pufferfish
Biologists think pufferfish, also known as blowfish, developed their famous “inflatability” because their slow, somewhat clumsy swimming style makes them vulnerable to predators. In lieu of escape, pufferfish use their highly elastic stomachs and the ability to quickly ingest huge amounts of water (and even air when necessary) to turn themselves into a virtually inedible ball several times their normal size. Some species also have spines on their skin to make them even less palatable.
Horseshoe crabs
Horseshoe crabs are one of the oldest animals on earth. Although they look scary, there is absolutely nothing on their bodies that can hurt us — they do not have teeth, their claws are weak, and their tail is not poisonous or spiky.
Spiky Echidna
Echidnas are small mammals that are covered with coarse hair and spines. Echidnas, also known as spiny anteaters, belong to the family Tachyglossidae in the monotreme order of egg-laying mammals. Although their diet consists largely of ants and termites, they are only distantly related to the true anteaters of the Americas. The echidnas are named after a monster in ancient Greek mythology.
Thorny Devil
An amazing Australian reptile quite evidently owes its name to the thorns on its body. The mini dragon grows up to 20 cm (8 in) in length and can live up to 20 years. It can camouflage according to the desert shades and its thorny scales are a defense against predators. The small thorny devil can eat some thousands of ants in one day.
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I would have included the Crown of Thorns. A starfish like critter I saw while based in Okinawa Japan. It has venomous spines that look like thorns (hence the name). It eats coral and if you cut one in half, both halves can live and grow back the missing parts.
I Japan the government pays for people to kill them, since they destroy the coral surrounding Oki – I think Australia allows them to be killed off to protect the Great Barrier Reef. Instead of just killing them we would catch them and kill them on land, then sell the body to collectors. Once doing this I received a prick of a thorn in my left index finder, just below the fingernail. For about 15 years I would lose that fingernail once or twice a year and I had a noticeable bump. The fingernail grows normally now (25 years later) but if I touch the spot I can still feel where the spine went in.