Cuttlefish and squid have a visual language in which they communicate by changing their body colour and patterns. This change happens extremely quickly. Waves of colour and complicated patterns pass over the animal’s body when it is frightened or hungry, or trying to escape from danger.
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Most long, thin-bodied animals are called ‘worms’, but they are not all closely related. Roundworms are the most common type of worm. At least 15,000 different types of roundworm have been described, and there could be as many as 500,000 species altogether. Many roundworms live in the soil, and there may be millions in one cubic metre of soil. They feed on dead and decaying material. Other worms are predators or parasites, which live inside the bodies of other animals.
Worms are found in almost any damp environment. Some marine worms live in tubes made of sand, sieving the water with flower-like tentacles. Leeches are aquatic worms that may such blood. Most leeches are aquatic, but some live in tropical rainforests and wait on the surface of the vegetation until they can attach themselves to a passer-by. They drop off after feeding.
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Invertebrates, or animals without backbones, make up 97 percent of all animals. This group of animals includes all the arthropods such as spiders, insects and crustaceans. The remaining invertebrates are mainly soft-bodied animals, although many of them have shells. They include animals such as sponges, corals, shellfish, worms, sea urchins and starfish and many less familiar animals.
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The biggest crab is the giant spider crab found in the Pacific Ocean, near Japan. The crab lives at a depth of up to 300 m. when it claws are outstretched, they can span as much as 3.6 m. the giant spider crab’s body is actually quite small and is only 37 cm across, but the whole animal may weigh as much as 18 kg.
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Crustaceans are aquatic arthropods such as crabs, lobsters and shrimps. They have a very tough, jointed external skeleton and jointed walking legs. Their body is divided into a region that contains most of the internal organs, covered by a shell called the carapace, and a muscular tail section that is usually folded under the body. Many crustaceans have powerful pincers that they use to capture and break up their prey, and to signal to others of their species. Crustaceans live in the sea and in freshwater habitats.
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The feet of a fly are adapted so that they can stick to almost any surface by means of a combination of tiny hooks and sticky pads. A fly’s feet can even grip on shiny surfaces such as glass. When a fly lands on a ceiling, it flies up towards it, and then somersaults into a half-loop so that it finishes in an upside-down position, ready to grasp the ceiling.
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