Size

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Q 1.
	What were the largest sea shells that ever existed?
Q 2.
	Which fish lays the greatest number of eggs?
Q 3.
	What is the smallest fish in Florida?
Q 4.
	What is the largest freshwater fish in the world?
Q 5.
	What is the most valuable fish?
Q 6.
	That fish has the longest head in proportion to its body?
Q 7.
	What is the largest of all sea shells?
Q 8.
	What are the largest and smallest species of shark?
Q 9.
	While returning from our annual hunting and fishing trip a friend asked me if, I knew the weight of the biggest fish ever caught. I was surprised to hear this was in the neighborhood of 30,000 lbs. He tells me that this fish was captured either in 1919 or 1927. Is this a "fish story"?
Q 10.
	What is the largest hammer head shark ever caught?
Q 11.
	What is the longest of all invertebrates?
Q 12.
	Is the whale the biggest fish in the sea?
Q 13.
	What is the largest sea shell?
Q 14.
	What is the world's smallest fish?
Q 15.
	What is the largest freshwater fish?
Q 16.
	Not counting fishes and whales, what are some of the large animals which live in the sea?
Q 17.
	Is it correct to say that marine life in the Pacific is larger in size and weight than in the Atlantic? Certainly there is nothing in the Atlantic comparable to the giant Pacific clams. Is this true of invertebrates in general or only of the mollusks?


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	Q&A 1.	What were the largest sea shells that ever existed?
	As far as known, these were the gigantic coiled ammonites, some of which were six feet in diameter. These animals, long extinct, were related to the much smaller chambered nautilus which lives today in the Pacific and Indian oceans. How closely they resembled the latter is impossible to say, as only the shells remain and the soft parts of the animals are unknown. The largest shell today is the giant clam (Tridacna) of the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, which reaches a weight of well over four hundred pounds.
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	Q&A 2.	Which fish lays the greatest number of eggs?
	Several kinds of fish are noted for the large number of eggs produced at one time. The herring may lay 30,000 eggs in a season; but its near relative, the alewife, may produce 100,000; and the menhaden, 150,000. This number is small, however, compared to the unbelievably vast numbers of eggs that may be produced by members of the cod Family (Gadidae). A codfish weighing 75 lbs. contained an estimated 9,100,000 eggs, while a ling (Malva) on record was estimated to contain 28,361,000 eggs. In the case of codfish, only about 1 out of every million fry produced survives to maturity.
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	Q&A 3.	What is the smallest fish in Florida?
	This is the tiny "least killifish", Heterandria formosa, which reaches a length of about an inch, though the male is somewhat smaller. The least killifish lives in fresh or slightly brackish water, though it prefers the former habitat. This fish was once thought to be the smallest of all fishes, but that distinction is now held by a tiny goby found in certain Philippine lakes. This goby is an egg layer while Heterandria bears its young alive.
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	Q&A 4.	What is the largest freshwater fish in the world?
	Among strictly freshwater fishes the record for size is held by the arapaima or Pirarucu, Arapaima gigas. This fish is found in the rivers of Brazil and the Guianas, and reaches a weight of 400 pounds and a length of 15 feet. The arapaima is elongate in shape and rather sluggish in its movements. A smaller relative (Osteoglossum) occurs in northern and central South America and has a pair of forward-directed, flaplike appendages on the tip of its lower jaw.
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	Q&A 5.	What is the most valuable fish?
	As far as science is concerned, this is probably the Crossopterygian fish, Latimeria chalumnae, only one of which has ever been captured. This fish like others of its Family, was thought to have been extinct since the age of the dinosaurs until a single specimen five feet long and of a bright blue color was taken off South Africa in 1938. Other rare fishes are the ribbon fishes or deal-fishes (Trachypteridae), which attain a great size in some instances, and are usually found only when washed ashore dead or dying, though smaller specimens are sometimes taken in trawls.
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	Q&A 6.	That fish has the longest head in proportion to its body?
	The strangely-formed cornetfish, Fistularia tabacaria, has what is perhaps the most prolonged head in fishdom. The small mouth is borne at the end of the elongated tubular snout, and the body is greatly elongated as well. The eye is most remarkable in being wider than it is high and having an elongate horizontal pupil. From the middle of the tail fin extends a long filament which trails behind the fish as it swims. Cornetfishes are inhabitants of coral reefs and the tropics generally.
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	Q&A 7.	What is the largest of all sea shells?
	The giant Tridacna clam of the south Pacific end Indian oceans has a pair of shells so massive that they will weigh in excess of 200 pounds. These clams are often high1y abundant about certain Pacific reefs, and they are said to constitute a potential hazard to divers, who might possibly step into one of these clams and become trapped as the shells close. The Tridacna, despite its enormous size, subsists wholly on tiny, single-celled algae plants.
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	Q&A 8.	What are the largest and smallest species of shark?
	The largest shark is the whale shark, (Rhincodon typus), which reaches a known length of 45 feet, and may grow larger. This species does not have predatory habits as do most sharks, but feeds on small shrimp-like animals as well as small fishes, which it strains from the water through its sieve-like gills. The smallest known shark is the little Etmopterus from deep waters of the Caribbean and elsewhere, which reaches a length of a little more than one foot.
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	Q&A 9.	While returning from our annual hunting and fishing trip a friend asked me if, I knew the weight of the biggest fish ever caught. I was surprised to hear this was in the neighborhood of 30,000 lbs. He tells me that this fish was captured either in 1919 or 1927. Is this a "fish story"? Jacksonville, Florida
	The fish that your friend spoke of is not, technically speaking, a true fish since it is a shark. Sharks are separated by scientists from the "true" bony fishes. The big catch referred to was of a whale shark. Its scientific name is Rhincodon typus. The whale shark, as is all members of the sharp group, is distinguished from true fish primarily because of its skeleton which is formed of cartilage instead of bone as in the true fishes. The whale shark can be separated from the rest of its relatives by its enormous size, spotted color, and mouth at the tip of the snout. According to creditable sources, the catch that you refer to was reported at Knight's Key, Florida, in June 1912 by Capt. Charles Thompson of the “Samoa.” This whale shark was 38 feet long and its weight was estimated at 26,594 pounds. In recent newspaper accounts this animal has increased in size to 45 feet long and in weight to 30,000 pounds!
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	Q&A 10.	What is the largest hammer head shark ever caught? Fort Lauderdale, Florida
	The Great Hammerhead (Sphyrna tudes) is the largest of this group of sharks. In the Atlantic, this species grows to at least fifteen feet in length. Because of the tremendous size that is attained by this species of sharks, most of the larger ones have never been weighed. A fourteen foot two and one-half inch specimen caught off Acapulco was cut into sections so that it could be weighed. The total weight of the sections came to 1047 pounds. However, as this was twenty-four hours after it was caught it was "estimated" by the fisherman to have originally weighed between 1200 to 1500 pounds. This estimate seems to us to be a typical "fish" story.
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	Q&A 11.	What is the longest of all invertebrates? Miami, Florida
	This is a marine burrowing worm, Lineus longissimus, which is reported as reaching a length of 75 feet when fully extended. Lineus is a member of nemerteans (round worms) which are legless and for the most part burrow through the mud in shallow water. Despite its length, this worm is only about half an inch in diameter. It is harmless. The bulkiest of all invertebrates are the giant deep-sea squids, at least one species attaining a length of 50 feet or more.
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	Q&A 12.	Is the whale the biggest fish in the sea? Coconut Grove, Florida
	To begin with the whale is not a fish but a mammal. Only in the last 300 years have naturalists discovered that the whale is not a fish. It was once a land creature which probably took to the water in search of food. It still has five "fingers" in the skeleton of its flappers, while buried deep in the flesh of its body are two useless bones, the remainder of what were once hind legs. Unlike fish, it has to surface regularly to breathe atmospheric air, although it can stay under water for an hour or more. However, it is the largest creature in the sea. A fat 100 foot blue whale may weigh 160 tons, or more than 20 African elephants.
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	Q&A 13.	What is the largest sea shell? Punta Gorda, Florida
	This is the giant clam, Tridacna gigas, of the Great Barrier Reef of Australia and adjacent areas. The massive, fluted shell of the giant clam may reach a length of four feet and the entire animal may reach a weight of over 450 pounds. Another huge shell is the univalve bailer shell also found in Australian waters, and which is employed by the natives as a dipper with which to bailout their outrigger canoes.
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	Q&A 14.	What is the world's smallest fish? Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
	There are many very small fish and many fish in their larval stages which are minute but the smallest fish in its adult form found to date is a little goby from Malabon in the Philippines. This goby, Pandaka pygmaea, was reported by Dr. A.W. Herre in 1929. Pandaka is a quarter of an inch to half an inch in length when adult. It is not only the smallest fish but is also considered the smallest vertebrate in the world. Like all gobies, it is an egg-layer.
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	Q&A 15.	What is the largest freshwater fish? Grand Rapids, Michigan
	While many different species of freshwater fish may achieve large size it is generally believed today that the Asiatic sturgeons are the world’s largest freshwater fishes. Dr. L. S. Berg, Russian ichthyologist reports one weighing a ton. This specimen was of the genus Huso and was thirteen feet long. It was taken in the Amur River of Northern Asia. Ferdinand Hansen of the Romanoff Caviar Company reported a 2250 pound sturgeon which was fourteen feet, two inches long. It was taken in the Volga River near Astrakhan. All the larger reported specimens of sturgeons are females. Their roe, when expertly prepared, is the delicious caviar.
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	Q&A 16.	Not counting fishes and whales, what are some of the large animals which live in the sea? New Orleans, Louisiana
	Several of the invertebrates become very large. A species of the genus Architeuthis, one of the giant squids, grows to about 55 feet in length of which about 35 feet are tentacles. The giant clam of the tropical Pacific is another large animal which lives in the sea. Some members of the genus Tridacna grow to lengths of 41/2 feet and weigh over j 500 pounds. Most of this weight, incidentally, is concentrated in the massive valves of the shell. Among the jelly-fish, Cyanea reaches a diameter of 7 feet and possibly more. This species inhabits the colder waters along both North American coastlines.
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	Q&A 17.	Is it correct to say that marine life in the Pacific is larger in size and weight than in the Atlantic? Certainly there is nothing in the Atlantic comparable to the giant Pacific clams. Is this true of invertebrates in general or only of the mollusks? Miami, Florida
	Certain Pacific species are larger but this is by no means the rule. The giant clams (Tridacna) are the largest bivalved mollusks and they are Indo-Pacific in distribution, but the largest conch (Strombus goliath) is an Atlantic species, and there are large species of horse-conchs (family Fasciolariidae) in both regions. If there is any apparent prevalence of large species in the Pacific fauna, it is probably due to the fact-that the vast, shallow-water, tropical reef belt of that part of the world is extremely varied in its habitats, large in extent, and faunally rich. The tropical parts of the Atlantic are much smaller in extent, the reef areas are less richly developed, and the fauna is not so diverse, due to the fact that extensive changes occurred in the ecology of the area when the Atlantic-Pacific seaway closed late in the Tertiary. Many reef-dwelling species became extinct and their relatives now inhabit only the Pacific region which remained ecologically more stable.
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