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There are approximately 33,600 species of fish in the world. Different species of fish have adapted to live in a wide variety of enviroments. Fish live in the open ocean, rainforests, freshwater pools, rocky shores, and kelp forests. There are even fish in the desert! This website will also teach you how to draw them, as well as different types of mollusks, like octopuses and clams.

What is a Fish?

There is no solid definition of a fish. Some people might even argue that there is no such thing as a fish. If you were to say that they are all cold blooded invertebrates that live in water, frogs are coldblooded invertebrates that live in water, and tuna are partially warm-blooded. If you were to say that fish are all creatures that evoved from one specific ancestor, that would also include crocodiles and humans as fish. Fish are also usually covered in scales and breathe through gills, but a few types of fish have modified their gills to breathe on land, like a lung, and some species of fish don't have scales. Most scientists have defined a fish as an invertebrate that has breathes through gills throughout its life, and has limbs in the shape of fins. Obviously there are exceptions, but this is accepted by most people.

It is still a topic of debate among some people if fish even feel pain, and many countries do not offer fish the same protections that they do to other animals. Even catch-and-release fishing embeds a hook through the fish's lip. Many people assume that fish are not smart, and dolphins and whales are usually the focus of most studies on marine intelligence. Fish are intelligent, with a manta ray passing the mirror test. A type of rock-pool goby memorizes where the pools are in it's plot of land so that when it is low tide, it can jump from one pool to the next. Triggerfish build elaborate nests for their eggs, and damselfish farm patches of seaweed on coral reefs.

What is a Mollusk?

Mollusks are invertebrates from the phylum Mollusca. There are over 100,000 types of mollusks described, and they live all over the world. Most mollusks live in the water, but there are exceptions, such as microsnails living in limestone hills and common garden snails, but all mollusks need to be kept moist. Mollusks are usually shelled, like clams or scallops, but some have evolved to be without shells, like octopuses and cuttlefish. Some types of mollusk have even been around for longer than the dinosaurs. Many mollusks are used for food, like oysters and mussels, but others are very poisonous, like the cone snails. Mollusks are both vegetarian and carnivorous. Some graze on algae, while others spear fish with poisonous harpoons. The intelligence of a mollusk ranges from the octopus (one of the smartest invertebrates) to the clam, which doesn't even have a brain.

About The Author

Hi! I am a Subfreshman student in Uni High. I enjoy drawing and reading and I want to become a marine biologist.