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MEET THE ANIMALS

Animal Encyclopedia

Learn about aquatic species

Mote scientists work with many of these species to learn more about their roles in marine ecosystems and how to conserve their populations. You can even visit some of these species at Mote! Click on each species to learn more.

374 Results

Cobia

Cobia are highly adaptable fish, able to survive in environments with low oxygen and high water temperatures. Fairly anti-social,...

Octopus & Kin, Invertebrates

Common octopus

The common octopus has smooth skin with special cells called chromatophores helping them change color quickly. Using camouflage...

Common snook

The common snook is easily identifiable by its distinct black lateral line. It has a sloping forehead, protruding lower jaw, and...

My complete revised and edited photos from the fall term as photography intern. These photos include multiple fish, otters, Cecil, Buffet, seahorses, crabs, and more.

Coney grouper

The coney grouper is a “protogynous hermaphrodite,” meaning some individuals start life as females and later transition to...

Photos of Aquarium Animals by Miguel Montalvo

Convict blenny

Convict blennies have a striking appearance with their brightly colored yellow bodies and irregular black spotting. Their funky...

Convict surgeonfish

Convict surgeonfish are pale yellow-white in color with a compressed body shape, which helps them maneuver through coral and rocky...

Coral catshark

Coral catsharks have color-changing abilities that allow them to adapt to different environments— from sandy sea floors to coral...

Shrimpfish at Mote Aquarium

Coral shrimpfish

Coral shrimpfish are small, slender fish with compressed bodies. They’re yellow-brown in color with a single dark stripe running...

Gorgonian Photos

Corals, Invertebrates

Corky sea fingers

Unlike hard corals, corky sea fingers are soft corals, meaning they do not build a calcium-based skeleton but rather a flexible...

Cottonwick grunt

Cottonwick grunts have silvery-gray bodies with a black stripe along their back and bright yellow horizontal stripes. Juveniles...

Cownose Ray at Mote

Sharks & Rays, Fishes

Cownose ray

The cownose ray has a lighter underside and darker top making them experts at camouflaging themselves in the sand. This helps...

Corals, Invertebrates

Crescent coral

Crescent corals range in color from blue-grey to orange, usually with cream or green lining its borders. This coral species grows...

Crevalle jack

The crevalle jack has a greenish-blue dorsal side and a silvery-white belly. This countershading helps it blend into both the...

Deep sea isopod

Deep sea isopods look like big aquatic insects. They have overlapping segments of hardened calcium carbonate, seven pairs of legs...

Diamondback Terrapin

Diamondback terrapin

Diamondback terrapins are strong swimmers thanks to their muscular legs and webbed toes. Living in dynamic tidal environments,...

Doctorfish Tang

Doctorfish tang

Doctorfish have a flat, oval-shaped body with a grayish-blue or brownish coloration. Thin, darker vertical stripes run along their...

Donkey dung sea cucumber

These sea cucumbers are long, brown and bumpy with tiny tube feet underneath to help them move. Their name and appearance might...

Corals, Invertebrates

Double-forked sea rod

Ranging from yellow to brown in color, double-forked sea rods are branching coral with rigid, thick and long branches coming from...

Dungeness crab

Ranging from red-brown to purple in color, the Dungeness crab has an oval body with eight legs and two claws. The upper (dorsal)...

Dusky pipefish

These slender fish can change color and blend into seagrass and algae to avoid predators. They often mate with more than one partner....

Dusky squirrelfish

Dusky orange and red in color, these fish have horizontal silvery-white stripes along their sides. These fish create a grunting...

Dwarf Cuttlefish

Dwarf cuttlefish

Dwarf cuttlefish are masters of disguise. They have special skin cells—chromatophores— that allow them to rapidly change the...

Dwarf seahorse

Masters of disguise, dwarf seahorses can change the color of their skin to blend in with their surroundings. This is particularly...

Eastern indigo snake

Eastern indigo snakes differ from other snake species in many ways, like utilizing their extremely powerful jaws to capture their...

Eastern mosquitofish

Eastern mosquitofish have silvery-blue bodies with a large balloon-like bump near their pectoral fins, accompanied by a small...

Ember parrotfish

Ember parrotfish are bright blue with minor highlights of yellow, green and pink through their midsection and face. They have...

Photos of Aquarium Animals by Miguel Montalvo

Corals, Invertebrates

Emerald false coral

Emerald false coral are small, soft corals with vibrant, cylindrical-shaped bodies. Their colors can range from purple, orange,...

Emperor angelfish

Emperor angelfish have vibrant colors and distinctive patterns that resemble royal attire. Emperor angelfish are commonly found...

Corals, Invertebrates

Encrusting gorgonian

Encrusting gorgonians are soft corals that grow in thin mat form, stretching flat over hard surfaces and substrates. They have...

Oh Baby! Sharks

Epaulette shark

Epaulette Sharks are known for their ability to “walk” on the ocean floor using their pectoral and pelvic fins, which...

Eyestriped surgeonfish

Eyestriped surgeonfish range in color from light brown to blue with highlights of yellow on their fins and tail. Like other surgeonfish,...

Feather blenny

The feather blenny has two small, feathery extensions just above their eyes that help them sense their environment and communicate....

Corals, Invertebrates

Finger coral

As its name suggests, finger coral looks very similar to human fingers.Their branches are thick and pale in color, growing from...

Corals, Invertebrates

Finger coral

These corals grow in long, upright branches— similar to a tree. They can be cream, brown, pink or blue in color. These corals...

Corals, Invertebrates

Finger leather coral

Finger leather corals vary in color from shades of pink and brown to white and gold. They grow from a single base in a mushroom-like...

Photos of Aquarium Animals by Miguel Montalvo

Fish-eating anemone

These anemones have an orange-red base and white tentacles with pink tips. Each tip has stinging cells called “nematocysts”...

Flag rockfish

The bright red and white stripes serve as a distinctive feature of their appearance, setting them apart from other rockfish species.

Photos of Aquarium Animals by Miguel Montalvo

Fishes, Octopus & Kin

Flamboyant cuttlefish

Flamboyant cuttlefish have the ability to change the color of their skin to camouflage themselves from predators nearby. They...

Flame Cardinalfish

Flame cardinalfish

Flame cardinalfish are easily recognizable by their striking eyes, which feature two solid white lines running around their irises....

Flat Claw Hermit Crab

Flat claw hermit crab

Hermit crabs rely on abandoned shells for protection, and they are known to “shop” for a new shell as they grow, a...

Florida crayfish

Florida crayfish are bright blue in color with minor red spotting near their sides and belly. They have two large claws, eight...

Tomo-Bella the Manatee

Florida manatee

Florida manatees have large, paddle-shaped tails that make gliding through water easy. They have vibrrissae, or whiskers around...

Florida Pompano

Florida pompano

Florida pompano have a silvery body with a bluish-green tint on their back and a yellowish tinge on their belly and fins. They...

Florida sea cucumber

Florida sea cucumbers have rough, leathery skin with small cone-like bumps over their entire body. On their underside, they have...

Foureye Butterflyfish

Foureye butterflyfish

The foureye butterflyfish is named for the large black spots near its tail that resemble a second pair of eyes, confusing predators....

French angelfish

French angelfish have oval, flat bodies that are dark or black with yellow around their eyes, white around their mouths, and yellow...

French grunt

French grunts have oval-shaped bodies with silvery white coloring and bright yellow stripes running from head to tail. They feature...

Gag grouper

Gag groupers spawn several times from January to March, producing up to 1.7 million eggs each time. These fish are protogynous...