Lionfish

Adaptation

The process by which a species becomes more fit for its environment over the course of several generations. It is a result of natural selection.

The animal at the top of its food chain; it has no natural predators.

Ambush

Sneak attack.

Aquarium Trade

The buying, selling, and shipping of ocean animals for public or personal aquarium tanks.

Camouflage

The ability for an organism to blend into their surroundings usually to hide from prey or predators.

Carnivore

An animal that primarily eats meat.

Cooperative Hunting

A strategy used by some predators to catch prey by working as a team.

Coral Reef

An ocean habitat made of many individual corals typically found in warm, shallow waters.

Fish

A group of ectothermic (cold-blooded) animals that live primarily or entirely in water, have fins instead of limbs, and breathe using gills.

Gills

The respiratory organ that allows fish, amphibians in their larval phase, and crustaceans to absorb oxygen molecules from water.

Mucus

A slimy substance produced by animals (often by a membrane on their skin).

Pharyngeal Jaw

A second set of jaw that sit further back in the mouth that aid in grabbing and eating prey.

Poaching

The illegal act of hunting or capturing an animal.

Predator

An animal that hunts other animals for food.

Prey

An animal that is hunted and eaten by another animal.

Species

A closely related group of animals with similar characteristics that are capable of reproducing (example: tigers).

Temperate

A region that has mild temperatures.

Tropical

A region near the equator that has warm temperatures year round.

Vertebrate

An animal that has a backbone.