Created by Matthew Cabey

Name of Organism- The common name for my created sea creature is called a "stellyfish" I decided to name my sea creature that because in the pictures above it shows what my creature consist of. My creature is a mixture of a jellyfish and a starfish, hence the name "stellyfish". The scientific name of sea creature is as followed: "aster" which is the greek root for star and "zele" which is the greek word for jelly. Which is why the scientific name is "aster-zele fish".

Ocean Zone and Habitat- My sea creature lives in the intertidal zone, which is the area between the high tide and the low tide line. The stellyfish also lives within the benthic zone, the benthic zone is the entire ocean floor and ranges from tidal areas to the deepest parts of the ocean. The stellyfish also lives in the euphotic zone. The last zone that the stellyfish lives in is the epipelagic zone which means you'll find it laying or swimming in depths of 0-200 meters. The stellyfish spends most of its time on the ocean floor just laying there but will occasionally swim around to find food.

Physical Traits & Adaptations to environment- The stellyfish are usually around a foot in width and around 3 feet long in height. The stellyfish has a brownish color to its skin to disguise itself in the sand when needing to hide from a predator. The stellyfish has the stinging tentacles of jellyfish just incase of a situation if a predator catches it in open water. The stellyfish also has a very rough skin that helps it feel like sand.

Locomotion- The stellyfish doesn't really move from place to place, but when needed the stelly fish will use its tentacles to propel it around the ocean and help it swim.

Respiration- the stellyfish has a special cell that is visible on its body in which it takes the oxygen from the oceans saltwater and sends it through its body.

Feeding- The stellyfish feeds every two days. How the stellyfish eats is it usually opens its mouth located in the center of its tentacles and sucks smaller sea animals in and eats them whole. The stellyfish usually go after a sea animal called krill and some other small shrimps.

Reproduction- The stellyfish mates in the summer time when it is most hot. The stellyfish will find a female and simply lay/rest on top of it. While laying on top of the female the stellyfish will then fertilize the female and will protect the female until the baby stellyfish is born.

Defense Strategies- The stellyfish isn't an aggressive fish unless it has to be. If anything it will go and hide in the sand to get a way from predators. But when needed the stellyfish has the stinging cells of a jellyfish that it will flash its tentacles to worn the predator and if the predator doesn't leave the stellyfish will then sting the predator till it leaves it alone.

The stellyfish would be classified as a benthos fish. This is because it spends most of its time at the bottom of the ocean on the sea floor. Living on the sea floor means that it stays there but will occasionally swim into the pelagic zone for food.