Create a Creature Project dylan kraemer, Period 5

Name of Organism

Common name: Fighting Turtle

Scientific Name: Pugna Turtures

The Fighting Turtle derived its' name because of the spike like needles that are attached to the organism's shell. The Fighting Turtle is also very aggressive when fighting or hunting. The word "pugna" is the Latin word for fighting and the word "turtures" is the Latin word for turtle. The organism scientific name is an exact translation of its' common name in Latin.

The Fighting Turtle

Ocean Zone and Habitat

The Fighting Turtle's main habitat is near a coral reef, the green color of the body and shell help to easily camouflage with the green plants near or in the coral reef. The organism grows up on a coral reef where they learn to hunt by another member of their species. The Fighting Turtle can and will leave the coral reef at times but no for long durations of time and not very far off the reef. The main zone the organism lives in is the Pelagic Zone, this consist of the entire water column. The other zones the organism falls under are the Neritic zone, less than 200 meters deep, area above the continental shelf. The other two zones are the Euphotic zone and the Epipelagic zone, here light is very visible and contains 90% of all ocean life. Abiotic factors in these zones are high sunlight, lots of oxygen, warm temperature and low pressure.

the Fighting Turtles main habitat, Coral Reef

Physical Traits and Adaptations to Environment

The Fighting Turtle has a thick shell to protect its' body from attacks of predators. The shell not only is hard but contains extremely sharp spikes, easily sharp enough to kill small prey and kill or injure larger prey. The color of the organism is multiple shades of green to camouflage itself from predators. The green allows the Fighting Turtle to hide in places like thick seagrass and coral reefs without being spotted. The Fighting turtles neck is specifically longer than a regular turtle. This was an adaptation that has been perfected. The use of the long neck is to easily stick its' head in small places that its whole body can't fit into. This is very useful for catching prey.

The Spiky shell and long neck

Locomotion

The Fighting Turtle uses its' front flippers to swim through the water and move itself. The front flippers are quite large to swim faster in the ocean. The back flippers are mainly used to stabilize and direct the organisms path while swimming.

Front flippers to swim

Respiration

The Fighting Turtle breathes air through the external nares located above their mouth. There are muscles inside their shells that expand and contract to move air in and out of their lungs.

Feeding

The Fighting Turtle uses its' camouflage to hide in green places when the organism hears prey come by it uses its' hind flippers to push off the area it is hiding on and punctures the prey with its' sharp shell. The attack is almost always fatal. The Fighting Turtle will then just simply eat the prey. If the attack isn't fatal the Fighting Turtle will either attempt to stab the prey again or just eat the prey while it is alive yet very injured and defenseless. The Fighting Turtle's diet consist mainly of small shrimp, crab, lobster, fish, and plants. The Fighting Turtle is an Omnivore, eating both meat and plants.

Some prey in the Fighting Turtles diet

Reproduction

The Fighting Turtle reproduces by mating. A female and a Male Fighting Turtle will mate and make babies that grow in eggs. The mother will lay the eggs 3 months after mating season in a steep hole she will dig out with her hind flippers. The whole is typically near or in either a coral reef that is familiar to the parents or high sea grass where the eggs will most likely not be seen. The mother will check on the eggs daily to make sure they are safe. When they hatch the babies learn from their parents how to do simple things like hunting and eating.

The mother will dig a hole under sea and burry the eggs till they hatch

Defense Strategies

The Fighting Turtle has a few defense strategies. Obviously the main defense strategy is the spikes on the turtle's shell. This is used to keep away predators and hunt prey. The spikes ward off predators just by the look of them. The turtle can also retract its' head and flippers into the shell. No other sea turtle can do this. This is very useful when predators are attacking because they basically become a ball with spikes and nothing can get to the turtles body. The last strategy is the art of camouflage, The green color of the turtle makes it very hard to detect the turtle when it's hiding in plant life.

The Fighting Turtles main defense strategy, the spiky shell

Plankton, Nekton, or Benthos?

The Fighting Turtle is nektonic. This means that it swims freely in the ocean. The Organism can easily maneuver through the water column. Nektonic organism live at every depth of the ocean and include fish, whales, otters, other turtles, etc.

the Fighting Turtle swims freely through the ocean

Credits:

Created with images by lpittman - "divers underwater ocean"

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