You've Got
No
Backbone
or
The Big Book
of Things
You Should
NOT
Eat
by
Stony Point Elementary School's
5th Grade Students
January 2001
This book
is dedicated
to the 5th graders who:
researched, sketched and wrote about
an invertebrate of choice,
mixed paint from primary colors
using an eraser tip to paint,
studied complimentary colors,
and
were inspired
by
Chuck Close, the artist
and
Georges Seurat, the Pointillist.
"Pointillism is a technique for portraying the play of light using small
dots and tiny brushstrokes of contrasting colors, creating compositions with
tiny, detached strokes of pure unmixed primary colors too small to be
distinguished when looking at the entire work but the paintings shimmer with
brilliance."
BLUE-RINGED OCTOPUS
By Aaron Hackett
The Blue-Ringed Octopus is a mollusk that is very deadly.
After it gets close, it will bite and then spit poisonous saliva
into its prey’s wounds. Then it moves in for the kill tearing up
flesh with its sharp beak. The bright blue rings are a warning
for its deadly spit. Even the warning of color is too late before
it pops out of the shadows spitting and biting. Be careful the
next time you go swimming in Australia because there might
be a Blue-Ringed Octopus lurking around!
The Snakelocks Anemone
by Angus
The long, sticky tentacles of the anemone
that grows up to be 20cm across vary in color from dull grey brown
to vivid green with purple tips.
The Seapen
The seapen is a coelenterate. That means it has
stinging cells. You can find seapens in colder waters like in
Canada. They live at the bottom of the ocean burrowing in
the deep mud between reefs. They can burrow as much 15
meters into the mud. They also have a muscular foot that
they use to move.
By Anna Watson
Mexican Red-Kneed
Tarantula
by Ashby
The Mexican Red-Kneed Tarantulas are endangered. They
can regenerate missing legs. It will take about 7 years for a leg
to grow back. If the Mexican Red-Kneed Tarantula is threatened,
it will rear up and display its red bristles on its body. It drops
poisonous hairs on its victim who will break out in a rash. It
also has poisonous fangs that it uses to inject in its prey.
Although it has eight eyes, it doesn't have very good eyesight so
it uses the sensitive hairs on its legs for guidance.
The Hermit Crab
In my picture there is a hermit crab. I know that they have ten
legs. I learned that when a hermit crab senses danger, it quickly
draws back inside its shell and seals the entrance with its hard
claws. A hermit crab is red and orange with white dots.
By:
Brooke Lilly
he Brittle Star
By Cadessa Davis
The brittle star belongs to the group of echinoderms.
The brittle star moves around in the ocean with its fragile
arms. They live in a tidepools. The brittle star uses its
fragile arms to open up food. They eat oysters, clams, and
mostly other shelled animals in the ocean.
The brittle star has spiny skin. All of the echinoderms
have spiny skin. The brittle star has five arms. The brittle
star has red triangles and white dots for color. The brittle star
has a blackish brown body.
Octopuses
Octopuses have eight tentacles, which are good for their wet habitat.
Octopuses live in the ocean. Some can shoot an inky substance from
their siphon to blind enemies. This one cannot. Octopi usually have
beaks. Octopi have four hearts! Octopi change color according to
their mood. They change red when they are angry or exited.
B
Byy C
Cooddyy L
Leew
wiiss
South African Rock Scorpion
The Flat Rock Scorpion is supposedly the longest scorpion in the
world. It is very terrestrial. It grows to be 5.5” to 7.5 “ long.
The Flat Rock does not usually attack somebody unless it attacks
its young. At that point, it does not hesitate to pinch. There are so
many colors of scorpions -- mine is brown. They are different
colors because of their locations. Babies feed on crickets and other
small insects. Adults feed on crickets and other big bugs.
by Cory Hale
A Branching Sponge
by Crystal Brittain
A Branching Sponge is named after their shape.
They stay attached to rocks all their lives.
Also many Sponges live on coral reefs.
They come in a variety of colors and shapes.
They were once thought to be plants but they are animals.
They feed by filtering food from water that passes through their body.
Spiny Sea Star
By Dannette McGee
The Spiny Sea Star has a brownish tan looking color to it. It
has a lot of different colors. The cool thing about it is that it
can regenerate a lost arm. Regenerate means they can regrow something they lost. Their scientific name is
Echinoderm. I found this animal at www.ajkids.com and I
found the Invertebrates in an Eyewitness book called
Seashore. They have five pairs of legs. On the bottom of the
sea star’s arm is a little red dot for them to look up and “see”
what’s going on. Sea Stares can be found at the bottom of
the ocean.
The Giant Squid
By Daniel Martin
The giant squid is the world’s largest invertebrate. It’s very
difficult to study this creature because it’s so hard to find.
Giant squids can grow up to 15 meters long and weigh up to
1900 pounds. There was a giant squid washed up on Plum
Island in Massachusetts in 1980. It is only the third giant
squid found on U.S. shores. The squid was a 9 foot, 400
pound female squid. Its tentacles were gone and its maroon
colored skin was gone when it washed on shore. The
estimated length of the giant squid's tentacles are about 30
feet.
Yellow Seapen
By Eden Miller
Seapens are coelenterates. They are also very rare. Their habitat is
the sandy bottoms between reefs. Seapens are found in colder
waters like Canada. They also have a muscular foot to help them
move. Between the reefs where they stay, it has to have deep soft
mud 15 meters deep. Seapens are lots of different colors. Seapens
are hard to find so we don’t know a lot about them, because they are
usually buried under the mud.
A Nudibranch
by Emily
My nudibranch’s scientific name is Chromodoris willani.
Nudibranch’s are more commonly known as sea slugs. They are
a type of mollusk. Mollusks are soft-bodied animals with a
muscular foot. They also usually have shells.
The Luna Moth
The Luna moth lives in Eastern America and Canada. It
is also known as a “Moon Moth”. The Luna moth’s wingspan is
5 inches. It has long tails at its end. It has feathery
antennae. The head is hidden so many birds in trees will peck
at it’s long tail instead of it’s head.
By Evan Ware
The Imperial Scorpion
by Giles Leake
The Imperial Scorpion, with a body seven inches long, is the
largest scorpion in the world. It is from West Africa. The
smallest scorpion is the Typholchactas mitchelli measuring only 0.4
of an inch.
THE GYPSY MOTH
by Heather
The Gypsy Moth is an insect and part of the moth family.
The male is brown and the female is white with brownish black spots. The Gypsy
Moth goes through 4 stages through their life, 1 an egg and when it hatches, 2
becomes a caterpillar and eats and eats and then 3 makes a cocoon around
itself and when it breaks through it, 4 becomes a Gypsy Moth.
Saltwater Jellyfish
By
Jenny Platt
This is a picture of a saltwater jellyfish. They are in the
crustacean group of invertebrates. Their tentacles have
a powerful sting and they can have up to 800 of them.
They eat fish, of all types. Jellyfish are soft and ghostly
looking. They are about the size of a quarter when fullygrown.
The Sea Gooseberry
The Sea Gooseberry is a coelenterate. It is called the Sea
gooseberry because it resembles the fruit of the gooseberry
as it swims with its gelatin body. It can grow up to be 15mm
long and have 8 evenly spaced combs. The Sea Gooseberries’
long tentacles originate from bulbs at the base of it. The
combs of the sea gooseberry are usually used to propel it
forward while it has sticky spots that collects zooplankton and
brings it to the mouth. One of the sea gooseberries biggest
threats is when it opens its carnivorous mouth and swallows
anything that comes in as it swims. If a predator is detected
the comb reverses and steers away from danger. You may
find this predator on the Pacific coast from Mexico to Alaska
By Jeremiah Santana
Sea slug
The sea slug lives in the sea and can change its color. It
has a muscular foot to move around. It is a mollusk and it
eats little particles from the sea.
By Jessica Charlie
The Octopus
The octopus in the picture above can lay up to 150,000 eggs in two
weeks. The octopus does not eat until her eggs hatch. Most octopuses
never get to see their babies because it takes up to fifty days to hatch.
When the babies are born they weigh up to one pound and twelve ounces.
One octopus has over 100 suckers. They have over 60 suckers on one leg,
big or small.
The End
By Joanna Brown
The By The Wind Sailor
By Jonathan Pulzone
The By The Wind Sailor is a jellyfish. It has a fin on its back. It is seethrough. It is located from the oceans in Mexico to North Carolina. It
usually floats on the surface of the ocean. It probably got its name from the
flap on its back.
The Striped Sea Anemone
The Striped Anemone is 19mm high and 6mm wide. It’s brown to olivegreen column is usually covered with vertical stripes of orange, yellow, or
cream. The Striped Anemone lives on solid objects in shallow water. It also
lives in brackish water and in salt marshes. It has been observed and
reported near Maine, the Chesapeake Bay, Texas, Washington, and even
California.
By, Kane Kashouty
Man-Of –War
The Portuguese Man-of-War is a coelenterate. This
means that they have stinging cells on their tentacles. The
tentacles can be over 15 meters long. They also have large
floats that are filled by a gas-gland inside. It would be very
painful if one stings a human. Although some fish are not
harmed by its sting, like the ocean sunfish. The ocean
sunfish will actually eat Man-of-War.
Ben Perdue
THE DARING JUMPING SPIDER
By Matt Fife
The daring Jumping Spider lives from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. It lives in rotten wood,
tree trunks, dead trees, fallen limbs and gardens. It eats
insects. It goes into houses and hides on windowsills and
on shelves and hunts for food. It is black and white.
The Morpho Didius Butterfly
By Max Connor
The Morpho Didius Butterfly is a colorful sight. It is 6 in. wide and
5 in. tall. It is the largest colored morpho butterfly. The male
morpho is blue and the females have brown on their upperwings.
All morpho didius butterflies have white dots on the sides of their
wings. They also have different color dots on the under side of
their wings. They never come down to land except to drink from
sandy riverbeds. Long ago Indians used their wings for ritual
dances and making masks.
THE MONARCH CATERPILLAR
The monarch caterpillar is black with yellow stripes. It will
only eat milkweed. When it becomes a butterfly, the three
pairs in front will stay and be the butterfly’s legs. The back
pairs will become wings. Then it will be fully morphed into
the monarch butterfly.
-Sally
The Starfish
The starfish in this picture is very dangerous because if you
get too close, it will stick you with its stickers. They will get
stuck in your foot and will not come out right away. The
starfish is not a fish. It is an invertebrate. It lives in the sea.
In the sea, it is a dark color and out of the sea, it changes to
a light color. The starfish is the prettiest invertebrate in the
sea. The starfish is shaped like a star. It got the name
starfish because it moved like a fish and floats like a fish.
by Samantha
The Ghost Crab
The Ghost Crab is a crab that is an invertebrate. The
group that they’re in is the Crustacean group. It was named
Ghost Crab because when their enemy is coming toward
them, they disappear under the sand as if they were a real
ghost.
As you may already know, this kind of crab lives on
beaches. The Ghost Crab feeds on sea turtle eggs, and
hatchlings, plus sand hoppers.
By Morgan Watt
The Grasshopper
By Stewart Beazell
Grasshoppers are insects. Insects are part of a group called
Arthropods. Arthropods are invertebrates. The grasshopper is
green. It helps the grasshopper blend in the grass.
Grasshoppers can cause damage to corn by eating ears and
leaves. They also can be found on soybeans. Grasshopper
nymphs were devastating the soybeans on July 15, 1996. You
might have thought that they were cute but think again!
Io Moth Caterpillar
By Tommy Hernandez
This is a picture of the Io moth caterpillar. It looks like it has green
string sticking out of it. Those little stringy things are toxic to the touch.
When an enemy grabs it, the stringy things ooze out poison. When it
cocoons itself, it turns into a moth. The red and white stripe is to scare
away enemies.
THE DESERT SCORPION
The desert scorpion could kill a single person with its
poison. The scorpion is an arthropod and has 2 main body parts. It is a
crustacean. I wish that I could get one some day. It has 3 pairs of legs,
which means it has 6 legs.
The End
Wayne Norford
The Railroad Worm
The Railroad Worm lives in South and Central America. The Railroad
Worm is not really a worm at all but is like a worm. It can grow to be
3 inches long. If it is disturbed, it will start to glow. The reason is that
it has a chemical reaction in its body. When it is glowing, it can be a
yellow-green to a bright red color. I do not think it is deadly.
Anthony Matos
Bulldog Ant
The bulldog ant is the largest species of ant in the world. They are found in
Australia. They can grow up to be 40 mm long. The bulldog ant is active in the
day and calm at night. They prefer to build their nests under bushes. The
bulldog ant is an ant with a long head, large eyes, and powerful long jaws. It is
an ant to be avoided because it stings like a wasp! They are deadly insects
when they attack in numbers. They will finally kill you! They are poisonous
insects. Approximately thirty stings can kill a full-grown man. This is becomes a
problem because they will defend their nest aggressively. The bulldog ant has
long legs and it has a long body.
Brian Clarry
The Monarch Butterfly
by
Chris Batt
It is black and orange. They lay white eggs. The caterpillar
is black, yellow, orange and cream stripes. It is a common
poisonous butterfly found worldwide. Animals that eat it get
sick. It lays eggs on the poisonous milkweed. The butterfly
drinks nectar from the flowers. They can live up to 8 or 9
months. In the fall, they fly from Canada and the US to
Mexico, where they live in the winter that is over 2000 miles.
Lingus Tree Snail
by
Carter
One thousand years ago these snails came to America from Cuba on
floating logs which were blown ashore by hurricanes. They now live
in the hammocks of the Everglades. In the fall, after they mate, the
adult snail lays 30 eggs. The eggs are never safe from their
predators because they dig them up and then eat them. Their shells
are 2 or 3 inches long and are spiral. They are also a big collector's
item. They feed on microscopic lichens. In South Florida, the
development is moving rapidly. If it does not stop, the snails will be in
great danger.
Ladybugs
by
Elinor Allen-Henke
Ladybugs belong to the insect group, which is the largest
group of arthropods. They are 4-5 mm long. The head of
the male is white and the head of the female has a large
black spot. Ladybugs are vegetarians. I wanted to research
ladybugs because they are my favorite arthropod.
Gastrotrich
By Hunter Beasley
A Gastrotrich is a microscopic animal that has cilia to
help it move. The Gastrotrich is common in aquatic
environments worldwide and has sticky tubes along the
sides of its body for clinging to things. They are found
in oceans, marshes and even puddles! Most freshwater
species are entirely female. The Gastrotrich ranges in
size from 0.1 to 1.5 mm. (0.004 to 0.06 inches).
Adonis Blue Butterfly
This butterfly is threatened in its
grassland habitat in France. It is now
protected by law. It hangs out with other
butterflies in big fields. It passes the winter
in its chrysalis stage and in the late spring it
comes out. You can only see this butterfly in
France in fields of wildflowers.
Mariah Martin
THE PUSS MOTH
CATERPILLAR
BY NICK A PAYNE
This caterpillar has a few tricks up its sleeve if it is
about to become lunch for a bird. It will rear up and
shoot out a red string and if that doesn’t scare the bird
it will shoot out a stinging formic acid. It also has
huge fangs for cutting through leaves.
American Brown Recluse Spider
Paul Michel
The American Brown Recluse spider is in the
family of the recluse spider. It has been known to kill
when it bites. When the spider bites it will look like a
large mosquito bite. Then the bite becomes the size of a
quarter. The bite swells and increases in size. Necrosis,
or rotting flesh, may appear.
The Brown Recluse spider is the most poisonous
spider in the US. It’s seen mainly in houses. A bite
occurs when the spider is disturbed while sitting in a
cloth or towel or shoes. They prefer warm climates.
Horseshoe Crab
By Reniya Lewis
They have 5 pair of legs and a hard shell. You can step on it
on the beach. If they get mad at you, they put their tail up
and you step on it and it hurts. When they are born they are
so little. If they get pushed over by a wave, they use their tail
to flip their body back over. They are a living fossil. They
are not really crabs. They are related to spiders.
Blood Star
By Sarajanee Davis
The Blood Star is a sea star like most others. It is a member
of the group echinoderms. The blood star is usually found
on rocky ocean shores. With this particular sea star, the
number of arms may vary but this one usually has five. It
has another name as well: Blood Henry. It takes longer
than other sea stars to regenerate lost arms. This sea star
was very interesting to study.
The Scorpion
by Meredyth
Scorpions are venomous arthropods that are classified as arachnids.
The scorpions have a small tail and sting which they use to subdue
prey. Some scorpions use their tails to handle prey. The desert
scorpion is one of the most venomous scorpions in the world. The
longest scorpion in the world is the South African scorpion. It
reaches the length of 8 inches long. Scorpions are nocturnal,
animals that feed on a variety of insects, spiders, centipedes and
other scorpions. The average female gives birth to about 25-35
young. The average scorpion probably lives three to five years, but
some species undoubtedly live atleast 10-15 years. The world's most
venomous scorpion can be found in North Africa. If you get stung
you will most likely die.
Giant Swimming Nudibranch
Dendranatus iris
By Steve Norum
Nudibranchs are sea invertebrates that can be found
almost anywhere in the world, including the Antarctic. They
are usually very colorful, but sometimes have camouflage.
Some nudibranchs have colorful gills. Nudibranchs are
essentially snails without shells. The giant swimming
nudibranch eats only the tube-dwelling anemone
(Pachycerianthus finbriatus). Most nudibranchs have a
ribbon of teeth called a radula. The giant swimming
nudibranch lives in the waters near British Columbia,
Canada. It can grow up to 200 millimeters (7.8 inches) long.
The Rainforest Dazzler
The Rainforest dazzler lives in South America.
It's in the group of butterflies called Morphos.
Morphos have brown underlings to hide them
from prey. They are known to include some of
the world's most dazzling butterflies. Some
morpho's wings are used in the making of
jewelry.
Kaylyn