Snipfact:

  A giant squid caught in 1878 had tentacles 10.7 m (35 ft) long and weighed about 1,814 kg (4,000 lb).

  An Atlantic lobster weighing 19.25 kg (42.44 lb) was caught off virginia, USA in 1934. It was nicknamed mike.

  Pea crabs measure only about 64 mm (2.5 in) across the shell.

  The giant spider crab’s body measures up to 30.5-35.6 cm (12-14 in) across and it has a claw span of 2.4-2.7 m (7.8-8.8 ft).

  The black marlin fish lays as many as 226 million eggs.

  Emperor penguins sometimes dive to depths of 265 m. In 1987 a leatherback turtle fitted with a depth-gauge reached a depth of 1,200 m. Sperm whales regularly dive to 1,200 m and experts think they may sometimes go down to twice this depth. Fish called brotulids are the deepest-living vertebrate animals. They have been found in deep-sea trenches at 8,300 m – that is almost as deep as mount Everest is high.

  Fish and shellfish are popular foods worldwide. Nowadays, more is specially reared by aquaculture (fish farms) than by capture (using traditional fishing lines and nets).   Type of fish  and Total catch in 2005(tons) Herrings, sardines,anchovies –22,404,769 Carps, barbelts, cyprind – 20,190,081 Cod, hake, haddock – 8,973,067 Tunas, bonitos, billfish – 6,266,037 Shrimps, prawns – 6,091,869 Clams, cockles, arkshell – 4,881,556 Oysters – 4,781,545 Squid, cuttlesifh, octopus – 3,892,161 Salmon, trouts, smelts – 3,017,354 Tailpias, cichlids – 2,778,932 Top 10 total – 83,277,371 Aquaculture – 141,403,138 Capture – 93,253,346 World total caught for food – 234,656,484

  In 2005, fish were discovered in Indonesia that measured just 7.9 mm long, making them the smallest known vertebrates. They were adult females of Paedocypris progenetica, a member of the carp family.

  Whale sharks are probably the biggest fish in the world. They are usually up to 12m long – though one caught off Thailand in 1919 was reckoned to be 18m long. Whale sharks eat only plankton – tiny plants and animals that float in water. Basking sharks also eat plankton, but most other big fish hunt. Whale shark 21,000 kg Basking shark 14,515 kg Great white shark 3,314 kg Giant manta 3,000 kg Beluga 2,072 kg Sharptail mola 2,000 kg Ocean sunfish 2,000 kg

  The blue whale is 33.5m long and weighs 130.0 tons The fin whale is 25.0 m long and weighs 45.0 tons The right whale is 17.5 m long and weighs 40.0 tons The sperm whale is 18.0 m long and weighs 36.0 tons

  The marine otter, which lives off the western coast of South America, is the smallest marine mammal. It weights up to 4.5 kg and is about 1.15 m long. The sea otter of North American coasts is slightly larger. Small dolphins include Hector’s dolphin, which lives off New Zealand. It is rarely more than 1.5 m long and 57.2 kg in weight.