The Aquarium

 Their secret weapon is not other than the poisonous  sting at the end of their tails that can reach 35 cm in length.

A stingray will not hesitate to use it even against people if it feels threatened and in this case it can cause serious injuries, even local paralysis.  Stingrays reproduce by ovoviviparity, namely eggs are retained within the mother's womb until they are ready to hatch.

The red scorpionfish remains patiently motionless, camouflaged as a stone full of seaweed until the appropriate time comes to attack its prey of preferably crustaceans.

Its secret weapons are the poisonous thorns that rise and are ready to attack without prior warning. If it feels it is in danger, the red scorpion fish remains in its position, confident of the successful camouflage and only at the last moment, if it feels that has been identified, it moves quickly to hide elsewhere. The red scorpion fish is usually found in depths exceeding 20m. 

 It lives for approximately 80 years, and seldom reaches 1m in length. It feeds on jellyfish, molluscs, crustaceans, etc. As it is a marine reptile, the turtle has lungs to breathe and it comes to the sea surface.

One of its most particular characteristics of the turtle Caretta Caretta is that it returns to the same sandy beach it was born in order to lay its own eggs. The eggs hatch after 55 days and the babies start their journey to the sea, a difficult journey that just 1 in 1000 baby turtles manage to survive.

Lucky visitors may see the turtles temporarily hosted at Cretaquarium. They come to the Aquarium injured and after they are cured, they are set free to their natural habitat.

re than just water or salt. A rich microcosmos is hidden in the sea water, unknown to most and invisible to human eye: plankton, a rare and valuable source of life.

The third section of CretAquarium is dedicated to the plankton and plankton-eating organisms!

ves during daytime.

It feeds on molluscs and despite its hard outer shell, its claws are not large. Unfortunately, it is easy prey for many hunters, humans included. Its meet is recherché and is subject of intensive fishing.  In most states of the Mediterranean, various protection fishing measures are nowadays in place, while some states have totally banned its fishing. 

The sea anemone is also called the "sea nettle" as it has itchy cells which secrete a poison capable of killing small organisms and deterring possible attacks.

It is a complicated system for a rather primitive animal. To humans, the sea anemone is totally harmless and only if humans are sensitive to its touch the poison can cause a skin rash.

What is interesting about this fish is how it organizes its social life. The largest ones in size, with more vibrant colours, are the dominating males that have been evolved from… female ones!

In spring, these dominating males create "harems", attracting the females of their territory.

The young males that have need born male tend to live as faithful attendants of the dominant male, or live on the margin, trying to attract females of the harem to fertilize their eggs.

It has many cousins, most famous of all is Nemo, a clown fish with three colour zones that inspired the famous Disney movie.

The clown fish is the only one that manages to fool the anemone and gets close to its poisonous tentacles by using a small technique: chemical camouflage from its own mucus. It lives together with the anemone, as a couple does, and usually feeds on zooplankton. 

he Suez Canal.

Today, there are two types of them in the Mediterranean:  one type is Siganus Rivulatus that usually has yellow horizontal stripes across its belly and the other one is Siganus Luridus that has darker colours, olive green-brown, that can change. Their caudal fin is the feature that distinguishes them: The fin of Siganus Luridus is straight at its end, whereas the one of Siganus Rivulatus has a slight curve.