In the epipelgic (open-ocean) there are not rocks and tons of plants to hide behind. The organisms that live here have to have some ways of being less obvivous. Protective coloration, or camouflage is a very popular method. One of the easiest and most affective ways to blend with your envirnoment is to be transparent, then your preadtor looks through you rather than at you. This method is used among some jellyfishes, salps, zooplankton(microscopic animals), larvaceans, and comb jellys.

Another very common method is countershading. This is where the back of the animal is dark colored and the belly is light colored. This is so if a predator is viewing you from the top it sees deep blue ocean, and if it sees you from the bottom you blend with the light being filtered through the water. Most epipelgic fish also have slivery sides that reflect light. This helps them blend when either viewed from the side or from below. It is also common for them to have distorted coloration patterns or vertical bars that help break up their outline.

In closer to shore, animals use some additional techniques. Some small fish for example have a dark spot near the middle of their body which serves as a "fake eye", which makes them appear to be a larger fish. The rock fish is a master of camouflage by perfectly blending in with the bottom of the sea floor and patiently waiting for unsuspecting prey to swim by.Many other animals use sand, other organisms, plants, coral and other very common things in their environment to blend in with.

Another technique that is much more obvivous is that of intimidation. This methods is used when a organsim wants to advertise that it is poisionous. This is done through the use of bright reds and yellows, as in the fire sponge a bright red that has toxins in its spicules. I have listed a great web-site and textbook to get several different examples of animals displaying these techniques.

• construction paper (one package of multicolored)
• scissors,
• glue
• sand (playground is perfect)

This activity is for the whole class, have the kids do much of the cutting and pasting, helping only if needed. Take a red, light brown and yellow piece of construction paper and set them aside. Next take a black piece and cut out strips. Glue the strips in vertical lines on to a yellow piece of paper. Make four of these and cut out a simple outline of a fish when the glue is dry. Next take the light brown and red paper and cut out two fish outlines in each color.

Without the kids present take the red, light brown, and stripped fish patterns to the playground. Go to playground and place the red and light brown fish slightly submerged in the sand. Then take the stripped fish far enough away that the kids will not see them first, and place them in a clustered fashion. Next bring out the kids and ask them which fish they can see first. Talk about why the red one is easier to see and why this important to fish in the ocean. Then bring them over to the second section and have one kid be the predator and four kids hold a fish and huddle in a group, have them move around in a haphazard manner. Have the predator chase after them and try to catch one prey. After the kids settle down ask the whole class what the advantages and disadvantages are to having confusing patterns. Did it make it more difficult to select one prey and follow it around in a darting fashion?