Worksheets with one picture of an organism and a description can be used as an introduction to some of the animals the children will interact with during a visit to Gulf Specimen. Please do not let our instructions limit you however, a great imagination is required equipment at our labs!


The activity worksheets are designed to be used after your visit to Gulf Specimen. Directions for their use can be found on each worksheet.

Additional Activities

Have your students draw a picture of their favorite animal or person during their visit to Gulf Specimen and write a sentence explaining why.



Prepare a scavenger hunt for your students that can be carried out during their time at the touchtanks. Examples of things they can look for are:

• An animal that is pink (or any color)
• An animal that has five legs (or any number)
• An animal that doesn't have any eyes
• A plant
• An animal that crawls
• An animal that swims

The possibilities are endless and can be tailored in difficulty to the ability of your class.

If you have any questions concerning our worksheets, assistance in developing field trip curricula for your class, or anything else, please do not hesitate to call Gulf Specimen Marine Lab at (850) 984-5297 or email us at: gspecimen@sprintmail.com.

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This is a Left Handed Whelk.
It is a snail that likes to eat clams and other snails.
It digs through the sand to find its food.

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This is a Sea anemone.
It catches food with its tentacles.
Can you find the shrimp that lives in the anemone?

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This is a Starfish.
Can you count the arms?
If a starfish loses on of its legs, it can grow it back!

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These are sea urchins.
Sea urchins have lots of spines!
Many sea urchins eat algae that grows on rocks on the sea floor.

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This is called an upside-down jellyfish.
This kind of jellyfish doesn't sting!
They're called upside-down jellyfish because they lie upside-down
on the bottom and catch food that falls on top of them with their
tentacles

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This is Orange Devil's Finger Sponge
Sponges are the most basic kinds of animals
They eat by filtering tiny bits of food out of the seawater.

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Horseshoe Crab Word Scramble

Directions: Each arrow points to a different body part on the horseshoe crab. Unscramble the letters to find out what part of the horseshoe crab the arrows are pointing to and write what the part is used for on the line underneath.

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How do they Stay Safe?

Directions: The ocean can be a dangerous place. Draw an arrow from each animal on the right to the way it protects itself on the left.

	stings
Pufferfish
	hides in the sand
Stingray
	electric shock
Flounder
	puffs up
Catfish
	swims in schools
Electric Ray

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Directions: Remember the nurse shark? Circle the animals the nurse shark likes to eat and cross out what they don't.
	Catfish
	Pufferfish
	Spiney Lobster
	Stingray
	Flounder

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