152.WHAT IS A STORMY PETREL?
To begin with, the stormy petrel is a bird, but a rather unusual bird. It gets its name (“petrel”) from St. Peter. St. Peter is said to have walked on the water, and these birds seem able to do the same thing!
All we know is that they are web-footed birds (In fact, the smallest of all web-footed birds) and that they manage in some way to stay above the water as if they are “wa1king” on it.
151.WHAT IS A SEA HORSE?
Even though the sea horse is a fish, there is very little about it to suggest a fish. It has a head shaped like a pony. Instead of scales, the body of a sea horse is encased in rigid plates and thorny spikes. And its tail is like a snake’s!
The sea horse doesn’t even behave like other fish. It usually curls its tail around a bit of seaweed in the water so that it won’t be swept away by the current. When it does swim, it moves about with the help of a single fin which is located on its back, and it moves upright through the water.
150.WHAT IS A SCALLOP?
Did you ever eat a dish of fried scallops? As you looked at the little squares of food on your plate, did you wonder why you had never seen them in the water? What kind of creature was this that existed in square chunks of meat?
Actually, what are sold as “scallops” and what you eat as “scallops” are only the large muscles certain mollusks. These muscles are used to open and close the shells, and they are the only part we eat.
