An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life.

Natural environments and the animals that live in them can be categorized as aquatic (water) or terrestrial (land). Animals that move readily from water to land and vice versa are often referred to as amphibious.

The term aquatic can in theory be applied to animals that live in either freshwater or saltwater. However, the adjective marine is most commonly used for animals that live in saltwater, i.e. in oceans, seas, etc.

Aquatic animals (especially freshwater animals) are often of special concern to conservationists because of the fragility of their environments.

Aquatic invertebrates

In the study of mollusks, (malacology), the word aquatic is more commonly applied to the freshwater species, because of the convenience of the word marine for the saltwater ones.

Aquatic vertebrates

The term "aquatic animal" can be applied to aquatic or sea mammals such as those in the order Cetacea (whales), which cannot survive on land, as well as four-footed mammals like the river otter (Lutra canadensis) and beavers (family Castoridae). It a

Aquatic animals include for example the seabirds, such as gulls (family Laridae), pelicans (family Pelecanidae), and albatrosses (family Diomedeidae), and most of the Anseriformes (ducks, swans and geese).

Amphibious and amphibiotic animals, like frogs (the order Anura), while they do require water, are separated into their own environmental classification. The majority of amphibians (class Amphibia) have an aquatic larval stage, like a tadpole, but then live as terrestrial adults, and may return to the water to mate.

mr:???? ?????? pt:Animal aquático th:????????

---

Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article