Atlantic Spadefish

Spadefish

Chaetodipterus faber

Size: to 36" and 20 lbs.

Habitat: shallow coastal waters

Notes: Spadefishes are not quite as tropical as the others on this page, and typically range to New England. They may form large schools. Babies are uniformly black without stripes.

Spadefish
North Carolina
Herb Segars Photography

leech

Macrobdella spp.

Size: to 10"

Habitat: aquatic

Notes: It's not a nice thought, but there are leeches in our freshwaters, and in marine habitats as well. The species shown is one of the largest and most attractive, if you can say such a thing. It feeds exclusively on vertebrate blood - a good reason to wear a wetsuit, although I've never encountered one. Leeches are actually worms, not insects, but ...