Identification Guide to Marine
Organisms of Texas

 

New

 

The web site is expandable and will constantly be updated as new species, photographs, and other content become available.

 

Date What's New
May 17, 2013 Added new invertebrate, the pleated sea squirt. Changed the common name of the sea squirt, M. manhattensis, to sea grape.
May 08, 2013 Changed the common name stippled spoon-nose eel to snapper eel.
April 26, 2013 Added 2 new corals: hidden cup coral and diffuse ivory bush coral. Added 1 new red algae, Grateloupia finicina. Added "pinnate" to vegetation glossary. Added more descriptions to hard coral families. Added Fistulariidae to the fish family key.
April 19, 2013 Added 2 new fishes: the violet goby and the red cornetfish. Added new fish family, Fistulariidae. Added a few photos to the green goby.
April 01, 2013 Added new species, the mushroom jellyfish. Added photos to the nudibranch, the Brazilian armina.
March 21, 2013 Added glossary terms for coral skeletons: corallum, corallite, calyx, theca, septum, coenosteum, costa, columella.
March 19, 2013 Add a new species: the northern cup coral with new family, Rhizangiidae (hard corals). Added photos to Atlantic paper mussel, fragile barnacle, interrupted periwinkle, and the smooth mud crab.
March 11, 2013 Added 2 new mollusks: the miniature moonsnail and the semismooth wentletrap.
February 26, 2013 Added 1 bivalve: the Florida prickly cockle; added 2 vegetations: the black mangrove and the largeleaf pennywort.
February 25, 2013 Added a new fish, the lesser electric ray; added 2 new invertebrates: the warty anemone and the common clam worm; added photos to the freckled blenny, the lightning whelk, the giant eastern murex, the quahogs, and the American alligator.
January 21, 2013 Changed 2 fish families: Myliobatidae to Rhinopteridae for cownose rays, Atherinidae to Atherinopsidae for silversides; added whale shark family (Rhincodontidae) to family key.
January 09, 2013 Added new species: whale shark, bottlenose dolphin, American alligator, West Indian manatee. Added underwater photos from TPWD Artificial Reef Marine Speci
December 03, 2012 Added new species: the concentric nut clam, Nuculana concentrica. Added photos to glossary terms tympanum, swim bladder, jugostegalia, oblique and rhinophore.
November 14, 2012 Added new species: the fine-ribbed auger (gastropod). Added photos to the roundel skate, whitespotted soapfish, dusky shark, sergestid shrimp and brown banded hermit crab.
November 07, 2012 Changed the identity of the southern stingray (Dasyatis americana) to the bluntnose stingray (D. say). Added the cannonball jellyfish (Stomolophus meleagris).
November 02, 2012 Added photos to the dusky shark and fat snook.
October 03, 2012 Added new species: the bar jack (fishes), tarpon (fishes), the cinnamon river shrimp, and manatee grass (seagrasses). Also added photos to the yellow jack page.
September 20, 2012 Added a new species: the sooty eel. Corrected the ID of the of the false daisy (previously ID'ed as the Corpus Christi fleabane).
September 14, 2012 Added 1 new fish species: ragged goby. Added 3 new mollusks: tiger lucine, Tollin's wentletrap, crested oyster.
August 31, 2012 Added thumbnail pages for all organisms.
August 30, 2012 Added the fish thumbnail page. Pages for other organisms coming soon.
August 17, 2012 Added more photos to ocellated flounder, gulf toadfish, lined seahorse, bigeye searobin, striped burrfish, alligator and spotted gar. Added new plant, the saltmarsh false foxglove.
August 07, 2012 Added a link to TPWD's Shark Identification and Regulations pamphlet (PDF) to the shark species (under "Bag/size limits").

 

 



Copyright 2012, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Website and contents created by Brenda Bowling (TPWD).