Color Me Purple Part 1: Purple Critters Quiz

Answer: Purple Starfish

Keystone species are plants or animals that play a large, often crucial, role in an ecosystem. As long ago as the mid-1960s, researchers were able to show that the loss of just a few purple starfish (Pisaster ochraceus) played a significant role in the changing of the ecosystem. The health of the ecosystem goes down drastically when the starfish are removed, even in small amounts.

Question from Shadowmyst2004

Answer: Insectivorous

Purple martins (Progne subis) are the largest swallows in North America, and are classified as aerial insectivores. Renowned for their speed and agility, they feed on a wide variety of insects, such as gnats and dragonflies, which they catch in flight. However, mosquitoes seldom feature in their diet as the purple martin's hunting ground is relatively high. During the winter months these birds will migrate towards the Amazon basin, and then westwards into Ecuador, but seldom into the heights of the Andes.

Mucivorous birds feed mainly on sap, the mucus of plants and trees.

Granivorious birds, such as sparrows and finches, feed primarily on grains and seeds.

Frugivorous birds, such as orioles, waxwings, and toucans, will eat fruit and berries, and are therefore seldom welcome into orchards.

Question from Moonraker2

Answer: Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean

The purple firefish (Nemateleotris decora) is found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, typically in a range between Mauritius, Tonga, the Ryukyu Islands, and New Caledonia. It is a fairly small fish, generally not exceeding three inches or so. Despite its small size, it is a strong leaper. Those who keep the purple firefish in an aquarium are advised to select an aquarium with a secure hood.

The main body of the purple firefish is white or yellow, gradually darkening to a gray near the tail. The head is purple and the fins have stripes of purple, red, orange, and black.

Question from bernie73

Answer: India

Also known as the Indian purple frog, this little creature from the Sooflossidae family is found in the mountain ranges along the western coast of India. Astonishingly, and although its tadpole was acknowledged in 1918, the adult purple frog wasn't formally recognised until 2003. That's a bit like the chicken and the egg conundrum. This poor little frog is really ugly, so one has to feel sorry for it. It has a bloated, glistening, light purplish-grey body, and a small head (but one that comes with an unusual pointed nose described as a snout). This has resulted in the unfortunate little creature also being referred to as the pignose frog. Insult to injury. The male is much smaller than the female, only one third the length in fact, but it tries to over-compensate for this with a very loud, harsh call during mating season. "Yoo hoo, honey, I'm hawwwwwme". Sadly though, this call, which is meant to impress the ladies, tends to sound more like a clucking hen. A creature only a mother could love.

Question from Creedy

Answer: Northern South America

The purple honeycreeper (Cyanerpes caeruleus) is a member of the tanager family, with a range covering Colombia, Venezuela, parts of Brazil, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. It is also occasionally found in Panama and Trinidad. The male is the one with the purple plumage, with black accents, whilst the female is much less showy, with pale blue-green and yellow bodies and a reddish head. Their diet consists of fruit, nectar, seeds, berries and small insects.

Question from spanishliz

Answer: Royal gramma (Gramma loreto)

The head of this colorful fish is a purple shade that fades mid-body and then changes to a bright yellow at the tail. These fish also have a distinctive black spot at the front of the dorsal fin. The royal gramma is a relatively small (around 3 inches long) planktivore, meaning it eats microscopic plants and animals found floating in the water. In an aquarium it will generally stake out a territory with a hiding place and defend it from the other fish.

"Finding Nemo" and "Finding Dory" had a royal gramma fish named Gurgle.

Question from mlcmlc

Answer: North America

The eastern indigo snake (Drymarchon couperi) is named for its skin, which is a dark blue-black colour which appears purple in certain lights. It is native to the eastern United States, and can be found in southern states such as Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. Its preferred habitats are sandy areas, though it sometimes shares burrows with gopher tortoises. As it is not venomous, it kills its prey by shaking and beating them to death. Eastern indigo snake populations in northern Florida have suffered due to habitat loss; efforts have been made by the Florida Wildlife Commission to increase numbers in the wild.

Question from Kankurette

Answer: Splendid sunbird

The splendid sunbird (Cinnirys coccinigastrus) is a tiny, but stunningly-coloured bird, similar to a hummingbird both in size and in its ability to hover in the air. Also like hummingbirds, these passerine birds feed mainly on nectar, and their thin, down-curved bills are adapted to this purpose; however, they will occasionally take insects and spiders. Splendid sunbirds are found in west and central Africa, in savannah and wooded areas. As is often the case in bird species, the male is brightly coloured, with most of its body a glossy purple, a dark green back and a red breast patch, whereas the female is a much more subdued greenish-brown colour. The species is listed by IUCN as Least Concern (2018).

All the remaining options are birds found on the African continent.

Question from LadyNym

Answer: Swimming in the Red Sea

Dottybacks are a family of fish that are mostly found around reefs in tropical and sub-tropical ocean waters. The orchid dottyback is only known to reside in the Red Sea (and in numerous tropical aquaria). They are quite suitable for domestic fish tanks, as they are small (up to about six cm long), a beautiful pink-purple color, and generally get along well with other reef-dwelling species. They like to hide in holes or under ledges, so you may find that they tend to spend a lot of time lurking in or under your tank decorations! As they are quite territorial, it is recommended that you only have one per tank, unless the tank is quite large and offers a lot of hidey holes. If you do have a pair, it is suggested that you purchase two of distinctly different size. Orchid dottybacks are protogynous hermaphrodites, which means that they are born female, and can change to males under the right circumstances. In this case, the larger one will usually change to be a male, allowing them to become a breeding pair.

Question from looney_tunes

Answer: Purple sea cucumber

The purple sea cucumber, of the family Cucumariidae (like nearly all species of sea cucumber), has a tough leathery skin covering an elongated body, a nervous system but no true brain, a water vascular system but no heart, and an endoskeleton but no backbone. They filter-feed with retractile tentacles and crawl along the ocean floor with tube feet. This locomotive ability makes purple sea cucumbers definitively animals rather than plants.

Question from gracious1