Firstly I will start from explaining words predator and prey.
Namely in ecology predators are those animals that survive by quarrying on other animals or plants for food. Many predators hunt and eventually kill their prey for example owls are predators and they prey on mice. Predatory animals may hunt in groups like wolves or may be a lone hunter like leopards. Preys are the organisms hunted by predators.
Puffer fish is a great example of an animal which has an anti-predation protection mechanism.
I decided to write about Puffer Fish because it is second the most poisonous animal on the earth following the Golden Poison Frog, as well as its ability to defence itself from predators by using its elastic stomach to inflate huge amounts of water/ air to turn themselves into a “ball” a number of times their normal size, what results in making it much harder to eat.
When facing a hungry hunter the ballfish rapidly swallow around 35 gulps of water in the course of 14seconds which are then pumped into stomach. Biologist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Elizabeth Brainerd, has recently shown that a pufferfish’s stomach is a perfect water ballon. As water pours into it, the stomach expands up to 100 times its normal volume. Pufferfish skin is also set for ballooning. It is made of wavy fibres that straighten out as the fish inflates. When the skin expands the fish’s tail and fins immerse into skin, forming a nearly perfect sphere (balloon). When the wavy fibres finally pull tight, they become hard, giving the pufferfish a tough shell that protect from predators, giving them a hard time to penetrating. Some species have spines normally hiding in these skin fibres, but when skin is tighten spines flip up. When fish gets bigger it gives a signal to predator “don’t come closer I’m not so small as you thought”.
Some ichtiologists argue that the pufferfish developed its ability to inflate due to its slow, clumsy swimming skills which makes the vulnerable to predators. However can we call these animals a prey??
To achieve the ability to such extreme transformation, the puffer fish came through the major evolution of its internal skeleton. Ribs and pelvic part of girdle have been lost and other parts of girdle have been modified to enable the pumping mechanism.
Some species coming from family of Tetraodontiformes also have large spines
Darters are an important part of any stream ecosystem. They generally play the crucial role of secondary consumers, comprising most of their diet of soft-bodied animal...
The California condor or, Gymnogyps californianus, for instance, it has a hooked beak so that they can dig into the carcasses left by previous predators. Unlike its close looking cousins like the eagle or vultures, the condors don’t have a good sense of smell so they depend on their eyes to see their prey. They consume mostly large mammals on which they can eat for days. The California condor is often called "nature’s cleanup crew", because they eat all the dead carcasses left behind. Being scavengers, Condors don’t kill their food; instead they depend on other predators in the area to kill the animals so they can consume the remains.
With hunters, weather changes, other sea creatures, and even being close to populated areas, Narwhals face greater chances of being harmed or killed. There are other factors like contaminants in the waters or the commercial fishi...
Although the Hippocampus spp. are placed into the same class as other organisms more traditionally viewed as fish, their morphology bears distinct differences in comparison to other bony fish. The various species belonging under the genus Hippocampus range in maximum size from 20 mm to 300 mm(Foster 8). Their physical appearance is distinct from other members of its class due to their "horse-like head, monkey-like tail, and kangaroo-like pouch."( Lourie et al 12) Morphologically, seahorses do not have scales like traditional fish, but rather posses bony plates covered by skin. The appearance of bony extrusions and skin ...
The Black carp originated in many of the Pacific drainage areas of eastern Asia, China, and parts of Russia and Vietnam. Black carp was introduced to the United States in the 1970’s to fish hatcheries and to control the populations of disease carrying snails in ponds. Flooding is the main factor to thank for the release of the black carp, which quickly turned into an invasion of the waterways. The Black carp is a medium size fish with the opportunity to become an extremely large fish if the conditions are favorable. “Based on Asian records, large adults may be more than 1.5 m total length and 70 kg or more in weight”(Nico,L.G). The black and grass carp is close to identical in regard to the characteristics of one another. However, the black carp is a slightly lighter color of black, with extremely large scales on the entire body. A black carp has human like molars as teeth that are used to crush snails and mollusks. With a slightly pointed snout that is a likely adaptation used to filter through the bottom of water bodies in search of food. The physical build of a black carp exhibits the design of a bottom-dwelling feeder. Sporting a long snout, large powerful human molar like teeth the black carp is built to succeed in water full of snails and mollusks. This means that the populations of already near extinct native snails and mollusks are at great risk of being
A Bottle-nosed dolphin skeletal system is believed to be originated from the basic mammalian skeleton, but has gone through a number of changes. Firstly the forelimbs have been modified into flippers and the bones of the hind limbs have disappeared altogether. Such bones as the rib cage and the spin have also undergone transformation in the fact that they have cured and caved-in due to water pressure. These creatures hold their breath for about 15 minutes before having to submerge for air. The Bottle-nosed dolphin is an amazingly strong creature. Because it never stops swimming, the Bottle-nosed dolphin has a very powerful tail, which is capable of supporting its weight of about 400 kg.
When someone says the word octopus, an image of an eight legged invertebrate comes to mind. The body structure of a mature octopus is very interesting. Octopuses are extremely intelligent. They have excellent memory can use tools, and are great problem solvers. Only birds and mammals are known to be smarter. Each one of their tentacles, which are used for prying open clam shells, has two rows of suckers that can give them a pretty good grip. An octopus also tastes with its tentacles. An octopus’s third right arm, also called hectocotyli, is also its penis which a male octopus will use to mate at one or two years of age. The only part of an octopus that cannot move or squeeze through small spaces is its beak where it consumes food. This is used for biting and also breaking things apart. Did you know that octopi have three hearts? This is because these sea creatures have extra legs and three hearts are necessary for better bl...
There are several interactions that happen between species. They include competition, mutualism, predation, parasitism, and disease. Each one of these can affect organisms either in a positive or negative way. These are all important for organisms to evolve and become the best fit of their species. Without these interactions species would never change and would die out very easily when faced with tough environments.
Fish were amongst the first known chordates about 500 million years ago. Therefore, they have a very elaborate and complicated evolutionary history. The first type of fish to appear during the Ordovician era were called Ostracoderms. They had their head and flanks covered with a bony armor while they had a cartilaginous back. The shield was used to keep off predators. The extinction of the Ostracoderms during the Devonian period saw the emergence of Placoderms. These types of fish were also armored, but their functional jaws distinguished them from their predecessors. They also have gills derived from their jaws that took over the specialized role of gaseous exchange. Evolution of
Following is a picture of the fish looking up to the ruined form of the arch came along, shows that there are more to the fish then what Mrs. Griffin mentioned. At the very beginning of chapter 8, this picture of fish looking up at the deformed shape of the ark, and the remains of the passengers riding in it, you get the feeling that the fish have more history than being poisonous.
...d insulates the body. Whales have a spinal column, a vestigial pelvic bone, and a four-chambered heart. The neck vertebrae are typically fused, trading flexibility for stability during swimming. ("Whale." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 May 2014. Web. 15 May 2014).
The catfish maintains an advantage over most fish due to its ability to walk on land. This helpful adaptation comes from the pectoral spines which they flex in order to contour to their body in a walking motion. While the adaptation for land walking is impressive the ability to breathe on land is also beneficial. This ability comes from the hills of the fish which have “highly vascularized arborescent organs that act like accessory breathing structures” (Masterson 2007). Their gas bladder is also minimized to allow for stiffening so that the fish do not collapse on the land (Masterson 2007). Along with the voracious appetite of the fish they have other adaptations that make them invasive as well. The fish can survive in waters that most fish cannot such as hypoxic waters or muddy ponds. Along with being nocturnal these survival abilities allow them to invade aquaculture farms and take prey on the fish stock
Their proficiency with their heightened sound and smell senses gives them an advanced system of recognizing whether prey or danger is approaching, determining if danger is imminent, or guiding them to their prey. To enhance their underwater visual capacity, a protective membrane covers their eye, and the iris of the eye achieves optimal night vision. They learn to avoid constant threatening situations by navigating new routes after a single encounter, which has prevented numerous attempts of their capture by human
Marine organisms continue to amaze scientists with their physiological adaptations that allow them to live and thrive in the largest unexplored habitat known to man. Carl Zimmer argues that “most fish without lungs die” because “lungless fish pump their blood in a simple loop.” Therefore, fish are restrained by a lack of oxygenated blood flow that the heart can receive and will die if they exercise too hard because the heart simply won’t receive enough oxygen to sustain intense exercise. In order to solve this problem many species of teleosts and chondrichthyes possess adaptations that allow them to continue exercising at extremely high speeds without necessarily dying. Tunas, for example, are pelagic thunniform swimmers that have evolved these special adaptations that allow them to maintain high cruising speeds and high metabolic rates. They possess special adaptations in muscle, cardiovascular, and respiratory physiology that set them apart from many other species of teleosts.