Exam 2
Colette Cabaniss Student K00479544 (colettecabaniss@yahoo.com) login:fireant
Question 1
Echinoderms are captivating organisms. They have a number of specialized structures and functions. They have unique water vascular systems, aboral surfaces, and feeding structures. This sets them apart from other animals because of their distinct characteristics.
The water vascular system of echinoderms is a hydraulic system that they use for respiration, getting rid of waste, and a way of movement. This special system is made up of different canals that connect to various tube feet. It is activated by a calcareous plate called the madreporite. The madreporite is located on the aboral surface and takes in water to restore the whole system.
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The American eel begins its life in the Atlantic Ocean. It starts its travels in the Sargasso Sea and migrates to freshwater bodies of water, like rivers and lakes and estuaries. It has been known to migrate all over the Atlantic coast in North American and down to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Also from the St. Lawrence Seaway in New York to the Great Lakes in the Midwest. The Pacific salmon sometimes stay close to their original home, and sometimes travel all over in various directions. Pacific salmon that are birthed in the Russian and Japanese rivers have been known to migrate east to the Aleutian Islands and various ranges of the north …show more content…
Senses play an important role when sharks are looking for food. Their senses are highly developed and they are able to feel even the smallest movements made by their prey. Sharks' sense of smell is particularly useful to them. The lateral lines that sharks have on both sides of their bodies allow them to feel different movements made by their prey and through their small pores on their snouts they are able to feel electrical pulses made by other fish and animals.
Lateral lines play a significant role in fishes structures and functions. Theses lines are made up of rows of mechanosensory cells. The cells are called neuromasts and run from the head throughout the body of a fish. In most fish, neuromasts are located in the lateral line canals that are beneath the skin. Lateral lines can have different functions in weakly electric fish. Theses lateral lines are usually located on the body surfaces of these fish and have high-frequency electroreceptors.
The sensory organs of fishes play important roles in how they live. The structures and functions of these systems are sometimes contrasting in the different varieties of these fish, but they are key in assisting with
Oxygen breathing lungs are a universal trait of class reptilia. As such, it would have been necessary for the Plesiosauroid - a marine reptile, to return to the ocean surface to inhale air. Oxygen expenditure in reptiles is proportional to strenuosity of locomotion (Frappell, Schultz & Christian, 2002). Therefore the Plesiosauroid must have held physiological traits that enabled the species to avoid oxygen deficit while hunting deep-sea dwelling prey. This essay will outline the hypothesised respiratory, circulatory, pulmonary and sensory attributes of the Plesiosauroid as they relate to diving. These hypotheses will be supported by investigating the physiological adaptations of the Plesiosaur’s biological analogues, and the prospect of similar adaptations in the former will be speculated upon.
Cephalopods are known to be exceptionally intelligent by invertebrate standards and in some respects even rival “higher” vertebrates. These animals have many highly evolved sensory and processing organs that allow them to gain a greater understanding of their environment and their place within it. Due to their advanced structures, many of which are analogous to vertebrate structures, and abilities they have been widely studied. Their methods of learning have been of prime interest and many experiments have been conducted to determine the different ways in which octopuses can learn. From these experiments four main kinds of learning have been identified in octopuses: associative learning, special learning,
Metabolic rate is directly linked to the core temperature in an animal. An ectotherm, or cold blooded animal, warms its body mainly by absorbing heat from its surroundings. The amount of heat it derives from its metabolism is negligible. In contrast, endotherms derive most or all of its body heat from its own metabolism (Campbells,p899). Because ectotherms do not produce their own heat, they cannot actively ensure their ideal temperature for an ideal metabolic rate (aquacult.htp).
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 ...
Crustaceans belong to the Arthropoda Phylum, which includes critters like ants, spiders, and centipedes. I know! Crazy to think that a delicious crab is in the same group as a spider! But they share similar characteristics. For starters, members of the Arthropoda Phylum do not have a backbone like you and me, so they are called __invertebrates__. And, as mentioned earlier, their skeleton is external, which is referred to as an __exoskeleton__.
The debate of whether dinosaurs were cold blooded or warm blooded has been ongoing since the beginning of the century. At the turn of the century scientists believed that dinosaurs had long limbs and were fairly slim, supporting the idea of a cold blooded reptile. Recently, however, the bone structure, number or predators to prey, and limb position have suggested a warm blooded species. In addition, the recent discovery of a fossilized dinosaur heart has supported the idea that dinosaurs were a warm blooded species. In this essay, I am going to give supporting evidence of dinosaurs being both warm and cold blooded. I will provide background information on the dinosaur that was discovered and what information it provides scientists.
Suggested by its name, the octopus’ sixty or so blue rings light up in an iridescent fashion. The colorful rings extend from the head down to the body and arms of the creature on an otherwise dull body. As observed by the recorded video of the octopuses being disturbed, the rings were quick to light up with a dark brown colored outer circle, and a blue-green center. This display could be accomplished in as fast as 0.3 seconds, up to a little over 0.5 seconds. They noted that this brown ring of chromatophores along the edge increases the distinction between the rings and the pale
Crustacea is a large subphylum of Arthropoda, consisting of almost 52 000 described species, including animals like crabs, lobsters, shrimp and barnacles. The majority of these are aquatic, living in marine or fresh water environments, though some have adapted to living on land like some crabs and woodlice. Most crustaceans are relatively small, though there are some exceptions. All of them have a hard, strong exoskeleton, divided into two parts, which has to be shed in order to allow the animal itself to grow. They have a large circulation system, where blood is pumped around the body by the heart. Only some crustaceans have sexes separate, and those that are usually mate seasonally and lay eggs. The study of Crustacea is called carcinology.
For years studies and observations have been made on the relationship between body size and physical orientation of an animal. In 1847 Carl Bergmann was one of the first to do observations with this phenomenon (Dictionary of Theories 2002). Bergmann noticed that warm-blooded animals living at climates high in latitude are bigger in size than those living in climates of lower latitudes (Dictionary of Theories 2002). Research has shown there is a correlation of surface area to volume in animals that are located in different parts of the globe. Animals living in a cooler climate have a larger volume, but decreased surface area to retain as much body heat as possible. The inverse is true for animals living in warmer regions; these animals have a smaller volume and larger surface area to allow the body to cool efficiently (McNab 1971). Bergmann’s rule has brought valuable insight into the study of character traits and how we identify where animals originated. One example that I came across is with the Andean passerine bird, a study was done in 1991 by G. R. Graves. He noticed the size of ...
Reptiles are vertebrate, or backboned animals constituting the class Reptilia and are characterized by a combination of features, none of which alone could separate all reptiles from all other animals.The characteristics of reptiles are numerous, therefore can not be explained in great detail in this report. In no special order, the characteristics of reptiles are: cold-bloodedness; the presence of lungs; direct development, without larval forms as in amphibians; a dry skin with scales but not feathers or hair; an amniote egg; internal fertilization; a three or four-chambered heart; two aortic arches (blood vessels) carrying blood from the heart to the body, unlike mammals and birds that only have one; a metanephric kidney; twelve pairs of cranial nerves; and skeletal features such as limbs with usually five clawed fingers or toes, at least two spinal bones associated with the pelvis, a single ball-and-socket connection at the head-neck joint instead of two, as in advanced amphibians and mammals, and an incomplete or complete partition along the roof of the mouth, separating the food and air passageways so that breathing can continue while food is being chewed. These and other traditional defining characteristics of reptiles have been subjected to considerable modification in recent times. The extinct flying reptiles, called pterosaurs or pterodactyls, are now thought to have been warm-blooded and covered with hair. Also, the dinosaurs are also now considered by many authorities to have been warm-blooded. The earliest known bird, archaeopteryx, is now regarded by many to have been a small dinosaur, despite its covering of feathers The extinct ancestors of the mammals, the therapsids, or mammallike reptiles, are also believed to have been warm-blooded and haired.
I bet you didn’t know that coral reefs and sea anemones are related!? They share the same structure, the polyp. A polyp are “tiny, soft-bodied organisms related to sea anemones and jellyfish.” The structure has a mouth surrounded with tiny little tentacles. Shallow water corals that live in water often have another or different food source. The food that they eat is called zooxanthellance. Both of their skeleton is made made out of a CaCO3. They have a body averaging
This research will address the use of diatoms to aid in forensic cases/ investigations. Diatoms are unicellular photosynthetic organisms that are a major group of algae which, is the most common type of phytoplankton. They form colonies in the form of filaments/ ribbons and make up the base of food webs and chains. The first diatom Bacillaria paradoxa was discovered in 1783 by a Danish naturalist, Otto Friedrich Muller, who was involved in the study of microorganisms for most his life. Because of the abundance of diatoms in aquatic ecology, it remains the most popular tool for assessing environmental conditions and water quality.
Porifera is the most simplistic phylum under the kingdom Animalia. The sponges have no tissue layers, but instead an interior and exterior layer with a gelatinous middle layer that separates the two. They are the only phylum with asymmetrical symmetry. Throughout the advancing phyla it will be shown this trait is lost. Porifera lacks a proper digestive system, but a canal system allows the sponges to filter feed. Along the inside of a sponge, flagella pump water through the sponge’s body. This process brings in oxygen and other small organisms and then flows out the top of the sponge, the osculum, removing waste by diffusion. Sponges lack a circulatory system, as does many of the first couple of phyla. A coinciding factor could be their small size. A nervous system is also missing, but very basic nerve cells within the pores sense the water currents. Gas exchange occurs through these pores. Reproduction in sponges can be asexual by budding, gammation, or fragmentation. Some sponges can also have sexual reproduction occur as an egg gets released and fertilized in the open water by free floating sperm. After this stage they cling onto rock and begin their sessile, basic, life....
*The terminal caudal vertebrae fused to form a short pygostyle (Fig. 21.5) which supports the bird's tail feathers. *The uncinate processes of the thoracic vertebrae help to strengthen the rib cage by overlapping with the rib behind them. *The backward elongation of sternum provides support to abdominal