Like almost any other animal the octopus has many dangers that they need to hide from. Octopuses are masters of camouflage and have amazing defensive skills that can be used for fighting. Octopi are known for defending themselves against small sharks and other dangerous predators. An octopus uses its color changing abilities to blend in with its surroundings and to warn other animals to prevent them from attacking the octopus. Along with having camouflage, all species of octopi are known to be venomous. Only one species is known to be dangerous to humans. (The blue ringed octopus which is only 5-8 inches long) Octopi will only use their venom to defend themselves against a predator when they feel threatened or to paralyze its intended meal. The venom then dissolves the meat so the octopus can easily consume it. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...s such as the Lion Fish or poisonous snakes. This tricks predators into thinking that the octopus is a deadly sea creature with they don’t want to mess with. While most species of octopus live in shallow water there are some octopuses that are able to make a home in much deeper and cooler waters. The Dumbo Octopus, obviously getting its name from the famous Walt Disney elephant, is one of these creatures. Octopi are isosmotic, which means to have the same isosmotic pressure. This allows octopi to live in deeper waters without freezing to death. The Dumbo Octopus usually lives at a sea depth ranging from 1,300 to 23,000 feet. Octopi have the ability to travel on land even though they are invertebrates. They use their suckers to pull themselves along. They normally go on land to look for and catch out of reach food or to relocate themselves to a different tide pool.
Sabellaria cementarium belongs to the phylum Annelids and is an invertebrate polychaete species. They are found in small clumps at the rocky bottoms of the sea floor where they use the rich source of natural phytoplankton as their primary diet (Qian and Chia, 1990). The tube-like worms can behave social and form extensive reefs or independently build hollow tubes in to the sandstone (pawlik and Chia, 1991). Embryos form a polar lobe that is absorbed in to the blastomeres at the end of division. Larval development and movement follows shortly after the 14-15 hour fertilization period where spiral cleaving of the fertilized oocytes appears (Render, 1983). Much is still not known about the invertebrate worm in their natural niche.
not travel into deep ocean waters. They like calm, quiet waters to relax and eat.
“Taxonomically speaking, a lobster is a marine crustacean of the family Homaridae, characterized by five pairs of jointed legs, the first pair terminating in large pincerish claws used for subduing prey…. Moreover, a crustacean is an aquatic arthropod of the class Crustacea, which comprises of crabs, shrimp, barnacles, lobsters, and freshwater crayfish” (Wallace, 55). This is an example of Logos since the author uses scientific facts to convey the message he wants to communicate in an objective way. Wallace also uses logos as a persuasive device by presenting facts on the science of the lobster’s neurological system and its ability to feel pain. The Maine Lobster Promotion Council states “The nervous system of a lobster is very simple, and is in fact most similar to the nervous system of a grasshopper. It is decentralized with no brain. There is no cerebral cortex, which in humans is the area of the brain that gives the experience of pain”. Wallace counter-argues this statement by mentioning the fact that since lobsters have a simpler nervous system compared to humans, they are unable to produce their own natural opiates. “One can conclude that lobsters are maybe even more vulnerable to pain, since they lack mammalian nervous systems’ built-in analgesia, or, instead, that the absence of natural opioids implies an absence of the really intense
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__.
*It may move over the bottom of the aquarium tank with the tips of its
Many different squid exist, and along with different species comes different looks, however, all squid are based on a basic body plan. The average squid species range from as tiny as 2 cm to as threatening as two metres in length. However, Teuthids range from the Antarctic up-to-14-metres Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) to the tiny less-than-one-inch Grass Squid (Pickfordiateuthis pulchella). The elongated body, also called the mantle, is slightly swollen near the middle and tapers to a blunt point. At this point is the head, at which point the tentacles begin. Also at the head is the mouth of the squid, which has a sharp, bird-like beak used like teeth. All species of squid possess long, cylindrical bodies and an internal, blade-shaped gladius. A gladius is made of chitin, like human fingernails, and lends s...
Liubicich, D.M., et al. 2009. Knockdown of Parhyale Ultrabithorax recapitulates evolutionary changes in crustacean appendage morphology. PNAS 106 (33): 13892-13896
Jellyfish have large appetites, including phytoplankton, copepods (zooplankton), larvae, and sometimes, even other jellyfish. When the jellyfish are moving in ‘blooms’, they will eat literally anything that’s in the water/in their way. A jellyfish has a simple digestive system with only one opening. Fun fact: jellyfish are made up of more than 95% water.
The blue-ringed octopus uses an interesting technique to ward off its predators. Utilizing aposematic coloring (a warning mechanism), this creature can let other animals know to stay away. The tiny cephalopod bears about sixty bright blue rings, appearing as a pattern on its dermal covering. When these rings flash, one can tell that the octopus has been threatened. Although this tropical marine creature may generally be calm, when it is agitated, it can bite with its beak and inject tetrodotoxin into the blood stream. This venom can quickly kill an adult human. Typically, the blue-ringed octopus, or Hapalochlaena Lunulata, resides among rocks and shells on the ocean floor and exhibits a camouflaged appearance (Mathger et al., 2012). However, its skin contains many more interesting structures that allow it to have such a distinct presentation.
A jellyfish’s unique body structure helps it move, feed, and protect itself. Their body is known as the bell. During the bell stage, medusa, the jellyfish is mobile and is specialized for swimming. But in some Cnidarians, the bell stage only occurs in the embryo stage ("Phyla Cnidaria, Platyhelminthes, and Nematoda"). The medusa then produces an egg, which grows into a polyp (vase stage) which is sessile (or immobile) life. Jellyfish do not have a back or front, left or right. They don’t have a heart, head, legs, or fins (Zimmer). They have a stomach pouch to hold food, the bell (body), oral arms which bring the captured food to the mouth, tentacles which sting and kill prey, a mouth connected to digestive structures to digest food, and gonads which are reproductive organs. Jellyfish are also 95% water (Northeaster University).
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.
The giant pacific octopus’s class is Cephalopoda. This means “head-foot” and is so named because the arms, or feet, are attached to the head. In addition, the octopus has a closed circulatory system and a large brain. (Kalupa, 2012)
Frogs are needed for everyday life. They are part of pond life. Each animal is important because even in the pond, there is a food chain. Frogs are amphibians, animals that spend half of their lives under water, and remainder on land. The first frog appeared in the early Jurassic period about 200 million years ago.
Some of the diatoms are able to stay afloat because they have more surface area, meaning they have extended body parts that catch the water and make them sink much slower. While other types of diatoms stay attached to the benthos because they don’t have the longer appendages and therefore sink faster. So they have to make the benthos their home.