One important discovery Shubin made is Tiktaalik, which is a 375 million year old fossil. Tiktaalik is a fish that has scales and gills, but its head is flattened like that of a crocodile. Like most fish, Tiktaalik’s fins have ray bones enabling them to paddle in water, but the most amazing thing about it is that it has interior bones which allows it to lift off of the sea floor, something unordinary for a typical fish. It would use its limbs for support like a tetrapod. Shubin shows how fin structures of fish like Tiktaalik mark the beginning of the evolution into the mammalian paw and opposable thumb structures in the hands of today’s primates.
The Advantageous Evolutionary Adaptations of Cuttlefish Sepia latimanus, or common name cuttlefish, can be considered as one of the most uniquely evolved creatures of marine habitat. The species, despite their name, are not a fish, but molluscs. Coming from kingdom animalia, phylum mollusca, class of cephalopods, they belong to the order of sepiida (thecephalopodpage.org). The adaptations this species acquired have formed an advantage unlike most others. Physiologically the cuttlefish is advanced in numerous ways.
Their lungs lie across the arched ribs along the full length of their vertebra, almost to their anus, instead of along its rib cage (ventral) like most mammals. This helps with buoyancy and balance. Each long, wide but thin lung has its own cavity with its own diaphragm. Scientists don't know if they can function independently, but they do know that manatees can have a severe infection in one lung and be healthy in the other lung. This helps with buoyancy and balance.
Chad Walker 1/25/12 Bio 151 MW 4:00-5:15 Biological Adaptation Assignment Biological adaptation is necessary for a species to increase their fitness in an environment. As organisms face different environmental challenges they must be able to develop different phenotypic traits over time to respond to the conditions. One example of an organism that can adapt to different extreme environments would be the bull shark. Bull sharks may seem like a typical shark because they are most often seen in marine habitats, but they can survive elsewhere. What I find peculiar about the bull shark is its ability to live in both marine habitats and freshwater habitats.
Excluding the occasional feeding frenzy, white tips also eat a diet that consists mostly of cephalopods. However, its diet can be far more varied and less selective—it is known to eat threadfins, stingrays, sea turtles, birds, gastropods, crustaceans, mammalian carrion, and even rubbish dumped from ships. It has a unique Mating season is in early summer in the northwest Atlantic Ocean and southwest Indian Ocean. Once the female is pregnant then the gestation period is one year. Litter sizes vary from one to 15 with White Tips are a commercially important animal to humans seeing as how its fins are used for shark fin soup and its meat and oils utilized for consumption, its hides are often used for leather as well.
There was a minor mass extinction toward the end of the Jurassic period. A stegosaurus had a large, flat, bony, triangular plates along its back . As well as a heavy, spiked tail for protection. A stegosaurus also had a very small head with a tiny brain and toothless beak . Their brain size can be compared to a size of a walnut.
A study on this topic was done to explore how much of an impact these tiny animals have on the ocean currents as they travel in masses. The thought behind this was the mere through of how many of these organisms are contained in our bodies of water, and how larger singular mammals such as jellyfish can move sizable amounts of water by swimming (Lee, 2014, p.1). The study performed was a test with a small organism called brine shrimp, or the nickname “Sea Monkeys”. “Wind-and tide-driven currents move nutrients, heat, and salt around the ocean, and help to regulate the planet's temperature, Dabiri says. In recent years, scientists have started to seriously consider whether collective animal movements—like plankton swimming up and down en masse—could also be contributing to currents” (Lee, 2014, p.1).
Advantages of reptiles over Amphibians Week7/8 Use the following website to answer/locate the following information. http://www.michellecaldwell.com/linkfiles/scaredcricket/articles/other/evolution.html During what era did reptile and amphibians evolve? Paleozoic Era Period in which evolved? | Name and Features of animal | Reptile or amphibian | Picture | Devonian Times 390 Million Years Ago | Eusthenopteron“Land animal like features” * A more impervious skeleton * Enhanced nostril development * Leg like bone features in their fins | Amphibians | | Carboniferous Period & Permian Period 300,000,000 - 250,000,000 Years Ago | EryopsAmphibians become adapted to life on land * Amphibians nostrils became increasingly functional for breathing air * Amphibians evolved hands and feet with five digits * Amphibians tails become reduced in size * Amphibian backbones grow stronger – enables bodies to grow bigger * Amphibians obtain eardrums | Amphibians | | 300,000,000 – 200,000,000 Years Ago | Other Amphibians that lived during the Carboniferous and Permian times: * Microsaurs – lived in undergrowth in swamps * Aistopods – small snake like/diminished structure * Sauropleurs- elongated snake like animals with no legs * Diplocaulus - flattened body, head grew flatter as it aged, weak limbs | Amphibians | | Period in which evolved. | Features of animal | Reptile or amphibian | Picture | 325,000,000 – 250,000,000 | Amphibians started to evolve into reptilesSeymouria * Lived during Permian times * Connecting link between reptiles and amphibians * Skeleton resembled that of a reptile * Horny epidermis of overlapping scalesAnimals that lived in shallow waters evolved lungs and scales, soon after evolved legs, shelled eggs and the ability to breathe through nostrils with their mouth shut | Amphibians and Reptiles
These reptiles have the ability to do incredible things. The Green Sea Turtle is one of seven species and happens to be the largest member of the Cheioniidae family. According to www.turtles.org/hawgrnd.htm , scientists assume that post-hatchlings, pelagic-stage Green Sea Turtles are omnivorous, but there are no data on diet from this age class. Young Green Sea Turtles have a diet of jellyfish and other invertebrates. Adults tend to eat sea grass and algae.
Manta rays are huge in size so only sharks and killer whales can harm them and eat them. However, many manta rays survived from the attack of sharks or whales. It is amazing that manta can heal the wound of shark’s bite and after a few years their broken fins can eventually grow back. However, the population of manta ray is declining. According to some statistic, the catch of manta ray has increased in Indonesia since 2005.