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.
Marine Biology is the scientific study navigation of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. The history of Marine Biology began in the 1200 BC when the Phoenicians went out to sea using celestial navigation. In the modern day study of Marine Biology began with the exploration by Captain James Cook in 18th century Britain. Cook was most known for going on a lot of voyages out to sea. Following Captain Cook Charles Darwin has been doing a closer study of Marine life (he was also known for the Theory of Evolution).
Previously, it was taught that upwelling as physical processes causes the cycling of nutrients in the ocean. This process is essential to life, as these nutrients are needed to sustain life. However, tiny sea animals have been overlooked in the past. These mini “monkeys” have a monstrous impact of the cycling and moving of nutrients in the oceans. 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.
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.
Reefs have been called the “rainforests of the sea,” because they provide homes to numerous marine animals (Trinh, 2012). Coral reefs can be found in shallow oceans where sunlight can be shown onto the reefs. There are a variety of reefs in all different shapes, sizes, colors, and animals. They feed on small fish and planktonie animals by using their long tentacles to reach their prey. Reefs are classified into a group called cnidaria.
The native plants Kelp is important because it provides shelter and food for a lot of sea creatures. Kelp is also used by humans for many products, including toothpaste and ice cream. Kelp also serves as a buffer by absorbing energy from waves before the waves hit the shoreline, protecting many of the sandy beaches along the California coast. Phytoplankton is tiny plant that serves as food for many of the ocean creatures from the smallest of fish to large whales. Some scientists estimate that phytoplankton provide the earth with almost half of its oxygen.
They live in sea or fresh water. There are some that do live on land. Crustaceans live in deep oceanic trenches that can be 10,000m deep. They also live in mountain lakes or sunny tropical beaches. First I will talk about their body structures and then about obtaining oxygen and what they eat.
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.
Olive Ridleys get their name from the coloring of their heart-shaped shell, which starts out gray but becomes olive green once the turtles are adult. Hatchlings are dark gray with a pale yolk scar, but appear all black when wet. Carapace length ranges from 37 to 50 mm. Olive Ridleys are omnivorous, meaning that they consume a varied diet from both plant and animal sources. Distribution Although Olive Ridleys spend time in the open ocean, they also forage in coastal waters and estuaries.Olive Ridley turtles are found only in warmer waters, including the southern Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.
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.