Skate and Rays

Today in class we talked about skates and rays. Skates and rays are depressed relatives of sharks that often spend most of their time on the benthos. (There are a few exceptions like manta rays pictured in the upper right)

Skates and rays are really similar and often hard to tell apart. Some rays look like flat sharks and some flat sharks look like rays, so we are going to be general in identifying skates and rays. In general, skates have fins on the tips of their tails.

Only rays can have stingers, and not all of them do. They can have 1 to 3 stingers from 5 to 15 inches long. See the picture below.

I often get asked about Steve Irwin, the famous Crocodile Hunter when we talk about stingrays. Yes, Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray, but his type of accident was very rare. Steve got stabbed in the heart which injected venom right into an important organ. Also, he removed the barb which caused just as much damage going in as it did coming out because of the sharp serrated edge. For more information about Steve Irwin's death check here and here.

Still worried about shark attacks? Check the newest stats here at the Florida site.

Shark Finning... Yuck!

Today we discussed conservation of sharks. Millions of sharks are killed each year by humans. Some are caught by sport fisherman, some are harvested for oils, meats, and other things; many of them are being harvested for their fins. Finning wastes 95% of an animal, and the sharks are often tossed back in the ocean alive after being finned to die a slow painful death. For more information, click here.

The fins are harvested for shark fin soup. Shark fin soup is considered a delicacy in some countries and can sell for upwards of a hundred dollars a bowl.

The next thing we talked about was shark attacks. Most shark attacks are actually provoked by humans. Other shark attacks like bump-and-bites and hit-and-runs are the shark investigating a human to see if it is something good to eat. Once the shark tries it, it finds it doesn't like humans, it will swim away. Unfortunately for us humans, we are not so tough and kind of squishy and shark attacks damage us.

Shark Attacks - Who Should Be Afraid?

These are some of my favorite shark graphics.

Appreciate and LEARN. 

Click on the images to make them larger.

Shark Reproduction

We talked about the history of sharks, common characteristics of cartilaginous fish and then the reproductive strategies of sharks.

Not a lot is known about shark reproduction because in many cases it has never been observed. Sharks have internal fertilization and the male shark has two claspers for sperm delivery. These can be seen on male sharks protruding from the pelvic fin.

Shark reproduction is violent with males biting the female. As a result female shark skin is much thicker than the males so that this practice does not ham or kill her. She fights a little to ensure that only strong males with good genes are able to fertilize her eggs.

Some sharks are oviparous and lay eggs (pictured). These egg cases are known as mermaid's purses. You can see the baby shark and its nutrient-rich yolk through the leathery egg case.

Some sharks are viviparous and have live birth a lot like mammals.

And some sharks are ovoviviparous and keep their eggs inside the uterus before releasing them... so its making eggs and then kind of having live birth.

Think you know it all? Try "Romancing the Shark," a quiz from Shark Week.

Shark Senses

Today second period learned about shark senses. Sharks have a large brain to help process the sensory overload they must get from the SEVEN senses they have. They have the five we have plus a lateral line (pressure and vibrations) and the ampullae of lorenzini (electro-reception).

Follow this link for a cool interactive about how shark jaws stick out when they attack their prey! The interactive is down at the bottom.

If you are doing a final project on a shark... check out this new link! www.shark.ch

Sexual Dimorphism

Sexual Dimorphism is when males and females exhibit different characteristics. These usually involve, color, size, behavior, and other appendages. 

In the animal kingdom, males are typically brighter and more colorful. The males are trying to prove to the ladies that they have good genes, they are disease free, and they can escape predators. 

Larger males can win contests against other males also proving their good genes. Though the males show off, it is the female's choice when she ultimately makes a decision. It is possible for a female to reject all males and choose none. 

Differences in size and coloration indicate that there is female choice, the female will choose a male to fertilize her eggs and in most cases, his job is done, and she leaves to finish the baby-forming process. All she wanted was his genes. 

When a large group of organisms all spawn at the same time, the organisms rely on luck and statistical chance for genetic variation. Males and females will look similar because there is no choice involved.

When males and females work together and take an equal role in raising young or protecting eggs, the males and females tend to look more similar. They look similar because of their equal roles and because the choice is longer-lasting. She is looking for more than just a pretty face (and pretty faces in the animal world do not indicate good egg care or being able to provide nesting materials, food, etc).

Differences in size between males and females varies widely. There is no set rule for who will be bigger, but there is usually a clear reason as to why one of them is bigger. Males can be bigger because they fight other males, because they have to guard eggs, or other reasons. Females can be bigger because they have to carry and nourish a fetus, carry and develop eggs, protect babies, or other reasons. To know why a male is bigger or a female is bigger the biology and reproductive strategies have to be understood.

Fish Harvesting

We finished discussing marine harvesting and fishing today by talking about who harvests the most seafood (China), who eats the most seafood (China), and which people eat the most seafood pounds per person (the Maldives). Americans are about sixth on the list as far as consumption, but we are the number one consumer and importer of shrimp. Importing shrimp is damaging to the environment for two reasons.

1. Shrimp that are farmed in other countries are not as regulated as here in the states, so shrimp farm pollution is not as regulated and it damages coral reefs. Also many mangroves are cleared to build these farms.

2. US boats are required to have turtle excluder devices (TED) on trawl nets so that turtles do not get caught in shrimp nets and drown. Other countries do not regulate this and as a result catch and drown sea turtles.

To make a environmentally responsible seafood choices, choose shrimp that are farmed or caught in the US. For more sustainable seafood choices, check out Seafood Watch.

Fishing Methods

Netting is the most popular method of commercial fishing because a lot of fish can be caught in short amount of time without a lot of effort.

One the major problems with most commercial fisheries is the amount of bycatch. Bycatch is anything caught in the net that you do not want. This could include edible fish that your company is just not equipped to process.

Most organisms brought up in nets as bycatch do not survive because they are crushed or drowned. Sea turtles and dolphins sometimes get swept into nets and drown because they cannot make it to the surface to breathe.

Most scientists and fisherman agree that the oceans have been and are being overharvested. People may not like regulations, but without regulations, many fish species that we used to commonly consume would be extinct.

There are many ways to harvest fish. If you want more information, check out the links at Monterrey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Organization.

Field Trip - Virginia Aquarium

Yesterday, the marine ecology classes went to the Virginia Aquarium and for a very short walk on the beach. Everyone I talked to had a fabulous time, even if at times it was a long walk, cold, hungry, or tiring (bad grammar intentional). We even got to see the first snowflakes of the year

 

If you took photos, please bring them in and I will make them available to others.

 

If you want to leave a comment about your favorite part of the field trip, do it! It will not appear until I get a chance to approve it.

Here is how you get to the ones I have already.

Go to My Computer --> Classes --> Science --> Jancaitis Stuff --> Field Trip.

Fish reproduce in a variety of ways. Most are broadcast spawners, meaning that when the time is right, the females release their eggs, the males release their sperm. The gamestes meet and mix producing fertilized eggs that develop into meroplankton fish fry and eventually into adult fish. These snapper are spawning and you can tell by the large cloud of gametes in the water.

By producing a lot of eggs, the snapper hope to overwhelm any predators trying to make a meal so that there is no way all the fry are eaten and some will have a chance of surviving.

Some fish do pair bond. In these instances one or both fish will guard the eggs until they hatch into baby mero-plankton, and then once again, the fish fry on their own. There are very very few fish that provide juvenile care. 

In seahorses and their relatives, the female transfers the eggs to the male to care for until they hatch. He attaches them to his belly (or into his pouch) and once that set hatches, she gives him another to raise. This allows the seahorses and their relatives to constantly produce offspring. This photo is of a male leafy sea dragon carrying an egg mass (pink).

Fish Shapes - Mouth, Caudal Fins, and Body Shape

Today in class we discussed fish mouth shape and body shape and what they mean about the fish.

Many fishes are identified by looking at or into the mouth. The number of mouth-types exhibited by different species is nothing short of astonishing. Three lakes in Africa contained about 900 species of cichlids, nearly all differentiated mainly by the way their mouths are shaped. (This number is rapidly dwindling, by the way, as the cichlids in these lakes are driven to extinction). Cichlid mouths are variously adapted to eat other cichlids' eggs, scales pulled from fishes' living bodies, algae from rocks, tiny invertebrates, and many other forms of food. The arrowana of South America has a mouth adapted for spitting water with precision at insects perched on overhead branches. Parrotfish mouths have evolved to look and act like beaks, which they use to grind at coral, making the sand that surrounds coral reefs. Seahorses and pipefish have tubular mouths for sucking in small prey in narrow places like a vacuum cleaner.  SOURCE

Fish with forward facing mouths eat what is in front of them - no surprise. Downward mouths eat algae, prey below them like crustaceans and molluscs, or they take in mouth fulls of gravel, eat the particles, and spit the gravel back out. Upward facing mouths indicate the fish eats prey above them - typical of benthic ambush predators. There are also bills and beaks. Bills are long and skinny used for poking in crevices and eating plankton one at a time. Beaks are used for chomping and can be seen on the parrotfish, a fish that chomps on the algae growing on the surface of dead coral. Fish can also have very large mouths common on filter feeders and fish that swallow large prey whole. Fish also have teeth - a surprise to many - and come in many shapes and size.

Body shape also tells you a bit about a fish. Com- pressed fish have flash and look skinny and can only be found in slow moving waters like coral reefs. Fusi-form fish are tapered like footballs and are very streamlined for constant fast swimming. Depressed fish are benthic and squashed looking. Eel shaped fish are poor swimmers and live on the benthos or in cracks and crevices.

Here is a website you can use to identify shapes - realize they are named a bit differently than how I do in class.

Fish tails (caudal fin) indicate how fast and how much a fish swims. For this class, we are focusing on the crescent (not pictured), forked (e), square (d), rounded (b), and funky (c, f, h). As you can see there are more fish tail shapes out there.

Crescent caudal fins indicate a very fast fish that is constantly swimming - not time for resting, it is time to go go go! Forked caudal fins are the second fastest, and very maneuverable. Square fins are for your every day swimming fish - they have ok acceleration ad maneuvering. Round fins and Funky fins are slooooooow swimmers that don't spend a lot of time swimming. They can be quick for very short bursts. 

Jawless fish

Today we discusses jawless fish. Jawless fish are primitive fish with a notochord instead of a backbone and a flat rasping mouth that cannot close like ours. As a result thes fish cannot bite... only scrape and hold on.

Pictured to the right, you can see five lamprey mouths and one lamprey head with blue eyes and seven gill holes.

Jawless fish include lampreys which are parasites and hagfish which are detritavores. Neither one will ever win a beauty contest.

Hagfish make slime to escape their predators... and it is quite gross. So gross that even they don't like it... so they tie their body into a knot to squeegee the slime off of themselves after evading a predator.

Invertebrate Overview

Invertebrates do not have backbones and make up 95% of the animals living on earth (us vertebrates are actually way way way in the minority).

We have covered molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms in larger units, but there are lots of other invertebrate phyla including three types of worms, sponges, and cnidarians.

Cnidarians include coral, jellies, and sea anemones and will be covered in Unit 10. They have radial symmetry and stinging tentacles surrounding their mouth.

Sponges in phyla Porifera have asymmetry because of their irregular shapes. Water flows in through many small pores and out large centralized openings called osculum. This is how sponges get their food and how they get rid of waste. Sponges have two types of structural support - spicules that are spiny or pointy and made of calcium carbonate and springy spongin. Sponges we use around the house used to be made of sponges harvested from the ocean that were pounded to remove the spicules. Now, plastic sponges are commonly used.

There are three types of worms - Flatworms (Platyhelminthes), R0undworms (Nematodes), and Segmented Worms (Annelids).

Flatworms (Platy-hel- minthes) are flat and ribbon like, have bilateral symmetry and include things like tapeworms, planarians, flukes, and brightly colored marine flatworms. Marine flatworms have similar adaptations to nudibranchs (molluscs), but are flat and have no tufts. They are simple animals and are often parasites.

Roundworms (Nematodes) are ubiquitous and found commonly worldwide in every biome... but they are poorly understood because they are very very small. Less than 5cm. They have radial symmetry and often are parasites. Roundworms have scary looking mouths with teeth for attaching - often used in scary movies.

Segmented Worms (Annelids) include earth-worms, leeches, bristle-worms, and christmas tree worms. They are more advanced than the other worms with segments and body organs. They have radial symmetry and tunnel through their food.

For those of you studying invertebrates, you can use these matching cards to help!

Echinoderms

Echinoderm means spiny skin. Echinoderms include sea urchins, sea stars, sand dollars, sea cucumbers and some other odd organisms like feather stars and basket stars. All echinoderms have radial symmetry, spiny skin, and an endoskeleton called a test.

Most people are familiar with an orange sea star because on the east coast, that's all we've got. On the west coast and in other places around the world, it is easier to find a variety of sea stars in other colors and with different amounts of legs.

Sea stars have powerful tube feet that use water suction to open molluscs. When they eat molluscs, they actually stick their stomach into the shells of the mollusc, digest it, and then put their stomach.

Feather stars and basket stars both have crazy looking legs that they wave around to filter feed. Sea urchins and sand dollars are both covered with protective spines and eat with a scraping mouth called Aristotle's Lantern.

Sea cucumbers have lost most of their exoskeleton and are a bit squishier than other echinoderms. Sea cucumbers are important detritus eaters on the sea floor. When attacked by predators they will expel their guts as a meal for the predator as they make a get away. Sea cucumbers are able to regenerate these guts over time.

Crustaceans - Shrimp

SHRIMP - miniature lobsters... use their swimmerettes to keep themselves moving - most Americans have never seen one with its head and legs still attached!

• Gulf shrimp are the ones people most people are familiar with because these are the ones we eat!
• Shore shrimp live in sea grasses, are fairly small and clear, and are not commercially harvested because no one would make any money.
• Snapping shrimp (or pistol shrimp) have slightly larger claws and can use them to make sonic waves to stun their prey with sound. 
• Mantis shrimp whack their prey with arms that can unfold and strike lightning quick. 
• Cleaner shrimp make their living eating parasites off of fish and other sea creatures. 

One cool crustacean we have been learning about is the mantis shrimp. Mantis shrimp have folded claws like a praying mantis. They have lightning quick reflexes and shoot their arms out to smack their prey. It is said that they have enough power to break aquarium glass. If you want to see an interesting video of a mantis shrimp attacking and eating different prey - check here. 

Crustaceans - Barnacles

If you look at a diagram, barnacles are like little shrimp glued on their backs with a white fence around them. They stick their feathery legs out to filter feed plankton. They are plankton for a while and once settled and glues onto a hard substrate never move again. This makes mating difficult, but the hermaphroditic barnacles have special talents. Gooseneck barnacles have a stalk that they attach to substrates with.

Crustaceans - Crabs

CRABS - In general, you can tell the difference between boy crabs and girl crabs by looking at the shape of the plate on the abdomen. Boys have a thinner more pointy plate, girls have a wider more rounded plate because it is used to hold the egg mass. The mothers carry the eggs because not many predators will mess with them to get to the eggs.

• Blue Crabs are found in the Chesapeake Bay. They are very agressive, like to pinch, but are good to eat. They have a pointy-ended shell and swim fins. (you can kind of see the swim fins on the last leg of the crabs on the right)
• Spider Crabs have a rounder body shape, often a bumpy shell that will grow algae for camouflage, and longer more spindly legs. Spider Crabs include snow crabs and king crabs like the ones seen on Deadliest Catch. A decorator crab is a kind of spider crab that attaches stuff to its bumpy shell to blend in.
• Fiddler Crab males have one claw that is a lot bigger than the other. This is for impressing the ladies, and used to show dominance over other males. 
• Hermit Crabs have a weak exoskeleton and thus protect it with a stolen mollusc shell. They have adapted to this lifestyle and have modified back legs that hook on the inside to hold the shell on and one claw that is slightly larger to use as an operculum.

Crustaceans - Overview & Lobsters

Crustaceans have bilateral symmetry and a hard crunchy exoskeleton. Because the crustacean grows and the exoskeleton does not, crustaceans have to molt or shed their hard outercovering, exposing a new softer bigger covering that will harden in a few days.

LOBSTERS

There are two basic lobsters to be familiar with - the clawed lobster and the spiny lobster. Both are primarily scavengers. The clawed lobster has two different claws - a lighter faster shredder and a heavier more powerful crusher. The clawed lobster is more solitary because it is more aggressive. The spiny lobster does not have big claws, but can defend itself with its long whip like antennae. This lobster likes to congregate in groups and is not as aggressive. Both lobsters carry their eggs on the swimmerettes protecting them from potential predators.

Cephalopods!

Today students explored the wonders of cephalopods. Cephalopod means head-foot and includes octopi, squid, cuttlefish, and the chambered nautilus.

Cephalopods are characterized by their large well developed eyes, numerous tentacles, a parrot like beak in the center of the tentacles, and well developed chromatophores in their skin that allow them to change color.

We watched numerous videos today to see and understand how and why cephalopods make ink clouds, to see how an octopus can swim with jet propulsion or use its tentacles to crawl around, and we also saw how a octopus can eat a shark!

For more information about cephalopods, check out CephBase and the Australian Cephalopod Research page.

Gastropods

Gastropod means "stomach foot" and includes all snails and anything else that makes one shell. Gastropods have one foot, one shell, and one siphon.

Some shells are spiral and have an operculum to act as a door for when they hide inside. The snail lives in the entire shell (all the way up into the top and retreats inside to hide when it feels threatened or exposed. The operculum blocks any would-be attackers and is made of a material similar to fingernails. These types of molluscs include whelks and moon snails.

Other shells are not spiral and the snail has good suction power so that predators have a difficult time pulling the snail off the rocks. These types of molluscs include slipper snails, abalones, and limpets.

Nudibranch (naked-gills) are sea slugs that have lost the ability to make a shell over evolutionary history. They are still classified as gastropods.

Even though they don't have a shell, they do however have some interesting adaptations to keep from getting eaten. Most nudibranch exhibit warning coloration because they are poisonous or have stingers - none that they make - they acquire them from the prey that they eat!

National Geographic did a great article a few years ago full of lovely photos. Both are linked here. Watch the video for a full-range spectrum of photos.

Slimy Slugs

Today classes got a close up look at the Limax maximus and their slimy mollusc bodies. Thank you Steve for bringing him in! Students looked at the two sets of tentacles (eyespots and sensory tentacles) and the hole the land slug breathes through. Some touched it to see what the slug felt like and quite a few second and third period students let the slug slime all over them. Way to be brave!

Slugs can be considered gross because of the copious amounts of mucus they leave behind. The mucus helps them get a better grip on surfaces and helps prevent dessication, drying out. It can also make the slug more difficult to pick up by predators. More information about slugs can be found here.

Pearls

Pearls can be made by any mollusc that has a shell. I passed around my pearls and some shells that I have with pearls on the sides - not all pearls are free floating - they can be attached to the side of a shell.

A mollusc makes a pearl to cover an irritating spot like a piece of sand that gets inside the shell. Pearls can be "glued" to the side of the shell or free to move inside the mollsucs shell. We prefer the "free" kind.

Here is a great short video that explains the process!

Any mollusk that produces a shell can produce a pearl. Nevertheless, naturally occurring pearls are rare, found in perhaps one of every 10,000 animals. The cultured pearl industry, which has flourished since the early 20th century, has developed techniques to greatly improve these odds. Indeed, more pearls are produced now than at any time in human history.( SOURCE This is a good website for lots of information on pearls)

Molluscs - the basics and some fun facts

Students are in the midst of Unit 4 Molluscs busily learning about the different classes of Molluscs and trying to learn a variety of sea shells. Students have learned the basics about sea shells

• The shells found on the beach are from dead organisms.
• Any mollusc that has a shell, makes it shell.
• Sea shells are made of calcium carbonate.
• Shells are smooth on the inside because slimy molluscs don't want to rub their soft bodies on something rough. If they are smooth on the outside, then the mollusc also wears its body on the outside of its shell.

Today's cool mollusc was the chiton, an odd mollusc that has 8 overlapping plates held together by its soft squishy mantle, and the plates come apart when the animal dies. Chitons are built like armored cars and have great suction to stay on the rocky coast in waves and storms. They spend their days sliming around scraping algae. When pulled off a rock, it can roll into a ball to protect its squishy parts. More info can be found here.

Students also learned the four major classes of bivalves - clams, mussels, oysters, and scallops. Bivalves have 2 shells and 2 siphons, as well as adductor muscles to help keep their shells from opening for hungry predators. Bivalves include some of the more well know shellfish like scallops, clams, oysters, and scallops as well as a few like jingles, ark shells, and cockles. Pictured to the right are a clam (tan), oyster (grey), and mussel (black).

Mussels make byssal threads for attaching (so do ark shells and jingle shells) and scallops have eyespots to see predators. Oysters make cement to stick together and clams have a powerful foot for digging down and hiding.

Intro to Coloration in the Sea

We talked about fish coloration and camouflage. Some of the tricks these fish have up their fins to blend in or advertise or trick predators are quite ingenious. 

One of my favorite organisms is the nudibranch - basically a slug that lives in the ocean. These soft squishy slimy critters would make excellent snacks, but they are all poisonous! They have warning coloration to let would-be predators know that they would not taste good at all. You can click here for a National Geographic Article about nudibranchs.

Conservation Report - Can you see me? Is a link to an awesome website with many examples of amazing animal camouflage - some on land and some in the sea. Check it out!

Plankton Nekton Benthos

Today in class we discussed different lifestyles. Organisms can be plankton and spend their lives floating and drifting. Nekton means they can swim. Benthic organisms, or organisms that spend their time on the bottom can be attached, can crawl, walk, and some swim - but if they swim they swim along the bottom and spend most of their time resting on the bottom.

Next we discussed eating. Producers don't eat - they can make their own food. Producers starts with P and so does Plants and PhytoPlankton.

Herbivores eat plants, Carnivores eat meat, and Planktivores eat plankton. Students worked on a worksheet sorting organisms into their varying lifestyles and eating preferences to finish class.

Temperature and Upwelling

Today in class we discussed water temperature and upwelling. For notes we continued talking about water movement and addressed ocean temperature and location. Areas near the equator are considered tropical, but do not always have warm water. The same is true for temperate areas between 30 and 60* latitude. Water at the poles is always cold though.

Upwelling is when cold nutrient-rich water comes up to the surface. It is fed by deepwater currents hitting land and rising to the surface. These areas have cold water that is full of nutrients, so there is heaps of plankton, and as a result lots of fish and other marine life.

There are two known upwelling spots in California on either side of Monterrey Bay, shown in blue and purple on the map. There are elephant seal and sea lion rookeries (hang outs) at both of these spots because there is plenty of food for the seals and sea lions and their babies to eat.

Students are working on mapping upwelling and then answering questions about the data gathered from a particular day. If this is not finished in class tomorrow, then it will be homework for the students.

Global Conveyer Belt

Today students began class with a BrainPop on currents and took the quiz. Tim and Moby did an excellent job describing how currents affect global weather patterns. They also explained global water circulation in the global conveyor belt. Students also did a reading about this global water movement. Click on the photo for a better view.

Global water movement is important for oxygen and nutrient distribution, but also has major impacts on migration of animals and weather patterns. 

Sand & Sea Exploration

We discussed sand and where it comes from, what its made of, what colors it can be, an how shape and size affect the texture. In Hawaii there are black, red, and green sand beaches that have been deposited from the weathering and erosion of volcanic rocks. In the Caribbean, you can visit white and pink sand beaches from the weathering and erosion of sand and coral.

Students used scopes and made observations of sand samples from Hawaii, Grand Cayman, Normandy France, Lake Anna, Lake Superior, California, and Virginia Beach. Students determined what the sand was made of, where it came from, how old it was, if it was on an active beach, a windy beach - all kinds of information can be collected from a simple sample of sand! Here are MsJ's toes on a black sand beach in Hawaii!


Today the class was spent working independently on the seafloor features surrounding the United States and reading and answering questions about underwater vehicles. Submarines are larger than submersibles and carry more people and can go longer distances. ROVs and AUVs are robots like remote-controlled cars, but go underwater. ROV's have a tether (cord) connecting them to power and AUVs do not.