Download Chapter 14: Animals of the pelagic environment

CHAPTER 14
Animals of the Pelagic Environment
http://www.aloha.com/~lifeguards
http://www.yoto98.noaa.gov/books/whales
http://www.fineartradiography.com/images/nautilus-pos.jpg
How organisms avoid sinking

Increase buoyancy
 Gas containers
○ Rigid container such as shells (internal or external) or…
○ Swim bladder
Fig. 14.2
http://www.geocities.com/darthdusan/nautilusNYCaquarium.jpg
http://www.rpgroup.caltech.edu/~natsirt/aph162/webpages/dylanandco/lab1/image
How organisms avoid sinking

Float – less dense than saltwater or
neutral
 Microscopic zooplankton have
shells or tests
○ Radiolarians
○ Foraminifers
○ Copepods
 Macroscopic zooplankton may
have oil droplets
 Krill (resemble mini-shrimp or
large copepods)
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/people/klf
/MicroGalleryLarge_files/Forams1.jpg
Foraminifers
Fish egg with
oil droplet
Krill
http://www.sfos.uaf.edu/research/arcdiv/watercolumn/euphausiid/images
How to avoid sinking


Floating
macroscopic
zooplankton
Cnidarians
 Hydrozoan
(Portuguese
man-of-war)
gas-filled float
 Scyphozoan
(jellyfish) soft
low-density
bodies
http://www.aboututila.com/Photos/AdamLaverty/
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x245/Aquaman1956/fish_swimming.gif
How to avoid sinking

Active swimming
 Fish – swim by curving body
from front to back
Fig. 14.9
http://www.jupitergreetings.com/fil
es/anims/thumbnails/266_sm.gif
http://www.wissenschaft-online.de/sixcms/media.php/591
http://www.mbari.org/news/news_releases/2001/dec21_clague/squid_swimming-400.jpg
How to avoid sinking

Unknown deep sea squid
Active swimming – Squid
 Swim by trapping water and
expelling it
 Also swim by using fins
http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues96/may96
http://www.fishingnj.org/jpegs
How to avoid sinking

Active swimming
 sea turtles use flippers
 marine mammals use up/down tail movements
 Different from fish
Sperm
whale
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/southflorida/everglades/estuarine/images/
http://www.biltek.tubitak.gov.tr/canlilar/img
Fin designs in fish

Vertical fins as stabilizers
○ dosral and anal fins

Paired fins for “steering” and balance
○ Pelvic and pectoral

Tail fin (caudal) for thrust
http://www.biologycorner.com/resources/fish_fins.gif
Fin designs in fish

Rounded caudal fins flexible,
maneuver at slow speeds

Truncate fins and forked fins,
useful for both maneuvering and
thrust

Lunate fins rigid, lots of thrust
for fast swimmers

Heterocercal fins asymmetrical,
lift for buoyancy (shark)
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/fig/0170960108002.png
Adaptations for finding prey
Mobility
 Lungers wait for prey and pounce
(grouper)

 Mainly white muscle tissue

Cruisers actively seek prey (tuna)
 Mostly red muscle tissue
Adaptations for finding prey

Swimming speed
 Speed generally proportional to size
 Can move very fast for short time (mainly to avoid
predation)
http://images.inmagine.com/img/imagezoo/iz125/iz125022.jpg
http://chemistry.csudh.edu/faculty/jim/cozmay06best/barracuda.jpg
Adaptations to
finding prey

Most fish cold-blooded
but some are warmblooded
 Homeothermic-body
temperature above sea
water temperature
 Modifications in
circulatory system
 Mainly in fast-swimming
fish
http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2005/10/051031133653.jpg
Adaptations of deep-water nekton
Mainly fish that consume detritus or each other
 Lack of abundant food
 Bioluminescence

○ http://www.ted.com/talks/edith_widder_glowing_life_in_a
n_underwater_world.html
Fishing lures
 Large, sensitive eyes

Anglerfish w/ males
http://www.antoranz.net/CURIOSA/ZBIOR2/C0301
Lanternfish
http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~biolum/organism/pictures/myctophid1.jpg
Adaptations of deep-water nekton
Large sharp teeth
 Expandable bodies
 Hinged jaws

Gulper eel
http://www.floranimal.ru/pages/animal/b
Figure 14.12
Adaptations to avoid predation

Schooling
 “Safety in numbers”
 School may appear as
single larger unit
 Schooling maneuvers
confuse predator
http://www.oceanbrite.com/gallery/d/811-2/Fish_School.jpg
Some taxonomy……

Fish
 Kingdom Animalia
○ Phylum Chordata
 Class Chondrichtyes – cartilaginous fish
- Sharks, rays
 Class Osteichthyes – bony fish
Marine Mammals
 Kingdom Animalia
 Phylum Chordata
○ Class Mammalia
 Order Carnivora
- Sea otters
- Polar Bears
- Pinnipeds – Family Odobenidae (walrus), Family
Otariidae (Sea lions), Family Phocidae (seals)
 Order Sirenia
- Manatees and dugongs
 Order Cetacea
- Whales
Whales
 Kingdom Animalia

 Phylum Chordata
○ Class Mammalia
 Order Cetacea
- Suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales – dolphins,
orcas, sperm whales)
- Suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales – blue whale, gray
whale)
http://www.colonialzone-dr.com/images/manatee%20mother%20and%20calf.jpg
Marine
mammals






Land-dwelling ancestors
Warm-blooded
Breathe air
Hair/fur
Bear live young
Mammary glands for milk
http://images.aad.gov.au/img.py/8bb.jpg
http://www.sierraclub.org/compass/uploaded_images/otter-700966.jpg
Marine mammals

Carnivora
 Prominent canine teeth
 Sea otters
 Polar bears
http://www.gaszappers.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/3-lazy-polar-bears.jpg
http://www.birdsasart.com/Sea-Otter-wpup-_T9J9119-Cordova,-AK.jpg
http://images.livescience.com/images/071008-walrus-04.jpg
Marine mammals

Carnivora
 Pinnepeds
○ Walruses
 Eat crustaceans with
tusks
○ Seals
http://www.cambriarealty.com/images/seal_pic1.jpg
Marine
mammals

http://www.naturetrek.co.uk/newsletter/images/200796947570.Galapagos-Sea-lion-and-pup.jpg
Carnivora
 Pinnepeds
○ Sea lions
○ Fur seals
http://neilshedden.com/africa/images/animals/seals3.jpg
http://www.nepa.gov.jm/yourenv/biodiversity/Species/gifs/manatee.jpg
Marine
mammals
Sirenia
 Herbivores

 Manatees
○ Coastal areas of
tropical Atlantic
Ocean
 Dugongs
○ Coastal areas of Indian
and western Pacific
Oceans
http://www.cnsweb.org/digestvertebrates/Photos/Dugong%20CL25_1b.jpg
http://www.solcomhouse.com/images/wszhale.gif
Marine
mammals

Cetacea
Stream-lined bodies
for fast swimming
 Specialized skin
(dermal ridges)
structure for fast
swimming
 Whales

 Toothed - carnivores
 Baleen – filter feeders
http://faculty.mccfl.edu/rizkf/OCE1001/Images/whales2.jpg
http://www.alaska-passages-yacht-charters.com/breach_1.gif
Cetacea
Fig. 14.18
http://www.flheritage.com/facts/symbols/images/symbols/porpoise.jpg
Marine mammals
 Dolphins vs. porpoises
 Dolphins (Delphinidae)
○ 35 species
○ Beaks
Bottlenose dolphin
○ melon (fatty organ in forehead)
○ Prominent, curved dorsal fin
○ conical, undifferentiated teeth
○ Range in size from 1.5 m Hector's
dolphin to 9 m killer whales
 Porpoises (Phocoenidae)
○ 6 species
Harbor
porpoise
○ Lack prominent beak
○ laterally compressed teeth
○ More triangular dorsal fin
http://www-heb.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/community/
education/images/harbourporpoise/teeth2_small.gif
http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=94551&rendTypeId=4
http://www.keanani.com/dolphin_Animation.gif
http://www.freewebs.com/cetaceanrc/SpermWhale1.jpg
Cetacea

Adaptations for deep
diving
 Use oxygen efficiently
○ Able to absorb 90% of oxygen
inhaled
○ Able to store large quantities
of oxygen – high levels of
myoglobin and hemoglobin
○ Able to reduce oxygen
required for noncritical organs
○ Slowed cardiac rate
 Muscles insensitive to
buildup of CO2
 Collapsible lungs
http://www.uwrf.edu/biology/electives_dir/444_dir/VSmith/Page1.html#skin
Adaptations for deep diving
Sperm whales can dive up to 1 hour, 52 min. and to 3 km deep
http://www.uwrf.edu/biology/electives_dir/444_dir/VSmith/Page1.html#skin
http://hearingresearch.net/pix/FultonCaldwell.gif
Cetacea

Suborder Odontoceti
(toothed)
 Dolphins, porpoises, killer
whale, sperm whale
 Echolocation to determine
distance and direction to
objects
○ Clicks produced in nasal air
sacs are focused by the melon
○ Echos received thru lower jaw
 middle ear
 Determine shape, size of
objects
http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/520Cetartiodactyla/520.100.html
http://www.nodium.com/wp-content/img/article/503.jpg
Intelligence in toothed
whales





Large brains relative to
body size
Communicate with
each other
Brains convoluted
Trainable
Are they intelligent?
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/kinser/images/jerison1.gif
Cetacea
Suborder
Mysticeti
Fig. 14.23
Right whale
baleen
Baleen whales
 Blue whale, finback whale,
humpback whale, gray whale,
right whale
 Fibrous plates of baleen sieve
prey items
 Vocalized sounds for various
purposes

Right whale
feeding
http://www.coastalstudies.org/what-we-do/right-whales/fieldnotes.htm
http://www.howardhall.com/stories/Gray%20Whale1H.jpg
Gray whale
migration



22,000 km (13,700 mi)
annual migration from
coastal Arctic Ocean to Baja
California and Mexico
Feeding grounds in Arctic
(summer)
Breeding and birthing
grounds in tropical eastern
Pacific (winter)
Fig. 14-25
Whales as
endangered
species




Fewer whales now
than before whaling
International Whaling
Treaty
Hunting of gray whale
banned in 1938
Gray removed from
endangered list in 1993
as population
rebounded
Fig. 14.26
http://typingisnotactivism.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/japan-whaling-2008.jpg
Marine reptiles
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/southflorida/everglades/estuarine/images/
○ Sea turtles
 Prey depends on species
Greens eat seagrass (gut flora
digests cellulose)
Loggerheads eat conch
Leatherbacks eat jellyfish
 Nest on beaches: predation,
lights on dunes
 Many overexploited
Green
Loggerhead
Leatherback
http://swfsc.nmfs.noaa.gov/PRD/PROGRAMS/turtles
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/i
○
Marine iguanas of Galapagos Islands



Feed on submerged algae
Dive for up to 20 minutes
Must surface before they become too cold and can’t climb
out of water
http://www.surtrek.com/en/images/P
rogram_pics/photogallery/gps
http://www.exzooberance.com/virtua
l%20zoo/they%20walk/iguana
○
Sea snakes of Pacific
 Highly poisonous
 Truly aquatic - reproduce in water - live-bearers
http://www.oceanbrite.com/albums/Fiji/
http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/info_services/publications/sotr/1998/photos
Misconceptions
Florida Sunshine State
Standards
Ocean Literacy Principles










3e. - The ocean dominates the Earth’s carbon cycle. Half the primary productivity on Earth takes place in
the sunlit layers of the ocean and the ocean absorbs roughly half of all carbon dioxide added to the
atmosphere.
5a. - Ocean life ranges in size from the smallest virus to the largest animal that has lived on Earth, the blue
whale.
5b. - Most life in the ocean exists as microbes. Microbes are the most important primary producers in the
ocean. Not only are they the most abundant life form in the ocean, they have extremely fast growth rates
and life cycles.
5c. - Some major groups are found exclusively in the ocean. The diversity of major groups of organisms is
much greater in the ocean than on land.
5d. - Ocean biology provides many unique examples of life cycles, adaptations and important relationships
among organisms (symbiosis, predator-prey dynamics and energy transfer) that do not occur on land.
5e. - The ocean is three-dimensional, offering vast living space and diverse habitats from the surface
through the water column to the seafloor. Most of the living space on Earth is in the ocean.
5f. - Ocean habitats are defined by environmental factors. Due to interactions of abiotic factors such as
salinity, temperature, oxygen, pH, light, nutrients, pressure, substrate and circulation, ocean life is not
evenly distributed temporally or spatially, i.e., it is “patchy”. Some regions of the ocean support more
diverse and abundant life than anywhere on Earth, while much of the ocean is considered a desert.
5g. - There are deep ocean ecosystems that are independent of energy from sunlight and photosynthetic
organisms. Hydrothermal vents, submarine hot springs, methane cold seeps, and whale falls rely only on
chemical energy and chemosynthetic organisms to support life.
5h. - Tides, waves and predation cause vertical zonation patterns along the shore, influencing the
distribution and diversity of organisms.
5i. - Estuaries provide important and productive nursery areas for many marine and aquatic species.