Discussion #7

Rift-shrimp without eyes

Translate Rimicaris exoculata into English

Eyes and brain

Tuna are known to conserve heat using countercurrent heat exchangers to limit heat loss at the bodies surface. They also have special brown muscle near the spine whose only purpose is to provide heat that allows the fish to swim faster. The sailfish has similar adaptations, but has additional brown muscle near what organs to enable them to capture prey when moving at high speed?

A shockwave created by the cavitation shoots forward stunning or even killing small prey that the shrimp ambushes

What is the snapping shrimps primary purpose for firing off the "pistol."

It withstands an enormous temperature range with its head at the distal end of the tube in 4°C (40°F) water and its tail in water as hot as 50°C (120°F). In addition to the extreme temperature range they survive in the hottest conditions of any animal.

What's so special about Pompeii worm that earned its inclusion in this chapter?

They live in deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities and are found living in tubes on the black smokers.

Where does the Pompeii worm live? Provide the general habitat and specific location within that habitat.

they have special tendons in their shoulders that lock the wings in the gliding position so the birds don't need to continuously use their muscles to maintain the outstretched wing position.

Albatross' are special. They can glide effortlessly for hours unlike most other birds. How is this possible?

reactive oxygen species coral bleaching

At high temperatures, the corals Symbiodinium (endosymbiotic photosynthetic dinoflagellates) leak high-energy electrons like a pot boiling over. They bond into a nasty form of oxygen called _____ . It's a toxin that poisons the coral and forces a response. The colony has only one option: expel the irritant. The coral does this by expelling the sputtering algae wholesale into the sea. If the high temperatures persist for too long the corals die and begin to crumble. This is process is called ______

Their endosymbiotic Symbiodinium are heat resistant

Corals in the Red Sea experience much higher temperatures than do zooxanthellate (containing zooxanthellae) hermatypic (reef forming) corals in most of the rest of the world. What makes this possible?

Cavitation

Do you know about Jacques Cousteau? He made important modifications to the original aqua-lung which led to the modern open-circuit scuba technology used today. He was also an author and filmmaker and is well known for his television series The Silent World. The ocean is for the most part rather quiet, but as we swim over the reefs in Hawai'i sound is ever present. We hear something like crackling or popcorn popping coming from several species of shrimp in the family Alpheidae. While it's logical to think that the sound comes from the animal quickly slamming its dactyl and propodus (pincher) together, the sound of chitin on chitin, that's not it. Instead they take advantage of what phenomena?

a. Being small the calves have a greater surface area to volume ratio than their parents and would expend more energy per unit of body mass than their parents to maintain temperature homeostasis. b. Orca do not follow the whales on their migrations so calves at the birthing areas are much less likely to suffer predation

Explain the two benefits that great whale calves enjoy by being born in the tropics rather than in the polar feeding grounds of the species? In answering address why these benefits are greater for calves than adults.

The tail, or caudal fin, has evolved an elongated lower lobe which is the first part of the fish to re-enter the water. It can repeatedly flick the caudal fin upon descent to power longer flights.

Flying fish leap from the water and glide on wing-like pectoral fins and speed away from pursuing predators, benefiting from temporarily escaping the predator's habitat and also enjoying much lower drag forces in the air relative to the water. But the fish is gliding, not really flying and must soon fall back into the sea and perhaps into the stomach of a fast and hungry Mahi Mahi. Over evolutionary time part of the flying fish other than the paired fins has changed to facilitate the first flight free of the water and is able to temporarily prolong the glide. Name the anatomical feature and describe the adaptation.

The sail can be actively employed to help ball up the prey, and perhaps also to stun the prey during feeding maneuvers.

How do the sailfish utilize their sail which can be collapsed during fast swimming and can be raised to its full glory in an instant?

Squid swim and fly using jet propulsion which is accomplished by using powerful muscles to compress water in the squid's mantle, ejecting the water from the siphon. When in flight, the problem is that the squid has no means of replenishing the water that it expels. It runs out of fuel.

In the early days of internet usernames, I was often the first to choose flyingsquid, now you would need large numbers after that text to use it. People seem to love the concept of a squid that can fly. Why, squid can even accelerate in the air. What is it that limits the duration of a squid's flight (note, only a few species of squid can jet into the air)? Provide a thorough explanation that includes some squid anatomy.

90%

Large cyclic heat waves in the Pacific, called El Niño, can devastate tropical coral reefs. In 1998, this phenomenon killed up to ??? of the live coral polyps on some reefs.

The caridioid escape reaction, or lobstering

Lobsters and many other crustaceans that are commonly referred to as shrimp are typically relatively slow swimmers and/or lumbering walkers. But when confronted with a predator they can jet backwards in the blink of an eye with the fastest know escape reflex in the animal kingdom. Some lobsters can accelerate during this maneuver at rates of 330 feet per second per second. What is this predator avoidance maneuver called? Provide both the scientific and commonly used answer.

There is a benefit in transitioning from a medium where they experience high drag forces to one where pressure drag is much lower.

The authors state that for dolphins "leaping is only worth the cost above a critical speed threshold, the "crossover" speed. Dolphins swim smoothly just below the surface, up to about 10 miles per hour. Above this speed, leaping becomes more efficient than swimming, so dolphins jump." Why is it ever more efficient to jump (called porpoising) while swimming at high speeds?

implodes (collapsing explosively) causing the sound we hear

The phenomenon from question 8 occurs when the dactyl closes on the propodus with incredible speed it displaces water sending it jetting forward. The water moves so fast that an air bubble forms in its wake. The air bubble also shoots away from the claw but becomes unstable and soon after it is formed it

They have pigmented patches on their backs that are capable of detecting low wavelength red light emitted by the 320°C water

The shrimp characteristic of hydrothermal vents in the rift zone of the Mid-Atlantic ridge swim around black and white smokers that emit fluids as hot as 320 °C. How do they avoid entering the super-heated water and becoming deep-sea shrimp cocktail?

stunning the fish with side-to-side and up-and-down motions of their bill and then snapping up the stunned prey.

The speedsters of the oceans are the billfishes which include the swordfish, marlin and sailfish. While they can take larger prey, they are specially adapted to consume smaller schooling fish and can work individually or in groups to force their food into tight defensive balls. Once this is accomplished they individually streak into the fish ball and capture their prey by _________

A They lack the blubber layer seen in other cetaceans B They have large fins and flukes for their body size resulting in an increased surface area to volume ratio allowing them to shed heat more effectively

The vaquita, Phocoena sinus, is the smallest and most endangered cetacean on the planet, a dolphin-like creature just 5 feet in length. They are found in a very small region in the northern portion of the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) and there have to endure warmer water than any other species of cetacean. What two adaptations allow them to keep their cool?