The dwarf seahorse’s scientific name is hippocampus zosterae. The dwarf seahorse faces an uncertain future. It is threatened by habitat loss (Biological Diversity). It is the slowest fish on earth with a speed of five feet per hour (Guinness World Records). It spends most of its time using its tail to cling to seagrass and catch tiny plankton. They are found mostly found in the Florida Keys, Bahamas, Bermuda, and the Gulf of Mexico (Monterey Bay Aquarium).
The female generally has reproductive maturity at 118 days. Dwarf seahorses get to know each other before they mate. They will dance for many mornings before hooking up tails and mating. When mating they would move up to the water column (Live Aquaria). The male seahorse always is pregnant and never demonstrates sex role reversal. The male would give an average of 10-30 fry. The fry are independent from birth and immediately start eating freshly hatched brine shrimp. The babies would be well developed and after three months will also be able to mate (Monterey Bay Aquarium). When they mate they would not take any other additional mates that they are offered (Animal Diversity Web).
The Dwarf Seahorse mostly eats non insect arthropods and is always a carnivore. To catch food they hook onto seagrass and are well camouflaged and catch drifting tiny animals like brine shrimp, copepods, and freshly hatched shrimp larvae. They prey is sucked near through the snout. Food progress in the seahorse is very fast causing it to absorb little nutrients. Because of this the sea horse can consume up to 3,000 brine shrimp a day (Animal Diversity Web).
The Dwarf Seahorse’s predators include tunas, dorados, skates and rays, penguins, crabs, and water birds. Young dwarf’s are at the risk of at t...
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...their ecosystems. They as predators help regulate populations of their prey. As prey for other animals they provide a food source. Consumption of crustaceans from seahorses and other predators to keep the population balanced. The dwarf seahorse is a source of food for many animals (Animal Diversity Web ).
In Asia it can be used as medicine for economic importance. It is believed to help with asthma. None of the tests have shown to work though. They have also been known to be powerful and spiritual in myths. There are lots of myths surrounding exotic creatures. They are also very important to studies and research. The unique reproduction systems stymies scientists. There is currently no adverse affects on humans. The chinese medicine is the largest use of the Dwarf. It is very endangered because of all this catching (Animal Diversity Web ).
They also look after the quality of coastal waters by watering down, sifting, and settling deposits, left-over nutrients and contaminants. They are highly productive ecosystems and provide habitats and act as nurseries for all manner of life.
Seahorses are a prime example of species whose atypical biology and unusual global distribution leads to a series of evolutionary questions. Seahorses (genus Hippocampus) are a marine species that have extensively been studied because of their abnormal behaviors in the marine environment compared to other marine creatures. Many of the seahorse species have large ranges, both longitudinally (over a great horizontal distance across the ocean), and latitudinal (great vertical distance within the ocean), regardless of the fact that they are characterized as weak swimmers and lack any large structural fins for efficient swimming (Lourie et al., 1999a). Although they do have these large range environments, seahorses
13. Species Summary for Etheostoma nianguae: Niangua darter. Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr,1991. (On-line) http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=3444
Reproduction: Skipjack Tuna are oviparous, meaning they lay eggs that mature and eventually hatch. In the warmer, tropical waters, the fish spawn all year long whereas in areas further away from the equator such as the North Sea, spawning is limited to the warmer months (FLMNH). The average age at sexual or reproductive maturity for both male and female Skipjack Tuna is roughly around 1.5 years of age (ADW) and can also mature at a size of around 15 inches (40cm) long (FL...
Throughout the animal kingdom, adaptations take place continuously and even the smallest of changes can leave a significant impact. Examples can be seen within any plant or animal. One example would include sea turtles, specifically, the Loggerhead Turtles. These turtles are native to the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans as well as the Mediterranean Sea (Deurmit L 2007). They thrive in either temperate or tropical climates and can live in a myriad of biomes (Deurmit L 2007). These biomes include the pelagic, reef, coastal, and brackish water (Deurmit L 2007). Loggerhead turtles are omnivores and can eat anything from insects to aquatic crustaceans, to macro algae (Deurmit L 2007). According to Deurmit (2007) Caretta caretta is classified into Animalia Kingdom, Chordata Phylum, Vertebrata Subphylum, Reptilian Class, Testudines’ Order,
Organized in the class Actinopterygii, seahorses, Hippocampus spp., are marine dwelling organisms found in bodies of water which span from tropical to temperate zones around the Earth. As cited by Foster in Life History and Ecology of Seahorses, research by R. A. Fritschze suggests that the genus Hippocampus diverged at least 20 million years ago from its ancestral origins. Research pertaining to organisms organized under the genus Hippocampus are conflicting in regards to the number species contained within it, although a general figure places the number at around fifty discovered species(website source). These odd-looking organisms reside at shallow depths of less than 30 meters and can be found in habitats containing seagrass beds and coral reefs(Foster 10). Hippocampus spp. are all predatory organisms, their main sources of food consist of small crustaceans and fish, as well as other organisms which are small enough to be consumed(lourie 10). Although Hippocampus spp. are predatory, their size and restricted mobility capabilities place them at risk of being prey for other carnivorous organisms.
The most scientific name for this little water flea is called the Daphnia, a very small planktonic crustacean that measures up to five millimeters long. Daphnia are part of the Cladocera family, which are small crustaceans of all sorts commonly called water fleas. The Daphnia are called water fleas because the movements they make are very similar to the way fleas move around. Daphnias “inhabit most types of standing fresh water except for extreme habitats, such as hot springs.” Many of these creatures live as filter feeders but some can be found clinging onto water plants or skimming the very bottom of the shallow pond.
Seahorses feed on plankton, small fish and small crustaceans such as shrimp and copepods. An adult eats 30-50 itmes a day. Seahorse fry (baby seahorses) eat a staggering 3000 pieces of food per
The world’s coral reefs are quintessential to global biodiversity, so much so that they are often referred to as the "rainforests of the sea". Although their actual space occupied by reefs is relatively small, constituting less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface, they support over 25% of all marine species on earth. They provide complex and varied marine habitats that support a wide range of other organisms including, but not limited to, fish, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, echinoderms, sponges, tunicates and other cnidarians. Some of these animals feed directly on the corals, while others graze on algae on the reef. The reef also provides a protective habitat for many of these animals.
While mating, the male shark fertilizes the eggs by inserting its clasper to the oviduct of the female shark. What happens after the fertilization varies from one species to another. There are shark species that lays their eggs while covered in a protective tissue. These eggs later hatch into young fish. Other species give birth to live young ones and then abandons them.
The Monterey Bay Sea Otters There are a number of sea otters who are an important part of this world and they form a fairly large population and that is why it is felt that they should be preserved at all costs. They are an important source of earning for the people and they are also important in the sense that they provide an important source of earning to the people and their is an entire group of people who use this field as their source of earning. Besides the population of these otters keeps fluctuating and it has to be maintained because if the number fluctuate exponentially and if they get out of hand they can damage the ecological and the environmental balance of the world. Similarly the fishing and the killing of these otters can cause the damage to the balance because just like the excess of anything can cause a problem similarly the excess supply can cause a lot of major problem as well. These otters vary in sizes and this is an unchartered territory with a number of parasites who do vary in species and sizes and they all have their purposes and pros and cons and they impact our life and the balance of the world in a different manner. As the size varies so does the importance of the otters and the smaller ones might be innocuous while the larger ones can be the source of food as well and some of the larger species can also act as the predators and they act as a deterrent for the other species because they keep the check over the other species. They may pose a hazard of some type in some of the cases but their habitats and their productive cycles are all the things that need to be considered by us as human beings. Similarly their eating habits and appetites can alter and impact our world and our actions and reactions an...
Frogs are needed for everyday life. They are part of pond life. Each animal is important because even in the pond, there is a food chain. Frogs are amphibians, animals that spend half of their lives under water, and remainder on land. The first frog appeared in the early Jurassic period about 200 million years ago.
Marine organisms continue to amaze scientists with their physiological adaptations that allow them to live and thrive in the largest unexplored habitat known to man. Carl Zimmer argues that “most fish without lungs die” because “lungless fish pump their blood in a simple loop.” Therefore, fish are restrained by a lack of oxygenated blood flow that the heart can receive and will die if they exercise too hard because the heart simply won’t receive enough oxygen to sustain intense exercise. In order to solve this problem many species of teleosts and chondrichthyes possess adaptations that allow them to continue exercising at extremely high speeds without necessarily dying. Tunas, for example, are pelagic thunniform swimmers that have evolved these special adaptations that allow them to maintain high cruising speeds and high metabolic rates. They possess special adaptations in muscle, cardiovascular, and respiratory physiology that set them apart from many other species of teleosts.
...n in Starfish Caught by Towed Demersal Fishing Gears." Marine Biology 138.3 (2001): 527-36. Print.
The class Scyphozoa has about 200 species of jellies, with a wide distribution. “True Jellyfish” have a diverse range of habitats; we can find them in salty estuaries, bays; the pelagic zone of the ocean and the abyssal depths of the ocean. Pelagic Cnidarians are found in the pelagic zone of the ocean. The term “Pelagic” literally defines to, open ocean. Scyphozoan jellyfish are keystone species, being a primary and important predator within their marine ecosystems. They have been a key species in their ecosystems throughout the Phanerozoic Period and also since the middle of the Cambrian Period, which is when fossils of major animal groups first appeared. (Hagadorn et al. 2002; Cartwright et al. 2007; Hagadorn and Belt 2008 cited by Dawson) An ancient origin of the aggregated phenomenon of scyphomedusae as been retrieved from marine fossil deposits dating back to the late Cambrian period Hagadorn et al. 2002 cited by Dawson). Scyphozoans have become more commonly criticized as an ”annoying” species, forming countless problems worldwide. Aggregations and swarms of Scyphozoan jellyfish can negatively affect important aquacultures and injure swimming bystanders. (Reword******They are also known as an invasive species clogging the water intakes of power plants, due to the high concentration of nitrate located in the waters surrounding the plant, thus adversely impacting the human lifestyle further (reword). On top of it, jellyfish also trigger poor oxygen conditions within certain waters where synchronously is the same areas that contain high counts of jellyfish carcasses are deposited***** Reword) (Arai 1997; Mills 2001; Hay 2006; Graham and Bayha 2007; Purcell et al. 2007; Pitt et al. 2009; Richardson et al. 2009; West et al. 2...