One should not think that because zebrafish (Danio rerio) are fishes that they are in some ways less than any mammalian species. They certainly are not. Zebrafish are small shoaling cyprinids, named after the prominent black and white stripes patterns of the adults. Native to the Indian subcontinent, those laterally compressed organisms are widely distributed in slow moving streams and stagnant habitats. Where existent, zebrafish are typically the most abundant species (McClure, et al., 2006, p. 562). They also have a short generation time which allows large numbers to hatch in a short period of time. The species has become popular among enthusiasts due to its hardiness, cold resistance, and facility of breeding. Over the years, selective breeding have created numerous different strands.
Zebrafish are mostly known for their transparency, their short growth cycle, and their high ability to regenerate. Although regeneration does take place at some low rate in mammals, this regenerative capability is unfortunately impotent and neither sufficiently restores damaged tissue. Upon maturity, they lose the ability to replenish cells at lesion sites. On the contrary, zebrafish are able to retain the capacity to regenerate throughout adult life. The zebrafish are highly regenerative animals with the ability to heal injuries to the heart, retina, and other tissues. In an experiment conducted by Azevedo et al. (2011, p. 1), the regeneration capacity of zebrafish was studied using a designed experiment in which the fin of the fish was repeatedly amputated. The objective of this particular study was to determine whether fin regeneration is limited. This experiment was designed to investigate the effect that recurrent fin amputations and expe...
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... The scientists found that the hearts regrew without sccaring subsequent to injury. They found that the regeneration in the zebrafish heart is not driven by stem cells but rather by the proliferation of the existing cardiomyocytes (muscle cells of the heart). They also point out that the exhibition of this regenerative response could be due to heart enlargement via hypertrophy or hyperplasia.
While findings of these experiments do not suggest the ability of the zebrafish to regenerate from a single stem cell, they do indicate that the animals rely on their unlimited regenerative capacity to heal after injury. The fact that they can rapidly regrow body parts with scaring show how intriguing these small organisms are. The mechanisms involved in regeneration in zebrafish have provided insight into human biological processes, due to its genetic similarity to humans.
Whales living in captivity become aggravated and have been known to take out anger on themselves by self harming. In the pools they live in, metal bars are placed in between the pools to prevent the killer whales from swimming to another pool. On several occurrences, the whales have attempted to bite and break the metal bars. This leaves the whales with broken teeth and a risk of infection. Infections in killer whales can lead to death in many cases. If a whale gets an infection, they have to be taken out of the pool and placed into another pool by themselves to prevent any problems with other killer whales they live with. In many cases, whales with infections need serious care from whale specialists.
Orconectes rusticus, also known as Rusty crayfish, are freshwater benthic omnivores that are important in the lentic ecosystem (Nilsson, E, et al, 2012). Nilsson et al, observed how the Rusty crayfish that are native to the Ohio River valley in North America are dispersing to other lakes and becoming an invader of that ecosystem. Rusty crayfish feed on the microphytes, (Nilsson, E, et al, 2012) which are aquatic plants that enhance water transparency and aquatic biodiversity in fresh water ecosystems (Peeters Ehm, et al. (2013)). Microphytes also provide shelter and food for native fishes such as lepomis. Lepomis also prey on the juvenile rusty crayfish. Abundances of rusty crayfish, macrophytes and Lepomis were associated by a feedback that
About half of the fish species live in groups at some point in their life
In The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister tells how a beautiful, extraordinary, yet, self-centered blue fish learns that being beautiful isn’t the key to happiness. The blue fish came to find this lesson when he lost his friends. Pfister takes a simple ocean setting and explores the consequences of an individual’s arrogance toward their peers, the process of humbling of oneself, and the tremendous reward one feels when they learn to share. The story achieves these morals by the author’s use of detailed imager and also, the influence of minor characters on the antihero in order to reveal to the audience the true thematic message; selfish actions bring true happiness.
The purpose of the second MCAS essay was to further prepare the sophomores for the tenth grade ELA MCAS long composition. We needed to learn how to write MCAS essays well to score good grades. The audience was Ms. Vasiliadis. The requirements was to write five paragraphs including a strong thesis with three points and the theme in MLA format. It also had to follow the guidelines of the prompt which was to write about a character in a work of literature who has developed a friendship with someone who is disapproved of by others and explain how the relationship relates to the work as a whole.
The common planarian lives in freshwater streams and ponds, and feed upon small live or freshly dead animals. Of all creatures, it is planarians that have the best capacity to recover their damaged body parts/cells and regenerate them back. These once traditional classroom living beings have now turned into the subject of cutting edge hereditary examinations that can possibly illuminate us about our own science. These collectively large pluripotent undifferentiated stem cells organisms support the regenerative limit of planarians. (Aboukhatwa and Aboobaker; 2015). The purpose of this lab was to determine the planarians stem cell potency and their ability to regenerate. The stated hypothesis made by the group was, "If the planarians contain totipotent stem cells then it is guaranteed that the cut planarian will grow and reproduce body parts fully and effectively." Through a very
The adult zebrafish pectoral fin is comprised of endochondral and dermal bone, forming the proximal and distal radials, and the fin rays, respectively. The transgenic Tg(fli1a:eGFP) line can drive eGFP expression in blood vessels during embryogenesis. In addition, eGFP is expressed in the pectoral endoskeletal disc (ED) but absent in distal posterior chondrocytes. An enhancer within the mouse Hoxa11 intron, m-Inta11 that drives reporter expression in a subpopulation of hoxa13/hoxd13a-expressing cells in the larval pectoral fin has recently been identified. Beginning at 52hpf, the activity of m-Inta11 correlates with the absence of fli1a reporter expression in the distal posterior ED. This complementary expression pattern persists throughout
There’s No Real Good Guy In the movie, “Blackfish” we are exposed to the fact that the way orcas are treated at SeaWorld is worse than we are lead to believe. We see how they are forced to swim in tiny pools and how they can only be fed if they preform well. After seeing this it makes you feel like the only way to help these poor creatures is to jump on the animal activist wagon and to free all the whales like in “Free Willy”. But is that really the right way to go?
Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity. Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity. Along the way, director-producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite compiles shocking footage and emotional interviews to explore the creature’s extraordinary nature, the species’ cruel treatment in captivity, the lives and losses of the trainers and the pressures brought to bear by the multi-billion dollar sea-park industry. In black fish the information they used is misleading and untruthful and is meant to pull at your emotions.
Pi spends most of his exciting childhood in his father’s zoo and chooses zoology as his major. However, he meets a terrible shipwreck and starts his tragic survival with animals. Therefore, animals are indispensible in Life of Pi because he is familiar with the, they are different with humans and present another character in a different story. Pi is familiar with animals, expecially the animals in his father’s zoo. Before Pi meets the disaster, he says, “To me, zoo was paradise on the earth.
I spent a lot of time wondering what I should write for this paper. I kept bouncing back on different ideas not knowing which to go with. I took a moment to browse our old notes, then at the Attraction Theory packet. As I was rereading, I remembered one certain paragraph that stuck to me like a sore thumb: Attraction Online. For five years I talked to a girl I met over the internet and was completely enamored by her. She made me so incredibly happy. However, towards the end I discovered that everything I thought knew about this girl was a lie. She was what they call a Catfish. A Catfish, by definition, is someone who creates a fake identity to deceive others. Here is what happened to me.
Comb jellies or Ctenophores are basically fake jellyfish. Like jellyfish they are transparent are transparent, but these lacking stinging cells are basically giant balls of see-through goo. These balls of goo are located throughout most marine environments, at varied depths and temperatures they are very good conformers. The most prominent feature of Ctenophores is their cilia. Cilia are hair-like structures that are used to help this species swim. Being fake jellyfish the comb jellies are extremely predacious, they entrap food and suck them up and are known for being cannibalistic and swallowing each other whole.
Convergent evolution explains the similarity in body structure of the swordfish and dolphins, where two different organisms that are not closely related, independently evolved similar structures. Subjected to the similar aquatic environment and similar challenges, the swordfish and dolphins developed a similar body structure, a streamlined body (Figure 12; Baltimore, 2002). The streamlined body is the body structure that is broad in the middle and narrow at both ends. The development of the streamlined body is an advantageous structure to living in an aquatic environment. The streamlined body made it more efficient for locomotion, by reducing water resistance, thus increasing the efficiency of swimming for marine animals and for the vertebrates’
GloFish are fluorescently labeled zebrafish. These fish are different colors and fluoresce under UV light. Critics have declared that this is an abuse of our knowledge and understanding of transgenic animals. However researches have discovered that when the fish are placed in a contaminated tank with “heavy metal” the GloFish fluoresce. (Klug, 399) These fish have proven to be a bioassay that can determine if a tank is contaminated. Their genetically modified phenotype is an easy to see test result which determines how contaminated the water
A number of organs have the intrinsic ability to regenerate, a distinctive feature that varies among organisms. Organ regeneration is a process not fully yet understood however when its underlyning mechanism are unreveled, it holds tremendous therapeutic potential for humans. [28]