The Octopus Man
They change color, texture, and body shape... have three hearts... are jet powered... have members in every ocean of the world... have inspired legends and stories since recorded history... are the most intelligent of all invertibrates, yet are related to clams and oysters... have eyes and senses that rival our own... and can make their own smoke screen decoys out of ink. They are Cephalopods - octopi, cuttlefish, squids, etc. - and they are far more fascinating than one might think.
Cephalopoda means, “head foot”, and they certaintly are of an ancient group... they first appeared several million years before the first primitive fish began to swim the oceans, in the late Cambrian era. They were once one of the dominant life forms in the sea, yet today there are only 650 or so living species left. (This may seem like quite a bit, but compare it to the 30,000 living species of bony fish on this planet
and it loses its’ prominence.) Yet in terms of productivity, some scientists feel that cephalopods are still giving fish a run for their money.With so much information on cephalopods available, it becomes neccesarry to narrow down the catagories. Thus, I
have determined to zoom in on the order Octopoda as the main focus of this paper, a group on animals which contains, in my opinion, some of the more interesting and intelligent creatues on this planet.
Members of the order octopoda have eight arms. Over the corse of evolution, the trend has been a reduction of shell size. Octopi, having no shells at all, have
carried this trend the furthest. The suborder ncerrata contains the familiar, unfinned octopuses that humans know the most about. Octopi have evolved
mechanisms to protect themselves from predators. Some of the amazing abilities of octopi include their ability to change theircolor, texture, and apparent size; to expel ink; and to modify their environment to suit themselves. Octopi are able to jet water through their siphon by contracting their mantel to provide quick, explosive thrust.
They have the intelligence and ability to get into and out of fishermen's crab
and fish traps and to get under an undergravel filter plate in an aquarium. They can adapt to new situations and appear to be curious about their surroundings. Octopi can use their bodies as a nets to trap fish.
Fox, R. 2001. Invertebrate Anatomy OnLine: Artemia Franciscana. Lander University. http://webs.lander.edu/rsfox/invertebrates/artemia.html, retrieved February 13, 2011.
In the early 1800’s, a new discovery that left paleontologists in awe was the fossil finding of the immeasurable amount of species of reptiles, Ichthyosaurs. Greek for “fish lizards”, these fossils were found all over the world. Because these large aquatic reptiles migrated just as whales do today, paleontologists have had the amazing advantage of collecting fascinating bone fragments throughout the past 177 years. Ichthyosaurs swam the ocean life from about 245 million until about 90 million years ago- approximately the same time dinosaurs ruled the land. The earliest Ichthyosaur fossil findings were in parts of Canada, China, Japan, and possibly Thailand. Countless fossils came from coatings of limestone produced out of the ocean-floor ooze that was predominantly superior at preserving very well facts of the creatures it digested (Perkins 2).
Liubicich, D.M., et al. 2009. Knockdown of Parhyale Ultrabithorax recapitulates evolutionary changes in crustacean appendage morphology. PNAS 106 (33): 13892-13896
There are big differences in how Chinese mothers act towards their children compared to Western mothers including the expression of feelings and approval, the worth of their children, and what is best for them. Amy Chua (2011) incorporates her own personal experiences of being a Chinese mother within her article and compares that to what she witnesses in America.
When someone says the word octopus, an image of an eight legged invertebrate comes to mind. The body structure of a mature octopus is very interesting. Octopuses are extremely intelligent. They have excellent memory can use tools, and are great problem solvers. Only birds and mammals are known to be smarter. Each one of their tentacles, which are used for prying open clam shells, has two rows of suckers that can give them a pretty good grip. An octopus also tastes with its tentacles. An octopus’s third right arm, also called hectocotyli, is also its penis which a male octopus will use to mate at one or two years of age. The only part of an octopus that cannot move or squeeze through small spaces is its beak where it consumes food. This is used for biting and also breaking things apart. Did you know that octopi have three hearts? This is because these sea creatures have extra legs and three hearts are necessary for better bl...
The eye is an extremely diverse organ, ranging in complexity across and within animal phyla. Here, a comparative approach is taken to outlining the diversity of the eye forms within vertebrates and invertebrates. The eye morphology of a variety of organisms was examined. Eye function, and placement on the body was also considered. Here, variation in eye form is discussed in relation to the environment the organism is adapted to. It is shown that an organisms eye morphology functions optimally for the ecological niche it occupies. Evolutionary analysis is used to account for the emergence of the different eyes. Convergent evolution is used to justify the similarities in eye types seen in organisms of different species. This analysis begins with the simplest of eye forms composes of single cells, present in the zooplankton larvae. Such primitive forms are identified in mollucs, annelids, cnidarians, and are then compared to more advanced eye forms contain lenses. This comparative approach provides a breadth of examples of vertebrates and invertebrates, making visible, the diversity of eye morphology within the animal kingdom.
Although “Araby” is a fairly short story, author James Joyce does a remarkable job of discussing some very deep issues within it. On the surface it appears to be a story of a boy's trip to the market to get a gift for the girl he has a crush on. Yet deeper down it is about a lonely boy who makes a pilgrimage to an eastern-styled bazaar in hopes that it will somehow alleviate his miserable life. James Joyce’s uses the boy in “Araby” to expose a story of isolation and lack of control. These themes of alienation and control are ultimately linked because it will be seen that the source of the boy's emotional distance is his lack of control over his life.
Most parents want what is best for their children even if that means pushing them to their limits. Every parent is different in how they raise their child, some are strict, some are carefree, and some try to act like best friends to their children. Amy Chua is a mother of two girls and she chose to raise them like a chinese parent instead of an american parent. Chua wrote an article called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother which explains how she raised her children and how different chinese parents are from american parents.
Echinoderms are captivating organisms. They have a number of specialized structures and functions. They have unique water vascular systems, aboral surfaces, and feeding structures. This sets them apart from other animals because of their distinct characteristics.
Chinese parenting is competent at times but there are other times where it is more suitable to follow other forms of parenting such as the Western style.These findings have important consequences for the broader domain of parent-child relationships. Whether it is Chinese parenting or Western parenting the relationship between family members is crucial. According to Amy Chua, Chinese parenting is more effective in helping the child attain a better future through the parents’ interests, while Western parenting style reflects mainly the interests of the child.
Occasionally, a giant squid will wash up on shore or will come up in a fishing net, which has allowed scientists to get a close observation of these squid and their anatomy.
Minerals (micronutrient), there are various minerals and each group plays a different role, calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and phosphorus (P) all help to harden bones and teeth. Iron (Fe) plays a crucial role in haemoglobin (Hb). Potassium (K), sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) are all helpful in maintaining the bodies PH balance and are all used in action potential (Grammarly,
This essay discusses the evolution of amphibians. Amphibians are classified into three orders (anura, caudata and apoda) and are in the superclass tetrapoda (Kolesova, et el, 2007). The Apoda is comprised of organisms with no legs, and these organisms normally live in barrows. Tretrapods are comprised of vertebrates with four limbs; and examples of tetrapods are reptiles and amphibians (Kolesova, et el, 2007). Tetrapods were the earliest vertebrates to be able to walk on land and that was during the Devonian period about 360-370 million years ago (Kolesova, et el, 2007). Before the existence of amphibians almost all vertebrates lived in water (Kolesova, et el, 2007).
“Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” is an excerpt from Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua, a Yale Law professor. In this excerpt the author explains why Chinese children tend to be more successful in life and expresses her dislike towards Western parenting. The first idea Chua explains is a list of activities her daughters are allowed to do and not do in order to focus solely on academic progress. Second, the author demonstrates the contrast in mindset between Chinese mothers and Western mothers by explaining how Chinese mothers feel differently than Western mothers in regards to academic success and learning. Furthermore, she describes how Chinese mothers can demand things from their children. Finally, they can also say
The world we live in today is full of an exceptional variety of animals. The time it took to conclude to the various sorts of species seen today has been throughout a period of millions of years. The vast majority of these animals are accredited to evolutionary advancements. When the environment changes, organisms have become accustomed to changing to fit their environment, to ensure their species does not die off. These physical changes have resulted in different phyla, ranging from basic structures, like sponges to advance systems, like that of an octopus.