Hagfish And Snapping Turtles: Similarities And Differences

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All animals are quite different, especially in appearance. Common features may be found if major differences can be looked past. If the smooth, slimy skin of a hagfish and the hard, ridged shell of a snapping turtle are stripped away, some shared characteristics may arise. Hagfish and snapping turtles have certain similarities and differences in important life processes that all animals depend on to live, such as procuring and digesting nutrients, supporting themselves, and their sense organs. Procuring and digesting nutrients happens in different ways in all different organisms but it all happens with the same goal of nourishing their bodies to continue living. Snapping turtles have a tongue that is thin and pink, appearing as a worm which …show more content…

The way hagfish get around not having a jaw to move their teeth up and down to bite like a human or any jawed animal might, is that the dental plate that has teeth can be moved. While at rest, the dental plate is within the mouth, and the teeth point inward. While the hagfish is feeding, the dental plate can be pushed out, exposing the teeth2. The teeth then can hook onto food, and the dental plate being pulled back in raspes the food into the mouth of the hagfish. Snapping turtles do not have teeth but they do have jaws. The way a snapping turtle gets by not having teeth is that their jaws have jagged edges that they use like scissors to tear large chunks of flesh off of their prey1 or to bite of the limbs of smaller animals such as …show more content…

It starts with a cranium made of plates of cartilage fused together. The gills are supported by cartilage as well. They also do not have a back bone but instead retain their embryonic notochord to protect their spinal chord. The notochord is very flexible, allowing hagfish to tie themselves in knots to aid in feeding and escaping prey. A basal plate is found in the mouth where muscles within the mouth, such as the tongue, are attached to. The dermis, under the epidermis, is tough and rigid, which maintains the hagfishes body shape and is what muscles within the body can attach to to allow movement[2]. Snapping turtles have a skeleton made of bone. Their ribs are larger than a normal vertebrates ribs, to support a thick carapace or shell. The ribs span from the backbone to edge of the shell. The backbone that surrounds and protects the spinal

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