Tigriopus Californicus Tigriopus californicus is an amazing little marine crustacean that is classified as a Harpactacoid copepod. Harpactacoid meaning it’s class, and copepod meaning its order. Because of its size and abundance, T. californicus is commonly regarded as the insect of the sea. This creature is generally very small, from 1-3 mm in size as adults. They are cylindrically shaped, and have a segmented body (head, thorax, abdomen) though no noticeable division between body regions (Powlik 1966). Each segment of the body has a pair of legs. They use their 'legs' to propel themselves through the water in short rapid jerks. They have 2 pairs of long feathered antennae, a chitin us exoskeleton and a single eye in the middle of their …show more content…
californicus is found from Alaska to Baja in small, shallow tidepools and tidal flats in the upper spray zone where they cannot avoid the full effect of visible and ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Individuals assemble in areas of lower radiation at midday, yet have no preference to the intensity of light at dawn and dusk (Hartline and Macmillan 1995). These tiny arthropods inhabit all types of marine sediments from sand to fine mud and ooze. Along with plankton, T. californicus eats microscopic algae, protists, bacteria, diatoms, algae and microbes (McGroarty 1958). When the concentrations of the species in their habitats are high, T. californicus will turn to cannibalism for a food source. The nautilus eye present in the species is rich with fatty acids and provides a good food source for the …show more content…
californicus is the concentration of salinity of the seawater. It can range from 35ppt too much higher salinity concentrations. The concentration of UV radiation also affects t. californicus. They tend to stay in places of low concentration of UV rays when the sun is the strongest. Too much UV radiation may cause growing defects in the animal. Lab conditions necessary for the maintenance of T. californium are a salinity of about 35 ppt (salinity of regular seawater), a constant room temperature, and low light source. Also a good high definition microscope is necessary to monitor the creatures to make sure they are in a good state. T. californium’ are a component of zooplankton and are eaten by many organisms, including mussels, fish and fish larvae, squid, sea birds, and mammals (like baleen whales and some seals) (Powlik 1966). They usually stay to themselves in the seawater and do not interact with other organisms except for when they are using microorganisms as a food source. The only time that they interact with their own species is for mating. First a male will insert a spermatophore into a female, then the male will guard his female for the time necessary for the spermatophore to release its contents into the female. This guarding shows that the males want to secure paternity. Other interactions with it’s own species happen when there are high concentrations of the species in a small area. T. californicus will turn on it’s
The Artemia franciscana can survive in extreme conditions of salinity, water depth, and temperature (Biology 108 laboratory manual, 2010), but do A. franciscana prefer these conditions or do they simply cope with their surroundings? This experiment explored the extent of the A. franciscanas preference towards three major stimuli: light, temperature, and acidity. A. franciscana are able to endure extreme temperature ranges from 6 ̊ C to 40 ̊ C, however since their optimal temperature for breeding is about room temperature it can be inferred that the A. franciscana will prefer this over other temperatures (Al Dhaheri and Drew, 2003). This is much the same in regards to acidity as Artemia franciscana, in general thrive in saline lakes, can survive pH ranges between 7 and 10 with 8 being ideal for cysts(eggs) to hatch (Al Dhaheri and Drew, 2003). Based on this fact alone the tested A. franciscana should show preference to higher pH levels. In nature A. franciscana feed by scraping food, such as algae, of rocks and can be classified as a bottom feeder; with this said, A. franciscana are usually located in shallow waters. In respect to the preference of light intensity, A. franciscana can be hypothesized to respond to light erratically (Fox, 2001; Al Dhaheri and Drew, 2003). Using these predictions, and the results of the experimentation on the A. franciscana and stimuli, we will be able to determine their preference towards light, temperature, and pH.
This research focuses on Gambierdiscus toxicus which is an armored, marine, benthic species in the phylum Dinoflagellata. It has an epitheca and a hypotheca, that is very similar in size, compressed anterio-posteriorly. The theca is covered with numerous deep and dense pores which are very thick. This species is autotrophic creating energy via several golden-brown chloroplasts (Hackett et al 2004), but is also heterotrophic and hence is referred to as mixotrophic. It has a ventrally – oriented crescent shaped nucleus. (Adachi & Fukuyo 1979). It usually inhabits warmer waters such as bay, mediterranian, tropical/sub – tropical in North/Central America (Shiumuzu et al 1982; Loeblich & Indelicato 1986), Asia/Pacific (Holmes & Tao 2002; Lu & Hodgkiss 2004) and has recently been identified in the Mediterranean (Aligizaki & Nikolaidis 2008). These authors identified the organisms to genus level, at best of their effort, so may have been one of the less common members of its genus although it is unlikely.
Throughout time, of course, marine biologists have created methods—or “techniques” (163)—that allow such a task to become more straightforward. The method which mainly comes to mind involves close observation of the organism, and noting as much of its minor and major characteristics while attempting to identify it. By recording such details as the organism’s symmetry, general shape, colors, external appearance, internal structure, and measurement, marine scientists can refer back to identification guides to figure out what specific classification their organism fits in, or whether they have the right taxonomy in mind or not (Mertz, Garrison and Baker 163-164). Upon confirming the organism’s identity with the noted characteristics, finding extra information about it becomes much easier
The butterfly effect is an idea that if something was changed in the past it would completely change what happens in the future. The allusion is shown when Mr. Travis and the group notice how much things have changed when they got back to present time. Mr. Travis looked at Eckles boot and noticed that there was a dead butterfly on the bottom of the boot. Then, Mr. Travis realised that killing that butterfly was the reason that the present had completely changed. In the story it says, “It fell on the floor, exquisite thing, a small thing that could upset balances and knock down a line of small dominoes and then gigantic dominoes, all down the years across time”
Artemia franciscana, known commonly as Brine shrimp, are aquatic arthropods within the animal kingdom who can readily adapt to extreme conditions. While they mainly live in saltwater lakes, such as the Great Salt Lake and the Caspian Sea, Artemia are able to survive in most inland saltwater excluding ocean (Gonzalo and Beardmore, 2012). Their main source of nutrition comes from Phytoplankton and microalgae: organisms that require sunlight to prosper. In addition, Artemia reproduces both sexually and through parthenogenesis, processes that require specific abiotic conditions for temperature and salinity*. In fact, Wear et al. (1986) states that higher temperatures are more effective in reproduction and maturation of Artemia. Primarily, this experiment is important for acknowledging the ecology of Artemia as well as their biodiversity in a time of climate change. Understanding habitat requirements is essential in aiding preservation, survival and reproduction.
Chironex fleckeri is a part of the phylum Cnideria and is part of the class Cubozoa. It is most commonly known as the Box Jellyfish. It is most commonly found in Western Australia. The adult medusae stage is mostly found along beaches or in the mangrove channels. C. fleckeri is one of the most venomous animals in the world. This venom is important to study for pharmaceutical purposes. It is difficult to study the behaviors of C. fleckeri because it is difficult to keep them alive to study. The experiments that W.M. Hamner, M.S. Jones, and P.P. Hamner preform will help find out more about how C. fleckeri life in sea.
The feeding structure of an echinoderm, for example a sea star, has both a mouth and an anus making it a complete digestive system. The mouth is on the oral side of the sea star and the anus is located on the abor...
Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Summer” takes place in a future society, where one company offers a program to take clients into the past and let them shoot an animal of their choice. One such client, Eckels, requests to shoot a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but upon gazing at the monstrous animal, he becomes wary and runs back to the Time Machine on the Path, a path that floats six inches above the ground to prevent clients from meddling with the past. However, on the way back, he runs off the path and kicks up some dirt, killing a butterfly. Eckels tells his guide Travis that it was no big deal, and another member of the company Lesperance agrees, so the group heads back to the future. Upon returning, Eckels discovers that killing the butterfly had resulted in a significant
Whitaker, David J, Rachael King, and David Knott. "Jellyfish." Sea Science. Web. 7 Jan. 2014. .
Soft corals are grouped in the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa, and order Alcyonacea. Their distinguishing characteristic is that their polyps always bear eight tentacles which are on both edges fringed by rows of pinnules (Fabricius and De’ath, 2002). The common name “soft coral” comes from the fact that they have no massive external skeleton as compared to the more commonly studied hard corals.
The Snapping Shrimp possesses several names; Symbiosis Shrimp, Pistol Shrimp, Alpheid Shrimp, Alpheidae, and Alpheus heterochaelis. Those are only a few to name. With over 600 species in its family, the shrimps commonly dwell in tropical waters similar to the Mediterranean Sea and the tropical oceans of the Caribbean. The shrimp can be found mostly in waters of sandy layers, rock caves, coral reefs, submerged sea grass flats and oyster reefs in dim light.
The giant pacific octopus is under the order Octopoda because it has arms with sucker stalks that are broad, muscular cylinders. It has no funnel valve and no nuchal cartilage. It has eight arms and no shell which also are common characteristics of a cephalopod. (Kalupa, 2012)
To begin, it is necessary to understand what a butterfly is. A butterfly is a flying insect from the Lepidoptera family that includes moths and butterflies. This classification (Lepidoptera) makes up the second largest family within the insect family. Like all holometabolous insects, butterflies endure a complete cycle of metamorphosis that is broken down into four distinct stages throughout the life of a butterfly. Because the butterfly family is so large and the species are so diverse, there are some butterflies that will migrate outstanding amounts of distance and there are some that have symbiotic relationships with other animals in their habitat. For example, the Monarch butterfly, possibly the most recognizable and well known of all butterfly species with their bright orange and black outlined wings that look like stained glass windows migrate to escape the cold weather of the United States. They manage to migrate south and west in October of each year, eventually making ...
The “Butterfly Effect” is a metaphor that encapsulates the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in the chaos theory; namely that small differences in the initial condition of a dynamic system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system. This is a great theory that can be applied to specific aspects of life and life in general. I believe it can be applied to my life in the sense that every event that has occurred in my life; big, small, good or bad. I would not change anything, because they all came together to bring me to where I am today.