In the tropical oceans of the South Pacific lurks a predator that violently launches itself at its prey and spears it with raptor-like blades. These animals have been known to reach speeds so great that they can break aquarium glass. They are a crustacean commonly known as mantis, shrimp and they belong to the phylum Arthropoda and the class Stomatopoda. All have an exoskeleton, which means their bodies do not have internal bones for support. Other characteristics of Arthropod's are segmented bodies and bilateral symmetry. The exoskeleton is made of chitin, lipids, carbohydrates and protein. As arthropods, including mantis shrimp, grow they produce a newer, softer exoskeleton underneath the old exoskeleton and it must be shed or molted. The exoskeleton forms jointed appendages, such as antennae and legs, that allow for movement and flexibility. Mantis shrimp are renowned for their unusual method of being able to break the shells of their bivalve mollusk prey with brief, powerful strikes of their raptorial appendages(Patek and Caldwell, 2005).
Mantis shrimp are in the subphylum Crustacea, and the Class Malacostraca. Malacostracans have three-party body; head, thorax and abdomen and compound stalked or sessile eyes. Other characteristics of the Malacostracans are a two-chambered stomach and centralized nervous system. The eyes of mantis shrimp are unique and are composed of three parts; a dorsal and ventral hemisphere separated by a central mid-band with three pseudo-pupils (Land, et al, 1990). Mantis shrimps are aggressive predators whose behavior is largely guided by vision (Caldwell and Dingle, 1976).
The Stomatopods are predators that hunt and kill animals. They attack and capture fish, mollusks and other crustaceans with...
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...Montana. Contributions to Zoology, 67, 155-186.
Land, M. F., Marshall, J. N., Brownless, D., & Cronin, T. W. (1990). The eye-movements of the mantis shrimp Odontodactylus scyllarus (Crustacea: Stomatopoda). Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 167(2), 155-166.
Motoyama, K., Suma, Y., Ishizaki, S., Nagashima, Y., Lu, Y., Ushio, H., & Shiomi, K. (2008). Identification of tropomyosins as major allergens in Antarctic krill and mantis shrimp and their amino acid sequence characteristics. Marine biotechnology, 10(6), 709-718.
Patek, S. N., & Caldwell, R. L. (2005). Extreme impact and cavitation forces of a biological hammer: strike forces of the peacock mantis shrimp Odontodactylus scyllarus. Journal of Experimental Biology, 208(19), 3655-3664.
Piper, R. (2007). Extraordinary animals: an encyclopedia of curious and unusual animals. Greenwood Publishing Group.
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 head, this simple eye can only differentiate between light and dark.
Limpets are a sessile species (Sessile animals are usually permanently attached to a solid substrate of some kind) which are abundant on rocky shores, as they are rich in algae (their primary food source) and spend most of their time clinging to hard substrates or bare rocks. They are capable of withstanding water velocities in excess of 20 ms−1 (Mark W. Denny and Carol A. Blanchette, 2000) which imposes large hydrodynamic forces on the limpet. Limpets can accomplish this b...
The sessile consumers are those that are stationary and all feed off small plankton creating competition for their food source which allows some sessile consumers to be more dominant than others. Mussels are the most dominant between the sessile consumer with the Starfish as its predator, followed by Goose Neck Barnacles whose predators are Whelk and Starfish, and Acorn Barnacles whose predators is Whelk. The mobile consumers consist of Whelk(Nucella), Chiton(Katharina), and Starfish(pisaster). The mobile consumers, which are the the species that have a possibility to be the Keystone species are predators and compete for food. The Starfish preys on Mussels and Goose Neck Particles, the Whelk generally prey on Acorn Barnacles and Goose Neck Barnacles, and the Chiton prey on Nori Seaweed, Black Pine, and occasionally Coral Weed. Between the Mobile Consumers the only competition for food is between the Whelk and Starfish who both prey on Goose Neck Barnacles. Lastly, there is the invasive species known as the Green Crab (Carcinus) which has invaded the environment. The Green crab invades the area and is a predator to all
The North American brine shrimp goes through several stages in development before reaching adulthood. The brine shrimp is first encased in a protective capsule within a female brine shrimp’s brood sac (Drewes, C, 2006). Here, egg development rapidly...
“Taxonomically speaking, a lobster is a marine crustacean of the family Homaridae, characterized by five pairs of jointed legs, the first pair terminating in large pincerish claws used for subduing prey…. Moreover, a crustacean is an aquatic arthropod of the class Crustacea, which comprises of crabs, shrimp, barnacles, lobsters, and freshwater crayfish” (Wallace, 55). This is an example of Logos since the author uses scientific facts to convey the message he wants to communicate in an objective way. Wallace also uses logos as a persuasive device by presenting facts on the science of the lobster’s neurological system and its ability to feel pain. The Maine Lobster Promotion Council states “The nervous system of a lobster is very simple, and is in fact most similar to the nervous system of a grasshopper. It is decentralized with no brain. There is no cerebral cortex, which in humans is the area of the brain that gives the experience of pain”. Wallace counter-argues this statement by mentioning the fact that since lobsters have a simpler nervous system compared to humans, they are unable to produce their own natural opiates. “One can conclude that lobsters are maybe even more vulnerable to pain, since they lack mammalian nervous systems’ built-in analgesia, or, instead, that the absence of natural opioids implies an absence of the really intense
Imagine a creature that has a skeleton on the outside of its body, that has eyes that protrude on stalks, and whose blood doesn't flow through blood vessels but, instead, pools and surrounds body tissues. What is this monstrous creature? What if I were to tell you this isn't a monster, but something you've probably seen and maybe even eaten?! Yep, this strange creature is a __crustacean__! There are over 50,000 species of crustacean and they come in all shapes and sizes, from an ocean-dwelling crab to an immobile barnacle! But before we delve into the types of crustaceans, let's take a moment to go over the characteristics and anatomy they share.
Soft corals such as sea fingers and sea whips, are soft and bendable and often resemble plants or trees. These corals do not have stony skeletons, but instead grow wood-like cores for suppor...
Fox, R. 2001. Invertebrate Anatomy OnLine: Artemia Franciscana. Lander University. http://webs.lander.edu/rsfox/invertebrates/artemia.html, retrieved February 13, 2011.
The Great Barrier Reef is home to a remarkable number of organisms. The coral itself is made up of the skeletons of tiny, flowerlike water animals called polyps, held together by a limestone substance produced by a type of algae. Hundreds...
This has yet to be seen in invertebrates until Cephalopoda. Octopuses have been observed carrying around potential tools and assembling them when needed. Until these observations, invertebrates have not been known to have such cognitive abilities that are needed to engage in sophisticated behaviors such as tool use. One particular octopus species, the veined octopus, has been known to use a specific tactic called stilt walking that allows them to carry coconut shell halves and use them to build shelter against predators. Complex cognitive processes such as planning, problem-solving, and environment manipulation are indicators of rational thought as well as tool use. This further enhances the Cephalopoda
Though food is everlasting in both the coral reef and deep sea, space is very limited. Organisms in both habitats have to compete for space and survival, having defense mechanisms to keep other species from killing out their kind. Some fishes in the coral reef hide in cracks and crevices along the rocks and corals to hide from their predators. Other fishes camouflage within the brightly colored corals to hide from predators, or even humans looking into their tank. The deep sea holds many small fish, but with large mouths. The large mouths and pointy teeth help the miniscule fish eat their prey, whi...
Shrimp can be very intelligent animals and have very amazing things such as being clear, this may seem weird but yes, they are clear. Shrimp live in the ocean and come in contact with many different plants animals. The most common plant that the shrimp comes in contact the most with and use for protection is seaweed, coral, and algae. Shrimp use the for protection to hide from the other animals they depend on shrimp for their diet, most of these animals are sharks, whales and sometimes crabs are included. The change of having no eyes helps the shrimp hide from these and keeps the population at a good rate and this has also helped overfishing with not having contact with other animals and causing lots of movement to the other animals and fisherman.
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 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.