CLASSIFICATION
Taxonomic words can be difficult to understand. So below are some of the words that classify whale sharks from the underwater world and their definitions.
Animalia: a taxonomic kingdom that includes living and extinct animals
Chordata: a taxonomic phylum that includes all the animals that have a spinal column (backbone)
Chondrichthyes: a class of fish that have cartilaginous skeletons
Orectolobiformes: an order of carpet sharks
Rhincodontidae: a family of small-toothed sharks
Rhincodon typus: the genus and species of whale sharks TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. CLASSFICATION TREE..................................1
2. CLASSIFICATION..........................................2
3. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ADAPTATIONS.......3
4. DIET..............................................................4
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It also has a lateral line which senses movement in the water. Whale sharks amazingly have 350 rows of the teeth which make the total 3000 teeth. Each tooth is 3 mm thick. The mouth of a whale shark is 4 Feet wide (120 cm). A whale has a complex filtering system. Whale sharks have 3 ridges that run on the side of large gill slits. The spiracle is located near the eye. It is used to breathe. Its skin is 10 centimetres thick. The top fin on the tail is slightly larger than the bottom fin. The tail of the whale shark is half mooned shaped. Whale sharks are slower that most sharks. They have to move their whole body to swim rather that tail. Whale sharks grow up to 9 – 12 meters, when they are adults. The skin of the whale shark is yellow or white blotches. They weigh up to 12,500 kg. The heaviest whale shark was known to weigh 34,000 kg. Whale sharks are curious creature and are friendly to
Monodon Monoceros, Latin for “one tooth, one horn”#; or Narhval, Norwegian for “corpse whale” , because of it mottled coloration suggests a bloated corpse#.Narwhals are in the white whale family, along with the beluga, but are actually covered with spots of black, white, gray-green, and cream. Newborns are dappled gray-brown, white spots come with age#. At birth the calves are about 5 feet long and 180 pounds. Male Narwhals can reach 16 feet long, not including the horn which is 8 to 9 feet long, and weigh around 3000 pounds. Females are around 13 ft. long, do not have tusks, and weight around 2000 pounds. Adult males and females are usually dark in the area of the head, especially top of the head and upper and lower jaws#. Unlike most other whales, Narwhals have no dorsal fin, instead they have a low bumpy ridge that begins at about the midpoint of the back and continues to the fluke#.
...nted muscles. The quadrupling of genes led to bigger animals such as elephants. The largest member of the chordate phylum that ever walked on Earth was dinosaurs. The closest animal relative to humans is great apes. Great apes can think, feel, nurture own kind, pass on social skills, mimic, and remember just like humans do. Human intelligence is greater than anything on Earth! This video enhanced my understanding on Chordates because it explains how some chordates are or are not vertebras and it showed how land animals evolved from fish. I always like to see different videos on how species originated, especially humans.
In warmer waters Bull Shark mating occurs year-round while mating females usually receive mating scars on their dorsum, “the back or outer surface of an organ…” (“dorsum”). They typically carry from one to thirteen pups at one time for ten to eleven months. When the female Bull Sharks gives birth it gives birth to free swimming, live young in their nursery grounds that are again, in areas with low salinity and shallow waters (Curtis). The Pups that survive will be around 56 to 81 centimeters long at birth, and grow approximately to be around 340 centimeters when fully matured (Simpfender & Burgess). Female Bull Sharks are typically larger than males when fully grown and mature; the lifespan for both males and females is around 16 years (Curtis). Females on average are around 180 to 230 centimeters long and 285 pounds, and males on average are around 157 to 226 centimeters and 209 pounds, but the biggest known Bull Shark was reported to be 11.5 feet and 500 pounds (Simpfender and Burgess; Curtis). “Bull sharks are pale to dark grey [on their dorsal, and fade] to white on their [ventral, but on] younger individuals the fins have black
The Carcharhinus leucas commonly called the "bull shark" is a very unique shark. The bull shark can live in both salt water and fresh water but is commonly found along the Mississippi River and around Nicaragua. The bull sharks has a very blunt rounded nose giving it a bullish type of appearance thus giving it the name bull shark. The sharks are a dark black to a light grey with a white underbelly. Bull sharks can grow to be about 350 cm long and weigh around 230 kilograms. Bull sharks also tend to have smaller eyes compared to many other sharks which indicates that the bull sharks have limited vision. The bull sharks have triangular teeth like the great white shark (one of the bull sharks cousins). The bulls teeth are heavily serrated and are about 1.5 inches long which makes it easy to tear apart the flesh of their prey.
Image sitting on the beach one July morning. The sun is beaming down and decide to go for a swim. As you approach the water, you see a whale unusually close. You begin to get nervous as it continues to approach the shore. However, you aren’t worried because you know that they are confined to the sea. As the whale comes near you can see it clearly. Just as you think that it will turn around, the whale walks out of the ocean!
Their dorsal fin is extremely long, tampered and pointed in a triangular shape or rounded and curved towards the end. The skull is oval shaped and the beak is extremely short and rounded at the end. The killer whale’s jaw is powerful with teeth that are able to tear apart flesh of their prey. They can withstand the jolting, wiggling and hurtling movements of prey that are trying to escape. The killer whale is born with a single blow hole instead of two. Their flippers are paddle shaped with rounded ends and flukes are tapered back and pointed at the end resembling to a triangle/pyramid
Striped dolphins, Stenella coeruleoalba, are some of the most abundant and well-known dolphins in the world. These dolphins can reach the length of about 9 ft (2.7 m). The males weigh up to 350 lbs (160 kg). The females weigh 330 lbs (150 kg). Striped dolphins have a slender body shape combined with a long beak, which is separated from their forehead, and they also have a curved dorsal fin. The beak, tapered flipper, tail, and back, or cape, are dark blue/gray. The name “Stenella coeruleoalba” refers to the pattern of blue and white stripes along the lateral and dorsal fins of their body. Their underbelly (ventral) is usually white. Their primary feature is a black stripe that runs along their full length and to their flippers. There is also a dark blue patch around the eyes. Calves and juveniles may have more muted colorations and patterns.
In the front of the head is the melon. Its melon transmits sound waves that help it see at night to helping it catch its prey. Killer whales have sharp, cone-shaped teeth made for ripping and tearing prey. The Killer Whale has no sense of smell because there is a part of their brain missing that is missing. The sense of smell goes unused because they spend most of the time in the ocean. The blowhole helps the Killer Whale to breathe; the blowhole flap provides a watertight seal. To open its blowhole, a killer whale relaxes the muscle covering the hole (SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment).
The origin of modern day whales, a mystery that has puzzled paleontologists for years, may have just been solved with the discovery of an ankle bone. This discovery might sound simple and unimportant, but the bones of these ancient animals hold many unanswered questions and provide solid proof of origin and behavior. The relationship between whales and other animals has proven to be difficult because whales are warm-blooded, like humans, yet they live in the sea. The fact that they are warm-blooded suggests that they are related to some type of land animal. However, the questions of exactly which animal, and how whales evolved from land to water, have remained unanswered until now.
A hero is someone who will attempt everything in their power to help others and risk everything they have to help others. In the movie, The Whale Rider, you can clearly see all the elements of The Hero’s Journey. A young girl named Paula Apirana, is living in a small village with her grandparents. Paika’s dad, who is living in Spain, returns to see Paula and proposes that she should come live with him. She declines the offer and decided to stay with her grandparents. Paula then secretly tries to learn the important ritual, that only males are allowed to learn. Her grandpa, Paka, gets extremely angry at her until he realizes that she is the “chosen one” to perform the ritual. Paika goes through many difficult challenges, however she manages
Orcas, or killer whales are majestic giants of the sea. They are actually the largest type of dolphin. They have long black bodies with distinct white patches near their eyes. A killer whale can be up to 32 feet or more in length, and weigh up to 12,000 pounds. Females are a bit smaller, but live longer (Gorman). The name “killer whale” apparently came not because it is a vicious whale, but because it preys on whales. They do not have any natural predators, and they are considered the “top dog” of the ocean. Not even the great white shark stands a chance against these superb killers. “Unlike sharks, killer whales are cautious hunters, sometimes spending hours harassing a 1,000-pound sea lion so it can easily be drowned” (Francis). Orcas use many hunting tactics that are unique to their species, which is what makes them invincible.
On average they weigh 4,000-7,000 pounds and grow approximately 16-20 feet long ( Great white sharks 1). < commentary needed>Great Whites are the apex predator of the ocean containing 300 serrated teeth and highly-developed senses to hunt prey. Sharks have a great senses of smell, the Great White can smell a drop of blood thousand of miles away. They’re hearing is very powerful , being able to hear the vibrations of prey distances of about 800 ft away and find the exact location through ‘ear stone’( Great white 3). A shark 's sense of hearing truly shows their uniqueness as an apex predator. In addition to great hearing they’re known to have great sight by being able to see up to 50ft away and transition into seeing in light and dark. Additionally sharks have a lateral line on their back that reaches from the front to the back tail, allowing
Most people think that sharks are large, fast-swimmers, and savage predators. This is true of some species and groups should be interested of the appealing aspects of biology found within it: all sharks have an excellent sense of smell; some can detect electrical discharges; some sharks give birth to one of the
The morphology of whale sharks is mostly similar to aquatic fish species, but many specific traits help differentiate them from the rest. Whale sharks are the largest fish in the world and can reach a size of around 20 meters (Martins, C., and C. Knickle). This is often compared to the size of a school bus. The shark has a very large transverse mouth. They have 5 very large gill slits and have a larger first dorsal fin compared to the second one (Whale Shark). They have a distinctive spotted “checkerboard” pattern with stripes (Martins, C., and C. Knickle). It is not exactly known why they have this specific body marking. It is believed that the body markings act as a camouflage. The strange thing about whale sharks is that they have 300 rows of teeth that play no role in feeding (Martins, C., and C. Knickle).
Studying the evolutionary history and adaption for this species is difficult and an ongoing struggle for scientists. It is classified in the order of Chondrichthyes suborder Elasmobranchii and family of Rhincodontidea. The difficulty in tracing this species evolutionary history stems from the fact that its ancestry dates back 245 million year ago to the Jurassic and Cretaceous