Mollusk Analysis

   The adaption and variation in mollusks all have different and looks and feels but they all have things in common. The morphological feature of the mollusks which means soft body is the feature that they heave more than two cell layers, tissues and organs. Because of the mollusks soft body they have to be very careful because they are so fragile and can get hurt or even killed very easily. They do not have the protection like crabs and animals with shells do, they have to learn to survive on there own without a lot of protection. The mollusks are split into classes called class Gastropoda, Class Bivalvia, and class Cephalopoda. Class Gastropoda includes the species snails and slugs, class Bivalvia is for clams and oysters and the Cephalopoda class is for bigger organisms like squid and octopus. The body semen try for the worm and the squid we dissected was symmetry but the clam was not it was more like a big blob of goo. The worm and squid were both equal if you cut them in half but the clam was not at all. All the dissections we did have very different textures and shapes and even smells. The worm was long and not slimy it was hard and thick skinned. The squid was slimy and squishy more like a sponge. The squid had a few hard parts to it where the worn did not. The clam had a hard shell and a squishy, slimy inside like the squid did, but the squid had eyes and was could swim and is mush bigger. The clams mantle is what keeps it protected from other creatures that may harm it. The mantle also helps from the clam being damaged from tides and currents. The Locomotion of a squid and clam compare is that they both have the same vascular system. Water goes in and out of the there bodies and help them move. A squid and octopus have camouflage because it helps protect them from predictors. Bivalves and Cephalopods do not have camouflage because they have shells that help protect the, and they can hide away were the squids and octopus can not. Bivalves eat by using there gills and they filter feed. Cephalopods eat other organisms like fish, worms and plants. Mollusks and humans are alike they have nervous systems and reproductive systems we share in common. Mussels have a special adaption to stay on shore they use there foot and they hold onto the rock or land. They have very strong leg that holds on and keeps them steady for a while. Octopus have very large brains and are considered by many that they are stupid but in fact they can be smart. They have a very good memory they can tell the difference between colors and toys. They use left and right like we do but they use there eyes to tell the difference. Mollusks help keep our oceans clean they help with the bacteria and mess. They are a big source of food for other organisms and helps keep other organisms reproducing. And there shells are used multiple times when one dies another moves in. 

Starfish Dissect

The Sea star also known as a starfish are beautiful creatures that life on our oceans floors. The Starfish is from the phylum Echoinodermata and it means that it is radially symmetrical coelenterate meaning every side of its body is the same looking. The phylum also consists of Sea Urchins, Sea cucumbers and even sand dollars because they all have the same type of systems. 

1. Sea Fish are in fact not fish at all because they don't swim they move around on the bottom with tube feet that are helpful for sticking to the ground 
2. The Coscinasterias Calamaria also known as the eleven-armed sea star has an arm spread that can go up to 30 cm and it can grow up to 14 arms and a sun star can grow up to 40 arms 
3. Sea stars do not have blood instead they have a water vascular system that helps them to move 
4. A Sea stars eyes are on the ends of each leg but they are only used to tell if its light of dark
5. A Sea star is born when egg and sperm collide together when they are released into the water a Sea star larvae are not much bigger than pinheads and 
the larvae float in the water until they grow a bit and they sink to the bottom. 

6. Some species of sea starts do care for there young until they grow but most let there young go and grow up on there own 

7. The Sun Sea star  are the head of the sea start family as they grow older more arms grow 
8. There is a sea star called the  leather sea star it isn’t prickly to the touch, but it sure is slippery. This sea star releases mucus over much of its body
9. The crown-of-thorns sea star can harm even humans who touch its long spines. A sting from one of these sea stars can be very painful a person will lose feeling if stung
10. Sea stars always grow back arms if they are cut off or broken and at some point if all the arms fall off they will all grow back if the core is not damaged 

New England Aquarium

 Marine Animal Behavior 

Some of the marine animals acted differently than others. For example the penguins spent a lot of time out of the water and on land where they made lots of noises. The seals where the same way they where loud but they where swimming most of the time. The other marine animals where all fish every single type of species looked and acted differently there where some that swam fast and others that where very slow. There where also some fish that where huge and some small and they did not eat each other they all swim together without harming each other. It is because the scuba divers do feed each animal individually so they all get what they need. Lots of the species also live in different habitats, most of which just live in the open ocean but there where some that live in the rain forest, rivers, and lakes, And depending on there environment depends on what they need to survive and how there behavior in the environments differ from others. Such as how they eat, what the look like and how they survive.

 The conservation of the marine animals is a good thing at some points and not at others. All the marine animals in aquariums are usually taken if they where injured or born there. If an animal is born within a aquarium they will never be able to survive in the wild because they wont grow up that way. The conservation does help for scientific research and for people to see what lives in our oceans, lakes and rivers and how some can be dangerous and other harmless.
We get to realize that they need protection and we need to help.
We also get to see how each animal survives and what they eat and how they live there lives in water. Its pretty cool, but the fish never really get a chance to live in the open ocean they only get so much space and i am sure it just gets boring.

http://www.neaq.org/index.php

I learned that each animal gets feed individually by a scuba diver, i never knew that. And i found out that the animals don't eat each other i always thought they they did.

Ocean Seaweed

Structure of Seaweed 

http://oceanlink.info/biodiversity/seaweeds/seaweed

a.      Why are seaweeds assigned to the Protista rather than Plantae? 

Seaweeds are assigned to the Protista family rather than the Plantae family because. They are neither plants or animals. Seaweed lack a  specialized vascular system they dont produce leaves, stems or roots. They dont need the conducting system because they get there nutrients and fluids from the water. The seaweed has four basic parts holdfasts which takes place of the roots on a plant. The stripe is the name of the steam, the leaves of the seaweeds are called blades. Floats also known as pneumatocysts are what help the seaweed to float on the water surface. The whole body structure is called the thallus. The most important ecological roles filled by seaweed is that they are a food source for marine animals such as sea urchins and fishes. The seaweed also gives a shelter and protection to many sea creatures such as small fish, sea urchins and other small creatures. Just like humens seaweed gets stress. Several types of environmental stress is that the seaweed can not travel with the tides and are exposed to air pressure and weather conditions which can hurt the seaweed. The cells of adult seaweed plants are diploid, meaning that they contain two sets of chromosomes. Diploid plants are called sporophytes because they produce and release spores. Spores are produced by meiosis, a cell division process that halves the number of chromosomes and forms new cells containing only one set of chromosomes. After they are released from the sporophyte, the haploid spores settle and grow into male and female plants called gametophytes. The gametophytes are also haploid, and they produce gametes which are the egg and sperm. When the sperm and egg are released the fertilize in the water than creates seaweed.  

Four Human benefits of Seaweed are,, 

• Seaweed is chock-full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and can be tasty. For at least 1,500 years, the Japanese have enrobed a mixture of raw fish, sticky rice, and other ingredients in a seaweed called nori. The delectable result is a sushi roll.
• Many seaweeds contain anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial agents. Their known medicinal effects have been legion for thousands of years; the ancient Romans used them to treat wounds, burns, and rashes. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that the ancient Egyptians may have used them as a treatment for breast cancer.
• Certain seaweeds do, in fact, possess powerful cancer-fighting agents that researchers hope will eventually prove effective in the treatment of malignant tumors and leukemia in people. While dietary soy was long credited for the low rate of cancer in Japan, this indicator of robust health is now attributed to dietary seaweed.
• These versatile marine plants and algae have also contributed to economic growth. Among their many uses in manufacturing, they are effective binding agents (emulsifiers) in such commercial goods as toothpaste and fruit jelly, and popular softeners (emollients) in organic cosmetics and skin-care products. 

Examples of New England Seaweeds

Red seaweed Chondrus crispus

Green seaweed Ulva lactuca

Brown seaweed

Species: Laminaria Digitata

Also know as Kelp 

Photosynthesis of Seaweeds

  In class we did experiments called exploring the rate of photosynthesis. We took a peice of a tree and we put it in a tube and filped the tube into  a beaker of water and we put it under light. The light caused the plant to create bubbles that rised from the plant to the surface of the tube itself. This is the moisture moing up.

·         OceanLink;

·         NOAA Ocean Service;

·         The Seaweed Site.

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/seaweed.html

http://oceanlink.info/biodiversity/seaweeds/seaweeds.html

http://oceanlink.info/biodiversity/seaweeds/seaweeds.html

“For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.” ― Jacques-Yves Cousteau  

Deep Sea Lights

What deep-sea organisms are capable of bioluminescence, and how does this ability benefit these organisms?

 All organisms that live in the hadel zone in the ocean all glow to help them see in the darkness of the deep ocean bottom. 

 Bioluminescence helps the sea organisms to see in the darkness at the deep sea bottom. Each individual organism usually glows a different color so that each fish can be determined. It helps the organisms to attract there food so they can eat because you can really see much in the darkness the glow helps them to survive in the constant darkness.  

Pinconefish 

They are rounded and are yellow with black lining that looks like the pine cone shape. Sybiotic bacteria in there organs create a green-blue glow during the night and orange during the day. They have big eyes, little tales and little flippers. The Pinecone fish is a small fish. They live about 100-200 feet down in the ocean. They like to stay near caves, rocks and hard bottom and they live in schools. They use there light to attract the zoo plankton which is what they eat. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monocentridae

Energy Flow

The bigger the animal the more it eats. Such as a Great White they eat fish, seals, and other sea animals. Smaller animals eat other small animals such as plankton, krill, shrimp, copopods.
The primary producers are things such as plants ans small organisms. The top carnivores are animals such as sharks,dolphins and whales that eat the smaller organisms such as jellyfish, smaller fish and clams ect.

How do the fundamentals of physical oceanography and meteorology make earth habitable ?

  The fundamentals of physical and meteorology oceanography make earth habitable because.

the climate and winds affect the tides and currents causing waves. The ocean holds most of the earths

heat and food sources. When the ocean reflects the extra heat, the heat goes into the atmosphere

creating rain to fall. The ocean also helps keep the earth at a constant temperature that keeps us from

 burning up or freezing to death.

When you are out in the ocean have you ever noticed how windy it is and how if you keep going

further out into the ocean you will notice the waves as they grow and become stronger. These winds

are created because of the wide open space of the ocean. There is nothing blocking the wind from

being slowed down. The winds help to keep the ocean moving from place to place throughout the

ocean. Winds get stronger as they cross through open space. The Arctic for example is extremely

windy because of all the open space across the ice. Other examples of high winds are open fields,

huge open areas and the ocean itself.

The winds go from high to low and low to high. The winds circle around on the outside of the earth.

The ocean adsorbs the suns rays and as the water heats so does the air. The heat circles around as heat

 releases throughout the air creating the warm air. The air tarps heat above the clouds, the clouds hold

moisture and when it rains that warm air comes down in rain form. The clouds are like heat trappers

that allow heat into the earth.

The oceans tides, currents and waves create are created by the movement of the moon everyday

 creating tides within the ocean. The tides differ in some parts of the world there will be some oceans

 that have two tides a day and others that will only have one at night or in the morning. The moon

changes the tides. As the moon comes out in the tide comes in and as the moon disappears the tide

goes out creating the tide change. Tsunamis within the ocean are created when the earth moves, also

 known as an earthquake cracks the crust of the ocean bottom moving the plates. The pressure that the

 quake causes upward pressure that pushes the water creating waves. The waves then grow as the

wind catches up to the waves and they push towards land. The currents also have an affect on the

 ocean.

The currents all move in different directions. The warm and cold waters collide at some points its

 called at gyre and its when the cold and warm air mix together creating a circular motion in the

ocean.

 The earth is habitable because. The ocean prevents world temperatures from getting to hot or too

 cold.  Without the ocean we would most likely be dead. Because the earth would burn up, the heat of

 the sun would make the earth to hot and the earth would disappear slowly. The ocean creates life for

the humans it does so much for us we should do the same and keep the ocean clean and well because

 if the ocean is affected so is earth itself affecting our air and our habitat.