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Sea Turtles | Marine Biology

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Sea turtles are large, air-breathing reptiles that inhabit tropical and subtropical seas throughout the world. These reptiles, that are the oldest reptile species in the world, are fascinating in their own way. There are 360 turtle species that exist, out of which 187 are threatened and from which about 127 are endangered or critically endangered. Often considered the most majestic of the turtle family, the sea turtle is a large, ocean-going reptile known for its gentle nature and long lifespan. Although numerous animals, from invertebrates to mammals, have evolved shells, none has an architecture like that of turtles. Sea turtles are reptiles remarkably suited to life in the sea. Their hydrodynamic shape, large size, and powerful front flippers allow them to dive to great depths and swim long distances. These front flippers are long, narrow, and winglike, while their hind flippers are shorter. Although sea turtles can remain submerged for hours at a time while resting or sleeping,...
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Sea Horses | Marine Biology

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These miniature horses are extremely complex creatures that have a very interesting autonomy. While seahorses appear to be very different from other fishes in the sea, they are fish nonetheless. Let’s dive a little deeper into the wonderful world of seahorses. They are unique in appearance, with their horse-like head, prehensile tail, independently moving eyes, and brood pouch. They have long, tubular snouts and small, toothless mouths. Their bodies are covered with consecutive rings of bony plates. The name of the genus that contains sea horses is taken from the Greek words hippos (meaning “horse”) and kampos (meaning “sea monster”). Sea horses are rather immobile, swimming more slowly than other fishes. When swimming they maintain a vertical position and propel themselves forward using a soft-rayed dorsal fin. They use pectoral fins located on the side of the head to maneuver. Some scientists contend that this upright swimming posture evolved shortly after the expansion of sea gr...
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Whales | Marine Biology

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Whales are a species that are very closely linked to dolphins, all dolphins are actually whales, however not all whales are dolphins. Whales, like dolphins, are very intellectual creatures, but these today are being killed as an excuse for overfishing. They are being poached to “reduce competition for fish” and for their oil and blubber. Whales are distributed throughout the world’s oceans and seas, from the Equator to the polar ice, except for the landlocked Caspian and Aral seas. They are mammals, and they share the defining traits of that group: they breathe air, are warm-blooded, give live birth, suckle their young on milk, and have hair. All are entirely aquatic, with specialized adaptations such as flippers and tail flukes for living in water. Whales must surface regularly to breathe, evacuating their lungs more completely than most mammals in an almost explosive breath known as a blow. Blows are visible because water vapour in the whale’s hot breath condenses when the blow is ...
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Dolphins | Marine Biology

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 Dolphins, one of my favourite marine mammals. They are incredibly intelligent, playful and emote just as much as humans. They are gorgeous creatures who don’t deserve to be treated the way that we do. Let’s bring some context to this; Dolphins are small-toothed cetaceans easily recognizable by their curved mouths, which give them a permanent “smile.” But are dolphins fish? The simple answer to that is no, they are mammals, they fit into all the criteria of being a mammal; they are warm blooded, they breath through lungs, they give birth to offspring, they produce milk for their young and they have body hair. There are 36 dolphin species, found in every ocean. Most dolphins are marine and live in the ocean or brackish waters along coastlines. However, classification is not an exact science and as more information and discoveries come to light, deliberations will continue and some dolphin species are likely to be further split into more than one species and/or subspecies. Dolp...
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Coral Bleaching | Marine Biology

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I’ve talked about corals in one of my older posts, its purpose, the various shapes it can form, and how crucial they actually are for the survival of the entire marine ecosystem. There are many reasons why corals are dying; climate change, trawling, which is a type of technique to catch fish, which involves pulling a fishing net through the sea bed behind one or more boats, overfishing and so many more. In this post, I want to focus on coral bleaching, why it occurs, and if there is anything we can do to help save the lifeline of the oceans.  Many of you may be wondering what coral bleaching actually is. Well, when corals are stressed by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients, they expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues; zooxanthellae, causing them to turn completely white. Corals don’t actually die due to bleaching, they are under a lot of stress, since they lost their source of food, the zooxanthellae.  This topic is tied in with climatic c...
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Clownfish | Marine Biology

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Common Clownfish Now that we’ve established that life does not survive without corals in the last post, let’s move on to some of the species that really depend on corals. Let’s talk about Amphiprioninae, or more commonly known as Clownfish.  There are at least 30 known species of clownfish, most of which live in the shallow waters of the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the western Pacific. 3 out of the 30 types of clownfish are; Common Clownfish, True Percula Clownfish and Cinnamon Clownfish. Today, we’ll be talking about the Common Clownfish.  True Percula Clownfish So, which type of coral do these clownfish claim as their home? Well, they make their homes on Sea Anemones. Sea Anemones are a type of coral that is classified under the same class. Their bodies are composed of an adhesive pedal disc, or foot, a cylindrical body, and an array of tentacles surrounding a central mouth. The tentacles are triggered by the slightest touch, firing a harpoon-like filament into their vict...
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The colonies of the ocean | Marine Biology

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A group of corals are known as colonies. Corals are large structures, held together by Calcium Carbonate. This calcium carbonate is extracted from the seawater to create a durable exoskeleton to protect their soft bodies. There are about six thousand species of coral around the world, with some species growing in warm shallow waters near coastlines and others thriving on the dark, cold seafloor of the open ocean.  Each individual coral is referred to as a polyp. Coral polyps live on the calcium carbonate exoskeletons of their ancestors, adding their own exoskeleton to the existing coral structure. As the centuries pass, the coral reef gradually grows, one tiny exoskeleton at a time, until they become massive features of the marine environment.  Coral polyp bodies are usually clear. The bright colours that characterize many corals are actually various types of algae growing in the polyp’s tissue. Several million zooxanthellae live and produce pigments in just one square inch of...
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