(MVB) Marine Vertebrates Module Overview

Image reads Module Overview Oceanography

Marine Vertebrates Module Overview

Introduction

This unit will focus on the vertebrates found in the ocean, their individual methods of adaptations, identifying characteristics and contributions to the marine ecosystem.

Essential Questions

Here are the essential questions this module will help you answer:

  • What are the adaptations of marine vertebrates that allow them to live in a marine environment?
  • How do marine vertebrates interact with one another in a marine ecosystem?
  • How does energy flow to marine vertebrates in a food chain?

Key Terms

Pay attention to these key terms as you come across them:

  • Agnathans - Class of marine vertebrates that have no jaws or appendages
  • Chondrichthyes - Class of cartilaginous fishes with well developed jaws
  • Osteichthyes - Class of bony fishes
  • Chromatophores - Pigment containing or pigment producing cell that color the skin
  • Iridocytes - Cells that contain iridosomes and scatter light giving a reflective appearance
  • Countershading - Development of dark colors on body parts exposed to the sun and light colors on shaded parts of the body used for concealment
  • Placoid - Platelike scales found on sharks
  • Ectotherm - Cold blooded
  • Endotherm - Warm blooded
  • Cetaceans - Marine mammals with a nearly hairless body, flippers, limbs, and a notched tail
  • Baleen - Baleen plates are flat flexible plates with frayed edges in two rows used to trap food found in the jaws of toothless whales.
  • Pinnipedia - Aquatic carnivorous mammals with webbed feet
  • Sirenians - Order of sea cows
  • Shunting - The act of turning aside or moving on an alternate course
  • Lateral line - sensory system found in fishes and aquatic amphibians
  • Barbel - slender, whiskerlike sensory organ near the mouth in fish or turtles
  • Operculum - The bony flap that serves as a gill cover on fishes
  • Dorsal fin - fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates
  • Pectoral fin - either of a pair of fins, situated just behind the head in fishes
  • Caudal fin - terminal fin of a fish or cetacean located behind the caudal peduncle
  • Pelvic fin - ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish
  • Anal fin - median ventral unpaired fin, situated between the anus and the tail fin in fishes, that helps to maintain stable equilibrium

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