Marine Mammals

WELCOME!!

Marine mammals live mostly or entirely in the water, depend completely on food taken from the sea, and display anatomical features, such as fins, that adapt them for the aquatic lifestyle. Most marine mammals are quite intelligent compared with other marine animals. This trait, along with their generally friendly nature, makes them very popular with the public.

Mammals have a body covering of hair, maintain a constant warm body temperature and nourish their young with milk produced by the mammary glands of the mother.

Sea Otters have thick coats of fur and feed on marine invertebrates near shore.

Pinnipeds:Seals, sea lions and walruses: have limbs modified to form flippers and are better adapted to life at sea than to life on land.

Sirenians: are known as manatees and dugongs. They are totally aquatic mammals that feed on a varitety of aquatic vegetation. The primary difference between them is that manatees inhabit both seas and inland rivers and lakes. Dugongs are strictly marine mammals living in coastal areas.

Cetaceans have a fishlike body shape and are the mammals most suited to life in the sea.

Special physiological adaptations allow them to dive to great depths and tp remain submerged for long periods of time. They are intelligent animals that display a range of behaviors for cummunication and investigating their envrionment. Some use echolocation to navigate, find prey and avoid predators.

Baleen whales have plates of baleen instead of teeth and feed primarily on plankton, such as krill.

"Sea" you real soon!

Reptiles and Birds

WELCOME!!

Reptiles have been successful in both terrestrial and marine envionrments. The same characteristics that allowed the ancestors of reptiles to conquer land were also useful in allowing their descendents to return to the sea. The ancestors of modern reptiles first began to appear about 100 million years ago. Modern day retiles include crocodilians, turtles, lizards and snakes all of whioch are represented in the marine environment.

Marine Crocodiles- Salt water crocodiles are large animals that feed mainly on fishes and some have been known to attack and kill sharks.

Sea Turtles- There are 7 species of sea turtles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-07n8lsRUQ

Leatherback

Hawksbill

Kemp's Ridley

Green

Loggerhead

Flatback

Olive Ridley

Marine Iguana- the only marine lizard of the Galapogos Islands .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO_9zm9tsCs here is a video about marine iguanas.

Sea Snakes -There are about 50 species of sea snakes that live in the marine environment.

Seabirds- only about 250 of the approximate 8,500 bird species are adapted for life in and around the ocean.

Shorebirds or waders have long legs for wading and thin sharp bills for finding food in the shallow water and sand.

Gulls are efficent predators and scavengers.

Pelicans are large bodied birds that feed by scooping up large amounts of water with their gular pouch. Boobies, Cormorants, and frigate birds are related to pelicans

Birds known as tubenoses are represented by albatrosses and petrels.

Penguins are the birds most adapted to life at sea. Their streamlined bodies and flippers make them excellent swimmers.

"Sea" you real soon!!

Fishes

WELCOME!!

Marine fishes can be found from the surface waters of the ocean to its deepest trenches. their species outnumber all other vertebrate species combined. They display an amazing array of adaptations that allow them to exploit virtually every niche. Fish are commercially important for human food, fertilizer, and other products.

Hagfish and lampreys are jawless fishes.

Hagfish

Lamprey attatched to fish

Sharks, skates and rays have skeletons composed of cartilage.

Sharks have streamlined bodies and highly developed senses that help them to be efficent predators

Most marine fishes have skeletons composed primarily of bone.

The shape of the fish's body is primarily determined by the characteristics of its environment.

Many fishes exhibit coloration and color patterns that help them blend in with their envionrment .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSPptPhbFVc This video shows examples how fish use camoflauge to their advantage.

Bony fishes exploit virtually every food resource available in the marine enviornment.

Most bony fishes have a swim bladder that helps them maintain neutal buoyancy in the water column.

"Sea" you real soon!!