Animals and Their Adaptions

There are many different animals that visit the Rocky Intertidal Zones. A wide variety of  Vertebrates and invertebrates visit or live here and because of this, I will go over the common phylums and then highlight three animals on three different trophic levels.

Invertebrates
  • Phylums
    • Proferia (1) (2)
      • This phylum is made up of sponges, the most basic of organisms.They lakc internal organs and nerves. There are over 5,000 living species divided into three categories - hexactinellda (glass sponges), demospongia, and calcarea (calcareous sponges).
    • Ectoprocta (2)
      • This phylum is comprised of small, clustering animals that live in rectangular or cylindrical boxes. They are called collectively called bryozoans and individually called zooids. They breed asexually and filter feed.
    • Cnidaria (2)
      • There are around 10,000 species in this phylum that includes jellyfish and anemones. They are somewhat more evolutionarily advanced - they have two cell layers, radial symmetry and nematocysts.
    • Platyhelminthes (2)
      • This phylum includes over 10,000 species of worms - more specially, flatworms, tapeworms and flukes. They are bilateral symmetrical, have no true body cavity, and have three cell layers (called triploblastic
    • Mollusca (2)
      • Mollusc is based on the latin word for soft-bodied. This phylum appears to have "at least 93,135 species", and includes oysters, limpets and squids. These soft bodied animals have mantles, siphons, gills, and shells (all things that separate them from other phylums so far) and bilateral symmetry. 
    • Phylum Echinodermata (2)
      • This phylum gets their name from a greek word meaning spiny skinned. This phylum - consisting of around 7,000 species - share a few common characteristics, including an exoskeleton, tube feet and radial symmetry in adults. 
    • Arthropoda  (2)
      • Anthropoda gets its roots from the Greek word meaning "joint foot". It has over million described species, and is the most diverse of all marine invertrabites phylums. Some common characteristics organisms in this phylum share are segmented bodies, jointed appendages, an exoskeleton made of ofchitin, bilateral symmetry, and three layers of cells. 
    • Annelida (2)
      •  This phylum contains 16,500 species of segmented worms, much like the common earth worm found in many gardens. They are bilaterally symmetrical organisms that have a coelom. 
    • Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Urochordata (2)
      • This subphylum includes 3,000 species of sea squirts. They are the intermediary between vertribates and invertrabites. They are both sessile and not - while they start of swimming much like tadpoles, they eventually settle down. 

  Vertebrates (3)
  • Bony Fish
    • Fish in this category have scales, gils, paired jaws, paired fins, endoskeleton made of bones,
  • Cartilaginous Fish
    • These are fish with skeletons of cartelige verusus skeltons of bones. Exampels in clue skates, sharks, and rays.
  • Class Aves (birds)
    • Birds who spend lots of time on water are similar to birds who spend a lot of time on land. They are both feathery, egg laying, warm-blooded creatures whose front limbs have morphed into wings.
  • Class Mammalia
    • Mammals are warm blooded animals who birth live young. They have fur, and nurse their young.
So Many Animals!!!
There are so many different phylums, and so many animals within their phylums. I'm going to discuss one animal form each trophic level.
  • Primary Consumers - Sponges are carbon-made filter feeders. They draw water in through tiny pores called ostia and shoot it out through their osculum using their flagella. They will eat anything that they filter though. (MESA).
  • Mantis Shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus) are shrimp that pack a powerful punch with their "raptorial appendages" (9). They use this to stun prey (like fish), or to break into the shells of their prey. (8) But how does this work? When they punch, there are two impacts, which work together to get prey. They have a saddle like appendage within themselves that woks like a spring, which allows them to punch at speeds of 75 miles an hour. (9)
  • Secondary Consumer: Phylum Platyhelminthes - Notoplana spp. This kind of flatworm crawls around intertidal zone, looking for detritus and inverts. to eat. (2)
  • Tertiary Consumer - Harbor Seal. Harbor seals are omnivores who will eat fish, mollusks, squid, and whatever else is available. They are at the top of the food chain because they eat secondary consumers.  They can swim up to 12 miles an hour and can swim upside down and sideways.  They have adaptions for diving, such as slowed heart rate, and the ability to hold their breath for up to half an hour. (4) 



Check out this video from the Smithsonian Museum!
Sources


  1. "Introduction to Sponges AKA Sponges, but Not the Loofah in Your Shower." Introduction to Porifera. UC Berkley, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2017. <http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/porifera/porifera.html>.
  2. Entertainment, SeaWorld Parks &. "Intertidal Marine Invertebrates." Animals: Explore. Discover. Connect. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2017. <https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/ecosystem-infobooks/tide-pools/intertidal-marine-invertebrates>.
  3. Entertainment, SeaWorld Parks &. "Intertidal Marine Vertebrates." Animals: Explore. Discover. Connect. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2017. <https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/ecosystem-infobooks/tide-pools/intertidal-marine-vertebrates>.
  4. Entertainment, SeaWorld Parks &. "Diet & Eating Habits." Animals: Explore. Discover. Connect. Seaworld, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2017. <https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/harbor-seal/diet-and-eating-habits>.
  5. http://www.whalefacts.org/shrimp-facts/
  6. Bousfield, Edward L., James Green, Isabella Gordon, Kathleen Elizabeth Conlan, and William Anderson Newman. "Crustacean." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 22 Mar. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2017. <https://www.britannica.com/animal/crustacean>.
  7. Speed Kills: The Fastest Punch in the World. Dir. Kim Bass. Smithsonian. Youtube, 9 Oct. 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtNAqK_V-lg>.
  8. Patek, S. N., W. L. Korff, and R. L. Caldwell. "Biomechanics: Deadly Strike Mechanism of a Mantis Shrimp." Nature News. Nature Publishing Group, 22 Apr. 2004. Web. 27 Apr. 2017. <http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v428/n6985/abs/428819a.html>.
    9.
  9. Patek, S. N., and R. L. Caldwell. "Extreme Impact and Cavitation Forces of a Biological Hammer: Strike Forces of the Peacock Mantis Shrimp Odontodactylus Scyllarus."Journal of Experimental Biology. The Company of Biologists Ltd, 01 Oct. 2005. Web. 27 Apr. 2017. <http://jeb.biologists.org/content/208/19/3655.short>.
  10. Simon, Matt. "Absurd Creature of the Week: Ferocious, Fearless Mantis Shrimp Is the Honey Badger of the Sea." Wired. Conde Nast, 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2017. <https://www.wired.com/2014/01/absurd-creature-of-the-week-4/>.
  11. Structure of Sponges." Porifera. Marine Education Center of Australasia, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2017. <http://www.mesa.edu.au/porifera/porifera01.asp>.

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