Squid dissection

On friday my biology 11 class were assigned to dissect a squid. The purpose of this dissection was to find the internal and external parts of a squids internal organs. While we were dissecting me and my partner found how some body parts looked like and how they functioned inside the body. It's better to do hands on things while learning about these kinds of organisms because it gives us a better understanding. We first looked at the external body parts, like the tentacles and arms of our squid. We first separated the tentacles and arms from each other and counted how many of them there were. While looking at the tentacles we notices they had suction cups and not the arms. After observing the external parts we went ahead and dissected the squid. When we opened it up there was fluid and bubbles inside within the organs. All the organs stayed in place and it was easy to label which organ was which.

 External Anatomy Questions

1.) How many arms does your squid have? How many tentacles?

My squid has 8 tentacles and 2 arms

2.) Based on the structure of the arms and the tentacles, describe how their purposes differ. What do the arms do and what do the tentacles do?

The arms: have suckers on the end. The arms of the squid pry open their prey

The tentacles: Are flexible. Equipped with a number of round sucking disks used to grab and hold onto their prey. Used to hold on so that the arms could open the prey up

3.) Draw arrows on the squid to indicate that water comes out of the funnel and the direction that the squid moves.

4.) Name two external features that are adaptions for the squid's predatory life. How do these adaptions help the squid?

- Tentacles(suction cups): The suction cups that are located on the tentacles help the squid catch and hold onto prey. As it as well holds onto walls, rocks and other surfaces

-Waterjet: Squids use their water jets to escape predators and as well attack prey by drawing water into a large cavity into its mantle then rapidly forcing it out

5.) Name two traits that the squid shares with other mollusks.

-Both have a coeloem 

-Both are bilaterally symmetrical 

Internal Anatomy Questions

1.) How many pairs of gills does the squid have?

2 pairs of gills resulting in 2 gills all together

2.) Where does the ink sac empty into and whats its function?

My squid doesn't have an ink sac because it didn't develop fully or it was just too small to find. The ink sac empties into the water jet. The function is to distract and escape from predators acting as a defence system

3.) What is the function of the pen? What would happen if the squid didn't have a pen?

The function of the pen is to stable the squid when swimming. If the squid didn't have a pen it wouldn't hold its shape and would collapse on itself

4.) How do you think wastes exit the squid?

Wastes exit the squid through the anus and the water jet.

Earthworm Dissection

On Friday my class dissected an earthworm in order to understand the external and internal structures of an annelid. The purpose of dissecting this worm was to get a full hands-on experience in understanding the insides of the earthworm while we are learning about the phylum Platyhelminthes. While our class has the opportunity to dissect this worm it gives us a better understanding about how the worm functions and how the structures actually look like because we get a better understanding while we see things in person. I wasn't able to do the lab because i was away but from the pictures i saw and what my classmates have told me i learned that once the dissection began blood and gooey soil started to spill out of the worm. Once you kept on slicing down the worm you were able to see the worm's reproductive and excretory system. Which was inside of their system was their nephridia, ovaries and the testes. The lab seemed like a very cool experience and also looked pretty gruesome which made me want to be there and actually experience in dissecting the worm.

Discussion Questions

1.) What is the name of the pumping organs on an earthworm?:
The name of the pumping organs of an earthworm is called the Aortic Arches.

2.) Trace the parts of the digestive tract through which food passes.: 
food enters through the mouth -> pharynx -> esophagus -> crop -> gizzard -> intestine -> anus
(see attached pre-lab worksheet for tracing)

3.) Which parts of the earthworm serve as its brain? How are these parts connected to the rest of the body?:
The brain is made up of many nerves all through cephalization. The brain is above the gut which is connected to two large nerves which is connected to a pair of ganglia, the ganglia are connected to a ventral nerve cord which runs throughout the body

4.) Which parts of the worm's body that you saw are included in the excretory system?:
parts of the worms body included the pharynx, esophagus, crop, gizzard and their intestine inside their excretory system

5.) How can you find out whether an earthworm eats soil or not?:
you can find out whether a worm digests soil when it started gushing out the black ooze which is wet soil. And their organs were surrounded with soil. It has soil inside because it accidentally digests it when it eats it's food, like leaves from the ground and such

6.) Among the earthworm's digestive structural adaptions are its setae. How do you think the earthworm's setae make it well adapted to its habitat?:
The earthworm's setae provide traction for the movement of a worm and help anchor and control the worm when moving through the soil

7.) How is the earthworms digestive system adapted for extracting relatively small amounts from large amounts of ingested soil?:
Once the worms ingests their food it goes straight through their digestive tract which goes down the esophagus then through the crop and gizzard. The crop stores the food while the gizzard breaks it down to tinier pieces. The small pieces get digested afterwards.

8.) Your dissection of the earthworm did not go beyond segment 32. What will you observe if you dissect the remainder of the worm to its posterior end?: 
If you had to go beyond segment 32 you would find digested food, the anus, nephridia, more blood and the ventral nerve cord.

9.) During mating, 2 earthworms exchange sperm. Fertilizations is external, and cocoons are produced from which the young eventually emerge. Refer again to steps 5 and 11, where you located the Earthworms reproductive organs. Use a reference to identify the role of each organ in the reproductive process of the earthworm. On a  separate paper, summarize your findings. : 
To reproduce, earthworms attach themselves to each other and then give off sperm to each other. The sperm in than stored in special sacs until the eggs are ready for fertilization. When the eggs and sperm are ready, the clitellum secretes a sticky ring where both the eggs and sperm fertilize.

Zoology Webquest

Porifera: "pore-bearers"

                                               

Scientific Name: Spongia Ceylonensis

Common name: Bath sponge

Kingdom: Animalia

Genus: Clathrina

Species: Clathrina ceylonensis

the body of a sponge is covered with tiny openings called pores. They are non-motile and depend on moving water currents. Reproduction is sexual and asexual (by budding)

Scientific name: Xestospongia muta

Common Name: Giant Barrel Sponge

Kingdom: Animalia

Genus: Xestospongia

Species: X. muta

One of the largest species of sponge found in the carribean. Has a hard/stony texture. Has a 2000 year lifespan.

Scientific Name: Cliona Celata

Common Name: Boring sponge

Kingdom: Animalia

Genus: Cliona

Species: C. celata

 a bright yellow, corn-cob shaped sponge that exhibits pumping of water through prominent osculum, the Cliona sponge hollows out a system of cavities and canals in dead shell, removing small fragments of material with amebocytes.

Cndaria: 

Scientific Name: Chrysaora fuscescens

Common name: Pacific Sea Nettle

Kingdom: Animalia

Genus: Chrysaora

Species: C. fuscescens

 Lives in the Easy Pacific Ocean. From Canada to Mexico. It's string is often irritating but harmless. It can grow up to larger than one meter

Scientific name: Discosoma

Common name: mushroom coral

Kingdom: Animalia

Genus: Discosoma

Species: Actinodiscus dawydoffi

genus of soft coral native to the Indian ocean. commonly collected worldwide because its an easy coral to grow in marine aquaria.

Scientific Name: Chironex Fleckeri

Common Name: Sea Wasps

Kingdom: Animalia

Genus: Chironex

Species: C. fleckeri

A species of box jellyfish. most lethal jellyfish in the world. has tentacles as long as 9.8 ft. Results in it's stinging can cause excruciating pain and death if it's left untreated for 3 minutes. 

Platyhelminthes:

Scientific Name: Pseudoceros dimidiatus

Common name: divided flatworm

Kingdom: Animalia

Genus: Pseudoceros

Species: P. dimidiatus

 They're cold blooded and they're bright colours warn predators not to eat them

Scientific Name: Taenia Solium

Common name: pork tapeworm

Kingdom Animalia

Genus: Taenia

Species: T. solium

It affects both pigs and humans. it is a majour cause for humans to have seizures. Has four suckers on its scolex (head) and also has two rows of hooks.

Scientific name: Pseudobiceros bedfordi

Common name: Persian carpet flatworm/bedford's flatworm

Kingdom: Animalia

Genus: Pseudobiceros

Species: P. bedfordi

This specie has two penises, which it uses to fence, in an attempt to inject sperm into its opponent in order to fertilize it, while avoiding being fertilized itself.

Vancouver Aquarium field trip!

On thursday november 22, my biology class visited the Vancouver aquarium. When we arrived at the aquarium my class was first assigned to wander around the aquarium to observe the different types of living creatures inside the exhibit. The first thing we got to see were the jellyfish. The day before we went to the aquarium my class learned about the different types of phylum cnidaria. When we saw the jellyfish they looked really pretty and their tentacles were so long. The biggest jellyfish i saw in the tanks were the schyphozoa jellyfish. Other things i saw while walking around were the different types of coral reefs and sea anemones. All of them had different and unique characteristics to them. Some looked like they were glowing, others were flowy and looked like just flowers underwater. I also saw other fish hiding and sleeping behind the anemones. When we were done looking at the marine life we entered the amazon where we saw more fascinating creatures like the marmoset monkeys, the different kinds of butterflies flying around, bats, crocodiles and also a two-toed sloth! The two-toed sloth was way up high above a tree so you could only see its back and it was too busy sleeping. The butterflies weren't even scared of us, it always ended up coming towards us and landed on us and some other people. One of the butterflies landed on some visitors back and he didn't know how big it was until we showed him the picture we took of it being on its back, he freaked out. When we were done with looking at the exhibit we headed to the lab where we got to study snails. In that lab we experimented what kind of snails prefer what type of foods they eat. Although my snails weren't successful of showing what they like i learned that the usual snail we see on the sidewalks are herbivores ad the snail with the more fancier and heavy shell was a carnivore. Once we were done observing the snails we heading to the wet lab where we could touch, hold, and learn about different creatures such as starfish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, hermit crabs, crabs and as well anemones such as the cubozoa (sea wasps) which is what we learned in class the day before. The sea urchin was the first thing i got to hold, when i held it, it tickled and you could feel it move under your skin and the spikes as well moved while you held it over the water. One creature that surprised me once i felt it was the sea cucumber. It was so squishy and slimy and it looked deadly because of its spikes but it really wasn't, it was just really gross looking. What my assistant told us what the cucumber does, is that it spills/squirts out all its intestines once it gets stressed. The next two stations were the most boring ones because we didnt get to hold or touch anything but a crab. But i learned that pollution causes harm to many creatures because once a creature goes into a bottle for example it cant get out or sea animals are harmed by eating the waste we put into our waters and many animals have died that way. We learned that we should keep our oceans clean and that we shouldn't litter because it does cause harm for marine animals. Once i got to my last station i learned about that sea anemone cubozoa! We were able to touch it because our skin is so thick it doesnt end up hurting us and once i did touch it, it stuck to my skin like it was a sticker. My assistant put in a little shrimp on its tentacles and she said it was stinging it with its toxins to kill it than it grasps it and sucks it in through its mouth/anus. We also learned that once the anemone is stressed it curls up and sucks its tentacles into its mouth. The aquarium field trip was super fun and i actually learned a lot about marine animals


(Questions out of order because pictures didn't upload properly) :(

Potbelly Seahorses
The way they move is that they use their long tail to move towards where they're going and allow them to grab onto things.

Sea Turtle
This sea turtle is as well found in the shark tank

Stellar Sea Lion
They eat fish and squid. They get their food by hunting in packs or chase down prey in large groups

Red Sea Urchin
The scientific name of the Giant Red Sea Urchin is the Strongylocentrotus Franciscanus. It has developed spiky needles that surround it's body, defending it from predators.

Pacific Sea Nettle
I think they look like a human heart, because of their red tentacles look like a hearts veins and as well as their colour compares to a heart's glowing colour as well. The way they move also looks like a heart pumping

Favourite marine invertibrate: 

The starfish is my favourite because they're harmless and cute. They use their suction cups to hold onto walls and rocks. As well as they camouflage onto some surfaces depending on what colour they are

Clown Anemone Fish + Sea Anemones
The Clownfish depends on the sea anemones for protection from predators. In return, the fish cleans the anemone

Sea Anemones
These green Sea Anemones are the ones found near the Sea otter's tank

Shark
Sharks don't have bones, they have a skeleton made of cartilage instead

Beluga Whale
The scientific name for a Beluga whale is " Delphinapterus Leucas" There are 2 Beluga whales found in the Vancouver Aquarium.

Redhook Silver Dollar
(vegetarian fish) which eats the seeds of riverside shrubs

The Arapaima
This is the largest fish in the Aquarium

Starry Flounder
They usually lie still to look dead at the bottom of the ocean, and then ambush prey, their skin also acts as a camouflage from predators.

Piranhas
Piranhas are not considered threats to humans, even when swimming in their waters. They become a threat only when removing a hook from within it's mouth when fishing.

Caiman
-The Caiman come from Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina and Paraguay. They are mostly found in South America.
-Caimans are a brownish-grey in colour. it camouflages them in the brownish waters they hide in and helps it ambush its prey. 

Archerfish
It feeds from the water on the surface, leaping for insects or spitting prey down with water

Pacific Octopus
The suction cups located on their arms are good for grabbing prey as they swim by, or attaching to things such as a cave wall, or rock. They are also considered some of natures best predators because they are hard to spot and are great at hiding

Moon-Jellies
They move slowly, propelling themselves forward with the head part of their body, or Medusa, wafting through the water. To feed on plankton and other organisms, Moon-jellies kill their prey by stinging it with nematocysts found on its tentacles.

Sea Turtle
This sea turtles scientific name is Chelona Mydas, and the nick name the aquarium named it is "Schoona".

Sea Otters:

-Sea Otters spend a lot of time cleaning their coats because clean fur is better for trapping oxygen.
-Before the 1900's, Sea Otters were found near Amchitka Island, Alaska, and Monterey, California.
They were later re-introduced to Canada in the years 1969 and 1970

Friday's nature walk

On friday, my biology 11 class when on a nature walk to the fleetwood park's forest where we went out and explored different types of fungi and lichens. We found a lot of different type of club fungi like the typical mushroom we usually see out in forests. I found a really big shelf fungi on a tree log. There were also a jelly fungi we spotted while going out on our walk. I've never seen a jelly fungi before so that was pretty cool. The typical fungi s we saw were the flat lichens that were just plain white and green where they grew out of tree stumps and also trunks. On friday the ground and the tree stumps were pretty damp so we got to see slimy algae/fungi and when a guy in our class stepped on a big part of a tree bark he slipped because of how slimy the algae was. Here are some of the fungi i found ...