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.