Ocean Animals Adaptations
Fish have adapted to live in an enormously wide range of aquatic habitats. Adaptations are features that increase the animals’ likelihood of surviving in their habitat.
Consider the adaptations of a globefish (Figure 1) – it has spines (a structural adaptation), poisons in the skin, (a physiological adaptation) and it inflates its body to make it look bigger than it really is (a behavioural adaptation).
Fish live in a medium that is close to eight hundred times denser than air, yet some can travel at speeds of up to 100 km/h, walk in a leisurely fashion across the seabed, or maintain balance in turbulent waters. The shape of a fish’s body tells a lot about where it lives, how it feeds and how it moves (speed, acceleration and manoeuvrability) through the water.
Adaptations Of Aquatic Animals Powerpoint
Flat-shaped fish (such as wobbegong and flounder) are benthic fish that live and feed close to the sea floor. They do not swim continuously and therefore have no need to be streamlined. These types of fish often have colour patterns and/or textures that allow them to blend in with the seabed and ambush prey.
Fish that live in reef or coral crevices (e.g. butterfly fish) have deep, flat bodies that are highly agile so they can move around without bumping into rocks and reefs.
Long slender fish (e.g. moray eels and cobbler) are able to hide under rocks and among coral, where shorter, stouter-shaped fish would have difficulty in going.
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Slow-moving fish with rounded bodies are often protected by spines or armour plating, and may also have poisonous flesh (e.g. blowfish and white-barred boxfish), owing to their lack of manoeuvrability.
Fish with more elongated bodies (e.g. Western Australian salmon) are able to swim very fast for a long time and thus have less need for any special body protection.
Fish body shapes can be broken up into three distinct groups– extreme accelerating (e.g. mulloway), extreme cruising (e.g. tuna) and extreme manoeuvring (e.g. angelfish). There are a wide range of shapes in between – as shown in Figure 2.
Aquatic Mammals And Adaptations
The tail or caudal fin is connected with the speed and strength of a fish’s forward movement. Its shape provides clues about the type of swimmer it is and how it moves through the water.
The mouth size and shape provides a good clue to what fish eat. The larger it is, the bigger the prey it can consume. Large jaws signify that the fish may engulf its prey, while fish with protruding jaws can suck their prey in like a vacuum cleaner.
The position of the mouth can also indicate whether a fish consumes prey from the surface (above it), sea floor (below it), or in front of it.
Ocean Biome Animal Adaptations Google Slides® Notebook
In general, deep-water fishes have large eyes, allowing them to absorb as much light as possible in the dark. Shallow-water fishes generally have smaller eyes. The positioning of the eyes is also related to the survival of the fish. Prey species typically have eyes on the sides of their heads allowing a wide field of view to spot predators. Predators, on the other hand, usually have eyes closer together on the front of their head to provide better depth perception to help locate and capture prey. A flounder has both eyes on the same side of its head because it lies flat on the sandy bottom.
Coloration in fish is extremely important for their survival. Most bony fish have excellent colour vision and display a wide variety of colours and patterns. Skin colouration can have many functions including camouflage, to communicate aggression or fear, attract a mate, signal territorial ownership, threaten rivals, warn of venomous spines or other defence systems.
Many fish mimic their surroundings using colouration and markings that help them to blend in with the surrounding habitat. Some fish display a form of camouflage known as countershading where the fish’s colouration is darker on the top side and lighter on the bottom side of the body. The darker side helps blend in with the substrate or deeper water below, while the lighter side helps blend in with the water and sunlight above.
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Some fish have elaborate light patterns or patterns of luminescent spots. These are useful in courtship displays, establishing territories or to identify the same species. Some fish are even able to change colour by altering the distribution of pigment in specialised cells called chromatophores.
Sharks and rays cannot see colour. As a result, they are plain-coloured creatures in blues, greys and browns. If patterned, they usually have simple spots and speckles.
Many species of fish possess spines that aim to act as protection from predators. In addition, many also increase their chances of survival with venom that is inflicted upon predators and/or prey as pressure is applied to the venom gland. Stonefish, lionfish and stingrays all exhibit venomous spines.
Adaptations For Marine Organisms
Poisonous fish are those that are toxic to eat (e.g. toadfish). They possess poison in glands in the body that when eaten by predators (including humans) causes illness and/or death.
Density increases the deeper into the ocean one travels so fish have adapted to live at certain depth profiles. Most fish have swim bladders which they use to change their density, allowing them to exist at different depths in the ocean.
Some species of fish have the ability to change colour. Colour change may be permanent, or it may be rapid and temporary.
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Some species change colour as they mature from juveniles to adults e.g. McCulloch’s scalyfin. Many species that change sex, also feature a change in colour e.g. Western blue groper (Figure 8).
The small-toothed flounder can change its colour to camouflage in with the surrounding habitat while some species exhibit fright colours which occur when a fish is startled e.g. Blue-lined emperor.
Some species of fish have the ability to bioluminate (emit light). Bioluminescence may be used to attract a mate, attract prey, deter or confuse predators or aid sight in the dark.
Adaptations For Life In The Sea
Most fish are poikilothermic, that is their body temperature varies in response to the temperature of their surrounding environment. Some fish, such as tuna, are ‘warm blooded’ and can regulate their body temperature. This allows them to migrate across a much wider range (and water temperatures) than they would otherwise, and also dive to depths in excess of 500m to expand their hunting territory.
Although they live in the aquatic environment, fish do require oxygen. Fish extract oxygen and diffuse out carbon dioxide using gills. Gills rely on water flowing over them to ensure maximum oxygen uptake.
Most bony fish maintain water flow over the gills by ‘drinking’ water and instead of swallowing it, pushing it out over the gills. Fish that are very active, e.g. sharks, cannot get enough oxygen in this manner and so instead swim with their mouths open, letting water pass in and flow directly over the gills.
Types Of Underwater Animals
In the marine environment, the body fluids of fish are less salty than the surrounding environment so water diffuses out through the skin and gills. As a result, marine fish have to ‘drink’ continuously to avoid dehydration. They also only produce a small amount of urine.
In freshwater, the tissues and body fluids of fish are saltier than the surrounding environment, so water enters the fish through the skin and gills. Freshwater fish do not have the need to ‘drink’, but they do produce large volumes of urine.
All fish regulate the movement of water through a semipermeable cell membrane, a process called osmosis. Water diffuses through the membrane from a less concentrated solution to a more concentrated solution.
Learning About Ocean Animals
Some species of fish are born one sex and remain that for their life, however sex change in the fish world is not uncommon. Many species, including wrasse and parrotfish, are born female and upon reaching maturity, change into males.
In some other species, e.g. barramundi, fish are born as males and change into females (Figure 9).Figure 9. Barramundi are all born male and change into females. (Image: Department of Fisheries)
A behavioural adaptation is an action that an animal carries out to increase their chances of survival and reproduction. Behavioural adaptations may be instinctive or learned.
Sea Life: Adaptations
Some species of fish use their spines to protect themselves. Laying flat, the spines allow the fish to retain its streamlines shape, but in the event that they need to ward off predators, spines are raised and pointed outward as a deterrent.
Large groups of fish that swim together as one unit is called a school. This behaviour increases the chance of survival as it is harder for the predator to target one fish. A school of small fish may also appear to be one large animal, also discouraging predators.
Most fish species give no care to their eggs or young, releasing their eggs in to the water to disperse widely with the currents, whilst some provide various form of parental care. For example, some aquatic animals guard and hide their eggs (e.g. clownfish, estuary cobbler), while some protect, feed and raise their offspring until such time that they are independent e.g. humpback whales.
How Do Fish Breathe Underwater? Ocean Animal Adaptations Activity
Migration in animals usually occurs on a seasonal basis and is the relatively long distance movement of individuals. A number of fish are known to migrate
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