Marine Life: Key Terms and Concepts
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Continental Drift
The theory that there was a supercontinent that drifted apart.
Pangaea
The name of the supercontinent.
Plankton
Floating, drifting organisms.
Holoplankton
Plankton that spends its entire life as plankton.
Zooplankton
Animal plankton.
Meroplankton
Animal larvae.
Shark Anatomy and Physiology
Spiracles
Openings on a shark's head to help it breathe while it's eating.
Swim Bladder
Helps bony fish maintain buoyancy.
Lateral Line
A long line on the side of a fish's body to help detect pressure and vibrations in the water.
Cartilage
A shark's skeleton is made of cartilage, not bone.
Operculum
The flap that covers a fish's gills.
Marine Reptiles
Crocodile Mothering
Crocodiles are the only reptiles that guard their eggs.
Marine Reptile Features
Scaly skin, salt glands, amniotic egg.
Sea Turtles on Land
Females are the only ones to come on land to lay eggs; males stay in the water.
Penguin Adaptations
Soft down feathers, flippers for wings, and body fat.
Marine Reptile Range
Tropical habitats.
Webbed Feet
A characteristic of most marine birds.
Whales
Toothed Whale Examples
Examples: killer whale, sperm whale, dolphin, and porpoise.
Filter-Feeding Whales
Baleen whales (example: humpback and blue whales).
Baleen
Special plates to filter plankton in certain whales.
Pod
A whale family; a group of whales; how they travel.
Blubber
Layers of fat.
Breaching
Whales jumping out of the water.
Mammal Characteristics
Warm-blooded, live birth, hair, mammary gland.
Oceanography Pioneers and Tools
Submersible Example
Alvin.
Robert Ballard
Found the Titanic.
Sir Charles Thompson
The father of oceanography.
Fish Adaptations
Camouflage
The most important adaptation in fish.
Algae and Protists
Diatom
A type of algae that produces a brown tide.
Phytoplankton
Plant-like marine protists.
Bioluminescence
The ability of an organism to produce light.
Dinoflagellates
A type of algae that produces a red tide.
Sponges
Sessile
Attached, non-moving lifestyle (example: sponge).
Collar Cells
Cells that create the currents that bring water into the cells.
Larvae
The early, pre-living stage of organisms.
Spicules
Give structure to a sponge.
Marine Worms
Sandworms
The most common marine worms.
Mollusks
Shell-less Mollusks
Most commonly cephalopods.
Cephalopod Examples
Examples: squid, octopus, cuttlefish, nautilus.
Univalves
One-shelled mollusks, like a conch shell.
Crustaceans
Telson
The paddle on the tail of a crustacean.
Copepod
The most numerous of all crustaceans.
Molting
When a crustacean sheds its shell.
Cephalothorax
The head and chest region.
Chitin
The material that a crustacean exoskeleton is made out of.
Echinoderms
Tube Feet
Help echinoderms move and open shells for food.
Water Vascular System
The internal system that echinoderms have.
Aristotle's Lantern
The teeth of a sea urchin.