Today in class we began by discussing today’s articles. The first article detailed the unique adaptations of the mimic octopus and the oyster. Nick and Rob described how the octopus could change color from dark brown/black to white and dark brown/black stripes. They also told us how they could change their shape, whether that be from an octopus to a sea snake or a flounder to a lionfish. They then showed us a youtube video that showed a mimic octopus doing all of these things. I found this very interesting. We then talked about how oysters have a very strong adhesive that allows them to anchor themselves to where they want to live. Their adhesive is calcium carbonate, the same thing that hard coral polyps secrete to build the reef. The calcium carbonate is even stronger than the oysters shells, which I find interesting. Following this discussion we talked about ecotourisms effect on white sharks. The findings in this article showed that ecotourism did not have much of an impact on the white sharks behavior, but they only tested the depth and distance from the chum boats. We concluded that more tests needed to take place in other areas where white sharks are found to see if this information is universal. Following a quick break, we headed into the lab where we began the perch fish disection. This was a quick disection. Our perch was a male because it only had one opening on the ventricle side. After this lab we began the dogfish shark lab. The sharks were very muscular. To the touch they seemed to have a somewhat leathery skin, but after rubbing your fingers together after touching it, I noticed that they were quite slimy. We have yet to conclude this lab so I will explain it in more detail and in its entirety. These disections help us to understand how these marine organisms live and survive in the ocean. Seeing the gills reminds me how different these organisms are from humans, but then seeing organs that I have reminds me that we do have some things in common.
