Beast Of The Day (Midterm 2) Flashcards
(1) Cuttlefish
-Indo-pacific
-cuttlebone (aka Swiss cheese): made of aragonite, contains many gas filled chambers to control buoyancy, implodes btwn 200-600m
-20-30 repro events in lifetime
-fertilized eggs held by female or kept in burrow
-pelagic larval life stage
Cuttlefish eyes and communication
-can’t see color, only have 1 color-sensitive protein (B&W vision)
-W-shaped pupil: enhances color detection via chromatic blur
-foveae: 2 spots of concentrated sensor cells on the retina (360 vision)
-eyes may develop before hatching, which can influence prey preferences by sensing the prey in the environment in egg and favoring that prey
-complex communication-chromatic (light/dark), skin texture, posture, locomotion
-chromatophores: pigment containing sacs (yellow/orange, red, brown/black)
-iridophores: produce iridescent colors
-Leucophores: white, red or blue colors (molted patterns)
-circular muscles in skin- produce texture, push fluid into skin folds
Cuttle fish defense and feeding
-defense: ink and camouflage (pseudomorphs)
-siphon for propulsion
-feeding: 8 arms and 2 tentacles to capture prey, ‘taste-by-touch’ sensitivity, ambush predators (tentacles grab prey)
-females have 3 tentacles, males have 4
(2) Whale Shark
-pelagic filter feeder, open ocean
-world’s largest fish
-active filter feeder: actively sucks in water, food is trapped on gill rakers (filtered out crustaceans)
-ovoviviparous: young form in egg and hatch in female, give birth to live young, can fertilize eggs with sperm from different males
-large aggregations to feed
-conflict btwn whale shark and fishermen: whale shark would rip into fish nets, fishermen would kill whale sharks
(3) Mantis Shrimp
-benthic, mostly infaunal, bury in holes
-20-30 repro events in lifetime
-fertilized eggs held by female or kept in burrow, increased parental care
-pelagic larval life stages are similar to most benthic crustaceans
-spearers: spiny, barbed appendages for spearing, impails prey (fish, large crustaceans)
-smashers: club-like appendage and small spear, smash prey (crustaceans and mollusks)
Mantis Shrimp-eyes
-12 color receptors (different color and UV vision)
-spectral tuning: mantids from diverse habitats can alter their wavelengths of max absorption to fine tune vision
-see polarized light
-increased visual acuity: can finely target prey
-reproduction: mantis shrimp can fluorescence during mating-visual signal undetectable to species with similar vision
-eyes can detect cancer and activity of neurons?
(4) Cleaner wrasses
-only 5 species
-wide habitat range (flats to forereefs)
-occupy ‘cleaning stations’-bommies, other promontories on reefs
-group of juveniles, pair of adults (adult male and harem)
-consume ectoparasites->gnathid isopods
-reduces parasites on client fish (decreasing stress of fish)
-prefers fish mucous/tissue-> ‘cheats’ by taking a bite from client
Wrasses cleaning methods
transient: receive higher quality services from cleaners
-cleaners prefer transients bc they want them to return
-big, mobile fish (parrot or butterfly fish)
resident: more likely to punish cleaner if they are being cheated
-damselfish, smaller wrasses
False cleaners
-combtooth blennies
-mimic cleaner wrasse
-feeds on fish tissue, not parasites
-similar behaviors to cleaners
-mainly fools juvenile fishes
-diet: fish eggs, worms, ecoparasites, fish fins
What are effects of cleaner wrasses on reefs?
-alters fish distribution
-increases diversity, esp transient fishes
-impacts ecosystem processes, concentrates corallivory near cleaning stations
-feed less per unit time but aggregations at feeding stations increase corallivory
COTS feeding
-consume coral (Corallivores)-> limits distribution
-preferes branching corals
-disk-shaped morphology
-pliable and prehensile (due to irregular shape of coral)
-venomous spines: protection while feeding
-extrudes stomach and slurps of coral tissue, leaving skeleton behind
(5) Crown of thorns sea star (COTS) (reproduction)
-aggregate to spawn (otherwise solitary)
-gonochordic broadcast spawners
-females can release 50 mil eggs during spawning event
-planktotrophic larvae (3-4 week PLD)-> settlement cued by CCA/bacteria
COTS predators
only 11
-pufferfish, triggerfish, Giant Triton, painted shrimp
-humans remove COTS (poison, robots)
-solitary corals
-trapezid crab: defends corals against COTS (pinch and punch)
-corals make lipid bodies for crab in return for defending against COTS
(6) Giant Moray Eel
-spawn in pairs, broadcast
-PLD is months long
-juveniles: close to shore
-adults: off shore, forereefs
-diurnal and nocturnal foragers
-ciguatoxic: bioaccumulate neurotoxin from dinoflagellate
-brings pharyngeal jaw forward and pull prey into eel
-participate in cooperative hunting with piscivorous fishes
