Great Barrier Reef

Baleen whales undergo the longest annual migrations of any animal (Rice and Wolman 1971, Stone et al. 1990, Rasmussen et al. 2007). The function has generally been accepted as an evolutionary response to the need to feed in colder waters and reproduce in warmer waters (Corkeron and Connor 1999, Learmonth et al 2006). The location of feeding and breeding grounds along migration routes were initially inferred from stomach contents of stranding data and whaling logs (e.g., MacKintosh 1945, Scammon…

Overfishing has impacts on the rest of the marine ecosystem, such as the rapid growth of algae and coral reef health. Overfishing is also closely tied to bycatch, another serious marine threat that causes the needless loss of billions of fish, along with marine turtles and cetaceans. Ocean overfishing simply means catching fish from sea at rates too high where…

I love your choice and analysis of Geoffrey C. Smith’s sculpture of a sailfish in Stuart, Florida. But is the sculpture only representative of Stuart? Or could it represent something more? In other words I think that this statue represents not only Stuart perfectly but Florida as a whole. The full round three-dimensional sculpture represents Florida at each angle. It is not only a sculpture that defines Stuart but Florida as a whole. The sailfish in the statue is jumping toward the sky, toward…

The Swan River has been considered one of the most important landscape features of Perth City. It has brought suburbs, hills and its people together allowing Perth to develop and expand; historically, the Swan River is known to have been used as a food source, transport route, a sewer, a rubbish dump and a place for recreation. Rivers are an integral part of our landscape as they are a major source of food, recreation and transport. In 2004, the Swan River was awarded the status of Western…

: This table quantifies the number of amino acids that are different in the same position of the amino acid sequence of myosin heavy chain 6 alpha protein in zebra fish, cod, tilapia, salmon and flounder. The sequence alignment from the NCIB website is used to compare the genetic sequence of myosin and determine how closely related two species of fish are based on the number of amino acid sequence they have in common. The table indicates that flounder and tilapia have the least variation in the…

33-km long island of Aruba is sited on the Caribbean Sea at the south. It combines three other nations to form the Kingdom of Netherlands. Inhabitants here have a Dutch citizen and there is a moderate population at the island. You do not need to sail all the way to Africa to look at ostriches any longer, because Aruba is home to 80 of these intriguing birds! The huge flock is taken care of at the Aruba Ostrich Farm accompanied by the emus. A sociable guide takes visitors through the huge ranch,…

Comb Jellies are a type of jellyfish that have eight “comb rows” of cilia that are fused together and arranged along their sides. In Figure 1, the fused cilia can be seen easily along the length of the red lines. The cilia are used to propel the animal through the water. Some of them move through the water by doing a flapping motion with their lobes or undulations of the body. They usually have two tentacles, but lack stinging cells. To capture their prey by using sticky cells, called…

Sand dune erosion is occurring on the Cronulla coastline due to the coupling of human and natural impacts and is gradually resulting in the beach being less able to be protect itself from natural implications. The constant sand dune erosion is creating a steeper slope this is allowing waves and winds to rapidly remove sand from the dunes. The sand dune erosion is destroying habitats from plants and animals, this is substantially decreasing the biodiversity on the coastal environment. Sand dune…

Hairy Chested Yeti Crab The hairy chested yeti crab and sometimes known as the Hoff crab after David Hasselhoff, Kiwa tyleri, (Bittel) belong to a group called squat crabs are extraordinary creatures for different reasons. Some including their outer appearance and the way they live in the climates where most other crabs or lobsters couldn’t survive. The white hair body and the spikes on its legs have been due to it adapting to its habitat and climate. (Palermo) Its living conditions are very…

The species I chose was Pterois volitans, which is commonly known as a lionfish or red lionfish. They are characterized by alternating white and red/brown stripes and contain venomous spines all over the body. Lionfish can grow up to 18.5 inches in length and are a species native to the Indo-Pacific region. Economically speaking lionfish are not regularly used in the seafood business, but are a huge part of the aquarium trade (Robbins). Due to the spines described above, there does not seem to…