Marine Vertebrates Fish & Marine Mammals
Marine Vertebrate Outcomes
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List the basic characteristics of fish species.
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Describe the structure of fish scales.
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Describe the diverse species classified as marine mammals.
Fish are a large group of vertebrate animals that share some similar characteristics.
This brief video introduces fish, the taxa (group) that gave rise to all vertebrates on Earth today.
Scales are a significant integumentary (\”covering\”) structure in fish. The same genes that code for mammalian teeth and hair code for fish scales.
In some scales, layers indicate growth like the rings of a tree branch.
When we think of \”marine mammals,\” the first animals that pop into the mind are whales, dolphins, and seals. Marine mammals actually include other animals that feed entirely from the ocean, including sea otters and polar bears.
This video is an introduction to marine mammals, including their ancestry, diets, and where they raise their offspring.
Watch this video; you can select the closed captioning \”cc\” option if you would like to see the text.
Add another marine mammal to the list: the Greater Bulldog Bat (Noctilio leporinus) of South America, also called the fishing bat, has a subspecies that dives into coastal waters and consumes marine fish. Since the definition of a marine mammal relates to a diet of oceanic foods, this bat makes the cut, like the polar bear.
Check your knowledge. Can you:
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list the basic characteristics of fish species?
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describe the structure of fish scales?
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describe the diverse species of marine mammals?