Class Dispatch to David

Hi Catlin!

Today we had a super fun day of presentations about different marine creatures! Below are some of the notes from individual presentations, and at the bottom a short summary of major takeaways. We will also include a variety of audio and video recordings from class.

Carter presenting on the Blue Whale

• • Up to 100ft
  • Three buses = 1 blue whale
  • Terrible eyesight and smell but amazing hearing and projection
  • Differently shaped ears for hearing over great distances in the water
  • Songs are collections of moans that are one offs or repeated
  • Sung at such low frequencies that humans can’t hear
  • Most recordings we have are sped up about x10 to be audible
    • See audio recording of class
  • Move vertically with tail and are not agile
  • Mammals with lungs, breathe out of blowhole
  • Environmental threats
    • Climate change
    • Commercial whaling
    • Noise pollution (interferes with their songs)
    • Ship strikes

Kaitlyn presenting on Atlantic Herring

• • Silvery fish with a rough texture and bluish back
  • Very controlled movements
  • Schooling fish
    • Circular, swarming swimming pattern
  • Main source of energy is zooplankton
  • They communicate through farting!
    • High pitched clicking sounds that are inaudible to most other species
      • Has to be lowered for us to hear it
    • They need to make sure they can stay together when swimming in the dark
    • Sound occurs through swim bladder
      • We created by running pens and keys along the metal cage in 201

Nick on Atlantic Cod

• Onshore and offshore cod
  • Onshore vary more in appearance
  • Offshore cod are more homogenous
• Use the swim bladder and drumming muscles to communicate for reproductive purposes and to warn each other of predators
• Challenges they face
  • Commercial fishing
• Special protein in their plasma that acts as antifreeze
• “The bigger the cod, the bigger the sound, the more likely the ladies are gonna come around”
• Sometimes cannibalize
• We should stop eating cod 🙁
  • Look at Seafood Watch for ethical seafood tips!

Claire presenting on the Great White Shark

• Live up to 60 years
• Endothermic, but fish
• Primarily in epipelagic but some research shows them in the twilight zone
• Bite and wait strategy: initial rush, bite, recharge
• Decent eyesight, really strong hearing from a mile away (best at low range (frequency of a struggling fish))
• Incredible sense of smell – drop of blood in water
• Lateral line sensors
• Able to sense faint electromagnetic field around living things
• Physical communication
  • Could suggest a sense of hierarchy
• Tail slapping at surface to stake claim of prey

Maggie presenting on Dolphins

• Excellent eyesight that works above and below water
• Echolocation
  • Emit soundwaves into the water from their melon, bounce off objects and back to dolphin’s lower jaw and then into the inner ear
  • This helps them see the world and hunt
  • Unique forms of high pitched whistles
    • Believed that each dolphin has a signature whistle
    • Body language and physical touch are also used
• Breathe air using lungs – make frequent trips to the surface
• “Friends” can swim by turning or twisting
• Hunt together, herding prey, whistle to let other dolphins know they found prey
• Tight social network includes mothers/calves/mates and additional friends
• Distressed dolphins use whistles to call for help

Liam on Manta Ray

• Oceanic Manta Ray is the biggest in the Atlantic
• Named for cloak-like appearance
• Can travel deep as a thousand meters but generally feeds in the top ten meters of the ocean
• Can grow up to 7 meters in width and 9 meters in length
• Retractable eyes for protection
• Ears inside of skull
• Great sense of smell
• Electroreception
• Plankton as primary food source
• Cephalic lobes on either side of mouth to guide in plankton
• Vomit up jellyfish
• Straight feeding, surface feeding, bottom feeding (same techniques at different depths)
• Can do very quick, very tight somersaults to feed in the same place
  Can make feeding chains with other manta rays to (up to 150 manta rays in a circle)
• Predators are large sharks and orcas
• Cleaner fish can dress a wound and manta rays can regenerate parts
• Communication – maybe in high pitched scratchy screeches?
  • Manipulate cephalic lobes to sign in order to communicate with other rays

Matthew on Electric Eels

• Produce electricity with three organs
  • Electrical organ
  • Hunter’s organ
  • Sach’s organ
• Why produce electricity?
  • Hunting
    • Stun prey, induce twitching response in hidden prey
    • Make prey easier to suck through the mouth directly to the stomach
  • Defense
    • Protect themselves
  • See world around them
    • Electrolocation – “seeing” in dark, murky environment, weak electric chargers initiated from Sach’s organ
    • Electrocepetion
      • Lateral line organ in heads
      • Receptors over body
      • Detect electric fields created by other creatures
  • Communication
    • Low electric organ discharges
    • Frequency of pulses varies between males and females
    • Convey information, including about breeding season
• Technically they are fish
• Constant communication

Robbie on Giant Squid

• As many as 500 squid species
• 43 feet long is longest one ever recorded
• Mollusk (defined by soft body)
• Cephalopod (known for well developed brains and ink sacs)
• Live around 5 years
• Every major organ is in its mantle
• Really large eye (largest of any animal)
• Beak between in center of its arms
• Donut shaped brain and the esophagus goes through the brain
• Funnel
  • Exhale
  • Expel waste
  • Lay eggs
  • Squirt ink
  • Etc.
• Arms work independently of brain
• Relatively intelligent – about the same as a dog
• Bioluminescent
• Move through jet propulsion
• Deep sea gigantism
  • Kleiber’s rule: larger the animal, the more efficient it will be
  • Bergmen’s rule: Animals in colder conditions will grow larger, low temps lead to larger cells

**Think about 20,000 Leagues scene of fighting the squid** – Tracy wants to know is there an arm we might be able to use?

Nick presenting on abyssopelagic zone

• Right above hadal zone
• Seafloor consists of large empty planes broken up by trenches, mountains, and oceanic ridges
• Largely unexplored
• No flora, some bacteria
• Fauna
  • Rely on marine snow/whale falls
  • Either adapted to stay out of oxygen-depleted water above or to still extract oxygen from higher up
  • Some animals move between abyssal and bathyal zone
• Why does it matter?
  • Animals found here that are not found anywhere else
  • Abundance of important manufacturing minerals

Overall thoughts:

How can we recreate the animal sounds? We had fun playing with vocal options, using our hands, using materials in the room, and brainstorming other ideas, which we’ll continue to explore! (see videos and audio)

How would these creatures feel about each other? How do they exist in relation? How does the food chain impact the way they relate to each other and their environments?

Interesting note: Mammals move by undulating vertically, along their spines, while fish undulate side to side. How to replicate?

Overall, how are we going to mimic these movements? Which will we embody ourselves, vs. which might be puppets?

We had a lot of fun learning about everybody’s creatures! And we missed you!

Swimmingly,

Matthew + Maggie