16.1: Animals in the Pelagic Environment
- Page ID
- 10416
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Animals in the Pelagic Environment
This chapter focuses on higher-level organisms in the marine environment, specifically vertebrates, all of which are pelagic animals that can swim (or fly) in the open ocean or coastal marine environments. (The previous Chapter 15 focuses on invertebrates - most of which are either attached or live on or with the seabed (the benthic environment).
Vertebrates
Vertebrates are a large group of animals distinguished by the possession of a backbone or spinal column. They belong in the taxa:
| Kingdom | Animalia | ||
| Phylum | Chordates | ||
| Subphylum | Vertebrata |
Classes in Vertabrata in the Marine Environment
| CLASS | Examples |
| Mammalia | Whales, seals, sea lions, otters, polar bears (mammals) |
| Amphibia | Frogs, salamanders (amphibians are rare in marine environments but a few species exist in near-marine settings) |
| Reptilia | Snakes, turtles, lizards (crocodillians, iguanas) |
| Aves | Birds |
| Osteichthyes | Fish with bony skeletons |
| Chondrichthyes | Fish with cartilage skeletons- sharks (very old fish with cartilage, some are up to 280 million years old) |
Example of the Taxonomy of Whales
|
Taxa |
Example: Taxonomy of Whales |
||||||
| kingdom | kingdom: Animalia | ||||||
| phylum | phylum: Chordata (subphylum: vertebrata) |
||||||
| class | class: Mammalia | ||||||
| order | order: Cetacea | ||||||
| family | Mysteceti (mustache whales) Odontoceti (toothed whales) Archeoceti (ancient whales - now extinct) |
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| genus | one or several genus within families | ||||||
| species | one or more species within a genus | ||||||
Characteristics of All Marine Mammals |
|
| • Land-dwelling ancestors | |
| • Warm-blooded | |
| • Breathe air | |
| • Hair/fur | |
| • Bear live young | |
| • Mammary glands for milk | |
