Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Corallivores feed on coral using a variety of unique adaptations and strategies. Known corallivores include certain mollusks , annelids , fish , crustaceans , flatworms and echinoderms . The first recorded evidence of corallivory was presented by Charles Darwin in 1842 during his voyage on HMS Beagle in which he found coral in the stomach of ...
A marine coastal ecosystem is a marine ecosystem which occurs where the land meets the ocean. Worldwide there is about 620,000 kilometres (390,000 mi) of coastline. Coastal habitats extend to the margins of the continental shelves, occupying about 7 percent of the ocean surface area.
Fish need dissolved oxygen to survive, although their tolerance to low oxygen varies among species; in extreme cases of low oxygen, some fish even resort to air gulping. [25] Plants often have to produce aerenchyma, while the shape and size of leaves may also be altered. [26] Conversely, oxygen is fatal to many kinds of anaerobic bacteria. [22]
Aquatic plants require special adaptations for prolonged inundation in water, and for floating at the water surface. The most common adaptation is the presence of lightweight internal packing cells, aerenchyma , but floating leaves and finely dissected leaves are also common.
Resting small fish are still vulnerable to attack by crevice predators, so many fish, such as triggerfish, squeeze into a small hiding place and wedge themselves by erecting their spines. [ 2 ] As an example of the adaptations made by reef fish, the yellow tang is a herbivore which feeds on benthic turf algae.
While amphibians continued to feed on fish and later insects, reptiles began exploring two new food types, other tetrapods (carnivory), and later, plants (herbivory). Carnivory was a natural transition from insectivory for medium and large tetrapods, requiring minimal adaptation (in contrast, a complex set of adaptations was necessary for ...
Seagrasses evolved from marine algae which colonized land and became land plants, and then returned to the ocean about 100 million years ago. However, today seagrass meadows are being damaged by human activities such as pollution from land runoff, fishing boats that drag dredges or trawls across the meadows uprooting the grass, and overfishing ...
A planted reef aquarium filled with Bladed sand moss (Caulerpa prolifera) A seagrass aquarium housing several seagrass meadow inhabitants. Aquatic plants are used to give the aquarium a natural appearance, oxygenate the water, and provide habitat for fish, especially fry (babies) and for invertebrates.