Echinodermata: Sugar Starfish *

Sugar Starfish are also highly fashionable! A p p a r e n t l y .

Sugar Starfish 

Sugar starfish or sea stars are part of phylum Echinodermata  They belong to class Asteroidea. Starfish play a huge ecological role. Starfish are classified as a type of KEYSTONE species. Without starfish, mussels will out-compete many organisms that co-exist in the area. An imbalance in the number of one species can have many drastic effects on the ecosystem! 

Starfish also have the ability to regenerate. Meaning if you were to cut an arm of a starfish it could grow that arm back. Some need to have a part of the central disk attached to their body in order for them to regenerate. 

Most starfish are dioecious, there being male and female individuals. Though you cant tell if they are male or female externally, it is more apparent when they are spawning. Some starfish can reproduce asexually. All they have to do is plop off one of their arms with a part of the central disk, and there they have it! Another starfish.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cec4YPXBnXk#!

Respiration occurs through the tube feet of the starfish. It also occurs through the papulae that dot the surface of the body. The starfish has no distinct excretory system so excretion is performed through the tube feet and papulae. 

Anatomy of a starfish

Starfish move using a water vascular system. Water comes in the system, circulates the ring canal and carries water to a portion of the tube feet. 

The nervous system of a starfish is rather complex. They have a distributed brain. Starfish have a network of interlacing nerves. The tube feet, spines are sensitive to touch while the eye-spots on the end of the rays are sensitive to light.

The mouth of the starfish is located in the centre of the oral surface and opens through a short oesophagus into the cardiac stomach then into the pyloric stomach. Starfish have two stomachs. (little weird) 

Lastly! Starfish have 3 germ layers endoderm, ectoderm, mesoderm. 

While searching up for all my information on starfish, I found that starfish have a hidden talent. They can D a n c e! :) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=faMbUcTcDUE

Dissection of worms: BIO 11

Dissections are the thing I fear the most in biology. For most, dissections are the most enjoyable part of biology but I can't fathom cutting insects and cute animals! I have a huge fear of spiders and insects. So this dissection was quite hard for me. I think Ms. Iannone gave us this dissection to really see how the inside of a worm functions. Unlike us humans, we can't regenerate & if one of our arms are cut off we can't grow another one.

Give me a home along the Gum trees with lots of Plum Trees...

On November 22nd, our biology class embarked on a journey to the Vancouver Aquarium. It was my first time ever going to an aquarium so I was quite eager to see what it was like. I had a lot more fun than I anticipated. Rather than just learning about these organisms in class, we got to go out there and experience them for ourselves. The wet lab was the most enjoyable part for me. Being trusted by the workers to touch and experiment with their animals meant a lot. I must admit, I was scared but the animals were harmless and super cute! While at the aquarium, we had a scavenger hunt which definitely made things more interesting! I tried my hardest to get all the pictures and to answer all the questions so here I go!

The sea anemones provide protection for clown fish :)

Nemo's!!! 

The sea otters depend on their fur to keep them insulated while in 

water. If their fur becomes soaked in unknown substances the sea otter 

will be unable to keep itself warm in the water. 

Cute sea otter :)

^ Before the 1900's sea otters were found in Alaska. A treaty was signed ^

to keep people from hunting sea otters as they were going extinct at that point. The 

sea otters were reintroduced in the 70's. 

Delphinapterus leucas
There are two beluga whales at the Vancouver Aquarium

The organism that looks like the human nervous system is the Pacific stinging Nettle!

I really wanted to touch these. They looked so cute!! :)

Moon jellies get around in the ocean by means of a pulsating action

I think this was the only living one. The others looked dead.

Stellar sea lions feed on squids and fish.

This lion did NOT like photos. Kinda looks like a hamster. :/

The caiman comes from South America. Countries like Brazil & Argentina

He kinda looks funny; lol.

^ The colour of the caiman is a greeny, brown camouflage colour. This is a great colour ^
for the caiman because it is easy for them to blend in with the environment. This 
makes catching food much easier because your prey cant even see you! ;)

   The Arapaima is the largest fish in the aquarium!
It kind of looks like an old man. 

My old friend, Joe! (I decided to name him that) 
I imagine him being a soulful, old jazz musician

Bio 11: Fungi

In biology 11 we're currently studying fungi because we live in BC we are very privileged and can easily find half of these fungi in our backyards or 20 feet away. We set off to the forest by our school to explore the many different fungi around us. The ones that are toxic and the ones that are harmless. The symbiotic, parasitic ones. I like doing outdoor activities because it gives us a chance to actually go outside and explore the things we learn everyday ourselves. It instilled the images and the meaning of the organism in my mind for a long time. As we went along exploring the fungi we discovered we had to take pictures which I will in cooperate below for you to see! I will admit I was pretty scared to touch the fungi because I thought maybe I'd turn into a mushroom but it was definitely nice to go out and explore things for myself. :) Some of these photo's were taken off google.