Originally Marine Biology - now Zoology

Ranked #16,857 in Pets & Animals, #472,824 overall

Introduction

Zoology is the study of animal life - all of it! Most of what I wrote before (as Feature Writer for Marine Biology and Oceanography) could equally as well been in the Zoology section.

Visit my site at : http://www.zoology101.org/ to see all my Suite101 articles, and to look at copyright details if you are thinking of using them in print or on the web.

My latest Suite101 articles

Loading

My profile at Suite101 and link to my latest blog there.

My profile at Suite101
Read a bit about me and look at some of my blogs at Suite101.

Other Suite101 writers who have squidoo lenses

ME - I am now Feature Writer for Zoology at Suite101
In February 2009 I moved (as Feature Writer at Suite101) from 'Marine Biology and Oceanography' to 'Zoology'. Before that I had been FW in the weird section 'Fish and Insects' (which I objected to on taxonomic grounds - and has now disappeared :-)
Infomation About Alaska
Articles and news on the towns, sights, rivers, wildlife and adventures unique to the Great Land of Alaska.
Dog Foot, Leg & Paw Pad Injuries
Dog owners encounter all sorts of questions relating to their pets. Make this your headquarters for learning about pet health and more.Find out how to clean and care for your dog's injured foot.
Is My Dog Sick?
Dog owners encounter all sorts of questions relating to their pets. Make this your headquarters for learning about pet health and more.Find out how to tell if your dog is sick by checking physical symptoms like temperature, gums and heart rate.
American History
Here you will find: 1) Articles on American History 2) Great American History Sites 3) American History Book Reviews 4) A list of relevant American History Blogs If you have a question about US History you can't find the answer to ...shoot me an email!
Boating and Sailing
Explore safe vessel use, procedures for boating emergencies, clean boating practices, and vessel maintenance.
Parenting a Gifted and Talented Child
I'm the feature writer for Parenting a Gifted Child at Suite101 and mother to three gifted children. I'm a recovering gifted underachiever myself, so as my kids navigate the school system it is all eerily familiar.
Kathy Quan Experienced Freelance Nurse Writer
I have been writing since I was about 12. My father bought an old upright typewriter (what's that??). I was fascinated with it, but quickly became bored of just typing nonsense.
News and Adventure in the Yukon Territory
News and Adventure in the Yukon Territory
Places You Should Visit in Alaska
Places You Should Visit in Alaska
Landscape Gardening
Landscape Gardening
Southern Road Kill Cooking
It's downright sinful to waste in the South. No sir-ee. Clean your plate - or else. You don't throw out perfectly good food stuff. Someone in China might be starving. Of course, it may very well be that kids in China hear the same story. "Clean that plate. Kids in the South may be starving.

Marine Animal Life

First Published at Suite101 on Oct 1 2007

The majority of animal phyla are found in the sea. Arthropods, molluscs and annelids are introduced in an article called 'Invertebrate Classification' (at: http://fishinsects.suite101.com/article.cfm/invertebrate_classification). That article concentrates on land invertebrates, so several major aquatic phyla were not even mentioned.

Echinoderms
The Echinodermata are all marine. They have no head or tail, and are said to have a 'five-fold' symmetry. One of the best known is the starfish, but the group also includes the sea-urchins and sea-cucumbers. Curiously their larvae vaguely resemble very small fish and they are thought to be quite closely related to the vertebrates.

Coelenterates
The Coelenterata (an old term) includes all the jellyfish and their allies, as well as the comb-jellies. These have what is called 'radial symmetry'. Their generations alternate between a swimming jellyfish-like and a settled sea anemone-like stage. This is one way of allowing 'settled' animals to move into the water and colonise new areas. (The other way is to have planktonic larvae.)

Sponges
Porifera are among the simplest animals on earth. They are as much a collection of individual single-celled organisms as they are whole animals, but if the whole animal is carefully mashed up and passed through a sieve these 'individual' cells often creep back together to re-form the whole! All are aquatic (the vast majority marine), and they nourish themselves by 'filter-feeding', usually straining plankton out of the water.

Vertebrates
Marine Mammals are covered in a previous article (at: http://marine-life.suite101.com/article.cfm/marine_mammals), but there are also marine birds, marine reptiles, and - of course - marine fish.

Marine Birds. The penguins are the only birds that can be said to be fully aquatic, although there are many other types of bird that spend most of their time flying over the sea and feeding there.

Marine Reptiles (at: http://marine-life.suite101.com/article.cfm/marine_reptiles).
Most of the sea-snakes spend all their time in the sea, even reproducing there. The marine turtles and marine crocodiles need to come ashore to lay their eggs, and the marine iguana of the Galapagos Islands spends most of its time ashore, only going into the sea to browse algae.

Marine Amphibians. There are no truly marine amphibians, although some, (like the Marine or Cane Toad Bufo marinus ) can tolerate brackish water.

Other Phyla
The majority of animal phyla have not even been mentioned here. Most are not represented on land, and they are therefore not familiar to most people. This does not mean that they are unimportant - the Arrow Worms (phylum Chaetognatha) for example - are major predators in the plankton, eating many young fish larvae.

Books about Zoology.

Loading

by

johnblatchford

I write for Suite101 on a variety of topics - most are Biological.  From here you can reach all my articles. more »

Feeling creative? Create a Lens!