Rat Dissection

 We recently finished a dissection of a rat in biology class. This was in my opinion the most interesting, but probably the most discussing of the dissections we did this year. What made this dissection much more different is that is a mammal, and we are mammals, sort of weird. Again I would like to reiterate that this dissection was the most fun but a little spooky.

1.       Our hands are the best dissection tool because we have more feeling and better control.

2  The tail is seemingly hairless or very fine hair that is the difference between it and the rest of the body.

3.  

    The vibrissae are the first point of the rat to touch things; they are sort of to feel things out.

The rat is has bilateral symmetry 

Sphincters are a circular muscles that regulate the passing of solids or liquids within the body.

The large intestine is larger in width but the small intestine is much longer!

The liver is the largest organ in the rat, and it's job is to help filter the rats nutrients.

The appendix is used in small mammals. The appendix aids in the digestion of cellulose.

The reason for this membrane is to compartmentalize the rats body.

The spleen acts as a filter for blood in all mammals, as it does in rats.

The diaphragm is a muscle used to suck air down into the lungs of a mammal.

The wall of the left venctrocal is thicker than the right because it is under more pressure. The left side is pumping blood to the entire body unlike the right which causes the increase in pressure.

The similarity between the male and female reproductive organs and just the location. The internal aspect of the reproductive systems is quite different. The presence of adrenal glands is a similarity though.

Kidneys help regulate blood flow and contents. 

Endocrine system is where one finds the thyroid, thymus and adrenal glands.

All photos from Google.

Annelids

On Friday my class and I had the opportunity of dissecting an earthworm! Unfortunately James and I were not the best at using the scalpel, we think it was dull, but we cut open the intestine. The intestine, being cut opened, oozed dirt everywhere making it hard to see some of the organs. Though. Did our best we sure did make a mess if the worm. Though the cold, wet worm was a little gross I look forward to the future dissection!

(as my partner and I did not have a camera, I will be getting my photos from classmates or the internet many photos borrowed from the great man that is Shaineel Sharma )

1. The name of the pumping organ in the earthworm is pumping vessels, the hearts.

2. Food enters the earthworm through the mouth. After the mouth the food travels to the pharynx, then the esophagus. The food will soon enough reach the gizzard then the intestines where it is excreated through the anus.

3. The earth worm's cerebral ganglia serves as the worms head, and is attached to the rest of the body by a long nerve cord.

4. The only part of the excretion system my group saw were the intestines and anus, as we were not the handiest with the razor.

   5.  One may find out if an earthworm eat dirt by cutting it open.

 6. The earthworms setae are bristles that greatly aid in it's locomotion, as it lets it extend it's body in the desired direction.

7. The gizzard is in large part the adaptation that allows the worm to remove food from ingested dirt.

8.  I would continue to see more digestive system if we continued the dissection past segment 32.

9. Earthworms are hermaphrodites meaning that they both have male and female gametes. The earth worms reproduce by fertilizing the others eggs while in turn their own are being simultaneously fertilized.

The Aquarium.

Last week our Biology 11 class ventured to the Vancouver aquarium. We went to the aquarium to have a real life visual of some of the animals we will be studying, something that lets us relate to the topic. In most of the tanks was at least one thing we have already learned about, or something I am sure we will learn about in the very near future! 

1.     Sea anemones and clownish help each other greatly, the anemones protect the fish and the fish protect the anemones. A perfect relationship in the wild.

 

2.     The otter is so clean because the ability of I it’s fur to repel water depends on cleanliness

 

3.     Otters died out on our coast, but some were shipped in to repopulate. Otters are found by kelp forests and rocky coasts.

4.     The sea anemones are green next to see the sea otter tank.

5.     I like Box Jellyfish, they are adapted to survive by more or less killing everything that trys to hurt it.

 

6.     The scientific name for a beluga is Delphinapterus lecus.

7.     The potbelly seahorses movement is interesting.

8.     The Starry flounder are flat and play dead, and are camouflages, these are their adaptations.

9.     Moon-Jellies move very gracefully. Their adaptation for feeding on plankton is to contract their head sucking in plankton.

10.  The octocpus uses its sucksion cups to grasp prey. It is a good predator due to its ability to hide.

11. The different feeding types in sea lions are a wide variety of fish

12. The caiman is the world’s most terrifying animal, a crocodile.

13. They are a dark green, as they live in a tropical area this helps hide them.

14. The largest fish in the aquarium is the arapaima

15. The vegetarian fish is the red hook silver dollar, it eats seeds!

16. Piranhas are the biggest threat while removing a hook from their mouth.

17. Sharks have not many bones, as they have zero.

 

18. In the shark one can find, stingrays, assocted fish, and a turtle.

19. The scientific name for the giant red sea urchin is Strongylocentrotus franciscanus, it has many spines as adaptations to help it survive.

20. Archerfish find their food by shooting water at them. The shooting of water makes them archers?

21. The sea turtle in the tropic zone was Schoona

All pictures taken from google.

Fun, Fungi Walk!

Polypore

Mica-Cap (Coprinellus Micaceus)

Unfortunately for me I was away last Friday as I was home sick with the flu, caused by the influenza virus type C. I heard of the great excitement of the nature walk, as my fellow classmates were able to see countless types of fungi, I heard that the sight of polypore fungi (abundisporus), was a common one, very cool. The park around our high school is going to prove to provide an endless supply of fungi in the future. Though I was unable to experience the nature walk, I will post pictures of so fungi I could have see! 
The purpose of the walk was so that our class could see the many types of fungi growing in our backyards, to show us that we live in a diverse ecosystem!

Pithya Vulgaris

Orange Peel Fungus (Caloscypha fulgen)

                                                                                                            

Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus).

Yellow-gilled Russula

Western Giant Puffball

Mica Cap (Corpinellus Micaeus)