Oceanography Exam 3

Mills-Wingate Spring 2026

Q: Explain how Mysticeti (baleen whales) are adapted for marine life. Give examples.

• Streamlined body, tail flukes (propulsion), flippers (steering), blubber (insulation)

• 2 blowholes → V-shaped spray

• No echolocation

• Filter feeders (krill/plankton)

what an example of Mysticeti (baleen whales)

• Humpback whales 

• Blue whale 

• Right whale 

• Fin whale 

• Sai whale

• Bryde's whale

• Gray whale

• Minke whale

Explain how Odontoceti (toothed whales) are adapted for marine life.

• Streamlined body, flukes, flippers, blubber

• 1 blowhole

• Predators (fish & squid)

• Echolocation (melon, sonar)

• More common than baleens

Air sac- define

allow air to pass through

phonic/monkey lips

Sound produced when passes constriction

Bursa-

fat filled tissue for constriction which vibrate and make sound

Melon-

• concentrate the vibrations and amplify them; production of the clicks occur 

• sounds emmit from forehead

sperm whale- Coda=

distinct patterns of clicks heard when whales are socializing

sperm whale - Vocal clan=

• different groups of dialects 

Ambergris →

• protects from cuttlfish bones

• waxy

• Digestive secretion

Spermaceti →

oily substance in head (sperm whales)

Bubble nets →

capture food by blowing ring of bubbles ( humpback whale)

Baleen whales are what feeders?

fiter

what are the steps in how whales use their baleens

• Swim thru water filled with krill/plankton

• Partially close mouth; forces water out thru baleen 

• Food trapped on baleen wipes with tongue 

• Swallowed not chewed

What is a rorqual whale?

• Baleen whales with chest folds/grooves

• Grooves stretch → take in more water

• “Gulp feeding”

who are the rorqual whatles

blue, humpback, fin whales

How do toothed whales (dolphins) use echolocation?

• Use clicking sounds (sonar)

• Sounds travel → hit object → return as echo

• Helps locate prey and objects

How and where are outgoing sounds produced by a dolphin using echolation

• Air forced through phonic lips

• Located near internal nares (blowhole in skull)

• Sound passes through skull and maxilla → directed forward

Q: How and where are reflected sounds received?

• Echo enters through mandible (lower jaw)

• Travels through acoustic lens

• Brain processes sound

How do dolphins estimate distance?

• Amt of time required for sound to return estimates distance

• Time between outgoing clicks and incoming echo

• Half needed to reach object

• Sound travels @ 1500 m/sec

How are codas used?

patterns of clicks

What are key physical features of sperm whales for diving?

• Bulbous head

• Massive head (⅓ body)

• Filled with oil = spermaceti

• Hardens in cold water (dives) → reduces buoyancy

• Bottom feeders @ 2000 ft

Q: How do sperm whales prepare for a dive?

• Large breath and blows out (exhalation)

• Breath through blowhole (nostrils), not mouth

• Less air in lungs = less buoyant

Q: What lung adaptations help sperm whales dive?

• Long lungs

• Lots of alveoli → efficient diffusion of gases

Q: How is oxygen stored and used in sperm whales
A:

• Hemoglobin releases ~100% of O₂

• High levels of myoglobin

• Store more O₂ for muscle activity

Q: What happens to the body during descent of a sperm whale

• Lungs and rib cage collapse

• Metabolism and heart rate fall

• Blood shunting → toward vital organs

How does the nervous system help during dives?

• Medulla not very sensitive to CO₂ buildup

• Most mammals → high CO₂ forces breathing

How do muscles function during long dives?

• Muscles less sensitive to lactic acid

• Anaerobic respiration

What causes the bends?

• N₂ (nitrogen) dissolves in blood under pressure

• Forms bubbles when surfacing

How do sperm whales prevent the bends?

• Mucus droplets absorb N₂ before lungs

• Alveoli collapse

• Exhalation before dive

• Lungs compressed

Q: What happens when sperm whales surface?

• Emit spout of warm air → condensation

• Water spout

• Release mucus droplets

Q: What is ambergris?

• 1–5% produce ambergris

• Digestive secretion

• Protects GI tract from squid beaks/cuttlefish bones

• Air exposure → solid, gray, waxy

how does alveoli help with sperm whales

• Lots of alveoli

• Efficient diffusion of gases

• Collapse at depth → stop gas exchange

Esophagus (sperm whales)

• Food passage

• Separate from airway

• Allows feeding (squid) without breathing interference

Trachea (sperm whales)

• Air passage

• Connected to blowhole (nostrils)

• Breath through blowhole, not mouth

Describe dolphins.

• Have beak

• Many teeth

• Carnivores (fish & squid)

• Use echolocation

Q: Describe porpoises.

• No beak

• Spade-shaped teeth

• Smaller than dolphins

• Carnivores

Q: Describe orcas.

• The largest dolphin

• Carnivores

• Eat fish, mammals

• Apex predators

Q: Who were the ancestors of cetaceans?

• Descended from carnivorous land animals

what is a Spyhop in regard to killer whale ( orca)

• stand vertically body out of water and look around

Why may cetaceans become stranded (“beached”)?

• Old age

• Illness (ex: roundworms)

• Navigation problems

• Follow group into shallow water

• Drowning

what do killer whales eat

fish, squid, seabirds, seals, other porpoises

what do bottlenose dolphins eat

mullet, menhaden, anchovies, and crabs

how long does a mother bottlenose take care of her calf

1 yr

In regard to Cetaceans, how do roundworms affect them

infect ear sinus-interfers with echolocation and sonar navigation

describe Pinnipeds

• True seals, sea lions, and walruses

• Cold and temperate waters

• Graceful in water, clumsy on land

what is a Cetaceans diffrent from Pinnipeds

Cetaceans use tail flukes for propulsion

: What are true seals?

• No ear flaps

• Move on land by belly crawl

What are key pinniped features?

• Some have ear flaps (sea lions, fur seals

• Adapted for both land and wate

what Pinniped lacks ear flaps

True seals , Lepored seals

what are Phocidae

seals that lack external ear flaps

How are manatees (Sirenia) adapted for aquatic life?

• Almost hairless

• Flippers

• Vestigial pelvis

• Pachyostosis

• No pinnae or eyelids, closed by sphincter

• Nostrils on top of snout; closed by valves

• Helpless on land; cannot even crawl

Vestigial pelvis

• Legs modified into flukes

Pachyostosis =

• unusually dense bones

Who were the ancestors of manatees?

• Herbivore ancestor

• Related to hyrax and elephants

How do Manatees breath/use lungs

• breath every 3-5 min

• hold breath for 20 min

Q: How do manatees communicate?

• Create underwater sounds

• Communication, not navigation

• Contact → feeding or traveling in turbid water

• Cow and calf separated → called for 3 hrs until reunited

Describe manatee feeding behavior.

• Herbivores

• Eat shallow water plants

• Feed 6–8 hrs/day

• Rest 2–12 hrs/day

• Graze along bottom and surface

Q: How much do manatees eat and why is it beneficial

• 60 lbs aquatic plants/day

• Keeps waterways free of invasive weeds (water hyacinth

Q: What happens to manatee teeth?

• Abrasive plants wear molars

• Continuously replace molars

• New molars form at back of jaw

• Move forward → push out worn teeth

• Rate depends on fiber in diet

Q: What is the intertidal zone?

• Area between highest high tide and lowest low tide

• Submerged at high tide

• Exposed at low tide

• Extremely harsh, constantly changing

What are the four challenges in intertidal zones

1. immersion

2. expsure

3. crashing waves

4. tempature flucuation

Interidal zone: Immersion

• covered by water at high tide

• low oxygen and strong currents

Interidal zone: Exposure

dry air at low tide; risk of drying out

Intertidal zone: Crashing waves

• strong force

• can pull organisms off rocks

• Adaptation: Strong muscular foot (Chitin have) allows them to stick to rocks

Intertidal zones: Temperature fluctuations

•  vary from 40F or more in a single tidal cycle

• Organisms are usually eurythermal

for Intertidal zone: Expsure what are the stratgies that organism use

• Burrow into sand/rocks

• Stay in moist crevices

• Close shells to retain water

What are the rocky shore zones.

1. upper interdial fringe

2. interidal zone

3. lower interidal fringe

Rocky shore zone: Upper intertidal fringe

• located above highest regular tide line

• splashed by waves

• mostly dry

• exposed to sun, wind, temp

Rocky shore zone: Intertidal zone

• between the high tide and low tide lines

• underwater at high tide and exposed at high tide

• a lot of feeding activity

Rocky shore zone: Lower intertidal fringe

• located lowerest tide line

• mostly underwater and only exposed during very low tide

• “always wet”

• strong wave action

Rocky shore communities description

• low growing plants

• sentary animals

• producers: algae

• withstand wave force

Interidal zones : two diffrent substrate

1. rocky shores

2. particulate shores

What organisms are found in Upper intertidal fringe

• Periwinles

• isopods

• Lichens ( algea + fungus)

What organisms are found in Interidal zone

• * barncles

• mussels

• limpets

• rocktweek (algae)

Describe Barncles in the Interidal zone

• sessile filter feeders

• permently attached to rock

• feed when submerged to rock

Describe Mussels in the Interidal zone

• attaches by byssal threads

• close shell tight to prevent drying

Describe Limpet in the Interidal zone

• gastropod (snail

• musclular foot to cling to rocks

• graze on algae

Describe Rocketweed (algae) in the Interidal zone

provides habitate and shelter

what are Byssal threads

strong fibers that glue mussles to rocks

what are the organisms found in the interidal fringe

• anemones

• oysters

• sea urchins

What are the characteristics of Anemones in the lower interdial fringe?

• central mouth surroded by tentcals

• stay attched

• require constant moisture

What are the characteristics of Oysters in the lower intertidal fringe?

• sessile filter feeder

• dense cluster on rocl

What are the characteristics of Sea Urchins in the lower interdial fringe?

• grazers

• scrap algae off using mouth structure

what is the sea urchins mouth nicknamed

Aristotle lantern

Barnacle: Cypris larvae →

• mobile larva ( permanent adult)

• no digestive system

• metamorphisis into juvenile barnacle

• Use antenna’s to walk

• attach and cement to rock

Acorn barancle: adult stage

• perminetly attaches ( Sessile

• protective shell

• home chosen by mobile larvae

what are chacteristics of periwinkle snails

• survive 1 week out of water

• extract oxygen

• mucin film prevent drying out

• herbivore

• scarpes off ricks using radula

what is a radula for a perwinkle snail and limpet

scraping mouthpart

what are chacteristics of Isopods

• sea cockroaches

• fast moving

• hide in caves

• related to shrimp/ crab

what are chacteristics of Lichen

• fngus + algae

• symbiotic relationship[

• tolerate harsh conditions

• absorb 30x weight in water

• green algae males food whole fungus provides protection

what are chacteristics of Blue muscles

• tight shells

• attched by bysaal threads from musclar foot

• filter feeder

what are chacteristics of rockweed

• brown algae tolerate drying

• small gas-filled floats

what are chacteristics of Limpets

• large venbtral foot for clinging to rocks

• higher zone = taller shells ( helps retain moisture)

• feeding using Radula

what are chacteristics of Sea urchin

• covered in spines = prtection/ anchoring

• mounth underside scrap off algae

Lower interidal fringe- what are chacteristics of coralline aglae

• pink, purple, red

• shade tolerant

• incorporate calcium carbonate

Lower interidal fringe- what are chacteristics of Anemones

• soft bodies predators

• use tenticals to stink and capture prey

Lower interidal fringe- what are chacteristics of sea bass

• located in tide pools and rocky areas

• move in and out of zone

Q: What is a sandy shore intertidal community?

• No large rocks, algae, or tide pools

• Organisms live in sediment (burrowers)

• Sand constantly moving

What is bioturbation?

• Sediments disturbed by creatures

• Animals digging and reshaping habitat