Marine Biology

Summary of Films

Film # 1 is called The Open Ocean. In this film, the author takes a look at the pacific. It says that the Mariana Trench (7 miles deep) is the deepest place on earth. The highest mountains of the world are located there. In shallower waters, there is much life. Photosynthetic organisms are the basis of all life in the sea. Also, some animals such as the sea anemones and the sea cucumbers allow currents to carry particles to them, and some creature pulse to deliver oxygen to their bodies, an example could be the coral polyps.

As the movie shows, the ocean has acquired a population of immense diversity.

The biggest of all fish is the whale shark (50 feet long).Sharks evolved 400 million years ago. But, the fish that dominates the sea today is the Bony fish. They have bone, swim bladder and paired fins. They can swim as fast as 70 miles per hour. In addition, 10 million years ago mammals invaded the sea and became streamlined. Dolphins and killers whales were descended from land carnivores. Walrus and seals are more recent invaders of the sea. They haven't yet lost their feet and come ashore to rest. There are more different types of organisms in the sea than on land, and there are a number of different environments. Large areas of the ocean floor have nothing but sand. The film talks about the cuttle fish, which bury themselves in the sand to hide from prey. Floating plankton need light to survive, so are the only found near the surface.

In conclusion, the film emphasizes that the waters in the ocean are very rich. The warm water of the gulf stream meets a cold current from the artic, stirring up nutrients in great quantities.

Film # 2 is called The Margins of the Land. The film shows the highest tides in the world, which is the "Bay of Fundy" (Eastern Canada), and the Mangroves, trees which grow in the tropics between land and sea. Mangroves forests have some unique animals, for example, the proboscis monkey, which eats only mangrove leaves. In addition, there are 40 different species of mangrove trees. They have very shallow roots which grow near the surface.

Mudskippers are fish which spend a lot of time out of water. It keeps its skin moist to absorb oxygen through it. Large crabs have a puddle of water on top of its shell for oxygen. Tiny soldier crabs must eat large quantities of mud to extract enough particles to survive.

The film also talks about the largest of all living reptiles, which is the Estuarine Crocodile. It is 23 feet long and it lives in mangrove swaps (eventually become day forests beyond the reach of the sea).

Rocky shorelines have powerful waves where the land deeps steeply into the sea). The intertidal zone has a series of horizontal bands of different types of the organism. The button band has creatures that lack devices to keep from drying out, for examples, the sea urchins ans the sea squirts. They can't feed out of water. Further up are mussels (worms and crustaceans). They use bundles of threads to hang onto the rocks.

Film # 3 is called Sweet Freshwater. It states that Water is the only substance other than mercury to remain liquid at room temperature and that the biggest river on earth is the Amazon. It also talks about Mosses, which are found in streams all over the world, and Dippers (Birds which "fly under water" using its wings.

The film explains that the river gets