Bull Shark Research Paper

Fish (Carcharhinus leucas- Bull shark)
Ecological niche:
The bull shark is able to live in saltwater and freshwater. The average shark must retain salt in its body to survive. If not, its cells will rupture causing death. When entering freshwater, because of osmosis, water would rush into the shark's body, and disturb the balance of salt and water. The bull shark is able to retain salt, and remove excess water through its kidney. Because of this, bull sharks, if moving into freshwater slowly, can live in both. They also tend to stay in warm waters with a depth of between 30 to 150 meters. Bull sharks often hunt their food in groups. Bull sharks often eat anything, but prefer prey like bony fish, small sharks, turtles, birds, and some species …show more content…
It is a single circuit system where the heart pumps once in each cycle. The conus arteriosus has valves to prevent the backflow of blood to insure a steady flow of blood by contracting to get the blood to the gills and the rest of the body. The deoxygenated blood gets pumped from the heart, to the gills, through the body and back to the heart. The 2 chambers of the heart are the atrium and ventricle and have 2 different uses. The atrium pumps the blood into the ventricle. From the ventricle, the blood pumps into the conus, an elastic compartment which does not pump, but can stretch and squeeze the blood through. From the conus the blood travels straight to the gills where it gets oxygen from the water by diffusion. The oxygenated blood then flows through the whole body to give cells oxygen required for respiration (ATP/energy) and returns to the …show more content…
Because the bumblebee has an open circulatory system, so instead of flowing through veins, the hemolymph moves freely around the body. So in order for the bumblebee to be able to get the hemolymph to keep moving, it needs the small heart on the dorsal side to create a current. With the help of the muscle movement, the hemolymph is able to get to all parts of the body. Hemolymph is used to transport nutrients through the body, and transport waste from the body. Because of the heart in the bumblebee’s body, it is easier for the hemolymph to move through the body, without being in veins and using the currents from the heart, and the muscle movement of the bumblebee. This adaptation helps the movement of hemolymph through the body.
There is no need for respiratory pigments in the hemolymph because the gases diffuse directly from the air to the cells. Instead, the bumblebee uses tracheal respiration in order to get oxygen to the cells in the body and the energy needed to fly. An advantage of tracheal respiration is that it provides oxygen directly to the muscles. Muscle cells use this oxygen, with the carbohydrates in the hemolymph to generate the energy needed to fly. This adaptation is useful for the bumblebee to get oxygen to cells faster and be able to fly and have the energy to survive in its habitat and avoid

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Bull Shark Research Paper