Discussion Board and Exercise

BIOLOGY 181 LIFE IN THE OCEANS

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

BUOYANCY EXERCISE

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Any marine animal that is an active swimmer must find some way to maintain neutral buoyancy; that is, it must have the same density as sea water. If it is more dense, it will sink to the bottom; if it is less dense, it will come bobbing to the surface like a cork.

The density of living tissue is approximately 105% that of sea water. In order to achieve neutral buoyancy, the animal needs to find some way to make itself less dense.

For each of the following groups of animals, use your knowledge you learned in the course and/or the internet, write short paragraph explaining how they maintain neutral buoyancy. For each group of animals, cite at least one webpage as a reference.

a) Bony fish

b) Sharks

c) Squids

d) Nautilus