I've got a presentation tomorrow and need to show this film as part of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxVMeLWzB…
(but only to the part with the fish and the shrimp, starts around 3.00 i think)
What questions could i ask my class to this film?
Thank you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxVMeLWzB…
(but only to the part with the fish and the shrimp, starts around 3.00 i think)
What questions could i ask my class to this film?
Thank you!
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I could not see the film because my freedom loving government (the USA!) blocked access to the site. At any rate I already know about gobies and the shrimp which sometimes live with them. Since symbiosis is a mutually beneficial relationship between unrelated creatures, the obvious question is "what's in it for me?".
Q: How does the shrimp benefit?
A: Like most arthropods, shrimp have primitive eyes consisting of hundreds of individual lenses. This gives them less visual acuity than the fish, which has retinas like people do, and even color vision as well. The fish also has a more sophisticated brain. It can use memory far better than the shrimp and actually anticipate the actions of predators. The shrimp has to rely mostly on reflexes and instinct to survive.
Q: how does the fish benefit?
A: Very few species of fish are designed to dig. Their fins are adapted for swimming, not manipulating objects. Many gobies can dig, but use their mouths to move sand around. The shrimp is a decapod, meaning it has 4 sets of walking legs and a pair of specialized legs which in some species like lobsters, are adapted to be powerful claws. The shrimp is very well adapted to digging. Its legs excavate sand and it can then use the swimmerettes under its tail to sweep the sand out of the hole. A digging goby has to spit sand out of the hole and this exposes its head, the most vulnerable region of the fishes body. The the shrimp has the ability to dig and clear sand from its tunnel without ever leaving it and exposing itself to predators.
An interesting question might include - which came first, the fish or the shrimp? Which organism started the mutualistic relationship. Did the fish move in with the shrimp or the shrimp with the fish?
Q: How does the shrimp benefit?
A: Like most arthropods, shrimp have primitive eyes consisting of hundreds of individual lenses. This gives them less visual acuity than the fish, which has retinas like people do, and even color vision as well. The fish also has a more sophisticated brain. It can use memory far better than the shrimp and actually anticipate the actions of predators. The shrimp has to rely mostly on reflexes and instinct to survive.
Q: how does the fish benefit?
A: Very few species of fish are designed to dig. Their fins are adapted for swimming, not manipulating objects. Many gobies can dig, but use their mouths to move sand around. The shrimp is a decapod, meaning it has 4 sets of walking legs and a pair of specialized legs which in some species like lobsters, are adapted to be powerful claws. The shrimp is very well adapted to digging. Its legs excavate sand and it can then use the swimmerettes under its tail to sweep the sand out of the hole. A digging goby has to spit sand out of the hole and this exposes its head, the most vulnerable region of the fishes body. The the shrimp has the ability to dig and clear sand from its tunnel without ever leaving it and exposing itself to predators.
An interesting question might include - which came first, the fish or the shrimp? Which organism started the mutualistic relationship. Did the fish move in with the shrimp or the shrimp with the fish?
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Another question if you don't mind? which examples of animal relationships are there where it is hard to tell if its parasitism or mutualism?
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