Cannibalism

Well, if u r hungry what would u choose? Waiting 2 minutes for maggi noodles or eating up your neighbour or any other human being (ur enemy)??? If u choose the later, then the biologists will refer it as cannibalism. More appropriately the zoologists use this term when one individual eats another individual of same species.

Also there is a specific type of cannibalism wherein female organism kills the mate and feeds upon it after copulation this is called as sexual cannibalism.

Imagine a bunch of males approaching a beautiful female , and the female eating up the males she doesn’t want to mate with. Well males shouldn’t be horrified with this as this is seen in case of spiders. In certain species ,female may tear off the reproductive organ of male after copulation and eat the remaining part of his body . Some females may turn out to be too rude, such that they may remove head of the male so that proper ejaculation will occur. But not all are bad , during mating males may give their own stomatch in the mouth of females and then females eat them up after copulation, but respect is given to the sacrificed male as she doesn’t mate with any other organism after that. This is not actually marine , but an very interesting fact .

Another kind of cannibalism involves feeding of younger ones(infants) by adults . They act as a source of energy to adults. This phenomenon could be seen in aquariums also, wherein the newborn fishes are fed upon by adults in the water.
In certain species of copepods(zooplankton) females keep control of population by feeding on eggs. Cannibalistic behaviour is seen in various species of crab in almost all life stages.

A particular kind of cannibalism like feeding of stronger sibling with the weaker one is also seen . This is called as intrauterine cannibalism , seen in sharks.

This phenomenon May occur in response to space or competition in the habitat.

Phytoplanktons....

Vast water bodies that we see, have millions and billions of life forms , including phytoplankton ,zooplanktons ,bacteria ,viruses , reptiles and other larger mammals.

Phytoplanktons to oceans are just like trees to land.

They cannot be seen very clearly in naked eyes. They take up CO2(Carbon dioxide) and give up Oxygen.

Red sea gets its color due to a particular species which imparts reddish color to the water.

In order to see these organisms ,marine biologists follow a particular laboratory method.

They could be viewed by using compound microscopes (inverted). These microscopes are preferred as the size of these organisms 2 micron to 2 millimeters .

The procedure is very simple. About 100 ml of seawater is required, to which a few drops of preservative (lugols iodine )is added. Due to this sample to be viewed wil be preserved for a period of 6 months atleast. Sample is then brought in laboratory and kept in stationary position for 12 hours.

In order to get concentrated sample, siphoning with 2 micron mesh is done. Volume is reduced to 25 /50 ml . One ml sample is analyzed by using sedgwick rafter, and then viewed under microscope.

Main phytoplankton groups are diatoms and dinoflagellates in the ratio of 8:20.

Just as on land the plants form the base of food chain , phytoplankton form the base of food chain in the water bodies.

Excess of growth of such forms may decrease the quality of water, reduces the light penetration of light in water . Increase in their growth is due to higher availability of nutrients.

Here are some of the phytoplankton images :

Marine bacteria.....the unicellular microorganisms

Bacteria in simple words are the ubiquitous organisms that cannot be seen by naked eyes. They are all around us , on our body and inside our body.



Microbiologist use a more appropriate and scientific language and call it as prokaryot .That is they don't have fully differentiated nucleus and rarely possess membrane bound organelles .




Many of us usually come across da word bacteria with reference to some disease or infections etc. and rarely go into deeper science of wht tht organism actually is.
Many of us like curd , and it is so interesting that there is a very important role of bacteria in its formation (Lactic acid bacteria).

Bacteria are found almost everywhere ,those which are found in extreme environments are called as extremophiles.
They can occur at very high temperature (thermophiles) as well as very cold areas too.
Temperatures in Hydrothermal vents can reach even 350-360 degrees(boiling point of water is 100 degrees). These tiny organisms have known to occur even at temperatures of 113 degrees (hyperthermophile). The presence of these organisms at such high temperatures and in the regions of hydrothermal vent could give a clue about the past life on earth.


Their major importance lies in their role in oceanic food chain . Acting as decomposers, they break down the organic matter , once the organism is dead.

Marine bacteria have also gained importance for the antibiotics.

deep in da oceans...

Inquisitive behavior of human has led to exploration as well as investigation of various difficult to access areas in da oceans . But still it remains da least explored area in da ocean. The major oceans are Indian, Pacific, Atlantic, southern and Arctic.



Many of us wonder wht might be inside da vast oceans.. what might be below the depth of 3,000-4000 meters...(4000 mtrs is da avg depth of oceans..). Da deepest ocean is Southern ocean nd da largest is Pacific.....which means that there is still lot to be known ...

But how do we go beneath??? the environment is not suitable...there is no light .In addition to this as we go deeper in da water pressure on chest and lungs increases. We all have heard about the scuba divers who carry a source of breathing gas . But this can be done at da most till few meters . Diving to a depth of 318.25 meters is da scuba record (by Nuno Gomes) .




Another way u can go deep down der is by means of submersibles , used mainly by marine scientists and oceanographers. They can go to a limited depth , are smaller and can hold only few people. Modern submersibles use floodlights as a source of light and mechanical arms to pick up things from floor.They can be used to photograph organisms at more than 3,900 meters deep. Submarines (watercraft) are considered still more advantageous .......

Most are familiar with da disasters like titanic it was below 3,600 mtrs . To search this a robot vehicle called Argo , tht used side scan sonar and video cameras searched along da ocean floor.

There are many interesting things below the vast water layers. Some of fascinating scientific topic include hydrothermal vents , undersea volcanoes etc...
It is very surprising to know tht there is life at deeper regions also.

Basics......

Marine science is is a combination of biology, geology, physics and chemistry....infact it gives a chance to a student , to think from all fields of science .

Of course specialization is required to go deeper in the field of research...wherein u have a plus point of being aware of the other parameters which could affect the parameter u r specializing or doing research in.

Marine biology includes marine productivity (production of inorganic carbon from organic matter through photosynthesis /chemosynthesis )studies, measurement of primary productivity , by C14 method/chlorophyll estimation, fish identification (species level)...anatomy, study of corals, mangrove studies/identification , population ecology......current research topics, economically important fishes.....But it is not just fishes we also study phytoplankton , zoo-plankton, bacteria ,marine algae , higher marine mammals and reptiles too .

Physical oceanography includes all physical parameters like climate ,physical properties of water, remote sensing, monsoon ,types of radiations , electromagnetic spectrum, physical aspects of ocean , estuaries
physical processes in oceans, water masses , current patterns , waves ...

Marine geology includes earth magnetism, processes on beach , formation of universe..age of the earth , planets, geochemistry, plate tectonics and a lot more interesting things...

Marine chemistry is all about chemical properties of water ,marine corrosion , Major and micro nutrients in da ocean, different elements /compounds..dissolved gases..Marine corrosion ,fouling, thermodynamics derivations etc..

This is what marine science is in brief ... beautiful combination of all sciences......