Barracuda Habitat, Behavior, and Diet

The barracuda (Sphyraenidae spp) is sometimes portrayed as an ocean menace, but does it deserve such a reputation? This common fish found in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans as well as the Caribbean and Red seas, has threatening teeth and a habit of approaching swimmers, but its not the danger you might think. Fast Facts: Barracuda Scientific Name: SphyraenidaeCommon Name: BarracudaBasic Animal Group: FishSize: 20 inches to 6 feet or moreWeight: Up to 110 poundsLifespan: Varies by species; giant barracudas live up to 14 yearsSpeed: Up to 35 miles per hourDiet:  CarnivoreHabitat: Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, Caribbean and Red SeasPopulation: UnknownConservation Status: Not Evaluated Description Even if youre new to  fish identification, youll quickly learn to recognize the barracudas distinctive look. The fish has a long, slender body that is tapered at the ends and thicker in the middle. The head is somewhat flattened on top and pointed in front, and the lower jaw projects forward menacingly. Its two dorsal fins are far apart, and its pectoral fins are positioned low on the body. Most species are dark on top, with silver sides and a clear lateral line that extends from the head to the tail on each side. The barracudas caudal fin is slightly forked ​and curved on the trailing edge. Smaller barracuda species may max out at 20 inches in length, but the larger species can achieve a startling 6 feet or longer in size. Is there anything more unnerving than being approached by a fearless fish with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth? Barracuda have big mouths, with long jaws and a characteristic under-bite. They also have a lot of teeth. In fact, barracuda have two rows of teeth: an outer row of small but sharp teeth for tearing flesh apart, and an inner row of long, dagger-like teeth to firmly grasp its prey. A few of the barracudas teeth point backward, as an extra aid for securing squirming fish. Smaller fish are mercifully swallowed whole, but larger fish are efficiently chopped to pieces in the hungry barracudas jaws. A barracuda can open its mouth wide enough to snatch just about any fish it encounters, from a tiny killifish to a chunky grouper. Image Source/Getty Images Species The name barracuda doesnt apply to one specific fish, but rather an entire family. The Sphyraenidae is the group of fish known collectively as barracuda. The species most people picture when thinking of a barracuda is probably the great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda), a commonly encountered fish. But the worlds oceans are full of all kinds of barracuda, including the pickhandle barracuda, the sawtooth barracuda, and the sharpfin barracuda. Some species are named for the area where they are found, like the Guinean barracuda, the Mexican barracuda, the Japanese barracuda, and the European barracuda. Habitat and Range Most species of barracuda live in near-shore habitats, such as seagrass beds, mangroves, and coral reefs. Theyre primarily marine fish, although a few varieties can tolerate brackish water at times. Barracuda inhabit the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, and are also commonly found in the Caribbean and Red seas. Diet Barracuda have a diverse diet, preferring small tunas, mullets, jacks, grunts, groupers, snappers, killifishes, herrings, and anchovies.  They hunt mainly by sight, scanning the water for signs of prey as they swim. Smaller fish are most visible when they reflect light and often look like shiny metal objects in the water. This, unfortunately, can lead to misunderstandings between barracuda and humans in the water. A swimmer or diver with anything reflective is likely to get an aggressive bump from a curious barracuda. The barracuda isnt interested in you, necessarily. It just wants to sample the object that looks like a shiny, silverfish. Still, its a bit unsettling to have a barracuda come barreling toward you, teeth first, so its best to remove anything reflective before getting in the water. Behavior A barracudas body is shaped like a torpedo and made for cutting through the water. This long, lean, and muscular fish is one of the fastest creatures in the sea, capable of swimming up to 35 mph. Barracuda swim almost as fast as the notoriously speedy mako sharks. Barracuda cant maintain top speed for long distances, however. The barracuda is a sprinter, capable of bursts of speed in pursuit of prey. They spend most of their time swimming slow enough to survey for food, and only accelerate when a meal is within reach; they often swim together in small or large schools. Reproduction and Offspring The timing and location of barracuda spawning are not as yet well-documented, but scientists surmise that mating takes place in deeper, offshore waters and probably in spring. Eggs are released by the female and fertilized by the male in open waters, and then are dispersed by currents.   Newly hatched barracuda larvae settle in shallow, vegetated estuaries, and leave the estuary when they have achieved a length of about 2 inches. They then stay in mangrove and seagrass habitats until they are about one year old.   Great barracuda have a lifespan of at least 14 years, and they typically reach sexual maturity at two years (male) and four years (female).   Fotosearch/Getty Images   Barracudas and Humans Because barracuda are fairly common and inhabit the same waters where people swim and dive, the chance of encountering a barracuda is quite high. But despite their proximity to people in the water, barracuda rarely attack or injure humans. Most bites occur when the barracuda mistakes a metallic object for a fish and attempts to snatch it. The barracuda isnt likely to continue biting once it realizes the object in question isnt food. Barracuda attacks are rare and almost never fatal. Those teeth will do some damage to an arm or leg, though, so victims usually require stitches. While smaller barracuda are generally safe to eat, larger barracuda can be ciguatoxic (poisonous to humans) because they consume larger fish with higher toxin loads. At the bottom of the food chain, toxic plankton known as Gambiendiscus toxicus attaches itself to algae on the coral reef. Small, herbivorous fish feed on the algae and consume the toxin, too. Larger, predatory fish prey on the small fish, and accumulate a higher concentration of the toxin in their bodies. Each successive predator accumulates more toxins. Ciguatera food poisoning is unlikely to kill you, but its not an experience youll enjoy. The biotoxins cause gastrointestinal, neurological, and cardiovascular symptoms that persist for weeks or months. Patients report hallucinations, severe muscle and joint pain, skin irritation, and even a reversal of hot and cold sensations. Unfortunately, theres no way to identify a ciguatoxin barracuda, and neither heat nor freezing can kill the fat-soluble toxins in a contaminated fish. Its best to avoid consuming large barracuda. Sources Family Sphyraenidae – Barracuda. Fishbase.org, 2012.Martin, R. Aidan. Record-Breakers: Hauling Bass. Biology of Sharks and Rays. ReefQuest Center for Shark Research, 2003.Bester, Cathleen. Sphyraena barracuda: Great Barracuda. Florida Museum, University of Florida.Lawley, Richard. Ciguatoxins. Food Safety Watch, January 30, 2013.Olander, Doug. The Perils of Ciguatera: Will your next fresh-caught fish dinner be a toxic time bomb? Sport Fishing Magazine, May 5, 2011.

A Research Study On Stem Cell Research - 1665 Words

Stem cells have advanced the way researchers look at curing what were once considered untreatable diseases. Modern technology has played a key role in the discovering of these stem cells and how they are used in the body. Many argue that the use of adult and embryonic cells is unethical and inhumane to society, however, there is one point taken into consideration when making that statement; if researchers could develop a cure for a disease that was affecting a family member of those who oppose it, then these people would look at this study from a different standpoint. Stem cell research has advanced modern biological and human studies around the world today by increasing the understanding of how diseases develop in the body, finding†¦show more content†¦These cells are especially important for growth, healing, and cells that are lost through daily wear and tear (Genetic Science Learning Center). Stem cell research is argued to be unethical and unnecessary, however, refusing to choose not to discover treatments for those who suffer is unethical and immoral. Stem cells are used for more than just research; once a specific study is complete and found to work, they use it on humans to treat diseases. Stem cells are used for development of many treatments for all kinds of patients. Stem cells are very popular in regards to patients with leukemia (Genetic Science Learning Center). Leukemia is a cancer of white blood cells which are the cells that are supposed to protect our bodies from diseases and foreign objects. With leukemia patients, their body is unable to fight off this disease. Chemotherapy and radiation are very common treatments for patients with cancer, however, it can be a very painful process for the patient (Genetics Science Learning Center). Bone marrow is the new treatment that medical professionals have discovered that works with these specific cancer patients. In a bone marrow transplant, the patient’s existing bone marrow cells are replaced with those from a matching donor that has healthy bone marrow cells. The use of radiation and chemotherapy is to kill all of the patient s existing bone marrow and abnormal leukocytes. Once a bone marrow

The History of Italian Renaissance Free Essays

The Italian Renaissance was driven by a force of great strides in humanity. This was a time for a re-awakening of educated thinking, great artistic endeavors, and an empowering factor of humanism to use free will to govern one’s future rather than allowing the church to dictate the correct path in life. The city of Florence became the center for much of this activity, where artists and scholars were sponsored royally by like-minded families of great wealth and social power. We will write a custom essay sample on The History of Italian Renaissance or any similar topic only for you Order Now More emphasis was put onto education as a means of freedom from ignorance instead of a reason to serve God. There was a shift in power from the church to a general secularization in all areas of life, with the main focus being on the enhancement in the studies of the arts. The arts were looked at in a new way, using humanism as the new religion and the new way to achieve the greatest possible virtue. The actual term Renaissance means â€Å"re-birth†, which is essentially what was taking place overall, in Florence and other Italian states. â€Å"For Burckhardt this period consisted, broadly speaking, of the 15th century in Italy, a time and place in which â€Å"medieval† man became â€Å"modern† man. -Italy-History of, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2000. (1) This was a re-birth of ideas, learning, communication, artistry and beliefs. All of these factors were culminating together to prepare the world for the dawning of a new age, and a new direction for man to move in. The Italian Renaissance began finding it’s niche among the elite in Florence in 1360, however, this was just the beginning. The Renaissance proved to be more established by the early fifteenth century among the rest of Italy, and eventually the rest of Europe. . The world was changing and ready for a new way of thinking. No longer were individuals prepared to accept the teachings of the church as their guidelines in life. Society wanted more from life than what the church had to offer. Italian culture, most noteably in Florence, was growing wealthier. With this increase of wealth came a need to pursue personal limits in achievement, education, and ability. â€Å"In their society, successful individuals, usually men, clearly were capable of doing more in this world than traditional religious views allowed. † – Modern European History I, 1992. (2) The humanists came forth from this need to learn. They were the intellect behind the Renaissance and brought to light a new view of what should be taught and studied. They embraced the classics; translating many from the ancient Greek and Roman script they were originally created in, and redefining how these works were originally interpreted. They looked upon studies in grammar, rhetorics, poetry, history and moral philosophy as a means of elevating their self-worth, and discovered that man can create his own destiny rather than follow a pre-ordained fate determined by the church. By using education to further themselves in society, the free-willed humanists were setting the standards for educated thinking, that current modern day life adheres to. â€Å"Humanism was the most important single intellectual movement of the Renaissance. † – Eugene F. Rice Jr, 1970. (3) Humanism was not only focused on education; this way of thinking also held power over other aspects of the Renaissance. 2 As much of the educational aspect centered in Florence, so did the growing desire for beauty and culture to be represented in art; another strong factor of humanism. With it’s economic and social standing becoming rapidly elevated, and due to the strong tradition of democracy it held, Florence would prove to have the ideal surroundings for the birth of artistry in the Italian Renaissance movement. At the beginning of the Renaissance, Florence was a well-established, commercial city primarily controlled by the rich merchant class and some of the very wealthy and powerful families that resided there. Families such as the de Medici family, would commission artists to design and build enormous churches, palaces and other monuments to cement the families’ position in Florence. Using this type of backing sponsorship, the growing artistic community was able to flourish and thrive, and produce a mutitude of glorious works, focusing on a new embodiment of their skill. The human body was looked upon and studied with more detail and realism than ever before. This lead to more accurate and life-like art work, both in painting and sculpture. Much of the art moved away from the old themes of portraying the world and humanity as perfectly as possible, and concentrated instead on capturing the actual likeness of the subject matter, no matter how unappealing or distressing it may have been. With enormous financial sponsorship behind them, artists were able to concentrate soley on their craft and expand it into the new, Renaissance style. They met great opposition from the church but were able to continue moving forward with the ongoing support of their benefactors. The infallible teachings of the church combined with the power of the Pope, were constantly challenged by the humanists and those that followed this new style of thought. Citizens were more and more frequently pledging allegiance to the crown rather than to the Vatican, creating a steady decline of power from religion. â€Å"The Christian truth that had been acknowledged as comprehending all phenomena, earthly or heavenly, now had to co-exist with a classical attitude that was overwhelmingly directed toward earthly life. – Humanism, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2000. (4) Knowledge began to undermine the position of the church. An ever-increasing amount of followers of humanism reaffirmed the fact that humans are individuals and not just souls passing through earth on their way to eternity in heaven or hell. As individuals, every human had the right to discovering his own destiny and potential. These beliefs and views were strongly frowned upon by the church, who tried in vain to reassert their influence on society. Much of the great wealth of the era was also looked at as un-Christian, but the humanists argued that wealth was only a means to achieve greater virtue. Money was needed to fund and support the arts, which provided the tools to further enlightenment in these areas. The church however, could only accept this wealth if it was used for the greater good of society. This was an argument to prevail throughout the Renaissance. From the re-evaluation of education and art, society has derived an opportunity to determine their own destiny, based on the knowledge they choose to empower themselves with. Humanists may have opposed the church and it’s teachings in order 4 to move forward with free will and choice, but without that opposition, life would not hold the amount of wonderment and variation that exists today. The humanistic efforts that began during the Italian Renaissance paved the way for society to become more independent in their thinking, more realistic in their arts, and more educated in subject matter that had been too long denied. The Italian Renaissance shaped and altered the â€Å"modern† world, bringing society out of the â€Å"medieval† times and onto the path that stretched toward the optimistic future. How to cite The History of Italian Renaissance, Papers

Introspection vs Behaviourism free essay sample

Watson claimed there is no place in psychology for the ‘mind’; he felt they should take the ‘psych’ out of psychology. Does it not follow that he was suggesting that it doesn’t exist, therefore why strive to uncover its mysteries or hypothesize on its nature? How is that different than saying that if you can’t imagine it, it must not exist? Think of the first time an isolated tribe in Amazonia perceived an airplane flying overhead. Assume that they could distinguish its nature as an unnatural object zooming through their skies.Before that time they could not fathom how such a thing could exist in their reality, yet here it was directly observable; it was just a matter of time. Again I agree with MacDougall; why should Psychology be so concerned with being strictly scientific as defined by the prevailing paradigm? Why do we even attempt constrain the study of psychology to such a strict and, dare I say, dogmatic approach? Human motivations, emotions, thoughts and behaviours are messy, unpredictable and every human being is a unique bit of mystery. We will write a custom essay sample on Introspection vs Behaviourism or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Maybe it shouldn’t be a question of ‘can the experiment be replicated in the laboratory’ because we don’t live in labs. I believe a more pragmatic approach will eventually answer many of the questions psychology struggles with and that’s also what I think MacDougall was advocating in his argument. Watson, as a leading behaviourist of the day advocated for complete rejection of mental phenomena and the concept of consciousness had no place in science b/c mental phenomena cannot be directly observable. So Watson was suggesting that psychology can only be defined as a science if it denies the mind, whaa?!I suggest advocates for this position would instead be more comfortable if they left â€Å"Psych†ology to its rightful place as the study of the human mind, and therefore human nature, and instead form a science called Behaviourology. But really, what is the point of experimenting and making observations if you don’t further attempt to det ermine WHY the observed behaviour occurs? For example: take a child that was physically abused every day of his life and then observe that he grows into an adult who physically abuses his children. Wow how fascinating, not. I believe that this only becomes a question for/of psychology when the observer attempts to determine WHY these patterns of behavior exist among humans and even more importantly how can we change the way the abusers mind works, i. e. the motivations, thoughts and emotions that go along with the abusive behavior. After we observe a heinous or deplorable act we question the perpetrators motives and intentions by asking questions like â€Å"have you no conscience?! † Conscience is defined as the awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to ones conduct together with the urge [motivation] to prefer right over wrong.We say things like â€Å"let your conscience be your guide. .. . † This suggests that we as individuals make choices that result in our behaviours, rather than being at the complete mercy of the laws of physics and chemistry. I return to the abused/abuser scenario; if a certain stimulus (physical abuse) creates abusive tendencies, as observed in correlational studies, why don’t all abused children grow up to be abusers themselves? This suggests that there exists an element of introspection that moderates the elicited behavior.Therefore I don’t believe Watsonian Behaviourism addresses the question of why not all adult survivors of child abuse then abuse their own children. As I struggle with this discussion question I realize I’m a victim of the present Zeitgeist because I can’t move past the question of what’s the point of Behaviourism as defined by Watson, if it doesn’t answer the subjective and qualitative questions of human nature. Simply observing an objective phenomenon that results from objec tive stimuli without questioning what mental phenomena may be associated with it seems rather pointless.