Question 1: Echinoderms (20 points)
Describe the specialized structures and functions of echinoderms. Include in your answer: a. a description of the water vascular system
b. a description of the aboral surface of a sea star (such as Pisaster)
c. a description of the specialized feeding structures of a sea star (such as Pisaster)
Question 2: Fish Movement (25 points)
Describe the adaptations that support movement of fishes through water from the origin of swimming in chordates to the migrations of eels and salmon. Include in your answer
a. a description of the origins of swimming in chordates and the shapes of fast-swimming fishes
b. a description of gills and countercurrent exchange for obtaining oxygen
c. the synchronized development and migratory paths with ocean currents for American Eels and Pacific salmon
Question 3: Sensory Systems of Fishes (25 points)
Describe the structure and function of chemical, electrical and pressure sensory systems of fishes. Include in your answer:
a. a description of the methods by which sharks detect their prey,
b. a description the structures and functions of lateral lines in fishes in general
c. a description of the specialized functions of lateral lines in weakly electric fish. Include in your description, the structure and
function of neuromasts and electrogenic organs and the role that they play in fishes of murky waters.
Question 4: Amniote Egg (10 points)
Describe amniote eggs, the functions of the egg membranes and the structure and function of the calcified shell.
Question 5: Whales (20 points)
Describe the evolution of whales and the mechanisms by which dolphins locate food by echolocation. Include in your answer: a. the sequence of adaptations and fossil evidence leading from terrestrial animal mammals to modern whales
b. the fossil sequence and timeline of whale ancestry
c. the structures of the skull that create and receive sound waves, the composition of the melon that focuses sound, and the
nature of sound in water and compare to sound in air