1 / 9

Cephalopods

Cephalopods. Cephalopods History. appeared some time in the late Cambrian several million years before the first primitive fish began swimming in the ocean

rosalyn-rowland
Download Presentation

Cephalopods

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Cephalopods

  2. Cephalopods History • appeared some time in the late Cambrian several million years before the first primitive fish began swimming in the ocean • Scientists believe that the ancestors of modern cephalopods (Subclass Coleoidea: octopus, squid, and cuttlefish) diverged from the primitive externally shelled Nautiloidea (Nautilus) very early - perhaps in the Ordovician, some 438 million years ago.

  3. Cephalopods were once one of the dominant life forms in the world's oceans • Today there are only 650 or so living species of cephalopods (compare that with 30,000 living species of bony fish). However, in terms of productivity, some scientists believe that cephalopods are still giving fish a run for their money

  4. Cephalopods are fast swimming predatory animals, extremely intelligent • Cephalopods foot is divided into tentacles • squid=10 tentacle • octopus=8 tentacle • cuttle fish=6 or more tentacle

  5. Cephalopodsdistinctive structures • Cephalopods have large, well developed eyes that form images • Tentacles are covered with suckers for seizing and holding prey • Cephalopods have a rasp like structure in their digestive tract called a radula for breaking down food • Cephalopods mouth has two strong beaks for tearing its prey apart. • Cephalopod is fitted with a funnel like structure that fills with water and ejects it acting like a jet propulsion

  6. More distinctive characteristics: • They are able to change multi colors • Can expand and contract pigment cells in its skin • Chromatophores(color cells) give the cephalopod the ability to change. • Can eject ink when alarmed causing the enemy to be temporarily blinded. The ink also inactivates predators chemical receptors used for detecting prey.

  7. Cephalopods diet • Feed on crabs, shrimp, fish, and other cephalopods Cephalopods Habitat • Intertidal to abyss • Polar to tropics • In other words they are found everywhere

  8. Most common Cephalopods • Squid • Cuttlefish • Octopus • Nautilus

More Related