Water Balance
This word describes the processes that maintain water and electrolyte balance in an organism
What is osmoregulation?
With over 1 million hairs per square inch, this marine mammal has the densest fur in the animal kingdom
What is the sea otter?
Marine mammal eyes have a much more spherical ______ compared to land mammals
What is a lens?
This suction-cupped instrument is often used to detect sound, movement and position in diving marine mammals
What is a DTAG?
In Monterey Bay, upwelling leads to increased primary productivity and supports large numbers of these organisms
What are euphausiids (krill)/blue whales?
This kidney structure is elongated, allowing concentration of urine above the osmolarity of seawater
What is the Loop of Henle?
This arrangement of blood vessels minimizes heat loss at the skin's surface
What is counter-current heat exchange/peri-arterial venous rete (PAVR)?
This eye structure reflects light back to the photoreceptors after it has passed through the retina
What is the tapetum lucidum?
Dolphins will send blood to these types of blood vessels when trying to get rid of excess heat
What are superficial veins?
This human activity is currently being investigated as a possible reason for mass strandings of beaked whales
What is military sonar?
This specialized shape of the kidney allows marine mammals to produce large quantities of urine
What is reniculate/lobed?
(also large)
Compression from increasing water pressure makes this type of insulation ineffective for deep diving
What is fur/air?
Deeper-diving marine mammals have photoreceptors that absorb this color the best
What is blue?
These hair-like structures are used by manatees to sense water movements across their body
What are vibrissae/post-facial hairs?
This marine mammal has the lowest assimilation efficiency for any carnivore
What is the sea otter?
Besides drinking and eating, this is also a major source of water input in marine mammals
What is metabolism?
These are areas with low insulation and high vascularization that are used to dump heat
What are thermal windows?
Marine mammals in this type of environment often have poorly developed eyes
What is turbid/muddy/"sedimenty"?
A diet of this type of organism requires sea otters to process large amounts of electrolytes
What are invertebrates/osmoconformers?
If a dolphin dorsal fin has a higher heat flux at the distal tip compared to the central part, it is probably trying to accomplish this
What is dumping heat?
These structures in the skull enable marine mammals to reduce respiratory water loss
What are nasal turbinates?
These 3 physical factors primarily determine the rate of heat loss
What are conductance, surface area and temperature gradient?
Having more of these types of light-sensing cells give marine mammals good low-light vision
What are rods/photoreceptors?
This behavioral adaptation helps beaked whales avoid getting the bends
What is ascending slowly?
This is one of two types of circular swimming patterns used by humpback whales to create bubble nets
What is the double-loop or upward-spiral?