Chapter 9

Marine Reptiles,
Birds,
and Mammals

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About 350 million years ago,
vertebrate invaded the land
 Evolution:
Evolved two pairs of limbs, as a
adaptation to “walk” on land, and
turn into tetrapods

Evolved lung
 Evolution trends:
• The first land tetrapod is amphibian
• Then, solved the problem of water loss and
adapted to land life, evolved from now-extinct
amphibian into reptiles
• Finally, the now-extinct reptiles evolved the
bird and mammals
• Reptile, bird and mammals reinvaded the
ocean
Embryos have 4 limbs that
characterize all land vertebrates
About 7000 species; include
lizards, snakes, turtles, and
crocodiles

First appeared more than

300 million years ago

Marine Reptiles
 Morphological characters

• Dry skin is covered with scale to prevent

water loss
• Eggs have a leathery shell that prevent
them from drying out on land
• Poikilotherm and ectotherms, keep them
out of cold regions
• Air-breathing
Sea turtles
 Morphological characters:
• body enclosed with armor-like scale;
carapace and fused to the backbone
• head and limbs of sea turtles cannot retract
into the shell
• have strong forelimbs, modified into flipper
for swimming
 Sea turtles
• The most ancient group of reptiles

• 7 species; greens, loggerheads,

hawksbills, olive ridley, leatherbacks,
Kemp’s ridley, and flatbacks
green turtle
 green turtle
 Grows to 1 m in length, feed mostly on sea
grasses and seaweeds

 It lacks teeth, but has strong biting jaws

 hawksbill turtle
Smaller; uses it beak-like mouth to feed on encrusting
animals (sponges, sea squirts, barnacles) and seaweeds
Leatherback turtle
 Leatherback turtle
• The largest species, can grow to 2 m and
lat least 540 kg.
• It has a series of small bones buried in
the dark skin, forming distinct longitudinal
ridge
• It is an open water, deep diving species,
and diet consist largely on jellyfish
 Sea Turtles
 Must return to land to nest every 1-9 years,
mostly between 2-4 years some migrate over
2200 km
 Copulating often seen offshore, and lay
between 100 and 160 large, leathery eggs
 Egg hatch after 60 days of incubation in the
sand
 Predators of eggs and hatchlings include; dogs,
ghost crab, wild pigs, and variety of fishes and
sea birds
Sea snakes
 Sea snakes
 About 55 species, found in tropical Indian and
Pacific oceans; exclusively marine
 bodies are laterally flattened, and tail peddle-
shaped for swimming
 Most are 1-3 m long
 Ovoviviparous reproduction,
 Carnivore, feed on bottom fishes, and fish
eggs
 Closely related to cobras, the most
venomous of all snakes
Other Marine Reptiles
 Marine iguana
-- live on rock, and eat seaweeds, can dive to 10 m to graze
 Saltwater crocodile
-- Inhabits mangrove swamp and estuaries in Eastern
Indian Ocean, Australia, and Pacific Islands
-- It is the most aggressive of all marine animals
 Seabirds
Birds that spend a significant part of their lives
at sea and feed on marine organisms
 Seabirds
• Homoeothermic and endothermic animals
• Body are covered with waterproof
feathers to conserve body heat
-- waterproof is provided by oil from a gland
above the base of the tail
• Flight is made easier by their light, hollow
bones
• Eggs have hard shells that are more
resistant to water loss than the reptiles
 Seabirds
• Nest on land, most feed in large colonies,
mate as lifelong pairs
• Seabird descended from several different
group of land birds
• About 300 species, comprise about 3% of
the estimated 9700 species of bird,
• Distributed from pole to pole,
• Most are predators of fish, squid, and
bottom invertebrates, but some feed on
plankton
Penguins
 Penguin
s
 Flightless, with wings modified into
flippers that allow them to fly underwater

 Bones are denser than the birds to reduce

buoyancy and make diving easier

 They are nearsighted on land, eyes are

adapted for underwater vision
 Penguin
s
 adapted for cold temperature; protection
against cold is provided by (1) a layer of
fat under the skin, (2) dense waterproof
feathers, and warm by body heat

 All but one of the 18 species live primarily

on Antarctica and other cold regions of the
Southern Hemisphere
Emperor penguin

-- hunt for fish and squid, have

strong beaks that feed on fish
and plankton
 Penguins
 Can establish breeding colonies

 Male incubated single egg during the winter,

and egg hatched during the productive
summer, when the food is most abundant

 Both parents take care of chick for 5 and half

months
Tubenoses, include albatrosses and petrels
Albatrosses
petrels
Characterized by having tube-like nostrils and heavy
beaks that are usually curved at the tips
Tubenoses, include albatrosses and petrels

 They spend months and even years

on the open sea
 They have salt glands to get rid of
excess salts, empty into the nostrils
 Most catch fish at sea surface
 Male and female remain faithful to
each other and perform elaborate
courtship and greeting behavior
Tubenoses, include albatrosses and petrels

 They nest on remote islands on cliff

that are inaccessible to predators.
 Incubation and care of the single
chick takes 8 months
 Many breed on islands around
Antarctica, then migrate across the
open ocean to summer feeding
ground near Arctic
Pelicans and Related birds

 They have webbing between all four

toes
 The relatively large fish-eaters of wide
distribution
 Pelicans nest in large colonies along
the coast and build messy nest,
 Importance as produce guano
 Pelicans
-- have a unique pouch below large beaks
 Cormorants
-- are the black, long-necked seabird that dive and
pursue prey
 Frigate bird
-- have narrow wings and a long, forked tail
 Frigate bird
• They live along the coast; force other
seabirds to regurgitate fish in midair and
catch prey from the surface
• They seldom enter the water not even to
rest, because their feathers are not very
waterproof
Gulls and Related birds
 Gulls make up the largest variety of
seabirds, as predators and scavengers
Gulls and Related birds
 They congregate near piers, garbage
dumps, and steal fish from other birds

 Nest near the rookeries of penguin and

other seabirds and eat their eggs and
young
 Terns
-- have slender beaks specialized to catch small fish
and swallow
 Shorebirds
• Wadding bird

• Many live in inland waters, as well as the

sea. Some are common in estuaries and
coastal marshes
herons
egrets
 Marine mammals

• evolved about 200 million years ago

• Roughly 4600 species

 Characters
 endotherm and homotherm,
 skin has hair instead of feather to retain heat,
 viviparous, embryo receive nutrient from
placenta,
 newborn is fed by milk from mammary glands
 produce a few, but well-cared young,
 brain is large and more complex than other
vertebrates
Seals, Sea Lions and Walruses
-- Order Pinnipedia, 19 to 20 major groups
 Pinnipedia
 evolved from an early form of
terrestrial carnivore

 predators, feeding mostly on fish

and squids

 Most live in cold water

How to defend cold?
 have a layer of thick layer of fat
under the skin called blubber. It can
(i) acting as insulation, (ii) serve as a
food reserve, (iii) provide buoyancy,
 have bristly hair

 large body form

Seal
Seal
Elephant seal
 Seal
 have paddle-shaped flippers for swimming,
still need to rest and breed on land

 About 19 species; the largest group of

pinnipeds

 Morphology distinguished by having rear

flippers that cannot be moved forward
Sea lions or eared seal
 Morphological characters

 have external ears,

 can move their rear flippers forward; so they
can use all four limbs to walk or run on land,
 the front flippers can be rotated backward to
support body, permitting the animal to sit on
land with its neck and head raised
 Sea lions or eared seal
 Swim rely on broad front flippers

 Adult
male are much bigger than
female

5 species of sea lions and 9 for

fur seal
Sea lion
Fur seal
Walrus
 Walrus
• large pinnipeds with a pair of distinctive
tusks

• feed mostly on bottom invertebrates

particularly clam

• tusk used for defense and to hold or

anchor to ice
Sea otters and Polar bears
Sea otters and Polar bears
 Belong to order Carnivora
 Sea otter is the smallest marine mammal, average
male of 25 to 35 kg
 They lack a layer of blubber, insulation is provided
by air trapped in its dense fur
 They spend most or all their time in the water,
including breeding and giving birth
 Food include sea urchins, abalone, mussels, crabs,
other invertebrates and even fish; live in and around
kelp beds
 Polar bear
-- semiaquatic animals, spend a good part of
their lives on drifting ice in the Arctic
Manatees and Dugongs
Manatees and Dugongs
 Relatives of elephant at sea
 Order Sirenia or sea cow
 Have pair of front flippers have no rear limb, but a
well-developed paddle
 The winkled skin with a few scattered hairs
 Usually live in groups, strictly vegetarians; feed on
seagrass and other aquatic vegetations.
 All sirenians are large
 Dugong are strictly marine and survive from East
Africa to western Pacific islands
 Whale, Dolphin, and Porpoises
Order Cetacean; the largest group of marine
mammals; include whale, dolphin and porpoises
 convergent evolution
-- different species develop similar structure,
because they have similar lifestyle
Mammalian evolutionary characters

 breathe air

 warm-blooded

 have hair

 produce milk for their young

Morphological characters
 Morphological characters
• have pair of front flippers,
• rear limbs have disappeared, but present
in the embryo then fail to develop
• have a dorsal fin,
• tail end with a pair of fin-like horizontal
flukes,
• blubber provide insulation and buoyancy,
• body hair is absent,
• nostril are on top, forming a single or
double opening called the blowhole
About 90 species of cetaceans, all
marine except 5 freshwater dolphins

Whale, Dolphin, and

Porpoises
 Divided into two groups; the toothless,
filter feeding whale; the baleen whale, and
the toothed carnivorous whale
 Baleen whale
-- have rows of flexible, fibrous plates, named
baleen, hang from the upper jaws; made of keratin
 Baleen whale
• the inner edge of each plate consists of
hair-like bristles that overlap and form a
dense mat

• It not only the largest whales, but among

the largest animals on earth

• 13 species, average 80000 to 130000 kg.

Blue whale, fin whale, minke whale together
with two other related species is known as
rorquals
-- They feed on krill (the most important), herring and
mackerel
 Right whale
-- have the largest baleen plate but the finest bristles;
filter feeding on small plankton, like copepods and
krill
 Gray whale
-- primarily bottom feeder, feed on amphipods
Toothed whale
 Toothed whale
 about 80 species

 Teeth are adapted for diet of fish, squids,

and other prey

 Foods are swallow not chew, grouped into

one of three compartments of the stomach

 Blowhole has one opening

 Sperm whale
-- the largest toothed whale
-- sperm and baleen whales are often
called the great whales
-- sperm whale feed on squids,
fishes, lobsters etc .
 Killer whale or orca
-- feed on penguins, fishes, sea otters
and even other whales
-- Common in cold water, but can be found
around the world
 Dolphin posses a distinctive snout, or beak
-- They are often travel in large group called pods, herds, or school
 Whaling
 begin before historic time, not until 1600 start
exploits them in North Atlantics
-- They hunt for food, blubber used to make soap and
lamp oil, baleen used to make says for corset and
other goods
 Start 1800 the use of steamship and harpoon greatly
increase the efficiency of whale hunting
 The long-lived animal with low reproductive rate;
while the incubation take a year or two, and
interbreeding period last a year or more
 Whaling
 The first hunted whale is right whale, which
Antarctic fisheries reached it peak in 1930’s,
then blue whale, fin whale.
 After 19650 and early 1960, attention shifted
to sei whale
 In 1946, 20 whaling nation established IWC
Current status
 Protection of whales
 US passed Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972
 By 1974, IWC had protected blue, gray, humpback
and right whale around the world
 In 1994, IWC created a vast sanctuary for all
whales in the waters around Antarctica; the main
feeding ground for 80% of existing whales
 IWC moved from management to conservation in
2003 as the result of Berlin Initiative, including
both whale and dolphins
Current whale hunting
 Small-scale whaling remains part of the
remaining fisheries of the native inhabitants
of the Arctic region: Greenland to Siberia,
Antilles in Caribbean

 Small whales, e.g. killer whale, beluga,

narwhal are also hunted in the Arctic
 High-sea by-catchments

 Dolphins also at great risk, entangled in the

drift nets

 Special nets was enforced, and observers

were sent to the vessels
Biology of Marine Mammals

Swimming and Diving

Echolocation
Behavior
Migration
Reproduction
 Swimming and Diving
Marine mammals have a streamline body shape that
can have swim speed up to 30-40 mph
 Cetaceans breathe

 use the blowhole

 jump clear out of water

 How to keep warm
 have a thick layer of blubber

 when feeding, their mouth is expose to low

temperature, they solve by forming a
network of blood vessels in their tongues
actually reduces heat loss by transferring
heat from warm blood into vessels that
carry back to the body core
 Diving information
 sea otter can dive for 4-5 min., down to
55m.
 Pinnipeds dive up to 30 minutes and reach
150-250m; maximum to 1 hour 13
minutes, down to 575m,
 baleen whale; feed on plankton, barely
dive below 100m,
 tooth whales; dolphin can reach 300 m,
sperm whale can reach 2250m.
The problems of diving depth: oxygen
and nitrogen
 oxygen
pinnipeds and cetacean hold their
breath for 15 to 30 seconds, than
rapidly exhale and take a new breath,
exchange 90% of oxygen in the lung
They are better at absorbing the oxygen
from the air and storing in their blood

 have relatively more blood than non-diving mammal,

 contains a higher concentration of erythrocytes, or red
blood cells,
 cells carry more hemoglobin,
 muscles are extra rich in myoglobin
 oxygen
 reduce oxygen consumption in addition to
increasing supply. When they dive, the
heart rate slows dramatically

 blood flow to non-essential parts of the

body is reduced, but it maintain the vital
organs like brain and hear
 nitrogen
 presence of large amount of nitrogen in
the air, and is dissolved better at high
pressures.

 The question is when the pressure is

suddenly released; some of the nitrogen
will form the bubble in the bloodstream.
They solve by prevent nitrogen from
dissolving in the blood--bends
They solve the problem by collapse the lung

 having flexible rib cage that pushed in

and squeezes the air out of peripheral
areas of the lung, where blood locate.
 air is squeeze into the central space of
the lungs, where little nitrogen is
absorbed.
 some pinnipods exhale before dive.
 Deep-diving whales suffer some of the
effects of the bends
 Echolocation
 Marine mammals depend little on the smell,
because (i) their vision is excellent, (ii) use
echolocation, based on hearing—nature’s
version of sonar
 The sound waves travel about 5 times faster
in water than in air. Animals analyzing the
echo of sound waves they emit; which used
to find prey and orient to the surroundings
Sound consists of short bursts of sharp
clicks that repeated at different
frequency
low frequency have a high penetrating
power and can travel long distances to
obtain surrounding topography; also
used in some toothed whale to stun
prey.
high frequency is used to discriminate
more detail and locate nearby prey
Sound producing mechanism
Sound producing mechanism
 The clicks are produced as air is forced
through the air passages and several associated
air sacs while the blowhole is closed

 Thefrequency is changed or modified by

contracting and relaxing muscles along the air
passage and sacs.

 Themelon, of the toothed whale appears to

focus and direct the sound waves.
Sound producing mechanism
 The huge forehead of the sperm whale is filled
with massive melon called the spermaceti
organs, where a waxy oil, spermaceti, is filled
 In toothed whale, incoming sound waves are
received primarily by the lower jaw
 The ear canal that connects the outside with
the inner ear is reduced or blocked in most
cetaceans.
Sound producing mechanism
 Thejawbones, filled with oil or fat, transmit
sound to two very sensitive inner ears.

 The
ears are protected by a bony case and
embedded in an oily mixture.

 Soundinformation is then send to the brain to

make mental decision
The melon gives these whales their
characteristics rounded foreheads
Behavior
 mammals have the mental capacity of learning
 mammals rely mostly on past experience, stored
and processed by the brain, to respond to changes
in the environment
 Most are highly social animals that live in groups
at least part of their life; they even grouped by age
and sex
 Sound or vocalizations, play a prominent role in
communication
Behavior
 Vocalization of pinnipeds are especially important
in maintaining territories during reproduction
 Cetaceans produce vocalization that are different
from the sound used for echolocation
 Social vocalizations are low frequency that human
can hear, used in social and sexual signaling; are
characteristic of each species
Behavior
 Sound are also used to maintain the distance
between individuals, have an important role in the
structure of the pod during breeding, feeding,
alarm and birth
 Cetacean are note to have play behavior, seeming
pleasure activities with no serious goal.
 Use a rich variety of vocalization and tactile and
visual signal to communicate each other and have
a complex behavior
Great whale will breaching for warning signal,
getting rid of external parasites, ardent lover or
for fun
Mammals have social behavior, that when one
individual is in trouble, others may comes to
assist, and they work together during hunt
 Stranding
 Stranding or beaching result in death, because their
internal organ collapse without support of the water

-- They follow one or more members of their

group that have become disoriented by a storm,
illness or injury
Ship propellers, depth sounders, high-
frequency sonar that use bursts of
intense waves:
(i) hemorrhages in the brain and inner ears,
(ii) formation of nitrogen bubble, by rising too
fast; cause disorientation and death

Possible reasons for stranding

 Detrimental effects

• Dolphins spend more time on surface and rest

less

• Killer whale calls last longer.

 Migration
 Many pinnipeds and cetaceans make seasonal
migrations, while most toothed whales do not
migrate at all.
 Many baleen whales congregate to feed
during the summer in the productive waters of
the polar regions of both hemispheres; feed
on diatoms and krills. During the winter, they
migrate to warmer water to breed
 Reproduction
• male cetaceans and most other marine
mammals have an internal penis and tests.
-- The penis extruded just before copulation
through the genital slit, an opening anterior to
the anus
Pinnipeds breed on land or ice.

-- In most seals, each adult male

breed with only one female
In sea lions, fur seals, and elephant seals, a male
breed with many females, will establish breeding
territories and having harems up to 50 females.
The others gather into bachelor group
 Reproduction
 Female pinnipeds give birth to their pups on
shores and recognize their pups by sound and
smell.
 A female can become pregnant during a brief
period after ovulation, occurs just days or weeks
after the birth of their pup, and gestation period is
11 to 12 months in most cetaceans
 They will return to the breeding grounds only
once a year.
 The pups generally cannot swim at birth. They
are nursed for 4 days to two years, depending on
the species
 After as long as 4 month delay, the
embryo finally attaches to the inner
wall of uterus and continue its normal
development

-- This delayed implantation, allow the

timing of birth coincide with the
female’s arrival at the safety of shore
 Sex play is an important component of the
behavior of captive dolphins, which has a role in
the establishment and maintenance of bonds
among all individuals
 Reproduction
 Fights among rival males are common

 Development in most large baleen whales is

relatively fast, which synchronized with the
annual migration to warm waters
The calves of probably all cetaceans are born tail-first
-- This allows them to remain attached to the placenta which
provides oxygenated blood from the mother, for as long as
possible to prevent oxygen deprivation.
 Reproduction
After birth, the calf immediately swim
to the surface
The fat-rich milk is responsible for the
rapid growth of calves
Mother’s milk produced by two
mammary glands with nipples located
on both side of the genital slit
 Reproduction
 Females do not feed much while they are
nursing, and they continue to nurse for more
than a year after birth
 The bond between mother and calf last for
several years
 Great whales have been estimated to live at
least 30 to 40 years on average, humpback at
least 50 years, and bowhead 150 year