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BIOL 181 University of Maryland Life in The Oceans Buoyancy Exercise

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Biology

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University of Maryland University College

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BIOL 181

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BIOLOGY 181 LIFE IN THE OCEANS

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

BUOYANCY EXERCISE

Any marine animal that is an active swimmer must find some way to maintain neutral

buoyancy; that is, it must have the same density as sea water. If it is more dense, it will sink

to the bottom; if it is less dense, it will come bobbing to the surface like a cork.

The density of living tissue is approximately 105% that of sea water. In order to achieve

neutral buoyancy, the animal needs to find some way to make itself less dense.

For each of the following groups of animals, use your knowledge you learned in the course

and/or the internet, write short paragraph explaining how they maintain neutral buoyancy.

For each group of animals, cite at least one webpage as a reference.

a) Bony fish – Bony fish maintain neutral buoyancy by using their swim bladder. The swim

bladder is an air-filled sac that controls the fish’s buoyancy by varying the gas pressure inside of

the fish’s body. This allows the fish to sink or rise in the water.

b) Sharks – Sharks don’t have bones but have a lighter cartiliguous skeleton that helps them

maintain buoyancy. They also have large livers full of low-density oils that assist with buoyancy.

Some species of shark can gulp air into their stomach, which provides additional buoyancy.

c) Squids – Squids can maintain neutral buoyancy if they have more-or-less the same density as

sea-water. Some species of squid, such as the giant squid, maintains buoyancy by having a high

ammonium ion content and low sodium ion content. Ammonium has a lower relative atomic

mass than sodium, therefore making tissues that contain a high ammonium to low sodium ratio

have low density. Squids also use the speed of movement to maintain buoyancy as well.

d) Nautilus - cephalopods have a large, coiled shell with multiple chambers filled with gas,

which can be used to regulate buoyancy. As nautiluses develop, each of the chamber in their

shell is filled with a saline liquid called cameral fluid that is lower in salinity than its blood.

Siphuncles are thin coiled tubes that connects the chambers in the shell and uses osmosis to

empty cameral fluid into the bloodstream that leaves a vacuum. The gases from the blood diffuse

into that space and neutral buoyancy is maintained by the ratio of liquid to gas ratio in each

chamber being modified.

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BIOLOGY 181 LIFE IN THE OCEANS UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BUOYANCY EXERCISE Any marine animal that is an active swimmer must find some way to maintain neutral buoyancy; that is, it must have the same density as sea water. If it is more dense, it will sink to the bottom; if it is less dense, it will come bobbing to the surface like a cork. The density of living tissue is approximately 105% that of sea water. In order to achieve neutral buoyancy, the animal needs to find some way to make itself less dense. For each of the following groups of animals, use your knowledge you learne ...
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Tags: marine animal neutra lbuoyancy density of living tissue Bony fish swim bladder