Dangerous Animals of the Great Barrier Reef :: Ecology Nature Zoology Essays

Dangerous Animals of the expectant Barrier lowerAccording to Dennis Fulkerson, one of the Australia Explorers (1996), the Great Barrier Reef is Gods underwater playground. Indeed, everyone in the group seemed to stir a fabulous clipping exploring the reef. However, many of the group expressed some amount of fear well-nigh snorkelling on the reef, far away from the mainland. I began to wonder if there was in truth that much to be afraid of. We were only told that it was not box jellyfish oceanson, and, more importantly, not to touch anything. According to Ryan (p 167), In general, animals of the reef ar benign only a hungry shark or a mentally defective barracuda is likely to attack unprovoked. Nevertheless, there are a few creatures of which to be aware. Sea snakes, jellyfish, and certain varieties of sea urchins, coral, worms, starfish, mollusks, and fish own defense and/or feeding mechanisms which can render them harmful if handled by humans. Bristle Worms Bristle worms poss ess numerous razor-sharp calcium carbonate bristles (setae) which the animal may raise if threatened. These bristles penetrate the skin easily and set out main(prenominal) itching and sometimes infections. Bristles should be removed with forceps and a topical anesthetic anesthetic and ointment may be applied. The worm may besides bite (Ryan, p 170).Sea Urchins Sea urchins, a tenacious with heart urchins and spinal column dollars, belong to the class Echinoidea, which is in the phylum Echinodermata. Echinoids possess numerous spines, which are utilise for locomotion and defense, and pedicellariae, tiny, pincer-like structures which are used in feeding. The spines, interestingly, consist of a exclusive crystal of calcium carbonate that would be as brittle as chalk if not for certain glycoproteins in it (Harris, p 718). Some urchins have venomous spines which can cause severe pain. For example, according to Lutz (p 679), Some sea urchins, especially those living on coral reefs, have hollow spines that assume a poison the pacific Asthenoma has needle-sharp spines that can easily penetrate the skin, modernise off, and release a poison that is extremely painful and dangerous to humans. The efflorescence urchin, Toxopneustes pileolus, (Figure 1) has poisonous pedicellariae which can potentially kill a human. Toxic material can also be contained in the layer of skin covert the spines, so injection of a spine itself is enough to cause intense pain (Endean, p256). As for treatment, Ryan (p170) recommends removing all spines from affected area with forceps, as long as this can be accomplished without breaking the spine and then releasing more of the poison.