The Evolution of Armored Fish

 Water as you can see, has been around for thousands and thousands of years. Not only do living organisms need water for their survival, but also for their transformation to adapt to their environment. For example the Armored fishes.

Armored fishes has been around for many centuries and goes way back to the Paleozoic Period. Throughout centuries, armored fishes had evolutionary transform to adapt to their environment for their need of survival due to movements and placement of the continents and changes in sea temperature. According to Freddie (2005), Most of the world was covered in water during the Paleozoic Period, and much of the shallow seas left preserved fossils for us to study the evolution of armored fishes. With the fossils left for us to observe and analyze, we can tell how armored fishes had evolved and changed throughout centuries. The first of the armored fish appeared during the Ordovician 150 million years ago states Freddie (2005). They are actually specifically named ostracoderms due to the time period in which they existed and from their physical features.

Ostracoderms as Freddie describes, has a bony plate on the outside of their cartilaginous body, and their mouth is located either on the bottom or the front of their head (2005). Some ostracoderms such as the sacabambpis does not have front fins, and like an eel, they have a rear fin in which they move in a "S" motion rather that using their fins to move (Freddie 2005). But during the Silurian period, a bony vertebrate started to appear in fishes. Fishes also started to have complicated structures such as more fins and spikes on them. They were now able to swim and have more control of their motion than swimming in a "S" motion. This evolution was due to the movements and placements of the continents in which cause them to adapt to their surroundings and environment.

During the Silurian period, a bony vertebral colum began to appear in fishes states Fredding (2005). This was when fishes started to have bones, structures, and spikes on their body. The cause of the evolution was due to the shifts of continents and salty water. Placoderms (armored fishes) which appeared during the Silurian replaced the armored fishes in the Devonian period. The  fishes had jaws which derived from gills that took on a function like a jaw (Freddie 2005). Unlike the previous armored fishes the Placoderm fishes were able to control and swim in the directions they want to.

Now compare these fishes to the fishes that the world has today. Fishes had evolved dramatically from when they existed to the year 2011. Fishes now has the ability to adapt in certain areas to survive and have better physical traits that can help them. Now the only thing that can stop these fishes from evolving to their best self, is to have their environment (sea) kill or change their genetic form.

Freddie, Arreola. "The Evolution of Armored Fish." skywalker. N.p., 01/26/2010. Web. 5 May 2011. <http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr/students/armored-fish/armored-fish.htm>.

The Circle Of Life

Everything relies on each other for most to survive whether its a living or non-living organism. Whether it's the sun, plants, animals, water, or human beings, we all depend on each other for our existence and life here on Earth. Like the circle of life, to balance things out, we must need food and water for survival, whereas our food, such as cows and pigs needs plants and water for their survival. This creates what we call a food chain.The food chain consist of producers, herbivores, carnivores, decomposers, then back to producers.

According to Cunningham (2010), producers are organisms that photosynthesize, mainly green plants and algae. Producers such as green plants are very important and are highly needed by the herbivores for survival. Some of the Herbivores who depends on producers are animals such as horses, cows, and pandas. Herbivores are plant eaters (Cunningham 2010). With herbivores depending on plants and algae, carnivores depends on herbivores for their survival.

Carnivores are predators which eat and hunt other animals (NatureWorks 2010). A short list of carnivores are tigers, lions, and sharks.While many would think a human being is a carnivore they are consider as an omnivore along with many other creatures and animals like bats, bears, and cougars. Omnivores eat both plant and animal matter (Cunningham 2010). Where there is a beginning and life, there comes an ending and death. So with herbivores and carnivores, when they no longer live, they will decompose on the Earth's ground and enrich the soil in which becomes producers. 

In conclusion, producers, herbivores, carnivores, and decomposers all depend and revolve around each other for survival. When one dies, the other lives, and therefore creates the circle of life.

Cunningham, William P., and Mary Ann Cunningham. Environmental Science. 11. New York: The McGraw-Hill, 2010. 62-63. Print.

"NatureWorks." Carnivores. New Hampshire Public Television, 2010. Web. 7 Feb 2011. <http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep10a.htm>.