what is it?

Identification aids.

Keys are developed by workers for groups of organisms to assist in the identification of organisms, using characters that are distinct.

These keys can be either natural, utilizing characters that are phylogenetically accurate (portraying the true evolutionary linkages) or artificial (use of any character, as long as they don’t overlap between the groups being separated).

Most keys are dichotomous, meaning that at every step along the way, there is a choice to be made between 2 alternatives. In my work, I have had occasion to use trichotomous keys, which are infinitely more difficult.

Thus, most keys are natural dichotomous keys. Two such keys are the ones that you have in this booklet that identifies some of the more common green algae and brown algae in San Diego. The key to some Pacific Coast Subtidal Marine Invertebrates is an artificial, dichotomous/trichotomous one that is fairly easy to use.

Summary of systematics/classification of organisms:

Important discipline to all phases of biology. The naming of a species follows precise procedures and all disputes are mediated by International Commissions on Zoological and Botanical Nomenclatures.

The fully ascribed name of a species consists of the genus and species names, given in that order, with the generic name capitalized and the species name not capitalized and the entire two-part name italicized or underlined.

Often, the author of an article will also be cited (who first legitimately described the species) by citing the last name (not italicized) of that person after the species name, followed by the year of the description. Thus, Ophioderma panamense Lutken, 1872, becomes the full citation for this ophiuroid/brittle star which was described initially by Lutken in 1872.

If the initial describer of the species had made a mistake in the phylogenetic relationships or the groups have been altered since the describer since the description (with the effect that the initial describer placed the species in the wrong genus), then the describer’s name is placed in parentheses. Patiria miniata (Brandt, 1835) is a bat star that was initially described by Brandt in 1835 under the genus Asterina.

The ecologist must know what organisms exist in a community before judging the effects of pollution.

The biochemist must know specifically from what organism a new compound is being isolated.

The fishery biologist cannot manage wild stocks unless it is known which species have been taken.

Thus, this is not just a procedure of name giving but is part of a study of the tremendous diversity of all organisms and an attempt to categorize and bring order to this diversity by looking at the interrelationships between different groups of organisms.

Just what is a California spiny lobster? Technically, it is a decapodan arthropod, or, as the names signify, an animal with 10 jointed legs. All of the 8500 species of decapods are similar in design, being generally called shrimps, crabs, or lobsters. The more than 20 species of spiny lobsters belong to the family Palinuridae.

In North America, there are at least 3 species: our California species, Panulirus interruptus, ranging from Point Conception (about the San Luis Obispo area) southward to Magdalena Bay (almost to the tip of Baja California on the Pacific Coast); the Mexican langousta, Panulirus inflatus, ranging as far north as San Diego and southward throughout the Gulf of California, with its attractive blue-green coloration and whit spots, longer appendages, many more spines (don't try to catch one without gloves!), and smaller tail than the California species; and the Florida spiny lobster, Panulirus argus, which ranges throughout the Caribbean and up the eastern coast of North America beyond northern Florida. This species is similar in appearance to the Mexican species.

The newcomer to bug hunting will rapidly find out that certain areas are better than others for finding lobsters. Certainly, the sandy bottom is not really a "hot" area; the rocky bottom needs holes of sufficient size and configuration to contain lobsters measuring more than 11 inches long. A rocky area with lots of urchins is not conducive to lobster abundance, although prime abalone areas are often good bug sites as well. Lobsters may be found in all diveable depths, including shallow tidepools. There are areas where lobsters are more easily caught during the day--these are spots where the ledges or dens are not interwoven and only extend back a foot or so.

The legal size of a lobster in California waters is a minimum of 3 1/4 inches, measured in a straight line from the rear edge of the eye socket to the rear edge of the carapace. This represents a lobster of about 10 1/2 inches long, or slightly less than a pound in weight. This size determination of 3 1/4 inches is one that cannot be fudged; you must carry some measuring instrument that will allow you to accurately gauge the size of the lobster to determine legality. The daily take and/or possession limit of seven lobsters is liberal; most divers find it impossible to "limit out" and a catch of three to four bugs is considered terrific.

During the day, lobsters are found in holes, with only their antennae projecting beyond the margin of the hole. As the diver approaches, especially in an area that has experienced other divers traversing it, the lobster backs into the hole immediately. If not, you have a much better chance to capture it.

How to describe a new species.

1. Make certain that it is really new.
a. Examine all published work on related organisms. Determine the genus of the new species. If it is different enough, may even erect a new genus.

b. Check with other scientists working on this group; one of the taxonomists may already have a manuscript pending

2. Write a careful description that includes illustrations and/or photographs, collection data, locality information, and ascribe a new name that is not occupied already by any other species.

3. Choose the name carefully so that there is no violation of the codes--check published lists of names.

4. The name chosen should:
a. Ideally, describe a characteristic feature and point out the origin and significance of the name.
1). Roncador, a genus of croaker fish--erected by David Starr Jordan on the basis of this fish emitting low, sustained grunts that sound similar to a snoring person. Name derived from the Latin word meaning snorer.
2). Xanthichthys lineopunctatus, a red-tailed triggerfish--xanth meaning "yellow": icthys meaning "fish"; lineo meaning "line" or "row"; and punctatus meaning "spots" or "dots".
3). Sometimes, old common names were used, as in Mytilus edulis, the bay mussel, from the Greek mytilos, meaning "sea mussel" and edulis, meaning "edible."
4). Glaucus, a genus of pelagic nudibranchs (snails without shells), spends its life in the upper layers of the open ocean whereas most of the other genera of nudibranchs live in fairly shallow waters, crawling or creeping alng the bottom. Glaucus was a mythical Greek sponge diver who was doomed by the gods to live beneath the sea after eating a magic seaweed that a sea nymph had offered to him (thus, he was exiled away and set apart from his fellow divers, just as this pelagic nudibranch is set apart from the other nudibranchs).

b. Sometimes named for behavior--Naucrates ductor, a pilot fish, from naukratas meaning "master of a ship," and ductor, meaning "a leader".

c. Oftentimes commemorative.
1). Sio, a genus of deep-sea fishes, was named in honor of Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
2). Scopelenges whoi was named in honor of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
3). Honoree should be someone who has contributed to the study of the group, such as Tarletonbeania, a genus of lantern fishes, was named by David Starr Jordan in honor of his colleague, Tarleton H. Bean.

5. Native locality, usually by adding -ensis (meaning belonging to) to the geographical name of the site of the original collection.
a). Apogon guadalupensis, a cardinal fish, was first collected at Guadalupe Island but has since been collected at San Clemente Island and in the Gulf of California (where it is the most common).

b). Canthigaster amboinensis, a puffer fish, was first collected at Amboina, Indonesia, and has since been collected all over the Indo-Pacific area.

6. Pure devilment--a taxonomist working with the mollusk Abra (meaning soft, delicate), succumbed to temptation and named a new species cadabra.

Phylogenetic classification groups, called taxa (plural) or taxon:

Phylum/phyla (called division/divisions in botany)

Class/classes

Order/orders

Family/families

Genus/genera

Species/species

Each group or division or taxon is made up of a set of organisms having a certain set of fundamental morphological similarities not possessed by other organisms. This grouping of organisms should represent a natural classification system as opposed to an artificial one set up using superficial characteristics.

This phylogenetic sequence indicates the age of the characteristic structures with the species grouping being of the most recent origin and the phylum being the most recent. In other words, the characteristics that differentiate species came into being fairly recently, whereas those that differentiate phyla came into being a long, long time ago.

The genus is a group of closely related species (and is thus comparable more or less to a surname or family name) and is given first and capitalized whereas the species is a group of actually or potentially interbreeding individuals or populations in which no breeding occurs with other groups. The species name is given second, not capitalized. the scientific name is considered special and is thus italicized in print or underlined when typed or handwritten:

Canis familaris, or the domesticated dog; Canis aureus, or the jackal; Canis lupus, or, the wolf.

Panulirus interruptus, or the California spiny lobster; Panulirus inflatus, or the Mexican langosta; Panulirus argus, or the Caribbean or Florida spiny lobster. The Maine lobster is not a spiny lobster; thus. it is not in the same genus, and, in fact, is not even in the same family as the spiny lobsters. its scientific name is Homarus americanus.

What is this?

The marine environment led to the development and maintenance of a wide diversity of lower forms, whereas the terrestrial environment (with its influence of the more rigorous habitats) has produced less diversity (with the exception of the rooted, flowering plants and the insects) of form but a higher type of complexity.

Systematics.

A. Definitions:

1. Systematics is the science which establishes the phylogenetic (evolutionary) relationships of different and similar groups of organisms.

2. Taxonomy is the naming and classification of organisms; as such, it is only a part of the general science of systematics.

History of modern taxonomy.

1. A primitive urge to name everything, whether or not the organism has any value or if it is rare or abundant or common.
2. Many problems associated with the use of common names--regionality, duplication, imprecision.

3. Carolus Linnaeus, a Swedish naturalist, published the Species Plantarum in 1753, in which he listed all the known plants, and the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, a catalog of all species then known, both plants and animals, in 1758.

4. He set up a system of naming species by using the genus name (considered a proper noun and therefore capitalized) and the species name (considered an adjective and thus not capitalized) in combination to make up the one name for each species of plant or animal.

5. The official language adopted for the conformity of names was Latin or classical Greek, both of which are languages that have not been used for a long time so that word definitions are not in a dynamic state. Thus, the meaning of words will remain constant over time.

6. The published International Codes of Zoological Nomenclature and Botanical Nomenclature firmly
affixed acceptance and permanence in permanence in science to Linnaeus’ system of binomial nomenclature.

a. All will adhere to the codes and any name in variance to the codes will not be recognized.

b. No two kinds of animals or plants can have the same name, and no one kind of animal or plant can have more than one name. in either event, the:
1). animal or plant species having had the name the longest (starting with
Linnaeus) keeps the name and others having the same name receive new names.

2). older name has priority if the animal or plant has more than one name.

Therefore, the full citation of a scientific name is made up of 2 parts, the generic name (capitalized) followed by the species name (not capitalized). Both parts are either italicized (in print) or underlined (when italics are not available. The names are then followed by the name of the person who discovered/named this species, the year of publication of the original description. The following is an example of this:

Millepora alcicornis Linnaeus, 1758. A species of fire coral that is very common in the Bahamas.

If the discoverer initially described the species under one genus, and the species subsequently placed under some other genus, the author citation plus the year are parenthesized.

Herpetoglossa simplex (Gardiner, 1905). A species of coral that prefers soft substrates or semi-protected sites in the Indo-Pacific realm.

Change of pace: the spiny lobster

Although the lobsters pictured above are not the spiny lobster variety, they represent this delicious crustacean that we call a lobster, and just as a changeup from the heavy scientific approach on this blog site to date, here are some facts/information, part 1, about these "bugs." Most of the information is specific to the spiny lobsters, especially the California Spiny Lobster; there are more than 25 different kinds/species of spiny lobsters in the world oceans, primarily in the tropical waters. This is the type of lobster without a large claw, which is only representative of the one species of the Maine Lobster.

How old is a lobster? Although estimates of age vary widely, it is generally believed that a just-legal lobster (a lobster about 10 1/2-11 inches long, slightly less than one pound in weight) is about 7-8 years old. Once hatched from the egg, the lobster goes through at least 11 different larval stages while swimming around in the water column. They are small and transparent during the 6-9 months spent in these stages. The last 1-2 larval stages are spent on the bottom, among the surf grass (most of us divers call this eel grass) in very shallow waters. The lobsters are greenish in color then, and they rapidly transform into sub-adult forms. Within the first year, these sub-adults molt (or cast off their external shells) up to 20 times, adding on a little size with each molt. During the second year of life, the molting frequency decreases to 10 or so, 3-4 times during the 3rd year, and 1-2 times per year by the 5th year of life. Thus, a legal-sized lobster only molts once each year; the larger ones probably only molt once every other year or even less frequently. A 10-pound lobster has been estimated to be anywhere from 20-50 years old.

What happens to a lobster when a diver breaks off a leg or antenna and fails to capture it? Given that the lobster is not fatally incapacitated by the loss of such a structure, it can re-grow the lost leg or antenna. However, it takes a minimum of 3-4 molts to fully replace a leg or an antenna.

How does a lobster reproduce? We will discuss the external anatomical differences between males and females in the next posting. Mating between fully-mature males and females (probably 4-5 year-old lobsters) occurs during the winter and early spring months (January-March); during this process, the male deposits a sperm-containing packet to the underside of the female, in the area between the bases of her last 3 walking legs. This packet contains countless numbers of sperm and has the consistency of soft putty when first deposited. It is creamy colored at that time. Within a short period of time, this sperm packet hardens and blackens. The female containing this packet is referred to as "plastered." The spawning, or laying of eggs, by the female actually takes place in the spring and summer months (April through August). The bright orange/reddish eggs are laid through the opening at the base of the 3rd pair of walking legs, picked up and transferred to the fan-shaped swimmerets on the bottom side of the tail by the 5th pair of walking legs, until up to 500,000 eggs are laid by a single large female. She then faces upcurrent, rubs the bottom side against a rock until the sperm packet breaks open, releasing the sperm, which then drift back to fertilize the eggs. The female lobster, called a "berried" female now, seeks shelter in isolation (usually in fairly shallow water) and remains relatively quiescent until the eggs hatch in a few weeks.

What does a lobster eat? A lobster is a nocturnal forager, meaning that it feeds actively at night or in periods of reduced illumination. It is known to be an omnivore, in that it eats virtually anything. Its diet has been found to consist of such diverse organisms as worms, other crustaceans or shrimp-like animals, snails and other soft-bodied animals, sea urchins, virtually any species of fish, kelp, coralline red algae, and surf grass.

Looking at things from a slightly different perspective, there are several predators that feed actively on lobsters. The chief ones are the octopus and several species of fish (moray eels, sheephead,black sea bass).

Do lobsters stay in one home (homing) or do they migrate? All evidence indicates that the California Spiny Lobster engages in both types of behavior. A single lobster has been tagged and reobserved in exactly the same den for more than 2 years in the San Diego-La Jolla Marine Ecological Reserve; this same study noted that males exhibit a stronger tendency to home, or stay in one hole or in adjacent dens, than females. Many veteran divers will reveal the knowledge of the existence of a large "bull" lobster in their "secret spot" over long periods of time, but they will not tell you where that "secret spot" is located. Whether this "bull" is the same one or not over the entire period is of little consequence to you; what you want to do is to follow this mossback diver to the secret spot so that you can see for yourself and make appropriate observations.

Although the evidence does not indicate the presence of mass migrations of the California Spiny Lobster in the manner of Panulirus argus, the Florida lobster, there is nevertheless a general movement of the population offshore during the winter months and inshore during the summer months. One of the curious observations noted in the survey study in the SD-LJ Marine Ecological Reserve was the increase in the total population numbers in a given area from 1976 to 1977. Closer examination of the data revealed that this increase was due primarily to an influx of the younger, smaller lobsters. Presumably, one possible explanation for this movement is the increased rainfall and associated bad weather/water conditions that would serve to "drive" the smaller lobsters out of the shallow waters into the slightly deeper waters of the study area.

How does a lobster see? The lobster's eyes, at the end of stalks protected by the large head spines, are made up of many facets and are thus similar to the insect's compound eye. Therefore, it is doubtful that the lobster enjoys clear, sharp binocular vision; rather, it sees a mosaic pattern (which is much like what you see when you take a color-vision test). The lobster, then, is able to perceive quick movements which breaks up the mosaic and is relatively insensitive to slow movements. This can be turned to your advantage in catching these elusive animals. Make your movements deliberate and slow, rather than jerky and rapid, until you are close enough that you know your speed is greater than the lobster's getaway velocity.

What is the status of the lobster fishing industry? From a high take of nearly a million (933,449 pounds) pounds in 1946, the lobster annual catch has declined to a mere 200,000 pounds in recent years. As is true in any activity, a disproportionately small part of the fishermen take a major share of the lobsters, indicating that experience and know-how are valuable assets in this business. Although the statistics for 1979 are not complete yet, casual conversations with lobster fishermen inform us that this year's take will not differ significantly from the previous few years; in other words, fishing still is not great. It appears that overfishing is the guilty culprit in this decline, although it is not clear what the influence of the increased number of sport divers has been to the lobster population. Recent cases of the illegal traffic in "short" lobsters bodes ill for the future of the lobster population's recovery. Respecting the minimum size limit for any commercial/sport fishery is of utmost importance in the management of that species. Although it is just as greedy to take too many lobsters as too small ones, the damage to the population base on a long term aspect is much more severe with the incursion into smaller sizes. Any fishery is set up so that the species enjoys at least 2 years of breeding before becoming susceptible to take in the legal fishery; thus, the taking of smaller specimens may lead to the danger of total elimination of the breeding population, which, of course, is disastrous to that population's sustenance.

Now that you have caught a lobster, how do you fix it for dinner? There are many excellent cookbooks on the preparation and cuisine of lobsters. One excellent reference, not just for lobsters but for all sorts of seafood, is Bottoms Up Cookery. This fascinating book is available in most dive stores, as well as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Aquarium book store. It details the cleaning of the lobster, or of eel, or squid, or octopus, and also offers several enticing and delectable recipes.

Seas where animals and plants began!

The seas are the original environment of animal life, as well as the original environment for plants.

1. There are 4 lines of evidence that point to the greater age of the marine fauna over the terrestrial or freshwater faunas.

a. General composition of present-day fauna (animal life of a given area or time).

1). every single phylum contains representatives in the oceans, and most, if not all, are believed to have originated there. 5 of them, the Ctenophora/comb jellies, Echinodermata/spiny skinned animals, Phoronida/tube worms, Brachiopoda, and Chaetognatha/arrow worms are exclusively marine.

2). 45% of the classes are exclusively marine whereas only 3 classes (less than 5%) are exclusively non-marine.

3). vertebrates--fish are predominantly marine; amphibians are non-marine; reptiles, birds, and mammals are almost wholly terrestrial.

b. Similarity of body fluids of marine invertebrates to the composition of sea water, already discussed previously.

c. Life histories of invertebrates:

1). The early stages are markedly different from the mature stages in some animals.

2). Larval stages, which sometimes resemble the mature stages of other groups, or only the larvae of still other groups, are thought to reflect the structural similarities to the ancestral stock.

3). Tendency for some animal groups to leave the sea for the freshwater or terrestrial habitats, especially in crustaceans. Eriocheir, a crab, enters fresh water at a young stage, but when mature, returns to the sea to spawn. Cardisoma and Gecarcinus, both land crabs, go through a free-swimming larval stage in sea water. In these migratory species, the site of origin is the site of breeding, and there are many more examples of animal species returning to the sea to breed than vice versa.

a. Animal fossils that occur in the oldest known fossiliferous rocks of the earth’s crust are chiefly marine forms. Marine animals were already abundant and became fossilized in the Cambrian period (500 million years ago) when certain portions of the land now above sea level formed a part of the sea bottom along the coastlines of ancient seas.