Answer Key
9th -12th Grade South Carolina Aquarium Worksheet

For each phylum listed below, name two species that are exhibited in the Aquarium:

Chordata: Any fish, birds, mammals, reptiles or amphibians.
Arthropoda: Any crabs, lobsters or shrimp.
Mollusca: Any clams, oysters, snails or octopi.
Echinodermata: Any sea stars, sea urchins or sea cucumbers.
Cnidaria: Any jellyfish, corals or sea anemones.

In which phylum are most of the species in the Aquarium members?
Most of the species in the aquarium are in the phylum Chordata, which includes fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals.

Write the name of the correct phylum and the Aquarium gallery in which the organism can be found beside each animal pictured below:

	Phylum	Aquarium gallery
OYSTER	Mollusca	Salt Marsh Aviary
RATTLESNAKE	Chordata	Coastal Plain and Coast
ALLIGATOR	Chordata	Coastal Plain
SEA WHIP	Cnidaria	Coast

Sea stars and sea urchins are in the same phylum. Find them and

1. describe three characteristics that both species have in common.
   1. Each species has radial symmetry.
   2. Each species has tube feet.
   3. Each species has a mouth on the bottom of their body.
2. describe two characteristics unique to each one.
   Sea stars have five arms and eyespots and sea urchins do not. Sea urchins have spines and a hard, round exoskeleton called a test, and sea stars do not. Sea stars have tube feet on the bottom while sea urchins have tube feet all over.

Find the fossilized skull of an organism that is now extinct. Name this organism.
The fossilized skull is a saber-toothed tiger.

Using your answer to question above, name the adaptation the organism had that its nearest living relatives do not have.
Unlike modern cats, saber-toothed tigers had long saber-like canine teeth.

Name an organism found in the Aquarium that is both a producer and a carnivore.
Pitcher plants and Venus flytraps are both producers and carnivores.

Why would this organism be both a producer and a consumer?
Like all plants, pitcher plants and Venus flytraps make their food energy from sunlight through photosynthesis. Unlike other plants, they live in nutrient-poor soil, so to get the nutrients they need to survive, they must capture insects and take the nutrients they need from the decaying insects.

List an abiotic characteristic of the soil in the areas in which this particular type of organism is most often found.
Carnivorous plants live in soils with high peat content, where organic material collects faster than it can decompose. These soils tend to be acidic and low in usable nutrients.

Find and describe an example of a symbiotic relationship between two animals in the Aquarium.
Jellyfish and juvenile spider crabs have a symbiotic relationship. The young spider crabs attach themselves to jellyfish and remain there where they can be protected by the jellyfish's tentacles and can feed on the plankton caught by the jellyfish. Porkfish and other fish have a symbiotic relationship. Porkfish are cleaner fish that will eat parasites and dead scales off the sides of other fish. The other fish allow porkfish to do this to have these things removed from their bodies.

Name an animal in the Aquarium besides a bird that exhibits nesting behavior. Describe the behavior.
Sunfish exhibit nesting behavior. Male sunfish will make a shallow depression on the bottom of a river or pond or swamp with their tail fin. The female will lay her eggs here and the male will guard the nest, chasing away any fish that get to close. Turtles also exhibit nesting behavior. Loggerhead sea turtles will drag themselves up on the beach to dig a hole in the sand as a nest. She lays her eggs in here, covers it with sand and returns to the ocean. The eggs will hatch about two months later.

List three ways that human population growth may be affecting ocean ecosystems.

All of the living animals in the Great Ocean Exhibit are members of the Superclass Grathostomata (common name: fish). The sharks in this exhibit are classified in the Class Chondrichthyes while the rest of the fish are classified in the Class Osteichthyes (the bony fishes). Name five characteristics that are similar between the sharks and the other fish and that may be reasons why they are both classified in the same Superclass. Name three of the characteristics that are different between sharks and bony fish and that may be reasons they are separated into different classes.