Tag ectotherm

RESEARCH: Hammerhead Sharks conserve body heat during deep dives 

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Tropical Hammerhead Sharks can dive into frigid depths to find food, say scientists in a recent study of shark behaviour documented in The New York Times on 11 May 2023.

The Scalloped Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna lewini) is an elasmobranch ectotherm fish in the Sphyrnidae family with a cartilaginous skeleton. It is also known as the Bronze Hammerhead, the Kidney-Headed Hammerhead, or the Southern Hammerhead. It likes warm ocean water, such as the tropical waters of Hawaii. 

Research scientists have found that the tropical Hammerhead Shark can dive more than 790 metres (2,600 feet) from the warm ocean surface to frigid depths multiple times a night to hunt for fish and squid.

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RESEARCH: Fish are getting smaller as sea temperatures rise

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Scientists think that adult fish are getting smaller as sea temperatures rise. 

Research scientists have been studying the size of fish in the ocean over the past 50 years, since 1970, and they think that they are shrinking in size due to warmer oceans.

At the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom, Idongesit Ikpewe and his colleagues have found that warmer seas are linked to changes in fish size. They looked at trends in four commercially fished species: cod, haddock, whiting, and saithe. They researched these fish in two locations: (1) the North Sea and (2) in the waters of Scotland. 

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Sleeping animals: what’s the difference between hibernate, aestivate, dormant, lethargic, diurnal, nocturnal, and crepuscular?

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Animals sleep. Some animals sleep at night, some animals sleep during the day, and some animals sleep in cold climates.

Animals that are diurnal are active mainly during the day and sleep at night.

Animals that are nocturnal are active mainly at night and sleep during the day.

Animals that are active mainly at dawn and dusk are crepuscular. They sleep during the day and during the night.

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