Term | Definition |
Swim Bladder | An internal gas-filled organ that helps a boney fish stabilize its body at different water depths. |
Buoyant Forces | The force that water exerts upward on any underwater object. |
Fish | An ectothermic vertebrate that lives in the water and has fins. |
Chordate | The phylum whose members have notochords, a nerve chord, and slits in their throat area at some point in their lives. |
Notochord | A flexible rod that supports a chordate's back. |
Endotherm | An animal whose body controls and regulates its temperature by controlling the internal heat it produces. |
Cartilage | A flexible, strong tissue that is softer than bone. |
Vertebra(e) | The bones that make up the back bone of an animal. |
Ectotherm | An animal whose body does not produce much internal heat. |
Amphibian | An ectothermic vertebrate that spends its early life in water and its adulthood on land, returning to water to reproduce. |
Urine | The watery fluid in which the waste produced by an animal's cells are excreted. |
Ventricle | The lower chamber of the heart, which pumps blood out to the lungs and body. |
Sedimentary Rock | rocks formed from hardened layers of sediments-particlesof clay, sand, mud, or silt. |
Reptile | An exothermic vertebarte that has lungs and scaly skin. |
Paleotologist | A scientist who studies extinct organisms, examines fossil structures, and makes comparisons to present-day organisms |
Habitat | the specific environment in which an animal lives. |
Fossil | The hardened remains or ather evidence of a living thing that existed a long time in the past. |
Atrium | an upper chamber of the heart. |