Handout for Laboratory 4, Vertebrate Zoology 03051
Class Chondrichthyes: shark, ratfish (chimera), ray
Lab manual (Hickman et al., 9th ed.), Exercise 19B, pp. 284-290
WORD BANK: terms/structures that you may be expected to find and know from this lab:
External: pp. 284-285
The shark external features are highlighted in the lab manual.
The ratfish differs from the shark with: flat crushing teeth, operculum over the gills, tapering tail, and both head and pelvic fin claspers in the male.
The ray differs from the shark with: dorsoventrally flattened body, enlarged pectoral fins, tapering tail, and ventral location of the gill slits.
Your instructor may assign and/or ask additional questions from the lab manual on quizzes.
Your notes and drawings:
Remember allometric (comparative) measurements from the first week? Let's make some measurements that we will use to contrast to the perch (bony fish) next lab. Make sure to note whether you're measuring a shark or a ratfish and label your units! Your instructor may want to graph class measurements.
Total length (tip of nose [rostrum] to tip of tail): __________
Tail length (length of longest caudal fin): __________
Pectoral fin length (point of attachment to tip): __________
Pelvic fin length (point of attachment to tip, not including claspers): __________
Point of attachment of pectoral fin to point of attachment of pelvic fin
(interfin length): __________
Ratios:
Tail length/total length: __________
Pectoral fin length/pelvic fin length: __________
Interfin length/total body length: __________
What is the sex of your shark/ratfish? __________
Internal: pp. 285-290
The shark internal features and approach to dissection are highlighted in the lab manual. Emphasis is on those structures listed in the word bank.
Ratfish internal features vary a bit, with the following major differences: a separate stomach and pyloric valve are not visible. There is little dorsal mesentery and no rectal gland. The spiral valve in the intestine is less prominent than that of the shark.
We will not do internal dissection of a ray.
Note: your instructor may assign and/or ask quiz questions taken from the lab manual.
Your notes and drawings:
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