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Marine Insects
Topic Started: Apr 4 2011, 03:26 PM (1,716 Views)
Scrublord
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Father Pellegrini
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Let's face it: insects are everywhere. In over 350 million years of evolution, they've conquered the land, the air, and have learned to breathe underwater. Yet very few insects have made it to the ocean. The only truly marine insects are a few beach-dwelling flies and beetles, and five species of water striders. Why is this, and could insect one day evolve marine forms?
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lamna
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Arthropods did once dominate the ocean, but since the evolution of the jaw (and thus giving vertebrae an advantage over the arthropod armour) most of those species have found themselves extinct due to outcompetition and predation


Nonsense, the oceans teem with arthropods, there are half a billion tonnes of Antarctic Krill alone, probably more than any other animal on earth.
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Ànraich
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Okay I think the idea that there are "virtually" no insects in the ocean is a bit ridiculous. Yes, there are relatively few oceanic arthropods, but 3% of all insects live in the ocean. And nearly 75% of all multicellular organisms are insects, which means there's actually quite a few arthropods living in the ocean. Now, compared to the number of them living outside the ocean this is small, but I think you see my point.

I think that, as has been stated, the development of jaws finished off the dominance of oceanic arthropods. They went from "nigh-impenetrable armored animal" to "crunchy food" rather quickly after that.

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Scrublord
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I disagree with you on both points, Parasky. One, the only truly marine insects are the five species of water strider in the genus Halobates, although there are others that live on shorelines and in mangrove forests. Still, they certainly do not add up to five percent and I am not sure where you got that figure. Also, arthropods in general are still a significant part of marine ecosystems--they grow larger in the sea than they do on land, and they form the bases of most marine food chains. They were NOT "replaced" by animals with jaws.
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TheBioBassist
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It would be most interesting to see insects move into a marine pollinator role. We know the angiosperms experienced an extremely rapid expansion and diversification due to their co-evolution with insects. Marine algae and coral still rely on water currents for fertilization (although I guess some have mobile gametes but they are limited), some would certainly benefit from producing a nectar or fruit like substance to entice insects to feed on them and spread their gametes in the process.
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Spugpow
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I can see it happening...suppose a terrestrial flower becomes aquatic in the future, like seagrass. It's pollinators could conceivably follow it into the water.
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Even
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Parasky's post
 
the development of jaws finished off the dominance of oceanic arthropods. They went from "nigh-impenetrable armored animal" to "crunchy food" rather quickly after that.

I'd like to copy that and paste that to my tumblr, it's an epic (and true) quote IMO
As for marine insects, I think that there are no niche available for them at the high seas, with all the fish and crustaceans (their cousins!) have took, but arthropods was a major force in the sea in the past *coughtrilobitecough*
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Scrublord
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And crustaceans ARE arthropods, so arthropods have hardly lost their hold on the sea at all.
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Carlos
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In benthic niches anyway. Swimming niches are another matter entirely.
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Spugpow
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There are lots and lots of tiny swimming crustaceans, and not so tiny ones as well:

http://youtu.be/OPMQaP-Yj1Y
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