What seems like billions of years ago there used to be tons of millions of types of jawless fish. Well, now there are only two types of jawless fish, hagfish and lampreys.
LAMPREY :)
Let's talk about the lamprey first.The lamprey is black, grey and a little bit of blue. There is a shiny white color underneath the lamprey. They had to touch the lamprey and turn it over to find that out. I would never do that. The lamprey is 2 to 20 inches long.
The lampreys can suck body fluids out of its prey's bodies, which I never want to see. They eat large fish like trout. The lamprey puts its big teeth into its prey's mouth and rips out a hole with its rough tounge. Then the lamprey will suck the body fluids out. A special chemical in the lamprey's saliva will hurt the fish. The saliva keeps it from getting hurt for a long time.
HAGFISH :D
Now let's talk about the hagfish. The name might sound scary but trust me the lamprey is scarier. There are 30 different types of hagfish, which is too many for me to remember. They are 16 to 32 inches long. That is pretty long. Their eyes are under their skin so they use their gross tentacles to sense things. As a matter of fact they have 8 tentacles. Did you know that they have 5 to 15 pairs of gills? Hagfish have NO scales. Do you know where hagfish live? If you did not know they live ay the bottom of a saltwater ocean. Hagfish don't eat algae, they survive on dead or dying fish. I wonder how you can live off of that. They eat inside out. They don't have bones like us, they have cartilage.
Similarities :P
There are many similarities between the hagfish and lamprey. Both hagfish and lamprey lack scales and plates and have slimy skin. They are cold blooded, and do not have to warm themselves through eating. They have a slow metabolism, and have to eat relatively small quantities of food.
Differences ;)
There are a lot of differences between a lamprey and hagfish also. When I mean a lot I mean a lot. The lamprey lives in fresh water more than as well as the ocean. It acts both as a parasite and non parasite. You might be asking what is a parasite. Well a parasite is an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it gets food. It may grow up to 1 meter. The hagfish live in the ocean. It acts as a parasite. Its size is up to 1meter. The lamprey has a big body and less slimy skin. It has a front mouth and working pairs of eyes. The hagfish has a fragile body and a more slimy skin. It has a concluding mouth and the balance pair of eyes. The lamprey tongue is not well made up. It has larger teeth. The tongue of hagfish is well made up. It has smaller teeth. The development of lamprey is indirect with the formation of larva. They have 20 skull nerves and 14 gill slits. The hagfish shows the direct development without the formation of larva. They have 16 cranial nerves and 2 gill slits. The salivary glands secrete an anticoagulant in lamprey and they remove the flesh and suck the blood of fishes. The hag fish has no salivary glands and mainly acts as a scavenger on dead fishes.
Well, before I leave, see you later on my next blog.
good blog you really put yourself into it
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