The dissection lab
In this lab, we dissected a lot of things. We dissected a sea sponge first it looked just like a bath sponge on the inside, it was really cool. Next we dissected a jelly fish. It's 90% water and that's pretty cool. We also dissected a squid me and my partner cut open the egg sack by accident and the eggs looked like rice pudding. Then we dissected a earthworm, it smelled like fish, and it was cool to learn about how it got nutrients from the soil by absorbing it. We also dissected a grasshopper, it was black and smelled like the earthworm I thought that all grasshoppers were green, apparently not. Finally we dissected a fish and a frog, the fish was called a perch and it had spiny fins the frog looked like a bullfrog and I found out if you put salt on the muscles they move!
the sponge dissection
In the first lab we dissected and observed the anatomy of a sponge, I thought it looked like a big worm at first but when we dissected it, I knew we were dissecting a sponge once we cut it open because there was little holes on it like a bath sponge has. it didn't have a brain mouth or heart so it absorbed nutrients from the skin from the pores inside his body. That was pretty cool. Sponges are animals of the phylum Porifera. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through them.
The worm dissection
The worm dissection was the simplest because we only had to cut the worm down the middle and all we saw was its large intestine and the digestive tract. That dissection was also pretty cool I think I can do that one again. We took a look in its intestine and saw that it ate dirt. I learned the worm eats the dirt to get the nutrients from it. The phylum that the worm is in is called Annelida are a large phylum, with over 17,000 extant species including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches.
The gRasshopper dissection
I kind of did not like the smell of the grasshopper. It was in this preserver that smelled like rotten fish. Besides the smell, it was pretty cool seeing the grasshoppers anatomy. My group worked really well together. I didn't know that grasshoppers had two sets of wings. That pretty cool. The grasshopper was also very big. I haven't seen any grasshoppers that size before.
The perch disseCtion
The perch is in the phylum chordates and the subphylum percodae. The perch dissection was the hardest one to do because I messed up with cutting it open. I just cut a square in the middle of the perch and it was not a very big hole with was problem because my partner and I could not see all the organs in the fish. What we did see was the swim bladder and the digestive tract
The jelly fiSh dissection
The moon jellyfish is in the phylum Cnidaria. We did not really dissect the jelly because we could already see every thing because it's transparent , so we looked at it under a microscope. We saw the mouth and the four gastric pouches and the arms. This dissection was the least messy which I liked, I never got to see a jelly fish without sand on it before so it was cool to see it all bare.
The frog dissiection
Just like the perch, the frog is in the Phylum Chordate. The dissection went well. I didn't know that the frogs muscles on the back legs move if you put salt on them. me and my group tried it but the muscles did not move that much, but it was still cool to see it. The frogs were dyed red and blue on the inside so we could see all of its organs better. It looked to me like it was a bullfrog, but it wasn't. I should have asked Ms. Flasher what it was but I didn't.
the squid dissection
The Squid is in the phylum molluscus. When we dissected the squid, my partner and I cut into the egg sack accidentally and it got every where. Also when we were dissecting the squid we almost punctured the ink sack, but we didn't so it was okay. the squid had something very similar to our spine, it had a long skinny, clear, thick, shaft running from the top of the squid to the start of the tentacles.
Conclusion
For the most part, all the dissiections went well for me. The peaks were that I had great groups and I was always participating. The pits were that I didn't know what tha names of all the animals we dissected were. I also did not like their smell, like I said when I was talking about the grasshopper they were all in a preserve that smelled like bad fish. Others than that, it a great lab to do. I loved looking at how the other animals worked and what that have that we don't have. I learned that I do a goof job at cutting in a straight line. What I will improve on is doing a better job at listening to the teacher.
Our phyla chart
last but not least we made a phyla chart about the animals we dissected. We found out what the animals did and did not have by asking questions about them. Hope you guys enjoy.