Feeding Habits of the Grey Nurse Sharks and Cone Snails Essay

The Grey Nurse Sharks and Cone Snails are two distinct creatures that live in water. They may have the same habitat but the two organisms have different ways on how to nourish their respective systems. For the grey nurse sharks, they are considered as huge slow-moving migratory sharks who like to swim in warm-temperate waters. They are usually found in â€Å"shallow and sandy waters near the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.† Even though this type of sharks prefer to do things alone, it has been observed that they prefer to do cooperative feeding with a small group of sharks by â€Å"congregating or nursing their prey into a compact school first before feeding together†(McGrouther, 2007). In the food chain, the grey nurse sharks are on top wherein they eat sea creatures that are smaller than their body size such as lobsters, squids, sting rays and others that they can easily sink their ragged teeth into (Cooper, 2009). Meanwhile, the cone snails have chemoreceptive cells which function as their sense organs for detecting their preys. They use different strategies to catch their prey particularly at night because they are nocturnal and venomous creatures. Usually, these snails would hide in order for their prey not to notice them. When the prey is within reach, they would extend their long venomous appendages and swallow their prey. For other types of cone snails, they would just open their mouth and let their prey catch the bait (Remigio and Duda, 2008). Their usual diet is composed of small fish, crabs and worms (Maris, 2006). Moreover, nurse grey sharks particularly the young ones can also become preys of other organisms. When the population of grey nurse grey sharks decrease, the number of sting ray increases. But grey nurse grey sharks have the capability to control the population of their preys reducing the extinction of some species. On the other hand, cone snails regulate the population of the mollusks and worms. When they reproduce, there is a high possibility that they can become â€Å"hosts to disease-causing microorganisms† which can work their way to the human body (Cooper, 2009). References Chivian, E. (2001). Environment and health: 7. Species loss and ecosystem disruption – the implications for human health. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 164, 1. Cooper, P. (2009). Sand Tiger Shark. Florida Museum of National History. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from www.flmnh.ufl.edu/ Marris, E. (2006). Drugs from the Deep. Nature Publishin, 443, 1. McGrouther. (2007). Grey Nurse Shark. Australian Museum Fish. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from www.austmus.gov.au/fishes/ Remigio, E.A. and Duda, T.F. (2008). Evolution of ecological specialization and venom of a predatory marine gastropod. Molecular Ecology 17, 1156-1162.