Elasmo talks about the diversity of elasmobraches!

English ELASMO V: Biodiversity

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Some elasmobranch hang out along the seafloor, and are called "benthic"

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The biggest elasmobranchs like whale sharks, basking sharks, mantas and the megamouth shark all eat the smallest creatures - plankton, zooplankton, or krill (little shrimp-like organisms). 

Look at the whale shark and giant manta ray sucking in the plankton!

Elasmobranchs can be really big!!!

The whale shark is the largest elasmobranch, it can grow to 18.8m!

And it eats the smallest animals in the water - called plankton!

Some elasmobranchs swim through open water and are known as "pelagic".

Atlantic thresher shark

Or elasmobranchs can be really small!!

The dwarf lanternshark is the smallest elasmobranch, only 20cm long! (Did you know it glows in the dark - that is why it is called LANTERN shark )

Here is a link to a YouTube video "Octonauts and the Dwarf Lantern Shark" Remember Press the X on top right corner, at the end, to come back to this story!

Octonauts - The Dwarf Lantern Shark | Full Episode | Cartoons for Kids

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Skate or Ray??? How do we know which is which when some skates are called rays? Rays have live pups. Rays have thin whip-like tails (some with stings / barbs on them). Skates lay eggs (mermaids' purses) with their pups inside. Skates have fatter shorter tails with two dorsal fins at the end.

Bull ray - this is a ray!

Look carefully! There is a newly-hatched Thornback Ray pup under its eggcase

Thornback ray - this is a skate!

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Is biodiversity just for elasmobranchs?

No - all living creatures are part of biodiversity - I just showed some of MY relatives diversity. There are insects, mammals, reptiles, and all sorts of plants and many other living things that make up the incredible biodiversity of our planet. It all keeps everything in balance!

This is a smalltooth sand tiger jaw - this shark likes to eat fish. Sharks with pointed teeth like this eat fish and seals - they are predatory - which means they chase and kill smaller prey to eat them. Here is a great white shark FAILING to catch a seal!

Useful facts One seal will be food for a shark for at least 3 months, because great white sharks often fail to catch their prey!

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Which means they lay eggs in eggcases!

In the shark world these are known as mermaids' purses!!

Here's a mermaid purse on the top and an oviparous undulate ray on the right.

And some sharks keep their eggs inside until they're ready to hatch - this is called "ovoviviparity"!

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It is all the different kinds of life you will find in one area - DIVERSITY - Everything that is alive! Even bacteria!

There is a lot of diversity in elasmobraches... I'll show you 

Elasmobranchs are separated into sharks (like me!) and rays &amp; skates. The humans naming rays and skates got confused - ALL skates are rays - but not all rays are skates. There are over 500 species of sharks and there are more than 630 ray and skate species!!!!

I can use my long neck to see you in the sea, but there doesn't look like there is much else in the water

Just because you cant see anything doesn't mean there is anything around! 

Some elasmobraches are vivaporous...

Which means they give birth to live young!

Some elasmobranchs can have a lot of pups. Like the hammerhead shark that can have a litter size of up to 55 pups

Some elasmobranchs will have just a few pups. Like the spotted eagle ray that can have a litter size of between 1-5 pups.

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