1. Are there any external resources that can be used by the mechanism?
Answer: No
2. Are physical changes possible to the mechanism?
Answer: Yes
3. Can other parts of the mechanism be used to minimize the effects of the fault?
Answer: Yes
4. Is the fault due to changes in the environment?
Answer: Yes
5. Can the surrounding environment be changed to adapt to the fault?
Answer: Yes
8) Bull Sharks, Carcharhinus leucas
Bull sharks can be found in tropical to subtropical coastal waters and in river systems (Curtis, Tobey). The creatures are responsible for more attacks than any other shark because of its available proximity to humans. With all of that being said bull sharks are able to travel from salt waters to fresh waters and back again without a lot of consequences.
Bull sharks have the ability of traveling and living in both salt and freshwater. Researchers have found that these creatures are able to maintain osmoregulation better than other marine animals. Osmoregulation is the ability to regulate the amount of water and electrolytes that are in the circulatory system compared to the outside environment which causes the body to gain or lose water (Ortiz, Rudy M.). The ocean has a lot of salt in it which leads to a hyperosmotic environment and makes the body want to secrete more water to the outside environment. The animals in freshwater are forced to do the opposite. The kidney, rectal gland, and liver have been shown to regulate the water and electrolyte balances in the body more readily in bull sharks than in other sharks. The kidney will remove more urea and less salt than they normally would when in the freshwater which regulates osmoregulation (ÒHow Bull Sharks Can Live in Both Ocean and Fresh WaterÓ).
Curtis, Tobey. “Bull Shark.” FLMNH Ichthyology Department: Bull Shark. Florida Museum of Natural History, 2014. Web. Retrieved February 18, 2015, from
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/descript/bullshark/bullshark.htm.
Ortiz, Rudy M. “Osmoregulation in Marine Animals.” The Journal of Experimental Biology 204 (2001): 1831-844. Osmoregulation in Marine Animals. The Company of Biologists Limited, 21 Feb. 2001. Web. Retrieved February 18, 2015, from
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/204/11/1831.full.pdf.
“How Bull Sharks Can Live in Both Ocean and Fresh Water.” Shark Savers. Wild Aid, 2014. Web. Retrieved February 18, 2015, from
http://www.sharksavers.org/en/education/biology/how-bull-sharks-survive-in-fresh-water/.
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