55

FLOAT AT WILL

Many animals are at home in water; to survive they have developed

many different ways of floating and moving .

The Sperm whale is the deepest diving mammal-in the oceans and can
dive to a depth of 3300ft at a rate of 560ft per minute and owes this
ability due to oil filled tubes in spermaceti organ in its head .

When diving to great depths Elephant seals sleep during their journey
up and down-to and from 2246 ft under water where they can stay up to
2 hours and take cat naps on the way.

Deep diving Emperor Penguin has small stones in its stomach that
help it to dive like a scuba diver wearing a weight belt; At the surface it
travels by ‘porpoising’ at 11 km/h; They then ‘toboggan’ across the ice
from the sea to their nesting rockery on Antarctic main land .

For high speed escapes Squids rely on jet propulsion, controlled by a

nervous system with the largest nerve cells in any animal, Their hose
like siphon below the head squirts water at high pressure propelling it
@ 33 km / h .
 56
Designed to float :

Sharks have aerofoil-like pectoral fins that give them lift as long as
they move forward ;

In Whales and Basking Sharks the oil filled liver occupies most of
the body cavity allowing them to float motionless on the surface ;

Coelacanths and Lantern fish keep afloat by having waxy materials in

their bodies ;

Most Bony fishes have an O2 rich air filled swim bladder which adjusts
to maintain buoyancy .

The Portuguese man of war has a purple bag like float that sits on the
surface of the sea while its tentacles trail through the water for 30 ft .

The Pearly Nautilus maintains buoyancy by adjusting the ratio of gas

and fluid contained in its shell chambers .