One of the activities done in Applied Marine Biology is dissection. We dissect an example of each of the 3 classes of fish and learn how each of these classes are similar and different from one another. |
This particular dissection was a lamprey, a type of jawless fish in the class Agnatha. We also dissected a perch, shark, guitarfish or skate. |
 We begin the dissection with an examination of the external features of the lamprey. |
 This student is receiving directions on where the first incisions are to be made. The goggles are on for this! |
 We start cutting on the ventral (underside) of the lamprey from head towards the tail. |
 After working in the head region, we are moving to the tail region and will work towards the middle. |
 This is a view of the tail end of the incision, we're cutting a little deeper to fully see the organs. |
 Once the incision is complete, we can being viewing the inside. This is in the lower half of the body. This cavity is full of eggs, which are colored yellow. |
 The eggs can take up to half of the body cavity, so we are removing them. |
 Since the eggs are removed we can see the digestive tract, the thin white tube held by the student's fingers. |
 This is the lens of the lamprey's eye, it looks like a tiny marble and will actually bounce if dropped. |