Adamtychiu

Welcome!

Talk - A lot on the talk page for the sea lamprey was about eating them and their taste, which was discussed whether it belonged on wiki or not. Aside from that, the page was fairly short and didn't cover too much. Also, the way things were written was surprisingly informal and friendly.

History - There was a huge list for the history accounts, which was surprisingly compared to how small the article itself was. Also, it seemed the majority of changes were done by students judging from usernames.

Article - The article seems to be pretty well done, with a good amount of sources that all seem reliable, written clearly and concisely, and all written without any explicit bias. The format is also easy to read and access.

Changing - Most of the article concerns the behavior of the lamprey, as well as general information on them and efforts to control their population. Aside from that, there's a small account on Genetics, but nothing on the Physiology of them, so there's a good amount of space to fill in with my information, although it's somewhat intimidating to have nothing else to work on.

   Feedback
   As you said on my talk page it seems like the overall structure of the talk pages of our two species have some similarities.  Personally, I would include information about sea lamprey cuisine into the article.  It may not be useful scientific information, but I'm sure people would find it interesting to learn different recipes or cultural uses of the sea lamprey.  I noticed your article does not have physiology section either.  I see this as a good thing.  It offers us a chance to add some valuable information on the species.  It was interesting to see that your article did not have a link to the main article on lampreys.  I would think that would be a valuable tool in truly understanding the lamprey genus.  Pat uconn (talk) 14:42, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

Synopsis

Wilkie, M. P., Turnbull, S., Bird, J., Wang, Y. S., Claude, J. F., & Youson, J. H. (2004). Lamprey parasitism of sharks and teleosts: High capacity urea excretion in an extant vertebrate relic. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A: Molecular and Integrative Physiology: 138(4), 485–492.

    Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) are jawless, anadromous fish which live are born in freshwater and, after metamorphosis into their juvenile form, move to seawater to feed. Lamprey are hyporegulators, organisms which maintain a lower solute concentration from their surroundings, when in seawater, although there are also known “landlocked” populations of sea lamprey, those which are stuck in freshwater sources and have adapted to such a lifestyle. The main known diet for sea lamprey consists of marine bony fishes, almost all of which are also hypoosmotic. However, recent reports have suggested lamprey have been feeding on elasmobranchs, specifically the basking sharks sighted around Nova Scotia, although counters to the argument suggest that the sharks isosmotic nature and high concentrations of urea would leave an undue burden on the lamprey physiologically, as well as the idea that they would be incapable of breaching the sharks denticle (scales). A team of researchers set out to find if sea lamprey were physically capable of feeding on sharks, as well as have sufficient systems to excrete the excess urea ingested along with the blood.
    The experiment began with researchers looking for basking sharks in the late summer, their migratory period, to find two lamprey feeding on them. The lamprey were transported back onto land into a lab, where they were placed in controlled tanks. Simultaneously, landlocked lamprey were also collected, some of which were allowed to feed on a hypoosmotic fish beforehand, and others which were not allowed to feed. The tanks were checked every half hour for both changes in urea and ammonia concentrations for 20 hours, after which they were kept in the tanks for another 2 weeks before being euthanized and having tissues removed and frozen for sampling as well as blood samples taken from the heart.
    The resear¬chers found that, in the two lamprey removed from the basking sharks, over the next 3 hours, urea concentrations in the tanks and therefore the urea excreted from the lamprey, were extremely high, close to 500 times larger than the “basal” rates of excretion obtained from the landlocked sea lamprey which were not allowed to feed. Rates of the lamprey which were allowed to feed on hypoosmotic bony fishes were also higher than basal, but not close to the levels reached by feeding on sharks. Ammonia levels were also significantly higher in both kinds of feeding lamprey relative to the basal rates. Tissues were also analyzed for enzyme activity of those involved in the ornithine urea cycle and uricolytic pathways, to analyze whether urea concentrations could be attributed to the lamprey themselves.
    The authors concluded firstly that the lamprey were fully capable of piercing through the denticle of basking sharks, as they were (quite fortunately) able to find two in the active process of feeding. Researchers also concluded that they are capable of facultative ureotelism, the ability to tolerate the same high concentrations of urea found in elasmobranch blood ingested, and theorize this is due mostly to subsequent ingestion of materials such as Trimethylamine oxides found in shark blood which help to counteract the dangerous effects of excess urea. It was also determined that it is highly implausible that the high concentrations of urea were due to the lamprey’s own processes based off of analysis of the OUC and uricolytic enzyme activity.
    I find very little issue with the conclusions drawn by the researchers, although the data would have been better supported with more than two samples taken from sharks, although it is understandable since obtaining them is inherently dangerous. 

Bibliography Wilkie, M. P., Turnbull, S., Bird, J., Wang, Y. S., Claude, J. F., & Youson, J. H. (2004). Lamprey parasitism of sharks and teleosts: High capacity urea excretion in an extant vertebrate relic. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A: Molecular and Integrative Physiology: 138(4), 485–492.

João, M., Machado, M., Filipa, A., Ruivo, B., Raposo, P., & Almeida, D. (2015). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology , Part A Structural lipid changes and Na + / K + -ATPase activity of gill cells ’ basolateral membranes during saltwater acclimation in sea lamprey ( Petromyzon marinus , L .) juveniles. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A, 189, 67–75.

Reis-Santos, P., McCormick, S. D., & Wilson, J. M. (2008). Ionoregulatory changes during metamorphosis and salinity exposure of juvenile sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus L.). The Journal of Experimental Biology, 211, 978–988.

Wilkie, M., Couturier, J., & Tufts, B. (1998). Mechanisms of acid-base regulation in migrant sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus) following exhaustive exercise. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 201 (Pt 9), 1473–82.

First Draft

    Physiology
    The species Petromyzon marinus are adapted to tolerate a wide range of solute concentrations in the environment around them, as their life cycle requires most to travel from freshwater to the ocean and back. Cell membranes on the surface of the gills are major contributors to ionoregulation. Changes in membrane composition influence the movement of different ions across the membrane, changing amounts of components to change the membranes "environment." As ammocoetes move towards the oceans as transformers, the ratio between saturated fatty acids (SFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) shifts towards higher amounts of SFA, as they effect the fluidity of the membrane, and higher level of SFA leads to a decrease in permeability compared to PUFA..Lamprey are better able to withstand wider ranges of salinity concentrations as they reach later stages of life, having a relatively narrow range as ammocoetes and a wide range of tolerance as full, saltwater adults. Tight regulation of Na/K-ATPase and an overall decrease in expression of H-ATPase helps in hypoosmoregulation as the lamprey move to areas of higher salinity.
    Lamprey also maintain acid-base homeostasis. When introduced to higher levels of acids, lamprey are able to excrete excess acids at higher rates than most other saltwater fishes and therefore in much shorter amounts of time, with the majority of the transfer of ions occuring at the gill surface. 
    Sea Lamprey parasitize other fishes for their diet, including elasmobranchs like sharks and rays which have naturally have high levels of urea in their blood. Urea is toxic to most fishes in high concentrations, and it usually excreted immediately. Lamprey are able to tolerate much higher concentrations than most other fish and excrete it at extremely high rates, obtained from ingested blood. Trimethylamine oxides present in ingested elasmobranch blood aids in counteracting the detrimental affects of high urea concentration in the lamprey's bloodstream as it feeds.

Adamtychiu (talk) 15:57, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

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You can find answers to many student questions on our Q&A site, ask.wikiedu.org

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on my talk page. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 22:13, 10 March 2016 (UTC)

Adamtychiu, you are invited to the Teahouse!

Hi Adamtychiu! Thanks for contributing to Wikipedia. Be our guest at the Teahouse! The Teahouse is a friendly space where new editors can ask questions about contributing to Wikipedia and get help from experienced editors like Worm That Turned (talk). Visit the Teahouse We hope to see you there! Delivered by HostBot on behalf of the Teahouse hosts 19:17, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

Adam, thanks for a complete evaluation of the sea lamprey article and I will assign it to you for your wiki project. Please complete the assignment from last friday: read the talk pages of your taxon group teammate and post a response to his article evaluation.Rico.schultz (talk) 18:16, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

@Adamtychiu: Adam, thanks for your helpful comments on Sean's Remora contribution. Please take a moment and comment on Delaney's piece on Threespine Stickleback as well. Rico.schultz (talk) 13:31, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

@Adamtychiu: A couple of quick things.

-I think it is important that if you are going to use a term you should link to a page describing the word/behavior/etc, or describe it. I say this, since the meaning of transform in the first paragraph is unclear and could use explanation.

-Secondly I believe the first paragraph is a bit wordy and choppy. It could use some general editing of the grammar in order to make it flow better.

-Finally, I think the last paragraph would sound better if you talked about Urea and its prevalence in lampreys and how they deal with it, before talking about the source of this excess urea (but this is more of a personal taste thing, and I leave it to your discretion.)

SeanGosselin (talk) 18:09, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

@Adamtychiu: Adam, I see that you posted notification of your changes to the lamprey page on its talk page (to which an editor commented!) and published your section! Well done! Rico.schultz (talk) 13:13, 3 May 2016 (UTC)