Perennibranchiate

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/perennibranchiate

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy)
2. What is the related topics?Neoteny, amphibian metamorphosis, developmental biology, aquatic ecology, bioindicators
3. What does "perennibranchiate" mean?It means an animal keeps its gills all the time, like a fish, instead of losing them when it grows up.
4. Which animals are perennibranchiate?Some amphibians, like the mudpuppy and the axolotl, keep their feathery gills for their whole lives.

Perennibranchiate: An organism that retains its gills throughout its entire adult life, never developing lungs for terrestrial respiration.
Caducibranchiate: An organism that undergoes gill loss during metamorphosis, typically developing lungs for air-breathing as an adult.
Neoteny: The retention of larval or juvenile features in the adult form of an organism, leading to a 'forever young' appearance and physiology.
Metamorphosis: A biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure.