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1. Gills allow sharks and rays to absorb oxygen in the water.

2. Rigid Dorsal Fins to stabilized their turns.

3. A skeleton of soft and flexible cartilage lined with hard tissue.

4. Placoid scales which are the tiny tough scales that cover the skin.

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Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Chondrichthyes
Order:Lamniformes
Family:Lamnidae
Genus:Carcharodon
Species:Carcharias

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Major Characteristics: Great White Shark

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Major Characteristics: Great White Shark

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Location & habitat
- All Major Oceans
- Ocean Temperatures of around 54-75 °F

Physical characteristics
- Live to about 70 Years
- Serrated Teeth
- Countershading between the belly and shadow

Behavioral characteristics
- Swims at around 35 mph
- Dominance Heirachy: Females Dominate Males
- Breachning

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Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Chondrichthyes
Order:Rajiformes
Family:Myliobatidae
Genus:Manta
Species:Manta birostris

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Location & habitat
- Tropical Waters and Oceans

Physical characteristics
- Can be up to 23 ft in width
- Forward Facing Mouth
- Tails have no skeletal support

Behavioral characteristics
- Sometimes Rays may breach
- Swim at a constant rate in a straight line

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Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Chondrichthyes
Order:Squatiniformes
Family:Squatinidae
Genus:Squatina
Species:Squatina squatina

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Location & habitat
- Atlantic Ocean
- 150 meters depth
- Mud or Sandy Floors

Physical characteristics
- Flat
- Two Dorsal Fins
- Can be gray, red, or green
- Small Sharp teeth

Behavioral characteristics
- Nocturnal Predator
- Females can have 7-25 pups every other year
- Burries itself in the sand to hide
- Ambushes it prey

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Sharks and Rays are related down to the class of Chondrichthyes which are Cartilaginous fishes. You can find out from the taxonomy that all Chondrichthyes have a skin covered in placoid scales, the structure of their fins are similar, and they don’t have swim bladders. With a similar taxonomy you can determine similar feature that the animals have.

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Manta Ray - (30ft-18ft 1in) Dark brown, grayish blue, and black (3,600lbs-29.5 oz)

Great White Shark - (21ft-13ft) Pale to Dark gray (2,400 lbs-1,500 lbs)

Angelshark - (6.5 ft-5ft) Black, brown, reddish, grey or greenish sandpaper-like skin (Up to 77 lbs)

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Sharks and rays share the same gene that codes for the proteolipid protein. This proves that they could’ve been from  a common ancestor because they both have that gene.

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Angel Sharks have 31 pairs of chromosomes and Manta rays have 32 pairs of chromosomes. These are the average chromosomal numbers for sharks and rays. These numbers are very similar which means they could be very closely related.

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Since the proteolipid protein is found in both sharks and rays, this also proves that their ancestors could’ve been similar because they both have the protein.

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Sharks and Rays type of speciation is punctuated equilibrium because new species aren't being formed gradually. The sharks and rays stay the same until the population becomes unstable and then new species are formed

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Sharks and rays are an example of convergent evolution because they both adapted similar traits, like filter feeding in whale sharks, basking sharks, and manta rays, to survive in a similar environment.

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A form of geographic isolation that can affect my taxonomic group is fresh water and salt water which can separate species of rays and sharks. Water temperature can also affect the gene flow because certain sharks and rays like specific temperatures.

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There is no major gene flow in Great white sharks and rays because there isn’t much genetic diversity which means that the new migrants won’t have an effect on the allele frequency because they are already so similar.

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Sharks skin color has changed a lot because this allow them to blend in with the water the deeper they go, making them harder to see from above. The upper jaw isn’t fused to the great whites shark’s skull but fused instead with flexible connective tissue which allows them to increase bite radius. Manta Rays have evolved to have a flattened, disk shape body that allows them to hide from predators in the sea bed sediment, helped when searching for food.

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Age of fossil: 409 million years old
- From the Devonian Period

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Age of fossil: Late Devonian Period (310 mya)

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Age of fossil: 23-2.6 mya (Early Miocene to the end of the Pliocene)

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Age of fossil: Cretaceous Period (80mya)

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Age of fossil: 306.95 to 265.0 Mya (Palaeozoic)

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The fossils show similarities of teeth between the generations of sharks. Modern sharks now have  about 6-7 gills and some have even changed to become filter feeders. The species has also survived 5 mass extinctions with 95% of species being killed and have changed and adapted to still be a dominant predator in the water.

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This tree shows their ancestors and how the sharks and rays evolved to become what they are.

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Darwin's Descent with Modification theory is shown in sharks because the sharks' teeth are getting harder, sharper, and some sharks are gaining more and more teeth.

Manta Rays go through stabilizing selection because, most of the organisms have similar traits and they are all successful. Wider mouths are more successful because it allows the rays to take in larger amounts of food.

Great White Sharks go though stabilizing selection because the average traits are most successful. The bigger sharks will be most successful because of their ability to swim faster and catch prey easier.

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https://504collaborationoption.weebly.com/natural-selection-in-great-white-sharks.html

https://www.mantaray-world.com/manta-ray-evolution/

https://www.mantaray-world.com/manta-ray-information/

https://prezi.com/aopdu9rwa3eu/evolution-of-the-manta-ray/

http://theconversation.com/low-levels-of-genetic-diversity-are-putting-great-white-sharks-at-risk-50792

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_white_shark#Adaptations

https://www.arkive.org/angel-shark/squatina-squatina/

http://giantmantaray.weebly.com/evolution.html
https://www.sharks-world.com/shark_anatomy/

http://www.actforlibraries.org/the-evolution-of-sharks/
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1001_031001_sharkfossil.html
http://www.fossilguy.com/gallery/vert/fish-shark/shark_evolution/shark_evolution.htm
http://www.fossilguy.com/gallery/vert/fish-shark/shark_evolution/shark_evolution.htm