The Professor and Invertebrates

by Katelyn M.

Have you ever heard of invertebrates? Invertebrates are animals without any bones in their bodies. They are very important to our world. Without them, we couldn’t live. Professor Christopher Lorenz, who is an ichthyologist, a person who studies fish, from Thomas More College, came in to Mr. Guenther’s fifth grade class at North Pointe Elementary to tell us about them.

Professor Lorenz told us about some of the qualities of invertebrates. “Invertebrates are modest, humble, inventive, unselfish and hardworking,” he said. “They are self-reliant, steady, and industrious. But they aren’t appreciated as much as they should be.” Professor Lorenz studies invertebrates, and has learned that they have saved the US economy over $60 billion!

Professor Lorenz says that invertebrates help us immensely. “Vertebrates couldn’t survive without invertebrates,” he explained. “Some invertebrates decompose garbage to make the Earth healthier, and dung beetles bury dung so that parasites, flies and pests are prevented from breeding there. Flies bother us, and dung beetles help lower the amount of them.” Professor Lorenz is very educated on the subject of invertebrates.

There are many benefits of invertebrates. Fish and eagles eat invertebrates, and some people love seafood. Fish is a popular dish to devour, and if the invertebrates aren’t around for the fish to ingest, there won’t be any fish for humans to eat.

Many students in the class learned lots of information from Professor Lorenz. “The speech that he gave was very informative,” says Laura L., who was present at the time of Professor Lorenz’s visit. “It was awesome and gave us information we didn’t know about before he came,” says Devin Heffernan, who attended the lecture. “I liked it,” comments Dee G.. “The discussion was well-said,” adds Ashay S. “Very cool,” says Hannah L. “I learned tons of information.” Andi D remarks, “I found it extremely interesting.” All of these students were present at the visit.

There are more invertebrates than vertebrates. And, invertebrates live everywhere. They all have different lifestyles. Invertebrates built the Great Barrier Reef, which is over 1 thousand miles long! There are many different kinds of invertebrates, and they are diverse, which means very distinct from one another.

Invertebrates are very important, and we couldn’t live without them. Please be kind to invertebrates, as they have been kind to us.