AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Their streamlined bodies, dorsal fins and flippers are the result of convergent evolution. Since dolphins and sharks occupy similar niches and face similar challenges, similar adaptations have been advantageous to them, resulting in their analogous structures.

Detailed explanation-2: -Examples of convergent evolution include the relationship between bat and insect wings, shark and dolphin bodies, and vertebrate and cephalopod eyes. Analogous structures arise from convergent evolution, but homologous structures do not.

Detailed explanation-3: -Streamlined bodies and fins are traits that dolphins and sharks evolved separately, both as adaptations for swimming. This means that sharks’ and dolphins’ similarities (body shape, fin, and flippers) are convergent traits that each lineage evolved independently.

Detailed explanation-4: -Marine mammals from different mammalian orders share several phenotypic traits adapted to the aquatic environment and therefore represent a classic example of convergent evolution.

Detailed explanation-5: -The flipper forelimbs of marine mammals (cetaceans, pinnipeds, and sirenians) are a classic example of convergent evolution. There is widespread convergence at the gene level.