The answer is C. But can someone please explain why it is C? An elementary schoo

Question

The answer is C. But can someone please explain why it is C?

An elementary school science teacher decided to liven up the classroom with a saltwater aquarium. Knowing that saltwater aquaria can be quite a hassle, the teacher proceeded stepwise. First, the teacher conditioned the water. Next, the teacher decided to stock the tank with various marine invertebrates, including a polychaete, a siliceous sponge, several bivalves, a shrimp, several sea anemones of different types, a colonial hydra, a few coral species, an ectoproct, a sea star, and several herbivorous gastropod varieties. Lastly, she added some vertebrates- a parrotfish and a clownfish. She arranged for daily feedings of copepods and feeder fish. The clownfish readily swims among the tentacles of the sea anemones; the parrotfish avoids them. One hypothesis for the clownfish's apparent immunity is that they slowly build a tolerance to the sea anemone's toxin. A second hypothesis is that a chemical in the mucus that coats the clownfish prevents the nematocysts from being triggered. Which of the following graphs supports the second, but not the first, of these hypotheses?

Explanation / Answer

As you know that the answer is C and according to the question it supports the second hypothesis that a chemical in the mucous that coats clown fish prevents the nematocyst being triggered.

As it is evident by graph C that the number of non discharged nematocyst per unit surface area of tentacle after contact with fish is very high in case of clown fish suggesting that there is some chemical which is preventing nematocyst to trriger even after coming in contact with the clown fish. Where as in the case of Parrot fish the non discharge is very low (i.e. discharge of nematocyst is very high) on contact, which also strenghthen the hypothesis that the chemical causing non discharge of nematocyst is present only in clown fish.

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