|
Crisularia Plumosa
''Crisularia plumosa'' is a species of bryozoan belonging to the family Bugulidae, commonly known as the feather bryozoan. It is native to the Atlantic Ocean. Description ''Crisularia plumosa'' is a colonial bryozoan that forms small bushy clumps, up to high, which are attached to the substrate by a tangled ball of rhizoids. The founding zooid is circular and spineless. As it buds and develops into a colony, a robust central trunk is formed, and branches grow out dichotomously from this in a characteristic spiral fashion, each with fine feathery branchlets. The colony is whitish, or pale tan. The individual zooids are microscopic, about and form two calcified rows on each branchlet; some of the smallest zooids are avicularia, each able to use its mandible and hooked beak to catch prey, which is then passed to the somewhat larger neighbouring autozooids. Distribution and habitat ''Crisularia plumosa'' is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, its range extending from the N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Simon Pallas
Peter Simon Pallas FRS FRSE (22 September 1741 – 8 September 1811) was a Prussian zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia between 1767 and 1810. Life and work Peter Simon Pallas was born in Berlin, the son of Professor of Surgery Simon Pallas. He studied with private tutors and took an interest in natural history, later attending the University of Halle and the University of Göttingen. In 1760, he moved to the University of Leiden and passed his doctor's degree at the age of 19. Pallas travelled throughout the Netherlands and to London, improving his medical and surgical knowledge. He then settled at The Hague, and his new system of animal classification was praised by Georges Cuvier. Pallas wrote ''Miscellanea Zoologica'' (1766), which included descriptions of several vertebrates new to science which he had discovered in the Dutch museum collections. A planned voyage to southern Africa and the East Indies fell through when his father recalled him to Berlin. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The larva's appearance is generally very different from the adult form (''e.g.'' caterpillars and butterflies) including different unique structures and organs that do not occur in the adult form. Their diet may also be considerably different. Larvae are frequently adapted to different environments than adults. For example, some larvae such as tadpoles live almost exclusively in aquatic environments, but can live outside water as adult frogs. By living in a distinct environment, larvae may be given shelter from predators and reduce competition for resources with the adult population. Animals in the larval stage will consume food to fuel their transition into the adult form. In some organisms like polychaetes and barnacles, adults are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fauna Of The Mediterranean Sea
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoologists and paleontologists use ''fauna'' to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the " Burgess Shale fauna". Paleontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of faunal stages, which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils. The study of animals of a particular region is called faunistics. Etymology ''Fauna'' comes from the name Fauna, a Roman goddess of earth and fertility, the Roman god Faunus, and the related forest spirits called Fauns. All three words are cognates of the name of the Greek god Pan, and ''panis'' is the Greek equivalent of fauna. ''Fauna'' is also the word for a book that catalogues the animals in such a manner. The term was first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fauna Of The Atlantic Ocean
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoologists and paleontologists use ''fauna'' to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the " Burgess Shale fauna". Paleontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of faunal stages, which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils. The study of animals of a particular region is called faunistics. Etymology ''Fauna'' comes from the name Fauna, a Roman goddess of earth and fertility, the Roman god Faunus, and the related forest spirits called Fauns. All three words are cognates of the name of the Greek god Pan, and ''panis'' is the Greek equivalent of fauna. ''Fauna'' is also the word for a book that catalogues the animals in such a manner. The term was first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cheilostomatida
Cheilostomatida, also called Cheilostomata, is an order of Bryozoa in the class Gymnolaemata. They are exclusively marine, colonial invertebrate animals. Cheilostome colonies are composed of calcium carbonate and grow on a variety of surfaces, including rocks, shells, seagrass and kelps. The colony shapes range from simple encrusting sheets to erect branching and even unattached forms. As in other bryozoan groups, each colony is composed of a few to thousands of individual polypides. Each individual has a U-shaped gut, and no respiratory, circulatory, or nerve system. Unique among bryozoans, cheilostome polypides are housed in a box-shaped zooids, which do not grow larger once the zooid is mature. The opening through which the polypide protrudes is protected by a calcareous or chitinous lidlike structure, an operculum. Cheilostomes possess avicularia, which have modified the operculum into a range of mandibles (possibly for defense) or hair-like setae (possibly for cleaning) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crumb-of-bread Sponge
The crumb-of-bread sponge (''Hymeniacidon perlevis'') is a species of sea sponge in the class Demospongiae Demosponges (Demospongiae) are the most diverse class in the phylum Porifera. They include 76.2% of all species of sponges with nearly 8,800 species worldwide (World Porifera Database). They are sponges with a soft body that covers a hard, .... Description The crumb-or-bread sponge is a thickly encrusting sponge with a glistening bumpy surface. Specimens found intertidally are bright yellow. Specimens from deeper water are darker. The oscula are scattered across the surface of the sponge and may be flush with the sponge surface or on raised mounds.Branch, G.M., Branch, M.L, Griffiths, C.L. and Beckley, L.E (2005): ''Two Oceans: a guide to the marine life of southern Africa'' The form of the sponge is variable, depending on its environment. In sheltered areas, branched structures grow from the base. In areas with wave action the surface is convoluted or flat.Jones, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suberites Carnosus
''Suberites'' is a genus of sea sponges in the family Suberitidae. Sponges, known scientifically as ''Porifera'', are the oldest metazoans and are used to elucidate the basics of multicellular evolution. These living fossils are ideal for studying the principal features of metazoans, such as extracellular matrix interactions, signal-receptor systems, nervous or sensory systems, and primitive immune systems. Thus, sponges are useful tools with which to study early animal evolution. They appeared approximately 580 million years ago, in the Ediacaran. Evolutionary significance As members of the oldest phylum of metazoans, ''Suberites'' serve as model organisms to elucidate features of the earliest animals. ''Suberites'' and their relatives are used to determine the structure of the first metazoans and have been studied to determine how totipotency has replaced by pluripotency in most higher animals. Among other things, ''Suberites'' show that tyrosine-phosphorylation machiner ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suberites Ficus
''Suberites ficus'' is a species of sponge in the family Suberitidae. It is sometimes known as the sea orange sponge. Sponges are primitive animals with little apparent internal organisation. They are composed of a jellylike mesohyl sandwiched between two layers of cells and have a fragile skeleton composed of stiff spicules. They are filter feeders, maintaining a flow of water through their structure which passes out through large openings called oscula. Taxonomy The name "ficus" was first used by Pallas in 1766 for ''Alcyonium ficus'' but it is unclear exactly which animal he was describing and it is now thought that it may have been an ascidian. Linnaeus in 1767, Esper in 1794 and Lamarck in 1814 also used the name but it was not until Johnston described the spicules as well as the sponge which he named ''Halichondria ficus'' in 1842 that it became clear what sponge was being described. Further research needs to be undertaken to clarify the position. ''Suberites suberia'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flustra Foliacea
''Flustra foliacea'' is a species of bryozoans found in the northern Atlantic Ocean. It is a colonial animal that is frequently mistaken for a seaweed. Colonies begin as encrusting mats, and only produce loose fronds after their first year of growth. They may reach long, and smell like lemons. Its microscopic structure was examined by Robert Hooke and illustrated in his 1665 work ''Micrographia''. Taxonomic history ''Flustra foliacea'' was studied as early as 1665, when Robert Hooke published observations of various organisms and materials made with an early microscope. It was first given a binomial name in 1758, when Carl Linnaeus included it in the 10th edition of his ' as ''Eschara foliacea''. In later publications, Linnaeus divided bryozoans into more than one genus, and so the species came to be called ''Flustra foliacea''. It is the type species of the genus '' Flustra''. Description ''Flustra foliacea'' is often mistaken for a seaweed, but is actually a colony of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pycnogonidae
Pycnogonidae is a family of sea spiders. Characteristics Most sea spiders in the class Pycnogonida have appendages on the anterior end of the body called chelifores which are used for gathering food and palps which bear sensory organs. Members of the family Pycnogonidae have neither of these, instead using their proboscis to suck juices from their prey. On the first segment of the trunk of male family members there are ovigerous legs on which the larvae are carried. The females do not have these appendages. Like most sea spiders, all species in this family have four pairs of legs, except for three species (''Pentapycnon bouvieri'', ''P. charcoti'', and ''P. geayi'') with five pairs. Genera The World Register of Marine Species lists the following genera: *'' Pentapycnon'' Bouvier, 1910 *''Pycnogonum ''Pycnogonum'' is a genus of sea spiders in the family Pycnogonidae. It is the type genus of the family. Etymology The generic name literally means “dense knees”. ''Pycnog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some insects, fish, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, cnidarians, echinoderms, and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is often accompanied by a change of nutrition source or behavior. Animals can be divided into species that undergo complete metamorphosis (" holometaboly"), incomplete metamorphosis (" hemimetaboly"), or no metamorphosis (" ametaboly"). Scientific usage of the term is technically precise, and it is not applied to general aspects of cell growth, including rapid growth spurts. Generally organisms with a larva stage undergo metamorphosis, and during metamorphosis the organism loses larval characteristics. References to "metamorphosis" in mammals are imprecise and only colloquial, but historically idealist ideas of transformatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plankton
Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucial source of food to many small and large aquatic organisms, such as bivalves, fish and whales. Marine plankton include bacteria, archaea, algae, protozoa and drifting or floating animals that inhabit the saltwater of oceans and the brackish waters of estuaries. Freshwater plankton are similar to marine plankton, but are found in the freshwaters of lakes and rivers. Plankton are usually thought of as inhabiting water, but there are also airborne versions, the aeroplankton, that live part of their lives drifting in the atmosphere. These include plant spores, pollen and wind-scattered seeds, as well as microorganisms swept into the air from terrestrial dust storms and oceanic plankton swept into the air by sea spray. Though many p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
