Eunicella Singularis
''Eunicella singularis'', the white gorgonian, is a species of colonial soft coral, a sea fan in the family Gorgoniidae. It is found in the western Mediterranean Sea, Adriatic Sea and Ionian Sea. It was first described in 1791 by the German naturalist Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper. Description ''Eunicella singularis'' can grow to a height of about and a width of . It has a branching structure, growing from a thickened base with a small number of nearly-vertical branches and a few side branches. The surface of the branches is smooth, with the calyces from which the polyps protrude being indistinct. The general colour is white and the polyps are translucent and yellowish-brown or olive. Distribution and habitat ''Eunicella singularis'' is found in the western Mediterranean Sea and the Adriatic Sea at depths of . It mainly occurs on shallowly sloping rock surfaces which are often partially covered with sediment, but also on pebbles, shells or other objects surrounded by sedim ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper
Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper (2 June 1742 – 27 July 1810) was a German zoologist and naturalist. Born in Wunsiedel in Bavaria, he was professor of zoology at Erlangen university. Life and work Eugen and his brother Friedrich were introduced to natural history at an early age by their father Friedrich Lorenz Esper, an amateur botanist. Encouraged to abandon his theology course by his professor of botany Casimir Christoph Schmidel (1718–1792) Eugen Esper, instead, took instruction in natural history. He obtained his doctorate of philosophy at the university of Erlangen in 1781 with a thesis entitled ''De varietatibus specierum in naturale productis''. The following year, he started to teach at the university initially as extraordinary professor, a poorly paid position, then in 1797 as the professor of philosophy. He directed the department of natural history in Erlangen from 1805. Thanks to him the university collections of minerals, birds, plants, shells and insects ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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 transformation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tunicate
A tunicate is a marine invertebrate animal, a member of the subphylum Tunicata (). It is part of the Chordata, a phylum which includes all animals with dorsal nerve cords and notochords (including vertebrates). The subphylum was at one time called Urochordata, and the term urochordates is still sometimes used for these animals. They are the only chordates that have lost their myomeric segmentation, with the possible exception of the 'seriation of the gill slits'. Some tunicates live as solitary individuals, but others replicate by budding and become colonies, each unit being known as a zooid. They are marine filter feeders with a water-filled, sac-like body structure and two tubular openings, known as siphons, through which they draw in and expel water. During their respiration and feeding, they take in water through the incurrent (or inhalant) siphon and expel the filtered water through the excurrent (or exhalant) siphon. Most adult tunicates are sessile, immobile and perman ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Serpulidae
The Serpulidae are a family (biology), family of Sessility (zoology), sessile, tube worm (body plan), tube-building annelid worms in the class Polychaeta. The members of this family differ from other Sabellidae, sabellid tube worms in that they have a specialized Operculum (animal), operculum that blocks the entrance of their tubes when they withdraw into the tubes. In addition, serpulids secrete tubes of calcium carbonate. Serpulids are the most important biomineralising polychaetes, biomineralizers among annelids. About 300 species in the family Serpulidae are known, all but one of which live in saline waters. The earliest serpulids are known from the Permian (Wordian to lopingian, late Permian). The blood of most species of serpulid and sabellid worms contains the oxygen-binding pigment chlorocruorin. This is used to transport oxygen to the tissues. It has an affinity for carbon monoxide which is 570 times as strong as that of the haemoglobin found in human blood. Empty serpul ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular microalgae, such as ''Chlorella,'' ''Prototheca'' and the diatoms, to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelp, a large brown alga which may grow up to in length. Most are aquatic and autotrophic (they generate food internally) and lack many of the distinct cell and tissue types, such as stomata, xylem and phloem that are found in land plants. The largest and most complex marine algae are called seaweeds, while the most complex freshwater forms are the ''Charophyta'', a division of green algae which includes, for example, ''Spirogyra'' and stoneworts. No definition of algae is generally accepted. One definition is that algae "have chlorophyll ''a'' as their primary photosynthetic pigment and lack a sterile covering of cells around thei ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Coenenchyme
Coenenchyme is the common tissue that surrounds and links the polyps in octocorals. It consists of mesoglea penetrated by tubes (''solenia'') and canals of the gastrodermis and contains sclerites, microscopic mineralised spicules of silica or of calcium carbonate. The outer layer of the coenenchyme is made of columnar or squamous epithelial cells, and can be covered in microvilli. The stiff projecting portion of coenenchyme that surrounds each polyp is usually reinforced by modified sclerites and is called the calyx, a term borrowed from botany. The solenia circulate nutrients throughout the coenenchyme. Coenosarc In corals, the coenosarc is the living tissue overlying the stony skeletal material of the coral. It secretes the coenosteum, the layer of skeletal material lying between the corallites (the stony cups in which the polyps sit). The coensarc is comp ... is an alternative name. References {{reflist Cnidarian anatomy ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Simnia Spelta
''Simnia spelta'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Ovulidae, the ovulids, which are cowrie allies sometimes called "false cowries". It was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus. Description ''Simnia spelta'' grows to a length of about . The shell is roughly egg or cigar-shaped with a flattened base. It is strong, thick, smooth and glossy, with inrolled edges at the sides of the long aperture on the underside. The colouring varies according to the species of gorgonian on which it is living. The background colour of the shell is white, yellow, pink or orange, often with white spots or dark spots, marbling or streaks, providing camouflage. As is commonly the case in '' Simnia'' species, the colour of all the visible soft parts normally matches the colour of the gorgonian on which the snail is grazing, as the pigment from the gorgonian is retained in the mantle of the mollusk. Distribution ''Simnia spelta'' was at one t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Whip Fan Nudibranch
''Duvaucelia odhneri'', is a species of dendronotid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Tritoniidae. The specific name ''odhneri'' is in honour of Swedish malacologist Nils Hjalmar Odhner. This species was originally described as ''Duvaucelia odhneri'' but this became a homonym of ''Tritonia odhneri'' Marcus, 1959 when the genus ''Duvaucelia'' was moved within ''Tritonia'' in 1983. In 2020 the genus ''Duvaucelia'' was brought back into use and the name reverted to the original combination of Tardy, 1963.Korshunova, T.; Martynov, A. (2020)Consolidated data on the phylogeny and evolution of the family Tritoniidae (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) contribute to genera reassessment and clarify the taxonomic status of the neuroscience models ''Tritonia'' and ''Tochuina''.PLOS ONE. 15(11): e0242103. Distribution This species is found in the north Atlantic Ocean off the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. It is also reported from South Africa but DNA evidence suggests ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marionia Blainvillea
''Marionia blainvillea'' is a species of sea slug, a dendronotid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Tritoniidae Tritoniidae is a taxonomic family of nudibranchs in the suborder Cladobranchia, shell-less marine gastropod molluscs.MolluscaBase (2018)Tritoniidae Lamarck, 1809.Accessed on 2021-01-01 This family includes some of the largest known nudibranchs, .... Distribution This species was described from the Mediterranean Sea. It is reported from the Atlantic Ocean as far north as the Bay of Biscay.Ballesteros, Manuel, Enric Madrenas, Miquel Pontes (2021''Marionia blainvillea'' in OPK-Opistobranquis.Published: 16/05/2012. Accessed: 15/01/2021. Juveniles of the species are white, as shown below. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q3849290 Tritoniidae Gastropods described in 1818 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Host (biology)
In biology and medicine, a host is a larger organism that harbours a smaller organism; whether a parasite, parasitic, a mutualism (biology), mutualistic, or a commensalism, commensalist ''guest'' (symbiont). The guest is typically provided with nourishment and shelter. Examples include animals playing host to parasitic worms (e.g. nematodes), cell (biology), cells harbouring pathogenic (disease-causing) viruses, a Fabaceae, bean plant hosting mutualistic (helpful) Rhizobia, nitrogen-fixing bacteria. More specifically in botany, a host plant supplies nutrient, food resources to micropredators, which have an evolutionarily stable strategy, evolutionarily stable relationship with their hosts similar to ectoparasitism. The host range is the collection of hosts that an organism can use as a partner. Symbiosis Symbiosis spans a wide variety of possible relationships between organisms, differing in their permanence and their effects on the two parties. If one of the partners in an ass ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alcyonium Coralloides
''Alcyonium coralloides'', commonly known as false coral, is a colonial species of soft coral in the family Alcyoniidae. It is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In the former location it generally grows as sheets or small lobes but in the latter it is parasitic and overgrows sea fans. Taxonomy This soft coral was first described in 1766 by the Russian naturalist Peter Simon Pallas who named it ''Parerythropodium coralloides''. It was later determined on the basis of its growth forms, the nature of its spicules (small skeletal elements) and the passages in its coenenchyme (the tissue uniting the polyps) that it should be included in the genus ''Alcyonium'' and it was renamed ''Alcyonium coralloides''. Distribution and habitat ''Alcyonium coralloides'' is plentiful in the Mediterranean Sea but less common on the Atlantic coast of Western Europe and in the English Channel. The northern limit of its range is Scotland. In the Atlantic Ocean, coloni ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Necrosis
Necrosis () is a form of cell injury which results in the premature death of cells in living tissue by autolysis. Necrosis is caused by factors external to the cell or tissue, such as infection, or trauma which result in the unregulated digestion of cell components. In contrast, apoptosis is a naturally occurring programmed and targeted cause of cellular death. While apoptosis often provides beneficial effects to the organism, necrosis is almost always detrimental and can be fatal. Cellular death due to necrosis does not follow the apoptotic signal transduction pathway, but rather various receptors are activated and result in the loss of cell membrane integrity and an uncontrolled release of products of cell death into the extracellular space. This initiates in the surrounding tissue an inflammatory response, which attracts leukocytes and nearby phagocytes which eliminate the dead cells by phagocytosis. However, microbial damaging substances released by leukocytes would crea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |