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Formiche Di Grosseto
The Formiche di Grosseto ("Ants of Grosseto") is a group of islets which emerge sharply in the Tuscan Archipelago. They are located in open sea among the coast of the Natural Park of Maremma and Pianosa, approximately from Porto Santo Stefano on Monte Argentario and from Marina di Grosseto; they are part of the ''comune'' of Grosseto and are placed in a nature reserve which makes part of a special protection area. Description The ''Formiche di Grosseto'' are three islets named, according to their dimensions, ''Formichino'', ''Formica Media'' and ''Formica Grande'' which develop a total surface of about 120,000 square metres which extend lined up from north-west to south-east over one mile. ''Formichino'' is the smallest and is formed by two skerries, is the southernmost and has an area of only 20 square metres. ''Formica Media'' is a long narrow strip of rock that continues under water situated on a shoal. ''Formica Grande'' is the largest, has a rhomboidal shape, it is 370 m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. Geography The sea is bounded by the islands of Corsica and Sardinia (to the west), the Italian Peninsula (regions of Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata, and Calabria) to the north and east, and the island of Sicily (to the south). The Tyrrhenian Sea also includes a number of smaller islands like Capri, Elba, Ischia, and Ustica. The maximum depth of the sea is . The Tyrrhenian Sea is situated near where the African and Eurasian Plates meet; therefore mountain chains and active volcanoes such as Mount Marsili are found in its depths. The eight Aeolian Islands and Ustica are located in the southern part of the sea, north of Sicily. Extent The International Hydrographic Organization define ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special Protection Area
A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certain particularly threatened birds. Together with Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), the SPAs form a network of protected sites across the EU, called Natura 2000. Each SPA has an EU code – for example the North Norfolk Coast SPA has the code ''UK9009031''. In the United Kingdom As at 21 September 2006, there were 252 classified SPAs and 12 proposed SPAs in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Conservation (Natural Habitats etc.) Regulations 1994 implement the terms of the Directive in Scotland, England and Wales. In Great Britain, SPAs (and SACs) designated on land or in the intertidal area are normally also notified as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), and in Northern Ireland as Areas of Special Scientific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palinurus Elephas
''Palinurus elephas'' is a commonly caught species of spiny lobster from the East Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Its common names include European spiny lobster, crayfish or cray (in Ireland), crawfish (in England), common spiny lobster, Mediterranean lobster and red lobster. Distribution and habitat ''Palinurus elephas'' is a common species of spiny lobster, found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from southern Norway to Morocco and the Azores, and in the Mediterranean Sea, except its eastern extremes. It lives on rocky exposed coasts below the intertidal zone, mainly at depths of . It is named after the ancient Roman Tyrrhenian sea port of Palinurus (modern day Palinuro, Campania, Italy) where they are found in abundance off its promontory. Description ''P. elephas'' may reach up to long, although rarely longer than , and usually . Few achieve their maximum weight of several kilograms. The adults are reddish-brown with yellow spots. The carapace is slightly compr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homarus
''Homarus'' is a genus of lobsters, which include the common and commercially significant species ''Homarus americanus'' (the American lobster) and ''Homarus gammarus'' (the European lobster). The Cape lobster, which was formerly in this genus as ''H. capensis'', was moved in 1995 to the new genus ''Homarinus''. Description ''Homarus'' is one of three extant genera of clawed lobsters to show dimorphism between claws – a specialisation into a crushing claw and a cutting claw. The other similar genera are '' Nephrops'', which is much more slender, and has grooves along the claws and the abdomen, and ''Homarinus'', the Cape lobster from South Africa, which is even smaller, and has hairy claws. tp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/t0411e/t0411e09.pdf Subfamily Nephropinae Dana, 1852 pp. 51–86 in Holthuis (1991). While analyses of morphology suggest a close relationship between ''Homarinus'' and ''Homarus'', molecular analyses using mitochondrial DNA reveal that they are not sister ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muraena
''Muraena'' is a genus of twelve species of large eels in the family Muraenidae. This genus is common in the Mediterranean, and is abundantly represented in tropical and subtropical seas, especially in rocky parts or on coral reefs. In the majority, a long fin runs from the head along the back, round the tail to the vent, but all are destitute of pectoral and ventral fins. The skin is scaleless and smooth, in many species ornamented with varied and bright colours. The mouth is wide, the jaws strong and armed with formidable, generally sharply pointed, teeth, which enable the ''Muraena'' not only to seize its prey (which chiefly consists of other fishes) but also to inflict serious, and sometimes dangerous, wounds on its enemies. It attacks persons who approach its places of concealment in shallow water, and is feared by fishermen. At least one species, ''Muraena retifera'', possesses an additional "raptorial pharyngeal jaw" within the pharynx, which is mobile and can be thrust f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Conger
The European conger (''Conger conger'') is a species of conger of the family Congridae. It is the heaviest eel in the world and native to the northeast Atlantic, including the Mediterranean Sea. Description and behavior European congers have an average adult length of , a maximum known length of around (possibly up to for the largest specimens), and maximum weight of roughly , making them the largest eels in the world by weight. They can be rivaled or marginally exceeded in length by the largest species of moray eel but these tend to be slenderer and thus weigh less than the larger congers. Average specimens caught will weigh only . Females, with an average length at sexual maturity of , are much larger than males, with an average length at sexual maturity of . The body is very long, anguilliform, without scales. The colour is usually grey, but can also be blackish. The belly is white. A row of small white spots is aligned along the lateral line. The head is almost conical, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diplodus
''Diplodus'' is a genus of fish in the family Sparidae, found in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Species There are currently 23 recognized species in this genus: * '' Diplodus annularis'' (Linnaeus, 1758) (Annular seabream) * '' Diplodus argenteus'' (Valenciennes, 1830) (Silver seabream) * '' Diplodus ascensionis'' (Valenciennes, 1830) * '' Diplodus bellottii'' (Steindachner, 1882) (Senegal seabream) * '' Diplodus bermudensis'' D. K. Caldwell, 1965 (Bermuda seabream) * '' Diplodus cadenati'' de la Paz, Bauchot & Daget, 1974 (Moroccan white seabream) * '' Diplodus capensis'' ( A. Smith, 1844) (Cape white seabream) * '' Diplodus caudimacula'' ( Poey, 1860) * ''Diplodus cervinus'' ( R. T. Lowe, 1838) (Zebra seabream) * '' Diplodus fasciatus'' (Valenciennes, 1830) (Banded seabream) * '' Diplodus helenae'' ( Sauvage, 1879) (St. Helena white seabream) * '' Diplodus holbrookii'' ( T. H. Bean, 1878) (Spot-tail seabream) * '' Diplodus hottentotus'' ( A. Smith, 1844) * '' Diplodus ko ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epinephelus Marginatus
''Epinephelus marginatus'' (), the dusky grouper, yellowbelly rock cod or yellowbelly grouper, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. This species is the best known grouper species of the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa coast. Description ''Epinephelus marginatus'' is a very large, oval-bodied and large-headed fish with a wide mouth which has a protruding lower jaw. The head and upper body are coloured dark reddish brown or greyish, usually with yellowish gold countershading on the ventral surfaces; the base colour is marked by a vertical series of irregular pale greenish yellow or silvery grey or whitish blotching which is normally rather conspicuous on the body and head; the black maxillary streak varies in its markedness; dark brown median fins; distal edges of the anal and caudal fins and also often pectoral fins have narrow white terminal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sabella Spallanzanii
''Sabella spallanzanii'' is a species of marine polychaete worms in the family Sabellidae. Common names include the Mediterranean fanworm, the feather duster worm, the European fan worm and the pencil worm.Branch, G.M.; Branch, M.L.; Griffiths, C.L.; Beckley, L.E. 2010. ''Two Oceans: a guide to the marine life of southern Africa'' It is native to shallow waters in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It has spread to various other parts of the world and is included on the Global Invasive Species Database. The species' name commemorates the 18th-century biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani. Description European fan worms grow to a total length of and are usually larger in deep water. They have stiff, sandy tubes formed from hardened mucus secreted by the worm which protrude from the sand, and a two-layered crown of feeding tentacles which can be retracted into the tube. One of the layers forms a distinct spiral. The colour of the tentacles is variable but they a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorgoniidae
Gorgoniidae is a family of soft corals, a member of the subclass Octocorallia in the phylum Cnidaria. Nearly all the genera and species are native to the east and west coasts of America. Characteristics Originally the members of the family Gorgoniidae included a much wider range of genera than it does now and was used for all of the horny Octocorallia. Now it is restricted to those species where the "calcareous spicules are less than 0.3 mm. in length, sculptured with regularly disposed girdles of complicated tubercles ('warts'), the anthocodiae are relatively unarmed, at most with but a few characteristically shaped flat rods en chevron beneath each tentacle, the horny axial cylinder is weakly loculated if at all, and is perforated by a relatively narrow, chambered central chord, and in which the branchlets are usually quite slender, with a thin cortex.''" The polyps are retractable and the stems have an axis of the protein gorgonin surrounding a narrow, hollow, cross-c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sponges
Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through them, consisting of jelly-like mesohyl sandwiched between two thin layers of cells. Sponges have unspecialized cells that can transform into other types and that often migrate between the main cell layers and the mesohyl in the process. Sponges do not have nervous, digestive or circulatory systems. Instead, most rely on maintaining a constant water flow through their bodies to obtain food and oxygen and to remove wastes. Sponges were first to branch off the evolutionary tree from the last common ancestor of all animals, making them the sister group of all other animals. Etymology The term ''sponge'' derives from the Ancient Greek word ( 'sponge'). Overview Sponges are similar to other animals in that they are multicellular, h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seabed
The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of the ocean is very deep, where the seabed is known as the abyssal plain. Seafloor spreading creates mid-ocean ridges along the center line of major ocean basins, where the seabed is slightly shallower than the surrounding abyssal plain. From the abyssal plain, the seabed slopes upward toward the continents and becomes, in order from deep to shallow, the continental rise, slope, and shelf. The depth within the seabed itself, such as the depth down through a sediment core, is known as the “depth below seafloor.” The ecological environment of the seabed and the deepest waters are collectively known, as a habitat for creatures, as the “benthos.” Most of the seabed throughout the world's oceans is covered in layers of marine sediments. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
