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Loligo Vulgaris Reynaudi
''Loligo reynaudii'', commonly known as the Cape Hope squid, is a 20–30 cm long squid belonging to the family Loliginidae. In South Africa it is known as either ''calamari'' or ''chokka''. It was previously treated as a subspecies of ''Loligo vulgaris'', the European squid.Vecchione, M. & R.E. Young. (2010)''Loligo reynaudii'' Orbigny 1845 The Tree of Life Web Project. Distribution It occurs in coastal South African waters from False Bay to Port Elizabeth and as far as Port Alfred. This species lives from sea level to depths of . Description This animal has an elongated slender body with eight short arms and two very long retractile tentacles, all of which have suckers. It has relatively long diamond-shaped fins, which run more than half the length of the mantle. Its mantle is up to long. Its eyes are covered with a membrane which is part of the skin covering the head. Ecology The South African squid is an important predator of small fishes. It forms dense breeding aggr ...
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Alcide D'Orbigny
Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny (6 September 1802 – 30 June 1857) was a French naturalist who made major contributions in many areas, including zoology (including malacology), palaeontology, geology, archaeology and anthropology. D'Orbigny was born in Couëron ( Loire-Atlantique), the son of a ship's physician and amateur naturalist. The family moved to La Rochelle in 1820, where his interest in natural history was developed while studying the marine fauna and especially the microscopic creatures that he named "foraminiferans". In Paris he became a disciple of the geologist Pierre Louis Antoine Cordier (1777–1861) and Georges Cuvier. All his life, he would follow the theory of Cuvier and stay opposed to Lamarckism. South American era D'Orbigny travelled on a mission for the Paris Museum, in South America between 1826 and 1833. He visited Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil, and returned to France with an ...
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Port Alfred
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manchester and Duluth; these access the sea via rivers or canals. Because of their roles as ports of entry for immigrants as well as soldiers in wartime, many port cities have experienced dramatic multi-ethnic and multicultural changes throughout their histories. Ports are extremely important to the global economy; 70% of global merchandise trade by value passes through a port. For this reason, ports are also often densely populated settlements that provide the labor for processing and handling goods and related services for the ports. Today by far the greatest growth in port development is in Asia, the continent with some of the world's largest and busiest ports, such as Singapore and the Chinese ports of Shanghai and Ningbo-Zh ...
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Cat Shark
Catsharks are ground sharks of the family Scyliorhinidae. They are the largest family of sharks with around 160 species placed in 17 genera. Although they are generally known as catsharks, some species can also be called dogfish due to previous naming. However, a dogfish may generally be distinguished from a catshark as catsharks lay eggs while dogfish have live young. Like most bottom feeders, catsharks feed on benthic invertebrates and smaller fish. They are not harmful to humans. The family is paraphyletic, containing several distinct lineages that do not form a monophyletic group. Genera The family includes 17 genera and over 150 species, making it the largest family of sharks. * '' Akheilos'' White, Fahmi & Weigmann, 2019 * ''Apristurus'' Garman, 1913 * ''Asymbolus'' Whitley, 1939 * ''Atelomycterus'' Garman, 1913 * ''Aulohalaelurus'' Fowler, 1934 * ''Bythaelurus'' Compagno, 1988 * ''Cephaloscyllium'' T. N. Gill, 1862 * ''Cephalurus'' Bigelow and Schroeder, 1941 * ' ...
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Cape Fur Seal
The brown fur seal (''Arctocephalus pusillus''), also known as the Cape fur seal, South African fur seal and Australian fur seal, is a species of fur seal. Description The brown fur seal is the largest and most robust member of the fur seals. It has a large and broad head with a pointed snout that may be flat or turned up slightly. They have external ear flaps (pinnae) and their whiskers (vibrissae) are long, and may extend backward past the pinnae, especially in adult males. The fore flippers are covered with sparse hair over about three-quarters of their length. The hind flippers are short relative to the large body, with short, fleshy tips on the digits. The size and weight of the brown fur seal depends on the subspecies. The Southern African subspecies is on average slightly larger than the Australian subspecies. Males of the African subspecies (''A. p. pusillus'') are in length on average and weigh . Females are smaller, averaging in length and typically weighing .King, ...
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Spotted Ragged-tooth Shark
The sand tiger shark (''Carcharias taurus''), gray nurse shark, spotted ragged-tooth shark or blue-nurse sand tiger, is a species of shark that inhabits subtropical and temperate waters worldwide. It inhabits the continental shelf, from sandy shorelines (hence the name sand tiger shark) and submerged reefs to a depth of around . They dwell in the waters of Japan, Australia, South Africa, and the east coasts of North and South America. The sand tiger shark also inhabited the Mediterranean, however it was last seen there in 2003 and is presumed extinct in the region. Despite its common names, it is not closely related to either the tiger shark (''Galeocerdo cuvier'') or the nurse shark (''Ginglymostoma cirratum''). Despite its fearsome appearance and strong swimming ability, it is a relatively placid and slow-moving shark with no confirmed human fatalities. This species has a sharp, pointy head, and a bulky body. The sand tiger's length can reach but is normally 2.2–2.5 m in leng ...
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Diamond Ray
The backwater butterfly ray, butterfly ray, diamond ray, or short-tailed ray (''Gymnura natalensis'') is a species of fish in the family Gymnuridae. It is found in Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, possibly Kenya, and possibly Tanzania. Its natural habitats are open seas, shallow seas, estuarine waters, and coastal saline lagoons. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby .... It was considered common from 1940s-1960s. References Gymnura Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Fish described in 1911 Taxa named by John Dow Fisher Gilchrist Taxa named by William Wardlaw Thompson {{Rajiformes-stub ...
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Short-tail Stingray
The short-tail stingray or smooth stingray (''Bathytoshia brevicaudata'') is a common species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae. It occurs off southern Africa, typically offshore at a depth of , and off southern Australia and New Zealand, from the intertidal zone to a depth of . It is mostly bottom-dwelling in nature and can be found across a range of habitats from estuaries to reefs, but also frequently will swim into open water. One of the largest stingrays in the world, this heavy-bodied species can grow upwards of across and in weight. Its plain-colored, diamond-shaped pectoral fin disc is characterized by a lack of dermal denticles even in adults, and white pores beside the head on either side. The body can have colors as well as dark grey or black with rows of white spots along each wing. Its tail is usually shorter than the disc and thick at the base. It is armed with large tubercles and a midline row of large thorns in front of the stinging spine which has the dorsal ...
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Mantle (mollusc)
The mantle (also known by the Latin word pallium meaning mantle, robe or cloak, adjective pallial) is a significant part of the anatomy of molluscs: it is the dorsal body wall which covers the visceral mass and usually protrudes in the form of flaps well beyond the visceral mass itself. In many species of molluscs the epidermis of the mantle secretes calcium carbonate and conchiolin, and creates a shell. In sea slugs there is a progressive loss of the shell and the mantle becomes the dorsal surface of the animal. The words mantle and pallium both originally meant cloak or cape, see mantle (vesture). This anatomical structure in molluscs often resembles a cloak because in many groups the edges of the mantle, usually referred to as the ''mantle margin'', extend far beyond the main part of the body, forming flaps, double-layered structures which have been adapted for many different uses, including for example, the siphon. Mantle cavity The ''mantle cavity'' is a central fea ...
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Port Elizabeth
Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa's second-largest metropolitan district by area size. It is the sixth-most populous city in South Africa and is the cultural, economic and financial centre of the Eastern Cape. The city was founded as Port Elizabeth in 1820 by Sir Rufane Donkin, who was the governor of the Cape at the time. He named it after his late wife, Elizabeth, who had died in India. The Donkin memorial in the CBD of the city bears testament to this. Port Elizabeth was established by the government of the Cape Colony when 4,000 British colonists settled in Algoa Bay to strengthen the border region between the Cape Colony and the Xhosa. It is nicknamed "The Friendly City" or "The Windy City". In 2019, the Eastern Cape Geographical Names Committee recommended ...
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Squid
True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting these criteria. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, and a mantle. They are mainly soft-bodied, like octopuses, but have a small internal skeleton in the form of a rod-like gladius (cephalopod), gladius or pen, made of chitin. Squid diverged from other cephalopods during the Jurassic and occupy a similar role to teleost fish as open water predators of similar size and behaviour. They play an important role in the open water food web. The two long tentacles are used to grab prey and the eight arms to hold and control it. The beak then cuts the food into suitable size chunks for swallowing. Squid are rapid swimmers, moving by Aquatic locomotion#Jet propulsion, jet propulsion, and largely locate their ...
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False Bay
False Bay (Afrikaans ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarcated by Cape Point to the west and Cape Hangklip to the east. The north side of the bay is the low-lying Cape Flats, and the east side is the foot of the Hottentots Holland Mountains to Cape Hangklip which is at nearly the same latitude as Cape Point. In plan the bay is approximately square, being roughly the same extent from north to south as east to west, with the southern side open to the ocean. The seabed slopes gradually down from north to south, and is mostly fairly flat unconsolidated sediments. Much of the bay is off the coast of the City of Cape Town, and it includes part of the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area and the whole of the Helderberg Marine Protected Area. The name "False Bay" was applied at least three hu ...
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List Of Marine Molluscs Of South Africa
The list of marine molluscs of South Africa is a list of saltwater species that form a part of the molluscan fauna of South Africa. This list does not include the land or freshwater molluscs. Gastropoda See List of marine gastropods of South Africa Bivalvia Bivalves in South Africa include: Nuculidae *'' Nucula nucleus'' Linnaeus, 1758 Mytilidae – Mussels *Estuarine mussel '' Arcuatula capensis'' (Cape Agulhas to Mozambique)Branch, G.M. Griffiths, C.L. Branch, M.L. Beckley, L.E. ''Two Oceans: A guide to the marine life of southern Africa.'' 5th impression, David Philip, Cape Town, 2000. *Ribbed mussel '' Aulacomya ater'' (Namibia to Eastern Cape)Jones, Georgina. ''A field guide to the marine animals of the Cape Peninsula.'' SURG, Cape Town, 2008. *Brack-water mussel '' Brachidontes virgiliae'' (Eastern Cape to Mozambique) *Semistriated mussel '' Brachidontes semistriatus'' (Port Elizabeth to Mozambique) *Black mussel '' Choromytilus meridionalis'' (Namibia to Tsitsikamma) ...
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