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Lithophaga Simplex
''Lithophaga simplex'' is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae. It is a boring species, tunnelling into living coral colonies. It can be found in the tropical western central Pacific Ocean. Description ''Lithophaga simplex'' is one of the smaller members of its genus. The shell grows to a maximum length of and a width of . It is narrow and cylindrical, tapering slightly at the posterior end, with the umbo near the anterior end. Both ends are rounded and the hinge line is straight. The periostracum is yellowish and covered by a chalky crust. This mollusc can be distinguished from other similar species by its inflated shell and by the dark siphon. Ecology ''Lithophaga simplex'' bores into living colonies of coral. In the Red Sea it is commonly found in the massive coral ''Astreopora myriophthalma''. The mollusc was at one time considered to be a parasite of the coral because its tunnelling activities weakened the coral structure and made it more liable to suffe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Iredale
Tom Iredale (24 March 1880 – 12 April 1972) was an English-born ornithologist and malacologist who had a long association with Australia, where he lived for most of his life. He was an Autodidacticism, autodidact who never went to university and lacked formal training. This was reflected in his later work; he never revised his manuscripts and never used a typewriter. Early life Iredale was born at Stainburn, Workington in Cumberland, England. He was apprenticed to a pharmacist from 1899 to 1901, and used to go bird watching and egg collecting in the Lake District with fellow chemist William Carruthers Lawrie. New Zealand Iredale emigrated to New Zealand following medical advice, as he had health issues. He may possibly have had tuberculosis. According to a letter to Will Lawrie dated 25 January 1902, he arrived in Wellington, New Zealand in December 1901, and travelled at once on to Lyttelton, New Zealand, Lyttelton and Christchurch. On his second day in Christchurch, he dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mutualism (biology)
Mutualism describes the ecological interaction between two or more species where each species has a net benefit. Mutualism is a common type of ecological interaction. Prominent examples include most vascular plants engaged in mutualistic interactions with mycorrhizae, flowering plants being pollinated by animals, vascular plants being dispersed by animals, and corals with zooxanthellae, among many others. Mutualism can be contrasted with interspecific competition, in which each species experiences ''reduced'' fitness, and exploitation, or parasitism, in which one species benefits at the expense of the other. The term ''mutualism'' was introduced by Pierre-Joseph van Beneden in his 1876 book ''Animal Parasites and Messmates'' to mean "mutual aid among species". Mutualism is often conflated with two other types of ecological phenomena: cooperation and symbiosis. Cooperation most commonly refers to increases in fitness through within-species (intraspecific) interactions, althoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithophaga
''Lithophaga'', the date mussels, are a genus of medium-sized marine bivalve molluscs in the family Mytilidae. Some of the earliest fossil ''Lithophaga'' shells have been found in Mesozoic rocks from the Alps and from Vancouver Island.Ludvigsen, Rolf & Beard, Graham. 1997. West Coast Fossils: A Guide to the Ancient Life of Vancouver Island. pg. 102Kleemann, K.H., 1994. Mytilid bivalve ''Lithophaga'' in Upper Triassic coral ''Pamiroseris'' from Zlambach Beds compared with Cretaceous ''Lithophaga alpina''. Facies 30, 151-154. The shells of species in this genus are long and narrow with parallel sides. The animals bore into stone or coral rock with the help of pallial gland secretions,"integument (mollusks)."Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD hence the systematic name ''Lithophaga'', which means "stone-eater". Their club-shaped borings are given the trace fossil name ''Gastrochaenolites''. Species Species within the genus ''Li ... [...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 transformation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Veliger
A veliger is the planktonic larva of many kinds of sea snails and freshwater snails, as well as most bivalve molluscs (clams) and tusk shells. Description The veliger is the characteristic larva of the gastropod, bivalve and scaphopod taxonomic classes. It is produced following either the embryonic or trochophore larval stage of development. In bivalves the veliger is sometimes referred to as a D-stage (early in its development) or pediveliger (late in its development) larva. This stage in the life history of these groups is a free-living planktonic organism; this mode of life potentially enhances dispersal to new regions far removed from the adult mollusks that produced the larvae. The general structure of the veliger includes a shell that surrounds the visceral organs of the larva (e.g., digestive tract, much of the nervous system, excretory organs) and a ciliated velum that extends beyond the shell as a single or multi-lobed structure used for swimming and particula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Moon
In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. The original meaning of the term 'new moon', which is still sometimes used in calendrical, non-astronomical contexts, is the first visible crescent of the Moon after conjunction with the Sun. This thin waxing crescent is briefly and faintly visible as the Moon gets lower in the western sky after sunset. The precise time and even the date of the appearance of the new moon by this definition will be influenced by the geographical location of the observer. The first crescent marks the beginning of the month in the Islamic calendar and in some lunisolar calendars such as the Hebrew calendar. In the Chinese calendar, the beginning of the month is marked by the last visible crescent of a waning Moon. The astronomical new moon occurs by defini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plesiastrea Versipora
''Plesiastrea versipora'' is an encrusting coral found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is of interest because of its ability to thrive in both tropical and temperate environments, and to grow massive. Existing massive colonies of ''P. versipora'' can be long lived, and so analysis of their internal composition allows deducing the climatic records of past decades and centuries, at localities where the corals grow. Being the only coral genus in temperate waters that is capable of growing massive (up to a metre in thickness), ''P. versipora'' is a valuable indicator of climatic records of temperate seas. ''Plesiastrea versipora'' is also a model for communication between corals and their zooxanthellae. The substances that communicate to the symbiont are host-generated soluble compounds which can either signal the release of photosynthetic products (mainly glycerol) by the zooxanthellae, or can inhibit photosynthesis. This phenomenon may potentially be generalised to other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goniastrea Pectinata
''Goniastrea'' is a genus of stony corals in the family Merulinidae. Species belonging to the genus ''Goniastrea'' forms massive colonies, usually spherical or elongate, with well developed paliform lobes. Polyps can be seen only at night. Species The following species are currently recognized by the World Register of Marine Species : * ''Goniastrea columella'' Crossland, 1948 * ''Goniastrea edwardsi'' Chevalier, 1971 * ''Goniastrea favulus'' (Dana, 1846) * ''Goniastrea minuta'' Veron, 2002 * ''Goniastrea pectinata'' (Ehrenberg, 1834) * ''Goniastrea ramosa'' Veron, 2002 * ''Goniastrea retiformis'' (Lamarck, 1816) * ''Goniastrea stelligera'' (Dana, 1846) * ''Goniastrea thecata ''Goniastrea'' is a genus of stony corals in the family Merulinidae. Species belonging to the genus ''Goniastrea'' forms massive colonies, usually spherical or elongate, with well developed paliform lobes. Polyps can be seen only at night. Spe ...'' Veron, DeVantier & Turak, 2002 Reference ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Ammonium
The ammonium cation is a positively-charged polyatomic ion with the chemical formula or . It is formed by the protonation of ammonia (). Ammonium is also a general name for positively charged or protonated substituted amines and quaternary ammonium cations (), where one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced by organic groups (indicated by R). Acid–base properties The ammonium ion is generated when ammonia, a weak base, reacts with Brønsted acids (proton donors): :H+ + NH3 -> H4 The ammonium ion is mildly acidic, reacting with Brønsted bases to return to the uncharged ammonia molecule: : H4 + B- -> HB + NH3 Thus, treatment of concentrated solutions of ammonium salts with strong base gives ammonia. When ammonia is dissolved in water, a tiny amount of it converts to ammonium ions: :H2O + NH3 OH- + H4 The degree to which ammonia forms the ammonium ion depends on the pH of the solution. If the pH is low, the equilibrium shifts to the right: more ammonia molecules are co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bivalvia
Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estim ... that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bivalves have no head and they lack some usual molluscan organs, like the radula and the odontophore. They include the clams, oysters, Cockle (bivalve), cockles, mussels, scallops, and numerous other family (biology), families that live in saltwater, as well as a number of families that live in freshwater. The majority are filter feeders. The gills have evolved into Ctenidium (mollusc), ctenidia, specialised organs for feeding and breathing. Most bivalves bury themselves in sediment, where they a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astreopora Myriophthalma
''Astreopora myriophthalma'', sometimes known as porous star coral, is a species of hard coral found in shallow water in the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is a common species with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern". Description ''A. myriophthalma'' is a colonial species which forms massive hemispherical or boulder-shaped colonies. The corallites are conical and evenly distributed over the surface; each has a circular, upright or outwardly-pointing opening. The colour of this coral varies but may be plain or mottled and cream, yellow or brownish-blue. It is similar in appearance to '' Astreopora gracilis'' and '' Astreopora listeri''. Distribution and habitat ''A. myriophthalma'' has a wide distribution in the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its range extends from East Africa and the Red Sea through Indonesia and northern Australia to Japan, the Philippines and various P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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