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Melithaea Rubra
The multicoloured sea fan (''Melithaea rubra)'' is a species of gorgonian sea fan in the family Melithaeidae. Description The sea fan colony grows up to about 30 cm high, with branches of between 2 and 4 mm. It is bushy with thin cylindrical branches which are often tangled or joined. The polyps emerge from knobs on the surface of the colony. It is variably coloured, with the colony being red, yellow, white or pink, and the individual polyps being white, yellow or red.Branch, G.M., Branch, M.L, Griffiths, C.L. and Beckley, L.E. 2010. ''Two Oceans: a guide to the marine life of southern Africa'' Distribution This sea fan is found only around the South African coast from Bloubergstrand to East London in 10–30 m of water. It is endemic to this region. Ecology These sea fans are found on vertical surfaces on reefs and under overhangs, usually orientated perpendicularly to the water flow. It may grow in assemblages with sponges, bryozoans or tunicate A tunic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature, also sometimes i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family (biology)
Family ( la, familia, plural ') is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". What belongs to a family—or if a described family should be recognized at all—are proposed and determined by practicing taxonomists. There are no hard rules for describing or recognizing a family, but in plants, they can be characterized on the basis of both vegetative and reproductive features of plant species. Taxonomists often take different positions about descriptions, and there may be no broad consensus across the scientific community for some time. The publishing of new data and opini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melithaeidae
''Melithaeidae'' is a family of corals in the suborder Scleraxonia. Members of the family are commonly known as sea fans and are found on reefs in the tropical regions of the Indo-Pacific.Family Melithaeidae Marine Species Identification Portal. Retrieved 2012-02-22. Description Members of the family Melithaeidae are arborescent corals forming fans, bushes or trees. The axis or main skeletal "trunk" is jointed, there being nodes, flexible horny joints, separated by internodes composed of hard, calcareous material. The branches divide dichotomously at the nodes and these are often swollen. The minute calcareous spicul ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyp (zoology)
A polyp in zoology is one of two forms found in the phylum Cnidaria, the other being the medusa. Polyps are roughly cylindrical in shape and elongated at the axis of the vase-shaped body. In solitary polyps, the aboral (opposite to oral) end is attached to the substrate by means of a disc-like holdfast called a pedal disc, while in colonies of polyps it is connected to other polyps, either directly or indirectly. The oral end contains the mouth, and is surrounded by a circlet of tentacles. Classes In the class Anthozoa, comprising the sea anemones and corals, the individual is always a polyp; in the class Hydrozoa, however, the individual may be either a polyp or a medusa, with most species undergoing a life cycle with both a polyp stage and a medusa stage. In class Scyphozoa, the medusa stage is dominant, and the polyp stage may or may not be present, depending on the family. In those scyphozoans that have the larval planula metamorphose into a polyp, the polyp, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloubergstrand
Bloubergstrand is a seaside suburb of the City of Cape Town, South Africa, along the shores of Table Bay, due north of the city centre of Cape Town. The name Bloubergstrand literally means "blue mountain beach" in Afrikaans, and is derived from ''Blaauwberg'' (), a nearby hill. Bloubergstrand is mainly a residential area, and attracts large numbers of visitors especially kitesurf enthusiasts. The beach at Bloubergstrand is a popular location for a classic view of Table Mountain across the bay and is one of the world's top kitesurf destinations. Robben Island is located west of the coast of Bloubergstrand. History "Harry die Strandloper", or Hadah, was the leader of the Goringhaikonas, who were the first people documented to live in Bloubergstrand. Hadah, whose original name was Autshumao, was taken to Java in 1629 by the captain of the ship ''London'' to be taught English. Because of his entrusted duties to deliver letters to the British seafaring community, he became the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can be also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or in scientific literature as an ''endemite''. For example '' Cytisus aeolicus'' is an endemite of the Italian flora. '' Adzharia renschi'' was once believed to be an endemite of the Caucasus, but it was later discovered to be a non-indigenous species from South America belonging to a different genus. The extreme opposite of an endemic species is one with a cosmopolitan distribution, having a global or widespread range. A rare alternative term for a species that is endemic is "precinctive", which applies to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sponge
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, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Phyllodesmium Horridum
''Phyllodesmium horridum'', the coral nudibranch, is a species of sea slug, specifically an aeolid nudibranch. It is a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae. Distribution This species is found around the South African coast from False Bay to Sodwana Bay, intertidally to at least 30 m.Gosliner T. M. (1987). ''Nudibranchs of Southern Africa'' It has been erroneously reported from Australia and Japan due to confusion with '' Phyllodesmium serratum''. Description Around the South African coast, the coral nudibranch is typically between 30 and 40 mmBranch, G.M., Branch, M.L, Griffiths, C.L. and Beckley, L.E. 2010. ''Two Oceans: a guide to the marine life of southern Africa'' in total length. It is a slender pale-bodied aeolid with long paired pinkish cerata. The cerata have a bluish-white stripe running down their length, as does the body. The rhinophores are smooth. This species contains no zooxanthellae. Ecology ''Phyllodesmium horridum'' feeds on sea fans ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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