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Naucrates Ductor
The pilot fish (''Naucrates ductor'') is a carnivorous fish of the trevally, or jackfish family, Carangidae. It is widely distributed and lives in warm or tropical open seas. Description The pilot fish congregates around sharks, rays, and sea turtles, where it eats ectoparasites on, and leftovers around the host species; younger pilot fish are usually associated with jellyfish and drifting seaweeds. They are also known to follow ships, sometimes for long distances; one was found in County Cork, Ireland, and many pilot fish have been sighted on the shores of England. Their fondness for ships led the ancients to believe that they would navigate a ship to its desired course. The pilot fish's color is between dark blue and blackish-silver, with the belly being lighter in color.Eschmeyer & Herald 1999, p. 208. The pilot fish is also known to have a temporary variation of color when excited; its dark-colored bars disappear, and its body turns silvery-white, with three broad blu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; October 22, 1783September 18, 1840) was a French 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ultimately settling in Ohio in 1815, where he made notable contributions to botany, zoology, and the study of Mound builder (people), prehistoric earthworks in North America. He also contributed to the study of ancient Mesoamerican languages, Mesoamerican linguistics, in addition to work he had already completed in Europe. Rafinesque was an eccentric and erratic genius. He was an autodidact, who excelled in various fields of knowledge, as a zoologist, botanist, writer and Polyglot (person), polyglot. He wrote prolifically on such diverse topics as anthropology, biology, geology, and linguistics, but was honored in none of these fields during his lifetime. Indeed, he was an outcast in the American scientific community whose submissions were reject ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
