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Novodinia Antillensis
''Novodinia antillensis'', the velcro sea star, is a species of starfish in the family Brisingidae. It is found in the deep sea in the tropical and subtropical western Atlantic Ocean, being quite common at a depth of around on the Mesoamerican Reef off Roatán, Honduras. Description This starfish has ten to fourteen long tapering arms with distinctive large eyespots on the tips. These are each composed of about a hundred complex ocelli; on close examination these structures were found to be virtually devoid of sensory structures and may be non-functional. The disc and arms of this starfish are clad in spines, themselves armed with pedicellariae (small claw or wrench-shaped organs). Ecology ''Novodinia antillensis'' perches on the branches of arboreal deep water corals, extending its arms into the water column to catch small crustaceans drifting past. The arms form a feeding fan, the pedicellariae grasp and secure the prey, and the arms form loops that surround the food item and ...
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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 ...
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Alfonsino
The alfonsino (''Beryx decadactylus''), also known as the alfonsin, longfinned beryx, red bream, or imperador, is a species of deepwater berycid fish of the order Beryciformes. It can be found in temperate and subtropical ocean waters nearly worldwide, though it is uncommon. It is typically associated with deep-sea corals, and schools are known to form over seamounts. Adults are demersal and search for prey along the ocean floor, primarily fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans. Like other members of its family, it is remarkably long-lived, with individuals reaching ages of up to 69 years, and possibly longer. It can reach sizes of up to in length and in weight and is targeted by commercial fisheries. Its low reproductive rate and the time it takes for juveniles to mature make it vulnerable to expanding deep-sea fisheries, but it is listed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) due to its extensive range. Taxonomy and phylogeny The first sci ...
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Brisingida
The Brisingids are deep-sea-dwelling starfish in the order Brisingida. Description These starfish have between 6 to 18 long, attenuated arms which they use for suspension feeding. Other characteristics include a single series of marginals, a fused ring of disc plates, the lack of actinal plates, a spool-like ambulacral column, reduced abactinal plates, and crossed pedicellariae. They are 40 times the size of disk radius and have 7-20 flexible spiny arms. Distribution Brisingida occur in a number of deep-sea locations, particularly in the Caribbean and New Zealand. This type of species are found of varying size especially in the eastern Pacific Ocean at a depth of 1,820–2,418 m. Taxonomy The Brisingida contain two families, with 18 genera: *Family Brisingidae, G.O. Sars, 1875 **Genus ''Astrolirus'', Fisher, 1917 — (two species) **Genus '' Astrostephane'', Fisher, 1917 — (two species) **Genus ''Brisinga'' Asbjørnsen, 1856 (synonym: ''Craterobrisinga'', Fisher, 1916) — ...
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Saponin
Saponins (Latin "sapon", soap + "-in", one of), also selectively referred to as triterpene glycosides, are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived organic chemicals that have a foamy quality when agitated in water. They are widely distributed but found particularly in soapwort (genus Saponaria), a flowering plant, the soapbark tree (''Quillaja saponaria'') and soybeans (''Glycine max'' L.). They are used in soaps, medicinals, fire extinguishers, speciously as dietary supplements, for synthesis of steroids, and in carbonated beverages (the head on a mug of root beer). Structurally, they are glycosides, sugars bonded to another organic molecule, usually a steroid or triterpene, a steroid building block. Saponins are both water and fat soluble, which gives them their useful soap properties. Some examples of these chemicals are glycyrrhizin, licorice flavoring; and quillaia (alt. quillaja), a bark extract used in beverages. Uses The saponins are a subclass of terpenoids, the larges ...
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Blackbelly Rosefish
''Helicolenus dactylopterus'', blackbelly rosefish, bluemouth rockfish, and bluemouth seaperch, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae which is classified within the family Scorpaenidae. This Atlantic species is a typical sit-and-wait predator with a highly cryptic coloration. Taxonomy ''Helicolenus dactylopterus'' Was first formally described in 1809 as ''Scorpaena dactyloptera'' by the Genevan naturalist François-Étienne de La Roche with the type locality given as Ibiza in the Balearic Islands. When George Brown Goode and Tarleton Hoffman Bean described the genus ''Helicolenus'' in 1896 they designated this species as its type species. The specific name is a compound of ''dactylos'' which means “finger” and ''pterus'' meaning “finned”, an allusion to the lower rays of the pectoral fin, which have tendril-like tips which extend beyond the fin membrane. Distribution ''Helicolenus dactylopterus'' is widely distributed in the A ...
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Laemonema Barbatulum
The short beard codling (''Laemonema barbatulum'') is a species of marine bony fish in the family Moridae. Native to the western Atlantic Ocean, it is found on the continental slope at depths between . Description The shortbeard codling can grow to a maximum standard length of about and takes the form of a somewhat spindle-shaped cylinder. The snout is fairly blunt and the upper jaw is slightly longer than the lower jaw. There is a short barbel on the chin and a flattened spine on the operculum. There are two dorsal fins with no spines and a total of from 69 to 76 soft rays. The first dorsal fin has 6 rays, the second of which is the longest, and the second dorsal fin originates immediately behind the first fin. Each pectoral fin has 17 to 23 soft rays. The pelvic fins are widely separated and each has two elongated soft rays; these fins originate to the front of the pectoral fins. The anal fin has no spines and has 57 to 63 soft rays. The caudal fin is small and rounded. The ge ...
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Seamount
A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abruptly and are usually found rising from the seafloor to in height. They are defined by oceanographers as independent features that rise to at least above the seafloor, characteristically of conical form.IHO, 2008. Standardization of Undersea Feature Names: Guidelines Proposal form Terminology, 4th ed. International Hydrographic Organization and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Monaco. The peaks are often found hundreds to thousands of meters below the surface, and are therefore considered to be within the deep sea. During their evolution over geologic time, the largest seamounts may reach the sea surface where wave action erodes the summit to form a flat surface. After they have subsided and sunk below the sea surface such flat ...
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Eumunida Picta
''Eumunida picta'' is a species of squat lobster found in the deep sea. The species is strongly associated with reefs of ''Lophelia pertusa'', a deep-water coral, and with methane seeps. It is abundant in the western Atlantic Ocean, where it is found from Massachusetts to Colombia. Description ''E. picta'' has a shrimp-like body, the carapace being about as wide as it is long, tapering at the front to the long rostrum. There are five spines on the rostrum above the eye and other spines on the sides of the carapace. The chelipeds are long and slender, about four times as long as the carapace. The pereiopods are also elongated and both are armed with many spines. This squat lobster is an orange-red colour with white-tipped legs and chelae, pinkish lateral carapace spines and a paler ventral surface. Distribution and habitat The species is found in the Western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It lives in deep water, often in association with cold seeps an ...
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Sea Urchin
Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of sea urchins are round and spiny, ranging in diameter from . Sea urchins move slowly, crawling with tube feet, and also propel themselves with their spines. Although algae are the primary diet, sea urchins also eat slow-moving (sessile) animals. Predators that eat sea urchins include a wide variety of fish, starfish, crabs, marine mammals. Sea urchins are also used as food especially in Japan. Adult sea urchins have fivefold symmetry, but their pluteus larvae feature bilateral (mirror) symmetry, indicating that the sea urchin belongs to the Bilateria group of animal phyla, which also comprises the chordates and the arthropods, the annelids and the molluscs, and are found in every ocean and in every climate, from the tropics to the pol ...
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American Conger
The American conger (''Conger oceanicus'') is a species of eel in the family Congridae. Other common names for this fish include conger, dog eel, poison eel and sea eel. It is a marine fish with a widespread distribution in the Western Atlantic from Cape Cod in Massachusetts to northeastern Florida in United States and the northern Gulf of Mexico, and is also reported from near the mid-Atlantic island of St. Helena and off the coast of Nova Scotia in Canada. Dark grayish color, it can grow to about long and weigh more than . Description The American conger is a large, elongated, cylindrical fish growing to a maximum length of over and a maximum weight of over , though a more typical length is about a meter. The upper jaw projects further forward than the lower jaw. The dorsal fin starts just behind the pectoral fins and runs in a continuous even ribbon to the tip of the tail, where it fuses with the similarly long and uniform anal fin. The dorsal surface is some shade of dark gr ...
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Brisingidae
The Brisingidae are a family of starfish found only in the deep sea. They inhabit both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at abyssal depths, and also occur in the Southern Ocean and around Antarctica at slightly shallower depths. The family was named after Brísingamen, a necklace belonging to Freya from Norse mythology that was stolen by Loki and hidden in the sea. Characteristics Members of this family have a small, Ophiurida-like disc, clearly demarcated from the arms, which number more than five. The disc is approximately circular with a rim of fused plates which gives rigidity. The madreporite is near the margin of the disc. The arms are long and tapering with the ratio of the arm length to the disc radius being greater than 6/1. There is an acute angle between them and they can be shed at the base where they are separated from the disc by a deep groove. After a narrow cylindrical portion, the part of the arms closest to the disc accommodates the gonadal tissues and wid ...
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Macrobenthos
Macrobenthos consists of the organisms that live at the bottom of a water columnJ.S. Link, C.A. Griswold, E.T. Methratta, J. Gunnard, Editors. 2006Documentation for the Energy Modeling and Analysis eXercise (EMAX). United States Department of Commerce, Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Reference Document 06-15 Chapter 8. and are visible to the naked eye. In some classification schemes, these organisms are larger than 1 mm; in another, the smallest dimension must be at least 0.5 mm. They include polychaete worms, pelecypods, anthozoans, echinoderms, sponges, ascidians, crustaceans. The marine macrobenthos community is a critical component and reliable indicator of the biotic integrity of marine ecosystems, especially the intertidal ecosystems. On the one hand, macrobenthos plays a vital role in maintaining ecosystem functions, such as material cycling in sediments and energy flow in food webs. On the other hand, macrobenthos is relatively sedentary and therefore r ...
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