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Saxidomus Gigantea
''Saxidomus gigantea'' is a large, edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Veneridae, the venus clams. It can be found along the western coast of North America, ranging from the Aleutian Islands to San Francisco Bay. Common names for this clam include butter clam, Washington clam, smooth Washington clam and money shell. Numerous valves of this species have been found in the shell middens on Sidney Island in British Columbia, Canada. Description This large clam can live for more than twenty years and grow to a length of , with smaller individuals being nearly as high as they are long. The umbones are set at an angle of more than 110° and the ligament joining the valves is black and external. There are no radial ridges but the oval valves are sculpted by well-defined concentric rings. Each valve has three cardinal teeth. The general color of the exterior of the shell is white, but this may be stained reddish-brown by iron sulfide from the sediment. The inte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gérard Paul Deshayes
Gérard Paul Deshayes (; 13 May 1795 – 9 June 1875) was a French geologist and conchologist. Career He was born in Nancy, France, Nancy, his father at that time being professor of experimental physics in the École Centrale of the département in France, département Meurthe Department, Meurthe He studied medicine in Strasbourg, and afterwards took the degree of ''bachelier ès lettres'' in Paris in 1821; but he abandoned the medical profession in order to devote himself to natural history. For some time he gave private lessons on geology, and subsequently became professor of natural history in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. He was distinguished for his researches on the fossil mollusca of the Paris Basin and of other areas Cenozoic cover. His studies on the relations of the fossil to the recent species led him as early as 1829 to conclusions somewhat similar to those arrived at by Charles Lyell, Lyell, to whom Deshayes rendered much assistance in connection with th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pallial Sinus
The pallial sinus is an indentation or inward bending in the pallial line on the interior of a bivalve mollusk shell's valves that corresponds to the position of the siphons in those types of clams which have siphons (i.e. siphonate). The position of the pallial sinus is often clearly visible as a shiny line on the inside of the bivalve shell A bivalve shell is part of the body, the exoskeleton or shell, of a bivalve mollusk. In life, the shell of this class of mollusks is composed of two hinged parts or ''valves''. Bivalves are very common in essentially all aquatic locales, includi ....''Bivalves'' by J.H. Leal, Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, Florida, USA http://www.shellmuseum.org/BivalvesLeal.pdf References Mollusc anatomy {{bivalve-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neverita Lewisii
''Neverita lewisii'' (previously known as ''Polinices lewisii'', ''Lunatia lewisii'', ''Euspira lewisii''), common name Lewis's moon snail, is a species of large operculated sea snail. It is a predatory marine gastropod in the family Naticidae, the moon snails.Bouchet, P. (2012). Lunatia lewisii (Gould, 1847). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=584785 on 2012-08-16 Traditionally, this species was assigned to either the genus '' Lunatia'', the genus ''Polinices'' or the genus ''Euspira''. Recently, it was assigned to the genus ''Neverita'' based on molecular data.Huelsken, T., Tapken, D., Dahlmann, T., Wägele, H., Riginos, C., Hollmann, M. (2012). Systematics and phylogenetic species delimitation within Polinices s.l. (Caenogastropoda: Naticidae) based on molecular data and shell morphology. Organisms Diversity & Evolution. DOI10.1007/s13127-012-0111-5 This is the largest species in the family. Distributio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dungeness Crab
The Dungeness crab (''Metacarcinus magister'') is a species of crab inhabiting eelgrass beds and water bottoms along the west coast of North America. It typically grows to across the carapace and is a popular seafood. Its common name comes from Dungeness Spit, United States, which shelters a shallow bay inhabited by the crabs. Description The carapace widths of mature Dungeness crabs may reach 10 inches, or 25.4 centimeters, but are typically 6-7 inches, or approximately 15-18 centimeters. They are a popular delicacy, and are the most commercially important crab in the Pacific Northwest, as well as the western states generally. The annual Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival is held in Port Angeles, Washington each October. Dungeness crabs have a wide, long, hard shell, which they must periodically moult to grow; this process is called ecdysis. They have five pairs of legs, which are similarly armoured, the foremost pair of which ends in claws the crab uses both as defense and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Predation
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the host) and parasitoidism (which always does, eventually). It is distinct from scavenging on dead prey, though many predators also scavenge; it overlaps with herbivory, as seed predators and destructive frugivores are predators. Predators may actively search for or pursue prey or wait for it, often concealed. When prey is detected, the predator assesses whether to attack it. This may involve ambush or pursuit predation, sometimes after stalking the prey. If the attack is successful, the predator kills the prey, removes any inedible parts like the shell or spines, and eats it. Predators are adapted and often highly specialized for hunting, with acute senses such as vision, hearing, or smell. Many predatory animals, both vertebrate and inv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symbiosis
Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasitic. The organisms, each termed a symbiont, must be of different species. In 1879, Heinrich Anton de Bary defined it as "the living together of unlike organisms". The term was subject to a century-long debate about whether it should specifically denote mutualism, as in lichens. Biologists have now abandoned that restriction. Symbiosis can be obligatory, which means that one or more of the symbionts depend on each other for survival, or facultative (optional), when they can generally live independently. Symbiosis is also classified by physical attachment. When symbionts form a single body it is called conjunctive symbiosis, while all other arrangements are called disjunctive symbiosis."symbiosis." Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinnixa Faba
''Pinnixa faba'', known as the pea crab, mantle pea crab or large pea crab, is a pea crab which lives harmlessly within a large edible clam. This species is a symbiont of '' Tresus capax'' and '' Tresus nuttallii'' in its mature stage. Description Pea crabs, family Pinnotheridae, are small crabs that live symbiotically with clams, tube worms, sea cucumbers, and other fauna. Usually they feed on the results of their host's filtering, or in the case of sea cucumbers they live in the cloaca feeding off of the results of digestion and reproduction. They have no rostrum and no teeth between the eyes. The carapace can be up to wide and long. The carapace and walking legs are often covered in setae which can collect the material being filtered by the host. The species is distinguished by the tips of the dactyls, which are noticeably curved, and by the rounded nature of the outer eye orbits. ''P. faba'' is indistinguishable from '' Pinnixa littoralis'' without magnification. ''P. li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pea Crab
The pea crab, ''Pinnotheres pisum'', is a small crab in the family Pinnotheridae that lives as a parasite in oysters, clams, mussels, and other species of bivalves. Description Pea crabs are small crustaceans about the size of a pea or dime, with a "smooth dorsal surface of the carapace, or upper exoskeleton". The exoskeleton of males is hard and circular and has eyes and antennae extending from their fronts, and the chelipeds are more robust in males than in females, which have more elongated chelipeds. The bodies of the female pea crabs are often translucent and show the inner organs and gonads as yellow and red, with the males being a "more yellowish-grey with patches of brown". Ecology The relationship between the pea crab and its host is one of parasitism, rather than commensalism, since the host may be harmed by the crab's feeding activities. The pea crab relies solely on its host for food, safety, and oxygen. Pea crabs have a variety of hosts, the most important of whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cengage Learning
Cengage Group is an American educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets. It operates in more than 20 countries around the world.(Jun 27, 2014Global Publishing Leaders 2014: Cengage publishersweekly.comCompany Info - Wall Street JournalCengage LearningCompany Overview of Cengage Learning, Inc. BloombergBusiness Company information The company is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and has approximately 5,000 employees worldwide across nearly 38 countries. It was headquartered at its Stamford, Connecticut, office until April 2014. |
Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. Phytoplankton obtain their energy through photosynthesis, as do trees and other plants on land. This means phytoplankton must have light from the sun, so they live in the well-lit surface layers (euphotic zone) of oceans and lakes. In comparison with terrestrial plants, phytoplankton are distributed over a larger surface area, are exposed to less seasonal variation and have markedly faster turnover rates than trees (days versus decades). As a result, phytoplankton respond rapidly on a global scale to climate variations. Phytoplankton form the base of marine and freshwater food webs and are key players in the global carbon cycle. They account for about half of global photosynthetic activity and at least half of the oxygen production, despite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Filter Feeder
Filter feeders are a sub-group of suspension feeding animals that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water, typically by passing the water over a specialized filtering structure. Some animals that use this method of feeding are clams, krill, sponges, baleen whales, and many fish (including some sharks). Some birds, such as flamingos and certain species of duck, are also filter feeders. Filter feeders can play an important role in clarifying water, and are therefore considered ecosystem engineers. They are also important in bioaccumulation and, as a result, as indicator organisms. Fish Most forage fish are filter feeders. For example, the Atlantic menhaden, a type of herring, lives on plankton caught in midwater. Adult menhaden can filter up to four gallons of water a minute and play an important role in clarifying ocean water. They are also a natural check to the deadly red tide. Extensive article on the role of menhaden in the ecosystem and possible resul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intertidal Zone
The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species of life, such as seastars, sea urchins, and many species of coral with regional differences in biodiversity. Sometimes it is referred to as the ''littoral zone'' or '' seashore'', although those can be defined as a wider region. The well-known area also includes steep rocky cliffs, sandy beaches, bogs or wetlands (e.g., vast mudflats). The area can be a narrow strip, as in Pacific islands that have only a narrow tidal range, or can include many meters of shoreline where shallow beach slopes interact with high tidal excursion. The peritidal zone is similar but somewhat wider, extending from above the highest tide level to below the lowest. Organisms in the intertidal zone are adapted to an environment of harsh extremes, living in water pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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