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Acochlidian
Acochlidiacea, common name acochlidians, are a taxonomic clade of very unusual sea snails and sea and freshwater slugs, aquatic gastropod mollusks within the large clade Heterobranchia. Acochlidia is a variant spelling. Description These are mostly very small animals, without a shell or gills, distinguished by the visceral mass being sharply set off from the rest of the body. Being a small group with only 30 species worldwide known in 2010, and 32 species described in 2011, and 33 in 2012 (+9 undescribed ''Pontohedyle'' species), these slugs are morphologically and biologically highly aberrant and diverse, comprising a series of unusual characters (e.g. secondary gonochorism, lack of copulatory organs, asymmetric radulae). Most acochlidians live interstitially in marine sands, while some have conquered limnic systems (uniquely within opisthobranch gastropods). Taxonomy Nils Hjalmar Odhner established this taxon as a family in 1937, when he created the families Microhedylid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acochlidium Fijiiensis
''Acochlidium'' is a genus of freshwater slugs, an aquatic gastropod molluscs in the family Acochlidiidae. ''Acochlidium'' species have no shell. Species Species within the genus ''Acochlidium'' include: * ''Acochlidium amboinense'' Strubell, 1892Rudman W. B. (17 June 2006). "Comment on Are there freshwater sea slugs? by Dave". ''Sea Slug Forum''. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available fromhttp://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16865 accessed 23 May 2010. * '' Acochlidium bayerfehlmanni'' Wawra, 1980 * ''Acochlidium fijiiensis'' Haynes & Kenchington, 1991 synonyms: * ''Acochlidium paradoxum'' Strubell is a synonym for ''Strubellia paradoxa'' (Strubell, 1892) * ''Acochlidium sutteri'' WawraWawra E. (1979). "''Acochlidium sutteri'' nov. spec. (Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia, Acochlidiacea) von Sumba, Indonesien". ''Ann. Naturhistor. Mus. Wien'' 82: 595-60PDF/ref> is a synonym for ''Palliohedyle sutteri'' * ''Acochlidium weberi'' Bergh, 1896 is a synonym for ''Palliohedyle weberi ''Pallioh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aquatic Animal
An aquatic animal is any animal, whether invertebrate or vertebrate, that lives in water for most or all of its lifetime. Many insects such as mosquitoes, mayflies, dragonflies and caddisflies have aquatic larvae, with winged adults. Aquatic animals may breathe air or extract oxygen from water through specialised organs called gills, or directly through the skin. Natural environments and the animals that live in them can be categorized as aquatic (water) or terrestrial (land). This designation is polyphyletic. Description The term aquatic can be applied to animals that live in either fresh water or salt water. However, the adjective marine is most commonly used for animals that live in saltwater, i.e. in oceans, seas, etc. Aquatic animals (especially freshwater animals) are often of special concern to conservationists because of the fragility of their environments. Aquatic animals are subject to pressure from overfishing, destructive fishing, marine pollution, hunting, and cli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marine Biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather than on taxonomy. A large proportion of all life on Earth lives in the ocean. The exact size of this ''large proportion'' is unknown, since many ocean species are still to be discovered. The ocean is a complex three-dimensional world covering approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The habitats studied in marine biology include everything from the tiny layers of surface water in which organisms and abiotic items may be trapped in surface tension between the ocean and atmosphere, to the depths of the oceanic trenches, sometimes 10,000 meters or more beneath the surface of the ocean. Specific habitats include estuaries, coral reefs, kelp forests, seagrass meadows, the surrounds of seamounts and therm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontohedyle Milaschewitchii
''Pontohedyle milaschewitchii'' is a species of sea slug, an acochlidian, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Microhedylidae.Jörger K. M., Norenburg J. L., Wilson N. G. & Schrödl M. (2012). "Barcoding against a paradox? Combined molecular species delineations reveal multiple cryptic lineages in elusive meiofaunal sea slugs". ''BMC Evolutionary Biology'' 12: 245. . Ecology The life cycle of all Acochlidiacea is not well known. ''Pontohedyle milaschewitchii'' lays a maximum of 40 eggs. References External links * Jörger K. M., Neusser T. P. & Schrödl M. (2007). "Re-description of a female ''Pontohedyle brasilensis'' (Rankin, 1979), a junior synonym of the Mediterranean ''P. milaschewitchii'' (Kowalevsky, 1901) (Acochlidia, Gastropoda)". ''Bonner Zoologische Beiträge'' 55(3/4): 283-290PDF * Jörger K. M., Neusser T. P., Haszprunar G. & Schrödl M. (2008). "Undersized and underestimated: 3D-visualization of the Mediterranean interstitial acochlidian gastro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year, making the ROM the most-visited museum in Canada. The museum is north of Queen's Park, in the University of Toronto district, with its main entrance on Bloor Street West. Museum subway station is named after the ROM and, since a 2008 renovation, is decorated to resemble the institution's collection at the platform level. Established on April 16, 1912, and opened on March 19, 1914, the museum has maintained close relations with the University of Toronto throughout its history, often sharing expertise and resources. The museum was under the direct control and management of the University of Toronto until 1968, when it became an independent Crown agency of the Government of Ontario. Today, the museum is Canada's largest field-research in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radula
The radula (, ; plural radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters the esophagus. The radula is unique to the molluscs, and is found in every class of mollusc except the bivalves, which instead use cilia, waving filaments that bring minute organisms to the mouth. Within the gastropods, the radula is used in feeding by both herbivorous and carnivorous snails and slugs. The arrangement of teeth ( denticles) on the radular ribbon varies considerably from one group to another. In most of the more ancient lineages of gastropods, the radula is used to graze, by scraping diatoms and other microscopic algae off rock surfaces and other substrates. Predatory marine snails such as the Naticidae use the radula plus an acidic secretion to bore through the shell of other molluscs. Other predatory marine snails ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gonochorism
In biology, gonochorism is a sexual system where there are only two Sex, sexes and each individual organism is either male or female. The term gonochorism is usually applied in animal species, the vast majority of which are gonochoric. Gonochorism contrasts with Hermaphrodite, simultaneous hermaphroditism but it may be hard to tell if a species is gonochoric or sequentially hermaphroditic. (e.g. Parrotfish, ''Patella ferruginea''). However, in gonochoric species individuals remain either male or female throughout their lives. Species that reproduce by Thelytokous, thelytokous parthenogenesis and do not have males can still be classified as gonochoric. Terminology The term is derived from Greek language, Greek (''gone'', generation) + (''chorizein,'' to separate). The term gonochorism originally came from German gonochorismus. Gonochorism is also referred to as unisexualism or gonochory. Evolution Gonochorism has Convergent evolution, evolved independently multiple time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontohedyle
''Pontohedyle'' is a genus of sea slugs, acochlidians, shell-less marine gastropod mollusks in the family Microhedylidae. Sea slugs in this genus are highly simplified and uniform. Distribution The genus ''Pontohedyle'' shows a circumtropical distribution with a single derived species (Mediterranean/ Black Sea ''Pontohedyle milaschewitchii'') inhabiting temperate waters. In the absence of a fossil record for meiofaunal slugs, the only available estimate for divergence times derives from a molecular clock approach, calibrated with shelled heterobranch fossils. Jörger et al. (2010)Jörger K. M., Stöger I., Kano Y., Fukuda H., Knebelsberger T. & Schrödl M. (2010). "On the origin of Acochlidia and other enigmatic euthyneuran gastropods, with implications for the systematics of Heterobranchia". ''BMC Evolutionary Biology'' 10: 323. . estimated the origin of the genus ''Pontohedyle'' to the late Cretaceous, 84 mya (95% confidence interval ranging from 160–60 mya), providing a rou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viscera
In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to act together in a function. Tissues of different types combine to form an organ which has a specific function. The intestinal wall for example is formed by epithelial tissue and smooth muscle tissue. Two or more organs working together in the execution of a specific body function form an organ system, also called a biological system or body system. An organ's tissues can be broadly categorized as parenchyma, the functional tissue, and stroma, the structural tissue with supportive, connective, or ancillary functions. For example, the gland's tissue that makes the hormones is the parenchyma, whereas the stroma includes the nerves that innervate the parenchyma, the blood vessels that oxygenate and nourish it and carry away its metabolic wastes, and the co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gill
A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist. The microscopic structure of a gill presents a large surface area to the external environment. Branchia (pl. branchiae) is the zoologists' name for gills (from Ancient Greek ). With the exception of some aquatic insects, the filaments and lamellae (folds) contain blood or coelomic fluid, from which gases are exchanged through the thin walls. The blood carries oxygen to other parts of the body. Carbon dioxide passes from the blood through the thin gill tissue into the water. Gills or gill-like organs, located in different parts of the body, are found in various groups of aquatic animals, including mollusks, crustaceans, insects, fish, and amphibians. Semiterrestrial marine animals such as crabs and mudskippers have gill cham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mollusc Shell
The mollusc (or molluskOften spelled mollusk shell in the USA; the spelling "mollusc" are preferred by ) shell is typically a calcareous exoskeleton which encloses, supports and protects the soft parts of an animal in the phylum Mollusca, which includes snails, clams, tusk shells, and several other classes. Not all shelled molluscs live in the sea; many live on the land and in freshwater. The ancestral mollusc is thought to have had a shell, but this has subsequently been lost or reduced on some families, such as the squid, octopus, and some smaller groups such as the caudofoveata and solenogastres. Today, over 100,000 living species bear a shell; there is some dispute as to whether these shell-bearing molluscs form a monophyletic group (conchifera) or whether shell-less molluscs are interleaved into their family tree. Malacology, the scientific study of molluscs as living organisms, has a branch devoted to the study of shells, and this is called conchology—although these te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudunela Cornuta
''Pseudunela cornuta'' is a species of minute sea slug, an acochlidian, a shell-less marine and temporarily brackishNeusser T. P., Jörger K. M. & Schrödl M. (2011). "Cryptic Species in Tropic Sands – Interactive 3D Anatomy, Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Meiofaunal Pseudunelidae (Gastropoda, Acochlidia)". '' PLoS ONE'' 6(8): e23313. figure 12. . gastropod mollusk in the family Pseudunelidae. Adults are about 3 mm long and live in the spaces between sand grains. A complex interactive 3D reconstruction (a 3D visualization based on 420 paraffin histological sections) of the body of an individual of this species has been available since 2009. Taxonomy ''Pseudunela cornuta'' is the type species of the genus '' Pseudunela''. Challis, who described the species in 1970, claimed to have deposited the holotype of ''Pseudunela cornuta'', 20 paratypes and a slide with the radula of a further paratype in the Natural History Museum, London; furthermore, he claimed t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
