Stoplight Parrotfish
The stoplight parrotfish (''Sparisoma viride'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a parrotfish from the family Scaridae, inhabiting coral reefs in Florida, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda and as far south as Brazil. It mainly feeds on algae by scraping and excavating it with its teeth. Like most of its relatives, it is able to change sex. The common name, stoplight, comes from the marked yellow spot near the pectoral fin, which is clearly visible only in specimens in the terminal phase. Sex Change & Coloring The stoplight parrotfish is a protogynous hermaphrodite that shows full sexual dichromatism, meaning that it changes its sex from female to male during its lifespan, and its color changes with its sex change. The sex change is most likely due to the control of hormones, in particular, 11-ketetestosterone (11-KT). The timing of the sex change can vary depending on population density, growth, and mortality rates. Early sex changes may occur if sexually active ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre
Abbé Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre (1752, Aveyron – 20 September 1804, Saint-Geniez-d'Olt) was a French zoology, zoologist who contributed sections on cetaceans, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and insects to the ''Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique''. He is also notable as the first scientist to study the feral child Victor of Aveyron. Bonnaterre is credited with identifying about 25 new species of fish, and assembled illustrations of about 400 in his encyclopedia work of book. He was the first scientist to study Victor, the wild child of Aveyron, whose life inspired François Truffaut for his film ''The Wild Child''. Partial bibliography * ''Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règnes de la nature, dix-huitième partie, insectes.'' Agasse, Paris 1797. * ''Recueil de médecine vétérinaire ou Collection de mémoires d'instructions et de recettes sur les maladies des animaux domestiques.'' * ''Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Taxa Named By Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and given a particular ranking, especially if and when it is accepted or becomes established. It is very common, however, for taxonomists to remain at odds over what belongs to a taxon and the criteria used for inclusion. If a taxon is given a formal scientific name, its use is then governed by one of the nomenclature codes specifying which scientific name is correct for a particular grouping. Initial attempts at classifying and ordering organisms (plants and animals) were set forth in Carl Linnaeus's system in ''Systema Naturae'', 10th edition (1758), as well as an unpublished work by Bernard and Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. The idea of a unit-based system of biological classification was first made widely available in 1805 in the intro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fish Of The Western Atlantic
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of living fish species are ray-finned fish, belonging to the class Actinopterygii, with around 99% of those being teleosts. The earliest organisms that can be classified as fish were soft-bodied chordates that first appeared during the Cambrian period. Although they lacked a true spine, they possessed notochords which allowed them to be more agile than their invertebrate counterparts. Fish would continue to evolve through the Paleozoic era, diversifying into a wide variety of forms. Many fish of the Paleozoic developed external armor that protected them from predators. The first fish with jaws appeared in the Silurian period, after which many (such as sharks) became formidable marine predators rather than just the prey of arthropods. Most ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fish Of The Caribbean
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of living fish species are ray-finned fish, belonging to the class Actinopterygii, with around 99% of those being teleosts. The earliest organisms that can be classified as fish were soft-bodied chordates that first appeared during the Cambrian period. Although they lacked a true spine, they possessed notochords which allowed them to be more agile than their invertebrate counterparts. Fish would continue to evolve through the Paleozoic era, diversifying into a wide variety of forms. Many fish of the Paleozoic developed external armor that protected them from predators. The first fish with jaws appeared in the Silurian period, after which many (such as sharks) became formidable marine predators rather than just the prey of arthropods. Most f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sparisoma
''Sparisoma'' is a genus of parrotfishes native to warmer parts of the Atlantic. FishBase recognizes 15 species in this genus, including ''S. rocha'' described from Trindade Island in 2010 and ''S. choati'' described from the East Atlantic in 2012.Rocha, Brito, and Robertson (2012). ''Sparisoma choati, a new species of Parrotfish (Labirdae: Scarinae) from the tropical eastern Atlantic''. Zootaxa, 3152: 61-67. They are the most important grazers of algae in the Caribbean Sea, especially since sea urchins, especially '' Diadema'', the other prominent consumers of algae, have been reduced in many places by a recent epidemic. The name was proposed by William John Swainson as a subgenus of '' Scarus''. ''Sparus'' in Latin is a golden-headed fish, and ''soma'' means "body". The common spelling ''Sparisomus'' is incorrect. The size of parrotfishes of this genus range from the rather small-sized ''S. radians'' with a known maximum length of to the large ''S. viride'', which reaches len ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Biological Specificity
Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organisms or constituents of living organisms of being special or doing something special. Each animal or plant species is special. It differs in some way from all other species...biological specificity is the major problem about understanding life." Biological specificity within ''Homo sapiens'' ''Homo sapiens'' has many characteristics that show the biological specificity in the form of behavior and morphological traits. Morphologically, humans have an enlarged cranial capacity and more gracile features in comparison to other hominins. The reduction of dentition is a feature that allows for the advantage of adaptability in diet and survival. As a species, humans are culture dependent and much of human survival relies on the culture and so ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Coralline Algae
Coralline algae are red algae in the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls. The colors of these algae are most typically pink, or some other shade of red, but some species can be purple, yellow, blue, white, or gray-green. Coralline algae play an important role in the ecology of coral reefs. Sea urchins, parrot fish, and limpets and chitons (both mollusks) feed on coralline algae. In the temperate Mediterranean Sea, coralline algae are the main builders of a typical algal reef, the ''Coralligène'' ("coralligenous"). Many are typically encrusting and rock-like, found in marine waters all over the world. Only one species lives in freshwater. Unattached specimens ( maerl, rhodoliths) may form relatively smooth compact balls to warty or fruticose thalli. A close look at almost any intertidal rocky shore or coral reef will reveal an abundance of pink to pinkish-grey patches, distributed throu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Montastrea Annularis
''Orbicella annularis'', commonly known as the boulder star coral, is a species of coral that lives in the western Atlantic Ocean and is the most thoroughly studied and most abundant species of reef-building coral in the Caribbean to date. It also has a comprehensive fossil record within the Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se .... This species complex has long been considered a generalist that exists at depths between 0 and 80 meters that grew into varying colony shapes (heads, columns, plates) in response to differing light conditions. Only recently with the help of molecular techniques has ''O. annularis'' been shown to be a complex of at least three separate species.Knowlton, N.; Budd, A. F. 2001. "Recognizing coral species present and past. In: Jackson JB ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Endolith
An endolith or endolithic is an organism (archaeon, bacterium, fungus, lichen, algae or amoeba) that is able to acquire the necessary resources for growth in the inner part of a rock, mineral, coral, animal shells, or in the pores between mineral grains of a rock. Many are extremophiles, living in places long imagined inhospitable to life. The distribution, biomass, and diversity of endolith microorganisms are determined by the physical and chemical properties of the rock substrate, including the mineral composition, permeability, the presence of organic compounds, the structure and distribution of pores, water retention capacity, and the pH. Normally, the endoliths colonize the areas within lithic substrates to withstand intense solar radiation, temperature fluctuations, wind, and desiccation. They are of particular interest to astrobiologists, who theorize that endolithic environments on Mars and other planets constitute potential refugia for extraterrestrial microbial commu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Porites Porites
''Porites porites'', commonly known as hump coral or finger coral, is a species of stony coral in the genus ''Porites''. It is found in the Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic Ocean and also along the coast of West Africa. Description ''Porites porites'' forms irregular patches of short, finger-like lobes with blunt, slightly swollen tips. Sometimes these are densely packed but in other locations they are widely spaced. The lobes are up to wide which distinguishes this species from other members of the genus that have narrower lobes. They may be curved or hooked and grow in all directions. The colour is usually white or pale blueish-grey. This species is known to be some of the oldest forms of life on earth due to the slow growth rate of the coral. The coral is formed from tiny polyps that attach together at the base of their skeletons and branch outward. Scientists believe that some Porites coral are up to 1,000 years old and can reach heights of eight meters and widths of up to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dictyota
''Dictyota'' is a genus of brown seaweed in the family Dictyotaceae. Species are predominantly found in tropical and subtropical seas, and are known to contain numerous chemicals (diterpenes) which have potential medicinal value. As at the end of 2017, some 237 different diterpenes had been identified from across the genus. Taxonomy and Nomenclature The genus ''Dictyota'' was first described by Jean Vincent Lamouroux in 1809. The name ''Dictyota'' is derived from the Greek word “Διχτυον” meaning “net” or “network”, referring to the inner cellular structure of specimens when viewed under a microscope, which features netted cortical and medullary cells. ''Dictyota'' belongs to the order Dictyotales and the SSDO-clade, which also includes the orders Sphacelariales, Syringodermatales, and Onslowiales. The family Dictyotaceae is divided into two tribes: Dictyoteae and Zonarieae. The former have a single lens-shaped apical cell from which the thallus grows, while ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |