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Sand Tiger Shark
The sand tiger shark (''Carcharias taurus''), grey/gray nurse shark (in Australia), spotted ragged-tooth shark (in South Africa), or blue-nurse sand tiger, is a species of shark that inhabits subtropical and temperate waters worldwide. It inhabits the continental shelf, from sandy shorelines (hence the name sand tiger shark) and submerged reefs to a depth of around . They dwell in the waters of Japan, Australia, South Africa, and the east coasts of North and South America. The sand tiger shark also inhabited the Mediterranean, however it was last seen there in 2003 and is presumed extirpated. Despite its common names, it is not closely related to either the tiger shark (''Galeocerdo cuvier'') or the nurse shark (''Ginglymostoma cirratum''). Despite its fearsome appearance and strong swimming ability, it is a relatively placid and slow-moving shark with no confirmed human fatalities. This species has a sharp, pointy head, and a bulky body. The sand tiger's length can reach but is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; 22 October 178318 September 1840) was a French early 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 Builders, 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 and his submissions were automati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4.7 million inhabitants, including 1.2 million in and around the capital city of Palermo, it is both the largest and most populous island in the Mediterranean Sea. Sicily is named after the Sicels, who inhabited the eastern part of the island during the Iron Age. Sicily has a rich and unique culture in #Art and architecture, arts, Music of Sicily, music, #Literature, literature, Sicilian cuisine, cuisine, and Sicilian Baroque, architecture. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, and one of the most active in the world, currently high. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate. It is separated from Calabria by the Strait of Messina. It is one of the five Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fish Fin
Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only by muscles. Fish fins are distinctive anatomical features with varying structures among different clades: in ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii), fins are mainly composed of bony spines or rays covered by a thin stretch of scaleless skin; in lobe-finned fish ( Sarcopterygii) such as coelacanths and lungfish, fins are short rays based around a muscular central bud supported by jointed bones; in cartilaginous fish ( Chondrichthyes) and jawless fish ( Agnatha), fins are fleshy " flippers" supported by a cartilaginous skeleton. Fins at different locations of the fish body serve different purposes, and are divided into two groups: the midsagittal ''unpaired fins'' and the more laterally located ''paired fins''. Unpaired fins are p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clasper
In biology, a clasper is a male anatomical structure found in some groups of animals, used in mating. Male cartilaginous fish have claspers formed from the posterior portion of their pelvic fin which serve to channel semen into the female's cloaca during mating. The act of mating in some fish including sharks usually includes one of the claspers raised to allow water into the siphon through a specific orifice. The clasper is then inserted into the cloaca, where it opens like an umbrella to anchor its position. The siphon then begins to contract, expelling water and sperm. The claspers of many shark species have spines or hooks, which may hold them in place during copulation. Many male holocephalans, including living chimaeras, have cephalic claspers (tenacula) on their heads, which are thought to aid in holding the female during mating. In entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos'') ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shark Anatomy
Shark anatomy differs from that of bony fish in a variety of ways. Variation observed within shark anatomy is a potential result of speciation and habitat variation. The five chordate synapomorphies The five chordate synapomorphies are present in chondrichthyes as follows. The five synapomorphies are pharyngeal slits, a dorsal nerve cord, notochord, endostyle, and the post-anal-tail which is depicted and labeled well on the chordates page. This image is helpful to visualize the regions where the five synapomorphies existed in chordates and what they looked like. In cephalochordates, the pharyngeal slit, or pharynx, are lateral to the throat of the chordate and work as filters by letting water pass over this region in order to retain nutrients and oxygen from gas exchange occurring. The dorsal nerve cord serves as a hollow-like backbone where signals are sent throughout the body due to nervous tissue being located in this region. The notochord is also toward the tail of the cho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bigeye Sand Tiger
The bigeye sand tiger (''Odontaspis noronhai'') is an extremely rare species of Lamniformes, mackerel shark in the family (biology), family Sand shark, Odontaspididae, with a possible worldwide distribution. A large, bulky species reaching at least in length, the bigeye sand tiger has a long bulbous snout, large orange eyes without nictitating membranes, and a capacious mouth with the narrow teeth prominently exposed. It can be distinguished from the similar smalltooth sand tiger (''O. ferox'') by its teeth, which have only one lateral cusplet on each side, and by its uniformly dark brown color. Inhabiting continental margins and oceanic waters at depths of , the bigeye sand tiger may make diel vertical migration, vertical and fish migration, horizontal migratory movements. It feeds on bony fishes and squid, and its sizable eyes and dark coloration suggest that it may spend most of its time in the mesopelagic zone. Reproduction is probably viviparous with oophagy, oophagous embry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smalltooth Sand Tiger
The smalltooth sand tiger or bumpytail ragged-tooth (''Odontaspis ferox'') is a species of Lamniformes, mackerel shark in the family (biology), family Sand shark, Odontaspididae, with a patchy but worldwide distribution in tropical and warm temperate waters. They usually inhabit deepwater rocky habitats, though they are occasionally encountered in shallow water, and have been known to return to the same location year after year. This rare species is often mistaken for the much more common sand tiger shark (''Carcharias taurus''), from which it can be distinguished by its first dorsal fin, which is larger than the second and placed further forward. It grows to at least in length. They have also been recently sighted in Irish and English waters. Very little is known of the biology and behavior of the smalltooth sand tiger. It is an active predator of benthic bony fishes, invertebrates, and cartilaginous fishes. This species is thought to be ovoviviparous with oophagy, oophagous em ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonard Compagno
Leonard Joseph Victor Compagno (1943-2024) was an international authority on shark taxonomy and the author of many scientific papers and books on the subject, best known of which is his 1984 catalogue of shark species produced for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Compagno was mentioned in the credits of the 1975 film '' Jaws'' along with the National Geographic Society. Career *Ph.D, Stanford University, 1979 *Adjunct professor, San Francisco State University, 1979 to 1985 *Curator of Fishes in the Division of Life Sciences and Head of the Shark Research Centre (SRC), Iziko Museums, Cape Town *Director, Shark Research Institute (SRI) Selected bibliography *Compagno, L.J.V., 1979. ''Carcharhinoid sharks: morphology, systematics and phylogeny''. Unpublished Ph. D. Thesis, Stanford University, 932 p. Available from University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Michigan. *Leonard Compagno, 1984a. FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Code Of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted Convention (norm), convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific name, scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its formal author, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (which shares the acronym "ICZN"). The rules principally regulate: * How names are correctly established in the frame of Binomial nomenclature, binominal nomenclature * How to determine whether a given name is Available name, available * Which available name must be used in case of name conflicts (Valid name (zoology), valid name) * How scientific literature must cite names Zoological nomenclature is independent of other systems of nomenclature, for example botanical nomenclature. This implies that animals can have the same generic names as plants (e.g. there is a genus ''Abronia (other), Abronia'' in both animals and plants). The rules and re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ichthyologist
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2025, with approximately 250 new species described each year. Etymology The word is derived from the Ancient Greek words wikt:ἰχθύς, ἰχθύς, ''ikhthus'', meaning "fish"; and wikt:-λόγος, λόγος, ''logos'', meaning "study". History The study of fish dates from the Upper Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic Revolution (with the advent of "high culture"). The science of ichthyology was developed in several interconnecting epochs, each with various significant advancements. The study of fish receives its origins from humans' desire to feed, clothe, and equip themselves with useful implements. According to Michael Barton (professor), Michael Barton, a prominent ichthyologist and professor at Centre College, "the earliest ichthy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaeontologist
Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geologic time, and assess the interactions between prehistoric organisms and their natural environment. While paleontological observations are known from at least the 6th century BC, the foundation of paleontology as a science dates back to the work of Georges Cuvier in 1796 in paleontology, 1796. Cuvier demonstrated evidence for the concept of extinction and how life of the past was not necessarily the same as that of the present. The field developed rapidly over the course of the following decades, and the French word ''paléontologie'' was introduced for the study in 1822 in paleontology, 1822, which was derived from the Ancient Greek word for "ancient" and words describing relatedness and a field of study. Further advances in the field accom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
