|
Wavy-rayed Lampmussel
''Lampsilis fasciola'', the wavy-rayed lampmussel, is a species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels. Appearance and description The wavy-rayed lampmussel is a relatively small mussel distributed throughout Southern Ontario and the North-Eastern sections of the United States. The mussel is characterized by its yellow to yellowish-green colour. The mussel receives its name from the numerous thin wavy rays that cover its shell. These waves can be thin and separate or coalesced into significantly wider rays. The beak is slightly elevated above the hinge lines and the beak sculpture consists of 3 to 5 wavy lines. The shell is compressed to inflated (females) in shape and the anterior end is rounded with the posterior end bluntly pointed in males and rounded in females. The mussel's nacre is typically white or bluish, and the shell in general is rounded and generally symmetrical over the axis. The shell is mostly smooth, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NatureServe
NatureServe, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Arlington County, Virginia, US, that provides proprietary wildlife conservation-related data, tools, and services to private and government clients, partner organizations, and the public. NatureServe reports being "headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, with regional offices in four U.S. locations and in Canada." In calendar year 2011 they reported having 86 employees, 6 volunteers, and 15 independent officers. History The Nature Conservancy reports that in 2000 it spun off its 85-center Natural Heritage Network "into a new independent organization, the Association for Biodiversity Information (later renamed NatureServe)." NatureServe reports that it was established in 1994 as the Association for Biodiversity Information. In 2001 the IRS approved a name change to NatureServe that was requested in 1999, while maintaining the organization's 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status granted in July 1995. NatureServe's website declares that it i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Largemouth Bass
The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but widely introduced elsewhere. It is known by a variety of regional names, such as the widemouth bass, bigmouth bass, black bass, bucketmouth, largies, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, bucketmouth bass, Green trout, gilsdorf bass, Oswego bass, LMB, and southern largemouth and northern largemouth. The largemouth bass is the state fish of Georgia and Mississippi, and the state freshwater fish of Florida and Alabama. Taxonomy The largemouth bass was first formally described as ''Labrus salmoides'' in 1802 by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède with the type locality given as the Carolinas. Lacépède based his description on an illustration of a specimen collected by Louis Bosc near Charlest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lampsilis
''Lampsilis'' is a genus of freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve mollusks in the family Unionidae, the river mussels. There are over 100 species in the genus. Some species, notably '' Lampsilis ovata'' (pocketbook mussel) use aggressive mimicry to lure large predatory fish by using their mantle as a lure, ejecting larvae into the mouth of the fish when they strike. The larvae attach to the gills, using the fish's blood as food for several weeks. Species * ''Lampsilis abrupta'' (pink mucket) * '' Lampsilis binominata'' (lined pocketbook) * '' Lampsilis bracteata'' * ''Lampsilis cardium'' * '' Lampsilis cariosa'' (yellow lampmussel) * '' Lampsilis dolabraeformis'' * '' Lampsilis fasciola'' (wavy-rayed lampmussel) * ''Lampsilis floridensis'' (Florida sandshell) * '' Lampsilis fullerkati'' (Waccamaw fatmucket) * ''Lampsilis higginsii'' (Higgins' eye pearly mussel) * '' Lampsilis ornata'' * '' Lampsilis ovata'' (pocketbook mussel) * ''Lampsilis powellii'' (Arkansas fatmucket) * ''Lamp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Wildlife Species At Risk
The List of Wildlife Species at Risk currently has more than 800 entries for Canadian wild life species considered vulnerable; including 363 classified as endangered species, —190 threatened species, —235 special concern, and 22 extirpated (no longer found in the wild). About 65 percent of Canada’s resident species are considered "Secure". More than 30 wildlife species have become extinct in the wild since the arrival of European settlers. The Government of Canada maintains a list of all plant and animal species, or designatable units (DUs) thereof, federally recognized as special concern, threatened, endangered, extirpated, and extinct in Canada under Schedule I of the Species at Risk Act (SARA). SARA Schedule Species listed on SARA Schedule I receive federal legal protections under the Act, including the protection of individuals, populations, and their habitat from harm. Listing on Schedule I of the act also mandates the formation of a species recovery team and strat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species At Risk Act
The ''Species at Risk Act'' (SARA) (the ''Act'') is a piece of Canadian federal legislation which became law in Canada on December 12, 2002. It is designed to meet one of Canada's key commitments under the International Convention on Biological Diversity. The goal of the ''Act'' is to prevent wildlife species in Canada from disappearing by protecting endangered or threatened organisms and their habitats. It also manages species which are not yet threatened, but whose existence or habitat is in jeopardy. SARA defines a method to determine the steps that need to be taken in order to help protect existing relatively healthy environments, as well as recover threatened habitats, although timing and implementation of recovery plans have limitations. It identifies ways in which governments, organizations, and individuals can work together to preserve species at risk and establishes penalties for failure to obey the law. The ''Act'' designates COSEWIC, an independent committee of wildli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zebra Mussel
The zebra mussel (''Dreissena polymorpha'') is a small freshwater mussel. The species originates from the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, but has been accidentally introduced to numerous other areas and has become an invasive species in many countries worldwide. Since the 1980s, the species has invaded the Great Lakes, Hudson River, and Lake Travis. The species was first described in 1769 by German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in the Ural, Volga, and Dnieper Rivers. Zebra mussels get their name from a striped pattern commonly seen on their shells, though it is not universally present. They are usually about the size of a fingernail, but can grow to a maximum length around . Shells are D-shaped, and attached to the substrate with strong byssal fibers, which come out of their umbo on the dorsal (hinged) side. Ecology Zebra mussels and the closely related and ecologically similar quagga mussels are filter-feeding organisms; they remove particles from the water colum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glochidium
The glochidium (plural glochidia) is a microscopic larval stage of some freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve mollusks in the families Unionidae and Margaritiferidae, the river mussels and European freshwater pearl mussels. These larvae are tiny and are typically between 100 and 200 micrometers, or approximately a third of the size of a grain of salt. They can be round or have hooks, attaching to the gills, fins and scales of fish (for example to the gills of a fish host species) for a period before it detaches and falls to the substrate and takes on the typical form of a juvenile mussel. Since a fish is active and free-swimming, this process helps distribute the mussel species to potential areas of habitat that it could not reach any other way. Before the origin of this larval form was understood, it was described as "parasitic worms" on the fish host, although under normal circumstances, glochidia do not harm fish. Overexposure or heavy infections of glochidia may however g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larvae
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The larva's appearance is generally very different from the adult form (''e.g.'' caterpillars and butterflies) including different unique structures and organs that do not occur in the adult form. Their diet may also be considerably different. Larvae are frequently adapted to different environments than adults. For example, some larvae such as tadpoles live almost exclusively in aquatic environments, but can live outside water as adult frogs. By living in a distinct environment, larvae may be given shelter from predators and reduce competition for resources with the adult population. Animals in the larval stage will consume food to fuel their transition into the adult form. In some organisms like polychaetes and barnacles, adults are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; October 22, 1783September 18, 1840) was a French 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 prehistoric earthworks in North America. He also contributed to the study of ancient 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. 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 whose submissions were rejected automatically by leading journals. Among his theories were th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nacre
Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is found in some of the most ancient lineages of bivalves, gastropods, and cephalopods. However, the inner layer in the great majority of mollusc shells is porcellaneous, not nacreous, and this usually results in a non-iridescent shine, or more rarely in non-nacreous iridescence such as ''flame structure'' as is found in conch pearls. The outer layer of cultured pearls and the inside layer of pearl oyster and freshwater pearl mussel shells are made of nacre. Other mollusc families that have a nacreous inner shell layer include marine gastropods such as the Haliotidae, the Trochidae and the Turbinidae. Physical characteristics Structure and appearance Nacre is composed of hexagonal platelets of aragonite (a form of calcium carb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unionidae
The Unionidae are a family of freshwater mussels, the largest in the order Unionida, the bivalve molluscs sometimes known as river mussels, or simply as unionids. The range of distribution for this family is world-wide. It is at its most diverse in North America, with about 297 recognised taxa, but China and Southeast Asia also support very diverse faunas. Freshwater mussels occupy a wide range of habitats, but most often occupy lotic waters, i.e. flowing water such as rivers, streams and creeks. Origin and early diversification The recent phylogenetic study reveals that the Unionidae most likely originated in Southeast and East Asia in the Jurassic, with the earliest expansions into North America and Africa (since the mid-Cretaceous) followed by the colonization of Europe and India (since the Paleocene). Life history Unionidae burrow into the substrate, with their posterior margins exposed. They pump water through the incurrent aperture, obtaining oxygen and food. They remove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
