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Archer Fish
The archerfish (spinner fish or archer fish) form a monotypic family, Toxotidae, of fish known for their habit of preying on land-based insects and other small animals by shooting them down with water droplets from their specialized mouths. The family is small, consisting of ten species in a single genus, ''Toxotes''. Most species live in fresh water rivers, streams and pools, but two or three are euryhaline, inhabiting both fresh and brackish water habitats such as estuaries and mangroves. They can be found from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, through Southeast Asia, to Northern Australia and Melanesia. Archerfish or spinnerfish bodies are deep and laterally compressed, with the dorsal fin, and the profile a straight line from dorsal fin to mouth. The mouth is protractile, and the lower jaw juts out. Sizes are fairly small, typically up to about , but ''T. chatareus'' can reach . Archerfish are popular for aquaria, but difficult to feed since they prefer live prey. Capture ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tool Use By Animals
Tool use by animals is a phenomenon in which an animal uses any kind of tool in order to achieve a goal such as acquiring food and water, grooming, defence, communication, recreation or construction. Originally thought to be a skill possessed only by humans, some tool use requires a sophisticated level of cognition. There is considerable discussion about the definition of what constitutes a tool and therefore which behaviours can be considered true examples of tool use. A wide range of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, cephalopods, and insects, are considered to use tools. Primates are well known for using tools for hunting or gathering food and water, cover for rain, and self-defence. Chimpanzees have often been the object of study in regard to their usage of tools, most famously by Jane Goodall, since these animals are frequently kept in captivity and are closely related to humans. Wild tool use in other primates, especially among apes and monkeys, is considered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toxotes Jaculatrix
The banded archerfish (''Toxotes jaculatrix'') is a brackish water perciform fish of the archerfish genus ''Toxotes''. It is silvery in colour and has a dorsal fin towards the posterior end. It has distinctive, semi-triangular markings along its sides. It is best known for its ability to spit a jet of water to "shoot down" prey. Larger specimens may be able to hit prey away. The banded archerfish may reach the displaced prey within 50 milliseconds of its hitting the water. The name (binomial as well as common) refers to Sagittarius the archer, because of the unusual method banded archerfish use to capture prey. Banded archerfish are found in Indo-Pacific and Oceanian waters, generally in river mouths and mangrove estuaries. They move between fresh, salt, and brackish water over the course of their lifetime, though not to breed. Because of their markings and silvery colour, banded archerfish are sometimes kept as aquarium fish, though they are difficult to care for and not reco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorsal Fin
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through convergent evolution they have independently evolved external superficial fish-like body plans adapted to their marine environments, including most numerously fish, but also mammals such as cetaceans ( whales, dolphins, and porpoises), and even extinct ancient marine reptiles such as various known species of ichthyosaurs. Most species have only one dorsal fin, but some have two or three. Wildlife biologists often use the distinctive nicks and wear patterns which develop on the dorsal fins of large cetaceans to identify individuals in the field. The bony or cartilaginous bones that support the base of the dorsal fin in fish are called ''pterygiophores''. Functions The main purpose of the dorsal fin is to stabilize the animal against ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toxotes Lorentzi
''Protoxotes lorentzi'' is a tropical freshwater fish found in streams and swamps of the Northern Territory of Australia, Irian Jaya (Indonesia), and Papua New Guinea.''Toxotes lorentzi'' at www.fishbase.org. It was first named by in 1910, and is commonly known as the primitive archerfish or Lorentz's archerfish. Taxonomy and description ''Protoxotes lorentzi'' is believed to range in length from , though a specimens reaching in length have been observed. ''P. lorentzi'' normally has five dorsal spines and is a silvery tan or brown colour, with a dark[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus '' Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. phylogenetic analysis should clea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toxotes Aquarium Liège 30012016 1
Toxotes may refer to: Biology * Banded archerfish (''Toxotes jaculatrix''), Pallas 1767 * ''Toxotes chatareus'', Hamilton 1822 * Smallscale archerfish (''Toxotes microlepis''), Günther 1860 * Big scale archerfish (''Toxotes oligolepis''), Bleeker 1876 * ''Toxotes blythii'', Boulenger 1892 * ''Toxotes lorentzi'', Weber 1910 * ''Toxotes kimberleyensis'', Allen 2004 * the genus of the Archer fish Other uses *the singular of Toxotai Toxotai (; singular: , ) were Ancient Greek and Byzantine archers. During the ancient period they were armed with a short Greek bow and a short sword. They carried a little pelte (or pelta) () shield. ''Hippotoxotai'' (ἱπποτοξόται ... * Toxotes, Xanthi, a village in Greece {{dab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kleptoparasitism
Kleptoparasitism (etymologically, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct feeding, which can mean when food is scarce or when victims are abundant. Many kleptoparasites are arthropods, especially bees and wasps, but including some true flies, dung beetles, bugs, and spiders. Cuckoo bees are specialized kleptoparasites which lay their eggs either on the pollen masses made by other bees, or on the insect hosts of parasitoid wasps. They are an instance of Emery's rule, which states that insect social parasites tend to be closely related to their hosts. The behavior occurs, too, in vertebrates including birds such as skuas, which persistently chase other seabirds until they disgorge their food, and carnivorous mammals such as spotted hyenas and lions. Other species opportunistically indulge in kleptoparasitism. Strategy Kleptoparasitism ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Observational Learning
Observational learning is learning that occurs through observing the behavior of others. It is a form of social learning which takes various forms, based on various processes. In humans, this form of learning seems to not need reinforcement to occur, but instead, requires a social model such as a parent, sibling, friend, or teacher with surroundings. Particularly in childhood, a model is someone of authority or higher status in an environment. In animals, observational learning is often based on classical conditioning, in which an instinctive behavior is elicited by observing the behavior of another (e.g. mobbing in birds), but other processes may be involved as well. Human observational learning Many behaviors that a learner observes, remembers, and imitates are actions that models display and display modeling, even though the model may not intentionally try to instill a particular behavior. A child may learn to swear, smack, smoke, and deem other inappropriate behavior acce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shoaling And Schooling
In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are shoaling, and if the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are schooling. In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely. About one quarter of fish species shoal all their lives, and about one half shoal for part of their lives. Fish derive many benefits from shoaling behaviour including defence against predators (through better predator detection and by diluting the chance of individual capture), enhanced foraging success, and higher success in finding a mate. It is also likely that fish benefit from shoal membership through increased hydrodynamic efficiency. Fish use many traits to choose shoalmates. Generally they prefer larger shoals, shoalmates of their own species, shoalmates similar in size and appearance to themselves, healthy fish, and kin (when recognized). The oddity effect posits that any shoal member that stands out in appearance will be preferen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Refraction
In physics, refraction is the redirection of a wave as it passes from one medium to another. The redirection can be caused by the wave's change in speed or by a change in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomenon, but other waves such as sound waves and water waves also experience refraction. How much a wave is refracted is determined by the change in wave speed and the initial direction of wave propagation relative to the direction of change in speed. For light, refraction follows Snell's law, which states that, for a given pair of media, the ratio of the sines of the angle of incidence ''θ1'' and angle of refraction ''θ2'' is equal to the ratio of phase velocities (''v''1 / ''v''2) in the two media, or equivalently, to the refractive indices (''n''2 / ''n''1) of the two media. :\frac =\frac=\frac Optical prisms and lenses use refraction to redirect light, as does the human eye. The refractive index of materials varies with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was founded by Arthur B. Sleigh in 1855 as ''The Daily Telegraph & Courier''. Considered a newspaper of record over ''The Times'' in the UK in the years up to 1997, ''The Telegraph'' generally has a reputation for high-quality journalism, and has been described as being "one of the world's great titles". The paper's motto, "Was, is, and will be", appears in the editorial pages and has featured in every edition of the newspaper since 19 April 1858. The paper had a circulation of 363,183 in December 2018, descending further until it withdrew from newspaper circulation audits in 2019, having declined almost 80%, from 1.4 million in 1980.United Newspapers PLC and Fleet Holdings PLC', Monopolies and Mergers Commission (1985), pp. 5–16. Its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Projectile Use By Living Systems
Although projectiles are commonly used in human conflict, projectile use by organisms other than humans is relatively rare. Animals Liquid projectiles Most projectiles used by terrestrial animals are liquids. Among invertebrates there are a number of examples. Velvet worms can squirt out an slimy adhesive fluid from glands on the sides of their head, and use it to trap their prey. The spitting spiders ''Scytodes'' can spit a venomous sticky fluid that traps its victims and also poisons them. The bombardier beetle is unusual by using a violent exothermic chemical reaction to launch a boiling noxious chemical spray in a rapid burst of pulses from special glands in its abdomen, accompanied with a popping sound. The ''Anthia'' (oogpister beetle) will fire formic acid at attackers, probably extracting the formic acid from the ants that it eats. The devil-rider stick insects ('' Anisomorpha'') can fire terpenes from glands on the metathorax that can cause an intense burning irritat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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