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Cetacean Stranding
Cetacean stranding, commonly known as beaching, is a phenomenon in which whales and dolphins strand themselves on land, usually on a beach. Beached whales often die due to dehydration, collapsing under their own weight, or drowning when high tide covers the blowhole (anatomy), blowhole. Cetacean stranding has occurred since before recorded history. Several explanations for why cetaceans strand themselves have been proposed, including changes in water temperatures, peculiarities of whales' Animal echolocation, echolocation in certain surroundings, and geomagnetic disturbances, but none have so far been universally accepted as a definitive reason for the behavior. However, a link between the mass beaching of beaked whales and use of mid-frequency active sonar has been found. Whales that die due to stranding can subsequently decay and bloat to the point where they can exploding whale, explode, causing gas and their internal organs to fly out. Species Every year, up to 2,000 anima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackfish
Blackfish is a common name for various species of fishes and cetaceans, including: Fish * Alaska blackfish (''Dallia pectoralis''), an Esocidae, esocid from Alaska, Siberia, and the Bering Sea islands * Black fish (''Carassioides acuminatus''), a cyprinid from China and Vietnam * Black ruff (''Centrolophus niger'') * Black sea bass (''Centropristis striata'') * Black triggerfish * Cornish blackfish (''Schedophilus medusophagus'') * ''Gadopsis'', two Australian freshwater fish: ** River blackfish (''G. marmoratus'') ** Two-spined blackfish (''G. bispinosus'') * Galjoen (''Dichistius capensis'') * Imperial blackfish (''Schedophilus ovalis'') * Japanese black porgy (''Acanthopagrus schlegelii''), a large sea bream often cultivated in aquaculture * Parore (''Girella tricuspidata'') * Sacramento blackfish (''Orthodon microlepidotus'') * Tautog (''Tautoga onitis'') Dolphins *Pilot whales (''Globicephala'') *Melon-headed whale (''Peponocephala electra'') *False killer whale (''Pseudorca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pilot Whale
Pilot whales are cetaceans belonging to the genus ''Globicephala''. The two Extant taxon, extant species are the long-finned pilot whale (''G. melas'') and the short-finned pilot whale (''G. macrorhynchus''). The two are not readily distinguishable at sea, and analysis of the skulls is the best way to distinguish between the species. Between the two species, they range nearly worldwide, with long-finned pilot whales living in colder waters and short-finned pilot whales living in tropical and subtropical waters. Pilot whales are among the largest of the oceanic dolphins, exceeded in size only by the orca. They and other large members of the dolphin family are also known as blackfish. Pilot whales feed primarily on squid, but will also hunt large demersal fish such as cod and turbot. They are highly social and may remain with their birth wikt:pod#Noun, pod throughout their lifetime. Short-finned pilot whales are one of the few non-primate mammal species in which females go through ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whale
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and porpoises. Dolphins and porpoises may be considered whales from a formal, Cladistics, cladistic perspective. Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to the order Cetartiodactyla, which consists of even-toed ungulates. Their closest non-cetacean living relatives are the hippopotamuses, from which they and other cetaceans diverged about 54 million years ago. The two parvorders of whales, baleen whales (Mysticeti) and toothed whales (Odontoceti), are thought to have had their Most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor around 34 million years ago. Mysticetes include four Neontology, extant (living) Family (biology), families: Balaenopteridae (the rorquals), Balaenidae (right whales), Cetotheriid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Beached Whales, 1577
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies. Evolution of the Arabic digit The use of three lines to denote the number 3 occurred in many writing systems, including some (like Roman and Chinese numerals) that are still in use. That was also the original representation of 3 in the Brahmic (Indian) numerical notation, its earliest forms aligned vertically. However, during the Gupta Empire the sign was modified by the addition of a curve on each line. The Nāgarī script rotated the lines clockwise, so they appeared horizontally, and ended each line with a short downward stroke on the right. In cursive script, the three strokes were eventually connected to form a glyph resembling a with an additional stroke at the bottom: ३. The Indian digits spread to the Caliphate in the 9th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whale Fall
A whale fall occurs when the Carrion, carcass of a whale has fallen onto the ocean floor, typically at a depth greater than , putting them in the Bathyal zone, bathyal or abyssal zones. On the sea floor, these carcasses can create complex localized ecosystems that supply sustenance to deep-sea organisms for decades. In some circumstances, particularly in cases with lower water temperatures, they can be found at much Mesopelagic zone, shallower depths, with at least one natural instance recorded at 150 m (500 ft) and multiple experimental instances in the range of . Whale falls were first observed in the late 1970s with the development of Deep-sea exploration, deep-sea robotic exploration. Since then, several natural and experimental whale falls have been monitored through the use of observations from submersibles and remotely operated underwater vehicles (Remotely operated underwater vehicle, ROVs) in order to understand patterns of ecological succession on the deep seafloor. De ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decompose
Decomposition is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biosphere. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death. Although no two organisms decompose in the same way, they all undergo the same sequential stages of decomposition. Decomposition can be a gradual process for organisms that have extended periods of dormancy. One can differentiate ''abiotic'' decomposition from ''biotic'' decomposition (biodegradation); the former means "the degradation of a substance by chemical or physical processes", e.g., hydrolysis; the latter means "the metabolic breakdown of materials into simpler components by living organisms", typically by microorganisms. Animals, such as earthworms, also help decompose the organic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scavenge
Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a herbivorous feeding behavior. Scavengers play an important role in the ecosystem by consuming dead animal and plant material. ''Decomposers'' and detritivores complete this process, by consuming the remains left by scavengers. Scavengers aid in overcoming fluctuations of food resources in the environment. The process and rate of scavenging is affected by both biotic and abiotic factors, such as carcass size, habitat, temperature, and seasons. Etymology Scavenger is an alteration of ''scavager,'' from Middle English ''skawager'' meaning "customs collector", from ''skawage'' meaning "customs", from Old North French ''escauwage'' meaning "inspection", from ''schauwer'' meaning "to inspect", of Germanic origin; akin to Old English ''scēawian'' and German '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coast
A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, such as that caused by wind wave, waves. The geology, geological composition of rock (geology), rock and soil dictates the type of shore that is created. Earth has about of coastline. Coasts are important zones in natural ecosystems, often home to a wide range of biodiversity. On land, they harbor ecosystems, such as freshwater marsh, freshwater or estuary, estuarine wetlands, that are important for birds and other terrestrial animals. In wave-protected areas, coasts harbor salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrass meadow, seagrasses, all of which can provide nursery habitat for finfish, shellfish, and other aquatic animals. Rocky shores are usually found along exposed coasts and provide habitat for a wide range of sessility (motility), sessile ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wind
Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hours, to global winds resulting from the difference in absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption of solar energy between the climate zones on Earth. The study of wind is called anemology. The two main causes of large-scale atmospheric circulation are the differential heating between the equator and the poles, and the rotation of the planet (Coriolis effect). Within the tropics and subtropics, thermal low circulations over terrain and high plateaus can drive monsoon circulations. In coastal areas the sea breeze/land breeze cycle can define local winds; in areas that have variable terrain, mountain and valley breezes can prevail. Winds are commonly classified by their scale (spatial), spatial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ocean Current
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of seawater generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours, shoreline configurations, and interactions with other currents influence a current's direction and strength. Ocean currents move both horizontally, on scales that can span entire oceans, as well as vertically, with vertical currents (upwelling and downwelling) playing an important role in the movement of nutrients and gases, such as carbon dioxide, between the surface and the deep ocean. Ocean currents flow for great distances and together they create the global conveyor belt, which plays a dominant role in determining the climate of many of Earth's regions. More specifically, ocean currents influence the temperature of the regions through which they travel. For example, warm currents traveling along more temperate coasts increase the temper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Globicephala Melas
The long-finned pilot whale, or pothead whale (''Globicephala melas'') is a large species of oceanic dolphin. It shares the genus '' Globicephala'' with the short-finned pilot whale (''Globicephala macrorhynchus''). Long-finned pilot whales are known as such because of their unusually long pectoral fins. Taxonomy and naming Etymology Pilot whales get their name from the original belief that there was a "pilot" or lead individual in their groups.Olson, P.A. (2008). "Pilot whale ''Globicephala melas'' and ''G. muerorhynchus''". pp. 847–52 in ''Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals''. Perrin, W. F., Wursig, B., and Thewissen, J. G. M. (eds.). Academic Press; 2nd edition. Ridgway, S. H. (1998). ''Handbook of Marine Mammals: The second book of dolphins and the porpoises''. Volume 6, Elsevier. pp. 245–69. The name for the genus, "''Globicephala''" is derived from a combination of Latin ''globus'' ("globe") and Greek ''kephale'' ("head"). The specific name "''melas''" is Greek for "blac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
