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Gorgonocephalus Arcticus
''Gorgonocephalus arcticus'' is a species of basket star in the class Ophiuroidea. The genus name comes from the Greek, ''gorgós'' meaning "dreaded" and ''cephalus'' meaning "head", and refers to the similarity between these echinoids and the Gorgon's head from Greek myth with its coiled serpents for hair. Five gorgonocephalus species were discovered from European waters, specifically four occurred in Scandinavian waters. The first was found at 300 m depth in the Skagerrak by Mortensen. Technological advances have made it possible for scientists to view the basket starr in situ via remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Additional lab research has been possible from ROVs. ''G. arcticus'' populations are distributed from the Arctic to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Basket stars move along the bottom of the ocean, and G. arcticus commonly lives in areas of moderate to strong current flow. This species is also able to live non parasitically on the exterior of other sessile animals while i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motility, able to move, can Sexual reproduction, reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in which their body consists of a hollow sphere of Cell (biology), cells, the blastula, during Embryogenesis, embryonic development. Over 1.5 million Extant taxon, living animal species have been Species description, described—of which around 1 million are Insecta, insects—but it has been estimated there are over 7 million animal species in total. Animals range in length from to . They have Ecology, complex interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs. The scientific study of animals is known as zoology. Most living animal species are in Bilateria, a clade whose members have a Symmetry in biology#Bilate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Echinoderm
An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea lilies or "stone lilies". Adult echinoderms are found on the sea bed at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone. The phylum contains about 7,000 living species, making it the second-largest grouping of deuterostomes, after the chordates. Echinoderms are the largest entirely marine phylum. The first definitive echinoderms appeared near the start of the Cambrian. The echinoderms are important both ecologically and geologically. Ecologically, there are few other groupings so abundant in the biotic desert of the deep sea, as well as shallower oceans. Most echinoderms are able to reproduce asexually and regenerate tissue, organs, and limbs; in some cases, they can undergo complete regeneration from a single limb. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ophiuroidea
Brittle stars, serpent stars, or ophiuroids (; ; referring to the serpent-like arms of the brittle star) are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomotion. The ophiuroids generally have five long, slender, whip-like arms which may reach up to in length on the largest specimens. The Ophiuroidea contain two large clades, Ophiurida (brittle stars) and Euryalida (basket stars). Over 2,000 species of brittle stars live today. More than 1,200 of these species are found in deep waters, greater than 200 m deep. Range The ophiuroids diverged in the Early Ordovician, about 500 million years ago. Ophiuroids can be found today in all of the major marine provinces, from the poles to the tropics. Basket stars are usually confined to the deeper parts of this range; Ophiuroids are known even from abyssal (>6,000 m) depths. However, brittle stars are also common members of reef communities, where ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phrynophiurida
The Phrynophiurida (formerly called Euryalae) are an order of brittle stars containing the basket stars. Characteristics Phrynophiurida have bursae for gas exchange and excretion. Their ventral arm shields are rudimentary, and dorsal shields usually absent. Arms sometimes are branched, and can coil vertically. The vertebrae are joined by hourglass-shaped surfaces. The madreporite is on the oral surface. Digestive glands are confined to central disc. The integument is leathery, bearing calcareous granules or platelets. They generally live in deep-sea waters, coiling their arms on branched black coral. Systematics The Asteronychidae have a large disk and slender arms, and the Asteroschematidae have a small disk and stout arms. One remaining family, the Ophiomyxidae, differs in having a soft, unprotected integument, like that of Ophiocanops, but lacks the peculiar features of the gut and gonads in oegophiurids. Phrynophiurida are divided into the following suborders and fami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euryalina
The Euryalida are an order of brittle stars, which includes large species with either branching arms (called "basket stars") or long and curling arms (called "snake stars"). Characteristics Many of the species in this order have characteristic repeatedly branched arms (a shape known as "basket stars", which includes most Gorgonocephalidae and two species in the family Euryalidae), while the other species have very long and curling arms, and go rather by the name of "snake stars" (mostly abyssal species). Many of them live in deep sea habitats or cold waters, though some basket stars can be seen at night in shallow tropical reefs. Most young basket stars live on specific type of coral. In the wild they may live up to 35 years. They weigh up to Like other echinoderms, basket stars lack blood and achieve gas exchange via their water vascular system. The basket stars are the largest ophiuroids with ''Gorgonocephalus stimpsoni'' measuring up to 70 cm in arm length with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorgonocephalidae
Gorgonocephalidae is a family of basket stars. They have characteristic many-branched arms. Gorgonocephalidae are the largest ophiuroids ('' Gorgonocephalus stimpsoni'' can measure up to 70 cm in arm length with a disk diameter of 14 cm). Systematics and phylogeny The family is divided into the following genera: Fossil record of Gorgonocephalidae dates back to Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ....Kroh, A. 2003. First record of gorgonocephalid ophiuroids (Echinodermata) from the Middle Miocene of the Central Paratethys. Cainozoic Research 2: 143-155 References Echinoderm families Phrynophiurida {{Ophiuroidea-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorgonocephalus
''Gorgonocephalus'' is a genus of marine basket stars in the class Ophiuroidea. Members of this genus are found in coldwater environments including the Arctic, the Antarctic, and deep-sea habitats. The scientific name comes from the Greek, ''gorgós'' meaning "dreaded" and ''-cephalus'' meaning "head", and refers to the similarity between these echinoids and the Gorgon's head from Greek myth with its coiled serpents for hair.GORGONOCEPHALUS!! Because Weird is what we do! EchinoBlog. Retrieved 2012-01-21. The Greek mythological hero beheaded the Gorgon |
William Elford Leach
William Elford Leach FRS (2 February 1791 – 25 August 1836) was an English zoologist and marine biologist. Life and work Elford Leach was born at Hoe Gate, Plymouth, the son of an attorney. At the age of twelve he began a medical apprenticeship at the Devonshire and Exeter Hospital, studying anatomy and chemistry. By this time he was already collecting marine animals from Plymouth Sound and along the Devon coast. At seventeen he began studying medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, finishing his training at the University of Edinburgh before graduating MD from the University of St Andrews (where he had never studied). From 1813 Leach concentrated on his zoological interests and was employed as an 'Assistant Librarian' (what would later be called Assistant Keeper) in the Natural History Department of the British Museum, where he had responsibility for the zoological collections. Here he threw himself into the task of reorganising and modernising these coll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can reproduction, produce Fertility, fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology (biology), morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. However, only about 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a binomial nomenclature, two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basket Star
The Euryalida are an order of brittle stars, which includes large species with either branching arms (called "basket stars") or long and curling arms (called "snake stars"). Characteristics Many of the species in this order have characteristic repeatedly branched arms (a shape known as "basket stars", which includes most Gorgonocephalidae and two species in the family Euryalidae), while the other species have very long and curling arms, and go rather by the name of "snake stars" (mostly abyssal species). Many of them live in deep sea habitats or cold waters, though some basket stars can be seen at night in shallow tropical reefs. Most young basket stars live on specific type of coral. In the wild they may live up to 35 years. They weigh up to Like other echinoderms, basket stars lack blood and achieve gas exchange via their water vascular system. The basket stars are the largest ophiuroids with '' Gorgonocephalus stimpsoni'' measuring up to 70 cm in arm length wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Class (biology)
In biological classification, class ( la, classis) is a taxonomic rank, as well as a taxonomic unit, a taxon, in that rank. It is a group of related taxonomic orders. Other well-known ranks in descending order of size are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, order, family, genus, and species, with class fitting between phylum and order. History The class as a distinct rank of biological classification having its own distinctive name (and not just called a ''top-level genus'' ''(genus summum)'') was first introduced by the French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in his classification of plants that appeared in his ''Eléments de botanique'', 1694. Insofar as a general definition of a class is available, it has historically been conceived as embracing taxa that combine a distinct ''grade'' of organization—i.e. a 'level of complexity', measured in terms of how differentiated their organ systems are into distinct regions or sub-organs—with a distinct ''type'' of construc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Language
Greek ( el, label= Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy (Calabria and Salento), southern Albania, and other regions of the Balkans, the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor, and the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet, which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer, ancient Greek literature includes many works of l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
