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Odontosyllis Phosphorea
''Odontosyllis phosphorea'', commonly known as a fireworm, is a polychaete worm that inhabits the Pacific coast of North and Central America. The organism normally lives in a tube on the seabed, but it becomes bioluminescent when it rises to the surface of the sea during breeding season. Description ''Odontosyllis phosphorea'' is a small worm some long and in diameter when fully grown. Its elongated body is composed of many segments, each bearing a pair of parapodia. With these appendages it can crawl, burrow and swim, but it normally lives in a parchment-like tube it creates on a rock or other hard surface on the seabed. The head has two pairs of eyes, a nuchal hood which covers the back of the prostomium, and a ring of small curved teeth inside the pharynx. The parapodia in the central part of the body are slender and tapering. The upper surface of the worm is dark with yellowish transverse bands. Distribution and habitat This fireworm occurs on the west coast of North Ame ... [...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] |
Continental Shelf
A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island is known as an ''insular shelf''. The continental margin, between the continental shelf and the abyssal plain, comprises a steep continental slope, surrounded by the flatter continental rise, in which sediment from the continent above cascades down the slope and accumulates as a pile of sediment at the base of the slope. Extending as far as 500 km (310 mi) from the slope, it consists of thick sediments deposited by turbidity currents from the shelf and slope. The continental rise's gradient is intermediate between the gradients of the slope and the shelf. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the name continental shelf was given a legal definition as the stretch of the seabed adjacent to the sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1492 Light Sighting
Between 1492 and 1504, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus led four Spanish transatlantic maritime expeditions of discovery to the Americas. These voyages led to the widespread knowledge of the New World. This breakthrough inaugurated the period known as the Age of Discovery, which saw the colonization of the Americas, a related biological exchange, and trans-Atlantic trade. These events, the effects and consequences of which persist to the present, are often cited as the beginning of the modern era. Born in the Republic of Genoa, Columbus was a navigator who sailed for the Crown of Castile (a predecessor to the modern Kingdom of Spain) in search of a westward route to the Indies, thought to be the East Asian source of spices and other precious oriental goods obtainable only through arduous overland routes. Columbus was partly inspired by 13th-century Italian explorer Marco Polo in his ambition to explore Asia and never admitted his failure in this, incessantly claiming ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Annelida Of Ireland
This is a list of the Annelida recorded from Ireland. In Ireland the number of species is: * Class Polychaeta 404 species * Class Clitellata * Subclass Oligochaeta 179 species * Subclass Hirudinea 32 species Taxonomy Here the leeches and oligochaetes are placed together in the Class Clitellata. The marine Polychaeta are ranked as a Class. These groups (and the Annelida) may be monophyletic, paraphyletic or polyphyletic. (Rouse and Pleijel, 2001). Order Phyllodocida Family Chrysopetalidae 2 species Family Pisionidae First segment projects forward of the head. ''Pisione''. 1 species Family Aphroditidae "Felt"-covered scale worms. ''Aphrodita'', ''Laetmonice'', Palmyra (Palmyridae) 4 species including *Aphrodita aculeata Family Polynoidae 29 species including * Alentia gelatinosa * Gattyana cirrosa * Lepidonotus squamatus Family Pholoidae Minute scale worms. Dorsal scales ringed. ''Pholoe'', ''Pholoides'images of Pholoidae 4 species Family Sigalionidae Scale worms ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Full Moon
The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180°). This means that the lunar hemisphere facing Earth—the near side—is completely sunlit and appears as an approximately circular disk. The full moon occurs roughly once a month. The time interval between a full moon and the next repetition of the same phase, a synodic month, averages about 29.53 days. Therefore, in those lunar calendars in which each month begins on the day of the new moon, the full moon falls on either the 14th or 15th day of the lunar month. Because a calendar month consists of a whole number of days, a month in a lunar calendar may be either 29 or 30 days long. Characteristics A full moon is often thought of as an event of a full night's duration, although its phase seen from Earth continuously waxes or wanes, and is fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odontosyllis Enopla
''Odontosyllis enopla'', commonly known as the Bermuda fireworm, is a polychaete worm that inhabits shallow areas of the western Atlantic Ocean. The organism is bioluminescent when it rises to the surface of the sea during its mating period. It is possible that this fireworm is the explanation of a candle-like light seen by Christopher Columbus during his first voyage on 11 October 1492 before he made landfall in his explorations. Description As a polychaete worm, ''Odontosyllis enopla'' has a body consisting of multiple segments each with a pair of parapodia. The head has two pairs of eyes at the sides with several advanced features including a lens, photoreceptor cells, a retina and pigment granules. Associated with these are linear arrays of tubes which may function in a similar way to fibre optic bundles. Each pair of eyes is oriented in a different plane. Female worms grow to or longer while males typically grow to . This worm normally lives in a mucous tube on the shallow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neap Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can be used for any given locale to find the predicted times and amplitude (or "tidal range"). The predictions are influenced by many factors including the alignment of the Sun and Moon, the phase and amplitude of the tide (pattern of tides in the deep ocean), the amphidromic systems of the oceans, and the shape of the coastline and near-shore bathymetry (see '' Timing''). They are however only predictions, the actual time and height of the tide is affected by wind and atmospheric pressure. Many shorelines experience semi-diurnal tides—two nearly equal high and low tides each day. Other locations have a diurnal tide—one high and low tide each day. A "mixed tide"—two uneven magnitude tides a day—is a third regular category. Tides va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decoy
A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''ende kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to lure them. Decoys have been used for centuries most notably in game hunting, but also in wartime and in the committing or resolving of crimes. Hunting In hunting wildfowl, the term decoy may refer to two distinct devices. One, the duck decoy (structure), is a long cone-shaped wickerwork tunnel installed on a small pond to catch wild ducks. After the ducks settled on the pond, a small, trained dog would herd the birds into the tunnel. The catch was formerly sent to market for food, but now these are used only by ornithologists to catch ducks to be ringed and released. The word ''decoy'', also originally found in English as "coy", derives from the Dutch ''de Kooi'' (the cage) and dates back to the early 17th century, when this type of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plankton
Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucial source of food to many small and large aquatic organisms, such as bivalves, fish and whales. Marine plankton include bacteria, archaea, algae, protozoa and drifting or floating animals that inhabit the saltwater of oceans and the brackish waters of estuaries. Freshwater plankton are similar to marine plankton, but are found in the freshwaters of lakes and rivers. Plankton are usually thought of as inhabiting water, but there are also airborne versions, the aeroplankton, that live part of their lives drifting in the atmosphere. These include plant spores, pollen and wind-scattered seeds, as well as microorganisms swept into the air from terrestrial dust storms and oceanic plankton swept into the air by sea spray. Though m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microphyte
Microalgae or microphytes are microscopic algae invisible to the naked eye. They are phytoplankton typically found in freshwater and marine systems, living in both the water column and sediment. They are unicellular species which exist individually, or in chains or groups. Depending on the species, their sizes can range from a few micrometers (μm) to a few hundred micrometers. Unlike higher plants, microalgae do not have roots, stems, or leaves. They are specially adapted to an environment dominated by viscous forces. Microalgae, capable of performing photosynthesis, are important for life on earth; they produce approximately half of the atmospheric oxygen and use the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide to grow photoautotrophically. "Marine photosynthesis is dominated by microalgae, which together with cyanobacteria, are collectively called phytoplankton." Microalgae, together with bacteria, form the base of the food web and provide energy for all the trophic levels above them. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria are vital in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients such as the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide and methane, to energy. Bacteria also live in symbiotic and parasitic re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intertidal Zone
The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species of life, such as seastars, sea urchins, and many species of coral with regional differences in biodiversity. Sometimes it is referred to as the '' littoral zone'' or '' seashore'', although those can be defined as a wider region. The well-known area also includes steep rocky cliffs, sandy beaches, bogs or wetlands (e.g., vast mudflats). The area can be a narrow strip, as in Pacific islands that have only a narrow tidal range, or can include many meters of shoreline where shallow beach slopes interact with high tidal excursion. The peritidal zone is similar but somewhat wider, extending from above the highest tide level to below the lowest. Organisms in the intertidal zone are adapted to an environment of harsh extremes, living in w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
