HOME





Spicule
Spicules are any of various small needle-like anatomical structures occurring in organisms Spicule may also refer to: * Spicule (sponge), small skeletal elements of sea sponges *Spicule (nematode), reproductive structures found in male nematodes (roundworms) * Spicule (solar physics), jets of solar material from the Sun * Spicule (glass manufacture), glass flakes formed in the production of glass vials. See also * Ossicle, any various small bones *Process (anatomy), any outgrowths of tissue *Sclerite, hardened body parts of invertebrates *Spikelet, the inflorescence of grasses *Stylet (anatomy), a piercing structure *Tubercle In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection ...
, wart-shaped outgrowths of body tissue {{Disambiguation ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Spicule (sponge)
Spicules are structural elements found in most sponges. The meshing of many spicules serves as the sponge's skeleton and thus it provides structural support and potentially defense against predators. Sponge spicules are made of calcium carbonate or silica. Large spicules visible to the naked eye are referred to as megascleres, while smaller, microscopic ones are termed microscleres. The composition, size, and shape of spicules are major characters in sponge systematics and taxonomy. Overview Sponges are a species-rich clade of the earliest-diverging (most basal) animals. They are distributed globally, with diverse ecologies and functions, and a record spanning at least the entire Phanerozoic. Most sponges produce skeletons formed by spicules, structural elements that develop in a wide variety of sizes and three dimensional shapes. Among the four sub-clades of Porifera, three ( Demospongiae, Hexactinellida, and Homoscleromorpha) produce skeletons of amorphous silica a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Spicule (nematode)
In nematodes, spicules, also known as copulatory spicules, are needle-like mating structures found only in males. Male nematodes may have one or two spicules which serve to open the vulva of females and facilitate the transmission of sperm, although sperm is not transferred directly by or through the spicules.Chitwood, B. G. & Chitwood, M. B. (1950). Introduction to Nematology (Vol. 1). Baltimore: Monumental Printing Co. (Function of spicule: pages 123-124) The gubernaculum is another organ of the nematode male copulatory system which guides the spicules during copulation. References Nematode anatomy Animal male reproductive system {{nematode-stub ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Spicule (solar Physics)
In solar physics, a spicule, also known as a fibril or mottle, is a dynamic jet of plasma in the Sun's chromosphere about 300 km in diameter.Quantifying Spicules, Tiago M. D. Pereira, Bart De Pontieu, and Mats Carlsson, ''The Astrophysical Journal'' 759, #1 (October 2012), pp. 18-34, , . They move upwards with speeds between 15 and 110 km/s from the photosphere and last a few minutes each. They were discovered in 1877 by Angelo Secchi, but the physical mechanism that generates them is still hotly debated. Description Spicules last for about 15 minutes; at the solar limb they appear elongated (if seen on the disk, they are known as "mottles" or "fibrils"). They are usually associated with regions of high magnetic flux; their mass flux is about 100 times that of the solar wind. They rise at a rate of 20 km/s (or 72,000 km/h) and can reach several thousand kilometers in height before collapsing and fading away. Prevalence There are about 3,000,000 active sp ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sclerite
A sclerite ( Greek , ', meaning " hard") is a hardened body part. In various branches of biology the term is applied to various structures, but not as a rule to vertebrate anatomical features such as bones and teeth. Instead it refers most commonly to the hardened parts of arthropod exoskeletons and the internal spicules of invertebrates such as certain sponges and soft corals. In paleontology, a scleritome is the complete set of sclerites of an organism, often all that is known from fossil invertebrates. Sclerites in combination Sclerites may occur practically isolated in an organism, such as the sting of a cone shell. Also, they can be more or less scattered, such as tufts of defensive sharp, mineralised bristles as in many marine Polychaetes. Or, they can occur as structured, but unconnected or loosely connected arrays, such as the mineral "teeth" in the radula of many Mollusca, the valves of Chitons, the beak of Cephalopod, or the articulated exoskeletons of Arthropoda. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Spicule (glass Manufacture)
Spicules are tiny glass flakes which are formed during the manufacture of glass vials. A glass tube is extruded at a constant rate and a jet of water applied to the hot glass is used to cut the blank tube to length. The bottom and lip of the vial are formed by swagging or upset forming while the glass is still hot. Spicules are formed in a cloud when the glass explodes from the contact of the cold jet. These are held to the glass blank during forming, and if the vial is not reheated or cleaned after manufacture, these spicules can drift off into the mixture subsequently placed in the vial. This is a serious problem in the manufacture of soft contact lens Contact lenses, or simply contacts, are thin lenses placed directly on the surface of the eyes. Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmetic ...es or pharmaceutical products. Glass engineering and science {{Glass-engi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Ossicle
The ossicles (also called auditory ossicles) are three bones in either middle ear that are among the smallest bones in the human body. They serve to transmit sounds from the air to the fluid-filled labyrinth ( cochlea). The absence of the auditory ossicles would constitute a moderate-to-severe hearing loss. The term "ossicle" literally means "tiny bone". Though the term may refer to any small bone throughout the body, it typically refers to the malleus, incus, and stapes (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) of the middle ear. Structure The ossicles are, in order from the eardrum to the inner ear (from superficial to deep): the malleus, incus, and stapes, terms that in Latin are translated as "the hammer, anvil, and stirrup". * The malleus ( la, "hammer") articulates with the incus through the incudomalleolar joint and is attached to the tympanic membrane (eardrum), from which vibrational sound pressure motion is passed. * The incus ( la, "anvil") is connected to both ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Process (anatomy)
In anatomy, a process ( la, processus) is a projection or outgrowth of tissue from a larger body. For instance, in a vertebra, a process may serve for muscle attachment and leverage (as in the case of the transverse and spinous processes), or to fit (forming a synovial joint), with another vertebra (as in the case of the articular processes).Moore, Keith L. et al. (2010) ''Clinically Oriented Anatomy'', 6th Ed, p.442 fig. 4.2 The word is used even at the microanatomic level, where cells can have processes such as cilia or pedicels. Depending on the tissue, processes may also be called by other terms, such as ''apophysis'', '' tubercle'', or ''protuberance''. Examples Examples of processes include: *The many processes of the human skull: ** The mastoid and styloid processes of the temporal bone ** The zygomatic process of the temporal bone ** The zygomatic process of the frontal bone ** The orbital, temporal, lateral, frontal, and maxillary processes of the zygomati ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Spikelet
A spikelet, in botany, describes the typical arrangement of the flowers of grasses, sedges and some other Monocots. Each spikelet has one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes. The part of the spikelet that bears the florets is called the rachilla. In grasses In Poaceae, the grass family, a spikelet consists of two (or sometimes fewer) bracts at the base, called glumes, followed by one or more florets. A floret consists of the flower surrounded by two bracts, one external—the lemma—and one internal—the palea. The perianth is reduced to two scales, called lodicules, that expand and contract to spread the lemma and palea; these are generally interpreted to be modified sepals. The flowers are usually hermaphroditic—maize being an important exception—and mainly anemophilous or wind-pollinated, although insects occasionally play a role. Lemma Lemma is a phytomorphological term referring to a part of the spikelet. It is the lo ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Stylet (anatomy)
A stylet is a hard, sharp, anatomical structure found in some invertebrates. For example, the word ''stylet'' or stomatostyle is used for the primitive piercing mouthparts of some nematodes and some nemerteans. In these groups the stylet is a hardened protrusible opening to the stomach. These stylets are adapted for the piercing of cell walls and usually function by providing the operative organism with access to the nutrients contained within the prey cell. The mouthparts of tardigrades, diptera and aphids are also called stylets. In octopodes An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, ..., the stylets are internal, needle-like bent rods within the mantle, the vestigial remnants of an external shell. References Nematode anatomy {{Animal-anatomy-stub ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]