- Industry: Government
- Number of terms: 30456
- Number of blossaries: 0
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NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
The temporary or reversible chemical process in which a molecule or ion is broken down into smaller molecules or ions.
Industry:Natural environment
The group of vertebrates that possess jaws; includes fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Industry:Natural environment
A cell that generates electricity. The electric currents produced by some species of fishes, such as torpedo rays and electric eels, are generated in stacks or columns of electrocytes.The electrocytes of most 'electric fishes' are modified muscle cells. They are usually arranged in columns within electric organs. When an electrocyte is stimulated, a movement of ions (electrically charged atoms) across the cell membrane results in an electric discharge.
Industry:Natural environment
A finger-like evagination of the body wall. Tentacles surround the mouths of coral polyps, anemones and other invertebrates. They are used for capturing prey, defense, reproduction, gas exchange, and light absorption.
Industry:Natural environment
A male fish which is not a member of a spawning pair, but hovers close by; often a sneaky male.
Industry:Natural environment
A spot on the base of the caudal fin, common in many unrelated fish species.
Industry:Natural environment
Benthic organisms whose shortest dimension is less than 0.5 mm but greater than or equal to 0.1 mm.
Industry:Natural environment
In taxonomy, classification based on convenient or conspicuous diagnostic characters without attention to characters which indicate phylogenetic relationship; often a classification based on a single arbitrarily chosen character, rather than an evaluation of the totality of characters.
Industry:Natural environment
One of thousands of tiny air sacs at the end of the bronchioles in lungs. Alveoli are the sites of gaseous exchange between the atmosphere and the blood. Oxygen passes into the lung capillaries and CO2 passes from the capillaries into the lungs and is exhaled.
Industry:Natural environment
The dispersal of plant seeds or spores accidentally attached to the outside of an animal's body; also called "epizoochory".
Industry:Natural environment
