Copy of `Ocean Oasis Field - Glossary of marine life`

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Ocean Oasis Field - Glossary of marine life Category: Animals and Nature > Ocean life Date & country: 03/01/2011, UK Words: 59

Alluvial
Relating to, composed of, or found in alluvium, which is clay, silt, sand, gravel, or other similar material deposited by running water.

Amphipod
Small crustaceans living in or next to the water, including sand fleas and whale lice.

Androdioecious
Said of a plant species that has individuals with perfect flowers and individuals with staminate flowers.

Areole
A generally circular cluster of spines on members of the cactus family.

Aril
A special covering for seeds that develops from the seed stalk. It's often brightly colored, and serves as a signal for seed dispersers.

Baleen plates
Long plates of horny material that hang in rows from the roof of the mouth of some whales. They are used to strain food from the water.

Blowhole
A nostril opening on the top of the head of cetaceans (whales, porpoises, dolphins).

Carapace
Hard or chitinous covering or shield protecting the body of the animal, such as a crab.

Cetacean
Any member of the order Cetacea—a group of primarily marine mammals occurring throughout the world's oceans, as well as in some tropical rivers and lakes. The name whale is often used to refer to larger species, while dolphin or porpoise is used for the smaller members of the order.

Clupeid
Small silvery fishes in the Clupeidae family. The Herrings (Sardinas, Arenques)

Commensal
Living with, on or in another organism, without harm to either. See Teacher's Guide Activity 11

Compound eye
Type of eye subdivided into many individual, light-receptive parts, such as that found in insects, crustaceans, etc.

Deciduous
To fall off or shed seasonally; usually refers to the leaves of a plant.

Dioecious
Said of a plant species which has some individuals which bear only staminate flowers, and some which bear only pistillate flowers, and there are no perfect flowers. These are the species that are commonly referred to as having male and female plants.

Ectoparasite
Parasite found on external part of the host's body.

Endemic
Belonging or native to a particular people or country.

Estuary
A partly enclosed coastal body of water, open to the ocean so that fresh and salt water are mixed.

Fluke
One of the lobes of the tail of a whale or dolphin.

Gamete
A gamete is a cell involved in sexual reproduction and contains one copy of each chromosome. In males, the gamete is the sperm; in females, it's the egg.

Gastropods
Mollusks in the class Gastropoda, typically with a single shell, including the snails, whelks, etc.

Glabrous
Having a surface without hairs or projections; smooth.

Gynodioecious
Said of a plant species that has individuals with perfect flowers and individuals with pistillate flowers.

Hermaphrodite
Having both male and female reproductive systems in the same individual.

Heteropod
Pelagic snails with a fin-like foot and reduced shell.

Hydrocoral
Marine colonial hydrozoan animals that have calcified skeletons.

Hydrozoan
Freshwater or marine coelenterates of the class Hydrozoa, such as the Portuguese man-of-war, hydras, etc.

Kleptoparasite
An animal that steals food from another animal.

Lanceolate
Shaped like a lance head, that is, tapering to a point at the apex and at the base.

Lenticel
A loose group of cells that penetrates the surface, such as the stem, of a woody plant. Gases are exchanged between the atmosphere and the underlying tissues through these cells.

Mollusk
An invertebrate of the phylum Mollusca, typically having a calcified shell of one or more parts, enclosing the soft body of the animal.

Monoecious
Said of a plant species in which all individuals bear both staminate and pistillate flowers, but there are no perfect flowers. For example, oaks—with male flowers in catkins, producing wind-borne pollen, and female flowers on the stems, producing acorns.

Nauplius
An early planktonic larval stage in many crustaceans.

Nematocyst
A minute capsule containing an ejectable thread with a stinger; found in certain coelenterates (corals, hydras, jellyfish).

Nudibranch
Shell-less marine snails.

Obovate
Shaped like an egg, with the narrow end at the base.

Operculum
Gill cover

Ovipositor
A specialized organ used for depositing eggs.

Palmate
Resembling a hand with the fingers outspread.

Pectoral fins
Paired fins, located just behind or below the gill slits, and used for lift and movement control. See fish diagram.

Pelagic
Of or relating to the open ocean.

Pelvic fins
See fish diagram.

Perfect flowers
Perfect (also called bisexual) flowers have both functional male parts (stamens or anthers capable of producing pollen) and functional female parts (pistil or ovary capable of producing seeds).

Petiole
Slender stem supporting the blade of a foliage leaf.

Pinniped
Any member of the various families of aquatic, fin-footed mammals in the order Carnivora. There are three existing families of pinnipeds: Odobenidae (walrus), Phocidae (earless seals), and Otariidae (eared seals).

Pistillate
Pistillate (or "female") flowers are ones which have a functional pistil, capable of producing seeds—but either have no stamens at all, or have stamens with anthers that are incapable of producing pollen.

Planula
Free-swimming larval stage of a coelenterate.

Pneumatophores
Roots that function as respiratory organs in wetland plants.

Propagule
A structure, such as a cutting, seed, or spore, that propagates a plant.

Rookery
A breeding ground, especially of gregarious birds or mammals; also a colony of such birds or mammals

Sessile
Permanently attached; not freely moving.

Sky Island
A metaphoric reference to high-elevation areas that are separated from each other by air (and other inhospitable habitat) in the same way that islands are separated by water. This means that individuals of species that live on one mountaintop may be unable to cross the intervening terrain to breed with related individuals on other mountaintops, even though they might be quite near.

Spicules
Small, hard bodies of silica or calcium carbonate that serve as the skeletal elements in sponges.

Staminate
Staminate (or "male") flowers are ones which have functional stamens, capable of producing pollen—but either have no ovary at all, or an ovary which is not fertile.

Sterile
Not capable of reproducing. Sterile flowers may have petals and sepals, but no funtional reproductive parts at all.

Striae
Linear bony ridges, present on the head bones (often the cheek or gill cover) of some fishes.

Symbiotic
Relationship of two dissimilar species living together.

Trioecious
Said of a plant species that has individuals with staminate flowers, individuals with pistillate flowers, and individuals with perfect flowers.

Viviparity
Quality or state of being viviparous.

Viviparous
In animals, giving birth to live young rather than laying eggs. In plants, seeds that germinate (sprout) while still attached to the parent plant.