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NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
The common name of a large group of over 800 species within seven families of bony fishes in the suborder Blennioidei. Blennies are small, usually scaleless fishes with comb-like teeth living in coastal and coral reef areas, including seagrass beds and tidepools. At least one species lives in fresh water. Most are are characterized by possessing blunt foreheads, elongated, tapering bodies, and a continuous long dorsal fin. The pelvic fins are usually anterior to the pelvic fins, and in the jugular in position. Many species are cryptic or inhabit the surge zone. Most are herbivores.
Industry:Natural environment
The movement of genes through or between populations as the result of out-crossing and natural selection.
Industry:Natural environment
The sonar-like ability used by bats, dolphins, some whales, and two groups of cave-dwelling birds to detect objects in their environment. Using echolocation, the animal emits high-frequency sounds that reflect off of an object and return to the ears or other sensory receptors.
Industry:Natural environment
With refefence to oil spills, to simulate a spill-type release in a flow-through laboratory setting, an initial and relatively high concentration of a contaminant is allowed to dissipate under continuous water flow .
Industry:Natural environment
A dating method used to determine the age of samples containing carbon. The method measures the disintegration of the 14C atom. 14C is produced in the atmosphere by cosmic ray bombardment, and has a half-life of 5,570 years, making it useful for dating samples in the range of 0-40,000 years.
Industry:Natural environment
A large complex molecule made up of one or more chains of amino acids. A typical protein contains 200-300 amino acids but some are much smaller and some much larger, e.g., titin, a protein found in skeletal muscle contains approximately 27,000 amino acids in a single chain. Proteins perform a wide variety of essential activities in cells: they largely form the physical structure of cells and cellular matrices; catalysts for all biochemical reactions are enzymes, which contain protein; the transport of materials in body fluids depends of proteins; the receptors for hormones and other signaling molecules are proteins; motion and locomotion of cells and organisms depends on contractile proteins; the transcription factors that turn genes on and off are proteins; proteins are an essential nutrient for heterotrophs; and many more - the activities of cells and organisms are largely reflections of the activities of their proteins.
Industry:Natural environment
A opisthobranchiate mollusk (sea slugs), having no shell except while very young. The gills are naked and situated upon the back or sides.
Industry:Natural environment
A slender, rod-shaped structure that supports the membranes of the fins of fishes. There are two types of rays, soft rays and spines. Soft rays are jointed, often branched, and flexible near their tips. Spines are unjointed, unbranched, and usually sharp at the tip and stiff along the shaft.
Industry:Natural environment
