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NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
A pointed, conical tooth that is located at the front or edge of the jaw. Canine teeth are used for piercing and grabbing prey.
Industry:Natural environment
A type of protein present in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells that helps to compact DNA into tightly packed chromosomes.
Industry:Natural environment
An extremely powerful neurotoxin naturally found within the bodies of certain soft corals in the genus Palythoa (family Zoanthidae).
Industry:Natural environment
Appearance of a surface characterized by circular spots of tissue or areolae.
Industry:Natural environment
In taxonomy, a list of names or works suppressed or declared invalid by action of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.
Industry:Natural environment
One of numerous small calcareous structures that form the exoskeleton of certain echinoderms. Their size,shape and location are highly variable, and they may be movable or fixed in position. They may appear as thin fused plates. In brittle stars they form "vertebrae" in the arms, which with together with their attached muscles, gives the brittle star its serpentine ophiuroid motion. Sea cucumbers hve microscopic ossicles embedded in their dermis. The small, sound transmitting bones in the vertebrate middle ear are also called 'ossicles'.
Industry:Natural environment
Sea urchins are echinoderms in the class Echinoidea, that possess a hard calcareous shell (test) armed with spines, which may be long and pointed, or short and pointed, or dull. The spines are used for locomotion (along with tube feet), protection, and for trapping drifting food particulates, such as algae. Most sea urchins are algal grazers but some feed on sponges, ectoprocts and ascidians, and others on detritus. Sea urchins help to keep corals free of overgrowing algae.
Industry:Natural environment
