The Sauropterygia was a superorder of successful aquatic reptiles that flourished during the Mesozoic era. They are united by an adaptation of their shoulder, designed to support powerful paddle strokes. Some later sauropterygians like the pliosaurs developed a similar mechanism in their pelvis.
The earliest sauropterygians appeared about 245 million years ago, at the start of the Triassic period. At first they were small, less than a metre. They were semi-aquatic lizard-like animals with long limbs (called pachypleurosaurs). They developed into a group called the nothosaurs, several meters long. The sauropterygians included another very distinctive group: the placodonts. They were bottom-feeders on shellfish, and possessed flat, crushing teeth to handle their prey.
The end-Triassic extinction event wiped them all out except for the plesiosaurs. During the earliest Jurassic these diversified quickly into the long-necked small-headed plesiosaurs proper, and short-necked large-headed pliosaurs.
Oceanic trench
Ocean trenches have relatively steep sides falling to the ocean floor.
Ocean trenches are typically caused when an oceanic crustal plate slides under a lighter continental plate or another oceanic plate. It is believed to work by density. Where one plate slides under another, this is called subduction. As the heavier plate descends, the long, narrow feature caused is called the "subduction zone". It is here that oceanic trenches form. They can be 1,500 miles (2,400 km) long, several miles deep, and as much as 70 miles (112 km) wide.
At least five trenches are over 6 miles (10 km) deep. The greatest ocean depth to be sounded is in the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench, at a depth of
Trenches are active with earthquakes and resulting tsunamis. Most volcanism associated with trenches occurs on the continent and not on the sea floor. However, many of the ocean's volcanic islands and seamounts are found in what are called island arcs, bending chains of islands rising from the sea floor, usually paralleling the concave edges of an oceanic trench. The western Pacific has island arcism as do the Aleutian Islands.
Near the island of Guam is the famous Mariana Trench where the Pacific Plate descends under the leading edge of the Eurasian Plate. Measured at 36,201 feet - over 6.8 miles (11 km) deep, this trench is the deepest known spot in any ocean. In 1960, two men in the bathyscaph "Trieste" reached bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Other extensive trench regions around the world include the South Sandwich Trench between South America and Antarctica, the Peru-Chile Trench, and the Aleutian Trench.
North Kosovo
North Kosovo is a Serbian enclave in Kosovo. It has over 80,000 residents, at least 98% of them are Christian Serbs. There are about 3,000 Albanians, and about 2000 Turks, Greeks, Gorans, Romas and others.
Unlike the Strpce municipality which is autonomous, North Kosovo is directly run by the Government of Belgrade.
In North Kosovo, Serbian car plates are still used and the Serbian dinar is used as the official currency.
The enclave consists of the 3 municipalities of Zvecan, Leposavic, Zubin Potok (as well as part of Mitrovica. The enclave's area is (11% of the country's total area). Lake Gorazdevac is also in the enclave.
The United Nations does not recognize Kosovo as a country because of the 1999 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244. Other world governing bodies do not recognise it as a country, either.
Violet-fronted brilliant
The violet-fronted brilliant ("Heliodoxa leadbeateri") is a species of hummingbird. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
SS Yongala
SS "Yongala" was a passenger ship that was launched in 1903. It sank off Cape Bowling Green on 23 March 1911 on its way to from Melbourne, Australia to Cairns she entered into a cyclone and sank without a trace south of Townsville. All passengers onboard drowned and the shipwreck was found in 1958 off the coast of Townsville.
Parides childrenae
The Green-celled Cattleheart (Parides childrenae) is a species of butterfly. It belongs in the family Papilionidae. It is found in southern North America and northern South America.
The upper side of the wings is black. The male has a bright green patch on the fore wing (top wing). There is a small pale yellow spot near the tip of the fore wing. There is a red patch on the hind wing (bottom wing). The female has a small white patch on the fore wing. There are a few pale spots on the fore wing. There is a band of red spots on the hind wing. The underside of the wings is also black. The male has small pale spots near the tip of the fore wing and a few red spots on the hind wing. The female's underside is the same as the upper side.
Los Angeles (disambiguation)
Los Angeles is a city in California and the second-largest city in the United States. Los Angeles may also mean:
Oviparous animals
Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by laying eggs. This is how most fish, amphibians, reptiles, insects, and arachnids reproduce. All birds and monotremes also reproduce like this.
The eggs that of most animals that live on land are protected by hard shells. They fertilize their eggs internally. Water-dwelling animals like fish and amphibians lay eggs that have not been fertilized yet. Then the males lay sperm on top of the eggs, which is called external fertilization.
Aplacophora
The Aplacophora is a class of small, deep-water, exclusively benthic, shell-less marine molluscs. They are found in all oceans of the world. They are a small group of molluscs which have deviated from the normal molluscan form. There are approximately 100 known species living today. They are rather worm-like and average about an inch (2.5 cms.) in length.
Most live in deep water, except a few more northern species. One group bury themselves into the sand and mud of the ocean bottom where they feed on annelids and other small invertebrates. The rest of the known aplacophorans parasitize hydroids and other corals.
This class used to be classified as sea cucumbers in the echinoderms. In 1987, they were officially recognized as molluscs and given their own class. The class is polyphyletic, and consists of two clades.
Monoplacophora
Monoplacophora is a class of molluscs. They have a cap-like shell and live on the bottom of the sea.
They were well-known as a fossil group from the Cambrian to the Devonian. One species was dredged up from the Pacific Ocean off Mexico in 1952. It was found to be a Monoplacophoran, and given the genus of "Neopilina". This was one of the most remarkable modern discoveries of a 'living fossil', and a Lazarus taxon.
More than that, they are the most extreme example of the "pull of the recent", which is a term in palaeontology. All fossil groups have a first and last appearance in the fossil record but, for living species, their last appearance is the present day. This may be very much later than their last appearance as a fossil. The discovery of the living monoplacs extended their time range by 400 million years.
The anatomy of "Neopilina" shows "serially repeated structures" such as gills. Serial repetition of anatomical structures such as gills and muscles may have evolved once in the common ancestor of chitons and monoplacophorans. It suggests the ancient ancestor of molluscs had bilateral symmetry, and segments.
Zebra turkeyfish
The Zebra Turkeyfish ("Dendrochirus zebra") is a very venomous fish. It lives in the Indian and Pacific seas. The fish has 13 venomous spines along its back, used to look after itself. The fish is slow and quiet, but can be a danger. The fish rests in dark places such as under a rock or a piece of coral. They aren't affected by each other's venom. They are solitary fish that are not scared of anything, as they have no predators other than groupers.
Aris Thessaloniki F.C.