Today, an earl is a member of the British peerage, and is below a Marquess, but above a Viscount. A British Earl is the same as a continental Count. Since there is no feminine form of Earl, the wife of an Earl has the rank of Countess (the continental equivalent).
Lobster
Lobsters are large crustaceans that live in the sea. They form the family of Nephropidae, which is sometimes also called Homaridae. People make a lot of money from catching lobsters and selling them to make seafood.
Lots of different kinds of animals that live in the sea are called lobsters. When people talk about lobsters, most of the time they mean "clawed lobsters". One kind of clawed lobster is the American lobster. Lots of animals that we call lobsters are not actually "clawed lobsters". Squat lobsters, spiny lobsters or slipper lobsters, are all different kinds of animal. Some kinds of crayfish which live in fresh water and reef lobsters are very similar to "clawed lobsters".
Smaller kinds of lobsters are sometimes called "lobsterettes". Lobsters do not have bones. They have hard shells which protect them. This hard shell is made from a material called chitin. The shell is so hard that lobsters must climb out of them before they can grow bigger. This is called "moulting". When lobsters moult they are weak and easy to attack. If they hide for long enough they will grow a new hard shell and the lobster will be bigger. Some lobsters change color when they grow a new shell. Lobsters can grow new parts of their body when they lose them. Every time they moult the body part will get a little bit bigger and stronger until it is back to normal.
Lobsters live in the sea between the shore and the edge of the continental shelf. They live underwater on rocky, sandy, or muddy ground. They usually live alone in cracks or under rocks.
Lobsters usually eat live food like fish, molluscs, other crustaceans, worms, and some plants. Lobsters sometimes scavenge (eat dead plants and animals). Lobsters also eat other lobsters (cannibalism) when they are put together in small spaces where they cannot get out. Lobsters do not usually eat other lobsters in the oceans. People have found lobster skin in the stomachs of some lobsters. This is because lobsters eat the skin they shed when they moult. Lobsters grow all their lives. Some lobsters live for over 100 years, and some become very big. The Guinness World Records says that the largest lobster was from Nova Scotia, Canada and weighed 20.14 kg (44.4 lb).
Lobsters are usually the same on the left and right sides. Lobsters have claws on their front legs, and one claw can be bigger than the other. One reason they are different sizes is because they do different jobs. Big strong claws can grab food, and little sharp claws can cut the food up so they can eat it. When a fisherman catches a lobster, they like to keep them if the claws are big. People like to eat lobsters with big claws because there is more good tasting meat in them. The head end of the lobster is called the cephalon. The middle part of the lobster is called the thorax. These parts of a lobster are stuck together and can not move, so we put the words together and call them both the cephalothorax. The bottom end of the lobster is called the abdomen, where the tail is. At the end of the tail is a fan. Lobsters have long thin body parts called antennae under their eyes which they can move around. Lobsters use these to feel what is near them, and they also help them find food. Lobsters have eyes but they cannot see very well. Lobsters have three pairs of jaws. All legs of a lobster have claws apart from the ones at the back. Only the front two legs have big claws. The little claws on the other legs help pick up food they find and put them in the jaws so the lobster can eat.
Lobsters usually move slowly by walking on the bottom of the sea floor. When they are in danger and need to escape, they swim backwards quickly by bending their tail down and up. The fan on the tail helps them to swim faster. Lobsters can move at a speed of 5 metres every second when they do this.
Spiny lobster
Spiny lobsters, also known as rock lobsters are a family (Palinuridae) of about 45 species of crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia. Spiny lobsters are also called "crayfish", "sea crayfish" or "crawfish".
Although they superficially resemble true lobsters in terms of overall shape, and that they also have a hard carapace and exoskeleton, the two groups are not closely related. Spiny lobsters can be easily distinguished from true lobsters by their very long, thick, spiny antennae, and by their complete lack of claws ("chelae"); true lobsters have much smaller antennae and claws on the first three pairs of legs, with the first being particularly enlarged. Like true lobsters, however, spiny lobsters are edible and are an economically significant food source; they are the biggest food export of the Bahamas .
Spiny lobsters are found in almost all warm seas, including the Caribbean and the Mediterranean Sea, but are particularly common in Australasia, where they are referred to commonly as crayfish or sea crayfish ("Jasus novaehollandiae" and "Jasus edwardsii"), and South Africa ("Jasus lalandii"). A new species, "Palinurus barbarae" was described in 2006.
The largest spiny lobster on record was over 1 m (3 ft) long and weighed over 11.8 kg (26 lb).
Spiny lobsters tend to live in crevices of rocks and coral reefs, only occasionally venturing out at night to seek snails, clams, crabs, sea urchins or carrion to eat. Sometimes, they migrate "en masse", in long files of lobsters across the sea floor. Potential predators may be deterred from eating spiny lobsters by a loud screech made by the antennae of the spiny lobsters rubbing against a smooth part of the exoskeleton . Spiny lobsters usually exhibit social habit by being together. However recent studies indicate that healthy lobsters move away from infected ones and leaving the diseased lobsters to fend for itself .
The furry lobsters ("e.g." "Palinurellus") are sometimes separated into a family of their own, the Synaxidae, but are usually considered members of the Palinuridae. The slipper lobsters (Scyllaridae) are their next closest relatives, and these two or three families make up the Achelata. Genera of spiny lobsters include "Palinurus" and a number of anagrams thereof: "Panulirus", "Linuparus", "etc." (Palinurus was also a helmsman in Virgil's Æneid.)
Bromeliad
Bromeliads are a family of tropical plants which includes the pineapple and several colourful houseplants. They are nearly all from Latin America and the Caribbean islands, except for Spanish moss from the southern United States, and a single kind from Africa.
Pineapples (Latin name: "Ananas"). See Pineapple.
Air plants (Latin name: "Tillandsia") are very curious because they do not need any roots to stay alive. Instead they soak up moisture from the air around them through tiny, silvery scales on their leaves. They have so many of these scales that the whole plant can look grey. In the wild they grow on tree banches in rainy and misty areas. In the Caribbean there is a kind that grows on telephone wires!
Urn plants (Latin name: "Aechmea") are easy to keep. They grow to about 60 cm across, but because the stiff, green-and-grey leaves have spiny edges, they need to be out of the way. Urn plants got their name because they have a hole in the middle made by the ring-shaped arrangement of their leaves. This central urn fills up with rainwater in the wild and is often home to insects and frogs. Its flowers are held high on a single stem, and protected by a globe of small, pink leaves which lasts for several months.