Ostrea edulis, commonly known as the European flat oyster, is a species of oyster native to Europe. In Britain and Ireland, regional names include Colchester native oyster, mud oyster, or edible oyster. In France, Ostrea edulis are known as huîtres plates (flat oysters) except for those that come from the Belon River estuary in Brittany, France, which are known as Belons.
The fossil record of this species dates back to the Miocene (age range: 15.97 million years ago to present day). Fossils have been found in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Egypt, Greece, Spain, the United Kingdom, Austria, France and Germany.


When mature, O. edulis adults range from 3.8 to 11 centimetres (1.5 to 4.3 in) across.
Shells are oval or pear shaped, white, yellowish or cream in colour, with a rough surface showing pale brown or bluish concentric bands on the right valve. The two valves are quite different in shape and size, as the left one is concave and fixed to the substratum, while the right one is almost flat and fits inside the left. The inner surface is smooth, whitish or bluish-grey.


Ostrea edulis can be found in estuarine and shallow coastal water with hard substrata of mud and rocks.


These characteristic huntsman spiders can be found at the edges of forests, in dry meadows, in damp woodland clearings and rides, where they prefer grass and the lower branches of trees.


This species has a Palearctic distribution. It occurs naturally in Northern and Central Europe, including Denmark and southern Britain.


In the females of Micrommata virescens the body length can reach 12–16 millimetres (0.47–0.63 in), while in the males it is about 7–10 millimetres (0.28–0.39 in).
The cephalothorax and the long legs of the females are bright green, with a lighter green abdomen showing a darker green median stripe. The eight eyes are arranged in two rows and surrounded by white hairs. Males are dark green-olive and have a narrower abdomen, with red sides and a red to red-brown median stripe bordered yellow. Young spiders have a yellow-brown cephalothorax, with dark marginal and median stripes. Only after the last molting in the following spring the juveniles assume the typical coloration of the adults.
The green coloration is due to the bilin micromatabilin and its conjugates in haemolymph, interstitial tissues and the yolk of oocytes.


These spiders are mainly diurnal. Like many other spiders, they do not build a web, and hunt insects in green vegetation, where they rely on their camouflage. Their green color makes them very difficult to be detected by predators. They grow relatively slowly, taking 18 months to reach maturity. Females are fertile from May through to September. A few days after mating, the males die. In July the females enclose the egg-sac into a few leaves stitched together. Cocoons are guarded by females. After about 4 weeks eggs hatch about 40-50 young spiders.


The bodies of these spiders are rather compressed in the vertical direction, which allows them to hide themselves under the loosened bark of trees and in other tight places. They have a prominent pattern on their abdomens which may make them more difficult to distinguish on mottled surfaces.
Females of this species are between 10 and 13 mm in body length, and males range from 8.5 to 9.5 mm.
It favors vertical surfaces such as fences, walls, etc. and because of its habits it is easily seen. These spiders are not inclined to bite, but even though they are rather small they can deliver a defensive bite if they are pinched or squeezed.
Eggs are laid and hatch during the summer, and adults and other stages overwinter in their individual silken shelters. Although the shelters are built separately and keep the spiders out of direct contact with each other, Kaston reports that as many as fifty of them may crowd their shelters for hibernation together so tightly that they form a continuous blanket under the loose bark of a standing tree.


Platycryptus undatus occurs in North and Central America. The distribution of this species ranges from the Eastern States and adjacent Canada, to Texas and Wisconsin.


The adult males reach 2–4 mm (0.08–0.16 in) in length, while females are 7–8 millimetres (0.28–0.31 in) long. They can mostly be encountered  from May through August on flowering plants (especially yellow or red Apiaceae species), waiting for their prey.
The two pairs of the front legs, used for hunting the flower-feeding insects, are more developed than the rear ones, which have a predominant motor function.
A striking feature of this species is the variation in colour among females. Mature males have a black abdomen with two white marks. In mature females, the background colour of the abdomen can be red, yellow or white, with a black pattern which has been noted for a certain resemblance to the silhouette of Napoleon. Prosoma and legs are black or dark brown.
Like other species of the family Thomisidae, these spiders do not make a web, but actively hunt their prey.


This species is present in most countries of Europe and in the eastern Palearctic realm, although absent from Scandinavia and the British Isles. It is especially common throughout the Mediterranean region.


Argiope keyserlingi is a species of orb-web spider found on the east coast of Australia, from Victoria to northern Queensland. It is very similar in appearance to a closely related north Queensland species, Argiope aetherea. A. keyserlingi is commonly found in large populations in suburban parks and gardens, particularly among the leaves of Lomandra longifolia. Like many species of orb-web spider, A. keyserlingi shows considerable sexual dimorphism, as the females are many times larger than the males. Mature females can be seen during the summer, and seeing multiple males on the web of one female is not uncommon.
A. keyserlingi is commonly known as the St. Andrew's cross spider, due to the construction of bands of silk forming the arms of an X-shaped cross, similar to the one upon which St. Andrew is traditionally said to have been crucified. Juveniles of this species sometimes build a spiral-shaped pattern of silk. Referred to as web decorations or stabilimenta, these bands are thought to increase the species' prey capture rate, but as in other species, they have been found to protect the spider against predators.
A. keyserlingi is an important model species in studies of spider ecology and behaviour. Using this species, scientists have investigated sperm competition, sexual size dimorphism, cryptic female choice, the role of pheromones in mating behaviour, and the function and evolution of web decorations.
Its main predators in Sydney are mantids and birds.
This type of orb-weaver is cathemeral.


Prey of the St Andrew's cross spider include flies, moths, butterflies, bees, and other insects. The orb-weaver wraps its prey immaculately with silk before digesting, and smaller prey may be prioritized.


Females of the species vary from 10 to 16 mm in size. Their glossy carapaces consist of silver, yellow, red, and black bands on their upper segment with two horizontal yellow belts beneath. Males of the species generally vary from 3 to 4 mm in size. They are brown and pearly colored. St. Andrew's cross spiders rest with their legs oriented in pairs.


Eris militaris, known commonly as the bronze jumper or bronze lake jumper, is a species of jumping spider. It is found in the United States and Canada.


Mecynogea lemniscata, the basilica orbweaver, is a species of orb weaver in the spider family Araneidae. It is found in a range from the United States to Argentina.


Argiope trifasciata (the banded garden spider or banded orb weaving spider) is a species of spider native to North and South America, but now found around the world. It can be found in certain areas of Europe, namely the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands, and Madeira. The similar looking Argiope bruennichi is common in the Azores. They typically begin to appear during autumn from early September to late October as temperatures start dropping.
Their webs can reach a diameter of about 60 cm. The length of the web depends on the size of the spider. Webs are capable of reaching a total length of two meters.


In Illinois, Argiope trifasciata hatches in early summer but does not become readily notable until mid-August, when they have grown large enough to make their distinctive webs, which can be up to 60 cm (24 in) in diameter, among stems and bushes. The female rests at the centre of the web facing downwards, with her legs often arranged in pairs, making a cross shape; some female spiders conceal themselves in a hidden location close to the web, being alerted to a potential victim by a non-sticky thread leading to the center. Some segments of the web often have thicker threads known as stabilimenta forming a decorative pattern. Male spiders are much smaller than females and have their own small webs in close proximity to the females' webs. Argiope trifasciata is diurnal, and feeds on the insects that get snared in the web. Large, powerful prey like paper wasps, are swiftly wrapped in silk to immobilise them, before being injected with toxic saliva.


Neoscona arabesca is a common orb-weaver spider found throughout North America. Often called the arabesque orbweaver, after the cryptic, brightly colored, swirling markings on its prominent abdomen, this spider can be found in fields, forests, gardens, and on human structures. Neoscona species are among the most common and abundant orb weavers and are found on all continents. Females range in size from  5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) and males 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in).
Females build a vertical web measuring 15–45 cm (5.9–17.7 in) in diameter, with 18-20 radii. The hub is open and crossed by only one or two threads. At night, the female rests in the center of the orb with the tip of her abdomen pushed through the open space. During the daytime, she hides in a retreat away from the web, usually inside a curled-and-tied leaf. Male N. arabesca can often be found in nearby foliage or hunting on the ground.
Arabesque orb-weavers are, like any other orb-weaver, non-aggressive spiders. Only in rare cases, where the spider feels threatened, bites to humans or pets occur. The bite of an arabesque orb-weaver is not medically significant and the pain is mostly short-lived and comparable to a bee sting.


Neoscona oaxacensis, known as western spotted orbweaver and zig-zag spider, is a species of spider in the family Araneidae. It is distributed in the Americas, from Kansas and California south to Venezuela and Peru, including the Galápagos Islands.


Neoscona oaxacensis is a relatively large spider, females being about 9–18 mm (0.35–0.7 in) long overall, with a carapace of about 4–8 mm (0.15–0.3 in) long by 3–6 mm (0.1–0.25 in) wide. Males are smaller, being about 6–13 mm (0.25–0.5 in) long overall, with a carapace of about 3–6 mm (0.1–0.25 in) long by 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide. Specimens from the Galápagos are among the largest found. The black-and-white pattern on the upper (dorsal) surface of the abdomen is considered to be distinctive. South American specimens have a more slender abdomen than North American ones, with a more distinct light central band, which has a wavy border. Females have an epigyne appearing 2.5 times as long as wide when viewed from the rear. Males have a palp with an S-shaped conductor.


Verrucosa arenata are found across a variety of urban and rural habitats in North America, in areas with trees and bushes to spin their webs. These may include plantations, urban parks, gardens, yards, or woods. They are typically found in late summer and early fall, living in the understory, along open, humid areas where they may experience direct sunlight.


Verrucosa arenata, also known as the triangle orb weaver, arrowhead spider, and arrowhead orbweaver, is a species of orb-weaver spider found across North America. It is one of the few known large orb-weaver spiders that sits facing upwards in its web. Unlike most orb-weavers, which have bulbous abdomens, V. arenata has an abdomen that is pointy and triangular, shaped like the tip of an arrow. In females, the abdomen is colored white or yellow. Additionally, V. arenata uses reeling behavior in order to capture its prey, as its webs are stronger than that of most other orb weavers. The genus name Verrucosa means "warty" in Latin, referring to the small wartlike bumps on the spider's abdomen, while the specific epithet arenata derives from Latin arena, meaning "sand".


Verrucosa arenata are large spiders. Females weigh 0.05–0.46 g and their body length is 7–14 mm. This species is sexually dimorphic, as females are larger than males. Male body length ranges from 4 to 6 mm. V. arenata are polychromatic and their abdomen color ranges from white to yellow. Some smaller, vein-like markings on the abdominal area are red. Females can have black, brown, or rusty red colored legs and carapace. The head is small compared to this spider's triangular abdomen. Their abdomen is completely covered with a triangle of color, usually yellow or white. Males are smaller and lack the characteristic triangle on their abdomen. The male arrowhead spiders are rarely seen unless they are mating or courting a female spider in their web. V. arenata are diurnal. Their webs are usually non-functional by midday due to insect damage and the spider ends the night in a retreat.


V. arenata typically capture insects by trapping them in the sticky strands of their webs. They deliver a bite of venom to subdue the prey and then digest the insides of the insect. They wait and then return to the insect in order to ingest its liquified contents. V. arenata specialize in eating tiny flying insects, like mosquitoes, since their webs have close spacing of circles. Their most common prey is dipterans and hymenopterans.


There are various parasites and predators of widow spiders in North America, though apparently none of these have ever been evaluated in terms of augmentation programs for improved biocontrol. Parasites of the egg sacs include the flightless scelionid wasp Baeus latrodecti, and members of the chloropid fly genus Pseudogaurax. Predators of the adult spiders include wasps, most notably the blue mud dauber Chalybion californicum, and the spider wasp Tastiotenia festiva. Other species including Mantis or Centipede also will occasionally and opportunistically take widows as prey, but the preceding all exhibit some significant specific preference for Latrodectus.
Furthermore, in 2012, researchers published a paper suggesting that the black widow's close relative, the brown widow, may be competing for territory with, and ultimately displacing black widows in Southern California.


Latrodectus mactans, known as southern black widow or simply black widow, and the shoe-button spider, is a venomous species of spider in the genus Latrodectus. The females are well known for their distinctive black and red coloring and for the fact that they will occasionally eat their mates after reproduction. The species is native to North America. The venom can cause pain and other symptoms, but is rarely fatal to healthy humans.


Black widow spiders typically prey on a variety of insects, with a preference for fire ants if extant, but they also feed on woodlice, diplopods, and chilopods when they are young, and occasionally other arachnids. The spider's web is even strong enough to catch animals as large as mice. When the prey is entangled by the web, Latrodectus mactans quickly comes out of its retreat, wraps the prey securely in its strong web, then bites and envenoms its prey. The venom takes about ten minutes to take effect; in the meantime, the prey is held tightly by the spider. When movements of the prey cease, digestive enzymes are released into the wound. The black widow spider then carries its prey back to its retreat before feeding.


The walnut orb-weaver spider is very wide and flattened, with a leathery skin. Its color ranges from red brown and grey brown to black with a dark, yellowish to yellow-greenish leaf-like fleckled marking on its opisthosoma, where small dents are visible. These are the onsets of muscles that flatten the abdomen.
Female N. umbratica can reach up to 15 mm in size, the males grow only up to 8 mm.
The spider hides during the day outside of buildings in wall crevices, or under loose bark. They are very common in Central Europe; females occur all year long, while males appear mostly during summer. This spider has a flattened body, helping it to secrete itself in cracks and crevices. Walnut orb-weaving spiders are capable of concealing themselves in very confined spaces. This tends to act as a defensive advantage and increases the number of locations an orb-web can be effectively constructed.
In the evening the spider constructs an orb-web that can be up to 70 cm in diameter. A signaling thread leads from the web to her hiding place. After dusk she sits in the web's center.


C. mildei is native to Europe and North Africa through to Central Asia. It is introduced to the United States and parts of South America. It widespread across the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, and can be found outside, or more commonly inside houses. It is thought to have been introduced into America from Europe by English colonists.


C. mildei usually has a pale green or tan body, with darker brown palpi and chelicerae. An adult C. mildei is usually 7–10 millimetres (0.3–0.4 in) in body size. Each leg ends in double claws, and the front pair is significantly longer (up to two times the size, however it is clearly shorter than in C. inclusum species). The eyes have a tapetum lucidum that reflects back to the light source once lit, suggesting that the spiders have good to excellent vision and are agile prey hunters. Although this spider can bite humans, the effects appear to be mild.


C. mildei is a dominant predator of S. littoralis (a moth species) in Africa and Mid Eastern regions. The mechanism of predation include causing direct death by consuming the larvae and causing indirect death by dispersing larvae from its host plants.


The lone star tick is widely distributed across the East, Southeast, and Midwest United States. It lives in wooded areas, particularly in second-growth forests with thick underbrush, where white-tailed deer (the primary host of mature ticks) reside. Lone star ticks can also be found in ecotonal areas (transition zones between different biomes) such as those between forest and grassland ecosystems. The lone star tick uses thick underbrush or high grass to attach to its host by way of questing. Questing is an activity in which the tick climbs up a blade of grass or to the edges of leaves and stretches its front legs forward, in response to stimuli from biochemicals such as carbon dioxide or heat and vibration from movement, and mounts the passing host as it brushes against the tick's legs. Once attached to its host, the tick is able to move around and select a preferred feeding site.
The tick has also been reported, outside of its range, in areas of Southern Ontario, including in London, Wellington County and the Region of Waterloo.


Amblyomma americanum, also known as the lone star tick, the northeastern water tick, or the turkey tick, or the "Cricker Tick", is a type of tick indigenous to much of the eastern United States and Mexico, that bites painlessly and commonly goes unnoticed, remaining attached to its host for as long as seven days until it is fully engorged with blood. It is a member of the phylum Arthropoda, class Arachnida. The adult lone star tick is sexually dimorphic, named for a silvery-white, star-shaped spot or "lone star" present near the center of the posterior portion of the adult female shield (scutum); adult males conversely have varied white streaks or spots around the margins of their shields.
A. americanum is also referred to as the turkey tick in some Midwestern U.S. states, where wild turkeys are a common host for immature ticks. It is the primary vector of Ehrlichia chaffeensis, which causes human monocytic ehrlichiosis, and Ehrlichia ewingii, which causes human and canine granulocytic ehrlichiosis. Other disease-causing bacterial agents isolated from lone star ticks include Francisella tularensis, Rickettsia amblyommii, and Coxiella burnetti.


The tick follows the normal developmental stages of egg, larva, nymph, and adult. It is known as a three-host tick, meaning that it feeds from a different host during each of the larval, nymphal, and adult stages. The lone star tick attaches itself to a host by way of questing. The eggs are laid on the ground, hatch, and the larvae wait for or actively seek a host (questing behavior). A larva feeds, detaches from its host, molts into a nymph when on the ground, and quests by crawling on the ground or waiting on vegetation. The nymph feeds and repeats the same process as the larva, but emerges having developed the anatomy of either an adult female or male. Adults quest similarly to nymphs. The female attaches only to a species of host for reproduction. The female engorges on much blood, expanding greatly, then detaches and converts the blood meal into eggs, which are laid on the ground. Females of large species of Amblyomma engorge to a weight of 5 g and lay 20,000 eggs. The female dies after this single egg-laying. The male takes repeated small meals of blood and attempts to mate repeatedly whilst on the same host. Feeding times for larvae last 4–7 days, nymphs for 5–10 days, and adults for 8 to 20 days. The time spent molting and questing off the host can occupy the remainder of 6 to 18 months for a single tick to complete its lifecycle. The lifecycle timing is often expanded by diapause (delayed or inactivated development or activity) in adaptation to seasonal variation of moisture and heat. Ticks are highly adapted for long-term survival off the host without feeding and can extract moisture directly from humid air. However, survival is greatly reduced by excess heat, dryness, and lack of suitable hosts to which to attach. Survival on the host is also greatly reduced by grooming and by hypersensitive immune reactions in the skin against the feeding of the ticks.


The lone star tick is an aggressive, generalist feeder; it actively pursues blood meals and is not specific about the species of host upon which it feeds. As already mentioned, A. americanum requires a separate animal or human host to complete each stage of its life cycle. The lifecycle begins when the blood-engorged adult female tick drops from her host, depositing around 5,000 eggs a few days later, once she has reached a safe and suitable location, such as in mulch or leaf litter. After an incubation period, larvae hatch from their eggs and undergo a quiescent (resting) period; this is followed by the pursuit of a host via questing. After feeding for one to three days, the blood-engorged larva dislodges from its host to digest its blood meal and molt into a nymph. The nymph follows this same pattern, attaching to a new host via questing and dropping from the host after its blood meal to molt into an adult tick. The female adult tick dies shortly after depositing her eggs.
Larval lone star ticks have been found attached to birds and small mammals, and nymphal ticks have been found on these two groups, as well as on small rodents. Adult lone star ticks usually feed on medium and large mammals, and are very frequently found on white-tailed deer. Lone star ticks also feed on humans at any stage of development.


Neoscona crucifera is an orb-weaver spider in the family Araneidae. It is found in the United States from Maine to Florida in the east, to Minnesota in the Midwest, to Arizona in the southwest, southern California coastal communities and in Mexico. Its common names include Hentz orbweaver (after Nicholas Marcellus Hentz, spotted orbweaver, and barn spider. The name "barn spider" is also commonly used for a different spider, Araneus cavaticus.
Generally nocturnal, females may become diurnal in the fall. Females are about 9.5–19 millimeters (0.37–0.75 in) long, while males are somewhat smaller. The upper surface of the abdomen is brown and hairy. The legs display alternating light and dark brown bands. The undersurface of the abdomen is black, with two white spots.
This species is relatively variable in color and sometimes pattern, but is most commonly seen sporting a rusty-red or golden orange color. The orb-shaped web is very large and is often constructed on buildings and other man-made structures, often several feet above ground, especially near outdoor lights. This species is most conspicuous in late summer and early fall.
The orb part of the web may be nearly 2 feet (0.61 m) in diameter. The eggsac consists of fluffy yellow threads in a rolled leaf over a lenticular or spherical egg mass 5–12 mm (0.20–0.47 in) in diameter, which may contain up to 1,000 eggs. Juveniles are frequently preyed upon by mud daubers. This species will bite if provoked, but its venom is not dangerous to humans.


Gasteracantha cancriformis is native to North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America and India. It has been introduced elsewhere, including Hawaii. It prefers living around the edge of woodland and shrubby gardens. Many studies about G. cancriformis are performed in citrus groves in Florida.
G. cancriformis is seen to coexist within and on the edges of the colonies of other colonial orb-weaver spiders, mainly Metepeira incrassata. M. incrassata is known to form large colonies ranging from few hundreds to few thousands of spiders, and their colonies often accommodate other species of orb-weavers including G. cancriformis.


Females are 5–9 millimetres (0.20–0.35 in) long and 10–13 mm (0.39–0.51 in) wide. The six abdominal spine-like projections on the abdomen are characteristic. The carapace, legs and underside are black with white spots under the abdomen. Variations occur in the colour of the upperside of the abdomen: a white or yellow colour with both featuring black spots. A white upperside can have either red or black spines while a yellow upperside can only have black ones. Like with many other spiders, males are much smaller (2 to 3 mm long) and longer than wide. All morphs have six abdominal spines (Levi, 1978; Muma, 1971).  They are similar to the females in colour but have a gray abdomen with white spots and the spines are reduced to four or five stubby projections.
This species of spider does not live very long. In fact, the lifespan lasts only until reproduction, which usually takes place in the spring following the winter when they hatched. Females die after producing an egg mass, and males die six days after a complete cycle of sperm induction to the female.


As is common with other members of the family Theridiidae, S. grossa constructs a cobweb, i.e. an irregular tangle of sticky silken fibers. As with other web weavers, these spiders have very poor eyesight and depend mostly on vibrations reaching them through their webs to orient themselves to prey or warn them of larger animals that could pose a danger. They are not aggressive, and most injuries to humans are due to defensive bites delivered when a spider gets unintentionally squeezed or pinched. It is possible that some bites may result when a spider mistakes a finger thrust into its web for its normal prey, but ordinarily intrusion by any large creature will cause these spiders to flee.
S. grossa is a cosmopolitan species and is found in many parts of the world, including all three coasts in North America, in Australia and New Zealand, and in Europe.
A related species, commonly found in North America, is Steatoda borealis. This spider is similar to S. grossa in shape, but slightly smaller, and is generally found in colder climates. This spider can be identified by colored markings on the dorsal side of its abdomen rather than on the ventral side.


Like black widows, the female S. grossa is 6-10.5 mm in length and dark colored with a round, bulbous abdomen. Typical coloration ranges from purplish brown to black, with light-colored markings. Unlike black widows, redbacks, and other Latrodectus species, S. grossa does not have a bright red hourglass pattern or any other bright, distinctive markings. Like many spiders, the male is sometimes smaller but can many times be nearly as long as the females. It measures 4.1-10.0 mm in length and is thinner than the female. The two sexes are colored similarly; however, the sexually mature male almost always has lighter, more reddish-coloured legs than the female. S. grossa spiders may shed up to six times (instars) before reaching maturity. According to Charles Hogue (Insects of the Los Angeles Basin, 1993), it reportedly preys on black widows. They can go several months without feeding, provided they have access to water. A well-fed female can lay three or more egg sacs each year. Each egg sac typically contains between 40-100 eggs. The mother can often be observed watching her eggs for hours, even days, at a time once the eggs start changing color and grow close to hatching. At normal household temp/humidity, an egg will usually hatch within a month of being laid. The spiderlings are independent from time of hatch.
Female S. grossa spiders can live up to six years; the typical lifespan for the male is 1-1.5 years. Males often die shortly after mating.


Mangora acalypha is common in meadows, forests and gardens.


Mangora acalypha, also known by its common name cricket-bat orbweaver, is a species of spider in the family Araneidae, found throughout the Palearctic realm. This species was originally described by Charles Athanase Walckenaer in 1802 as Aranea acalypha.


Zygiella x-notata is common in areas inhabited by humans, including on boats and docks. They are also found on urban vegetation like bushes or shrubs. Females construct an orb-web preferentially near human settlements, and this is where they live out their adult lives.
Zygiella x-notata has been discovered on cliffs and bushes in Britain and across Europe.


Wasps are active predators of spiders, particularly engaging in predation behaviors during the spiders' reproductive period. Wasp attacks by the species Vespula germanica are common in Zygiella x-notata. Male spiders and smaller females are at greater risk of predation by wasps.


This species of orb-weaving spider natively inhabits areas of Europe, and is invasive in some coastal areas of the Americas. They can also be found in some other locations around the world. Zygiella x-notata is abundant in the west Palearctic region, and is also distributed across the Holarctic. Primarily, Z. x-notata is widespread across much of Britain, as well as Western and Central Europe.


Juvenile zygiella x-notata characteristically build a new web each day until they read adulthood. Adult Zygiella x-notata spin orb-webs which are used to capture and incapacitate prey. Rather than building a new web every day as juveniles do, adult female Z. x-notata build an initial web and renew it nearly every day as needed. The female spider will sit in her retreat on the web, which is attached to a signal strand in the characteristic missing orb-web sector. When prey are caught in the web, the female can thus detect its presence through vibrations in the signal strand. As these vibrations are detected, she climbs down the silken signal thread to the hub of the web where the prey has been trapped. Prey type is dependent on the spider's native habitat and geographical location, but usually consists of flying prey such as Diptera. Male Zygiella x-notata feed similarly to females as juveniles, but once they reach adulthood they no longer build webs in order to capture prey, rather focusing on successful reproduction.


The adult female Zygiella x-notata has a body size of 5-11mm in length, while adult males have a body size up to 7mm. In adult females, the carapace width is 1.5 mm. The dorsal tibia of the walking legs and pedipalps contain a group of trichobothria. There is only one sensillum on the leg metatarsus. The prosoma is yellow-brown, with a leaf-like mark on the opisthosoma. The abdomen has a silvery sheen due to guanine crystals below the skin. Adult females are recognizable from their grey banded legs and pattern of dark grey waves on their dorsal side. Adult males are smaller than adult females, and display a dark dorsal exterior with dark brown legs and cephalothorax. The male abdomen is smaller and less marked with a shiny cream color than the female abdomen. In moderate climate, adults appear from July to October, sometimes even into December. In warmer regions, Z. x-notata is active all year.
The specific name x-notata is Latin for "x-shaped mark".


Zygiella x-notata, sometimes known as the missing sector orb weaver or the silver-sided sector spider, is a spider species in the family Araneidae. They are solitary spiders, residing in daily-spun orb webs.  Z. x-notata is a member of the genus Zygiella, the orb-weaving spiders. The adult female is easily recognized by the characteristic leaf-like mark on her posterior opisthosoma, caudal to the yellow-brown cephalothorax.
The webs of Zygiella x-notata spiders are known for their characteristic missing sector, lending to the common name of spider as the "missing sector orb weaver." This species is distributed widely around the world, primarily inhabiting areas of human occupancy in northern Europe.
Common prey include flying insects and other small insects. These get caught in the sticky spiral hub of the spider's orb web. Capture of prey occurs as the foreleg of Z. x-notata detects vibrations on the signal strand that connects the spider's retreat to the prey-capturing hub of the web. Webs are rebuilt daily by juvenile Zygiella x-notata and are renewed as needed by adult females. After sexual maturity, males discontinue web production in search of fecund females. After reproduction during the summer months, males die. Females produce an egg sac in late autumn and juveniles emerge in late spring. After several moults, juvenile females are ready to reproduce.


This species can be found in a wide range of habitats, including meadows, bogs, forests, and various types of anthropogenic habitats, such as gardens, fields, hedgerows, lawns, quarries, green places in built-up areas, walls and bridges.


It is "the most widespread species of harvestman in the world", occurring natively in Europe, and much of Asia. The species has been introduced to North America, North Africa and New Zealand.


Females have a body length of 6–9 mm (1⁄4–3⁄8 in), males are slightly smaller at 4–7 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in). Males however have longer legs; the second leg is about 54 mm (2+1⁄4 in) in males and 38 mm (1+1⁄2 in) in females. Males and females are similarly coloured and marked, although males' markings tend to be less clear. The body has a three-lobed darker "saddle", usually with spots or dashes in the midline. Both sexes show many tubercules with small spikes on the anterior surface of their body.
Mitopus morio has a very similar appearance, but P. opilio can be distinguished by the two pale "denticles" (small teeth-like structures) below the anterior margin of the carapace. Males have long forward-pointing "horns" on the second segment of their chelicerae.


Phalangium opilio is normally an univoltine species  and overwinters as eggs. Eggs are laid in moist areas and hatch in three- five months. The immatures undergo several molts and reach maturity in two-three months. These harvestmans usually feed on soft-bodied animals such as aphids, caterpillars, leafhoppers, beetle larvae, mites, but sometime it may scavenge on hard-bodied animals such as various arthropods.  They ares also known to feed on Helicoverpa zea eggs, and thus can act as biological pest control for soybean crops. The species is nocturnal, as is typical of opilionids.


This species builds orb webs in open forests and shrubby areas and waits for prey in the center of the web.


Gasteracantha kuhli is a species of spiny orb-weaver spider in the genus Gasteracantha, widespread from India to Japan, the Philippines, and Java in Indonesia. It is known as the black-and-white spiny spider.


Female black-and-white spiny spiders are 6-9 millimeters wide and possess hard, shiny abdomens armed with six black conical spines. The upper surface of the abdomen is white to yellowish with variable black or dark brown markings and sigilla. The central part of the abdomen's dorsal surface is usually marked with a dark cross-like shape. From individual to individual and across the species' range, the length of the spines and the details of the coloration vary considerably. Males are much smaller at 3-4 millimeters in size, and in place of spines, they have small bumps on their abdomens.


The American dog tick is commonly found in highly wooded, shrubby, and long-grass areas. Tick numbers can be reduced by cutting the grass, which creates a low-humidity environment, which is undesirable to ticks. Pesticides can also be used and are most effective when applied to vegetation that has been cut to a short level. Doxycycline is the medication of choice to treat Rocky Mountain spotted fever in dogs. Doxycycline is given for 7–21 days dependent on the dosage. Tetracycline is effective and administered more frequently, being given for 14–21 days. Other antibiotic choices include enrofloxacin and chloramphenicol. Veterinary-approved flea and tick preparations are recommended, along with other topicals, collars, and shampoos. Regularly checking dogs and oneself for ticks after hiking or playing in grassy areas and removing ticks as soon as possible decrease the chances a dog will contract a secondary illness carried by the tick. Tweezers are the most common removal method, but fine-point tweezers are best to avoid tearing the tick and spreading possible infectious agents in the bite area. Spread the dog’s fur, grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible, and very gently pull straight upward in a slow, steady motion. Another removal method is a tick removal hook: one places the prongs of the device on either side of the tick and twists upward. Tick removal hooks are recommended in areas where ticks are common. Removing the tick with fingers is never a good idea because squeezing to grasp the tick could potentially inject more infectious material. Apply rubbing alcohol to the bite area afterward to thoroughly clean the wound.


Within North America, the normal range is in the eastern part of the continent, with some reports in California. At the northernmost extent of its geographical range, in Nova Scotia and Massachusetts, ticks are active from April to August, with a peak in May to June. In coastal Virginia, the adults are active from April to September or October, with peaks in May and July. Seasonal activity in Ohio is from late April to September, with peaks in May to June and another smaller peak in August to September. In Georgia, adults are active from late March to August, with peaks in early May, late May, and late June. Florida adult activity is from April to July, with activity being restricted by high summer temperatures and low winter humidity.


Feeding ticks transmit pathogens to the host. Depending on the tick species and its stage of life, preparing to feed can take from 10 minutes to 2 hours. When the tick finds a feeding spot, it grasps the skin and cuts into the surface, where it then inserts its feeding tube. Many species also secrete a cement-like substance that keeps them firmly attached during the meal. The feeding tube can have barbs to help keep the tick in place. Ticks also can secrete small amounts of saliva with anesthetic properties so that the animal or person cannot feel that the tick has attached itself. Therefore, unless one feels the tick crawling, noticing the tick is difficult. If the tick is in a sheltered spot, it can go unnoticed and can slowly suck the blood for several days. If the host animal has a blood-borne infection, the tick will ingest the pathogens with the blood. Small amounts of saliva from the tick may also enter the skin of the host animal during the feeding process. If the tick contains a pathogen, the organism may be transmitted to the host animal in this way. After feeding, most ticks drop off and prepare for the next life stage. At its next feeding, it can then transmit an acquired disease to the new host.
Symptoms of Rocky Mountain spotted fever appear within 3-12 days, usually beginning with a sudden onset of fever and headache, and frequently followed 2-4 days later by a rash around the wrists and ankles that moves slowly up to the rest of the body. Other symptoms include nausea, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, or muscle aches. Rocky Mountain spotted fever can be fatal within days of symptoms beginning, if left untreated. In dogs additional symptoms may include lethargy, blood in the urine, irregular heartbeat, discolored spots on the skin (often bruised or purplish in color), inability to walk normally, loss of coordination, swelling or edema in the limbs, sudden bleeding from the nose or in the stools, difficulty with blood clotting, swollen lymph nodes, pain in the eyes, inflammation, hemorrhage, or conjunctivitis in the mucosal membranes.
Symptoms of tularemia usually appear within 3–5 days, but can appear as late as 21 days after transmission. Oftentimes, patients experience chills, swollen lymph nodes, and an ulceration at the site of the bite.
A tick bite does not automatically transfer diseases to the host. Instead, the tick must be attached to the host for a period of time, generally 6–8 hours but sometimes as little as 3–6 hours, before it is capable of transferring disease. The earlier the tick is removed from a host, the less likely it is to contract the illness.


The life cycle of ticks can vary depending on the species. Most ticks go through four stages: egg, six-legged larva, eight-legged nymph, and adult. After hatching from the egg, a tick must obtain a blood meal at every stage to survive. Ticks can feed on mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Unlike most tick species, D. variabilis prefers the same host during all of its life stages.


Vasates quadripedes, the maple bladder-gall mite, is an eriophyid mite in the genus Vasates, which causes galls on the leaves of silver maple (Acer saccharinum), red maple (A. rubrum), and sugar maple (A. saccharum). The gall is rounded, sometimes elongate, and has a short, thin neck. Typically, galls are 2–3 millimetres (0.079–0.118 in) in diameter, and may be numerous on the upper surfaces of leaves. They have an opening in the lower surface. At first they are yellowish-green or bright red, later they become dark red and black.
In Britain, the mite affects introduced silver maple. The species is relatively new to Britain, being first recorded in London in 2002.


Leucauge argyrobapta, or Mabel's orchard orb weaver, is a species of long-jawed orb weaver in the spider family Tetragnathidae. It is found from the United States south to Brazil.
The specific name is from Ancient Greek βάπτω (baptō, "to dip") and ἄργῠρος (argyros, "silver"), so called because the spider appears to have been "dipped" in silvery paint.


Peucetia viridans, the green lynx spider, is a bright-green lynx spider usually found on green plants. It is the largest North American species in the family Oxyopidae. This spider is common in the southern U.S., Mexico, Central America, and in many West Indie islands, especially Jamaica.


The body of the female may be as much as 22 millimeters (0.87 in) long. The male is smaller, being more slender and averaging 12 millimeters (0.47 in) in length. There often is a red patch between the eyes, with a few red spots on the body. The eye region is clothed with white appressed hairs. The dorsal surface of the abdomen bears about six Chevron-like marks with the centres pointing forward. The legs are green to yellow, bearing long black spines such as appear on the legs of most species of Oxyopidae, and with a generous scattering of black spots. Peucetia viridans is confusingly similar to Peucetia longipalpis, the other Peucetia species to occur in the United States, but Peucetia longipalpis tends to have a shorter, fatter, more domed abdomen, with less pronounced markings in its upper surface.
Late in the season Peucetia viridans is prone to change its colour from predominantly green to paler yellow, typically with streaks of reddish, suggesting degradation of the tetrapyrrole pigment in the blood. Gravid females may change their color to fit their background. This takes about 16 days.


The green lynx spider very seldom bites humans, and when it does, its venomous bite, though painful, is not deadly but may cause surrounding swelling (edema) up to 7"-10" in diameter.
The species is primarily of interest for its usefulness in agricultural pest management, for example in cotton fields. The spiders have been observed to hunt several moth species and their larvae, including some of the most important crop pests, such as the bollworm moth (Helicoverpa zea), the cotton leafworm moth (Alabama agrillacea), and the cabbage looper moth (Trichoplusia ni). However, they also prey on beneficial insects, such as honey bees.


The brown widow has a cosmopolitan distribution. It is thought by some researchers to originate in South Africa, although this is uncertain, as specimens were discovered in both Africa and South America. They are usually found around buildings in tropical areas. They can compete with populations of the black widow spider. It is found in many areas of South Africa, the United States (including Hawaii), Australia, Japan, the Dominican Republic, Cyprus, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Uruguay, and Brazil, and there have been sightings in the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and India (Ahmedabad).


Because L. geometricus is dispersed all around the globe, they have many predators.  Brown widows are commonly preyed upon by different types of wasps, including mud daubers and digger wasps.


Latrodectus geometricus, commonly known as the brown widow, brown button spider, grey widow, brown black widow, house button spider or geometric button spider, is one of the widow spiders in the genus Latrodectus. As such, it is a 'cousin' to the more infamous Latrodectus mactans (black widow). L. geometricus has black and white patterns on the sides of its abdomen as well as an orange-yellow colored hourglass shape. Their eggs are easily identified by points that project from all over the egg sacs. L. geometricus are found all over the world, but are believed to originate in South America. Their bites, though painful, are not considered to be dangerous.


The gall is a green or reddish, rounded pouch or pustule on the upperside of a leaf, which also protrudes on the lower surface of the leaf. There is a slit-like opening on the underside of the leaf which, when mature, is hairy inside but the hairs do not protrude outside of the gall. Many mites can be seen within the opening.
The galls are found on white willow (S. alba), eared willow (S. aurita), grey willow (S. cinerea), S. eriocephala, crack willow (S. fragilis), S. integra, bay willow (S. pentandra), purple willow (S. purpurea), Sitka willow (S. sitchensis), S. smithiana, almond willow (S. triandra) and common ossier (S. viminalis).
Similar species
It is possible that A. tetanothrix is one of a number of closely related species, and the galls on S. alba could be caused by A. salicisalbae.


Aculus tetanothrix has been recorded from Germany, Slovenia, Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the USA.


Nephila pilipes (northern golden orb weaver or giant golden orb weaver) is a species of golden orb-web spider. It resides all over countries in East and Southeast Asia as well as Oceania. It is commonly found in primary and secondary forests and gardens. Females are large and grow to a body size of 30–50 mm (overall size up to 20 cm), with males growing to 5–6 mm. It is the second largest of the orb-weaving spiders apart from the recently discovered Nephila komaci. The first, second, and fourth pairs of legs of juvenile females have dense hairy brushes, but these brushes disappear as the spider matures.
The N. pilipes golden web is vertical with a fine irregular mesh. It is not symmetrical, with the hub usually nearer the top. Rather than egg sacs being hung in the web, a pit is dug which is then covered with plant debris or soil.


Few studies have been conducted to investigate the enemies of N. pilipes. The primary enemy of N. pilipes in nature is the bird, which evolves to fly by and take them without being entangled by the web. It is rarely reported that N. pilipes are attacked and killed by parasites like Hymenoptera. To avoid predation by birds, female Nephila often construct an aggregated web system with other females or other orb-weavers, so their web system can shield them from birds.


Nephila spp. prey upon only a few species. Nephila spp. will remove some specific insects from their webs. They avoid vespid wasps, alate ants, and other insects that secrete distasteful compounds. Due to Nephila’s large body size, it can prey on insects with a broad size range, from 2 mm to even larger size than themselves. They adopt different strategies for different sizes of preys. Small preys are directly caught and removed from the web. For larger ones, they inject venom and wait for the decease of their prey. However, Nephila spp. have a dramatic change in predation style from the spiderling to adulthood. During the spiderling stage, they feed collectively on a common web. Upon reaching adulthood, they construct their own webs. Nephila spp. also reserve food caches to deal with periods of food shortage. They wrap surplus prey in silk and store them in the hub of the web. The silk covering can significantly reduce water loss due to evaporation. Food cache can reduce weight loss during periods with limited preys.
It has been reported that some N. pilipes can adjust the ultraviolet radiation reflected by stripes on their body to attract preys that are UV light oriented. The bands on the legs and body of N. pilipes can reflect UV radiation, so they are more visible to flying insects. The contrast of colors makes them look like food sources for insects, rather than a predator spider.


The web constructed by N. pilipes has elastic silk at the center to absorb the kinetic energy of moving insects. Around the elastic part, some stiff structures fix the web to trees or other terrain structures. It has been reported that N. pilipes can adjust their silk composition, responding to different diet and environmental conditions. One study investigated the relationship between silk construction and prey types. When N. pilipes are fed with flies, small and airborne prey, the silk becomes more elastic, and the mesh size becomes smaller. When N. pilipes are fed crickets, large and powerful prey, the silk becomes stiff. Moreover, researchers also found that N. pilipes can change the silk's amino acid composition to fit their needs. The silk has excellent mechanical properties, more robust than most human-made materials, so the silk of Nephila spp. draws much attention in the field of materials science. However, when silks are artificially spun in the lab, they often have inferior quality.


Misumena vatia is found only in North America and Europe. Other species of crab spiders, however, can be found all over the world. The species prefers a temperate climate and generally inhabits forest biomes. Misumena vatia is terrestrial and can be found on several plants and flowers such as milkweed and goldenrod in North America, as well as trillium, white fleabane (Erigeron strigosus), ox-eye daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum), red clover (Trifolium pratense) and buttercups (Ranunculus acris)."


These spiders change color based on visual cues. The color-change is most obvious on females of this species. The ability of males and juveniles to change color has not been documented. Two other known spiders with this color change ability include Thomisus onustus and Thomisus spectabilis. Depending on the color of flower they see around them, they can secrete a liquid yellow pigment into the body's outer cell layer. The baseline color of the spider is white. In its white state, the yellow pigment is sequestered beneath the outer cell layer so that inner glands which are filled with white guanine are visible. They are able to match with greater accuracy to white flowers, such as Chaerophyllum temulum (the rough chervil) in particular, compared to yellow flowers based on the spectral reflectance functions. While the spider is residing on a white plant, it tends to excrete the yellow pigment instead of storing it in its glands. In order to change back to yellow, the spider must first produce enough of the yellow pigment. For this reason it takes these spiders much longer to turn from white to yellow than it does for them to go from yellow to white. The color change from white to yellow can take between 10 and 25 days while the opposite color change takes only about six days. The yellow pigments are kynurenine and 3-hydroxykynurenine. Color changes are induced by visual cues and spiders with impaired vision lose this ability.
Notably, spiders of this species sometimes choose to hunt on flowers that, to the human eye, they do not appear to match in color. For instance, they can be found hunting on the pink petals of the pasture rose (Rosa carolina). The spider appears white, or changes to white, causing it to stand out to human observers. Arthropods, on the other hand, serve as both predators and prey to Misumena vatia, and have photoreceptors that allow them to see ultraviolet, blue, and green light but oftentimes lack red receptors altogether. As a result, Misumena vatia is camouflaged, appearing dark on a dark background.


This species has a wide, flat body that is short and crab-like. It can walk sideways in addition to being able to move forward and backward. Of its eight legs, the first two pairs are the longest. These sets of legs are usually held open, as the spider uses them to capture its prey. Misumena vatia is harmless to humans, as its fangs are not powerful enough to penetrate human skin and its venom is too weak to harm larger animals.


Misumena vatia is a species of crab spider with a holarctic distribution. In North America, it is called the goldenrod crab spider or flower (crab) spider, as it is commonly found hunting in goldenrod sprays and milkweed plants. They are called crab spiders because of their unique ability to walk sideways as well as forwards and backwards. Both males and females of this species progress through several molts before reaching their adult sizes, though females must molt more to reach their larger size. Females can grow up to 10 mm (0.39 in) while males are quite small, reaching 5 mm (0.20 in) at most. Misumena vatia are usually yellow or white or a pattern of these two colors. They may also present with pale green or pink instead of yellow, again, in a pattern with white. They have the ability to change between these colors based on their surroundings through the molting process. They have a complex visual system, with eight eyes, that they rely on for prey capture and for their color-changing abilities. Sometimes, if Misumena vatia consumes colored prey, the spider itself will take on that color.
Misumena vatia feed on common insects, often consuming prey much larger than themselves. They use venom to immobilize their prey, though they are harmless to humans. They face threats due to parasites and larger insects. For Misumena vatia, survival depends on the choice of hunting site. The spiders closely monitor multiple sites to see if others nearby are frequented by greater numbers of potential prey. The primary sex ratio is biased toward females. Females are stationary and choose a flower to settle on, while males cover great distances searching for mates. Females do not emit pheromones, rather, they leave "draglines" of silk behind them as they move, which males follow. Females live longer than males, on average. After mating, females guard their nests until the young have hatched, after which they die.


Crab spiders are carnivorous, feeding on invertebrate insects such as flies, bees, butterflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies, and hoverflies. Bumblebees (Bombus appositus) provide the spider with the most biomass, but small syrphid flies (Toxomerus marginatus) are the prey captured most frequently. Other frequently captured prey include honeybees (Apis mellifera) and moths. Immature Misumena vatia commonly feed on smaller-sized prey such as thrips, aphids in the family Aphididae, and dance flies in the family Empididae. They may also use nectar and pollen as food sources when prey is scarce.
Misumena vatia is primarily dependent on its vision to hunt, so it typically finds and captures food during the day. Adult males search the upper stratum of field vegetation, where females are commonly found hunting, for potential mates. The spider can hunt bugs and insects larger than itself because it has the ability to use paralyzing venom to immobilize its prey. Misumena vatia waits, camouflaging itself on a flowering plant or on the ground, for prey to pass by, and then grabs the prey with its forelegs and quickly injects its venom. Unlike many spiders which wrap their prey in silk, Misumena vatia forgoes wrapping prey and instead allows its venom alone to subdue insects before eating them. It then uses its fangs to inject the immobilized prey with digestive enzymes before sucking out the rendered bodily liquids. This is a form of external digestion. As a result, prey size is not a limiting factor for consumption.
Although Misumena vatia most often hunts during the daytime, there is evidence that it is sometimes driven to hunt at night due to an increase in nocturnal prey activity. This behavior occurs most commonly in response to increased night-time activity by moths in early September.
Misumena vatia has the ability to retain its excretions for at least 50 days and will not excrete when confined to small spaces or near its hunting sites. Excretion may alert predators to the spider's whereabouts.


The species likes cotton fields and wooded areas. They usually live in holes and garbage of various kinds. Sometimes they might be found around ponds or in deep burrows that are covered by debris. This species doesn't build webs to catch prey, instead they weave the silk to wrap their prey in, or to protect their young. They hunt at night, by ambushing their prey, or chasing it. Sometimes, in order to catch their prey, they camouflage themselves as bark or leaves. During breeding, the male performs a "dance" in front of the female, and makes a noise with its legs. If mating is successful, the female will begin to lay its eggs and build an eggsack out of silk, which she will use to carry her young in. When the spiderlings are born, they ride on the mother's back until they are old enough to be on their own.
Rabid wolf spiders may bite if provoked, but their bite is not dangerous to humans.


Rabidosa rabida, also known as the rabid wolf spider, is a species of spiders from the family Lycosidae, native to North America. In the United States it is found from Maine to Florida and west to Texas.


The cephalothorax has two dark stripes. The abdomen has one stripe of the same color. Other parts of the spider are yellow. The females are larger than males, and have a body length of about an inch, while the males' body length comes as a half of that. The species has eight eyes: four above, and four below, which look more like a spider's moustache.
B. J. Kaston distinguishes R. rabida from R. punctulata by observing that the males of the former have front legs that are mostly black, whereas the latter have all legs of the same color.


Argiope argentata are native to areas of Southern California. It is also found southwards as far as Argentina and Chile. As a spider that is attracted to dry and humid environments, it thrives on the prickly-pear plants of Southern California. This spider is not typically found in Europe, or in places with seasons that involve cooler temperatures. This spider is relatively abundant in its specified areas and can oftentimes be found with little effort. Argiope argentata are commonly seen and photographed by hikers in Southern California and the Andes Mountains.


Lizards are significant predators of A. argentata, as can be seen by the so-called "lizard effect".  That is, within island habitats, there is a negative correlation between the number of lizard inhabitants and the number of A. argentata.  Other predators include wasps and birds.


Argiope argentata, commonly known as the silver argiope due to the silvery color of its cephalothorax, is a member of the orb-weaver spider family Araneidae. This species resides in arid and warm environments in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and widely across South America. In the USA, it if found at least in Southern California, Florida, Arizona, Texas. A. argentata create stabilimenta and a unique zig-zag in its web design, and it utilizes its UV-reflecting silk to attract pollinating species to prey upon. Like other species of Argiope, its venom is not harmful to humans; however, it can be employed to immobilize its prey. A. argentata engages in sexual cannibalism either mid- or post-copulation. One aspect of particular interest regarding this species is its extinction patterns, which notably have minimal correlation with its population size but rather occur sporadically for the species.


Argiope argentata belongs to the genus Argiope. As with all Argiope, there is notable sexual dimorphism in regards to size, with the male being much smaller than the female. The average size of the female A. argentata is 12 millimeters, which is three times the size of the average male. UV-light reflects off of the top surface of their bodies. This UV-reflectance may serve the same purpose as the UV-silk used to spin their webs: to attract pollinating prey by imitating the characteristics of flowers. The under-area of A. argentata has a dark-brown coloring, with a yellow stripe going across it. A. argentata has two sets of eyes: a primary set and a secondary set.


Argiope argentata eats butterflies and moths, both of which require a long bite upon first encounter. This is contrary to other insects that are immediately wrapped in silk. It also preys upon mosquitoes, grasshoppers, and flies.
The species incorporates UV-reflecting silks into its web design which serve as an attractor to their prey. These patterns have been hypothesized to specifically attract prey that engage in pollination. Flowers incorporate UV-reflecting patterns to ensure their pollination by insects. Since the webs of A. argentata have been shown to capture pollinating species, such as Trigona spinipes, a species of bees, it is sound logic that their UV-reflecting silk serves the same purpose obtained by a flower's UV-reflecting patterns.


Leucauge venusta, known as the orchard spider, is a long-jawed orbweaver spider that occurs from southern Canada to Colombia, along the East coast, reaching into the central US, also in South Asia.The web is often oriented horizontally, with the spider hanging down in the center.
It is distinctively colored, with leaf-green legs and sides (which can sometimes vary to a dark green or even orange). The underside of its thorax is spotted with yellow and black, the top is silvery with brown and black streaks. The neon yellow, orange or red spots on the rear of the abdomen are variable in size among individuals and sometimes absent.
This species is parasitised by a wasp larva which attaches itself externally at the junction of the cephalothorax and abdomen.
A similar species in the same genus is Leucauge mariana.


Ixodes ricinus is found across Europe and into neighbouring parts of North Africa and the Middle East, extending as far north as Iceland and as far east as parts of Russia. Its northern limit seems to be determined by environmental factors, including temperature, since a series of mild winters in Scandinavia coincided with an expansion northwards in the range of I. ricinus.
I. ricinus is most frequent in habitats where its hosts are plentiful, including woodlands, heaths and forests. It is most prevalent in relatively humid areas, and is absent from much of the Mediterranean Region where summers are dry.


In common with other species of Ixodes, I. ricinus has no eyes and is not ornate; it has no festoons (wrinkles along the posterior margin). The palpi are longer than they are wide, and an anal groove is above the anus.
It has a hard dorsal shield which covers the entire opisthosoma (abdomen), but only part of it in females and nymphs. I. ricinus is the largest of the three common species of Ixodes in the British Isles (the other two being I. canisuga, the British dog tick, and I. trianguliceps, the vole tick). Adult males are 2.4–2.8 mm (0.09–0.11 in) long, and unfed nymphs are 1.3–1.5 mm (0.05–0.06 in) long; females are 3.0–3.6 mm (0.12–0.14 in) long before feeding and 11 mm (0.43 in) long when engorged.


Ixodes ricinus, the castor bean tick, is a chiefly European species of hard-bodied tick. It may reach a length of 11 mm (0.43 in) when engorged with a blood meal, and can transmit both bacterial and viral pathogens such as the causative agents of Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis.


The orange-legged swift spider is native to Australia. It was introduced to New Zealand around 1943 and is fully naturalised.
In New Zealand, it is commonly found inside homes and in short grassland.


Nyssus coloripes, known commonly in Australia as the orange-legged swift spider, but also as the spotted ground swift spider, the fleet footed spider and the painted swift spider, is a spider belonging to the family Corinnidae. It is found commonly in Australia and New Zealand.


Orange-legged swift spiders are mostly black in appearance, with white spots along most of the body and orange front legs. They are typically 6-7 mm in length.


Steatoda nobilis is a spider in the genus Steatoda, known in the United Kingdom as the noble false widow, as it superficially resembles and is frequently mistaken for the dangerous black widow and other spiders in the genus Latrodectus. It is often referred to as the false widow, although "false widow" is a more general term applied to a wider group of species with this resemblance. It is a moderately medically significant spider, with most bites resulting in symptoms similar to a bee or wasp sting. Some bites may cause more significant harm, partly due to pathogenic bacteria from the spiders.
S. nobilis is spotted all year round, both indoors and outdoors in a variety of habitats including cacti, roadside cuttings, and demolished buildings. The spiders prey on both invertebrates and small vertebrates using an "attack wrap" strategy where silk is wrapped around the victim.
Steatoda nobilis is native to Madeira and the Canary Islands from where it is thought to have spread to Europe, and continued to spread to other parts of the world including the United States, Chile and Colombia. They are considered to be one of the world's most invasive species of spider.


Steatoda nobilis has a brown bulbous abdomen with cream coloured markings that are often likened to the shape of a skull. Their legs are reddish-orange. Both female and male S. nobilis can be distinguished from other spiders of the same genus by their large size and typical colouration. Females range in size from about 9.5 to 14 mm in size, while males are 7 to 11 mm. The largest females are 13.7 mm in size, while the largest males can be 11.66mm in size. The males can be distinguished by their conformation of the palp and by their ventral abdominal markings. The females can be distinguished by their epigyne. The variation in size, shape and markings that have been observed is not thought to be due to location. Spiders found centimetres apart and siblings born from the same egg sac can look very different.

Male and female juvenile spiders are indistinguishable from each other.


S. nobilis can eat both vertebrates and invertebrates. In Ireland, they were observed to eat woodlice. All of S. nobilis’s liquid requirements are observed to come from its prey. In laboratories they seem to thrive without water and in extremely dry conditions. In Ireland they have been observed to prey on protected reptile species.


Cyrtophora citricola is found in Asia, Africa, Australia, Costa Rica, Hispaniola, Colombia, and Southern Europe. The species is unable to survive in temperatures below -1°C (30.2°F). C. citricola was also discovered in Florida in 2000 and it makes its webs on canal bridges from the east end of Everglades National Park to the east coast. The spider lives in a wide range of environments, but it is most prevalent in olive orchards and undergrowth. C. citricola is also found in tropical agricultural operations.
C. citricola can be found globally, unlike its close relatives that are concentrated in specific parts of the world. C. citricola's global presence may be a problem as seen in the Americas. The spider is becoming common in agricultural and urban spaces. It is damaging farm operations. Currently, there are active efforts to remove the spider as its web is known to damage flora.
C. citricola exhibits thermoregulative behaviors. This trait is common in web-building spiders, including Nephila clavipes, N. maculata, and Frontinella communis. During the hottest portions of the day, the spider will position themselves so that as little surface area of their body is shown to the sun as possible.


Argyrodes argyrodes, another species of spider, may steal Cyrtophora citricola's prey and eggs. In addition, Holocnemus pluchei, also known as daddy long-legs, has been found to build their webs off of C. citricola's webs. H. pluchei exhibit aggressive behavior towards C. citricola and are observed eating C. citricola juveniles. C. citricola will drop to the ground if attacked, in an attempt to camouflage. C. citricola may also pull all of its legs inwards towards its abdomen.
A. gibbosus often acts as a kleptoparasite to C. citricola, stealing prey that the C. citricola caught. A. gibbosus is known to switch strategies depending on where the host is located. Prey is stolen when the host is in the hub of the web. A. gibbosus has been observed waiting for C. citricola to go foraging before consuming their eggs.
Pediobius pyrgo is a type of wasp that lays its eggs in C. citricola egg sacs. The wasp is present in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Canary Islands. Philolema palanichamyi is another type of wasp that lays its eggs in C. citricola egg sacs. The wasp affects these spiders primarily in the Canary Islands and can parasitize around 40% of egg sacs. Wasp larvae feed on the spider's eggs and each larva will devour significant portions of the egg sacs; incubation lasts approximately seven weeks. Wasp larvae often cause a large portion of parasitized spider egg-sacs to die. Parasitization decreases emerging spiderling populations by approximately 60%.


C. citricola captures its prey in the upper section of the web. The rate of prey per capita due to web deflection is relatively low and may cause spiders to aggregate together. Spiders who live in social aggregates are more efficient at capturing prey than solitary spiders.
The process of capturing prey includes multiple steps. The first step is either biting the prey or wrapping it in silk. The second step is pulling and cutting the prey out of the web. The third step involves transporting the prey to the hub of the web by either carrying it in its jaws or rewrapping it and carrying it in silk. In the fourth step, the spider feeds on the prey in the hub of the web.
C. citricola has four attack sequences. In the first variation, the spider wraps its prey and bites it. After biting the prey, the spider removes the prey from the web, rewraps it, and transports it to the hub. The second sequence follows the steps of the first variation but skips the biting stage. The third variation starts with the spider biting its prey and wrapping its prey. Later, the prey is removed and rewrapped before being transported to the web hub. The fourth sequence involves spiders biting and pulling or cutting the prey. The prey is transported to the hub in the spider's jaws. Whether the prey is bitten, wrapped, or both is determined by the type of prey that is captured.
C. citricola preys on moths and flies. These insects are bitten and carried to the hub on silk. Orthopteras are also captured and eaten by C. citricola using a variety of the above sequences. Other common prey include dragonflies, beetles, and pentatomids.


Juveniles and subadults build flat, tubular silk cocoons with a door at each end inside rolled up leaves. Adult females build a silk platform 50% longer and two to three times wider than their own size before laying up to seven egg batches with 8 to 40 eggs each. Each batch is enclosed in its own silk casing. Males normally do not build nests.
A wide array of behavioral patterns has been observed, among others ritualized male duels.


Trite planiceps, commonly known as the black-headed jumping spider, is a common jumping spider (Salticidae) endemic to New Zealand and one of about 150 species of jumping spiders in New Zealand.


While most jumping spider rely mostly on their very acute eyesight, T. planiceps has been shown to seize on prey in the dark, probably by means of vibratory signals. Unlike typical jumping spiders, they do not make nightly web shelters. As T. planiceps lives in low altitudes, this could be an adaptation to cool overcast winters, where they need to survive within the dim recesses of rolled-up leaves of New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) and similar plants. These leaves are typically one to two meters long and 5 to 10 cm wide.


Males and females range in body length from 6 to 13.5 mm. The cephalothorax and first pair of legs are jet black. The elongated abdomen is golden brown, with a central yellow stripe, and sometimes has a greenish sheen. In males, the first pair of legs is elongated, there is a row of dark hairs above the frontal eyes, and the chelicerae (mouthparts) are more robust.


True to its common name, the species often prefers the broad leaves of magnolia trees, particularly in warm, humid forests, but can also be found in dryer climates on oak, maple, pine, and other trees, as well as on bushes lower to the ground. Matings occur in spring months, particularly in May, after which females lay eggs (typically pale green and numbering between 25-70 per clutch) as late as July on the underside of leaves and then guard them until they hatch, with the mothers then dying in August. Sub-adults overwinter on trees and then finish developing in the early spring.  Both females and males use both visual and vibratory signals in identifying and communicating with one-another, both in challenges and during mating behavior. Pheromones also play a role in identification.
L. viridis subsists primarily on other species inhabiting plants, including mites, aphids, ants, and occasionally other spiders. Because of its relatively short jump distance, compared to other salticids, L. viridis often ambushes its prey, lunging from short distances. Also atypical of salticids, the nests of females are broad and sheetlike and may assist in predation by temporarily immobilizing prey.


Lyssomanes viridis, commonly known as the magnolia green jumper, is a species of jumping spider of the genus Lyssomanes, for which it is the type species.  The species is native to the United States, being found in much of the Southeastern United States and Texas. It has also been reported from parts of Mexico, with sightings as far south as Guatemala and as far north as Maryland.


The magnolia green jumper is small for a jumping spider, with adult females measuring 7-8mm and adult males 5-6mm.  Most specimens appear as a pale, partially translucent green (from which they derive a part of their taxonomic and common names) with a small fringe of scales which may appear red, orange, yellow or white on the crown of the head, framing the eyes.  L. viridis has longer legs, relative to the body, than most jumping spiders, with a smaller leap size (approximately three to four times their body length). However, L. viridis is similar to most other salticids in having highly complex eyes and well-developed vision that is amongst the most acute of all arthropods, as well as complex visual cognition behaviors; the anterior median eyes have the telephoto quality for which jumping spiders are known, but also share features with the eyes of species that evolved earlier than salticids.
As with many other Salticidae, male L. viridis have brightly-colored and large chelicerae which are used as weapons in contests, and similarly colored forelegs that are waved during visual agonistic displays.  The corresponding appendages of females have more muted colors and have significantly lower allometric slopes than those of males.  When males encounter each other, they will wave their forelegs and often approach one another until one of them retreats, with a physical fight resulting if neither retreats. During fights, males press their chelicerae and forelegs against each other and push until one tires and retreats.


Girella nigricans, commonly known as the opaleye or rudderfish, is a species of sea chub found in the Eastern Pacific, from California to southern Baja California. A rarely documented isolated population also exists in the Gulf of California, which might be genetically different from the rest of the species. They are commonly found in shallow waters and intertidal zones, usually over rocks and kelp beds, at depths of 1 to 32 m (3.3 to 105.0 ft). They feed primarily on algae, but will occasionally consume sessile invertebrates (including crustaceans, worms, and molluscs). They are considered commercially important game fish.
The body of Girella nigricans is laterally compressed and oval in shape. The snout is blunt and short, with a thick-lipped small mouth located at the front. The species is dentally polymorphic, with some juveniles transitioning from tricuspid teeth to simple teeth. The fins are all relatively short and rounded to blunt in shape. The dorsal fin is continuous and the tail fin has a straight margin. Adults are grey-green to olive green in color in life, with two to six lighter colored spots on the middle of the upper back. A white bar may be present between the eyes. The eyes are opalescent blue-green in color. Juveniles are bluish in color on the dorsal surface and silvery on the ventral surface. They can grow to a maximum length of 66 cm (26 in).


The eastern blue groper is native to the southeastern coast of Australia. Its range extends from Mooloolaba in southern Queensland southwards to Wilsons Promontory in the south of Victoria, including the eastern end of the Bass Strait. Its habitat is rocky areas down to a depth of about 40 m (131 ft).


The eastern blue groper (Achoerodus viridis) is a species of wrasse native to southeastern Australia from Hervey Bay in southern Queensland to Wilsons Promontory in Victoria.  They occur in coastal waters, preferring rocky areas at a depth of about 40 m (130 ft).  Juveniles inhabit beds of seagrass in estuaries.  The diet of this species consists of invertebrates such as various molluscs, crabs, sea urchins, and cunjevoi.  This species grows to a length of 100 centimetres (39 inches) as adult males, while females are less than 70 cm (28 in) long.  In 1998, the eastern blue groper was made the state fish emblem of New South Wales.


Yellowfin bream are found along the east coast of Australia from around 19 S to 38 S—roughly from Townsville in northern Queensland to Mallacoota and the Gippsland Lakes region in eastern Victoria. A yellowfin bream specimen was first identified in New Zealand waters in Piwhane / Spirits Bay in 1990, likely introduced by ship dispersal of juvenile fish. Due to the large amount of fishing around Northland and the lack of subsequent specimens, it is unlikely that a population established.
The bream inhabit estuaries in salt or brackish water up to the fresh water limit, and inshore rocky reef habitats near ocean beaches and rocky headlands.


Carnivorous, the yellowfin bream is demersal, preying on small fishes and invertebrates such as crabs, shellfish, polychaete worms and ascidians that dwell at the bottom of estuaries. They are fond of oysters, and can be found around oyster farms.


The yellowfin bream is a slower-growing species than the related black bream, reaching a fork length of 23 cm (9 in) in five years, having matured when 22 cm (8.7 in) long. The colour can be variable: fish caught in freshwater may be bronze- or brown-coloured, while those caught in estuarine or marine habitats are more silvery.
A specimen measuring 56 cm (22 in) long and weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces was caught in the Georges River and reported in 1928, while another even longer specimen from the Clarence River was 58.5 cm (23 in) and 7 pounds 2 ounces.


Girella zebra is normally found around rocky reefs in shallow coastal waters from 0–20 metres (0–66 ft) in depth. It may also be observed in sheltered offshore waters and in estuaries.
The flattened teeth and long narrow gill rakers are used to feed on small prey. It is mainly a herbivore, feeding on seaweeds, but it will also feed on benthic invertebrates such as sea squirts. This is a schooling species.


Members of the Girella zebra species are hosts to a recently discovered species of parasitic flatworms. Pholeohedra overstreeti was identified and described by dissecting the intestines of the Girella zebra, showing a parasitic relationship.


Girella zebra, also known as zebrafish or stripey bream, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sea chub in the family Kyphosidae. It lives in the Indo-Pacific, where it is endemic to the coastal waters of the southern parts of Australia.


Girella zebra has a moderately short and deep, compressed, oval body with a relatively thin caudal peduncle. It has a small head with a bulging forehead and small eyes. The mouth is small, not extending to the level of the front of the eye. The maxilla are hidden beneath the preorbital bones. There are two rows of teeth on each jaw; the outer row consists of non-overlapping, flattened, tricuspid teeth, while the adjacent inner row is made up of a wide band of minute teeth similar in shape to the teeth in the outer row. The fish is largely covered in small ctenoid scales and the lateral line is continuous, has 72-80 scales and arches in parallel to the curve of the back. The dorsal fin is continuous and shows almost no difference in height between the spiny and soft-rayed parts. The spiny part has 14 spines, is around a third longer than the soft-rayed part, which as 13-15 soft rays, with the longest spines, which are marginally longer than the longest rays, are in its middle. The anal fin is similar in length and form to the soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin and sits opposite it. The anal fin has three spines and 11 soft rays. The large caudal fin is broadly forked, the pectoral and pelvic fins are small, and the uppermost rays of the pectoral fin are the longest. The adult G. zebra has a pale body with nine or ten dark bars on the flanks, which taper ventrally, with pale yellow fins. The juveniles are darker with more indistinct markings, and may be confused for luderick. This species grows to a maximum total length of 34 centimetres (13 in).


The Mayan cichlid inhabits freshwater marshes, mangrove swamps, lakes, rivers, rocky shorelines, lagoons, estuaries and coastal islands. Adults prefer coastal lagoons and rivers and may survive in marine conditions. It can be found in oxygen-rich areas near submerged vegetation and over muddy substrates. However, despite its preference for waters with dissolved oxygen content of at least 3.5 mg/L, it is capable of surviving in extreme hypoxia. This is because it is an oxygen conformer, becoming much less active in hypoxic water, and even surviving virtual anoxia for up to two hours. Unusually, this fish has been recorded in some cenotes in the Yucatan Peninsula.


This species can be found in Middle America. It is native to the Atlantic slope of tropical Mesoamerica, ranging from eastern Mexico southward to Nicaragua. It was first recorded from Everglades National Park, Florida in 1983 and is now a common nonindigenous fish in South Florida.


The Mayan cichlid is philopatric, or site tenacious, i.e. - individuals are non-migratory and prefer to stay within a home range. The Mayan cichlid has a minimum temperature requirement of about 14 degrees Celsius. In its native range, it inhabits waters with temperatures from 18 - 34 degrees Celsius, but its optimal temperature range is 28 - 33 degrees Celsius.
The Mayan cichlid is capable of surviving in a variety of conditions. It is euryhaline and can survive in a range of salinity from 0 - 40 ppt. Experiments on captive specimens have shown that it can tolerate abrupt increases in salinity of up to 15 ppt. The Mayan cichlid has a broad range of tolerance to abiotic conditions and a broad functional repertoire to enable it to feed on about 20% of evasive prey due to its 6.8% jaw protrusion while feeding.
This species is also a dietary generalist, consuming organisms from a variety of disparate taxa. However, it is susceptible to malnourishment, apparently due to the requirement that a relatively large proportion of its diet be animal prey. The Mayan cichlid's diet includes plant matter, smaller fish, algae, detritus, snails, crustaceans and insects.


Mayaheros urophthalmus reaches a maximum length of 39.4 cm. This fish is one of the larger cichlids. The body is oval and flattened on the sides and the head is tapering towards the mouth. Fins are spiny. It has a base color of yellow-brown to gray-brown in most cases, that becomes intense red during breeding. The head and throat are reddish, especially in younger fish. The caudal fin and the soft-sections of the dorsal and anal fin are usually more or less reddish. Six wide green-black vertical stripes run across the sides of the body between the base of the pectoral fin and the base of the caudal fin. There is a large black eye spot circled with blue-green on the tail stem (hence the species scientific name urophthalmus (from oura, Greek for tail and ophthalmos, Greek for eye). Since the distribution area of the species is relatively large, this species may occurs in different colors, which may differ from the one described above.


Sparisoma aurofrenatum lives on reefs in depths of 2 to 20 metres. The juveniles live among seagrass beds.


Sparisoma aurofrenatum (common names: redband parrotfish, gutong, rainbow parrot, black parrot, and blisterside) is a species of parrotfish native to the Caribbean Sea and Western Atlantic Ocean.


Sparisoma aurofrenatum is a herbivore, feeding on algae and polyps it scrapes from rocks and coral using its 'beak'.


The species is found in estuarine and coastal waters of southern Australia. On the east coast, it occurs around areas north of Sydney then the range follows the coast south around Victoria and around Tasmania and west through South Australia to Western Australia to around areas north of Perth. It is also found in waters around New Zealand. Silver trevally are known to frequent rocky areas along bays and coastal waters in depths  to 200 m (660 ft). Juvenile fish are often associated with bays, estuaries, and shallower waters of the continental shelf. Adult fish commonly inhabit large bays and inlets and areas of inshore reef and over open substrate composed of gravel or sand.


Silver trevally, Pseudocaranx georgianus, (also known as skippy, skipjack trevally and silver bream) is a jack of the family Carangidae found around the coast of Australia and New Zealand.


The fish can grow to a length of 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) and weigh up to 18 kg (40 lb). More typically, it has a length of 35 to 60 cm (14 to 24 in) and a weight of 0.4 to 2.5 kg (0.88 to 5.51 lb). The species can live as long as 25 years. They have compressed and elongated bodies, the upper portion is a bluish-silver colour, the belly is silver, and the sides are a yellow-silver shade. A small black blotch is found on the bony flap covering the gills. The fish have two dorsal fins, two small, detached spines in front of the rear fin, and a deeply forked tail fin. Between two and four years of age, the silver trevally becomes sexually mature and is able to reproduce. Spawning happens in estuaries and deeper waters between spring and autumn over an extended period; the females can produce between 50,000 and 200.000 eggs over the course of a season.


Monacanthus chinensis, commonly known as the fan-bellied leatherjacket or fantail leatherjacket, is a species of filefish native to the western Pacific Ocean and the eastern Indian Ocean where it is found on reefs and soft sediments at shallow depths.  This species grows to a total length of 40 centimetres (16 in).


The fan-bellied leatherjacket is native to the Indo-Pacific. Its range extends from Malaysia and southern Japan, through Indonesia and Samoa to western, northern and eastern Australia. It is a demersal species and is found in estuaries and on algae-clad rocky coasts as well as over muddy and silty seabeds, on seagrass meadows and on reefs, both on and offshore, to depths of about 50 m (164 ft).


The fan-bellied leatherjacket is diurnal and omnivorous, appearing to detect its food by sight. Besides feeding on algae and seagrass, it preys on small invertebrates such as amphipods, caridean shrimps, copepods, tanaids, bryozoans, hydroids, polychaete worms and tunicates.  It does not appear to digest seagrass and algae well, but nevertheless, many carbon compounds are assimilated from these foodstuffs during the digestion process. About 40% of the diet is animal matter, and this species is very dependent on encrusting organisms and the epiphytic algae and invertebrates present in a seagrass meadow.


Acanthurus nigrofuscus, also known as the lavender tang, brown tang, or spot-cheeked surgeonfish, is a tang from the Indo-Pacific and Hawaii. It commonly makes its way into the aquarium trade. It grows to 21 cm in length. Recently, a huge bacterium discovered in its intestine, Epulopiscium fishelsoni, has been found to grow as large as 600 by 80 μm, a little smaller than a printed hyphen, which controls the pH of its host's gut, thereby influencing its host's ability to digest food and absorb nutrients.


The lavender tang is an herbivore that grazes primarily on benthic algae. In captivity, they will also feed on animal matter such as brine shrimp and mysis shrimp.


Chromis chromis occurs in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic, from Portugal to Angola including the Macaronesian Islands and the Gulf of Guinea Islands, appearing to be commoner off islands than off the mainland. It is uncommon in the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara.
C. chromis inhabits littoral, mainly in rocky areas from 2 to 40 metres (6.6 to 131.2 ft) in depth, in small shoals in midwater above or near rocky reefs and above sea-grass meadows.


Chromis chromis, the  damselfish or Mediterranean chromis is a small species of ray-finned fish of the family Pomacentridae from the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.


It feeds on small zooplankton and benthic algae. Its main food components are copepods, appendicularia, cladocera, gastropod larvae, bivalve larvae, fish eggs and fish larvae.
C. chromis feeding patterns are altered when schools are confronted with an increase in top water activity, resultantly, the species obtained a behavioral response referred to as polarizing. Polarization occurs when the species dives to deeper depths, leaving their food behind, as a mechanism to avoid confrontation.


Chromis chromis has an oval and laterally compressed body with an noticeably large eye. Its mouth is strongly protractile, reaching to below the centre of the eye, with small canine-like teeth set in 3 rows on the jaws. The preoperculum is not serrated and the anterior gill arch has 30 slender gill rakers. There are 13-14 spines and 10-11 soft rays in the dorsal fin and in the anal fin has 11 spines and 10-12 soft rays. Its body is covered in large scales, including the head, and there are 24-30 scales along the lateral line. The youngest fish are a brilliant iridescent blue in colour; older juveniles have blue stripes with the dorsal and anal fins outlined in blue while the adults are dark brown with the centres of each scale a paler golden brown or grey-brow and with the edge of the caudal fin lacking any colour, especially in the centre of the fork. The males become a vivid pale violet. There is a single pair of nostrils.
It can grow up to a size of 25 centimetres (9.8 in) in length, with a common length of 13 centimetres (5.1 in).


Scarus Ghobban occurs in places with sandy bottoms and in areas with seagrass. It is also known to live in marginal reefs and in deeper waters.


Scarus ghobban is widespread throughout the Indo-Pacific, known to live in waters from East Africa to Indonesia. It has also been found in the Mediterranean, likely having entered by way of the Red Sea as a Lessepsian migrant. It also occurs at the Galápagos Islands as well as Japan, south to Australia and east to French Polynesia.
In 2004, the species was reported from Beirut, Lebanon.
Like other reef fish with a pelagic larval phase, regional currents facilitate high levels of gene flow, which in turn create high genetic diversity among the species.


This species is blue-green to green in colour and commonly grows to approximately 46 cm. Its appearance is variable. It may have a central stripe on the dorsal and anal fins that is pink in colour. The underside of the body may be pinkish or yellowish. There may be blue markings around the area of the pectoral fin.


The global decline of coral reefs and seagrass beds, and especially those occurring in the Caribbean is a threat to this species, as is predation by invasive lionfish, Pterois volitans and P. miles which prey on smaller specimens. There are no species-specific conservation measures, but its distribution overlaps a number of marine protected areas. Despite the declines in coral reef and seagrass beds habitats this species is resilient and is able to use other habitats such as rocky reefs which combined with its wide geographic range mean that it is assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN.


Aulostomus maculatus is widespread throughout the tropical waters of western Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Brazil including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Although the most southerly records may actually be of the related species, Aulostomus strigosus.


Trumpetfish is a largely piscivorous ambush predator which is known to hide among shoals of large herbivorous fish, shadowing the fish until it is close enough to a prey item to strike. It will also hang vertically among gorgonians or drift with the current, capturing any prey that swim underneath it by sucking them into the mouth which has elastic tissues to allow it to open as wide as the diameter of its body. The sudden opening of the mouth creates a vacuum which pulls prey into the mouth. Recorded prey include ocean surgeon (Acanthurus bahianus), blue chromis (Chromis cyanea), tomtate grunt (Haemulon aurolineatum), French grunt (Haemulon flavolineatum), longspine squirrelfish (Holocentrus rufus), downy blenny (Labrisomus kalisherae), dusky blenny (Malacoctenus gilli), redlip blenny (Ophioblennius atlanticus), rusty reefgoby (Priolepis hipoliti), spotted goatfish (Pseudupeneus maculatus), reef squirrelfish (Sargocentron coruscum), yellowtip damselfish (Stegastes pictus), and Bluehead wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum). Shrimp will also be taken. Stegastes planifrons often aggressively attack trumpetfish but these attacks do not appear to disrupt the trumpetfish's hunting. Normally solitary hunters, trumpetfish frequently associate with schools of striped parrotfish (Scarus iseri) to avoid attacks from S. planifrons and in these circumstances they have higher feeding rates than solitary fish.


Aulostomus maculatus is closely related to cornetfish. This species can be a bit more than 36 inches (91 cm) long and have greatly elongated and compressed bodies, with a compressed head which has with small jaws at the front end of their long, tubular snouts. There is a distinct barbel on the chin positioned at the tip of at the lower jaw. The dorsal and anal fins are positioned posteriorally. The dorsal fin has 8-12 well-spaced and isolated spines in front of it and has 12 spines and 12-25 soft rays. The anal fin has 21-25 soft rays while the caudal fin is rounded. The most commonly encountered color of A. maculatus is mottled brown to reddish brown with irregular black or brown spots. They may also be blue-gray, bright yellow or green and this species has the ability to change its color to camouflage itself. The head and flanks have transverse silvery streaks and the base of the dorsal and anal fins have a black bar which is sometimes reduced to a spot. There may be one or two spots on the tail.
A. maculatus grow to a  maximum reported length of 100 centimetres (39 in) in total length, although 60 centimetres (24 in) is more common.


Latropiscis purpurissatus, the sergeant baker or Dragon Snapper, is a species of flagfin endemic to Australia.  This species grows to a total length of 60.0 centimetres (23.6 in), and is the only known member of its genus. The Australian Museum suggests that the sergeant baker is named after Sergeant William Baker who served as Admiral Arthur Phillip's orderly sergeant. He may have been the first colonist to catch this fish species. Sergeant Baker sailed to Australia aboard the transport ship Charlotte as a Corporal of Marines.
Sergeant bakers are commonly found in Australia's warm southern waters between Queensland and Western Australia, dwelling on the bottom of coastal and deep-reef environments. They readily take bait or lures, but are generally considered poor eating.


Platycephalus fuscus, the dusky flathead or black flathead, (literally translating from Ancient Greek as "flat-head dusky") is a large predatory fish and the largest member of the family Platycephalidae. Dusky flathead are a largely estuarine species and are found in estuaries, estuarine lakes and coastal bays on the east coast of Australia, from Cairns in Queensland to the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria. They occur over sand, mud, gravel and seagrass and can inhabit estuarine waters up to the tidal limit.