This species was described from specimens collected in Timor. It is one of the most common nudibranchs throughout the tropical Indo-West Pacific. However, a study using DNA sequencing of the CO1 gene has shown that it is a species complex.


The northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda) is the largest shrew in the genus Blarina, and occurs in the northeastern region of North America. It is a semifossorial, highly active, and voracious insectivore and is present in a variety of habitats like broadleaved and pine forests among shrubs and hedges as well as grassy river banks. It is notable in that it is one of the few venomous mammals. The specific epithet, brevicauda, is a combination of the Latin brevis and cauda, meaning "short tail".


This shrew consumes up to three times its weight in food each day. It eats small quantities of subterranean fungi and seeds, though it is mostly carnivorous. It prefers insects, earthworms, voles, snails, and other shrews for the bulk of its diet, though salamanders and mice are also eaten. This shrew consumes vertebrates more often than other shrews do. The shrew mostly forages within a few hours after sunset, though it is also active during cloudy days. High evaporative water loss requires the shrew to have access to a source of water, though it does obtain water from its food, as well. The shrew often hoards food, especially in the fall and winter, or during a time of prey abundance; one study found it caches 87% of the prey it catches, while 9% is eaten immediately and 4% is left where it was killed.


The northern short-tailed shrew has a high mortality rate, though it attempts to escape predation by remaining hidden under vegetation, soil, leaf litter, or snow; only 6% of a marked group of shrews survived to the next year, and winter mortality of 90% has been recorded, probably due to cold stress. This shrew is consumed by many predators: trout, snakes, raptors, canids, cats, mustelids, skunks, raccoons, and opossums, though mammalian carnivores appear to be deterred by the musky odor produced by the shrew's scent glands.


Mating occurs from March through September, though most births occur early or late in that period. Male shrews in captivity were observed to make clicking sounds while courting a female. During copulation, the male and female are locked together, and the female drags the male along with her. Gestation lasts 21–24 days, and after birth, the six to eight young are suckled for up to 25 days before the babies are weaned. Two litters per season are typical, though three are possible. The female strengthens the nest when the young are nursing, and is more active to support her increased nutritional needs. The young, which were born hairless and blind and weighing less than a gram, may become sexually mature in as soon as 2–3 months; those born in the spring mature more quickly than those born late in the season, and may themselves reproduce in the same year they were born. The juvenile pelage is pale and quite similar to the adults' summer fur, and is molted when the young reaches adult size.


The desert tortoise is an herbivore. Grasses form the bulk of its diet, but it also eats herbs, annual wildflowers, and new growth of cacti, as well as their fruit and flowers. Rocks and soil are also ingested, perhaps as a means of maintaining intestinal digestive bacteria  as a source of supplementary calcium or other minerals. As with birds, stones may also function as gastroliths, enabling more efficient digestion of plant material in the stomach.
Much of the tortoise's water intake comes from moisture in the grasses and wildflowers they consume in the spring. A large urinary bladder can store over 40% of the tortoise's body weight in water, urea, uric acid, and nitrogenous wastes. During very dry times, they may give off waste as a white paste rather than a watery urine. During periods of adequate rainfall, they drink copiously from any pools they find, and eliminate solid urates. The tortoises can increase their body weight by up to 40% after copious drinking. Adult tortoises can survive a year or more without access to water. During the summer and dry seasons, they rely on the water contained within cactus fruits and mesquite grass. To maintain sufficient water, they reabsorb water in their bladders, and move to humid burrows in the morning to prevent water loss by evaporation.
Emptying the bladder is one of the defense mechanisms of this tortoise. This can leave the tortoise in a very vulnerable condition in dry areas, and it should not be alarmed, handled, or picked up in the wild unless in imminent danger. If it must be handled, and its bladder is emptied, then water should be provided to restore the fluid in its body.


The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, and to the Sinaloan thornscrub of northwestern Mexico. G. agassizii is distributed in western Arizona, southeastern California, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah.  The specific name agassizii is in honor of Swiss-American zoologist Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz.
The desert tortoise lives about 50 to 80 years; it grows slowly and generally has a low reproductive rate.  It spends most of its time in burrows, rock shelters, and pallets to regulate body temperature and reduce water loss.  It is most active after seasonal rains and is inactive during most of the year. This inactivity helps reduce water loss during hot periods, whereas winter brumation facilitates survival during freezing temperatures and low food availability. Desert tortoises can tolerate water, salt, and energy imbalances on a daily basis, which increases their lifespans.


These tortoises may attain a length of 25 to 36 cm (10 to 14 in), with males being slightly larger than females. A male tortoise has a longer gular horn than a female, his plastron (lower shell) is concave compared to a female tortoise. Males have larger tails than females do. Their shells are high-domed, and greenish-tan to dark brown in color. Desert tortoises can grow to 10–15 cm (4–6 in) in height. They can range in weight from 0.02 to 5 kg (0.71 oz to 11 lb 0.37 oz). The front limbs have sharp, claw-like scales and are flattened for digging. Back legs are skinnier and very long.


Desert tortoises can live in areas with ground temperatures exceeding 60C (140 F) because of their ability to dig burrows and escape the heat. At least 95% of their lives are spent in burrows. There, they are also protected from freezing winter weather while dormant, from November through February or March. Within their burrows, these tortoises create a subterranean environment that can be beneficial to other reptiles, mammals, birds, and invertebrates.
Scientists have divided the desert tortoise into two types: Agassiz's and Morafka's desert tortoises, with a possible third type in northern Sinaloan and southern Sonora, Mexico. An isolated population of Agassiz's desert tortoise occurs in the Black Mountains of northwestern Arizona. They live in a different type of habitat, from sandy flats to rocky foothills. They have a strong proclivity in the Mojave Desert for alluvial fans, washes, and canyons where more suitable soils for den construction might be found. They range from near sea level to around 1,050 m (3,500 ft) in elevation. Tortoises show very strong site fidelity, and have well-established home ranges where they know where their food, water, and mineral resources are.
Desert tortoises inhabit elevations from below mean sea level in Death Valley to 1,600 m (5,300 ft) in Arizona, though they are most common from around 300 to 1,050 m (1,000 to 3,500 ft). Estimates of densities vary from less than 8/km² (21/sq mi) on sites in southern California to over 500/km² (1,300/sq mi) in the western Mojave Desert, although most estimates are less than 150/km² (390/sq mi). The home range generally consists of 4 to 40 hectares (10 to 100 acres). In general, males have larger home ranges than females, and home range size increases with increasing resources and rainfall.
Desert tortoises are sensitive to the soil type, owing to their reliance on burrows for shelter, reduction of water loss, and regulation of body temperature. The soil should crumble easily during digging and be firm enough to resist collapse. Desert tortoises prefer sandy loam soils with varying amounts of gravel and clay, and tend to avoid sands or soils with low water-holding capacity, excess salts, or low resistance to flooding. They may consume soil to maintain adequate calcium levels, so may prefer sites with higher calcium content.
With the creation of off-road vehicles more humans are making their way in and out of the Desert Tortoises home environment.


Tortoises mate in the spring and autumn. Male desert tortoises grow two large white glands around the chin area, called chin glands, that signify mating season. A male circles around female, biting her shell in the process. He then climbs upon the female and insert his penis (a white organ, usually only seen upon careful inspection during mating, as it is hidden inside the male and can only be coaxed out with sexual implication) into the cloaca of a female, which is located around the tail. The male may make grunting noises once atop a female, and may move his front legs up and down in a constant motion, as if playing a drum.
Months later, the female lays a clutch of four to eight hard-shelled eggs, which have the size and shape of ping-pong balls, usually in June or July. The eggs hatch in August or September. Wild female tortoises produce up to three clutches a year depending on the climate. Their eggs incubate from 90 to 135 days; some eggs may overwinter and hatch the following spring. In a laboratory experiment, temperature influenced hatching rates and hatchling sex. Incubation temperatures from 27 to 31 °C (81 to 88 °F) resulted in hatching rates exceeding 83%, while incubation at 25 °C (77 °F) resulted in a 53% hatching rate. Incubation temperatures less than 31 °C (88 °F) resulted in all-male clutches. Average incubation time decreased from 124.7 days at 25 °C (77 °F) to 78.2 days at 31 °C (88 °F).
The desert tortoise is one of the two known tortoises in existence that has been observed engaging in homosexual intercourse.


Desert tortoises can live well over 50 years, with estimates of lifespan varying from 50 to 80 years. Causes of mortality include predation, disease, human-related factors, and environmental factors such as drought, flooding, and fire.
The annual death rate of adults is typically a few percent, but is much higher for young desert tortoises. Only 2–5% of hatchlings are estimated to reach maturity. Estimates of survival from hatching to 1 year of age for Mojave Desert tortoises range from 47 to 51%. Survival of Mojave Desert tortoises from 1 to 4 years of age is 71–89%.


In 1775, the species was given its first Linnean binomial name of Lichen retiformis by Archibald Menzies. It was also referred to as Lichen reticulatis by Nohden in 1801. Thomas Taylor then incorporated the taxon into the genus Ramalina and described it in the London Journal of Botany in 1847 as Ramalina menziesii. Vernacular names used for the species include "lace lichen" and "fishnet".


Lichen have long been used as bioindicators for atmospheric pollution because they derive much of their resources from the air. Many species are also sensitive to environmental change, making them accurate warning signs for pollution. A study of archived Ramalina menziesii specimens showed a history of lead contamination in California. Lead concentrations in lace lichen peaked in 1976 at 880 μg/g due to leaded gasoline emissions and have since decreased to 0.2–4.7 μg/g.
In recent years, Ramalina menziesii has bioaccumulated of monomethylmercury (MMHg) from coastal marine atmospheric fog. High concentrations found in lace lichen are transmitted to the deer that consume them, and later to the apex predators that consume the deer—a process called biomagnification. Although fog-borne MMHg only accounts for a small percentage of atmospheric deposition, it may have a disproportionate impact leading to toxicological effects on Puma concolor in coastal California.


Ramalina menziesii, the lace lichen or fishnet, is a pale yellowish-green to grayish-green foliose lichen. It grows up to a meter long, hanging from bark and twigs in a distinctive net-like or lace-like pattern that is unlike any other lichen in North America. It becomes a deeper green when wet. Apothecia are lecanorine. it is an important food source for deer in the Coast Range of California, and a source of nest material for birds. It is highly variable in its growth form, with branches sometimes so slender as to appear like strands, sometimes tiny, and sometimes large with broadly flattened branches.
After years of effort, the California Lichen Society was able to convince the state legislature to recognize the lichen as the state lichen of California, the first lichen so honored.


This species has a rather limited range of distribution, being found from the central California coast to Baja California, Mexico, and it is also found in the Gulf of Mexico. Recently, its range has been extending north and is now found north of San Francisco Bay.


This nudibranch grows to 50 mm, or a little more than 2 inches in length. The reddish or brownish line across its head is almost always present, and is very characteristic of the species.
This species can be confused with Hermissenda crassicornis, which is superficially similar in appearance.


This species is probably confined to the central Indo-West Pacific Ocean. It is common in Indonesia and occurs from Malaysia to the Solomon Islands.


Like many nudibranchs, Phyllidia ocellata feeds on sponges.


This animal can measure up to 35 mm in length. It has been confused with Phyllidia japonica, Phyllidia multituberculata and Phyllidia undula and a number of other species by most workers. This nudibranch has an orange-brown dorsum interrupted by large white or grey, compound, stalked tubercles. These tubercles are distributed along a line from between the rhinophores to the tail, with more scattered and mostly smaller tubercles towards the mantle edge. There are four black rings surrounding tubercles which are placed symmetrically in the middle region of the back. Large individuals may have two more black patches towards the tail, or two more tubercles surrounded by black rings. A single tubercle in front of the rhinophores is also surrounded by a black ring. The rhinophores are orange-yellow.


The northern palm squirrel is a very adaptable species. It occurs in tropical and subtropical dry deciduous forest, montane forests to altitudes of 4,000 m (13,123 ft), scrublands, plantations, grasslands, arable land, rural gardens and urban areas.


It is found in the Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands (where it was introduced), India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Iran. In India, it is fairly common in urban areas, even in large cities such as Delhi and Kolkata. Two subspecies, Funambulus pennantii argentescens and Funambulus pennantii lutescens, were suggested by Wroughton in addition to the nominate race; however, more recent workers do not make this distinction.
Thorington and Hoffman in Wilson and Reeder (2005) listed only two subspecies: F. p. pennantii and F. p. argentescens. However, Ghose, et al. (2004), described two additional subspecies: F. p. chhattisgarhi (distribution: eastern part of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, and Bihar) and F. p. gangutrianus (distribution: West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal), but Talmale (2007) treated the Maharashtra populations as F. p. pennantii only due to the overlapping in measurements and color variations observed in the specimens.
It has also been introduced to Australia where it is found in a very limited area. In Perth, Western Australia, there is an established population resulting from zoo escapees, and a population recorded around Mosman, New South Wales and near Taronga Zoo that may have become extinct. The feral populace, known locally as the five-lined palm squirrel, ranges out to the suburbs surrounding the Perth Zoo and also inhabits the grounds. They give birth over a period from August to May and most intensively around the austral spring and autumn.
In India, the southern boundary of the species' range is not clearly identified, and recent records suggest it may extend as far as Madanapalli. The southern boundary on the Western Ghats side clearly extends to localities including Dharwar and Mysore, in Karnataka.


The big-belly seahorse is found among algae, seagrasses, and rocky reefs in shallow water, and attached to sponges and colonial hydroids in deeper areas. They also attach to jetty piles and other manmade objects, and can be found in estuaries.  They usually inhabit waters less than 50 m (160 ft) deep, but have been found as deep as 104 m (340 ft). Juveniles are pelagic or attached to drifting seaweed.


The big-belly seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis) or pot-bellied seahorse is one of the largest seahorse species in the world, with a length of up to 35 cm (14 in), and is the largest in Australia. Seahorses are members of the family Syngnathidae, and are teleost fishes.  They are found in southeast Australia and New Zealand, and are listed on Appendix II of CITES.


The big-belly seahorse is a popular aquarium species and dried specimens are sold as traditional medicine in Asia. Stocks come from the wild or are aquarium-reared.  They are easy to keep in aquariums and feed on small shrimp and crustaceans.


Brown recluse spiders build asymmetrical (irregular) webs that frequently include a shelter consisting of disorderly threads. They frequently build their webs in woodpiles and sheds, closets, garages, plenum spaces, cellars, and other places that are dry and generally undisturbed. When dwelling in human residences they seem to favor cardboard, possibly because it mimics the rotting tree bark which they inhabit naturally. Human-recluse contact often occurs when such isolated spaces are disturbed and the spider feels threatened. Unlike most web weavers, they leave these lairs at night to hunt. Males move around more when hunting than the females, which tend to remain nearer to their webs.


The documented range of this species lies roughly south of a line from southeastern Nebraska through southern Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana to southwestern Ohio. In the southern states, it is native from central Texas to western Georgia and north to Kentucky.
Despite rumors to the contrary, the brown recluse spider has not established itself in California or anywhere outside its native range. There are other species of the genus Loxosceles native to the southwestern part of the United States, including California, which may resemble the brown recluse, but interactions between humans and the recluse species in California and the region are rare because those species native ranges lie outside of dense human populations. The number of "false positive" reports based on misidentifications is considerable; in a nationwide study where people submitted spiders that they thought were brown recluses, of 581 from California only 1 was a brown recluse—submitted by a family that moved from Missouri and brought it with them (compared to specimens submitted from Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, where between 75% and 90% were recluses). From this study, the most common spider submitted from California as a brown recluse was in the genus Titiotus, whose bite is deemed harmless. A similar study documented that various arachnids were routinely misidentified by physicians, pest control operators, and other non-expert authorities, who told their patients or clients that the spider they had was a brown recluse when in fact it was not. Despite the absence of brown recluses from the Western U.S., physicians in the region commonly diagnose "brown recluse bites", leading to the popular misconception that the spiders inhabit those areas.
Over the last century, spiders have occasionally been intercepted in locations where they have no known established populations; these spiders may be transported fairly easily, though the lack of established populations well outside the natural range also indicates that such movement has not led to the colonization of new areas, after decades of opportunities. Note that the occurrence of brown recluses in a single building (such as a warehouse) outside of the native range is not considered as successful colonization; such single-building populations can occur (e.g., in several such cases in Florida), but do not spread, and can be easily eradicated. The spider has also received numerous sensationalized media reports of bites occurring where these spiders are absent (and no specimens were found), such as a 2014 report from Thailand, where a man was claimed to have died from a brown recluse bite. Many misidentifications and erroneous geographic records stem from the similarity between L. reclusa and a related introduced species, the Mediterranean recluse (Loxosceles rufescens), which is found worldwide, including numerous sightings throughout the United States; the two species are superficially almost indistinguishable, and misidentifications are common, making it difficult to distinguish which reports of recluses refer to which species.


The brown recluse, Loxosceles reclusa, Sicariidae (formerly placed in a family "Loxoscelidae") is a recluse spider with necrotic venom. Similar to those of other recluse spiders, their bites sometimes require medical attention. The brown recluse is one of three spiders in North America with medically significant venom, the others being the black widow and the Chilean recluse.
Brown recluse spiders are usually between 6 and 20 millimetres (0.24 and 0.79 in), but may grow larger. While typically light to medium brown, they range in color from whitish to dark brown or blackish gray. The cephalothorax and abdomen are not necessarily the same color. These spiders usually have markings on the dorsal side of their cephalothorax, with a black line coming from it that looks like a violin with the neck of the violin pointing to the rear of the spider, resulting in the nicknames fiddleback spider, brown fiddler, or violin spider.


The species was described by Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre in 1778. He classified it in the genus Squalus, with the full scientific name of Squalus maculatus. Bonnaterre redescribed the species in 1788 in Orectolobus, its current genus, making its full scientific name Orectolobus maculatus, with Squalus maculatus now a synonym of it. Other synonyms of the species include Squalus barbatus (Gmelin, 1789), Squalus lobatus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801), Squalus appendiculatus (Shaw & Nodder, 1806), and Squalus labiatus (Bleeker, 1857). The spotted wobbegong's genus name is based on the Greek words "orektos" and "lobos", and translates roughly to "stretched out lobe". Its specific name, maculatus, means "spotted" in Latin, named as such for the spotted pattern of its body. Alternate common names in English for the species include carpet shark, common carpet shark, common catshark, tassel shark, and wobbegong.
The spotted wobbegong has previously been synonymised with Orectolobus parvimaculatus, the dwarf spotted wobbegong, in Western Australia. However, the spotted wobbegong has smaller and less dense dorsal fins, which lack the black markings that the dwarf spotted wobbegong's dorsal fins have, differentiating the two fishes. Therefore, the two wobbegongs are classified as two separate species. The spotted wobbegong has been confused with the Gulf wobbegong (Orectolobus hatei) in New South Wales, but the white marks of the spotted wobbegong, as well as its greater number of dermal lobes, distinguish the two species. It is also frequently confused with the ornate wobbegong (Orectolobus ornatus).
The following diagram shows the relationship between the spotted wobbegong and five other selected species in the genus Orectolobus:


The spotted wobbegong is endemic to Australia, usually living in tropical waters no deeper than 218 metres (715 ft). 38 specimens caught from 1882 to 1995 were found in waters 20–176 metres (66–577 ft) deep. Sightings have been reported in Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia, in the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean. Records are also known of the species living in Tasmania and the Northern Territory, but these are likely to be invalid. Some records have misidentified other fish species living in Japan and the South China Sea as this species.
The species' primary threat in eastern Australia is fishing for commercial purposes. Its flesh is edible and has thus caused it to be a target of fishing. In Queensland, it is sometimes caught as a bycatch but is not fished for intentionally. Its skin has been utilised for decorating historically, but whether it is utilised in such a way currently is unknown. Multiple conservation actions have taken place for this species, particularly since 2006. It is unknown if its population is decreasing or increasing, but it is not severely fragmented as of 2015. It is listed as a species of least concern on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature as of 23 March 2015, after having been assessed as near threatened in 2003 and 2009.


A nocturnal species, the spotted wobbegong feeds at night and rests in sandy bottoms, coral reefs, and coastal bays in the day. Adults most commonly occur on algae-covered rocky reefs and meadows of sea grass or sand, while juveniles are mostly found in estuaries. Because of the species' colour pattern, it camouflages well on rocky bottoms. Although it has not been confirmed, the species may always return to a single site repeatedly throughout its life. Its diet consists of fishes, including luderick, scorpionfishes, basses, and rays, and various invertebrates, such as crabs, lobsters, and octopuses. Like all wobbegongs, it has a short mouth and broad pharynx, which allow it to suck up prey more easily. The species' prey have been known to wander right up to it, including near its mouth, sometimes nibbling its tentacles.
The spotted wobbegong gathers in groups. The selection of specimens in a group was previously thought to be at random or due to food advantages, but a study led by Macquarie University concluded that spotted wobbegongs associate with preferred partners for "social" purposes, and some specimens do not associate at all. The study occurred in a small marine reserve over a 15-month period. Out of the 15 tagged and observed specimens, 14 associated with more than one individual, and sex, size, or familiarity did not affect the association of groups. Rob Harcourt, a researcher, stated "What we found was that sharks were interacting in a much more complex way than we predicted".
Females give birth in the spring, after a gestation period of almost a year. The species exhibits ovoviviparity, with embryos developing inside their mother's body until ready to hatch. Litters typically contain between 20–37 individuals. Male wobbegongs in Sydney, likely including this species, fight with other males in the breeding season. Males have also been observed to bite females during courtship. Young are 21 centimetres (8.3 in) long directly after hatching and males become sexually mature when they reach roughly 60 centimetres (24 in).


The spotted wobbegong has a large, robust body, which thins beyond its pelvic fins. It grows in the range of 150–180 centimetres (59–71 in), but can reach 320 centimetres (130 in). It is green, yellow, or brown in colour, with a darker back and darker saddles. It is covered with O-shaped spots, which distinguish it from other species that look similar to it. It has six to ten dermal lobes behind and in front of its eye and a tubercle above its eye. Its body lacks ridges or caudal keels. Other characteristics of the species include dermal flaps surrounding the rim of its mouth, large barbels extending from its nostrils, and large spiracles.
Like other sharks, the spotted wobbegong has abundant pores that operate as electroreceptors in its skin. They are used to detect the electric fields of nearby animals, making it easier to find prey. Marine & Freshwater Research, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, studied and compared the electroreceptors of the spotted wobbegong to those of the Australian angelshark (Squatina australis), a distantly related shark species. The spotted wobbegong has a more complex electrosensory system than the Australian angelshark, and the spotted wobbegong has a pore cluster inside its snout that is not present in the Australian angelshark. For both species, these electroreceptors are an important mechanism in feeding.


Its distribution ranges from Kamchatka, Russia through the Aleutian Islands to southern California. However, modern, accurate surveys do not exist.


Like other chitons, it is a slow moving grazer that consumes several species of brown and red algae including kelps, sea lettuce, and encrusting diatoms.  They're also known to eat sponges, tiny barnacles, spirobid polychaetes, and bryozoans.  Their predators include sea urchins, leather stars, black oystercatchers, glaucous-winged gulls, and humans.


These chitons can be found in intertidal zones to 40m depths.  Heavy waves on rocky shores are favorable.  K. tunicata is unique compared to other chitons in that it tolerates direct sunlight.
These intertidal zones are susceptible to contamination from industrial activities, timber harvesting, mining, seafood processing, as well as coastal development.  Over-visitation and over-harvesting are a common concern. Effects of climate change, present and future, are not fully understood but it will probably affect the diversity and structure of the intertidal communities K. tunicata reside in. This species is protected in the USA under the Coastal Zone Management Act.


Clathrus archeri grows in 2 distinct stages, first an egg stage followed by the fungal “arms” emerging. During the egg stage, Clathrus archeri forms a white ball-like egg shape, usually 2–3 cm in diameter. Next, the thallus emerges from the egg in a sharfish-like shape with 4-6 arms on average (up to 8). Each arm can grow up to 10 cm in length and is coated in gleba on the upper surface. Fruiting bodies produce a red-orange color due to the production of carotenoids.  Fungal spores are oblong, smooth, and 3.5-6 x 1.5-2 µm in size. It is hypothesized that the strong putrid smell of the gleba support evidence of coevolution with some angiosperm flowers called sapromyiophilous flowers.
In a laboratory setting, Clathrus archeri was found to grow best in 26℃ on a compost agar (CA) medium with a pH of 6.0. Under these conditions, the thallus grew an average of 2.9mm a day over 4 weeks and in a radial shape. Clathrus archeri produces white and fluffy mycelium and eventually turns a pink color. Mycelia strands are 0.5 to 1.5mm in diameter and branch in a tree-like manner. Fungal Hyphae create irregularly shaped vesicles that contain lipids. On the surface of the hyphae, calcium oxalate crystals are secreted. It is hypothesized that this outer layer of crystals creates a protective hydrophobic layer around the hyphae. Clathrus archeri forms unstable perforate septal pore caps, this may suggest that perforation formation in Phallomycetidae begins later in comparison to similar groups.


Fruit bodies of the fungus are fan-shaped to semicircular, measuring 2–4 cm (3⁄4–1+5⁄8 in) wide by 5–10 cm (2–3+7⁄8 in) long. They have a spongy to fibrous texture, comprising stalkless caps or spreading crusts. The upper surface, white to pale yellow in colour, can be dry to moist, and hairy to woolly; the margin is usually white to translucent. The undersurface, bearing the fertile hymenium, features radiating to wrinkled ridges and cross veins, and often forms pore-like depressions on mature specimens. Its colour is yellowish orange or pinkish orange. The flesh of this fungus is about 2 mm thick, with a fleshy to gelatinous texture and white to yellowish colour.
In Dutch, the mushroom is known as bacon-pork rind mushroom because of the resembling with a piece of bacon. It is inedible.


Phlebia tremellosa (formerly Merulius tremellosus), commonly known as trembling Merulius or jelly rot, is a species of fungus in the family Meruliaceae. It is a common and widely distributed wood-decay fungus that grows on the rotting wood of both hardwood and conifer plants.


The African fur seal lives around the southern and southwestern coast of Africa from Cape Cross in Namibia and around the Cape of Good Hope to Black Rocks near Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province. The Australian fur seal lives in Bass Strait, at four islands off Victoria in southeastern Australia, and five islands off Tasmania. Brown fur seals prefer to haul out and breed on rocky islands, rock ledges and reefs, and pebble and boulder beaches. However, some large colonies can be found on sandy beaches. Fur seals spend most of the year at sea, but are never too far from land. They have been recorded 160 km from land, but this is not common.
The African fur seal's diet is made of up to 70% fish, 20% squid, and 2% crab. Also eaten are other crustaceans, cephalopods and sometimes birds. In rare instances, they have even been documented attacking and eating sharks. A recent incident occurred off Cape Point, South Africa, where a large male was observed attacking and killing five blue sharks between 1.0 and 1.4 m long. Observers concluded that the seal likely killed the sharks to eat the fish-rich contents of their stomachs, as well as their livers as a source of energy. The Australian fur seal mostly eats squid, octopus, fish, and lobsters. The brown fur seal dives for its food. The African subspecies can dive as deep as 204 m and for as long as 7.5 minutes. The Australian subspecies generally feeds at lower depths, diving on average 120 m and can reach as deep as 200 m.
The brown fur seal's main predator is the great white shark, although they are also preyed upon by various other animals, such as killer whales and vagrant southern elephant seals. Land-based predators include black-backed jackals, brown hyenas and occasionally lions on the Skeleton Coast in Namibia.  In addition, Seagulls are thought to peck the eyes out of baby seals to render them helpless and disabled, as they begin to feast on their flesh.
In False Bay, the seals employ a number of antipredatory strategies while in shark-infested waters, such as:
Swimming in large groups and harassing sharks in the vicinity
Low porpoising to increase subsurface vigilance
Darting in different directions to cause confusion when attacked
Using their greater agility to stay out of reach
Riding near the dorsal fin to keep out of reach of the shark's jaws when attacked


Like other species of whiptail lizards, the six-lined racerunner is diurnal and insectivorous. The principal foods of A. sexlineata are spiders (Araneae 16.8%), grasshoppers (orthoptera 16.8%), and leaf hoppers (Homoptera 14.1%). They are wary, energetic, and fast moving, with speeds of up to 18 mph (29 kmh), darting for cover if approached. Aggressive behavior is common, as the dominant will chase the subordinate and often follow up with a bite to signify dominance.


The six-lined racerunner (Aspidoscelis sexlineatus) is a species of lizard native to the United States and Mexico.


Due to its extensive range, A. sexlineata is found in a wide variety of habitats including grasslands, woodlands, open floodplains, or rocky outcroppings. Populations have also been found abundantly in areas that experience frequent fires. It prefers lower elevations, with dry loamy soils. In the lower elevations, the six-lined racerunner can be found in human-made disturbances like under voltage towers or along highways and railroads.


Breeding takes place in the spring and early summer, with up to six eggs being laid in mid-summer and hatching six to eight weeks later. A second clutch of eggs may be laid several weeks after the first. Males have been seen to perform an act termed "cloacal rubbing" to show arousal during breeding. This act entails the male rubbing its cloaca and pelvic region on the ground while simultaneously moving forward. Males will also perform an act termed "female tending" where the male will repeatedly charge at a female trying to leave its burrow until the female allows for the male to approach and begin the reproductive process.


C. cristatus feeds on insects, spiders, worms, and other lizards. C. cristatus is an extreme "sit and wait" predator, and its foraging is brief and infrequent. Therefore, this lizard is considered to be an opportunistic feeders. It is also a specialist feeder that preys on extremely large arthropods and cicadas when available. If it has no luck being a sit and wait predator, it will sometimes become an active predator and look for its next meal. Typically, if this is the method it chooses, it will choose prey that is slow and easy to capture.


C. cristatus can be found ranging from Chiapas in southern Mexico to north-western Colombia. The habitat it primarily occupies in this range is primary and secondary mesic rain-forest. It lives predominantly in trees, but also hunts on the forest floor where it uses leaf litter as a micro-habitat.


The smooth helmeted iguana is a medium-sized lizard with long slim legs and very long toes. It can be grey, olive, brown, black or reddish-brown with irregular blotches. The smooth helmeted iguana can change the color of its skin as a method of camouflage. As indicated by its name, the smooth helmeted iguana has a prominent crest on its head, which tapers to a saw-tooth ridge down its back. The crest is present in both males and females of the species, though the crest is larger in males.
C. cristatus is approximately 9–12 cm (4–5 in) in snout-to-vent length (SVL) when mature. It is a non-heliotherm species, meaning that it does not use the sun to increase its body temperature. Rather, it maintains its body temperature at around 26 °C (79 °F), close to the temperature of the forest floor habitat where it lives. It is very wary of predators and freezes at the approach of danger from up to 15 m (49 ft) away.


Adult females of C. cristatus lay five to six eggs in a depression on the forest floor. It is speculated that the crest on the head may be used in excavating the nest.


The white sucker is highly adaptable to different habitats and changing environmental influences.
Generally, the white sucker is found in small streams, rivers, and lakes in the Midwest and East Coast of the United States. The white sucker is also relatively tolerant of turbid and polluted waters. It does, however, have low breeding success in acidified waters, which can be caused by acid rain.


The white sucker (Catostomus commersonii) is a species of freshwater cypriniform fish inhabiting the upper Midwest and Northeast in North America, but it is also found as far south as Georgia and as far west as New Mexico. The fish is commonly known as a "sucker" due to its fleshy, papillose lips that suck up organic matter and aufwuchs from the bottom of rivers and streams.
Other common names for the white sucker include bay fish, brook sucker, common sucker, and mullet. The white sucker is often confused with the longnose sucker (C. catostomus), because they look very similar.


The white sucker is a bottom feeder, meaning that it uses its fleshy lips to suck up bottom sediments and other organisms that may be located there. It will eat almost anything it can, but most commonly small invertebrates, algae, and plant matter. Larger predatory fish species such as walleye, trout, bass, northern pike, catfish, muskellunge, and sauger naturally prey on the white sucker.


The white sucker is a long, round-bodied fish with a dark green, grey, copper, brown, or black back and sides and a light underbelly. The fish also has typical features of primitive Cypriniformes fishes, such as a homocercal tail, cycloid scales, and dorsal, pectoral, and pelvic fin rays. When full grown, it can reach lengths of 12–20 in (30–51 cm) and weigh 2–6 lb (0.91–2.72 kg). The fish's suckermouth, with its fleshy lips, is located in an inferior position at the bottom of its head, as the fish obtains its food from bottom surfaces. The white sucker is often mistaken for different species of suckers and redhorses, but can be distinguished by the complete lateral line system containing 55-85 small scales. The white sucker is able to use chemosensory to sense and avoid predators and other conspecific species during day and night.


The species generally shows a preference for open areas with little dense vegetation, though it occupies a wide range of habitats, from arid coastal deserts to areas with more than 2000 mm of rainfall. It also occurs in farmlands, savannas, open savanna mosaics, and alpine areas.


Black-backed jackals are omnivores, which feed on invertebrates, such as beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, termites, millipedes, spiders, and scorpions. They also feed on mammals, such as rodents, hares, and young antelopes up to the size of topi calves. They also feed on carrion, birds, lizards and snakes. A pair of black-backed jackals in the Kalahari desert was observed to kill a kori bustard, and on a separate occasion, a black mamba by prolonged harassment of the snake and crushing of the snake's head. Black-backed jackals occasionally feed on fruits and berries. It also feeds on eggs of birds. In coastal areas, they feed on beached marine mammals, seals, fish, and mussels. A single jackal is capable of killing a healthy adult impala. Adult dik-diks and Thomson's gazelles seem to be the upper limit of their killing capacity, though they target larger species if those are sick, with one pair having been observed to harass a crippled bull rhinoceros. They typically kill tall prey by biting at the legs and loins, and frequently go for the throat. In Serengeti woodlands, they feed heavily on African grass rats. In East Africa, during the dry season, they hunt the young of gazelles, impalas, topi, tsessebe, and warthogs. In South Africa, black-backed jackals frequently prey on antelopes (primarily impala and springbok and occasionally duiker, reedbuck, and steenbok), carrion, hares, hoofed livestock, insects, and rodents. They also prey on small carnivores, such as mongooses, polecats, and wildcats. On the coastline of the Namib Desert, jackals feed primarily on marine birds (mainly Cape and white-breasted cormorants and jackass penguins), marine mammals (including Cape fur seals), fish, and insects. Like most canids, the black-backed jackal caches surplus food.


The black-backed jackal (Lupulella mesomelas) is a medium-sized canine native to eastern and southern Africa. These regions are separated by roughly 900 kilometers.
One region includes the southernmost tip of the continent, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. The other area is along the eastern coastline, including Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. It is listed by the IUCN as least concern, due to its widespread range and adaptability, although it is still persecuted as a livestock predator and rabies vector.
Compared to other members of the genus Canis, the black-backed jackal is a very ancient species, and has changed little since the Pleistocene, being the most basal wolf-like canine, alongside the closely related side-striped jackal. It is a fox-like animal with a reddish brown to tan coat and a black saddle that extends from the shoulders to the base of the tail. It is a monogamous animal, whose young may remain with the family to help raise new generations of pups. The black-backed jackal has a wide array of food sources, feeding on small to medium-sized animals, as well as plant matter and human refuse.


The mating season takes place from late May to August, with a gestation period of 60 days. Pups are born from July to October. Summer births are thought to be timed to coincide with population peaks of vlei rats and four-striped grass mice, while winter births are timed for ungulate calving seasons. Litters consist of one to 9 pups, which are born blind. For the first three weeks of their lives, the pups are kept under constant surveillance by their dam, while the sire and elder offspring provide food. The pups open their eyes after 8–10 days and emerge from the den at the age of 3 weeks. They are weaned at 8–9 weeks, and can hunt by themselves at the age of 6 months. Sexual maturity is attained at 11 months, though few black-backed jackals reproduce in their first year. Unlike golden jackals, which have comparatively amicable intrapack relationships, black-backed jackal pups become increasingly quarrelsome as they age, and establish more rigid dominance hierarchies. Dominant pups appropriate food, and become independent at an earlier age. The grown pups may disperse at one year of age, though some remain in their natal territories to assist their parents in raising the next generation of pups. The average lifespan in the wild is 7 years, though captive specimens can live twice as long.


The Nile tilapia is native to larger parts of Africa, except Maghreb and almost all of Southern Africa. It is native to tropical West Africa, the Lake Chad basin, and much of the Nile system, including lakes Tana, Albert and Edward–George, as well as lakes Kivu, Tanganyika, and Turkana, and the Awash and Omo Rivers. In Israel, it is native to coastal river basins. It has been widely introduced elsewhere, both in Africa and other continents, including tens of countries in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. In these places, it often becomes highly invasive, threatening the native ecosystems and species. However, some introduced populations historically labelled as Nile tilapia either are hybrids or another species;  the Nile tilapia and blue tilapia especially often have been confused.
The Nile tilapia can be found in most types of freshwater habitats, such as rivers, streams, canals, lakes, and ponds, and ranging from sea level to an altitude of 1,830 m (6,000 ft). It also occurs in brackish water, but is unable to survive long-term in full salt water. The species has been recorded at water temperatures between 8 and 42 °C (46 and 108 °F), although typically above 13.5 °C (56.5 °F), and the upper lethal limit usually is at 39–40 °C (102–104 °F). Also, some variations occur depending on the population. For example, those in the northern part of its range survive down to the coldest temperatures, while isolated populations in hot springs in the Awash basin and at Suguta River generally live in waters that are at least 32–33 °C (90–91 °F). Although Nile tilapia can survive down to relatively cold temperatures, breeding generally only occurs when the water reaches 24 °C (75 °F).


The red-hybrid Nile tilapia is known in the Thai language as pla thapthim (Thai: ปลาทับทิม), meaning "pomegranate fish" or "ruby fish". This type of tilapia is very popular in Thai cuisine, where it is prepared in a variety of ways.
The black-and-white-striped tilapia pla nin (Thai: ปลานิล), meaning "Nile fish", has darker flesh and is commonly either salted and grilled or deep-fried, and it can also be steamed with lime (pla nin nueng manao).
Nile tilapia, called بلطي bulṭī in Arabic, is (being native to Egypt) among the most common fish in Egyptian cuisine, and probably the most common in regions far from the coast. It is generally either battered and pan-fried whole (بلطي مقلي bulṭī maqlī [bʊltˤiː maʔliː]) or grilled whole (بلطي مشوي bulṭī mashwī [bʊltˤiː maʃwiː]). Like other fish in Egypt, is generally served with rice cooked with onions and other seasonings to turn it red.
In Israel, Nile tilapia is commonly fried, grilled or baked with vegetables herbs and spices and eaten with rice or bulgur pilafs. It is also baked in the oven with tahini sauce drizzled over it with potatoes, onions, asparagus, sweet peppers or tomatoes and flavored with sumac and dried mint.
Tilapia, often farmed, is a popular and common supermarket fish in the United States.
In India, Nile tilapia is the most dominant fish in some of the South Indian reservoirs and available throughout the year. O. niloticus grows faster and reaches bigger sizes in a given  time. The littoral areas of Kelavarappalli Reservoir are full of nests of Nile tilapia and they breed during south-west monsoon (July–September). The fish mainly feed on detritus. Zooplankton, phytoplankton, and macrophytes also were recorded occasionally from the gut of Nile tilapia. The demand is heavy, especially from local poor people, as this fish is affordable to the lowest income group in this area.


The Nile tilapia reaches up to 60 cm (24 in) in length, and can exceed 5 kg (11 lb). As typical of tilapia, males reach a larger size and grow faster than females.
Wild, natural-type Nile tilapias are brownish or grayish overall, often with indistinct banding on their body, and the tail is vertically striped. When breeding, males become reddish, especially on their fins. Although commonly confused with the blue tilapia (O. aureus), that species lacks the striped tail pattern, has a red edge to the dorsal fin (this edge is gray or black in Nile tilapia), and males are bluish overall when breeding. The two species can also be separated by meristics. Because many tilapia in aquaculture and introduced around the world are selectively bred variants and/or hybrids,  identifying them using the standard features that can be used in the wild, natural types often is not possible. The virtually unknown O. ismailiaensis has a plain tail, but otherwise closely resembles (and may only be a variant of) the Nile tilapia.  Regardless, O. ismailiaensis might be extinct, as its only known habitat in northeastern Egypt has disappeared, although similar-looking individuals (perhaps the same) are known from the vicinity.
Nile tilapia can live for more than 10 years.


Australian water dragons are prey to carnivorous birds, snakes, cats, dogs, and foxes. Nestlings and smaller juvenile water dragons are vulnerable to predation by kookaburras, currawongs, butcherbirds and other carnivorous birds. They are also prone to becoming road kill due to the attraction of warm bitumen and concrete for basking.
The Australian water dragon's diet depends on its size. Juveniles and yearlings tend to feed on spiders and small insects such as ants, crickets, and caterpillars. When they get bigger, so does their prey. An adult diet includes small rodents such as baby mice, although insects are still the most commonly consumed.


The Australian water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii), which includes the eastern water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii lesueurii ) and the Gippsland water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii howittii ) subspecies, is an arboreal agamid species native to eastern Australia from Victoria northwards to Queensland. There may be a small introduced population on the south-east coast of South Australia.


Australian water dragons have long powerful limbs and claws for climbing, a long muscular laterally-compressed tail for swimming, and prominent nuchal and vertebral crests. (A nuchal crest is a central row of spikes at the base of the head. These spikes continue down the spine, getting smaller as they reach the base of the tail.)
Including their tails, which comprise about two-thirds of their total length, adult females grow to about 60 cm (2 feet) long, and adult males can grow slightly longer than one metre (39 inches) and weigh about 1 kg. Males show bolder colouration and have larger heads than females. Colour is less distinct in juveniles.


As its name suggests, the Australian water dragon is associated with water and is semi-aquatic. It can be found near creeks, rivers, lakes, and other water bodies that have basking sites such as overhanging branches or rocks in open or filtered sun. The species is very common in the rainforest section of Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mount Coot-tha in Queensland, and a monument has been built to them there.
There are anecdotal reports of a small colony living on the Sixth Creek in the Forest Range area of South Australia, hundreds of kilometers outside their natural range, which were probably introduced there during the 1980s by a local reptile enthusiast.


Australian water dragons living in cooler Australian climates hibernate over winter. During spring, usually in early October, the female excavates a burrow about 10–15 cm (3.9–5.9 in) deep and lays between 6 and 18 eggs. The nest is usually in sandy or soft soil, in an area open to sun. When the mother has laid the eggs, she backfills the chamber with soil and scatters loose debris over it. Australian water dragons exhibit temperature dependent sex determination; the sex of the hatchlings is determined by the temperature of the nest site.
When the young are born they stay near the entrance of the burrow for some time before leaving home. When they finally leave the nest, they tend to group together away from the adult population.


Anolis distichus, the bark anole, North Caribbean bark anole, or Hispaniolan gracile anole, is a species of anole lizard (US: /əˈnoʊ.li/ (listen)) native to Hispaniola (both the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and the Bahamas, and introduced to Florida, where it was first recorded in 1946. It spends most its time on tree trunks. There are several subspecies and it is highly variable in color. Its body ranges from gray-brown to green, and the dewlap is cream-white, over yellow and orange to red. In Florida, most are gray-brown with a cream-white (pale yellow) dewlap, but more greenish individuals with a yellow-edged red dewlap also occur. It is a fairly small anole, reaching up to 12.7 cm (5.0 in) in length.


The swamp wallaby is found from the northernmost areas of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, down the entire east coast and around to southwestern Victoria. It was formerly found throughout southeastern South Australia, but is now rare or absent from that region.
It inhabits thick undergrowth in forests and woodlands, or shelters during the day in thick grass or ferns, emerging at night to feed. Brigalow scrub in Queensland is a particularly favoured habitat.


The swamp wallaby is typically a solitary animal, but often aggregates into groups when feeding. It will eat a wide range of food plants, depending on availability, including shrubs, pasture, agricultural crops, and native and exotic vegetation. It appears to be able to tolerate a variety of plants poisonous to many other animals, including brackens, hemlock and lantana.
The ideal diet appears to involve browsing on shrubs and bushes, rather than grazing on grasses. This is unusual in wallabies and other macropods, which typically prefer grazing. Tooth structure reflects this preference for browsing, with the shape of the molars differing from other wallabies. The fourth premolar is retained through life, and is shaped for cutting through coarse plant material.
There is evidence that the swamp wallaby is an opportunist taking advantage of food sources when they become available, such as fungi, bark and algae. There is also one reported case of the consumption of carrion.


The swamp wallaby becomes reproductively fertile between 15 and 18 months of age, and can breed throughout the year. Gestation is from 33 to 38 days, leading to a single young. The young is carried in the pouch for 8 to 9 months, but will continue to suckle until about 15 months.
The swamp wallaby exhibits an unusual form of embryonic diapause, differing from other marsupials in having its gestation period longer than its oestrous cycle. This timing makes it possible for swamp wallaby females to overlap two pregnancies, gestating both an embryo and a fetus at the same time. The swamp wallaby ovulates, mates, conceives and forms a new embryo one to two days before the birth of their full-term fetus. Consequently, females are continuously pregnant throughout their reproductive life.
The swamp wallaby is notable for having a distinct sex-chromosome system from most other Theria (the subclass that includes marsupials and placental mammals). Females are characterized by the XX pair typical of therians, but males have one X chromosome and two non-sequence homology Y chromosomes. This system is thought to arise from a series of chromosomal fusions over the last 6 million years.


The zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) is a small freshwater mussel. The species was originally native to the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, but has been accidentally introduced to numerous other areas and has become an invasive species in many countries worldwide. Since the 1980s, the species has invaded the Great Lakes, Hudson River, and Lake Travis.
The species was first described in 1769 by
German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in the Ural, Volga, and Dnieper Rivers. Zebra mussels get their name from a striped pattern commonly seen on their shells, though it is not universally present. They are usually about the size of a fingernail, but can grow to a maximum length around 2 in (5.1 cm). Shells are D-shaped, and attached to the substrate with strong byssal fibers, which come out of their umbo on the dorsal (hinged) side.


Research on natural enemies, both in Europe and North America, has focused on predators, particularly birds (36 species) and fish (15 species eating veligers and 38 eating attached mussels). Annually, the wintering waterbirds at Lake Constance decrease zebra mussel biomass in shallow areas by >90%. Biomass reduction in deeper areas varies considerably based on substratum; Werner et al. observed no reduction at the lowest observed depth of 11 meters except for a site at Hagnau.
The vast majority of the organism's natural enemies are not present in North America. Ecologically similar species do exist, but these species are unlikely to be able to eliminate those mussels already established and have a limited role in their control unlike their counterparts in Europe.
It is pointed out that crayfish could have a significant impact on the densities of 1- to 5-mm-long zebra mussels. An adult crayfish consumes around 105 zebra mussels every day, or about 6,000 mussels in a season. However, predation rates are significantly reduced at lower water temperatures. Additionally, certain fish, such as the Smallmouth bass, is a predator in the zebra mussels' adopted North American Great Lakes habitat, but in European lakes, fish do not seem to limit the densities of zebra mussels.


From their first appearance in American waters in 1988, zebra mussels have spread to a large number of waterways, including Lake Simcoe in the Great Lakes region, the Mississippi, Hudson, St. Lawrence, Ohio, Cumberland, Missouri, Tennessee, Huron, Colorado, and Arkansas Rivers, and 11 lakes and five river basins in Texas.
In 2009, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation confirmed that zebra mussels had been found in Laurel Lake in the Berkshires. That same year, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced that live zebra mussels had been found in Pelican Lake. This was the first confirmed sighting in the Red River Basin, which extends across the international border into the province of Manitoba. In 2013, their presence in Manitoba's Lake Winnipeg was confirmed, and aggressive efforts to eradicate them in 2014 have not succeeded. New contamination was found outside treated areas of Lake Winnipeg in 2015, and they have also been found in the Red River near the lake in Selkirk Park in 2015. Large numbers were seen at Grand Beach (Manitoba) in 2017.
In July 2010, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department confirmed the presence of zebra mussel veliger in the Red River between Wahpeton, North Dakota, and Breckenridge, Minnesota. As recently as 2008, California similarly reported invasions.
In 2011, an invasion of zebra mussels shut down a water pipeline in the Dallas area. This resulted in reduced water supplies during a drought year, worsening water restrictions across the Dallas area.
A common inference made by scientists predicts that the zebra mussel will continue spreading passively, by ship and by pleasure craft, to more rivers in North America. Trailered boat traffic is the most likely vector for invasion into Western North America. This spread is preventable if boaters thoroughly clean and dry their boats and associated equipment before transporting them to new bodies of water. Since no North American predator or combination of predators has been shown to significantly reduce zebra mussel numbers, such spread would most likely result in permanent establishment of zebra mussels in many North American waterways.
A major decrease in the concentration of dissolved oxygen was observed in the Seneca River in central New York in the summer of 1993. This decrease was caused by extremely high concentrations of zebra mussels in the watershed. Additionally, the Seneca River had significantly less chlorophyll in the water, which is used as a measure of phytoplankton biomass, because of the presence of zebra mussels.


They can be found in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. They can also be found in seaward and protected reefs. That’s just where the adults reside most of the time, whilst the juveniles often find shelter between the long spines of the tropical sea urchins anchored to the rocks.


The spotted or white-spotted boxfish (Ostracion meleagris), is a species of boxfish found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.  It is found on reefs at depths of from 1 to 30 metres (3.3 to 98.4 feet).  This species grows to a length of 25 centimetres (9.8 inches). Males and females differ in colour: males are blackish on the back with white spots, and have bluish sides with bright yellowish bands and spots. Females and juveniles are dark brown to blackish with white spots.  As with other species of boxfish, the spotted boxfish's bony carapace gives it a distinctly angular appearance; it has been described as resembling an ottoman.


The Spotted Boxfish has an oblong thick body that are enclosed in a bony box formed by thickened, joined, enlarged, and hexagonal scale plates. Juveniles with male patterns or colors are never seen or has never been spotted before, so either the immature, juvenile males are born with the female colors or all the young juveniles are born as a female, but change their sex as they grow up or later on in their life.
Their diet consists of sponges, worms, tunicates as well as other small invertebrates.
Their box has openings for the mouth, eyes, gill slits, fins, and tail base. Their backs are slightly rounded. They have a pair of longitudinal ridges on their lower flanks, a flat bottom, and no spines. Their small mouth opens at the front with fleshy lips and has 15 mid-sized teeth on each jaw. Their gill openings are short and form oblique slits in front of their pectoral base. Their anal and dorsal fins are at the rear; their caudal fin is rounded; their dorsal fin has no spines; and, they do not have pelvic fins.
The Spotted Boxfish make noises and sounds during the mating process. For example, when mating, the male or female, sometimes both, make a low pitched humming sound that lasts for about 6 seconds. Another example is after the mating process, when another male comes to “spawn” with the female or to disrupt the mating process, the two males fight each other, sometimes creating an audible thump sound & they even produce a short buzzing sound.
They are protected by a toxic slime that can kill other fish, thus making them unsuitable for use in aquariums.


Entoloma hochstetteri is common in forests throughout New Zealand, where it grows on soil among litter in broadleaf/podocarp forest. It fruits in January to July.
It was also reported from India in 1989 and from Australia, though it is unclear whether these are the same species or whether E. hochstetteri is endemic to New Zealand.


Entoloma hochstetteri has a small delicate epigeous (above-ground) fruit body (basidiocarp). The cap may be up to 4 cm (1.4 in) in diameter and conical in shape. The cap colour is indigo-blue with a green tint, and is fibrillose. The cap margin is striate and rolled inwards. The gill attachment is adnexed or emarginate, gills are thin and 3–5 mm wide, essentially the same colour as the cap, sometimes with a yellow tint. The cylindrical stipe (stalk) is up to 5 cm (2 in) long by 0.5 cm thick, fibrillose and stuffed. The spore print is reddish-pink. The spores are 9.9–13.2 by 11.8–13.2 μm, tetrahedric in shape, hyaline, smooth and thin-walled. The basidia are 35.2–44.2 by 8.8–13.2 µm, club-shaped, hyaline, and with two or four sterigmata.


The species was first described as Cortinarius hochstetteri in 1866 by the Austrian mycologist Erwin Reichardt, before being given its current binomial in 1962 by Greta Stevenson. It is named after the German-Austrian naturalist Ferdinand von Hochstetter.
In 1976 Egon Horak combined Entoloma hochstetteri and Entoloma aeruginosum from Japan with Entoloma virescens, first described from the Bonin Islands in Japan. In 1989 S. Dhancholia recorded E. hochstetteri in India. In 1990 Tsuguo Hongo from Japan examined E. hochstetteri and E. aeruginosum and concluded that they were different taxa, because of difference in the size of the spores and the shape of the pseudocystidia. In 2008 Horak recognized E. hochstetteri as a different species from E. virescens, while noting that "it is open to speculation" whether taxa such as E. virescens are the same species.
A similar mushroom is found in Australia and mycologists differ as to whether it is E. hochstetteri, E. virescens or a separate species.


The smooth green snake (Opheodrys vernalis) is a species of North American nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is also referred to as the grass snake. It is a slender, "small medium" snake that measures 36–51 cm (14–20 in) as an adult. It gets its common name from its smooth dorsal scales, as opposed to the rough green snake, which has keeled dorsal scales. The smooth green snake is found in marshes, meadows, open woods, and along stream edges, and is native to regions of Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. A non-aggressive snake, it seldom bites and usually flees when threatened. It mates in late spring to summer, and females lay their eggs from June to September. Smooth green snakes will often bob their heads in order to mimic vegetation blowing in the wind.


The smooth green snake mostly eats insects and spiders, including spineless caterpillars, harvestmen, moths, ants, snails, worms, and slugs. While hunting, it uses both chemical and visual clues to find prey, and kills with a strike instead of constriction.


The smooth green snake is native to the Nearctic region. The range spreads through southeastern Canada, west to Saskatchewan, and south through Illinois and Virginia. It can also be found in other areas, such as in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Missouri, Texas, and Northern Mexico.


O. vernalis can be found in many different habitats, including marshes, meadows, the edges of streams, and open woods. It prefers to be on the ground, in open areas without a lot of shrubs. During hibernation, the smooth green snake looks for burrows, ant hills, and other dug-out underground areas, normally gathering in large numbers. It prefers moist habitats and areas near permanent water sources, usually staying in green areas for camouflage. Being cold blooded, it prefers warm areas, lying in the sun on rocks and logs, also using them for hiding.


Sexually mature smooth green snakes mate in the late spring or summer, and gravid females lay eggs from June to September. Usually, two clutches are laid, each containing four to six eggs. Females usually lay their eggs in rodent burrows, mounds of rotting vegetation, sawdust piles, or rotting logs. In the northern habitats of this species, communal nesting has been observed. Smooth green snake eggs are white and oval; they have thin shells and are about one inch in length. They have an average mass of 2.6 grams. The eggs hatch four to 23 days after being laid.


The diamondback terrapin typically feeds on fish, crustaceans (such as shrimp and crabs) marine worms, marine snails (especially the saltmarsh periwinkle
), clams, barnacles, mussels, other mollusks, insects, carrion, and sometimes ingest small amounts of plant material, such as algae. At high densities the terrapin may eat enough invertebrates to have ecosystem-level effects, partially because periwinkles themselves can overgraze important marsh plants, such as cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora). Gender and age can greatly affect the diet of the diamondback terrapin, males and juvenile females tend to have less diversity in their diet. Adult females, due to their powerful, defined jaw, will occasionally feed on crustaceans such as crabs and are more likely to consume hard-shelled mollusks.


The diamondback terrapin or simply terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) is a species of turtle native to the brackish coastal tidal marshes of the Northeastern and southern United States, and in Bermuda. It belongs to the monotypic genus Malaclemys.  It has one of the largest ranges of all turtles in North America, stretching as far south as the Florida Keys and as far north as Cape Cod.
The name "terrapin" is derived from the Algonquian word torope. It applies to Malaclemys terrapin in both British English and American English. The name originally was used by early European settlers in North America to describe these brackish-water turtles that inhabited neither freshwater habitats nor the sea. It retains this primary meaning in American English. In British English, however, other semi-aquatic turtle species, such as the red-eared slider, might also be called terrapins.


The common name refers to the diamond pattern on top of its shell (carapace), but the overall pattern and coloration vary greatly.  The shell is usually wider at the back than in the front, and from above it appears wedge-shaped. The shell coloring can vary from brown to grey, and its body color can be grey, brown, yellow, or  white. All have a unique pattern of wiggly, black markings or spots on their body and head. The diamondback terrapin has large webbed feet. The species is sexually dimorphic in that the males grow to a carapace length of approximately 13 cm (5 in), while the females grow to an average carapace length of around 19 cm (7+1⁄2 in), though they are capable of growing larger. The largest female on record was just over 23 cm (9 in) in carapace length. Specimens from regions that are consistently warmer in temperature tend to be larger than those from cooler, more northern areas. Male diamondback terrapins weigh 300 g (11 oz) on average, while females weigh around 500 g (18 oz). The largest females can weigh up to 1 kg (35 oz).


Diamondback terrapins live in the very narrow strip of coastal habitats on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States, from as far north as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to the southern tip of Florida and around the Gulf Coast to Texas. In most of their range, terrapins live in Spartina marshes that are flooded at high tide, but in Florida they also live in mangrove swamps. This turtle can survive in freshwater as well as full-strength ocean water, but adults prefer intermediate salinities. Despite its preference for salt water, it is not a true sea turtle and is not fully marine. They have no competition from other turtles, although common snapping turtles do occasionally make use of salty marshes. It is unclear why terrapins do not inhabit the upper reaches of rivers within their range, as in captivity they tolerate fresh water. It is possible they are limited by the distribution of their prey. Terrapins live quite close to shore, unlike sea turtles, which wander far out to sea; however, a population of terrapins on Bermuda has been determined to be self-established rather than introduced by humans. Terrapins tend to live in the same areas for most or all of their lives, and do not make long-distance migrations.


Adult diamondback terrapins mate in the early spring, and clutches of 4–22 eggs are laid in sand dunes in the early summer. They hatch in late summer or early fall. Maturity in males is reached in 2–3 years at around 115 mm (4+1⁄2 in) in length; it takes longer for females: 6–7 years (8–10 years for northern diamondback terrapins) at a length of around 170 mm (6+3⁄4 in).


Craterellus fallax is a species of "black trumpets" that occurs in Eastern North America where it replaces the European taxon Craterellus cornucopioides.  C. fallax can also be separated by its yellow-orange spore print, where C. cornucopioides has a white spore print.  It has often been considered a synonym of C. cornucopioides. C. fallax is mycorrhizal, forming associations with Tsuga and Quercus species, among others.
C. fallax is a choice edible fungus, although is not substantial.


The African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), also known as the African savanna elephant, is one of two extant African elephant species and one of three extant elephant species. It is the largest living terrestrial animal, with bulls reaching a shoulder height of up to 3.96 m (13 ft 0 in) and a body mass of up to 10.4 t (11.5 short tons).
It is distributed across 37 African countries and inhabits forests, grasslands and woodlands, wetlands and agricultural land. Since 2021, it has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. It is threatened foremost by habitat destruction, and in parts of its range also by poaching for meat and ivory. The menstrual cycle lasts three to four months, and females are pregnant for 22 months, the longest gestation period of any mammal. It is a social mammal, travelling in herds composed of cows and their offspring. Adult bulls usually live alone or in small bachelor groups. It is a herbivore, feeding on grasses, creepers, herbs, leaves, and bark.


In 1996, IUCN Red List assessors for the African bush elephant considered the species Endangered. Since 2021, it has been assessed Endangered, after the global population was found to have decreased by more than 50% over 3 generations. About 70% of its range is located outside protected areas.
In 2016, the global population was estimated at 415,428 ± 20,111 individuals distributed in a total area of 20,731,202 km² (8,004,362 sq mi), of which 30% is protected. 42% of the total population lives in nine southern African countries comprising 293,447 ± 16,682 individuals; Africa's largest population lives in Botswana with 131,626 ± 12,508 individuals.


Spermatogenesis starts when bulls are about 15 years old.
Cows ovulate for the first time at the age of 11 years. They are in estrus for 2–6 days.
In captivity, cows have an oestrous cycle lasting 14–15 weeks. Foetal gonads enlarge during the second half of pregnancy.
African bush elephants mate during the rainy season. Bulls in musth cover long distances in search for cows and associate with large family units. They listen for the cows' loud, very low frequency calls and attract cows by calling and by leaving trails of strong-smelling urine. Cows search for bulls in musth, listen for their calls and follow their urine trails.
Bulls in musth are more successful at obtaining mating opportunities than those who are not. A cow may move away from bulls that attempt to test her estrous condition. If pursued by several bulls, she will run away. Once she chooses a mating partner, she will stay away from other bulls, which are threatened and chased away by the favoured bull. Competition between bulls overrides their choice sometimes.
Gestation lasts 22 months. Interval between births was estimated at 3.9 to 4.7 years in Hwange National Park. Where hunting pressure on adult elephants was high in the 1970s, cows gave birth once in 2.9 to 3.8 years. Cows in Amboseli National Park gave birth once in 5 years on average.
The birth of a calf was observed in Tsavo East National Park in October 1990. A group of 80 elephants including eight bulls had gathered in the morning in a 150 m (490 ft) radius around the birth site. A small group of calves and cows stood near the pregnant cow, rumbling and flapping their ears. One cow seemed to assist her. While she was in labour, fluid streamed from her temporal and ear canals. She remained standing while giving birth. The newborn calf struggled to its feet within 30 minutes and walked 20 minutes later. The mother expelled the placenta about 100 minutes after birth and covered it with soil immediately.
Captive-born calves weigh between 100 and 120 kg (220 and 260 lb) at birth and gain about 0.5 kg (1.1 lb) weight per day.
Cows lactate for about 4.8 years.
Calves exclusively suckle their mother's milk during the first three months. Thereafter, they start feeding independently and slowly increase the time spent feeding until they are two years old. During the first three years, male calves spend more time suckling and grow faster than female calves. After this period, cows reject male calves more frequently from nursing than female calves.
The maximum lifespan of the African bush elephant is between 70 and 75 years. Its generation length is 25 years.


Goats readily revert to the wild (become feral) if given the opportunity. The only domestic animal known to return to feral life as swiftly is the cat. Feral goats have established themselves in many areas: they occur in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, the Galapagos and in many other places. When feral goats reach large populations in habitats which provide unlimited water supply and which do not contain sufficient large predators or which are otherwise vulnerable to goats' aggressive grazing habits, they may have serious effects, such as removing native scrub, trees and other vegetation which is required by a wide range of other creatures, not just other grazing or browsing animals. Feral goats are extremely common in Australia, with an estimated 2.6 million in the mid-1990s. However, in other circumstances where predator pressure is maintained, they may be accommodated into some balance in the local food web.


Goats are reputed to be willing to eat almost anything, including tin cans and cardboard boxes. While goats will not actually eat inedible material, they are browsing animals, not grazers like cattle and sheep, and (coupled with their highly curious nature) will chew on and taste just about anything remotely resembling plant matter to decide whether it is good to eat, including cardboard, clothing and paper (such as labels from tin cans).
Aside from sampling many things, goats are quite particular in what they actually consume, preferring to browse on the tips of woody shrubs and trees, as well as the occasional broad-leaved plant. However, it can fairly be said that their plant diet is extremely varied, and includes some species which are otherwise toxic. They will seldom consume soiled food or contaminated water unless facing starvation. This is one reason goat-rearing is most often free-ranging, since stall-fed goat-rearing involves extensive upkeep and is seldom commercially viable.
Goats prefer to browse on vines, such as kudzu, on shrubbery and on weeds, more like deer than sheep, preferring them to grasses. Nightshade is poisonous; wilted fruit tree leaves can also kill goats. Silage (fermented corn stalks) and haylage (fermented grass hay) can be used if consumed immediately after opening – goats are particularly sensitive to Listeria bacteria that can grow in fermented feeds. Alfalfa, a high-protein plant, is widely fed as hay; fescue is the least palatable and least nutritious hay. Mold in a goat's feed can make it sick and possibly kill it. In various places in China, goats are used in the production of tea. Goats are released onto the tea terraces where they avoid consuming the green tea leaves (which contain bitter tasting substances), but instead eat the weeds. The goats' droppings fertilise the tea plants.
The digestive physiology of a very young kid (like the young of other ruminants) is essentially the same as that of a monogastric animal. Milk digestion begins in the abomasum, the milk having bypassed the rumen via closure of the reticuloesophageal groove during suckling. At birth, the rumen is undeveloped, but as the kid begins to consume solid feed, the rumen soon increases in size and in its capacity to absorb nutrients.
The adult size of a particular goat is a product of its breed (genetic potential) and its diet while growing (nutritional potential). As with all livestock, increased protein diets (10 to 14%) and sufficient calories during the prepuberty period yield higher growth rates and larger eventual size than lower protein rates and limited calories. Large-framed goats, with a greater skeletal size, reach mature weight at a later age (36 to 42 months) than small-framed goats (18 to 24 months) if both are fed to their full potential. Large-framed goats need more calories than small-framed goats for maintenance of daily functions.


The goat or domestic goat (Capra hircus) is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (C. aegagrus) of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the animal family Bovidae and the tribe Caprini, meaning it is closely related to the sheep. There are over 300 distinct breeds of goat. It is one of the oldest domesticated species of animal, according to archaeological evidence that its earliest domestication occurred in Iran at 10,000 calibrated calendar years ago.
 Goats have been used for milk, meat, fur, and skins across much of the world. Milk from goats is often turned into goat cheese.
Female goats are referred to as does or nannies, intact males are called bucks or billies, and juvenile goats of both sexes are called kids. Castrated males are called wethers. While the words hircine and caprine both refer to anything having a goat-like quality, hircine is used most often to emphasize the distinct smell of domestic goats.
In 2011, there were more than 924 million goats living in the world, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.


Most goats naturally have two horns, of various shapes and sizes depending on the breed. There have been incidents of polycerate goats (having as many as eight horns), although this is a genetic rarity thought to be inherited. Unlike cattle, goats have not been successfully bred to be reliably polled, as the genes determining sex and those determining horns are closely linked. Breeding together two genetically polled goats results in a high number of intersex individuals among the offspring, which are typically sterile. Their horns are made of living bone surrounded by keratin and other proteins, and are used for defense, dominance, and territoriality.


Life expectancy for goats is between 15 and 18 years. An instance of a goat reaching the age of 24 has been reported.
Several factors can reduce this average expectancy; problems during kidding can lower a doe's expected life span to 10 or 11, and stresses of going into rut can lower a buck's expected life span to eight to 10 years.


Goats reach puberty between three and 15 months of age, depending on breed and nutritional status. Many breeders prefer to postpone breeding until the doe has reached 70% of the adult weight. However, this separation is rarely possible in extensively managed, open-range herds.
In temperate climates and among the Swiss breeds, the breeding season commences as the day length shortens, and ends in early spring or before. In equatorial regions, goats are able to breed at any time of the year. Successful breeding in these regions depends more on available forage than on day length. Does of any breed or region come into estrus (heat) every 21 days for two to 48 hours. A doe in heat typically flags (vigorously wags) her tail often, stays near the buck if one is present, becomes more vocal, and may also show a decrease in appetite and milk production for the duration of the heat.
Bucks (intact males) of Swiss and northern breeds come into rut in the fall as with the does' heat cycles. Bucks of equatorial breeds may show seasonal reduced fertility, but as with the does, are capable of breeding at all times. Rut is characterized by a decrease in appetite and obsessive interest in the does. A buck in rut will display flehmen lip curling and will urinate on his forelegs and face. Sebaceous scent glands at the base of the horns add to the male goat's odor, which is important to make him attractive to the female. Some does will not mate with a buck which has been descented.
In addition to natural, traditional mating, artificial insemination has gained popularity among goat breeders, as it allows easy access to a wide variety of bloodlines.
Gestation length is approximately 150 days. Twins are the usual result, with single and triplet births also common. Less frequent are litters of quadruplet, quintuplet, and even sextuplet kids. Birthing, known as kidding, generally occurs uneventfully. Just before kidding, the doe will have a sunken area around the tail and hip, as well as heavy breathing. She may have a worried look, become restless and display great affection for her keeper. The mother often eats the placenta, which gives her much-needed nutrients, helps stanch her bleeding, and parallels the behavior of wild herbivores, such as deer, to reduce the lure of the birth scent for predators.
Freshening (coming into milk production) occurs at kidding. Milk production varies with the breed, age, quality, and diet of the doe; dairy goats generally produce between 680 and 1,810 kg (1,500 and 4,000 lb) of milk per 305-day lactation. On average, a good quality dairy doe will give at least 3 kg (6 lb) of milk per day while she is in milk. A first-time milker may produce less, or as much as 7 kg (16 lb), or more of milk in exceptional cases. After the lactation, the doe will "dry off", typically after she has been bred. Occasionally, goats that have not been bred and are continuously milked will continue lactation beyond the typical 305 days. Meat, fiber, and pet breeds are not usually milked and simply produce enough for the kids until weaning.
Male lactation is also known to occur in goats.


Traditional Western beliefs about the spotted hyena can be traced back to Aristotle's Historia Animalium, which described the species as a necrophagous, cowardly and potentially dangerous animal. He further described how the hyena uses retching noises to attract dogs. In On the Generation of Animals, Aristotle criticised the erroneous belief that the spotted hyena is a hermaphrodite (which likely originated from the confusion caused by the masculinised genitalia of the female), though his physical descriptions are more consistent with the striped hyena. Pliny the Elder supported Aristotle's depiction, though he further elaborated that the hyena can imitate human voices. Additionally, he wrote how the hyena was held in high regard among the Magi, and that hyena body parts could cure different diseases, give protection and stimulate sexual desire in people.
The author of the Physiologus, who infused pagan tales with the spirit of Christian moral and mystical teaching, reactivated the myth that the hyena is a hermaphrodite. The author compared the species to "double-minded men" who are neither "man nor woman, that is, neither faithful nor unfaithful". He further states that "The sons of Israel are like this animal since in the beginning they served the living God but later, given over to pleasure and lust, they adored idols." The bestiaries of the Middle Ages embraced the Physiologus's descriptions, but further elaborated on the animal's necrophagous habits. These bestiaries almost invariably depict hyenas feeding on human corpses. These illustrations were largely based on the descriptions given by Aristotle and Pliny, though the animals have no spots or other bodily markings, thus making it unlikely that the authors had ever seen hyenas first-hand.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, travellers to Africa provided further descriptions of the species. Leo Africanus repeated some of the old concepts on the hyena, with the addition of describing its legs and feet as similar to those of men. In 1551, Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner rejected the belief of the hyena's hermaphroditism, and theorised that it originated from confusion over an androgynous fish bearing the same name. He adds three other animals within the category of hyenas, including an Ethiopian quadruped named "Crocotta", which was thought to be a hybrid between a hyena and a lioness. Sir Thomas Browne also argued against the hyena's supposed hermaphroditism, stating that all animals follow their own "Law of Coition", and that a hermaphrodite would transgress this. Sir Walter Raleigh, in an attempt to rationalise how Noah's Ark could have fitted all extant species of animal, wrote that hyenas were hybrids between foxes and wolves which originated after the Great Flood. References to the spotted hyena's vocalisations are referenced in numerous contemporary examples of English literature, including Shakespeare's As You Like It and George Chapman's Eastward Ho. John Milton, in his Samson Agonistes, compares the species to Delila.
Natural historians of the 18th and 19th centuries rejected stories of hermaphroditism in hyenas, and recognised the differences between the spotted and striped hyena. However, they continued to focus on the species' scavenging habits, their potential to rob graves and their perceived cowardice. During the 20th century, Western and African stereotypes of the spotted hyena converged; in both Ernest Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa and Disney's The Lion King, the traits of gluttony and comical stupidity, common in African depictions of hyenas, are added to the Western perception of hyenas being cowardly and ugly. After the release of The Lion King, hyena biologists protested against the animal's portrayal: one hyena researcher sued Disney studios for defamation of character, and another –  who had organized the animators' visit to the University of California's Field Station for Behavioural Research, where they would observe and sketch captive hyenas –  suggested boycotting the film.


Battarrea phalloides (as well as Battarrea stevenii) is inedible. In Cyprus, the immature egg-form of the fruit body is eaten. Older specimens may smell unpleasant. The spores of B. stevenii are used as a cicatrizant—a product that promotes healing through the formation of scar tissue–by the Criollo herdsmen of Gran Chaco in northern Argentina.


Mature specimens of Battarrea phalloides roughly resemble the typical agaric mushroom stature of stem and cap. However, rather than a cap with gills, this species has a spore sac atop the stem. When young, the fruit body is roughly spherical and completely encased in an outer wall (exoperidium) that later splits in a circumscissile fashion (along a circular or equatorial line), the lower wall forming a volva and the upper part forming scales that cover the inner wall. The upper part rolls upward and backward and eventually falls away in one piece, exposing a spore sac lined with a narrow ring of capillitium and spores. The spores are sticky. As these are carried away by the wind, the drying action of the latter cause the edges of the peridium to shrivel and roll up more, exposing more spores. This is continued until the upper half of the peridium has shriveled and blown away and there remains only a few spores, which may be washed away by rain.
The fruit body develops rapidly; when mature, it is rust-colored, with a hemispherical to somewhat conical "head" 1 to 3 cm (0.4 to 1.2 in) in diameter, and with a stalk up to 40 cm (15.7 in) long by 0.4 to 1.5 cm (0.2 to 0.6 in) thick.
One study reported a specimen found in Mexico with a length of 70 cm (27.6 in). Typically, the spore case is 3 to 5 cm (1.2 to 2.0 in) broad by 1 to 3.5 cm (0.4 to 1.4 in) tall. The hollow stalk is pale brown to brown, woody, and has a fibrous, scaly, or even woolly surface. The mature gleba, which is eventually exposed when the peridial cap is shed, has a rust-brown color. The cap may persist after the spore mass is dispersed and form a disc-like unit that slides down the stalk like a ring. The fragile sac-shaped volva is up to 15 by 13 cm (5.9 by 5.1 in) broad, unattached to the stalk, and formed by two distinct, separated tissue layers. The inner layer resembles the scales of the stem, consisting of hyphae that are 3–18 µm in diameter, closely arranged (nearly parallel), septate, sparsely branched, yellowish ochre, with clamps at some septa. The outer layer of fungal tissue is thicker, membranous, sometimes with a corky texture when dry, and dirty white. It consists of pale yellow intertwined hyphae that are difficult to distinguish individually, and without remains of a gelatinous matrix. Fruit bodies may persist for several months after they have dried.
The thick-walled spores are roughly spherical, rusty-brown, finely and densely warted, and have diameters of 5–6.5 µm. Elaters are 50–80 by 4–6 µm, and have ring-like or spiral thickenings. The endoperidium consists of densely interwoven hyphae that are 3–9 µm in diameter and walls less than 1 µm thick; they are septate, branched, pale yellow, with clamp connections.
The gleba is largely made up of two types of threads. The pseudocapillitium has hyphae up to 5 µm diameter, mostly thin walled, smooth, septate, sparsely branched, hyaline to pale yellow, with clamps. The elaters have diameters of 3.5–7 µm and are 32–70 µm long; they are pale yellow, smooth-walled, tapered and cylindrical with spiral thickenings. Glebal elaters are aseptate and not branched.


The closely related species Battarrea diguettii is known in the United States from the Mojave desert, and differs from B. phalloides in that the spore sac emerges by ripping through the top of the exoperidium, rather than by circumscissile rupture. The endoperidium of B. diguettii is also smaller, and the spores emerge through a number of pores on the upper surface of the spore sac. Battarrea stevenii can grow taller, up to 70 centimeters (27.6 in). Podaxis pistillaris, commonly known as the "desert shaggy mane", occurs in dry locales similar to B. phalloides, but can be distinguished by its shaggy, elongated cap.


Goldfish are popular pond fish, since they are small, inexpensive, colorful and very hardy. In an outdoor pond or water garden, they may even survive for brief periods if ice forms on the surface, as long as there is enough oxygen remaining in the water and the pond does not freeze solid. Common, London and Bristol shubunkins, jikin, wakin, comet and some hardier fantail goldfish can be kept in a pond all year round in temperate and subtropical climates. Moor, veiltail, oranda and lionhead can be kept safely in outdoor ponds year-round only in more tropical climates and only in summer elsewhere.
Compatible fish include rudd, tench, orfe and koi, but the last require specialized care. Ramshorn snails are helpful by eating any algae that grows in the pond. Without some form of animal population control, goldfish ponds can easily become overstocked. Fish such as orfe consume goldfish eggs.
Ponds small and large are fine in warmer areas (although it ought to be noted that goldfish can "overheat" in small volumes of water in the summer in tropical climates). In frosty climes, the depth should be at least 80 centimeters (31 in) to preclude freezing. During winter, goldfish become sluggish, stop eating and often stay on the bottom of the pond. This is normal; they become active again in the spring. Unless the pond is large enough to maintain its own ecosystem without interference from humans, a filter is important to clear waste and keep the pond clean. Plants are essential as they act as part of the filtration system, as well as a food source for the fish. Plants are further beneficial since they raise oxygen levels in the water.
Like their wild ancestors, common and comet goldfish as well as shubunkin can survive, and even thrive, in any climate that can support a pond, whereas fancy goldfish are unlikely to survive in the wild as their bright colors and long fins make them easy prey.


The goldfish (Carassius auratus) is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild have become an invasive pest in parts of North America.
Native to East Asia, the goldfish is a relatively small member of the carp family (which also includes the Prussian carp and the crucian carp). It was first selectively bred for color in imperial China more than 1,000 years ago, and several distinct breeds have since been developed. Goldfish breeds vary greatly in size, body shape, fin configuration, and coloration (various combinations of white, yellow, orange, red, brown, and black are known).


In the wild, the diet of goldfish consists of crustaceans, insects, and various plant matter. Like most fish, they are opportunistic feeders and do not stop eating on their own accord. Overfeeding can be deleterious to their health, typically by blocking the intestines. This happens most often with selectively bred goldfish, which have a convoluted intestinal tract. When excess food is available, they produce more waste and feces, partly due to incomplete protein digestion. Overfeeding can sometimes be diagnosed by observing feces trailing from the fish's cloaca.
Goldfish-specific food has less protein and more carbohydrate than conventional fish food. Enthusiasts may supplement this diet with shelled peas (with outer skins removed), blanched green leafy vegetables, and bloodworms. Young goldfish benefit from the addition of brine shrimp to their diet. As with all animals, goldfish preferences vary.


When kept in small indoor aquariums, goldfish tend to stay about 1 inch (2.5 cm) to  2 inches (5.1 cm) long. Goldfish may grow larger if moved to bigger fish tanks, but they usually do not grow longer than  6 inches (15 cm). In outdoor ponds, and in the wild, goldfish can grow to about  14 inches (36 cm).
As of April 2008, the largest goldfish in the world was believed by the BBC to measure 19 inches (48 cm), in the Netherlands. At the time, a goldfish named "Goldie", kept as a pet in a tank in Folkestone, England, was measured as 15 inches (38 cm) and over 2 pounds (0.91 kg), and named as the second largest in the world behind the Netherlands fish. The secretary of the Federation of British Aquatic Societies (FBAS) stated of Goldie's size, "I would think there are probably a few bigger goldfish that people don't think of as record holders, perhaps in ornamental lakes". In July 2010, a goldfish measuring 16 inches (41 cm) and 5 pounds (2.3 kg) was caught in a pond in Poole, England, thought to have been abandoned there after outgrowing a tank. On November 16, 2020, a 15 inch (38.1 cm) 9 pound (4.1 kg) goldfish was found in a 16-acre (6.5 ha) lake in Greenville, South Carolina, while conducting a population survey of Oak Grove Lake.