title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: Sperry, Granite Park, and Belton Chalets are still in operation, while a building formerly belonging to Two Medicine Chalet is now Two Medicine Store. The surviving chalet and hotel buildings within the park are now designated as National Historic Landmarks. In total, 350 buildings and structures within the park are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including ranger stations, backcountry patrol cabins, fire lookouts, and concession facilities. In 2017, Sperry Chalet closed early for the season due to the Sprague Fire which subsequently burned the entire interior portions of the structure, leaving only the stone exterior standing. Due


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: to damage, the chalet was closed indefinitely and while the exterior stonework was stabilized in the fall of 2017, the dates for rebuilding and reopening the chalet has yet to be determined. After the park was well established and visitors began to rely more on automobiles, work was begun on the long Going-to-the-Sun Road, completed in 1932. Also known simply as the Sun Road, the road bisects the park and is the only route that ventures deep into the park, going over the Continental Divide at Logan Pass, at the midway point. The Sun Road is also listed on the


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: National Register of Historic Places and in 1985 was designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. Another route, along the southern boundary between the park and National Forests, is US Route 2, which crosses the Continental Divide at Marias Pass and connects the towns of West Glacier and East Glacier. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a New Deal relief agency for young men, played a major role between 1933 and 1942 in developing both Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. CCC projects included reforestation, campground development, trail construction, fire hazard reduction, and fire-fighting work. The increase in motor vehicle


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: traffic through the park during the 1930s resulted in the construction of new concession facilities at Swiftcurrent and Rising Sun, both designed for automobile-based tourism. These early auto camps are now also listed on the National Register. In 2011, Glacier National Park was depicted on the seventh quarter in the America the Beautiful Quarters series. Glacier National Park is managed by the National Park Service, with the park's headquarters in West Glacier, Montana. Visitation to Glacier National Park averaged about visitors annually over the ten-year period from 2007 to 2016, though relatively few of those visitors ventured far from the


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: roadways, hotels and campgrounds. Glacier National Park finished with a budget of $13,803,000 in 2016, with a planned budget of $13,777,000 for 2017. In anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the park in 2010, major reconstruction of the Going-to-the-Sun Road was completed. The Federal Highway Administration managed the reconstruction project in cooperation with the National Park Service. Some rehabilitation of major structures such as visitor centers and historic hotels, as well as improvements in wastewater treatment facilities and campgrounds, are expected to be completed by the anniversary date. Also planned are fishery studies for Lake McDonald, updates of the historical


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: archives, and restoration of trails. The mandate of the National Park Service is to "... preserve and protect natural and cultural resources". The Organic Act of August 25, 1916 established the National Park Service as a federal agency. One major section of the Act has often been summarized as the "Mission", "... to promote and regulate the use of the ... national parks ... which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." In keeping with this mandate, hunting is illegal in the park, as are mining, logging, and the removal of natural or cultural resources. Additionally, oil and gas exploration and extraction are not permitted. These restrictions, however, caused a lot of conflict with the adjoining Blackfeet Indian Reservation. When they sold the land to the United States government, it was with the stipulation of being able to maintain their usage rights of the area, many of which (such as hunting) had come into conflict with these regulations. In 1974, a wilderness study


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: was submitted to Congress which identified 95% of the area of the park as qualifying for wilderness designation. Unlike a few other parks, Glacier National Park has yet to be protected as wilderness, but National Park Service policy requires that identified areas listed in the report be managed as wilderness until Congress renders a full decision. Ninety-three percent of Glacier National Park is managed as wilderness, even though it has not been officially designated. The park is bordered on the north by Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, and the Flathead Provincial Forest and Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park in British Columbia.


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: To the west, the north fork of the Flathead River forms the western boundary, while its middle fork is part of the southern boundary. The Blackfeet Indian Reservation provides most of the eastern boundary. The Lewis and Clark and the Flathead National Forests form the southern and western boundary. The remote Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex is located in the two forests immediately to the south. The park contains a dozen large lakes and 700 smaller ones, but only 131 lakes have been named. Lake McDonald on the western side of the park is the longest at , the largest in


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: area at , and the deepest at . Numerous smaller lakes, known as tarns, are located in cirques formed by glacial erosion. Some of these lakes, like Avalanche Lake and Cracker Lake, are colored an opaque turquoise by suspended glacial silt, which also causes a number of streams to run milky white. The lakes of Glacier National Park remain cold year round, with temperatures rarely above at their surface. Cold water lakes such as these support little plankton growth, ensuring that the lake waters are remarkably clear. The lack of plankton, however, lowers the rate of pollution filtration, so pollutants


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: have a tendency to linger longer. Consequently, the lakes are considered environmental bellwethers as they can be quickly affected by even minor increases in pollutants. Two hundred waterfalls are scattered throughout the park. However, during drier times of the year, many of these are reduced to a trickle. The largest falls include those in the Two Medicine region, McDonald Falls in the McDonald Valley, and Swiftcurrent Falls in the Many Glacier area, which is easily observable and close to the Many Glacier Hotel. One of the tallest waterfalls is Bird Woman Falls, which drops from a hanging valley beneath the


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: north slope of Mount Oberlin. The rocks found in the park are primarily sedimentary rocks of the Belt Supergroup. They were deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, one region of rocks now known as the Lewis Overthrust was forced eastward . This overthrust was several miles (kilometers) thick and hundreds of miles (kilometers) long. This resulted in older rocks being displaced over newer ones, so the overlying Proterozoic rocks are between 1.4 and 1.5 billion years older than Cretaceous age rocks they now


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: rest on. One of the most dramatic evidences of this overthrust is visible in the form of Chief Mountain, an isolated peak on the edge of the eastern boundary of the park rising above the Great Plains. There are six mountains in the park over in elevation, with Mount Cleveland at being the tallest. Appropriately named Triple Divide Peak sends waters towards the Pacific Ocean, Hudson Bay, and Gulf of Mexico watersheds. This peak can effectively be considered to be the apex of the North American continent, although the mountain is only above sea level. The rocks in Glacier National


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: Park are the best preserved Proterozoic sedimentary rocks in the world, with some of the world's most fruitful sources for records of early life. Sedimentary rocks of similar age located in other regions have been greatly altered by mountain building and other metamorphic changes; consequently fossils are less common and more difficult to observe. The rocks in the park preserve such features as millimeter-scale lamination, ripple marks, mud cracks, salt-crystal casts, raindrop impressions, oolites, and other sedimentary bedding characteristics. Six fossilized species of stromatolites, early organisms consisting of primarily blue-green algae, have been documented and dated at about 1 billion


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: years. The discovery of the Appekunny Formation, a well preserved rock stratum in the park, pushed back the established date for the origination of animal life a full billion years. This rock formation has bedding structures which are believed to be the remains of the earliest identified metazoan (animal) life on Earth. Glacier National Park is dominated by mountains which were carved into their present shapes by the huge glaciers of the last ice age. These glaciers have largely disappeared over the last 12,000 years. Evidence of widespread glacial action is found throughout the park in the form of U-shaped


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: valleys, cirques, arêtes, and large outflow lakes radiating like fingers from the base of the highest peaks. Since the end of the ice ages, various warming and cooling trends have occurred. The last recent cooling trend was during the Little Ice Age, which took place approximately between 1550 and 1850. During the Little Ice Age, the glaciers in the park expanded and advanced, although to nowhere near as great an extent as they had during the Ice Age. During the middle of the 20th century, examination of the maps and photographs from the previous century provided clear evidence that the


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: 150 glaciers known to have existed in the park a hundred years earlier had greatly retreated, and in many cases disappeared altogether. Repeat photography of the glaciers, such as the pictures taken of Grinnell Glacier between 1938 and 2009 as shown, help to provide visual confirmation of the extent of glacier retreat. In the 1980s, the U.S. Geological Survey began a more systematic study of the remaining glaciers, which has continued to the present day. By 2010, 37 glaciers remained, but only 25 of these were considered to be "active glaciers" of at least in area. The National Park Service


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: warns that if the current warming trend continues, the park's remaining glaciers will be gone by 2030. This glacier retreat follows a worldwide pattern that has accelerated even more since 1980. Without a major climatic change in which cooler and moister weather returns and persists, the mass balance, which is the accumulation rate versus the ablation (melting) rate of glaciers, will continue to be negative and the glaciers have been projected to eventually disappear, leaving behind only barren rock. After the end of the Little Ice Age in 1850, the glaciers in the park retreated moderately until the 1910s. Between


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: 1917 and 1941, the retreat rate accelerated and was as high as per year for some glaciers. A slight cooling trend from the 1940s until 1979 helped to slow the rate of retreat and, in a few cases, even advanced the glaciers over ten meters. However, during the 1980s, the glaciers in the park began a steady period of loss of glacial ice, which continues as of 2010. In 1850, the glaciers in the region near Blackfoot and Jackson Glaciers covered , but by 1979, the same region of the park had glacier ice covering only . Between 1850 and


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: 1979, 73% of the glacial ice had melted away. At the time the park was created, Jackson Glacier was part of Blackfoot Glacier, but the two have separated into individual glaciers since. The impact of glacier retreat on the park's ecosystems is not fully known, but plant and animal species that are dependent on cold water could suffer due to a loss of habitat. Reduced seasonal melting of glacial ice may also affect stream flow during the dry summer and fall seasons, reducing water table levels and increasing the risk of forest fires. The loss of glaciers will also reduce


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: the aesthetic visual appeal that glaciers provide to visitors. As the park spans the Continental Divide, and has more than in elevation variance, many climates and microclimates are found in the park. As with other alpine systems, average temperature usually drops as elevation increases. The western side of the park, in the Pacific watershed, has a milder and wetter climate, due to its lower elevation. Precipitation is greatest during the winter and spring, averaging per month. Snowfall can occur at any time of the year, even in the summer, and especially at higher altitudes. The winter can bring prolonged cold


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: waves, especially on the eastern side of the Continental Divide, which has a higher elevation overall. Snowfalls are significant over the course of the winter, with the largest accumulation occurring in the west. During the tourist season, daytime high temperatures average , and nighttime lows usually drop into the range. Temperatures in the high country may be much cooler. In the lower western valleys, daytime highs in the summer may reach . Rapid temperature changes have been noted in the region. In Browning, Montana, just east of the park in the Blackfeet Reservation, a world record temperature drop of in


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: only 24 hours occurred on the night of January 23–24, 1916, when thermometers plunged from . Glacier National Park has a highly regarded global climate change research program. Based in West Glacier, with the main headquarters in Bozeman, Montana, the U.S. Geological Survey has performed scientific research on specific climate change studies since 1992. In addition to the study of the retreating glaciers, research performed includes forest modeling studies in which fire ecology and habitat alterations are analyzed. Additionally, changes in alpine vegetation patterns are documented, watershed studies in which stream flow rates and temperatures are recorded frequently at fixed


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: gauging stations, and atmospheric research in which UV-B radiation, ozone and other atmospheric gases are analyzed over time. The research compiled contributes to a broader understanding of climate changes in the park. The data collected, when compared to other facilities scattered around the world, help to correlate these climatic changes on a global scale. Glacier is considered to have excellent air and water quality. No major areas of dense human population exist anywhere near the region and industrial effects are minimized due to a scarcity of factories and other potential contributors of pollutants. However, the sterile and cold lakes found


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: throughout the park are easily contaminated by airborne pollutants that fall whenever it rains or snows, and some evidence of these pollutants has been found in park waters. Wildfires could also impact the quality of water. However, the pollution level is currently viewed as negligible, and the park lakes and waterways have a water quality rating of A-1, the highest rating given by the state of Montana. Glacier is part of a large preserved ecosystem collectively known as the "Crown of the Continent Ecosystem", all of which is primarily untouched wilderness of a pristine quality. Virtually all the plants and


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: animals which existed at the time European explorers first entered the region are present in the park today. A total of over 1,132 plant species have been identified parkwide. The predominantly coniferous forest is home to various species of trees such as the Engelmann spruce, Douglas fir, subalpine fir, limber pine and western larch, which is a deciduous conifer, producing cones but losing its needles each fall. Cottonwood and aspen are the more common deciduous trees and are found at lower elevations, usually along lakes and streams. The timberline on the eastern side of the park is almost lower than


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: on the western side of the Continental Divide, due to exposure to the colder winds and weather of the Great Plains. West of the Continental Divide, the forest receives more moisture and is more protected from the winter, resulting in a more densely populated forest with taller trees. Above the forested valleys and mountain slopes, alpine tundra conditions prevail, with grasses and small plants eking out an existence in a region that enjoys as little as three months without snow cover. Thirty species of plants are found only in the park and surrounding national forests. Beargrass, a tall flowering plant,


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: is commonly found near moisture sources, and is relatively widespread during July and August. Wildflowers such as monkeyflower, glacier lily, fireweed, balsamroot and Indian paintbrush are also common. The forested sections fall into three major climatic zones. The west and northwest are dominated by spruce and fir and the southwest by redcedar and hemlock; the areas east of the Continental Divide are a combination of mixed pine, spruce, fir and prairie zones. The cedar-hemlock groves along the Lake McDonald valley are the easternmost examples of this Pacific climatic ecosystem. Whitebark pine communities have been heavily damaged due to the effects


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: of blister rust, a non native fungus. In Glacier and the surrounding region, 30% of the whitebark pine trees have died and over 70% of the remaining trees are currently infected. The whitebark pine provides a high fat pine cone seed, commonly known as the pine nut, that is a favorite food of red squirrels and Clark's nutcracker. Both grizzlies and black bears are known to raid squirrel caches of pine nuts, one of the bears' favorite foods. Between 1930 and 1970, efforts to control the spread of blister rust were unsuccessful, and continued destruction of whitebark pines appears likely,


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: with attendant negative impacts on dependent species. Virtually all the historically known plant and animal species, with the exception of the bison and woodland caribou, are still present, providing biologists with an intact ecosystem for plant and animal research. Two threatened species of mammals, the grizzly bear and the Canadian lynx, are found in the park. Although their numbers remain at historical levels, both are listed as threatened because in nearly every other region of the U.S. outside of Alaska, they are either extremely rare or absent from their historical range. On average, one or two bear attacks on humans


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: occur each year; since the creation of the park in 1910, there have been a total of 10 bear-related deaths. The number of grizzlies and lynx in the park is not known for certain, but park biologists believed as of 2008 that there were just above 300 grizzlies in the park; a study which commenced in 2001 hopes to determine the number of lynx. The exact population figures for grizzlies and the smaller black bear are not known but biologists are using a variety of methods to try to determine an accurate population range. Another study has indicated that the


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: wolverine, another very rare mammal in the lower 48 states, also lives in the park. Other mammals such as the mountain goat (the official park symbol), bighorn sheep, moose, elk, mule deer, skunk, white-tailed deer, bobcat, coyote, and cougar are either plentiful or common. Unlike in Yellowstone National Park, which implemented a wolf reintroduction program in the 1990s, it is believed that wolves recolonized Glacier National Park naturally during the 1980s. Sixty-two species of mammals have been documented including badger, river otter, porcupine, mink, marten, fisher, two species of marmots, six species of bats, and numerous other small mammals. A


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: total of 260 species of birds have been recorded, with raptors such as the bald eagle, golden eagle, peregrine falcon, osprey and several species of hawks residing year round. The harlequin duck is a colorful species of waterfowl found in the lakes and waterways. The great blue heron, tundra swan, Canada goose and American wigeon are species of waterfowl more commonly encountered in the park. Great horned owl, Clark's nutcracker, Steller's jay, pileated woodpecker and cedar waxwing reside in the dense forests along the mountainsides, and in the higher altitudes, the ptarmigan, timberline sparrow and rosy finch are the most


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: likely to be seen. The Clark's nutcracker is less plentiful than in past years due to the decline in the number of whitebark pines. Because of the colder climate, ectothermic reptiles are all but absent, with two species of garter snake and the western painted turtle being the only three reptile species proven to exist. Similarly, only six species of amphibians are documented, although those species exist in large numbers. After a forest fire in 2001, a few park roads were temporarily closed the following year to allow thousands of western toads to migrate to other areas. A total of


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: 23 species of fish reside in park waters and native game fish species found in the lakes and streams include the westslope cutthroat trout, northern pike, mountain whitefish, kokanee salmon and Arctic grayling. Glacier is also home to the threatened bull trout, which is illegal to possess and must be returned to the water if caught inadvertently. Introduction in previous decades of lake trout and other non-native fish species has greatly impacted some native fish populations, especially the bull trout and west slope cutthroat trout. Forest fires were viewed for many decades as a threat to protected areas such as


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: forests and parks. As a better understanding of fire ecology developed after the 1960s, forest fires were understood to be a natural part of the ecosystem. The earlier policies of suppression resulted in the accumulation of dead and decaying trees and plants, which would normally have been reduced had fires been allowed to burn. Many species of plants and animals actually need wildfires to help replenish the soil with nutrients and to open up areas that allow grasses and smaller plants to thrive. Glacier National Park has a fire management plan which ensures that human-caused fires are generally suppressed. In


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: the case of natural fires, the fire is monitored and suppression is dependent on the size and threat the fire may pose to human safety and structures. Increased population and the growth of suburban areas near parklands, has led to the development of what is known as Wildland Urban Interface Fire Management, in which the park cooperates with adjacent property owners in improving safety and fire awareness. This approach is common to many other protected areas. As part of this program, houses and structures near the park are designed to be more fire resistant. Dead and fallen trees are removed


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: from near places of human habitation, reducing the available fuel load and the risk of a catastrophic fire, and advance warning systems are developed to help alert property owners and visitors about forest fire potentials during a given period of the year. Glacier National Park has an average of 14 fires with burnt each year. In 2003, burned in the park after a five-year drought and a summer season of almost no precipitation. This was the most area transformed by fire since the creation of the park in 1910. Glacier is distant from major cities. The closest airport is in


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: Kalispell, Montana, southwest of the park. Amtrak trains stop at East and West Glacier, and Essex. A fleet of restored 1930s White Motor Company coaches, called Red Jammers, offer tours on all the main roads in the park. The drivers of the buses are called "Jammers", due to the gear-jamming that formerly occurred during the vehicles' operation. The tour buses were rebuilt in 2001 by Ford Motor Company. The bodies were removed from their original chassis and built on modern Ford E-Series van chassis. They were also converted to run on propane to lessen their environmental impact. Historic wooden tour


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: boats, some dating back to the 1920s, operate on some of the larger lakes. Several of these boats have been in continuous seasonal operation at Glacier National Park since 1927 and carry up to 80 passengers. Three of these decades-old boats were added to the National Register of Historic Places in January 2018. Hiking is popular in the park. Over half of the visitors to the park report taking a hike on the park's nearly of trails. of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail spans most of the distance of the park north to south, with a few alternative routes


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: at lower elevations if high altitude passes are closed due to snow. The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail crosses the park on from east to west. Dogs are not permitted on any trails in the park due to the presence of bears and other large mammals. Dogs are permitted at front country campsites that can be accessed by a vehicle and along paved roads. Anyone entering the United States over land or waterway from Canada must have a passport with them. Many day hikes can be taken in the park. Back-country camping is allowed at campsites along the trails. A


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: permit is required and can be obtained from certain visitor centers or arranged for in advance. Much of Glacier's back country is usually inaccessible to hikers until early June due to accumulated snow pack and avalanche risk, and many trails at higher altitudes remain snow packed until July. Campgrounds that allow vehicle access are found throughout the park, most of which are near one of the larger lakes. The campgrounds at St. Mary and at Apgar are open year-round, but conditions are primitive in the off-season, as the restroom facilities are closed and there is no running water. All campgrounds


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: with vehicle access are usually open from mid-June until mid-September. Guide and shuttle services are also available. The park attracts many climbers though the rock quality is old and loose in the Lewis Overthrust fault structure. The seminal literature on climbing in the park, "A Climber's Guide to Glacier National Park", was written by J. Gordon Edwards in 1961, with the latest edition published in 1995. The Glacier Mountaineers Society sponsors climbing in the park, issuing awards to those climbers who summit all peaks or all five technical peaks. Some of the finest fly fishing in North America can be


title: "Glacier National Park (U.S.)" content: found in the streams that flow through Glacier National Park. No permit is required to fish in park waters. The threatened bull trout must be released immediately back to the water if caught; otherwise, the regulations on limits of catch per day are liberal. Winter recreation in Glacier is limited. Snowmobiling is illegal throughout the park. Cross-country skiing is permitted in the lower altitude valleys away from avalanche zones. (image gallery)<br> Glacier National Park (U.S.) Glacier National Park is an American national park located in northwestern Montana, on the Canada–United States border, adjacent to the Canadian provinces of Alberta and


title: "Northern shoveler" content: Northern shoveler The northern shoveler (; "Spatula clypeata"), known simply in Britain as the shoveler, is a common and widespread duck. It breeds in northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America, wintering in southern Europe, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Central, and northern South America. It is a rare vagrant to Australia. In North America, it breeds along the southern edge of Hudson Bay and west of this body of water, and as far south as the Great Lakes west to Colorado, Nevada, and Oregon. The Northern shoveler is one of the species


title: "Northern shoveler" content: to which the "Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds" (AEWA) applies. The conservation status of this bird is Least Concern. The northern shoveler was first formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his "Systema Naturae". He introduced the binomial name "Anas clypeata". A molecular phylogentic study comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2009 found that the genus "Anas", as then defined, was non-monophyletic. The genus was subsequently split into four monophyletic genera with ten species including the northern shoveler moved into the resurrected genus "Spatula". This genus had been originally


title: "Northern shoveler" content: proposed by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1822. The name "Spatula" is the Latin for a "spoon" or "spatula". The specific epithet is derived from Latin "clypeata", "shield-bearing" (from "clypeus", "shield"). No living subspecies are accepted today. Fossil bones of a very similar duck have been found in Early Pleistocene deposits at Dursunlu, Turkey. It is unresolved, however, how these birds were related to the northern shoveler of today; i.e., whether the differences noted were due to being a related species or paleosubspecies, or attributable to individual variation. This species is unmistakable in the northern hemisphere due to its


title: "Northern shoveler" content: large spatulate bill. The breeding drake has an iridescent dark green head, white breast and chestnut belly and flanks. In flight, pale blue forewing feathers are revealed, separated from the green speculum by a white border. In early fall the male will have a white crescent on each side of the face. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake resembles the female. The female is a drab mottled brown like other dabblers, with plumage much like a female mallard, but easily distinguished by the long broad bill, which is gray tinged with orange on cutting edge and lower mandible. The female's


title: "Northern shoveler" content: forewing is gray. They are long and have a wingspan of with a weight of . Northern shovelers feed by dabbling for plant food, often by swinging its bill from side to side and using the bill to strain food from the water. They use their highly specialized bill (from which their name is derived) to forage for aquatic invertebrates – a carnivorous diet. Their wide-flat bill is equipped with well-developed lamellae – small, comb-like structures on the edge of the bill that act like sieves, allowing the birds to skim crustaceans and plankton from the water's surface. This adaptation,


title: "Northern shoveler" content: more specialized in shovelers, gives them an advantage over other puddle ducks, with which they do not have to compete for food resources during most of the year. Thus, mud-bottomed marshes rich in invertebrate life are their habitat of choices. The shoveler prefers to nest in grassy areas away from open water. Their nest is a shallow depression on the ground, lined with plant material and down. Hens typically lay about nine eggs. The drakes are very territorial during breeding season and will defend their territory and partners from competing males. Drakes also engage in elaborate courtship behaviors, both on


title: "Northern shoveler" content: the water and in the air; it is not uncommon for a dozen or more males to pursue a single hen. Despite their stout appearance, shovelers are nimble fliers. This is a fairly quiet species. The male has a clunking call, whereas the female has a Mallard-like quack. This is a bird of open wetlands, such as wet grassland or marshes with some emergent vegetation. It breeds in wide areas across Eurasia, western North America and the Great Lakes region of the United States. This bird winters in southern Europe, Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, northern South America, Malay Archipelago, Japan


title: "Northern shoveler" content: and other areas. Those wintering in the Indian Subcontinent make the taxing journey over the Himalayas, often taking a break in wetlands just south of the Himalaya before continuing further south to warmer regions. In North America it winters south of a line from Washington to Idaho and from New Mexico east to Kentucky, also along the Eastern Seaboard as far north as Massachusetts. In the British Isles, home to more than 20% of the North Western European population, it is best known as a winter visitor, although it is more frequently seen in southern and eastern England, especially around


title: "Northern shoveler" content: the Ouse Washes, the Humber and the North Kent Marshes, and in much smaller numbers in Scotland and western parts of England. In winter, breeding birds move south, and are replaced by an influx of continental birds from further north. It breeds across most of Ireland, but the population there is very difficult to assess. It is strongly migratory and winters further south than its breeding range. It has occasionally been reported as a vagrant as far south as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. It is not as gregarious as some dabbling ducks outside the breeding season and tends


title: "Northern shoveler" content: to form only small flocks. Among North America's duck species, northern shovelers trail only mallards and blue-winged teal in overall abundance. Their populations have been healthy since the 1960s, and have soared in recent years to more than 5 million birds (2015), most likely because of favorable breeding, migration, and wintering habitat conditions. Northern shoveler The northern shoveler (; "Spatula clypeata"), known simply in Britain as the shoveler, is a common and widespread duck. It breeds in northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America, wintering in southern Europe, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and


title: Cuirass content: Cuirass A cuirass (; , ) is a piece of armor, formed of a single or multiple pieces of metal or other rigid material which covers the torso. The use of the term "cuirass" generally refers to both the chest plate (or breast plate) and the back piece together. Whereas a chest plate only protects the front and a back plate only protects the back, a cuirass protects both the front and the back. In Hellenistic and Roman times, the musculature of the male torso was idealized in the form of the muscle cuirass or "heroic cuirass" (in French the


title: Cuirass content: "cuirasse esthétique") sometimes further embellished with symbolic representation in relief, familiar in the Augustus of Prima Porta and other heroic representations in official Roman sculpture. As parts of the actual military equipment of classic antiquity, cuirasses and corsets of bronze, iron, or some other rigid substance were used. Secondary protection for the breast was worn in earlier times by men-at-arms in addition to mail hauberks and reinforced coats. It was not until the 14th century that the plate armor became an established part of medieval armor. The Roman emperor Galba donned a cuirass just before he went to his death.


title: Cuirass content: Suetonius records in "12 Caesars" that, "As [Galba] was offering sacrifice on the morning before he was killed, a soothsayer warned him again and again to look out for danger, since assassins were not far off. Not long after this he learned that Otho held possession of the camp, and when several advised him to proceed thither as soon as possible – for they said that he could win the day by his presence and prestige – he decided to do no more than hold his present position and strengthen it by getting together a guard of the legionaries, who


title: Cuirass content: were encamped in many different quarters of the city. He did however put on a linen cuirass, though he openly declared that it would afford little protection against so many swords." The latter portion of the 14th century saw the cuirass gradually come into general use in connection with plate armor for the limbs until, at the close of the century, mail was phased out among the nobles (e.g., knights) except in the camail of the bascinet and at the edge of the hauberk. The cuirass was almost universally worn throughout its lifespan as a form of armor. Thus, the


title: Cuirass content: globule form of the breast-armor of the Black Prince, in his effigy in Canterbury Cathedral, 1376, intimates that a cuirass (as well as a hauberk) is to be considered to have been covered by the royalty-emblazoned jupon of the Prince. Historical cuirass, contrary to many modern reproductions, did not rest on the hips. Historical cuirass usually stopped somewhere around the midriff or bellybutton in order to allow a proper range of movement to the wearer. A cuirass ending at the waist would severely limit the ability of the wearer to lean forward, backward or sideways. Thus, to protect the rest


title: Cuirass content: of the torso, mail or fauld were used depending on the time period. Early in the 15th century, plate armor, including the cuirass, began to be worn without any surcoat; but in the concluding quarter of the century the short surcoat, with full short sleeves, known as a "tabard", was in general use over the armor. While the surcoat was being phased out, small plates of various forms and sizes (and not always made in pairs, i.e., the plate for the sword-arm often being smaller and lighter than the one for the off-hand) were attached to the armor in front


title: Cuirass content: of the shoulders, to defend the otherwise vulnerable points where the plate defenses left a gap. About the middle of the century, the breastplate of the cuirass was made in two parts; the lower adjusted to overlap the upper, held together with a strap or sliding rivet in order to add flexibility to the advantages plate armor had over mail. In the second half of the 15th century, the cuirass was occasionally superseded by the brigandine jacket, the medieval forerunner of the flak jacket. In essence, the brigandine jacket was constructed of metal plates sewn into a fabric jacket. The


title: Cuirass content: fabric was generally a rich material, and was lined throughout with overlapping scales of metal which were attached to the jacket by rivets, having their heads, like studs, visible on the outside. About 1550, the breast-piece of the cuirass was characterized by a vertical central ridge, called the tapul, having near its center a projecting point. Somewhat later, the tapul was moved lower on the breast. Eventually, the profile of the plate began to resemble a pea pod and, as such, was referred to as the peascod cuirass. Corslets provided with both breast and back pieces were worn by foot-soldiers


title: Cuirass content: in the 17th century, while their mounted comrades were equipped in heavier and stronger cuirasses. These defenses continued in use longer than any other single piece of armor. Their use never altogether ceased and in modern armies mounted cuirassiers, armed as in earlier days with breast and back plates, have in some degree emulated the martial splendour of the body armor of the era of medieval chivalry. Both the French and German heavy cavalry wore cuirasses in parade leading up to World War I. In the early part of that conflict, they painted their cuirasses black and wore canvas protection


title: Cuirass content: covers over the neo-Roman style helmets. Some years after Waterloo, certain historical cuirasses were taken from their repose in the Tower of London and adapted for service by the Life Guards and the Horse Guards. For parade purposes, the Prussian Gardes du Corps and other corps wore cuirasses of richly decorated leather. Cuirasses were manufactured in Japan as early as the 4th century. "Tankō", worn by foot soldiers and "keikō", worn by horsemen were both pre-samurai types of early Japanese cuirass constructed from iron plates connected by leather thongs. During the Heian period (794 to 1185), Japanese armourers started to


title: Cuirass content: use leather as a material and lacquer for weatherproofing. By the end of the Heian period, the Japanese cuirass had arrived at the shape recognized as part of iconic samurai armor. Scales of iron and leather, bound together by silk lace, were used to construct samurai armors. The introduction of firearms to Japan in 1543 resulted in the development of a cuirass constructed of solid iron plates. The use of the samurai cuirass lasted until the 1860s when a national army using conventional uniforms was established. Samurai armor (and cuirasses) were last used in 1877 during the Satsuma rebellion. Cuirass


title: Bailment content: bailee will incur liability in the taking of a bailment, in some cases effectively insuring the goods. Different jurisdictions maintain different standards of care. The old common law held a bailee strictly liable for the bailment. The exception to this rule was the case of involuntary bailments (see below), when the bailee is only held to a standard of due care. In many jurisdictions the system of strict liability has been replaced by a tiered system of liability that depends on the relationship of the bailee to the bailor. The bailee is generally expected to take reasonable precautions to safeguard


title: Biceps content: notable recent expansion upon Cheselden's recordings was written by Guillaume Duchenne in 1867, in a journal named "Physiology of Motion". To this day it remains one of the major references on supination action of the biceps brachii. In Neanderthals, the radial bicipital tuberosities were larger than in modern humans, which suggests they were probably able to use their biceps for supination over a wider range of pronation-supination. It is possible that they relied more on their biceps for forceful supination without the assistance of the supinator muscle like in modern humans, and thus that they used a different movement when


title: "Mixed martial arts" content: as they cross-trained in styles based around takedowns and submission holds. Likewise, those from the varying grappling styles added striking techniques to their arsenal. This increase of cross-training resulted in fighters becoming increasingly multidimensional and well-rounded in their skill-sets. The new hybridization of fighting styles can be seen in the technique of "ground and pound" developed by wrestling-based UFC pioneers such as Dan Severn, Don Frye and Mark Coleman. These wrestlers realized the need for the incorporation of strikes on the ground as well as on the feet, and incorporated ground striking into their grappling-based styles. Mark Coleman stated at


title: "Pontiac GTO" content: It involved transforming the upcoming second-generation Pontiac Tempest (which reverted to a conventional front-engine with front transmission configuration) into a sporty car, with a larger Pontiac V8 engine from the full-sized Pontiac Catalina and Bonneville in place of the standard V8. By promoting the big-engine option as a special high-performance model, they could appeal to the speed-minded youth market (which had also been recognized by Ford Motor Company's Lee Iacocca, who was at that time preparing the sporty Ford Mustang variant of the second generation Ford Falcon compact). The GTO disregarded GM's policy limiting the A-body intermediate line to a


title: "Muscle car" content: in the Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III of 1971, which was powered by a factory modified 351 Cleveland. Along with its GT and GTHO models, Ford, starting with the XW model in 1969, introduced a "sporty" GS model, available across the Falcon range. The basic GS came with a six-cylinder engine, but the and Windsor (replaced by the Cleveland engines for the XY) V8 engines were optional. Ford's larger, more luxurious Fairlane was also available with these engines and some were allegedly made with the same 4V Cleveland engine used in the XY GT. The XA GT was available in


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: Common brushtail possum The common brushtail possum ("Trichosurus vulpecula", from the Greek for "furry tailed" and the Latin for "little fox", previously in the genus "Phalangista") is a nocturnal, semi-arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, it is native to Australia, and the second largest of the possums. Like most possums, the common brushtail possum is nocturnal. It is mainly a folivore, but has been known to eat small mammals such as rats. In most Australian habitats, leaves of eucalyptus are a significant part of the diet but rarely the sole item eaten. The tail is prehensile and naked on its


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: lower underside. There are four colour variations: silver-grey, brown, black, and gold. It is the Australian marsupial most often seen by city-dwellers, as it is one of few that thrives in cities as well as a wide range of natural and human-modified environments. Around human habitations, common brushtails are inventive and determined foragers with a liking for fruit trees, vegetable gardens, and kitchen raids. The common brushtail possum was introduced to New Zealand in the 1850s to establish a fur industry, but in the mild subtropical climate of New Zealand, and with few to no natural predators, it thrived to


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: the extent that it became a major agricultural and conservation pest. The common brushtail possum has large and pointed ears. It has a bushy tail (hence its name) that is adapted to grasping branches, prehensile at the end with a hairless ventral patch. Its forefeet have sharp claws and the first toe of each hind foot is clawless but has a strong grasp. The possum grooms itself with the third and fourth toes which are fused together. It has a thick and woolly pelage that varies in colour depending on the subspecies. Colour patterns tend to be silver-gray, brown, black,


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: red or cream. The ventral areas are typically lighter and the tail is usually brown or black. The muzzle is marked with dark patches. The common brushtail possum has a head and body length of 32–58 cm with a tail length of 24–40 cm. It weighs 1.2-4.5 kg. Males are generally larger than females. In addition, the coat of the male tends to be reddish at the shoulders. As with most marsupials, the female brushtail possum has a forward-opening, well-developed pouch. The chest of both sexes has a scent gland that emits a reddish secretion which stains that fur around


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: it. It marks its territory with these secretions. The common brushtail possum is perhaps the most widespread marsupial of Australia. It is found throughout the eastern and northern parts of the continent, as well as some western regions, Tasmania and a number of offshore islands, such as Kangaroo Island and Barrow Island. It is also widespread in New Zealand since its introduction in 1840. The common brushtail possum can be found in a variety of habitats, such as forests, semiarid areas and even cultivated or urban areas. It is mostly a forest inhabiting species, however it is also found in


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: treeless areas. In New Zealand, possums favour broadleaf-podocarp near farmland pastures. In southern beech forests and pine plantations, possums are less common. Overall, brushtail possums are more densely populated in New Zealand than in their native Australia. This may be because Australia has more fragmented eucalypt forests and more predators. In Australia, brushtail possums are threatened by humans, tiger quolls, dogs, foxes, cats, goannas, carpet snakes and powerful owls. In New Zealand, brushtail possums are threatened only by humans and cats. The common brushtail possum can adapt to numerous kinds of vegetation. It prefers "Eucalyptus" leaves but will also eat


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: flowers, shoots, fruits and seeds. It may also consume animal matter such as insects, birds' eggs and chicks, and other small vertebrates. Brushtail possums may eat three or four different plant species during a foraging trip, unlike some other arboreal marsupials, such as the koala and the greater glider, which focus on single species. The brushtail possum's rounded molars cannot cut "Eucalyptus" leaves as finely as more specialised feeders. They are more adapted to crushing their food which enables them to chew fruit or herbs more effectively. The brushtail possums' caecum lacks internal ridges and cannot separate coarse and fine


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: particles as efficiently as some other arboreal marsupials. The brushtail possum cannot rely on "Eucalyptus" alone to provide sufficient nitrogen. Its more generalised and mixed diet, however, does provide adequate nitrogen. The common brushtail possum is largely arboreal and nocturnal. It has a mostly solitary lifestyle, and individuals keep their distance with scent markings (urinating) and vocalisations. Brushtail possums usually make their dens in natural places like tree hollows and caves but will also use spaces in the roofs of houses. While they sometimes share dens, brushtails normally sleep in separate dens. Individuals from New Zealand use many more den


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: sites than those from Australia. Brushtail possums compete with each other and other animals for den spaces and this contributes to their mortality. This is likely another reason why brushtail possum population densities are smaller in Australia than in New Zealand. Brushtail possums are usually not aggressive towards each other and usually just stare with erect ears. Brushtail possums vocalise with clicks, grunts, hisses, alarm chatters, guttural coughs and screeching. The common brushtail possum can breed at any time of the year, but breeding tends to peak in spring, from September to November, and in autumn, from March to May,


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: in some areas. Mating is promiscuous and random; some males can sire several young in a season while over half sire none. In one Queensland population, it apparently takes the males one month of consorting with females before they can mate with them. Females have a gestation period of 16–18 days, after which they give birth to single young. A newborn brushtail possum is only 1.5 cm long and weighs only 2 g. As usual for marsupials, the newborn brushtail possum may climb, unaided, through the female's fur and into the pouch and attach to a teat. The young develops


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: and remains inside the mother's pouch for another four or five months. When older, the young is left in the den or rides on its mother's back until it is seven to nine months old. Females reach sexual maturity when they are one year old, and males do so at the end of their second year. Female young have a higher survival rate than their male counterparts due to establishing their home ranges closer to their mothers, while males travel farther in search of new nesting sites, encountering pre-established territories from which they may be forcibly ejected. In the Orongorongo


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: population, female young have been found to continue to associate with their mothers after weaning, and some will inherit the prime den sites. There is possible competition between mothers and daughters for dens, and daughters may be excluded from a den occupied by the mother. In forests with shortages of den sites, females apparently produce more sons, which do not compete directly for den sites, while in forests with plentiful den sites, female young are greater in number. Brushtail possums can live up to 13 years in the wild. The common brushtail possum is considered a pest in some areas,


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: as it is known to cause damage to pine plantations, regenerative forest, flowers, fruit trees, and buildings. Like other possums, it is rather tolerant of humans and can sometimes be hand-fed, although it is not encouraged as their claws are quite sharp and can cause infection or disease to humans if scratched. It is a traditional food source for some indigenous Australians. Its fur has been considered valuable and has been harvested. Although once hunted extensively for its fur in Australia, the common brushtail possum is now protected in mainland states, but it has only been partially protected in Tasmania,


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: where there is an annual hunting season. In addition, Tasmania gives Crop Protection Permits to landowners whose property has been damaged. While its populations are declining in some regional areas due to habitat loss, urban populations indicate an adaptation to the presence of humans. In the mainland states, possum trapping is legal when attempting to evict possums from human residences (e.g. roofs), however possums must be released after dusk within 24 hours of capture, no more than 50 metres from the trapping site. In some states e.g. Victoria, trapped possums may be taken to registered veterinarians for euthanasia. In South


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: Australia, they are fully protected and permits are required for trapping possums in human residences or for keeping or rescuing sick or injured wild possums and other native animals. In New Zealand, the common brushtail possum is considered a major threat to New Zealand native forests and birds. European settlers introduced the common brushtail possum from Australia in the 1850s, and by the 1980s the peak population had reached an estimated 60-70 million. It is now an estimated 30 million due to control measures. There are no restrictions on hunting, but the population seems to be stable despite the annual


title: "Common brushtail possum" content: killing of the animals in the thousands. In New Zealand (but not Australia, where the disease has been eradicated) it is a host for the highly contagious bovine tuberculosis. The New Zealand Department of Conservation controls possum numbers in many areas via the aerial dropping of 1080-laced bait. Common brushtail possum The common brushtail possum ("Trichosurus vulpecula", from the Greek for "furry tailed" and the Latin for "little fox", previously in the genus "Phalangista") is a nocturnal, semi-arboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, it is native to Australia, and the second largest of the possums. Like most possums, the common


title: Starfish content: Starfish Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea. Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or "basket stars". About 1,500 species of starfish occur on the seabed in all the world's oceans, from the tropics to frigid polar waters. They are found from the intertidal zone down to abyssal depths, below the surface. Starfish are marine invertebrates. They typically have a central disc and five arms, though some species have a larger number of arms. The aboral or upper surface may be smooth,


title: Starfish content: granular or spiny, and is covered with overlapping plates. Many species are brightly coloured in various shades of red or orange, while others are blue, grey or brown. Starfish have tube feet operated by a hydraulic system and a mouth at the centre of the oral or lower surface. They are opportunistic feeders and are mostly predators on benthic invertebrates. Several species have specialized feeding behaviours including eversion of their stomachs and suspension feeding. They have complex life cycles and can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Most can regenerate damaged parts or lost arms and they can shed arms as


title: Starfish content: a means of defence. The Asteroidea occupy several significant ecological roles. Starfish, such as the ochre sea star ("Pisaster ochraceus") and the reef sea star ("Stichaster australis"), have become widely known as examples of the keystone species concept in ecology. The tropical crown-of-thorns starfish ("Acanthaster planci") is a voracious predator of coral throughout the Indo-Pacific region, and the northern Pacific sea star is considered to be one of the world's 100 worst invasive species. The fossil record for starfish is ancient, dating back to the Ordovician around 450 million years ago, but it is rather sparse, as starfish tend to


title: Starfish content: disintegrate after death. Only the ossicles and spines of the animal are likely to be preserved, making remains hard to locate. With their appealing symmetrical shape, starfish have played a part in literature, legend, design and popular culture. They are sometimes collected as curios, used in design or as logos, and in some cultures, despite possible toxicity, they are eaten. Most starfish have five arms that radiate from a central disc, but the number varies with the group. Some species have six or seven arms and others have 10–15 arms. The Antarctic "Labidiaster annulatus" can have over fifty. Having descended


title: Starfish content: from bilateral organisms, starfish move in a bilateral fashion, with certain arms acting like the front of the animal. The body wall consists of a thin cuticle, an epidermis consisting of a single layer of cells, a thick dermis formed of connective tissue and a thin coelomic myoepithelial layer, which provides the longitudinal and circular musculature. The dermis contains an endoskeleton of calcium carbonate components known as ossicles. These are honeycombed structures composed of calcite microcrystals arranged in a lattice. They vary in form, with some bearing external granules, tubercles and spines, but most are tabular plates that fit neatly


title: Starfish content: together in a tessellated manner and form the main covering of the aboral surface. Some are specialised structures such as the madreporite (the entrance to the water vascular system), pedicellariae and paxillae. Pedicellariae are compound ossicles with forceps-like jaws. They remove debris from the body surface and wave around on flexible stalks in response to physical or chemical stimuli while continually making biting movements. They often form clusters surrounding spines. Paxillae are umbrella-like structures found on starfish that live buried in sediment. The edges of adjacent paxillae meet to form a false cuticle with a water cavity beneath in which


title: Starfish content: the madreporite and delicate gill structures are protected. All the ossicles, including those projecting externally, are covered by the epidermal layer. Several groups of starfish, including Valvatida and Forcipulatida, possess pedicellariae. In Forcipulatida, such as "Asterias" and "Pisaster", they occur in pompom-like tufts at the base of each spine, whereas in the Goniasteridae, such as "Hippasteria phrygiana", the pedicellariae are scattered over the body surface. Some are thought to assist in defence, while others aid in feeding or in the removal of organisms attempting to settle on the starfish's surface. Some species like "Labidiaster annulatus", "Rathbunaster californicus" and "Novodinia antillensis"


title: Starfish content: use their large pedicellariae to capture small fish and crustaceans. There may also be papulae, thin-walled protrusions of the body cavity that reach through the body wall and extend into the surrounding water. These serve a respiratory function. The structures are supported by collagen fibres set at right angles to each other and arranged in a three-dimensional web with the ossicles and papulae in the interstices. This arrangement enables both easy flexion of the arms by the starfish and the rapid onset of stiffness and rigidity required for actions performed under stress. The water vascular system of the starfish is


title: Starfish content: a hydraulic system made up of a network of fluid-filled canals and is concerned with locomotion, adhesion, food manipulation and gas exchange. Water enters the system through the madreporite, a porous, often conspicuous, sieve-like ossicle on the aboral surface. It is linked through a stone canal, often lined with calcareous material, to a ring canal around the mouth opening. A set of radial canals leads off this; one radial canal runs along the ambulacral groove in each arm. There are short lateral canals branching off alternately to either side of the radial canal, each ending in an ampulla. These bulb-shaped


title: Starfish content: organs are joined to tube feet (podia) on the exterior of the animal by short linking canals that pass through ossicles in the ambulacral groove. There are usually two rows of tube feet but in some species, the lateral canals are alternately long and short and there appear to be four rows. The interior of the whole canal system is lined with cilia. When longitudinal muscles in the ampullae contract, valves in the lateral canals close and water is forced into the tube feet. These extend to contact the substrate. Although the tube feet resemble suction cups in appearance, the


title: Starfish content: gripping action is a function of adhesive chemicals rather than suction. Other chemicals and relaxation of the ampullae allow for release from the substrate. The tube feet latch on to surfaces and move in a wave, with one arm section attaching to the surface as another releases. Some starfish turn up the tips of their arms while moving which gives maximum exposure of the sensory tube feet and the eyespot to external stimuli. In some situations, particularly when hunting or in danger, starfish may move in a bilateral fashion. When crawling, some arms act as the leading arms, while others


title: Starfish content: trail behind. Most starfish cannot move quickly, a typical speed being that of the leather star ("Dermasterias imbricata"), which can manage just in a minute. Some burrowing species from the genera "Astropecten" and "Luidia" have points rather than suckers on their long tube feet and are capable of much more rapid motion, "gliding" across the ocean floor. The sand star ("Luidia foliolata") can travel at a speed of per minute. When a starfish finds itself upside down, two adjacent arms are bent backwards to provide support, the opposite arm is used to stamp the ground while the two remaining arms


title: Starfish content: are raised on either side; finally the stamping arm is released as the starfish turns itself over and recovers its normal stance. Apart from their function in locomotion, the tube feet act as accessory gills. The water vascular system serves to transport oxygen from, and carbon dioxide to, the tube feet and also nutrients from the gut to the muscles involved in locomotion. Fluid movement is bidirectional and initiated by cilia. Gas exchange also takes place through other gills known as papulae, which are thin-walled bulges on the aboral surface of the disc and arms. Oxygen is transferred from these


title: Starfish content: to the coelomic fluid, which acts as the transport medium for gasses. Oxygen dissolved in the water is distributed through the body mainly by the fluid in the main body cavity; the circulatory system may also play a minor role. The gut of a starfish occupies most of the disc and extends into the arms. The mouth is located in the centre of the oral surface, where it is surrounded by a tough peristomial membrane and closed with a sphincter. The mouth opens through a short oesophagus into a stomach divided by a constriction into a larger, eversible cardiac portion


title: Starfish content: and a smaller pyloric portion. The cardiac stomach is glandular and pouched, and is supported by ligaments attached to ossicles in the arms so it can be pulled back into position after it has been everted. The pyloric stomach has two extensions into each arm: the pyloric caeca. These are elongated, branched hollow tubes that are lined by a series of glands, which secrete digestive enzymes and absorb nutrients from the food. A short intestine and rectum run from the pyloric stomach to open at a small anus at the apex of the aboral surface of the disc. Primitive starfish,


title: Starfish content: such as "Astropecten" and "Luidia", swallow their prey whole, and start to digest it in their cardiac stomachs. Shell valves and other inedible materials are ejected through their mouths. The semi-digested fluid is passed into their pyloric stomachs and caeca where digestion continues and absorption ensues. In more advanced species of starfish, the cardiac stomach can be everted from the organism's body to engulf and digest food. When the prey is a clam or other bivalve, the starfish pulls with its tube feet to separate the two valves slightly, and inserts a small section of its stomach, which releases enzymes


title: Starfish content: to digest the prey. The stomach and the partially digested prey are later retracted into the disc. Here the food is passed on to the pyloric stomach, which always remains inside the disc. The retraction and contraction of the cardiac stomach is activated by a neuropeptide known as NGFFYamide. Because of this ability to digest food outside the body, starfish can hunt prey much larger than their mouths. Their diets include clams and oysters, arthropods, small fish and gastropod molluscs. Some starfish are not pure carnivores, supplementing their diets with algae or organic detritus. Some of these species are grazers,


title: Starfish content: but others trap food particles from the water in sticky mucus strands that are swept towards the mouth along ciliated grooves. The main nitrogenous waste product is ammonia. Starfish have no distinct excretory organs; waste ammonia is removed by diffusion through the tube feet and papulae. The body fluid contains phagocytic cells, coelomocytes, which are also found within the hemal and water vascular systems. These cells engulf waste material, and eventually migrate to the tips of the papulae, where a portion of body wall is nipped off and ejected into the surrounding water. Some waste may also be excreted by


title: Starfish content: the pyloric glands and voided with the faeces. Starfish do not appear to have any mechanisms for osmoregulation, and keep their body fluids at the same salt concentration as the surrounding water. Although some species can tolerate relatively low salinity, the lack of an osmoregulation system probably explains why starfish are not found in fresh water or even in many estuarine environments. Although starfish do not have many well-defined sense organs, they are sensitive to touch, light, temperature, orientation and the status of the water around them. The tube feet, spines and pedicellariae are sensitive to touch. The tube feet,


title: Starfish content: especially those at the tips of the rays, are also sensitive to chemicals, enabling the starfish to detect odour sources such as food. There are eyespots at the ends of the arms, each one made of 80–200 simple ocelli. These are composed of pigmented epithelial cells that respond to light and are covered by a thick, transparent cuticle that both protects the ocelli and acts to focus light. Many starfish also possess individual photoreceptor cells in other parts of their bodies and respond to light even when their eyespots are covered. Whether they advance or retreat depends on the species.


title: Starfish content: While a starfish lacks a centralized brain, it has a complex nervous system with a nerve ring around the mouth and a radial nerve running along the ambulacral region of each arm parallel to the radial canal. The peripheral nerve system consists of two nerve nets: a sensory system in the epidermis and a motor system in the lining of the coelomic cavity. Neurons passing through the dermis connect the two. The ring nerves and radial nerves have sensory and motor components and coordinate the starfish's balance and directional systems. The sensory component receives input from the sensory organs while


title: Starfish content: the motor nerves control the tube feet and musculature. The starfish does not have the capacity to plan its actions. If one arm detects an attractive odour, it becomes dominant and temporarily over-rides the other arms to initiate movement towards the prey. The mechanism for this is not fully understood. The body cavity contains the circulatory or haemal system. The vessels form three rings: one around the mouth (the hyponeural haemal ring), another around the digestive system (the gastric ring) and the third near the aboral surface (the genital ring). The heart beats about six times a minute and is


title: Starfish content: at the apex of a vertical channel (the axial vessel) that connects the three rings. At the base of each arm are paired gonads; a lateral vessel extends from the genital ring past the gonads to the tip of the arm. This vessel has a blind end and there is no continuous circulation of the fluid within it. This liquid does not contain a pigment and has little or no respiratory function but is probably used to transport nutrients around the body. Starfish produce a large number of secondary metabolites in the form of lipids, including steroidal derivatives of cholesterol,


title: Starfish content: and fatty acid amides of sphingosine. The steroids are mostly saponins, known as asterosaponins, and their sulphated derivatives. They vary between species and are typically formed from up to six sugar molecules (usually glucose and galactose) connected by up to three glycosidic chains. Long-chain fatty acid amides of sphingosine occur frequently and some of them have known pharmacological activity. Various ceramides are also known from starfish and a small number of alkaloids have also been identified. The functions of these chemicals in the starfish have not been fully investigated but most have roles in defence and communication. Some are feeding


title: Starfish content: deterrents used by the starfish to discourage predation. Others are antifoulants and supplement the pedicellariae to prevent other organisms from settling on the starfish's aboral surface. Some are alarm pheromones and escape-eliciting chemicals, the release of which trigger responses in conspecific starfish but often produce escape responses in potential prey. Research into the efficacy of these compounds for possible pharmacological or industrial use occurs worldwide. Most species of starfish are gonochorous, there being separate male and female individuals. These are usually not distinguishable externally as the gonads cannot be seen, but their sex is apparent when they spawn. Some species


title: Starfish content: are simultaneous hermaphrodites, producing eggs and sperm at the same time and in a few of these, the same gonad, called an ovotestis, produces both eggs and sperm. Other starfish are sequential hermaphrodites. Protandrous individuals of species like "Asterina gibbosa" start life as males before changing sex into females as they grow older. In some species such as "Nepanthia belcheri", a large female can split in half and the resulting offspring are males. When these grow large enough they change back into females. Each starfish arm contains two gonads that release gametes through openings called gonoducts, located on the central


title: Starfish content: disc between the arms. Fertilization is generally external but in a few species, internal fertilization takes place. In most species, the buoyant eggs and sperm are simply released into the water (free spawning) and the resulting embryos and larvae live as part of the plankton. In others, the eggs may be stuck to the undersides of rocks. In certain species of starfish, the females brood their eggs – either by simply enveloping them or by holding them in specialised structures. Brooding may be done in pockets on the starfish's aboral surface, inside the pyloric stomach ("Leptasterias tenera") or even in


title: Starfish content: the interior of the gonads themselves. Those starfish that brood their eggs by "sitting" on them usually assume a humped posture with their discs raised off the substrate. "Pteraster militaris" broods a few of its young and disperses the remaining eggs, that are too numerous to fit into its pouch. In these brooding species, the eggs are relatively large, and supplied with yolk, and they generally develop directly into miniature starfish without an intervening larval stage. The developing young are called lecithotrophic because they obtain their nutrition from the yolk as opposed to "planktotrophic" larvae that feed in the water


title: Starfish content: column. In "Parvulastra parvivipara", an intragonadal brooder, the young starfish obtain nutrients by eating other eggs and embryos in the brood pouch. Brooding is especially common in polar and deep-sea species that live in environments unfavourable for larval development and in smaller species that produce just a few eggs. In the tropics, a plentiful supply of phytoplankton is continuously available for starfish larvae to feed on. Spawning takes place at any time of year, each species having its own characteristic breeding season. In temperate regions, the spring and summer brings an increase in food supplies. The first individual of a


title: Starfish content: species to spawn may release a pheromone that serves to attract other starfish to aggregate and to release their gametes synchronously. In other species, a male and female may come together and form a pair. This behaviour is called pseudocopulation and the male climbs on top, placing his arms between those of the female. When she releases eggs into the water, he is induced to spawn. Starfish may use environmental signals to coordinate the time of spawning (day length to indicate the correct time of the year, dawn or dusk to indicate the correct time of day), and chemical signals


title: Starfish content: to indicate their readiness to breed. In some species, mature females produce chemicals to attract sperm in the sea water. Most starfish embryos hatch at the blastula stage. The original ball of cells develops a lateral pouch, the archenteron. The entrance to this is known as the blastopore and it will later develop into the anus. Another invagination of the surface will fuse with the tip of the archenteron as the mouth while the interior section will become the gut. At the same time, a band of cilia develops on the exterior. This enlarges and extends around the surface and


title: Starfish content: eventually onto two developing arm-like outgrowths. At this stage the larva is known as a bipinnaria. The cilia are used for locomotion and feeding, their rhythmic beat wafting phytoplankton towards the mouth. The next stage in development is a brachiolaria larva and involves the growth of three short, additional arms. These are at the anterior end, surround a sucker and have adhesive cells at their tips. Both bipinnaria and brachiolaria larvae are bilaterally symmetrical. When fully developed, the brachiolaria settles on the seabed and attaches itself with a short stalk formed from the ventral arms and sucker. Metamorphosis now takes


title: Starfish content: place with a radical rearrangement of tissues. The left side of the larval body becomes the oral surface of the juvenile and the right side the aboral surface. Part of the gut is retained but the mouth and anus move to new positions. Some of the body cavities degenerate but others become the water vascular system and the visceral coelom. The starfish is now pentaradially symmetrical. It casts off its stalk and becomes a free-living juvenile starfish about in diameter. Starfish of the order Paxillosida have no brachiolaria stage, with the bipinnaria larvae settling on the seabed and developing directly


title: Starfish content: into juveniles. Some species of starfish are able to reproduce asexually as adults either by fission of their central discs or by autotomy of one or more of their arms. Which of these processes occurs depends on the genus. Among starfish that are able to regenerate their whole body from a single arm, some can do so even from fragments just long. Single arms that regenerate a whole individual are called comet forms. The division of the starfish, either across its disc or at the base of the arm, is usually accompanied by a weakness in the structure that provides


title: Starfish content: a fracture zone. The larvae of several species of starfish can reproduce asexually before they reach maturity. They do this by autotomising some parts of their bodies or by budding. When such a larva senses that food is plentiful, it takes the path of asexual reproduction rather than normal development. Though this costs it time and energy and delays maturity, it allows a single larva to give rise to multiple adults when the conditions are appropriate. Some species of starfish have the ability to regenerate lost arms and can regrow an entire new limb given time. A few can regrow


title: Starfish content: a complete new disc from a single arm, while others need at least part of the central disc to be attached to the detached part. Regrowth can take several months or years, and starfish are vulnerable to infections during the early stages after the loss of an arm. A separated limb lives off stored nutrients until it regrows a disc and mouth and is able to feed again. Other than fragmentation carried out for the purpose of reproduction, the division of the body may happen inadvertently due to part being detached by a predator, or part may be actively shed


title: Starfish content: by the starfish in an escape response. The loss of parts of the body is achieved by the rapid softening of a special type of connective tissue in response to nervous signals. This type of tissue is called catch connective tissue and is found in most echinoderms. An autotomy-promoting factor has been identified which, when injected into another starfish, causes rapid shedding of arms. The lifespan of a starfish varies considerably between species, generally being longer in larger forms and in those with planktonic larvae. For example, "Leptasterias hexactis" broods a small number of large-yolked eggs. It has an adult


title: Starfish content: weight of , reaches sexual maturity in two years and lives for about ten years. "Pisaster ochraceus" releases a large number of eggs into the sea each year and has an adult weight of up to . It reaches maturity in five years and has a maximum recorded lifespan of 34 years. Echinoderms, including starfish, maintain a delicate internal electrolyte balance that is in equilibrium with sea water. This means that it is only possible for them to live in a marine environment and they are not found in any freshwater habitats. Starfish species inhabit all of the world's oceans.


title: Starfish content: Habitats range from tropical coral reefs, rocky shores, tidal pools, mud, and sand to kelp forests, seagrass meadows and the deep-sea floor down to at least . The greatest diversity of species occurs in coastal areas. Most species are generalist predators, eating microalgae, sponges, bivalves, snails and other small animals. The crown-of-thorns starfish consumes coral polyps, while other species are detritivores, feeding on decomposing organic material and faecal matter. A few are suspension feeders, gathering in phytoplankton; "Henricia" and "Echinaster" often occur in association with sponges, benefiting from the water current they produce. Various species have been shown to be


title: Starfish content: able to absorb organic nutrients from the surrounding water, and this may form a significant portion of their diet. The processes of feeding and capture may be aided by special parts; "Pisaster brevispinus", the short-spined pisaster from the West Coast of America, can use a set of specialized tube feet to dig itself deep into the soft substrate to extract prey (usually clams). Grasping the shellfish, the starfish slowly pries open the prey's shell by wearing out its adductor muscle, and then inserts its everted stomach into the crack to digest the soft tissues. The gap between the valves need


title: Starfish content: only be a fraction of a millimetre wide for the stomach to gain entry. Starfish are keystone species in their respective marine communities. Their relatively large sizes, diverse diets and ability to adapt to different environments makes them ecologically important. The term "keystone species" was in fact first used by Robert Paine in 1966 to describe a starfish, "Pisaster ochraceus". When studying the low intertidal coasts of Washington state, Paine found that predation by "P. ochraceus" was a major factor in the diversity of species. Experimental removals of this top predator from a stretch of shoreline resulted in lower species


title: Starfish content: diversity and the eventual domination of "Mytilus" mussels, which were able to outcompete other organisms for space and resources. Similar results were found in a 1971 study of "Stichaster australis" on the intertidal coast of the South Island of New Zealand. "S. australis" was found to have removed most of a batch of transplanted mussels within two or three months of their placement, while in an area from which "S. australis" had been removed, the mussels increased in number dramatically, overwhelming the area and threatening biodiversity. The feeding activity of the omnivorous starfish "Oreaster reticulatus" on sandy and seagrass bottoms


title: Starfish content: in the Virgin Islands appears to regulate the diversity, distribution and abundance of microorganisms. These starfish engulf piles of sediment removing the surface films and algae adhering to the particles. Organisms that dislike this disturbance are replaced by others better able to rapidly recolonise "clean" sediment. In addition, foraging by these migratory starfish creates diverse patches of organic matter, which may play a role in the distribution and abundance of organisms such as fish, crabs and sea urchins that feed on the sediment. Starfish sometimes have negative effects on ecosystems. Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish have caused damage to coral reefs


title: Starfish content: in Northeast Australia and French Polynesia. A study in Polynesia found that coral cover declined drastically with the arrival of migratory starfish in 2006, dropping from 50% to under 5% in three years. This had an unintended effect on reef-feeding fish and the whole benthic community. "Asterias amurensis" is one of a few echinoderm invasive species. Its larvae likely arrived in Tasmania from central Japan via water discharged from ships in the 1980s. The species has since grown in numbers to the point where they threaten commercially important bivalve populations. As such, they are considered pests, and are on the


title: Starfish content: Invasive Species Specialist Group's list of the world's 100 worst invasive species. Starfish may be preyed on by conspecifics, other starfish species, tritons, crabs, fish, gulls and sea otters. Their first lines of defence are the saponins present in their body walls, which have unpleasant flavours. Some starfish such as "Astropecten polyacanthus" also include powerful toxins such as tetrodotoxin among their chemical armoury, and the slime star can ooze out large quantities of repellent mucus. They also have body armour in the form of hard plates and spines. The crown-of-thorns starfish is particularly unattractive to potential predators, being heavily defended


title: Starfish content: by sharp spines, laced with toxins and sometimes with bright warning colours. Other species protect their vulnerable tube feet and arm tips by lining their ambulacral grooves with spines and heavily plating their extremities. Several species sometimes suffer from a wasting condition caused by bacteria in the genus "Vibrio"; however, a more widespread wasting disease, causing mass mortalities among starfish, appears sporadically. A paper published in November 2014 revealed the most likely cause of this disease to be a densovirus the authors named sea star-associated densovirus (SSaDV). The protozoan "Orchitophrya stellarum" is known to infect the gonads of starfish and


title: Starfish content: damage tissue. Starfish are vulnerable to high temperatures. Experiments have shown that the feeding and growth rates of "P. ochraceus" reduce greatly when their body temperatures rise above and that they die when their temperature rises to . This species has a unique ability to absorb seawater to keep itself cool when it is exposed to sunlight by a receding tide. It also appears to rely on its arms to absorb heat, so as to protect the central disc and vital organs like the stomach. Starfish and other echinoderms are sensitive to marine pollution. The common starfish is considered to


title: Starfish content: be a bioindicator for marine ecosystems. A 2009 study found that "P. ochraceus" is unlikely to be affected by ocean acidification as severely as other marine animals with calcareous skeletons. In other groups, structures made of calcium carbonate are vulnerable to dissolution when the pH is lowered. Researchers found that when "P. ochraceus" were exposed to and 770 ppm carbon dioxide (beyond rises expected in the next century), they were relatively unaffected. Their survival is likely due to the nodular nature of their skeletons, which are able to compensate for a shortage of carbonate by growing more fleshy tissue. Echinoderms


title: Starfish content: first appeared in the fossil record in the Cambrian. The first known asterozoans were the Somasteroidea, which exhibit characteristics of both groups. Starfish are infrequently found as fossils, possibly because their hard skeletal components separate as the animal decays. Despite this, there are a few places where accumulations of complete skeletal structures occur, fossilized in place in Lagerstätten — so-called "starfish beds". By the late Paleozoic, the crinoids and blastoids were the predominant echinoderms, and some limestones from this period are made almost entirely from fragments from these groups. In the two major extinction events that occurred during the late


title: Starfish content: Devonian and late Permian, the blastoids were wiped out and only a few species of crinoids survived. Many starfish species also became extinct in these events, but afterwards the surviving few species diversified rapidly within about sixty million years during the Early Jurassic and the beginning of the Middle Jurassic. A 2012 study found that speciation in starfish can occur rapidly. During the last 6,000 years, divergence in the larval development of "Cryptasterina hystera" and "Cryptasterina pentagona" has taken place, the former adopting internal fertilization and brooding and the latter remaining a broadcast spawner. The scientific name Asteroidea was given


title: Starfish content: to starfish by the French zoologist de Blainville in 1830. It is derived from the Greek "aster", ἀστήρ (a star) and the Greek "eidos", εἶδος (form, likeness, appearance). The class Asteroidea belongs to the phylum Echinodermata. As well as the starfish, the echinoderms include sea urchins, sand dollars, brittle and basket stars, sea cucumbers and crinoids. The larvae of echinoderms have bilateral symmetry, but during metamorphosis this is replaced with radial symmetry, typically pentameric. Adult echinoderms are characterized by having a water vascular system with external tube feet and a calcareous endoskeleton consisting of ossicles connected by a mesh of


title: Starfish content: collagen fibres. Starfish are included in the subphylum Asterozoa, the characteristics of which include a flattened, star-shaped body as adults consisting of a central disc and multiple radiating arms. The subphylum includes the two classes of Asteroidea, the starfish, and Ophiuroidea, the brittle stars and basket stars. Asteroids have broad-based arms with skeletal support provided by calcareous plates in the body wall while ophiuroids have clearly demarcated slender arms strengthened by paired fused ossicles forming jointed "vertebrae". The starfish are a large and diverse class with about 1,500 living species. There are seven extant orders, Brisingida, Forcipulatida, Notomyotida, Paxillosida, Spinulosida,


title: Starfish content: Valvatida and Velatida and two extinct ones, Calliasterellidae and Trichasteropsida. Living asteroids, the Neoasteroidea, are morphologically distinct from their forerunners in the Paleozoic. The taxonomy of the group is relatively stable but there is ongoing debate about the status of the Paxillosida, and the deep-water sea daisies, though clearly Asteroidea and currently included in Velatida, do not fit easily in any accepted lineage. Phylogenetic data suggests that they may be a sister group, the Concentricycloidea, to the Neoasteroidea, or that the Velatida themselves may be a sister group. Extinct groups within the Asteroidea include: Starfish are deuterostome animals, like the


title: Starfish content: chordates. A 2014 analysis of 219 genes from all classes of echinoderms gives the following phylogenetic tree. The times at which the clades diverged is shown under the labels in millions of years ago (mya). The phylogeny of the Asteroidea has been difficult to resolve, with visible (morphological) features proving inadequate, and the question of whether traditional taxa are clades in doubt. The phylogeny proposed by Gale in 1987 is: The phylogeny proposed by Blake in 1987 is: Later work making use of molecular evidence, with or without the use of morphological evidence, had by 2000 failed to resolve the


title: Starfish content: argument. In 2011, on further molecular evidence, Janies and colleagues noted that the phylogeny of the echinoderms "has proven difficult", and that "the overall phylogeny of extant echinoderms remains sensitive to the choice of analytical methods". They presented a phylogenetic tree for the living Asteroidea only; using the traditional names of starfish orders where possible, and indicating "part of" otherwise, the phylogeny is shown below. The Solasteridae are split from the Velatida, and the old Spinulosida is broken up. Starfish are deuterostomes, closely related, together with all other echinoderms, to chordates, and are used in reproductive and developmental studies. Female


title: Starfish content: starfish produce large numbers of oocytes that are easily isolated; these can be stored in a pre-meiosis phase and stimulated to complete division by the use of 1-methyladenine. Starfish oocytes are well suited for this research as they are large and easy to handle, transparent, simple to maintain in sea water at room temperature, and they develop rapidly. "Asterina pectinifera", used as a model organism for this purpose, is resilient and easy to breed and maintain in the laboratory. Another area of research is the ability of starfish to regenerate lost body parts. The stem cells of adult humans are


title: Starfish content: incapable of much differentiation and understanding the regrowth, repair and cloning processes in starfish may have implications for human medicine. Starfish also have an unusual ability to expel foreign objects from their bodies, which makes them difficult to tag for research tracking purposes. An aboriginal Australian fable retold by the Welsh school headmaster William Jenkyn Thomas (1870–1959) tells how some animals needed a canoe to cross the ocean. Whale had one but refused to lend it, so Starfish kept him busy, telling him stories and grooming him to remove parasites, while the others stole the canoe. When Whale realized the


title: Starfish content: trick he beat Starfish ragged, which is how Starfish still is today. In 1900, the scholar Edward Tregear documented "The Creation Song", which he describes as "an ancient prayer for the dedication of a high chief" of Hawaii. Among the "uncreated gods" described early in the song are the male Kumilipo ("Creation") and the female Poele, both born in the night, a coral insect, the earthworm, and the starfish. Georg Eberhard Rumpf's 1705 "The Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet" describes the tropical varieties of "Stella Marina" or "Bintang Laut", "Sea Star", in Latin and Malay respectively, known in the waters around Ambon.


title: Starfish content: He writes that the "Histoire des Antilles" reports that when the sea stars "see thunder storms approaching, [they] grab hold of many small stones with their little legs, looking to ... hold themselves down as if with anchors". "Starfish" is the title of novels by Peter Watts and Jennie Orbell, and in 2012, Alice Addison wrote a non-fiction book titled "Starfish - A year in the life of bereavement and depression". "The Starfish and the Spider" is a 2006 business management book by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom; its title alludes to the ability of the starfish to regenerate itself


title: Starfish content: because of its decentralized nervous system, and the book suggests ways that a decentralized organisation may flourish. In his 2002 book "The Divine Mystery Fort", Sri Sai Kaleshwar Swami wrote, "An eighth type of supernatural power object is a starfish. Sometimes at the full moon time, when the moon is really dazzling and hitting on the ocean, a starfish jumps out of the water and falls down. If you can get that you can suck unbelievable cosmic energy. You can use it as your own power object. It has to be only on the full moon day when it comes


title: Starfish content: up." In the Nickelodeon animated television series "SpongeBob SquarePants", the eponymous character's best friend is a dim-witted starfish, Patrick Star. Starfish are widespread in the oceans, but are only occasionally used as food. There may be good reason for this: the bodies of numerous species are dominated by bony ossicles, and the body wall of many species contains saponins, which have an unpleasant taste, and others contain tetrodotoxins which are poisonous. Some species that prey on bivalve molluscs can transmit paralytic shellfish poisoning. Georg Eberhard Rumpf found few starfish being used for food in the Indonesian archipelago, other than as


title: Starfish content: bait in fish traps, but on the island of "Huamobel" the people cut them up, squeeze out the "black blood" and cook them with sour tamarind leaves; after resting the pieces for a day or two, they remove the outer skin and cook them in coconut milk. Starfish are sometimes eaten in China, Japan and in Micronesia. Starfish are in some cases taken from their habitat and sold to tourists as souvenirs, ornaments, curios or for display in aquariums. In particular, "Oreaster reticulatus", with its easily accessed habitat and conspicuous coloration, is widely collected in the Caribbean. In the early


title: Starfish content: to mid 20th century, this species was common along the coasts of the West Indies, but collection and trade have severely reduced its numbers. In the State of Florida, "O. reticulatus" is listed as endangered and its collection is illegal. Nevertheless, it is still sold throughout its range and beyond. A similar phenomenon exists in the Indo-Pacific for species such as "Protoreaster nodosus". With its multiple arms, the starfish provides a popular metaphor for computer networks, companies and software tools. It is also the name of a seabed imaging system and company. Starfish has repeatedly been chosen as a name


title: Starfish content: in military history. Three ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name "HMS Starfish": an A-class destroyer launched in 1894; an R-class destroyer launched in 1916; and an S-class submarine launched in 1933 and lost in 1940. In the World War II, Starfish sites were large-scale night-time decoys created during The Blitz to simulate burning British cities. Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States on 9 July 1962. Starfish Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea. Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are


title: "Nigel Mansell" content: from the opening rounds despite claiming pole. In the third race at Imola tragedy struck as Senna was killed in a crash on the Tamburello curve. Mansell took over the car Senna was brought in to drive toward the end of the 1994 campaign. Mansell was paid approximately £900,000 per race, compared to his teammate Hill being paid £300,000 for the entire season. Mansell's return was helped by Bernie Ecclestone helping unravel his contracts in the United States. It was important for F1 to have a world champion driving that season and with worldwide TV viewing figures starting to decline,


title: "Donoghue v Stevenson" content: applied to Donoghue. Lord Thankerton further argued that it was impossible "to catalogue finally, amid the ever-varying types of human relationships, those relationships in which a duty to exercise care arises apart from contract" and commented that he "should be sorry to think that the meticulous care of the manufacturer to exclude interference or inspection by the [seller] should relieve the [seller] of any responsibility to the consumer without any corresponding assumption of duty by the manufacturer". Lord Macmillan examined previous cases and held that "the law takes no cognisance of carelessness in the abstract. It concerns itself with carelessness