S Flashcards
Salinity
The salt content of a liquid
Sea water salinity is about 3.5%
Saltmarch
Community of plants rooted in soils that are alternately flooded and drained by tides
Scales
Thin, overlapping flat plates that form a protective outer covering on fishes, reptiles and the legs of birds
Scavenger
An animal that eats dead plants or animals
Schooling
Several to hundreds of fishes swimming together in a very coordinated manner
Scrimshaw
Decorative carving of walrus tusks and whales teeth and bones
Sessile
Stationary, attached to the substrate
Sexual dimorphism
A distinct difference in appearance between males and females of the same species
Skate
An egg laying fish with a cartilaginous skeleton, broad flat body and pointed snout
Slough
A marshland or tidal waterway
Sounding
A whales long, deep dive, usually taken after a series of shallow surface dives
Species
Plants or animals that are similar to each other and breed only with one another
Spiracle
A small gill opening, just behind the eye, in some sharks and all skates and rays
Spout
A whales blow, or exhaled breath at the surface of the water
Spring tides
Tides during the new and full moon when the sun, moon and earth are all in line. There is the most difference between high and low tides
Spyhopping
The whales act of raising its head vertically above the water, possibly to look around or navigate by coastline
Stipe
The stem like part of a kelp plant connecting the holdfast to the blades
Submarine canyon
A long narrow steep walled undersea valley
Submersible
A submarine vehicle used in oceanographic studies
Substrate
A surface, the material on which organisms live on and in. Like rock, sand, mud, pilings and shells etc.
Subtidal
Below the intertidal or below the level of the lowest tide
Surfline
The are near the shore where the waves break
Suspension feeder
An animal that filters out detritus or other particles suspended in the water
Swimbladder
a gas or oil filled sac found in many fishes that helps provide buoyancy
