The gray whale, also known as the grey whale, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of 14.9 meters (49 ft), a weight of up to 41 tonnes (90,000 lb) and lives between 55 and 70 years, although one female was estimated to be 75–80 years of age. The common name of the whale comes from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin. Gray whales were once called devil fish because of their fighting behavior when hunted. The gray whale is the sole living species in the genus Eschrichtius. It is the sole living genus in the family Eschrichtiidae, however some recent studies classify it as a member of the family Balaenopteridae. This mammal is descended from filter-feeding whales that appeared during the Neogene.
Cercidiphyllum is a genus containing two species of plants, both commonly called katsura. They are the sole members of the monotypic family Cercidiphyllaceae. The genus is native to Japan and China and unrelated to Cercis (redbuds).
Pikaia gracilens is an extinct, primitive chordate animal known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia. Described in 1911 by Charles Doolittle Walcott as an annelid, and in 1979 by Harry B. Whittington and Simon Conway Morris as a chordate, it became "the most famous early chordate fossil", or "famously known as the earliest described Cambrian chordate". It is estimated to have lived during the latter period of the Cambrian explosion. Since its initial discovery, more than a hundred specimens have been recovered.
Styphnolobium is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It includes nine species of small trees and shrubs native to China and to the Americas, from the southern United States to Colombia. It belongs to subfamily Faboideae, and was formerly included within a broader interpretation of the genus Sophora. It was recently assigned to the unranked, monophyletic Cladrastis clade. They differ from the genus Calia (mescalbeans) in having deciduous leaves and flowers in axillary, not terminal, racemes. The leaves are pinnate, with 9–21 leaflets, and the flowers in pendulous racemes similar to those of the black locust. Necklacepod is a common name for plants in this genus.
The lancelets, also known as amphioxi, consist of some 30 to 35 species of "fish-like" benthic filter feeding chordates in the subphylum Cephalochordata, class Leptocardii, and family Branchiostomatidae.
Longyan is a prefecture-level city in south-western Fujian Province, China, bordering Guangdong to the south and Jiangxi to the west.
The skipjack tuna is a perciform fish in the tuna family, Scombridae, and is the only member of the genus Katsuwonus. It is also known as katsuo, arctic bonito, mushmouth, oceanic bonito, striped tuna or victor fish. It grows up to 1 m (3 ft) in length. It is a cosmopolitan pelagic fish found in tropical and warm-temperate waters. It is a very important species for fisheries.
Schistosoma japonicum is an important parasite and one of the major infectious agents of schistosomiasis. This parasite has a very wide host range, infecting at least 31 species of wild mammals, including nine carnivores, 16 rodents, one primate (human), two insectivores and three artiodactyls and therefore it can be considered a true zoonosis. Travelers should be well-aware of where this parasite might be a problem and how to prevent the infection. S. japonicum occurs in the Far East, such as China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
Mytilopsis sallei, the black-striped mussel, is a small marine bivalve mollusc in the family Dreissenidae, the false mussels.
Branchiostoma is one of the few living genera of lancelets. It is the type genus of family Branchiostomatidae.
Inimicus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes, it is one of two genera in the tribe Choridactylini, one of the three tribes which are classified within the subfamily Synanceiinae within the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. These venomous, benthic fishes are found on sandy or silty substrates of lagoon and seaward reefs, in coastal regions of tropical oceans. The ten described species are collectively known by various common names, including ghoul, goblinfish, sea goblin, spiny devilfish, stinger, and stingfish.
Branchiostoma lanceolatum, the European lancelet or Mediterranean amphioxus is a lancelet in the subphylum Cephalochordata. It is a marine invertebrate with a notochord but no backbone and is used as a model organism to study the evolutionary development of vertebrates.
The East Asian finless porpoise is a species of porpoise native to the East China Sea, Yellow Sea, and the seas around Japan. The Yangtze finless porpoise was formerly considered a subspecies, but is now thought to be a distinct species.
Gaoji Causeway is a 2,212-meter-long causeway in Xiamen, Fujian, China. It links Gaoqi in downtown Xiamen Island across the Xiamen Bay to Jimei District on the mainland. It used to serve as a road and rail link, as well as water piping into Xiamen Island. In order to improve the water quality around Xiamen Island, part of the causeway was blasted off and removed, replaced by bridge, and it would serve only as road link. Completed in 1955, along with Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, the causeway is considered one of the major construction projects in the early years of the People's Republic of China. It remained Xiamen Island's sole link with the mainland until 1991. The Gaoji Causeway has a museum devoted to its construction and history founded in 2013.
In biology, solenocytes are elongated, flagellated cells commonly found in lower invertebrates, such as flatworms, chordates and several other animal species. In terms of function, solenocytes play a significant role in the excretory systems of their host organism(s). For example, the lancelets, also referred to as amphioxus, utilize solenocytic protonephridia to perform excretion. In addition to excretion, these cells contribute to ion regulation and osmoregulation. With this in mind, solenocytes form subtypes of protonephridium and are often compared to another specialized excretory cell type, i.e., flame cells. Solenocytes have flagella, while flame cells are generally ciliated.
Acropoma japonicum, the glowbelly, is a fish species in the family Acropomatidae found in the Indo-West Pacific. It is a benthopelagic predatory fish with a bioluminescent organ on its ventral surface. The glowbelly is an important food fish in some areas.
Peucedanum japonicum, also known as coastal hog fennel, is a species of Peucedanum, a genus rich in medicinal species belonging to the parsley family, Apiaceae.
Branchiostoma bennetti, the mud lancelet, is a lancelet of the genus Branchiostoma endemic to the Gulf of Mexico, where it is found in the northern part.
Cirsium japonicum var. japonicum is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a perennial thistle native to Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. It is a variety of Cirsium japonicum, and is known by many synonyms. In Chinese it is known as the Yushan thistle, named for Yushan mountain on Taiwan.
Amphioxus or lancelets (Branchiostoma) are members of the Chordata phylum of which all members have a notochord at some point while they are alive. B. belcheri have a notochord, dorsal nerve cord, pharynx, buccal cavity, cirri, tail, dorsal fin, nerve cord, segmented muscle, and ocelli. They are distinguishable by a slightly round dorsal fin, eighty slender preanal fin-chambers, narrow caudal fin, and obtuse angles between fins. They obtain food by filter feeding. They were first reported in 1897 near the Amakusa Islands, specifically off Goshonoura Island, south of Amakusa-Kamishima Island. These islands are located on the west coast of Kyushu, the island furthest south of the four main isles of Japan. In addition to the location of the siting, information regarding reproductive period and morphology was also obtained. B. belcheri are gonochoric, reproducing via external fertilization. B. belcheri are an endangered species, threatened by the influx of pollutants of land-based origin into the sea such as cleaning agents, chemical waste, garbage, mining waste, pesticides, petroleum products, and sewage.
