Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the order Sphenisciformes of the family Spheniscidae. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapted for life in the ocean water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage and flippers for swimming. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid and other forms of sea life which they catch with their bills and swallow whole while swimming. A penguin has a spiny tongue and powerful jaws to grip slippery prey.
Sturgeon is the common name for the 28 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish, which date back to the Early Jurassic period, some 174 to 201 million years ago. They are one of two living families of the Acipenseriformes alongside paddlefish (Polyodontidae). The family is grouped into four genera: Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus, and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. Two species may be extinct in the wild, and one may be entirely extinct. Sturgeons are native to subtropical, temperate and sub-Arctic rivers, lakes and coastlines of Eurasia and North America. A Maastrichtian-age fossil found in Morocco shows that they also once lived in Africa.
Peter Leopold von Schrenck was a Russian zoologist, geographer and ethnographer.
The sitatunga or marshbuck is a swamp-dwelling medium-sized antelope found throughout central Africa, centering on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, parts of Southern Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Ghana, Botswana, Rwanda, Zambia, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. The sitatunga is mostly confined to swampy and marshy habitats. Here they occur in tall and dense vegetation as well as seasonal swamps, marshy clearings in forests, riparian thickets and mangrove swamps.
The bronze-winged duck also known as the spectacled duck, is a dabbling duck and the sole member of its genus Speculanas. It is often placed in Anas with most other dabbling ducks, but its closest relative is either the crested duck or the Brazilian duck, which likewise form monotypic genera. Together they belong to a South American lineage which diverged early from the other dabbling ducks and may include the steamer ducks.
The kaluga, also known as the river beluga, is a large predatory sturgeon found in the Amur River basin. With a maximum size of at least 1,000 kg (2,205 lb) and 5.6 m (18.6 ft), the kaluga is one of the biggest of the sturgeon family. Like the slightly larger beluga, it spends part of its life in salt water. Unlike the beluga, this fish has 5 major rows of dermal scutes and feeds on salmon and other fish in the Amur. They have gray-green to black backs with a yellowish green-white underbelly.
Cambaroides is a genus of freshwater crayfish from eastern Asia. Together with Pontastacus, they are the only crayfish native to Asia. Cambaroides contains about six species:
The Cambaridae are the largest of the four families of freshwater crayfish, with over 400 species. Most of the species in the family are native the United States east of the Great Divide and Mexico, but fewer range north to Canada, and south to Guatemala and Honduras. Three live on the island of Cuba. The species in the genus Cambaroides are the only found outside North America, as they are restricted to eastern Asia.
The Japanese rat snake is a medium-sized colubrid snake found throughout the Japanese archipelago as well as on the Russian-administered Kunashir Island. In Japanese it is known as the aodaishō or "blue general". It is non-venomous. It is hunted by eagles and tanukis.
Elaphe schrenckii is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Colubridae. The species is indigenous to Northeast Asia.
The smooth-coated otter is an otter species occurring in most of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with a disjunct population in Iraq. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1996 and is threatened by habitat loss, pollution of wetlands and poaching for the illegal wildlife trade. As its name indicates, its fur is smooth and shorter than that of other otter species.
Coregonus confusus is a freshwater whitefish from Switzerland. It is also known by its native Swiss German common name, spelled pfärrit, pfarrig, and pfärrig. It was described as Coregonus annectens confusus by Victor Fatio in 1885 from syntypes which have been lost in 1902. The species is rare and only known with certainty from Lake Biel. There is also a possibility that it might occur in Lake Neuchâtel. It vanished from Lake Murten in the 1960s due to eutrophication and water level management.
Medemia argun is a rare species of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) native to Egypt and Sudan. It is the only species in the genus Medemia. The palm's dried dates have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs.
An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water.
The Japanese sturgeon or Amur sturgeon is a species of fish in the family Acipenseridae found in the Amur River basin in China and Russia. Claims of its presence in the Sea of Japan need confirmation. The species has 11–16 dorsal, 34–47 lateral, and 7–16 ventral scutes. Their dorsal fins have 38–53 rays and 20–35 anal fin rays. They also have greyish-brown backs and pale ventral sides. The species can reach up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) in length, and weigh over 190 kilograms (420 lb). The species is considered to be critically endangered.
Nipponacmea schrenckii is a species of sea snail, a true limpet, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Lottiidae, one of the families of true limpets.
Cambaroides dauricus is a species of crayfish endemic to north-eastern China, the Korean Peninsula and neighbouring parts of Russia.
Cambaroides similis is a species of crayfish endemic to the Korean Peninsula and neighbouring parts of China.
Ninguta is a monotypic Palearctic butterfly genus in the family Nymphalidae. The genus contains the single species Ninguta schrenckii found in the Russian Far East, Japan, Korea and eastern China.
