-
Sea Dayak (people)
...Murut, and Bisaya (Bisayah). Chinese make up about one-fourth of the population. The remainder of Brunei’s residents consists of other (non-“Malay”) indigenous peoples, such as the Iban (or Sea Dayak); various peoples of South Asian descent; and temporary workers, primarily from Asia and Europe. The ......
-
sea drum (fish)
...the kingfish, or whiting (Menticirrhus saxatilis), of the Atlantic, notable among drums in that it lacks an air bladder; and the sea drum, or black drum (Pogonias cromis), a gray or coppery red, western Atlantic fish....
-
sea duck (bird)
...On the basis of kinship and to the degree that it likes a marine environment, a diving duck may be popularly called either a bay duck or a sea duck....
-
sea eagle (bird)
any of various large fish-eating eagles (especially in the genus Haliaeetus), of which the bald eagle is best known. Sea eagles (sometimes called fish eagles or fishing eagles) live along rivers, big lakes, and tidewaters throughout the world except South America. Some re...
-
Sea Eagle (missile)
...passive radar homing, this missile could be programmed for sea-skimming attack or a “pop-up and dive” maneuver to evade a ship’s close-in defense systems. The turbojet-powered British Sea Eagle weighed somewhat more than the Harpoon and employed active radar homing. The West German Kormoran was also an air-launched missile. The Norwegian Penguin, a rocket-powered missile we...
-
sea ecosystem
complex of living organisms in the ocean environment....
-
sea elephant (mammal)
either of the two largest pinnipeds (aquatic mammals of the suborder Pinnipedia): the northern elephant seal (species Mirounga angustirostris), now found mainly on coastal islands off California and Baja California; or the southern elephant seal (M. leonina), found throughout sub-Antarctic regions. Elephant sea...
-
sea fan (invertebrate)
(Gorgonia), any of a genus of invertebrate marine animals of the order Gorgonacea (class Anthozoa, phylum Cnidaria). It is a variety of coral composed of numerous polyps—cylindrical sessile (attached) forms—that grow together in a flat, fanlike pattern. Each polyp in the colony has some multiple of six tentacles, as oppose...
-
sea festival (Japanese festival)
...tuna, bonito). The city’s major industries are now shipbuilding and the processing of marine products. Tourism is based on Matsushima Bay, which is renowned for its pine-clad islands. The annual sea festival in July centres on the Shiogama Shrine, which stands on a wooded hill in the centre of the city. Pop. (2005) 59,357....
-
sea fig
(Mesembryanthemum crystallinum), low-growing annual plant, of the carpetweed family (Aizoaceae), and one of 25 species commonly called fig-marigolds, constituting the genus Mesembryanthemu...
-
Sea Fury (British aircraft)
...II, powered by a 2,400-horsepower, 18-cylinder, air-cooled Bristol Centaurus radial engine—served with the Royal Air Force into the early 1950s. The naval version of the Tempest II, the Sea Fury, entered service as a carrier-fighter with the Royal Navy in 1948 and saw combat in the Korean War (1950–53). Export Sea Furies served in air forces of less-developed countries well......
-
sea gooseberry (invertebrate)
either of two cosmopolitan genera of invertebrate marine animals in the phylum Ctenophora: the Hormiphora and the Pleurobrachia. The genera, widely distributed in all the oceans, are represented by 90 species. Sea gooseberries are wholly planktonic in their life cycle, lacking any sessile (attached) stages. They feed on other sm...
-
sea grape (plant)
...holm oak, while the area closer to the sea is characterized by the olive, oleander, carob, mastic, and Aleppo pine. There is a notable development of pioneer sea grape on the coastal dunes. The Mediterranean foothill area is characterized by the cork oak and the Aleppo pine. Higher up, in southern Italy, there are still traces of the ancient mountain......
-
Sea Grapes (work by Walcott)
...his European cultural orientation and the black folk cultures of his native Caribbean. Another Life (1973) is a book-length autobiographical poem. In Sea Grapes (1976) and The Star-Apple Kingdom (1979), Walcott uses a tenser, more economical style to examine the deep cultural divisions of language and race in the......
-
Sea Gull, The (film by Lumet)
...Isadora Duncan in Isadora (1968), and she appeared as Nina in Sidney Lumet’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s The Sea Gull (1968). In 1971 Redgrave took on the role of Andromache in The Trojan Women and received another Oscar nomination for her work as the title character in......
-
sea hare (gastropod)
any marine gastropod of the family Aplysiidae (subclass Opisthobranchia, phylum Mollusca) that is characterized by a shell reduced to a flat plate, prominent tentacles (resembling rabbit ears), and a smooth or warty body. Sea hares eat large seaweeds, and all are simultaneous hermaphrodites. An example is the 10-centimetre (4-inch) spotted sea...
-
Sea Harrier (aircraft)
...carrier, because it would need neither catapults nor arresting gear. In the 1970s and ’80s, Britain built three such ships, constituting the Invincible class. These 20,000-ton ships carried eight Sea Harriers and about a dozen antisubmarine helicopters. They also incorporated a further British contribution to aircraft carrier design: the upward-sloping “ski jump” at the end...
-
sea hen (fish)
fish, a species of lumpsucker....
-
sea holly (algae genus)
genus of brown algae (150 species) generally attached to rocks along coasts in temperate regions. The Sargasso Sea is characterized by a free-floating mass of seaweed, predominately S. natans and S. fluitans, in the western ...
-
sea holly (plant)
genus of brown algae (150 species) generally attached to rocks along coasts in temperate regions. The Sargasso Sea is characterized by a free-floating mass of seaweed, predominately S. natans and S. fluitans, in the western ......
-
sea horse (fish)
any of about 36 species of marine fishes allied to pipefishes in the family Syngnathidae (order Gasterosteiformes). Sea horses are found in shallow coastal waters in latitudes from about 52° N to 45° S. Their habitats include coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass beds, and estuaries...
-
sea ice (ice formation)
frozen seawater within the Arctic Ocean and its adjacent seas as far south as China and Japan and the seas surrounding Antarctica. Most sea ice occurs as pack ice, which is very mobile, drifting across the ocean surface under the influence of the wind and ocean currents...
-
sea, inland (physical feature)
Relatively large body of slow-moving or standing water that occupies an inland basin....
-
Sea Inside, The (film by Amenábar [2004])
...of a laid-off shipyard worker in the latter earned him another Goya. For his moving performance as quadriplegic Ramón Sampedro in Mar adentro (2004; The Sea Inside), Bardem collected his fourth......
-
Sea Island Creole (language)
English-based creole vernacular spoken primarily by African Americans living on the seaboard of South Carolina and Georgia (U.S.), who are also culturally identified as Gullahs or Geechees (see also Sea Islands...
-
Sea Islands (islands, United States)
low-lying chain of sandy islands off the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, U.S., between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns rivers and along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The Spaniards claimed and partly occupied the islands in ...
-
sea kale (plant)
(Crambe maritima), cabbagelike perennial plant in a genus of about 20 species in the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to seashores and cliffs of Eurasia. Young or blanched leaves are cooked and eaten. The waxy, blue-green, coarsely toothed l...
-
sea knoll (geology)
...submarine volcanic mountain rising at least 1,000 m (3,300 feet) above the surrounding deep-sea floor; smaller submarine volcanoes are called sea knolls, and flat-topped seamounts are called guyots. Great Meteor Tablemount in the northeast Atlantic, standing more than 4,000 m (13,120 feet) above the surrounding terrain, with a basal......
-
sea krait (reptile subfamily)
...snakes of the cobra family (Elapidae). There are two independently evolved groups: the true sea snakes (subfamily Hydrophiinae), which are related to Australian terrestrial elapids, and the sea kraits (subfamily Laticaudinae), which are related to the Asian cobras. Although their venom is the most potent of all snakes, human fatalities......
-
Sea Lady, The (work by Drabble)
...of three women who met at Cambridge during the 1950s. In The Peppered Moth (2000) Drabble detailed four generations of mothers and daughters in a Yorkshire family. The Sea Lady (2007) traces the relationship of a man and woman who met as children before either became famous—he as a marine biologist and she as a feminist—and ends with their......
-
Sea Lake (Victoria, Australia)
town, Mallee district, northwest Victoria, Austl., located about 6 miles (10 km) south of Lake Tyrrell (a salt-encrusted depression)....
-
sea lamprey (fish)
...transformed into a suctorial oral disk; the endostyle changes into a thyroid gland; and the fins along the back increase in height. On completion of metamorphosis, a typical lamprey such as Petromyzon marinus migrates to the sea, where it feeds by attaching itself with its sucker to bony fishes. It rasps into the flesh with a toothed, tonguelike structure on the floor of the mouth.......
-
sea, landlocked (physical feature)
Relatively large body of slow-moving or standing water that occupies an inland basin....
-
Sea Launch (international company)
...fighter for the armed services of the United States and Britain. In 1995 Boeing joined Ukrainian, Russian, and Anglo-Norwegian partners to form Sea Launch, a commercial launch services company that sent satellites into geostationary orbit from a floating platform at an equatorial site i...
-
sea lavender (plant)
Any of about 300 species of chiefly perennial herbaceous plants that make up the genus Limonium of the family Plumbaginaceae, especially L. vulgare. Bearing small flowers in dense spikes, L. vulgare grows in large tracts that sometimes turn acres lilac-coloured in late summer. The flower spikes o...
-
Sea, Law of the (international law [1982])
branch of international law concerned with public order at sea. Much of this law is codified in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed Dec. 10, 1982. The convention, described as a “constitution for the oceans,” represents an attempt to codify international law regarding ...
-
sea leopard (mammal)
(Hydrurga leptonyx), generally solitary, earless seal (family Phocidae) that inhabits Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions. The only seal that feeds on penguins, young seals, and other warm-blooded prey, the leopard seal is a slender animal with a relatively long ...
-
sea lettuce (algae genus)
a genus of green algae usually found growing on rocky shores of seas and oceans. Some species also grow in brackish water rich in organic matter or sewage. The thallus, which somewhat resembles a lettuce leaf, is a sheet of cells up to 30 cm (12 inches) long and two cells thick and is embedded in a tough gelatinous sheath. The life cycle consists of alternatio...
-
sea level (Earth science)
position of the air-sea interface, to which all terrestrial elevations and submarine depths are referred. The sea level constantly changes at every locality with the changes in tides, atmospheric pressure, and wind conditions. Longer-term changes in sea level are influenced by the Earth’s changing climates. Consequent...
-
sea lily (echinoderm)
any crinoid marine invertebrate animal (class Crinoidea, phylum Echinodermata) in which the adult is fixed to the sea bottom by a stalk. Other crinoids (such as feather stars) resemble sea lilies; however, they lack a stalk and can move from place to place. The sea lily stalk is surmounted by a bulbous body with frondlike te...
-
sea lion (mammal)
any of five species of eared seals found primarily in Pacific waters. Sea lions are characterized by a coat of short, coarse hair that lacks a distinct undercoat. Except for the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus), males have lion-like manes and constantly roar to defend their harems (hence their name)....
-
Sea Lion, Operation (European history)
...series of intense raids directed against Great Britain by the German air force after the fall of France during World War II. Intended to prepare the way for a German invasion of Britain (“Operation Sea Lion”), the German air attacks were initially focused on British shipping, but, beginning in August, most efforts were redirected against installations of the Royal Air Force......
-
Sea Lions, The (novel by Cooper)
...woodcraft, but old salts like Herman Melville and Joseph Conrad rightly admired and learned from his sea stories, in particular The Red Rover (1827) and The Sea Lions (1849). Never before in prose fiction had the sea become not merely a theatre for, but the principal actor in, moral drama that celebrated man’s courage and skill at the sam...
-
sea lyme grass (plant)
Sea lyme, or dune, grass (E. arenarius) is a Eurasian species 0.6 to 2.5 m (2 to 8 feet) tall, with creeping rootstocks and flowers borne in dense terminal spikes resembling those of rye. It is used as a sand binder on coastal dunes....
-
Sea, March to the (American Civil War)
...in each of them. With his communications threatened, Hood evacuated Atlanta on the night of August 31–September 1. Sherman pursued only at first. Then, on November 15, he commenced his great March to the Sea with more than 60,000 men, laying waste to the economic resources of Georgia in a 50-mile- (80-km-) wide swath of destruction. He captured Savannah on December 21....
-
sea marigold
(Mesembryanthemum crystallinum), low-growing annual plant, of the carpetweed family (Aizoaceae), and one of 25 species commonly called fig-marigolds, constituting the genus Mesembryanthemu...
-
sea moth (fish)
any of about five species of small marine fishes comprising the family Pegasidae and the order Pegasiformes. Dragonfish are found in warm Indo-Pacific waters. They are small (to about 16 centimetres [6 12 inches] long), elongated fish encased in bony rings of armour. The armour is fused on the head and body but not on the tail, which is thus flexible. The ...
-
Sea Mother (Inca god)
...the sky. Earth was called Pachamama (Paca Mama), or Earth Mother. The sea, which was relatively remote to the Inca until after 1450, was called Cochamama (Mama Qoca), the Sea Mother....
-
sea mouse (worm)
(Aphrodita), any of a genus of marine worms of the class Polychaeta (phylum Annelida), named for their mouselike appearance and behaviour....
-
sea novel (literature)
...short story “Heart of Darkness” (1902). During his lifetime Conrad was admired for the richness of his prose and his renderings of dangerous life at sea and in exotic places. But his initial reputation as a masterful teller of colourful adventures of the sea masked his fascination with the individual when faced with nature’s invariable unconcern,......
-
Sea of Fertility, The (work by Mishima)
Mishima’s last work, Hōjō no umi (1965–70; The Sea of Fertility), is a four-volume epic that is regarded by many as his most lasting achievement. Its four separate novels, Haru no yuki (Spring Snow), Homma (Runaway Horses), Akatsuki no tera (The Temple of Dawn), and Tennin gosui (The Decay of the......
-
Sea of Steps, Wells Cathedral, A (photograph by Evans)
...view, light represented spiritual enlightenment. His style, which emphasized a cathedral’s immense spaces and infinite variety of light and textures, culminated in works such as A Sea of Steps, Wells Cathedral (1903)....
-
sea orach (plant)
...number of important plants. Species of Atriplex (saltbush) are extremely tolerant of environments with a high salt concentration and do exceedingly well near coastal areas. A. halimus (sea orach) is cultivated for its beautiful foliage and silvery-gray stems; its flowers are green and rather inconspicuous. A. hortensis (garden......
-
sea orange (sponge)
...on objects or are cushion shaped. A few species in the Demospongiae have well-defined spherical shapes as in Tethya aurantium, the sea orange; others may be cup- or fan-shaped. Calcareous sponges of the genus Scypha are shaped like tubular sacs, with an opening (osculum) at the tip. Members of the Hexactinellida are erect......
-
sea otter (mammal)
Rare, completely marine otter (Enhydra lutris) of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floating on its back, it opens mollusks by smashing them on a stone balanced on its chest. The large hind feet are broad and flipperlike. It is 40–65 in. (100–160 cm) long and w...
-
sea otter’s cabbage (seaweed)
Nereocystis, an annual kelp that grows primarily in deep waters and rapid tideways, can attain lengths up to 40 metres (130 feet). Internally the plant structure is similar to Macrocystis; externally the stalk is tough and whiplike, terminating in a single large bladder containing up to 10 percent of ......
-
sea pancake (echinoderm)
...North America and Japan. Species with lunules are generally called keyhole urchins. The largest and thinnest cake urchin is the yellow or purple sea pancake (Echinodiscus auritus) of the East African coast. ...
-
sea pansy (invertebrate)
any of certain colonial marine animals of the sea pen group (order Pennatulacea, phylum Cnidaria). Unlike true sea pens, sea pansies lie flat on the substratum....
-
sea parrot (bird)
any of three species of diving birds that belong to the auk family, Alcidae (order Charadriiformes). They are distinguished by their large, brightly coloured, triangular beaks. Puffins nest in large colonies on seaside and island cliffs, usually laying only one egg, in a burrow dug one or two metres (three to six feet) deep. ...
-
sea pen (invertebrate)
any of the 300 species of the order Pennatulacea, colonial invertebrate marine animals of the class Anthozoa (phylum Cnidaria). The name sea pen derives from their resemblance to quill pens. They occur in shallow and deep waters from p...
-
Sea People (ancient people)
any of the groups of aggressive seafarers who invaded eastern Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, Cyprus, and Egypt toward the end of the Bronze Age, especially in the 13th century bc. They are held responsible for the destruction of old powers such as the Hittite Empire. Because of the abrupt break in ancient Near Eas...
-
sea poacher (fish)
any of the marine fish of the family Agonidae (order Scorpaeniformes). Poachers live in cold water, on the bottom, and are found mainly in the northern Pacific. They are small fish, measuring about 30 cm (12 inches) or less in length, and are distinguished by the bony, often saw-edged armour plates covering their bodies....
-
Sea Poppies (work by Dolittle)
poetry (such as Imagist poetry) that is primarily concerned with the projection of a descriptive image of material things, as in the poem “Sea Poppies” (1916) by Hilda Doolittle (H.D.): Amber huskfluted with gold,fruit on the sandmarked with a rich grain,treasurespilled near the......
-
sea poppy (plant)
any of approximately 25 species of plants that constitute the genus Glaucium of the poppy family (Papaveraceae). All species are weedy garden plants native to Eurasia. The yellow horned poppy (G. flavum) is native to sea beaches of Great Britain and southern Europe and has become established in the eastern ...
-
sea power (military)
means by which a nation extends its military power onto the seas. Measured in terms of a nation’s capacity to use the seas in defiance of rivals and competitors, it consists of such diverse elements as combat craft and weapons, auxiliary craft, commercial shipping, bases, and trained personnel. Aircraft used in the control of seaborne transportation function as an instrument of sea power e...
-
sea raven (fish)
...Cottus gobio), inhabit freshwater. The sculpins are of little value to humans, as they are not generally considered tasty. Some, such as the sea raven (Hemitripterus americanus), are of use as bait for lobster pots, and......
-
sea reed (plant)
American beach grass (A. breviligulata) grows along the Atlantic coast and in the Great Lakes region. European beach grass (A. arenaria) has been introduced on the northern Pacific coast of the United States as a dune stabilizer. Both species grow in tufts and have rolled, spikelike leaves. The flower clusters are long, dense,......
-
sea robin (fish)
any of the slim, bottom-dwelling fish of the family Triglidae, found in warm and temperate seas of the world. Sea robins are elongated fish with armoured, bony heads and two dorsal fins. Their pectoral fins are fan-shaped, with the bottom few rays each forming separate feelers. These feele...
-
sea rocket (plant)
any of about seven species of plants constituting the genus Cakile, of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to seashore regions of North America, Eurasia, western Asia, and Australia, and to central Arabian deserts. C. maritima, a Eur...
-
sea salt
Sea salt (sodium chloride and other salts) has been obtained (mostly by solar evaporation) from the waters of the Atlantic and its marginal seas for millennia. Ancient coastal salt pans along the Mediterranean are still in operation, while the production capacity at Manaure, Colom., is......
-
sea scorpion (fish)
any of the numerous, usually small fish of the family Cottidae (order Scorpaeniformes), found in both salt water and fresh water, principally in northern regions of the world. Sculpins are elongated, tapered fish, usually with wide, heavy heads. The gill covers have one ...
-
sea scorpion (arthropod order)
any member of the extinct subclass Eurypterida of the arthropod group Merostomata, a lineage of large, scorpion-like, aquatic invertebrates that flourished during the Silurian Period (444 to 416 million years ago). Well over 200 species have been identified and divided into 18 families. They include the largest arthropod spe...
-
sea serpent (mythology)
mythological and legendary marine animal that traditionally resembles an enormous snake. The belief in huge creatures that inhabited the deep was widespread throughout the ancient world. In the Old Testament there are several allusions to a primordial combat between God ...
-
sea shell
hard exoskeleton of marine mollusks such as snails, bivalves, and chitons that serves to protect and support their bodies. It is composed largely of calcium carbonate secreted by the mantle, a skinlike tissue in the mollusk’s body wall. Seashells are usually made up of several layers of distinct microstructures that h...
-
Sea Skua (missile)
...powers developed their own guided missiles. The resultant systems began entering service in the 1970s and first saw combat in 1982, during the Falkland Islands War. In that conflict the British Sea Skua, a small, rocket-powered, sea-skimming missile with semiactive radar homing, weighing about 325 pounds, was fired successfully from helicopters, while the Argentines sank a destroyer and a......
-
sea slug (gastropod)
any of the marine gastropods that constitute the order Nudibranchia (subclass Opisthobranchia of the class Gastropoda). Nudibranchs possess a radular feeding organ, but they characteristically lack a shell, gills, and mantle cavity typical of other mollusks. The delicately coloured body has bizarre outgrowths, called cerata, which serve a defe...
-
sea slug (gastropod)
any marine gastropod of the approximately 2,000 species of the subclass Opisthobranchia. These gastropods, sometimes called sea slugs and sea hares, breathe either through gills, which are located behind the heart, or through the body surface. The shell and mantle cavity are reduced or lacking in most species. A pronounced twisting of the body...
-
sea snail (fish)
any of about 115 species of marine fish often placed with the lumpsuckers in the family Cyclopteridae, but sometimes separated as a distinct family, Liparidae (order Scorpaeniformes). Snailfish are small, growing to a maximum length of about 30 centimetres (12 inches). They are elongated, soft, tadpole-shaped fish with loose and scaleless, though sometimes prickly, skins. There is a long ...
-
sea snail (species)
Snailfish are found in cold water—in the North Atlantic and North Pacific and the Arctic and Antarctic seas. Some, such as the sea snail (Liparis liparis) of the North Atlantic, live in shore waters; others, such as the pink-coloured species of the genus Careproctus, inhabit the deep sea....
-
sea snake (snake)
any of 61 species of highly venomous marine snakes of the cobra family (Elapidae). There are two independently evolved groups: the true sea snakes (subfamily Hydrophiinae), which are related to Australian terrestrial elapids, and the sea kraits (subfamily Laticaudinae), which are related to the ...
-
sea sparrow (bird)
any of six species of small seabirds of the family Alcidae (order Charadriiformes). They breed primarily in the Bering Sea and the North Pacific; some winter as far south as Japan and Mexico. Auklets in breeding plumage differ from the related murrelets...
-
sea sparrow (bird)
any of six species of small diving birds belonging to the auk family, Alcidae (order Charadriiformes). Murrelets are about 20 cm (8 inches) long, thin billed and, in winter, plain plumaged. They are sometimes called sea sparrows, as are auklets. In some species the young go to sea when only two days old. Their webbed feet ar...
-
sea spider (Pycnogonida)
any of the spiderlike marine animals comprising the class Pycnogonida (also called Pantopoda) of the phylum Arthropoda. Sea spiders walk about on the ocean bottom on their slender legs or crawl among plants and animals; some may tread water....
-
sea squirt (chordate)
any member of the invertebrate class Ascidiacea (subphylum Urochordata, also called Tunicata), marine animals with some primitive vertebrate features. Sea squirts are sessile (that is, permanently fixed to a surface), potato-shaped organisms found in all seas; they are found from the interti...
-
sea stack (geology)
Erosion along rocky coasts occurs at various rates and is dependent both on the rock type and on the wave energy at a particular site. As a result of the above-mentioned conditions, wave-cut platforms may be incomplete, with erosional remnants on the horizontal wave-cut surface. These remnants are called sea stacks, and they provide a......
-
sea star (echinoderm)
any marine invertebrate of the class Asteroidea (phylum Echinodermata) having rays, or arms, surrounding an indistinct central disk. Despite their older common name, they are not fishes....
-
sea stock (plant)
...and well known for the spicy fragrance of some species. Biennial natives to southwestern Europe and western Asia, stocks, or gillyflowers (M. incana), are known in Great Britain as sea stocks because they often grow on seaside cliffs. They produce 60- to 80-cm (25- to 30-inch) spikes of lilac to white, four-petaled flowers rising from narrowly oval, deep green leaves. This......
-
Sea Surface Full of Clouds (poem by Stevens)
...and Stevens’ own favourites, “Domination of Black” and “The Emperor of Ice-Cream”; all were frequently republished in anthologies. Harmonium also contained “Sea Surface Full of Clouds,” in which waves are described in terms of such unlikely equivalents as umbrellas, French phrases, and varieties of chocolate, and “The Comedian as th...
-
sea surface temperature (climatology)
...interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere. One such variation is the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), also referred to as the Pacific Decadal Variability (PDV), which involves changing sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the North Pacific Ocean. The SSTs influence the strength and position of the Aleutian Low, which in turn......
-
sea swallow (bird)
any of about 40 species of slender, graceful water birds that constitute the subfamily Sterninae, of the family Laridae, which also includes the gulls. Terns inhabit seacoasts and inland waters and are nearly worldwide in distribution. The largest number of species is found in the Pacific Ocean. Many terns are long-distance ...
-
Sea, The (work by Banville)
...(1995) completed the trilogy. The Untouchable (1997), along with Eclipse (2000) and its sequel, Shroud (2002), are novels that tell more stories of conflicted individuals. The Sea (2005), a novel that was awarded the Booker Prize, tells the story of a widowed art historian who revisits a childhood destination......
-
sea trout (fish)
(genus Cynoscion), any member of a group of fishes in the croaker family, Sciaenidae (order Perciformes). A half dozen species inhabit the coastal regions of North America....
-
sea trout (fish)
prized and wary European game fish favoured for the table. The brown trout, which includes several varieties such as the Loch Leven trout of Great Britain, is of the family Salmonidae. It has been introduced to many other areas of the world and is recognized by the light-ringed black spots...
-
sea turtle (turtle)
any of seven species of marine turtles belonging to the families Dermochelyidae (leatherback sea turtles) and Cheloniidae (green turtles, flatback sea turtles, loggerhead sea turtles, hawksbills, and ridleys). Both families are highly aquatic, and most species only appear on coastal beaches for egg laying; however, the ...
-
sea urchin (echinoderm)
any of about 950 living species of spiny marine invertebrate animals (class Echinoidea, phylum Echinodermata) with a globular body and a radial arrangement of organs, shown by five bands of pores running from mouth to anus over the test (internal skeleton). The pores accommodate tube feet, which are slender, extensible, and often sucker-tipped. From nodules on the test arise long, movable spines a...
-
Sea Wall, The (work by Duras)
...licences in law and politics. She favoured leftist causes and for 10 years was a member of the Communist Party. She began writing in 1942. Un Barrage contre le Pacifique (1950; The Sea Wall), her third published novel and first success, dealt semiautobiographically with a poor French family in Indochina. Her next successes, Le Marin de Gibraltar (1952; The......
-
sea walnut (invertebrate)
any member of a common genus (Mnemiopsis) of gelatinous, planktonic marine invertebrates of the order Lobata (class Tentaculata, phylum Ctenophora). The sea walnut resembles the sea gooseberry morphologically, but adults lack conspicuous tentacles, and the body is prolonged into eight lobes. Full-grown individuals may be as long as 15 cm (6 inches). They lead a wholly pla...
-
sea wasp (marine invertebrate)
...their shape. Some of these are responsible for human fatalities, mostly in tropical Australia and Southeast Asia, and include the so-called sea wasps. The polyp is tiny and inconspicuous....
-
sea water
water that makes up the oceans and seas, covering more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface. Seawater is a complex mixture of 96.5 percent water, 2.5 percent salts, and smaller amounts of other substances, including dissolved inorganic and organic materials, particulates, and a few atmospheric gases....
-
sea whip (coral)
any of several genera of corals of the order Gorgonacea (phylum Cnidaria), characterized by a long, whiplike growth and a variety of bright colours. The “whip” consists of a colony of tiny polyps (cylindrical, stalklike forms with a mouth and eight tentacles at the upper, or free, end) that grow upon one another in a continuous single stem. Spicules, or needlelike structures, of lim...
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff.
Contact us here.