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Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creature of the Fifth Day
Glossary
Abalone – An animal that clamps onto rocks and other surfaces in the deep waters of the Pacific
Ocean. Its shell is unique with several holes running along the edge of the shell.
Abdomen – The fleshy "tail" portion of arthropods.
Abyssal Plain – The deep, dark ocean floor, located at the end of the continental rise.
Adult stage – The fifth stage of the development of a fish. It is able to spawn and produce new
life.
Advertising – A type of defense where fishes warn (with their bright colors and bold patterns)
predators to stay away.
African clawed frog – An aquarium frog that breathes air with lungs.
African dwarf frog – An aggressive aquarium frog that breathes air with lungs.
Agnathans – Jawless fishes in the class Agnatha.
Albino – A white creature lacking color pigment, like some sperm whales.
Ambulacral grooves – The grooves on a sea star’s tube feet that run down the center of each
ray.
Amphibians – These creatures are like reptiles, but they don't have scales. They typically live
both on land and in the water.
Amupullae of Lorenzini – The nerve receptors in a shark that sense electricity in the water.
Anal fin – A fin that keeps a fish from falling over as it swims.
Angelshark – A shark in the order Squatiniformes. It has a flat body with a mouth on the front
of its head and no anal fin.
Animalia – The kingdom in which all animals are placed.
Annelida – The phylum that contains earthworms and leeches.
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Exploring Creation with Zoology 2
Antennae – Long structures on a crustacean's head that are sensitive, giving the crustacean
strong senses of touch and taste.
Antennules – These small antennae help the crustacean keep its balance and allow it to touch
and taste things.
Antivenin – A medicine that stops a snake’s venom from working.
Anura – All frogs and toads belong to this order. Its name means "without tail."
Anurans – All toads and frogs belonging to the order Anura. They are considered amphibians
without tails.
Anus – The tail end of the sea cucumber which eliminates anything that isn't food.
Aquatic amphibians – Amphibians that stay in the water instead of coming onto land to breathe
oxygen through the air.
Aquatic frogs – One of the three basic kinds of aquatic amphibians.
Aquatic salamanders – One of the three basic kinds of aquatic amphibians.
Aquatic toads – One of the three basic kinds of aquatic amphibians.
Aristotle’s lantern – The name of the system in which the sea urchin's five special teeth are
arranged.
Arthropoda – The phylum in which crustaceans belong.
Arthropods – Creatures that have jointed feet and legs.
Articulated fossil – What we call a fossil that is found with the bones present in their proper
places, almost as if they were still all attached to each other.
Atrial siphon – One of the sea squirt's openings that spits water out of the animal.
Australian flatback – The species of sea turtle that can only be found off the coast of Australia.
Axial lobe – The center lobe of a trilobite.
Glossary
Bachelor pods – A group of all-male whales.
Baleen Whales – These cetaceans have no teeth. Instead they have long strips of bristled plates
that hang from their upper mouths.
Barnacles – True crustaceans which permanently attach themselves to a hard substrate.
Basket stars – Large brittle stars with many rays.
Batoids – Another name for rays.
Beached – What we call it when a whale gets stranded on the shore.
Beluga Whale – A beautiful, white whale that looks almost like a large dolphin and resides
mostly in the cold waters off the coast of Alaska.
Benthic – Animals that don’t swim, but scurry, crawl, hop, scoot, burrow, or slither across the
bottom of a body of water.
Bioluminescence – What we call it when a creature has the ability to make its own light, much
like a firefly.
Bivalves – A group of mollusks that have two shell halves. Mussels, scallops, cockles, oysters
and clams are in this group.
Bleached coral – Coral that has lost its color because the zooxanthellae in the coral has died.
Blowhole – The “nose” on top of a whale’s head that the whale uses to breathe and for sound
production.
Blue Whale – The largest of God's creatures.
Bony fishes – Fishes with bones.
Brackish – Water that is less salty than seawater but saltier than fresh water.
Breaching – What we call it when a whale leaps into the air then flops down on the water with
an incredible splash.
Brittle star – A fast-moving, sea star-looking creature with long, thin, snake-like arms
surrounding a central disk.
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Exploring Creation with Zoology 2
Brumation – A state similar to hibernation, but instead of sleeping, the animal’s body processes
slow down so much that it hardly uses any energy during the winter.
Bulls – The name given to many male mammals, including pinnipeds.
Buoyant – Capable of floating.
Byssal threads – The tough fibers that mussels use to attach themselves to a spot.
Calcium Carbonate – A hard substance that is used by marine creatures to make shells and
harden chitin.
Calf – A whale’s young.
Camouflage – A defense that enables an animal to disguise itself to look like the environment in
which it dwells, so it is difficult for a predator to see it.
Cannibals – Creatures that eat others of their own species.
Capsule – The lid to a nematocyst’s "jar" that can spring open.
Carapace – The part of the exoskeleton that covers the cephalothorax. It is also the term used to
describe the upper dome of a turtle’s shell.
Carcharhiniformes – Sharks in this order are called ground sharks, because they tend to wander
around close to the sea floor.
Cartilage – A firm but flexible substance that shapes the inside of the nose and ears, cushions
bones. It is the substance that makes up a shark’s skeleton.
Cartilaginous fishes – Fishes that have skeletons made out of cartilage instead of bone. They
are the sharks and rays.
Caudal fin – The fish’s tail.
Caudata – The order in which salamanders belong.
Cell – The basic unit of a living creature.
Cephalopods – A group of mollusks that includes octopuses, nautiluses and squids. It is thought
that this group holds the most intelligent invertebrates in creation.
Glossary
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Cephalothorax – The middle part of a crustacean’s body.
Cetacea – The order in which whales are placed.
Cetaceans – What we call whales.
Chambered nautilus – A large cephalopod with many tentacles. It is the only cephalopod that
creates an external shell.
Chelipeds – The crustacean’s claw-feet that are used to fight and capture prey.
Chitin – Exoskeletons are made of this tough but flexible chemical.
Chiton – A creature in the class Polyplacophora. Eight plates make up its shell and it has neither
eyes nor arms.
Chondrichthyes – The class that contains cartilaginous fish.
Chordata – The phylum in which animals with backbones are placed.
Chromatophores – Cells with pigments that can be manipulated to change the color of an
animal’s skin, allowing it to blend into its surroundings.
Circuli – Rings that are formed as a fish’s scales grow.
Cirri – A crinoid’s feelers.
Clam – A bivalve that uses a “foot” to dig down into the sand or mud to hide.
Cleaning stations – Where certain fishes and/or shrimps clean the teeth or skin of fishes.
Cnidaria – The phylum to which jelly fish, sea anemones, and corals belong. The name means
“nettle” and refers to their nematocysts, which sting other animals.
Cnidarians – Members of phylum Cnidaria.
Comb jelly – A non-nettle jellyfish that has no sting. Instead, it has a sticky substance on its
tentacles to capture prey.
Compressed shape – The shape of fishes that have flat bodies, with one eye on each side of
their heads.
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Exploring Creation with Zoology 2
Conchology – The study of shells.
Conchs – Animals that produce a conch shell.
Cone Shell – One of the craftiest predators of the sea that can be very poisonous to people
because of its venomous proboscis.
Conservation Laws – Laws that help save creatures.
Consumers – Animals that must consume food to live.
Continental Rise – One part near the very end of the continental slope drop-off, where the slope
becomes gentle.
Continental Shelf – The part of the continent that is underwater. It slopes gradually downward,
and the water gets deeper and deeper.
Continental Slope – A giant cliff-like drop-off at the end of the continental shelf in the ocean.
Coral – Cnidarians that live in compact groups of hundreds or even thousands of animals all
linked together. They live in calcium carbonate shells that they make themselves.
Coral reefs – Large coral formations resulting from many corals gathered together building
skeletons around themselves.
Coral skeletons – The shells corals leave behind when they die.
Counter-shading – A coloration where the fish is light on the bottom and dark on the top.
Cowry – An animal that produces a cowry shell.
Cows – The general name given to many female mammals, such as pinnipeds.
Crab – A type of crustacean that is considered a decapod, having ten legs.
Crabeater – A type of seal that doesn’t eat crabs.
Crinoids – Creatures that have feathery arms on top of cup-shaped bodies and are commonly
called sea lilies and feather stars.
Crustaceans – Marine insects with a shell.
Glossary
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Cultured pearls – Pearls that are purposely made by inserting a bead into an oyster to begin the
process of making the pearl.
Cuttlebone – The internal shell of a cephalopod.
Cuttlefish – A graceful animal that lives on the bottom of the ocean. It has a shell on the inside
of its body.
Decapods – Crustaceans that have ten legs.
Density – How tightly packed the matter in something is.
Depressed shape – A fish shape that enables it to lie on the bottom of the ocean or lake where it
lives.
Dermal denticles – Cartilaginous fish have these kind of scales. They are more like tiny teeth.
Devilfish – Another word for a gray whale.
Diffusion – A process where substances move from area of high concentration to areas of low
concentration. This is they way oxygen can get into the skin of an amphibian.
Dorsal fins – Fins that keep the fish from rolling side to side. They are also weapons for the fish.
Dugong – A type of sea cow.
Eared Seals – Another name for pinnipeds with ear-flaps.
Echinodermata – The phylum in which echinoderms (like sea urchins, sand dollars and starfish)
belong.
Echinoderms – Creatures with spiny skin and tube feet, having no eyes or brain. Sea urchins,
sand dollars and starfish are in this group.
Echo – A sound that bounces off things and returns to where it was made. It is an important
process in echolocation.
Echolocation – The God-made sonar used by whales (and some other animals, like bats) to
communicate through special sounds and abilities.
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Exploring Creation with Zoology 2
Ectothermic – A term that refers to animals that cannot regulate their internal body temperature.
Such animals are often called “cold-blooded.”
Eel-like shape – A fish shape defined as a long ribbon.
Egg sponge – The place where a female crab holds her eggs until they are ready to hatch.
Egg stage – The first stage of the development of many animals, including fishes. The baby
animal is growing inside the egg.
Elasmosaurus – A kind of plesiosaur that looks like a snake forced into the body of a turtle.
Embryo – A developing animal before it is hatched or born.
Epidermis – The outer layer of the skin.
Epiglottis – The the small flap that covers the trachea, keeping food and liquid from entering the
lungs when drinking or eating.
Esophagus – The tube at the end of the throat that leads to the stomach.
Estivation – A state like hibernation into which amphibians can go.
Estuary – The place where a river meets with an ocean or sea.
Excurrent siphon – The tube bivalves use to expel wastes.
Exoskeleton – A skeleton on the outside of the animal's body.
Feather star – A creature with a mouth surrounded by many feathery tentacles that faces
upward toward the surface of the ocean.
Feeding pellet – The pellet of mud or sand a fiddler crab makes from the dirt it has in its mouth.
Fiddler crab – A land crab that lives in mud or sand flats near the beach.
Fishes – Animals that are cold-blooded and have a backbone but don't breathe air.
Fluke – The end of a whale’s tail, which it uses for steering and power when swimming.
Food grooves – The pattern found on the underside of a sand dollar.
Glossary
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Foot – Bivalves use this body part to crawl along the sea floor.
Fresh Water – The water found in lakes, rivers, and streams. It is not excessively salty because
it comes from rain, underground springs, and ice melting on the tops of mountains.
Fry – What we call free-swimming larvae from the time they hatch to their juvenile stages.
Fusiform – The shape defined as a rounded, bullet shape where both ends of the fish taper to a
point, helping it swim faster.
Gastralia – Rib bones in the stomach of a plesiosaur. They are also found in crocodiles and
alligators.
Gastrodermis – The inner layer of the skin.
Gastroliths – Stomach stones found in the belly of many animals, including plesiosaurs. They
move around in the stomach, crushing food that the animal ate.
Gastropods – A group of mollusks. Slugs and snails are in this group.
Gill rakers – The bristly structures in a whale shark’s mouth that catch plankton floating in the
water.
Girdle – The protruding portion of the chiton’s mantle.
Gray Whale – A type of whale that congregates in huge numbers off the coast of California.
Great Barrier Reef – The largest coral reef, located near Australia.
Great white shark – This shark belongs in the order Lamniformes. It is well known because it's
often responsible for attacks on people.
Green Sea turtle – A species of sea turtle that can be found on the east coast of Florida. It gets
its name from the color of its body fat.
Gyres – Circular patterns formed by the surface currents in the world's oceans.
Hammerhead sharks – Members of order Carcharhiniformes. They have strange-looking
flattened heads, and their eyes are on the outer edges of the head.
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Exploring Creation with Zoology 2
Hatpin urchin – A type of sea urchin that has extremely long spines with serrated tips that,
when touched, insert into the skin and snap off, releasing poison.
Haul Out – When pinnipeds come ashore, hauling their big bodies out of the water.
Hawskbill sea turtle – The species of sea turtle that is occasionally seen in American waters and
is named for its pointed beak.
Hellbender – A large type of aquatic salamander that can live to be 55 years old.
Hemaphrodites – An animal that has both male and female characteristics.
Hemotoxin – A type of snake venom that goes into the blood system and destroys the blood's
ability to carry oxygen and nutrients throughout the body.
Herd – A large group of animals. An extremely large pod of dolphins is also called a herd.
Hermit crab sponge – A kind of sponge that attaches to gastropod shells.
Herpetology – The study of amphibians and reptiles, which are often called “herps.”
Herps – Usually refers to reptiles and amphibians and comes from the Greek word “herpeton,”
which means “creeping crawling creatures that move about on their bellies.”
Heterodontiformes – This order contains the bullhead sharks and hornsharks.
Hexanchiformes – This order contains the sharks that have "extra" gill slits.
High Tide – What we call it when the ocean’s water comes way up onto the shore.
Hood – The thickened area over the head of a nautilus.
Horseshoe crab – A creature in phylum Arthropoda that is misnamed, because it isn’t actually a
crab.
Humpback Whale – A type of whale that is easy to identify because of its warty looking bumps
found on the top of its head.
Hyponome – The tube used by some cephalopods for jet propulsion. It is where the stream of
water is forced out.
Glossary
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Ichthyosaurus – A large extinct marine reptile. It was the first major fossil that Mary Anning
discovered on the beach.
Incurrent siphon – The tube bivalves use to take in water.
Internal shell – A supporting shell that is inside its body. Some cephalopods have them.
Invertebrate – An animal that doesn't have a backbone.
Jawless fishes – Fishes without a jaw bone.
Jellyfish – Cnidarians that are zooplankton and do not swim but simply float in the water. They
have a bowl-shaped body and tentacles that hang down from the body.
Jellyfish bloom – What we call a very large swarm of jellyfish.
Jet propulsion – The cephalopod's ability to pull water inside its body then quickly squeeze it
out, sending a jet stream out of its body and propelling it backward.
Juvenile stage – The fourth stage of the development of a fish. The fish’s fins are developed,
and it can swim against the current.
Kemp’s Ridley – A type of ridley sea turtle that is considered the most endangered of all sea
turtles.
Keratin – Scutes are made of this substance, as are finger nails.
Keystone species – A species that is vital to other animals’ survival.
Killer Whale – A certain kind of whale with specific markings. It is also known as an orca.
Krill – A very tiny, shrimp-like zooplankton that is usually transparent with a light pink or red
hue.
Kronosaurus – A large pliosaur measuring 30 feet long with a head that was 9 feet long.
Lamniformes – The order in which the great white shark belongs. It also contains other sharks
that grow fairly large.
Land crab – A true crab that breathes air but uses gills.
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Exploring Creation with Zoology 2
Larva – The singular form of larvae.
Larvae – What many animals (included fishes) are called once they hatch from an egg (plural).
Larval stage – The second stage of the development for many animals, including fishes. The
baby fish hatches into a larva. It floats and feeds from its yolk sac.
Lateral line – An extremely sensitive body feature on fishes that enables them to sense
vibrations in the water.
Leatherback sea turtle – The species of sea turtle that grows the largest, dives the deepest, and
travels the farthest of all sea turtles.
Limpet – An animal that creates a shell that looks like an oval saucer.
Lobes – The three separate parts that a trilobite is divided into.
Lobtailing – This is when a whale faces downward in the water with only its fluke sticking out,
splashing the water with a thunderous splash.
Loggerhead turtle – A species of sea turtle that can be spotted in the warm waters off the coast
of the U.S. It is named for its large, block-like head.
Low Tide – What we call it when the ocean’s water pulls way back, sometimes exposing a lot of
the shore.
Lugworm – A kind of bristle worm that makes little mounds of sand on the seashore.
Mammalia – The class in which mammals are placed.
Mammals – Warm-blooded creatures that breathe air and give birth to live young that drink milk
from their mother’s body. They also have a backbone and hair.
Manatee – A mammal in the order Sirenia, sometimes called a sea cow.
Mandibles – In a crustacean, it is the parts of the mouth that chew the food.
Manta ray – A type of ray that can be found in shallow waters off the coast.
Mantis shrimp – A type of shrimp that eats worms, fish, and other shrimp.
Glossary
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Mantle – An organ inside a mollusk’s body that converts calcium and other minerals into a shell.
Marine crab – A true crab that breathes underwater with gills.
Marine Mammals – Mammals that live in the sea.
Maxillae – The part of the crustacean’s mouth that tears the food into smaller pieces.
Maxillipeds – The part of a crustacean’s mouth that is used to hold, touch and even taste the
food.
Medusae – Cnidarians that have dangling tentacles.
Megalodon – An enormous shark that, as far as we know, is now extinct.
Melon – A whale’s protruding round forehead that contains condensed fatty tissue used for
echolocation.
Mesoglea – The jellylike substance in between the epidermis and the gastrodermis.
Microscopic animals – Animals that can not be seen without a microscope.
Midnight Zone – The area that begins before the bottom of the ocean floor, where it is darker
than midnight. No light from the sun ever reaches down this deep into the ocean.
Mimicry – A type of animal defense in which one animal mimics another animal that is not
attractive to predators. The marine flatworm uses this type of colorful defense so as to fool
predators into thinking it is not a tasty meal.
Mollusk – A soft, slimy creature with a squishy body, belonging to the phylum Mollusca.
Molt – In crustaceans, it is the process in which the animal sheds its exoskeleton so it can grow
bigger. In whales it occurs when the whale’s outer layer of skin peels off, revealing a new skin.
Monkfish – A fish in the order squatiniformes.
Monocular vision – The ability to see out of each eye separately.
Mosasaurs – These fossilized giant marine reptiles resemble sea snakes.
Mother of Pearl – The shiny inside lining of an abalone shell.
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Exploring Creation with Zoology 2
Mudpuppy – A type of salamander that never loses its gills.
Multicellular – When something is made up of many cells.
Mussel – A smooth, dark-colored bivalve that belongs to the phylum Mollusca and is considered
a tasty dish to some people.
Mutualism – When the creatures in a symbiotic relationship help each other so they each of
them benefits.
Nares – A fish’s nostrils.
Narwhal – A type of whale possessing a single, long tooth.
Nautilus – A cephalopod that rises and sinks due to gas-filled chambers in its shell. It can have
anywhere between 38 and 90 tentacles.
Neap Tides – Tides that occur when the sun’s gravity works against the moon’s gravity, causing
the high tides to become lower and the low tides to become higher.
Nektonic – What we call animals that can get from one place to another by propelling, gliding,
or paddling through the water.
Nematocysts – The stinging cells of a cnidarian that typically cover each tentacle.
Nettle – A type of plant with sticky spines that can be lodged into a person’s skin.
Neuromast – A group of sensory hairs that makes up a fish’s lateral line.
Neurotoxin – A type of snake venom that attacks the nervous system causing muscles (including
those that help us breathe) to stop working.
Nothosaurs – Fossilized giant marine reptiles that have been found in many parts of the world.
Nudibranch – A beautiful gastropod with colorful, frilly gills that come in many shapes and
sizes. Its name means "naked gills."
Octopus – A nocturnal cephalopod with eight arms. It lives in shallow waters, spending most of
its time on the sea floor.
Odobenidae – The family in which walruses belong.
Glossary
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Olive Ridley – A type of ridley sea turtle that is known for its color. It is the smallest of all sea
turtles.
Operculum – The flap over the gills of most bony fishes.
Oral siphon – One of the sea squirt's openings that sucks water into the animal.
Orca – A certain kind of whale with specific markings. It is also known as a killer whale.
Orectolobiformes – This order contains sharks that have their mouths on the fronts of their
heads, like the whale shark and nurse shark.
Osculum – The large hole in a sponge where clean, filtered water exits.
Osteichthys – The class to which bony fish belong.
Otariidae – Pinnipeds with ear-flaps belong in this family.
Oviparous – This term describes egg-laying animals.
Oyster – A type of bivalve that spends its entire life in one spot. It is a popular dish all over the
world.
Pectoral fin – A fin found just behind the head of a fish. It helps to control the direction of
movement during swimming.
Pelvic fin – A fin near the hind end of a fish.
Phocidae – The family to which seals belong, coming from the Greek word that means "seal."
Photoreceptors – Nerve cells that detect light.
Phytoplankton – Plankton that make their own food.
Pinacoderm – The outerlayer of a sponge.
Pinnipedia – Mammals like seals, walruses, and sea lines, that have flippers for feet are placed
in this order.
Pinnipeds – Mammals that belong to the order of Pinnipedia.
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Exploring Creation with Zoology 2
Pinnules – Feather star arms.
Pipa pipa – Another name for a Surinam toad.
Pistol shrimp – A type of shrimp that catches its prey by snapping its cheliped in such a way as
to make a loud popping sound.
Planarians – Fresh water flatworms.
Plankton – Organisms that drift or float in the water because they cannot swim strongly enough
to move against the ocean current.
Planula – The larval form of a jellyfish.
Plastron – The lower plate of the turtle’s shell.
Plesiosauria – Marine reptiles with long necks.
Plesiosaurus – The second extinct marine reptile fossil that Mary Anning discovered on the
beach.
Pleural lobes – The lobes on either side of the center of a trilobite.
Pliosaurs – Marine reptiles much like plesiosaurus, but with necks that are a bit shorter.
Pod – A group of whales.
Polyps – Cnidarians that have waving tentacles.
Pores – Narrow holes in the skin.
Porifera – The phylum to which sponges belong. Its name means “pore-bearer.”
Porpoise – A creature that is much like a dolphin but is shorter, wider, has no beak, and has a
different dorsal fin.
Porpoising – When a dolphin races along the surface of the water making low leaps out of the
water.
Portuguese man-o’-war – A colony of hundreds of jellylike creatures all linked together.
Glossary
Postlarval stage – The third stage of the development of a fish. The fish stops feeding from its
yolk sac. Its fins are not yet well developed.
Proboscis – A long stalk for feeding. In whelks, it contains the radula and mouth.
Producers – Organisms (such as plants) that produce their own food.
Pups – A term for many kinds of baby mammals, including baby sea lions.
Queen conch – The conch that produces the largest shell.
Radula – A gastropod's organ that resembles a jagged knife. It is used to scrape algae and drill
holes in animal shells.
Ragworm – A kind of bristle worm that lives in burrows on the seashore.
Rays – Curious, social sea animals that look like bats in the water.
Reef-building coral – Another name for stony corals, because they are largely responsible for
making coral reefs.
Regenerate – To re-grow parts of the body in order to heal.
Reptiles – Cold-blooded creatures that have scales, breathe air, lay eggs, and have a backbone.
Right Whale – A type of whale that was a major target for whalers.
Rookeries – The name of the breeding grounds for pinnipeds.
Rotifer – A microscopic animal that was discovered in the 1600s and has tiny hairs that flap
back and forth.
Scallop – A special, fan-shaped mollusk hat has raised ridges on its shell that typically form a
wavy, scalloping pattern.
Schools – Large groups of fishes.
Scutes – The plates covering the carapace and the plastron.
Sea – A body of water that is smaller than an ocean. It is made up of salt water because it is
connected to an ocean.
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Sea anemones – Cnidarians that are often called “flowers of the sea” because they resemble
flowers.
Sea Canary – Another word for Beluga whales.
Sea cucumber – A sausage-shaped benthic animal that has five rows of tube feet stretching the
length of its body, enabling it to slowly move around the ocean floor.
Sea Lion – A large pinniped that can be found from San Diego to Alaska and in the cooler areas
of Australia and New Zealand.
Sea Snake – A type of snake that lives permanently in the ocean.
Sea Squirt – A partially transparent filter feeder that looks like a rubbery-looking cup with two
openings.
Sea Star – An echinoderm found all over the ocean. It typically has five arms radiating out from
a central disk and pushes its stomach out of its mouth to digest its prey.
Sea urchin – A creature with no arms that is completely covered in spines.
Sea Wash Balls – Whelks' eggs that are papery and spongy masses and often wash up on the
beach.
Seal – A pinniped that does not have external ear flaps.
Segmented worm – Another name for the annelid, because it’s divided into many ring-like
sections called segments.
Sessile – Animals that stick themselves to one place and do not move around.
Sharks – Large cartilaginous fishes that are usually fierce predators.
Shellfish – Another name for crustaceans and mollusks.
Shoal – A group of squids.
Shonisaurs – The largest of the ichthyosaurs. Their fossils are found in Nevada.
Shrimp – A type of crustacean that looks like a miniature lobster.
Glossary
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Siphon tube – The tube bivalves use to eat, breathe, and excrete waste.
Sirenia – Manatees belong in this order.
Smacks – Swarms of jellyfish.
Soft corals – Corals that are soft and can be easily mistaken for plants.
Sonar – Another word for echolocation.
Spat – What a mussel is known as in its larval stage.
Spawning – When the male fish releases sperm on the egg. It is the most common way fishes
reproduce.
Sperm – The substance that a male fish releases on a female fish's eggs so that an embryo can
form in the egg.
Spermaceti – An organ on a sperm whale that scientists think is used to focus or reflect sound.
Spicules – The spikes on a sponge that serve as its defense.
Spiracles – Breathing holes on top of a ray’s body.
Sponges – Sessile creatures that come in all different shapes and sizes and are filter feeders in
the ocean.
Spring Tides – Tides that are caused by the sun working with the moon to pull on the oceans of
the world, causing the high tide to become higher than usual and the low tide to become lower
than usual.
Spyhopping – What we call it when a whale sits straight up in the water with its head positioned
out of the water.
Squaliformes – The order that contains deep-water sharks that are rounded in the middle and
have short snouts.
Squatiniformes – The order to which angelsharks and monkfish belong.
Squid – A cephalopod with ten arms and a beak.
Stingray – A type of ray that has a tail spine filled with venom used for defense.
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Exploring Creation with Zoology 2
Stony corals – Corals that build hard shells around themselves.
Stromboid Notch – The distinct notch that conchs have on their front end.
Sunlit Zone – The part of the ocean that is well lit by the sun.
Surinam toad – A flat toad that lives in South America. It looks a lot like a dead leaf when
floating in the water.
Swim bladder – The balloon-like part in a fish’s body that is filled with gas and can get larger or
smaller depending on whether the fish wants to remain higher or lower in the water.
Swimmerets – The small leg-looking paddles under the crustacean’s abdomen that help propel
the crustacean through the water.
Symbiosis – When two or more different creatures live together in a close relationship.
Tadpole larva – What a sea squirt is sometimes called in its larval stage.
Tadpoles – Amphibian hatchlings.
Tail fan – Located at the end of the abdomen, crustaceans use this for steering while they swim.
Tardigrades – Another name for water bears, because they are slow walkers.
Test – A rounded body under the spine of a sea urchin. It can be seen when a sea urchin dies and
loses its spine.
Testudines – The order in which turtles belong.
Thermohaline currents – Deep currents in the ocean resulting from water evaporating from the
surface of the ocean.
Toothed whales – These cetaceans have teeth instead of baleen.
Trachea – The tube at the end of the throat that leads to the lungs.
Trilobites – A type of three-lobed crustacean that, as far as we know, is now extinct.
Tube feet – Tubular strands with suction cups on the ends.
Glossary
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Tubeworm – A kind of bristle worm that builds tubes around itself using bits of sand and shells
glued together with mucus.
Tun – A state of being that a rotifer will go into to survive if the water dries up.
Tunicates – Another name for sea squirts.
Tusk – In the narwhal, it is the horn that grows right out of its mouth. In the walrus, it is the
extra long teeth protruding from its mouth.
Twilight Zone – The area deeper down the continental slope where it is fairly dark with very
little sunlight coming through.
Unicellular – When something is made up of only one cell.
Valved nostrils – Specially designed nostrils that can close up when a sea snake goes
underwater and open when it comes up for air, much like the blowhole of a whale.
Vertebrate – An animal that has a backbone.
Viviparous – A term that refers to animals that give birth to live young.
Walrus – The largest pinniped
Water vascular system – The sea star’s system of canals that transports oxygen, food, and the
other things it needs to different parts of the body
Waterdog – A type of salamander with external feathery gills.
Weaned – A term that refers to a baby that no longer needs to eat by nursing.
Wentletrap – Gastropods that make shells with spirals.
Whalers – Fishermen that hunt whales.
Whelk – A sea snail with a spiral shell that has pointy spikes, knobs, or other interesting
features. It is a predator of bivalves.
Winkles – Animals that produces a winkle shell and are often found in tide pools.
Xiphosura – The class in which horseshoe crabs belong.
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Exploring Creation with Zoology 2
Yellow boring sponges – Sponges that grow on clams and other seashells by using acid to bore
holes into the shell to which they attach.
Zooplankton – Plankton that must eat to get food.
Zooxanthellae – Tiny phytoplankton that get captured by coral polyps. They provide nutrients
and color for the polyps.