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Puntarenas

(Encyclopedia)Puntarenas po͞ontärāˈnäs [key], town (1995 est. pop. 40,706), capital of Puntarenas prov., W Costa Rica, on the Gulf of Nicoya. Formerly the country's principal port on the Pacific, it has been s...

scale, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)scale, in zoology, an outgrowth, either bony or horny, of the skin of an animal. The major component of the scales of fishes is bone, and they are formed directly in the skin membrane as the fish grow...

sea snake

(Encyclopedia)sea snake, name for any of the venomous marine snakes of the family Hydrophidae, found in tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans. The sea snake's body is flattened laterally and its oarlike ...

sturgeon

(Encyclopedia)sturgeon, primitive fish of the northern regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. Unlike evolutionarily advanced fishes, it has a fine-grained hide, with very reduced scalation, a mostly cartilagin...

Leopold II, king of the Belgians

(Encyclopedia)Leopold II, 1835–1909, king of the Belgians (1865–1909), son and successor of Leopold I. His reign saw great industrial and colonial expansion. In 1876 he organized, with the help of H. M. Stanley...

cyclostome

(Encyclopedia)cyclostome sīˈkləstōmˌ [key], jawless fish, member of the vertebrate superclass Cyclostomata (see Chordata). This group includes the hagfish and the lamprey. ...

Clinch

(Encyclopedia)Clinch, river, c.300 mi (480 km) long, formed by the junction of two forks in SW Va., and flowing generally SW across E Tenn. to the Tennessee River at Kingston. Its waters and those of its tributary,...

Hicks, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Hicks, Thomas, 1823–90, American portrait painter, b. Newtown, Pa. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and abroad, where he lived for several years. He settled in New York City i...

Opalinida

(Encyclopedia)Opalinida ōˌpəlĭnˈĭdə [key], phylum of unicellular heterotrophic organisms of the kingdom Protista. The opalinids are all intestinal parasites of small vertebrates, such as frogs, toads, and fi...

Mamoudzou

(Encyclopedia)Mamoudzou, city (2002 pop. 45,485), capital and largest city of Mayotte. It lies on the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean on the NE coast of Grande-Terre, Mayotte's main island, near the mouth of...