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Nyad, Diana

(Encyclopedia)Nyad, Diana nīˈăd [key], 1949–, American distance swimmer, b. New York City as Diana Sneed, grad. Lake Forest College, 1973. She began swimming seriously as a teenager, becoming interested in dis...

Lee, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Charles, 1731–82, American Revolutionary army officer, b. Cheshire, England. He first came to America to serve in the French and Indian War and took part in General Braddock's disastrous campai...

gecko

(Encyclopedia)gecko gĕkˈō [key], small or medium-sized lizard of the family Gekkonidae. Some 1,500 species are distributed throughout the warm regions of the world, mostly in the Old World. Despite folklore to t...

Hergé

(Encyclopedia)Hergé, pseud. of Georges Remi, 1907–83, Belgian cartoonist, creator of the cartoon character Tintin. The boy reporter and his faithful fox terrier Milou (Snowy in English translations) first debute...

fishing

(Encyclopedia)fishing, act of catching fish for consumption or display. Fishing—usually by hand, club, spear, net, and (at least as early as 23,000 years ago) by hook—was known to prehistoric people. It was pra...

ray, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)ray, extremely flat-bodied cartilaginous marine fish, related to the shark. The pectoral fins of most rays are developed into broad, flat, winglike appendages, attached all along the sides of the head...

dogfish

(Encyclopedia)dogfish, name for a number of small sharks of several different families. Best known are the spiny dogfishes (family Squalidae) and the smooth dogfishes (family Triakidae). Spiny dogfishes have two sp...

Hirst, Damien Steven

(Encyclopedia)Hirst, Damien Steven, 1965–, British artist-provacateur, b. Bristol. While at Goldsmiths College, London (grad. 1988), he organized the exhibition Freeze, whose participants, led by Hirst, became kn...

gills, in biology

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Gills of a fish: Side view (A) and ventral view (B) gills, external respiratory organs of most aquatic animals. In fishes the gills are located in gill chambers at the rear of the mouth (phary...

otter

(Encyclopedia)otter, name for a number of aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the weasel family, found on all continents except Australia. The common river otters of Eurasia and the Americas are species of the genus Lu...

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