Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

sea cucumber

(Encyclopedia)sea cucumber, any of the flexible, elongated echinoderms belonging to the class Holothuroidea. Although sea cucumbers have the basic echinoderm radial symmetry (see Echinodermata), they do not have ar...

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 ...

Dead Sea

(Encyclopedia)Dead Sea, salt lake, c.390 sq mi (1,010 sq km), extending c.45 mi (70 km) in the Jordan trough of the Great Rift Valley between the Ghor on the north and Wadi Arabah on the south, on the border betwee...

Sargasso Sea

(Encyclopedia)Sargasso Sea särgăsˈō [key], part of the N Atlantic Ocean, lying roughly between the West Indies and the Azores and from about lat. 20°N to lat. 35°N, in the horse latitudes. The relatively stil...

Bering Sea

(Encyclopedia)Bering Sea, c.878,000 sq mi (2,274,020 sq km), northward extension of the Pacific Ocean between Siberia and Alaska. It is screened from the Pacific proper by the Aleutian Islands. The Bering Strait co...

Erythraean Sea

(Encyclopedia)Erythraean Sea ĕrĭthrēˈən [key], name of unclear origin anciently applied to the Indian Ocean, later to the Arabian Gulf, and finally to the Red Sea. ...

Aral Sea

(Encyclopedia)Aral Sea ărˈəl [key], salt lake, SW Kazakhstan and NW Uzbekistan, E of the Caspian Sea in an area of interior drainage. To the north and west are the edges of the arid Ustyurt Plateau; the Kyzyl Ku...

sea star

(Encyclopedia)sea star, also called starfish, echinoderm of the class Asteroidae, common in tide pools. Sea stars vary in size from under 1⁄2 in. (1.3 cm) to over 3 ft (90 cm) in diameter. They are commonly dull ...

Weddell Sea

(Encyclopedia)Weddell Sea wĕdˈəl [key], arm of the Atlantic Ocean, W Antarctica, SE of South America, bordered by the Antarctic Peninsula and Coats Land. The vast Ronne and Filchner ice shelves are at the head o...

Banda Sea

(Encyclopedia)Banda Sea bănˈdə, bänˈdä [key], section of the Pacific Ocean, c.600 mi (970 km) long and c.300 mi (480 km) wide, E Indonesia, outlined by the South Molucca islands. The deepest point is c.24,000...