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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...

fertilizer

(Encyclopedia)fertilizer, organic or inorganic material containing one or more of the nutrients—mainly nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and other essential elements required for plant growth. Added to the soi...

heron

(Encyclopedia)heron hĕrˈən [key], common name for members of the family Ardeidae, large wading birds including the bittern and the egret, found in most temperate regions but most numerous in tropical and subtrop...

flying fish

(Encyclopedia)flying fish, common name for members of the Exocoetidae, a family of carnivorous or herbivorous fish of warmer seas. Flying fishes usually swim in schools. They average 7 to 12 in. (17.5–30 cm) in l...

lancelet

(Encyclopedia)lancelet, name for small, fishlike lower chordate (see Chordata), also called amphioxus; it shows many affinities with the vertebrates. There are about 30 lancelet species, most belonging to the genus...

Youth, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Youth, Isle of, Span. Isla de la Juventud, island and special municipality (1989 est. pop. 71,500), 1,180 sq mi (3,056 sq km), off SW Cuba, from which it is separated by the Batabanó Gulf. Until 1978...

bonus

(Encyclopedia)bonus, extra amount in money, bonds, or goods over what is normally due. The term is applied especially to payments to employees either for production in excess of the normal (wage incentive) or as a ...

bootlegging

(Encyclopedia)bootlegging, in the United States, the illegal distribution or production of liquor and other highly taxed goods. First practiced when liquor taxes were high, bootlegging was instrumental in defeating...

schistosomiasis

(Encyclopedia)schistosomiasis bĭlˌhärzīˈəsĭs [key], or snail fever, parasitic disease caused by blood flukes, trematode worms of the genus Schistosoma. Three species are human parasites: S. mansoni, S. japon...

sea urchin

(Encyclopedia)sea urchin, spherical-shaped echinoderm with movable spines covering the body. The body wall is a firm, globose shell, or test, made of fused skeletal plates and marked by regularly arranged tubercles...