Amis Science Vocabulary

Science Vocabulary

Antennae Features on an

arthropod’s head that responds to touch, taste, or smell

Asymmetrical Symmetry Without symmetry

Bilateral symmetry A body plan in which

two halves of an organism’s body are mirror images of each other.

Carnivore A consumer that eats

the flesh of other animals.

Camouflage The coloration and/or

texture that enables the animal to blend in with its environment.

Circadian rhythm A natural, daily cycle

Coelom A cavity in the body

of some animals where the gut and organs are located.

Compound Eye An eye that is made

of many, identical, light sensitive cells that work together.

Consumer Any organism that

eats producers or other organisms for energy.

Ectotherm An animal whose

body temperature fluctuates with the environment’s temperature.

Endotherm An animal that

maintains a constant body temperature.

Exoskeleton An external skeleton

made of protein and chitin.

Endoskeleton An internal skeleton

Ganglia Groups of nerve cells

Gills Organs that remove

oxygen from the water and carbon dioxide from the blood

Head The body part of

animals where the brain is located

Host An organism on

which a parasite lives

Invertebrate An animal without a

backbone

Mandible A jaw found on some

arthropods

Medusa A body form of some

cnidarians; resembles a mushroom with tentacles.

Metamorphosis The process in which

an insect or other animal changes form as it develops from an embryo or larva to an adult

Multicellular Made of many cells

Open circulatory system A circulatory system

consisting of a heart that pumps blood through spaces called sinuses.

Organ A combination of two

or more tissues that work together to perform a specific function in the body.

Parasite An organism that

feeds on a living creature, usually not killing it.

Pheromone A chemical produced

by animals for communication.

Polyp A body form of some

cnidarians; resembles a vase.

Predator An organism that

hunts and eats another animal

Prey The animal being

hunted and eaten

Radial Symmetry the condition of

having similar parts regularly arranged around a central axis

Segment a separate piece of

something

Thorax the middle of the

three chief divisions of the body of an insect; also : the corresponding part of a crustacean or an arachnid

Vertebrate Having a bone and

skull Also having internal

skeleton

Water Vascular System a system of canals in

echinoderms containing a circulating watery fluid that is used for the movement of the tentacles and tube feet

Regenerate formed or created

again

When split, sponges can regenerate

Radula a horny band or

ribbon in mollusks other than bivalves that bears minute chitinous teeth on its dorsal surface and scrapes or tears off food and draws it into the mouth

Foot of Mollusks The extension of a

mollusk’s body that helps it to dig into the soil.

Foot of Mollusk

Jointed limbs Limbs with joints

Sessile permanently attached

or established : not free to move about

Nocturnal Is active in night and

sleeps through the day

Crop a pouched enlargement of

the gullet of many birds that serves as a receptacle for food and for its preliminary maceration; also : an enlargement of the gullet of another animal (as an insect)

Porifera Sponges. Asymmetrical. Its structure are hard

fibers called Spicules. As adults they are

sessile.

Cnidaria (Coelenterates) Sea Anemones,

hydra, coral, and jellyfish.

Radial symmetry Inner layer and outer

layer 2 Body forms

Polyp Medusa

Nematodes any of a phylum

(Nematoda or Nemata) of elongated cylindrical worms parasitic in animals or plants or free-living in soil or water -- called also roundworm

Platyhelminthes Flatworm

Annelids any of a phylum

(Annelida) of usually elongated segmented coelomate invertebrates (as earthworms and leeches)

Mullusca Snails, Slugs,

bivalves, octopus, squids, and chambered nautilus.

Vilateral symmetry Visceral mass Foot or tentacle Mantle

Univalves a mollusk with a shell

consisting of one valve; especially : Gastropod

Bivalves any of a class (Bivalvia

syn. Pelecypoda) of typically marine mollusks (as clams, oysters, or scallops) that have a 2-valved hinged shell, are usually filter feeders, and lack a distinct head

Cephalopods any of a class of marine

mollusks including the squids, cuttlefishes, and octopuses that move by expelling water from a tubular siphon under the head and that have a group of muscular usually sucker-bearing arms around the front of the head, highly developed eyes, and usually a sac containing ink which is ejected for defense or concealment

Arthropods any of a phylum

(Arthropoda) of invertebrate animals (as insects, arachnids, and crustaceans) that have a segmented body and jointed appendages, a usually chitinous exoskeleton molted at intervals, and a dorsal anterior brain connected to a ventral chain of ganglia

Chilopeds arthropods having the

trunk composed of numerous somites each bearing one pair of legs: centipedes

diplopods millipede

Insecta insects; about five-

sixths of all known animal species

Crustaceans any of a large class

(Crustacea) of mostly aquatic mandibulate arthropods that have a chitinous or calcareous and chitinous exoskeleton, a pair of often much modified appendages on each segment, and two pairs of antennae and that include the lobsters, shrimps, crabs, wood lice, water fleas, and barnacles

Arachnids any of a class (Arachnida)

of arthropods comprising chiefly terrestrial invertebrates, including the spiders, scorpions, mites, and ticks, and having a segmented body divided into two regions of which the anterior bears four pairs of legs but no antennae

Echinoderms any of a phylum

(Echinodermata) of radially symmetrical coelomate marine animals including the starfishes, sea urchins, and related forms

Tentacles any of various

elongate flexible usually tactile or prehensile processes borne by animals and especially invertebrates chiefly on the head or about the mouth

Spicules A small needlelike

structure or part, such as one of the silicate or calcium carbonate processes supporting the soft tissue of certain invertebrates, especially sponges.

Nematocysts one of the stinging

organelles of coelenterates used in catching prey

Asexual involving or

reproducing by reproductive processes (as cell division, spore formation, fission, or budding) that do not involve the union of individuals or gametes

Hermaphroditic an animal or plant

having both male and female reproductive organs

Setae a slender usually rigid

or bristly and springy organ or part of an animal or plant

Osculum The mouth like

opening in a sponge, used to expel water

Planeria free-swimming

mostly freshwater flatworms; popular in laboratory studies for the ability to regenerate lost parts

Tapeworm any of a class

(Cestoda) of bilaterally symmetrical flatworms parasitic especially in the intestines of vertebrates -- called also cestode

Fluke a flattened digenetic

trematode worm

Leeches any of numerous

carnivorous or bloodsucking usually freshwater annelid worms (class Hirudinea) that have typically a flattened lanceolate segmented body with a sucker at each end

Hydra any of numerous

small tubular freshwater hydrozoan polyps (Hydra and related genera) having at one end a mouth surrounded by tentacles

Centipedes any of a class

(Chilopoda) of long flattened many-segmented predaceous arthropods with each segment bearing one pair of legs of which the foremost pair is modified into poison fangs

Millipedes any of a class

(Diplopoda) of myriapod arthropods having usually a cylindrical segmented body covered with hard integument, two pairs of legs on most apparent segments, and unlike centipedes no poison fangs

Abdomen the part of the body

between the thorax and the pelvis; also : the cavity of this part of the trunk containing the chief viscera

Closed circulatory system Where blood flows

freely throughout the body instead of in veins and eventually finds its way to the heart by diffusion.

Gut the inner essential

parts, especially the intestine or stomach

Nerve Ring

Visceral Mass The place where all

the organs are in mollusks

Mantle The soft outer wall

lining the shell of a tunicate or barnacle

Incomplete Metamorphosis Only go through the

stages egg, nymph, and adult

Gizzard the muscular enlargement

of the alimentary canal of birds that has usually thick muscular walls and a tough horny lining for grinding the food and when the crop is present follows it and the proventriculus

Intestine the tubular part of the

alimentary canal that extends from the stomach to the anus

Trilobite any of numerous

extinct Paleozoic marine arthropods (group Trilobita) having the segments of the body divided by furrows on the dorsal surface into three lobes

Flagella any of various

elongated filiform appendages of plants or animals

Larvae the immature, wingless,

and often wormlike feeding form that hatches from the egg of many insects, alters chiefly in size while passing through several molts, and is finally transformed into a pupa or chrysalis from which the adult emerges

Coral a polyp or polyp

colony together with its membranes and skeleton

Sea anemone any of numerous

usually solitary anthozoan polyps (order Actiniaria) whose form, bright and varied colors, and cluster of tentacles superficially resemble a flower

Anus the posterior opening

of the alimentary canal

Mouth the natural opening

through which food passes into the body of an animal and which in vertebrates is typically bounded externally by the lips and internally by the pharynx and encloses the tongue, gums, and teet

Aortic Arches one of the arterial

branches in vertebrate embryos that exist in a series of pairs with one on each side of the embryo, connect the ventral arterial system lying anterior to the heart to the dorsal arterial system above the alimentary tract, and persist in adult fishes but are reduced or much modified in the adult of higher forms

Marine of or relating to the

sea

Digestion the process of making

food absorbable by dissolving it and breaking it down into simpler chemical compounds that occurs in the living body chiefly through the action of enzymes secreted into the alimentary canal

Circulatory of or relating to

circulation or the circulatory system

Respiratory the physical and chemical

processes by which an organism supplies its cells and tissues with the oxygen needed for metabolism and relieves them of the carbon dioxide formed in energy-producing reactions

Reproductive of, relating to, or

capable of reproduction

Excretory of, relating to, or

functioning in excretion

Internal Fertilization Fertilizing the egg

inside the body

External Fertilization Laying eggs then

fertilizing it

Gastropod any of a large class

(Gastropoda) of mollusks (as snails and slugs) usually with a univalve shell or none and a distinct head bearing sensory organs

The End