Definition: The marine benthic biome (benthic meaning 'bottom') encompasses the seafloor and includes such areas as shores, littoral or intertidal areas, marine coral reefs, and the deep seabed.
Definition: A landform consisting of loose rock particles such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, cobble, or even shell fragments along the shoreline of a body of water.
Definition: An aquatic biome that comprises systems of open-ocean and unprotected coastal habitats, characterized by exposure to wave action, tidal fluctuation, and ocean currents as well as systems that largely resemble these. Water in the marine biome is generally within the salinity range of seawater: 30 to 38 ppt.
Definition: Lecithotrophic larvae are provided with a source of nutrition to use during their dispersal, usually a yolk sac. They generally have greater dispersal potential than direct developers, but short pelagic larval durations relative to planktotrophic larvae.
Definition: National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (USNM), Washington, District of Columbia, USA.\r\nNMNH and USNM both refer to the National Museum of Natural History. Collections are associated with one or the other acronym. US, the US National Herbarium, is a collection within the National Museum of Natural History. URL for main institutional website, http://www.mnh.si.edu/rc/\r\nURL for institutional specimen catalog, http://collections.mnh.si.edu/
Definition: Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (Zoological Collections) (ZMB). Berlin, Germany. URL for main institutional website: http://www.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de Formerly Zoologisches Museum der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
