Glossary questions and requests

Post by **Silurus** » 26 May 2006, 15:26

A base is a water soluble compound that reacts with an acid to form salt and water, to put it simply.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 26 May 2006, 15:29

Jools wrote:
bronzefry wrote:How about this:
Neutral: A substance that is neither acid nor base.
What does base mean?

Jools

Neutral: A substance which is neither acid nor alkali.
Must be another one of those Americanizzzzzzations. By the way, TFH magazine refers to them as "Bushynoses", too. The first time I ever saw a reference to a "Bristlenose" was this website. No wonder there are so many misunderstandings in the world. Nobody speaks the same English language!

Amanda

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 26 May 2006, 16:17

Silurus wrote:A base is a water soluble compound that reacts with an acid to form salt and water, to put it simply.

Sorry, yes, I was a bit short with my previous reply. What I meant to say was, why use the word base when all you're going to have to do is define it in context. I think the defn water that is refered to a netural is neither acid or alkaline would suffice.

I was just trying to stuff going into the glossary becuase of other glossary definitions.

Jools

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 26 May 2006, 16:31

bronzefry wrote:Neutral: A substance which is neither acid nor alkali.

Make that "alkaline", as "alkali" is the name of the metals in the group of Lithium, Sodium, Potassium etc, whilst alkaline would be a compound with a "high pH" value.

--
Mats

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 26 May 2006, 17:28

Neutral: A substance which is neither acid nor alkali.

I think it needs to be more fishkeeping related.

How about...

Neutral: Water which is of pH 7.0. The point where the concentration of acids and alkalis are equal.

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 26 May 2006, 18:15

racoll wrote:
Neutral: A substance which is neither acid nor alkali.
I think it needs to be more fishkeeping related.

How about...

Neutral: Water which is of pH 7.0. The point where the concentration of acids and alkalis are equal.

Agreed, I would also add a "see also pH"?

Jools

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 27 May 2006, 11:33

Anastomoses!

Jools

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 27 May 2006, 15:08

racoll wrote:
Neutral: A substance which is neither acid nor alkali.
I think it needs to be more fishkeeping related.

How about...

Neutral: Water which is of pH 7.0. The point where the concentration of acids and alkalis are equal.

If we want to be fussy, Stefan correctly pointed out that we need to say the following:
Neutral: Water which is of a pH of 7.0 at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius. The point where the concentration of an acid and an alkali are equal.

Why are the easy words so difficult to define?

Should it be Buffer or Buffering Capacity?

Anastamosis: The joining of multiple structures into a single network. May apply to anatomy (blood vessels) and geography (rivers). Plural: Anastamoses.

I'll put in Bycatch and Contaminant today.

Jools, are the HTML entities working?
Amanda

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 27 May 2006, 15:39

Amanda,

Yes, I tried a couple of the links and they worked fine, well done!

I meant Anastomoses not Anastomosis!!!

Jools

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 27 May 2006, 15:51

You mean like <a href='http://physrev.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/85/1/97' target='_blank'>this</a>? I think I need to print it out and have a look.

Amanda
(just a few pages...not all 214 pages)

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 27 May 2006, 16:08

bronzefry wrote:You mean like <a href='http://physrev.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/85/1/97' target='_blank'>this</a>? I think I need to print it out and have a look.
Amanda
(just a few pages...not all 214 pages)

Ah, it has two meanings then, I was refering to the one that means a river crisscrossed with islands. It is used as such in the description of Hypancistrus zebra. Perhaps it just generally means something crisscrossed with something else in which case I could leave it!

Jools

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 27 May 2006, 16:15

Thanks, Jools. The first search I did turned up articles about human surgical procedures: intestinal and coronary bypass. Plenty of Anastamoses going on there.
Amanda

racoll · Post by **racoll** » 27 May 2006, 17:04

If we want to be fussy, Stefan correctly pointed out that we need to say the following:
Neutral: Water which is of a pH of 7.0 at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius. The point where the concentration of an acid and an alkali are equal.

Although correct, I think the 20C bit just makes it a bit too complicated. For fishkeeping, I don't think it needs to be mentioned. I think it will confuse people who's aquarium isn't at 20C.

It's a fine line between being accurate and anal.

I'm also not sure about using the singular for the acids and alkalis. It implies that there is only one kind of acid or alkali.

I maintain that this is enough.

Neutral: Water which is of pH 7.0. The point where the concentration of acids and alkalis are equal.

Amanda, Jools mentioned linking relavent parts the glossary to my article. I don't know if that would be possible?

P.S. Sorry about using the word anal. I hope we don't get the wrong kind of traffic to PC!

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 28 May 2006, 08:12

I agree about the linking (there are also links into the glossary from the new version of the Cat-eLog) but would advise that the page you link to in Shane's World will change its URL. I don't know what it will look like yet, but probably something like http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... cle_id=332

However this is a few weeks off at the earliest and will be one of the final jobs in the whole cat-elog v2 migration.

Jools

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 28 May 2006, 18:27

Nice article, Racoll!

Amanda

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 21 Jun 2006, 14:16

Been a bit quiet here, so I thought I'd liven it up a bit:

Xylophagus - A creature that eats wood, e.g. Panaque spp.
Genus - The genus is used in taxonomy to group several species that are similar. pl. genera.
Species - A group of organisms of the same sort, as determined by taxonomy.

A minor typo:
Casque Helmut shaped. - should be "Helmet" shaped, right? Not shaped like a (German?) person by the name of Helmut(h) - do those have a special shape?

Finally: I was looking at "Monophylitic", but I couldn't find a definition, although a Google-search finds a few references to it, including PC.

--
Mats

bedwetter · Post by **bedwetter** » 21 Jun 2006, 15:06

Monophyletic: sharing a common ancestor.

Regarding a definition of species: people have been debating what a species is for a long, long time, and there has never been any consensus. In my opinon, there ISN'T one good definition of species because each group of organisms has a different evolutionary history. I generally follow G.G. Simpson's definition: a species is what a good taxonomist says it is

I guess that is really what Mats' definition says too.

Jeff

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 21 Jun 2006, 15:25

I got two hits when I did a PC search on this word.(Cat-eLog, Pseudobagrus crassilabris) I'll come up with a definition and run it by folks. Thanks.

Mats, you are correct. I'll make that change.
Amanda

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 21 Jun 2006, 15:29

Jeff, yes, I was trying to avoid getting into the technicalities of "What constitutes a species" and the effects of lumping vs. splitting, etc, etc. Clearly, the concept of "if they can produce fertile offspring" doesn't quite work for Hypancistrus and some similar fish - unless you believe that msot Hypancistrus are actually a single species - which if you compare with a domestic dog may have some credit...

Of course, if someone like HH has a good definition that conforms to:
1. Short.
2. Relatively accurate.
3. Doesn't require a complete understanding of ALL of the glossary and some more...

I'd be happy for anyone elses suggestions or comments.

--
Mats

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 21 Jun 2006, 17:41

Monophyletic: Having a single, common ancestor or line of evolution.
Amanda

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 05 Jul 2006, 20:16

Been pretty quiet here, so I thought this one could be added:

Condition - To prepare fish for spawning, for example by feeding particularly meaty/nutritious food.

--
Mats

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 06 Jul 2006, 14:49

Quite right you are, Mats! In it goes.

Amanda

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 10 Jul 2006, 14:11

I mentioned this here a while back, but can you add an entry for all the linked in catelog page terms like distribution, tankmates and so on.

See also

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... hp?p=93355

The general idea being that when you click on the link on the left hand side of the catelog page (for example http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/gloss ... fic%20name), you get a glossary definition of what that terms means.

If there are some that aren't really glossary material then they should go in a FAQ entry once I get that off the ground too.

Cheers,

Jools

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 10 Jul 2006, 19:25

Ah, the FAQ's!

Amanda

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 21 Jul 2006, 03:15

Two that came up today that should have been in a long time ago:

Evertible - Can be turned (inside) out.

Interopercular - Between (behind) the gillcovers.

--
Mats

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 21 Jul 2006, 13:07

A couple of other words that I think should be in there:

Fecund - Species with high reproductive rate.

Fecundity - The (potential) rate of reproduction of a species.

--
Mats

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 21 Jul 2006, 18:14

I'll get to them this weekend. Thanks, Mats!

Amanda

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 22 Jul 2006, 14:52

MatsP wrote: Interopercular - Between (behind) the gillcovers.

--
Mats

Mats,
Should we maybe define:
Interopercle: One of a series of bones which makes up the Operculum.

I can link "Operculum" to the existing definition. Please feel free to add to this.

Amanda

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 23 Jul 2006, 16:32

Here are some of the definitions from the Cat-eLog:

Family: A taxonomic grouping between Order and Genus. A group of related Genera.

Genus: (plural: Genera) A taxonomic grouping between Family and Species. A group of related Species.

Species: A taxonomic grouping below Genus. A group or population sharing a gene pool.

Common Name: A non-scientific name for a certain species. Common names may vary by location and/or language and often cause confusion.

Scientific Name: Latin-based nomenclature used by scientists to identify a species. A species may only have one scientific name to eliminate confusion.

Type Locality: The geographic location of origin for a species.

Pronounciation: The correct way to say a word.

Etymology: The origins of a word.

Size: The length of a fish. See SL and TL.

Identification: What to look for when trying to find out what type of species you are looking at.

Distribution: An indication of how wide-spread or abundant a species is.

Feeding: See Herbivore, Carnivore and Limnivore.

Furniture: The way to decorate a tank. Also see bogwood and substrate.

Compatibility: The ability of a species to live with others.

Breeding: The measures required for a male and female from a certain species to produce offspring.

Please feel free to make suggestions. I'm not at all sure about "genus", "family" and "species." I'll get these first and then on to the "References", "Cool Links", "Offsite Resources" and "Hits."

Amanda

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 23 Jul 2006, 16:45

Sorry, I'm an idiot, I edited Mats post rather than add mine.

Type locality: The place where the *link*holotype specimen used to describe the species was found.

Reference: Where the original description of the species was published. With this, a (scientific/university) library can find the original description. May also contain further reading on points raised on the page.

Jools