The teleosts (from Greek for "complete bone") are an infraclass of ray-
finned fishes that arose in the Triassic period. Making up 96 percent of
all known fish species, this diverse group includes about 40 orders and
448 families. They inhabit oceans at all depths, estuaries, rivers,
lakes and swamps. They range in size from the giant oarfish, measuring
25 feet (7.6 m) or more, and the ocean sunfish, weighing over 2.2 short
tons (2 tonnes), to the male anglerfish Photocorynus spiniceps, just
0.24 inches (6.2 mm) long. Teleosts can be torpedo-shaped, flattened
(vertically or horizontally) or cylindrical, and some, like the
anglerfish and seahorse, have unique shapes. They can protrude their
jaws, enabling them to grab prey and draw it into their mouth. Depicted
in art over the centuries, teleosts are economically important to
humans. They are harvested for food, captured for sport, kept in
aquariums, and used in research, especially in the fields of genetics
and developmental biology.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleost>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
338 BC:
A Macedonian army defeated the combined forces of Athens and
Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony over the
majority of Ancient Greece.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chaeronea_(338_BC)>
461:
Unpopular among the senate aristocracy for his reform efforts,
Roman emperor Majorian (pictured on coin) was deposed and executed five
days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majorian>
1897:
The Siege of Malakand ended when a relief column was able to
reach the British garrison in the Malakand region of colonial India's
North West Frontier Province.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malakand>
1932:
At the California Institute of Technology, Carl David Anderson
proved the existence of antimatter when he discovered the positron.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positron>
1947:
A British South American Airways airliner crashed into Mount
Tupungato in the Argentine Andes, the wreckage from which was not found
until 1998.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_BSAA_Avro_Lancastrian_Star_Dust_accident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pukka:
1. (originally South Asia) Genuine or authentic; hence of behaviour:
correct, socially acceptable or proper.
2. Superior or of high quality; first-class.
3. (Britain, slang) Excellent, fantastic, great.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pukka>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Perhaps I did not succumb to ideology … because I have never
seen myself as a spokesman. I am a witness. In the church in which I was
raised you were supposed to bear witness to the truth. Now, later on,
you wonder what in the world the truth is, but you do know what a lie
is.
--James Baldwin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Baldwin>
Show replies by date