ink n. Many cephalopods produce a cloud of dark pigment when threatened by predators. This either hides the cephalopod from view or distracts the predator.
insect n. Members of the arthropod subphylum Hexapoda and the class Insecta. All insects have an exoskeleton, three body parts with a pair of appendages on each, compound eyes and a pair of antennae.
invertebrate n. Any animal lacking a backbone. Invertebrates make up over 95% of all animal species.
j
jaguar n. Phylum, Chordata, Class Mammalia, Order Carnivora. A large, New World cat (Felidae), found from the U.S.- Mexican border southward to Argentina, usually in swamps, jungles, and other wooded regions.
jellyfish n. Phylum Cnidaria, Class Scyphozoa, Class Hydrozoa, Class Cubozoa. A free-swimming marine cnidarian that has a nearly transparent, saucer-shaped bell and tentacles and swims by pulsing its body.
k
king cobra n. Phylum Chordata, Class Reptilia, Order Squamata. A large elapid snake from southeastern Asia and the Philippines that can attain a length of 18 feet (5.5 meters).
l
larva n. A free-living, immature stage in the life cycle of many animals, often very different in appearance from the adult and usually incapable of reproduction.
larvacean n. Phylum Chordata, Class Appendicularia. A type of chordate that lives in the open ocean, has no bony structures, and makes its living filtering tiny particles with a self-made net.
leafy hornmouth n. Phylum Mollusc, Class Gastropoda. A type of shelled mollusc producing elaborate ridges at phases during shell growth.
leech n. Phylum Annelida, Class Hirudinea. A flattened type of segmented worm (annelid) with suckers at each end, many of which live solely off the blood of other animals.
lembeh straights n. A region in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia, famous for its muck diving.
lichen n. An organism formed by the symbiotic association between fungus and photosynthetic algae.
life cycle n. All the stages of different forms a single species can take as it goes from the adult to an adult in the next generation.
lumbricus n. Phylum Annelida, Class Oligochaeta Segmented annelids, also called earthworms or angleworms, that live in soil and play a key role in aerating the ground.