Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) goldfish, freshwater fish, genus Carassius, of the family Cyprinidae, popular in aquariums and ponds. Native to China, it was first domesticated centuries ago from the wild form, an olive-colored carp...

(Encyclopedia) goose, common name for large wild and domesticated swimming birds related to the duck and the swan. Strictly speaking, the term goose is applied to the female and gander to the male. In North America ...

(Encyclopedia) Frisch, Karl von frĭsh [key], 1887–1982, Austrian zoologist, b. Vienna, Austria. He studied zoology with Richard von Hertwig, whom he later succeeded as professor of zoology at Munich Univ. For his...

(Encyclopedia) Paleocene epoch pāˈlēəsēnˌ [key], first epoch of the Tertiary period in the Cenozoic era of geologic time (see geologic timescale) between 60 to 66 million years ago. In W North America, the upl...

(Encyclopedia) dune, mound or ridge of wind-blown sand formed in arid regions and along coasts. Dunes are common in most of the great deserts of the world. Often a dune begins to form because material is deposited b...

(Encyclopedia) hydrothermal vent, crack along a rift or ridge in the deep ocean floor that spews out water heated to high temperatures by the magma under the earth's crust. Some vents are in areas of seafloor spread...

(Encyclopedia) promethium prōmēˈthēəm [key], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Pm; at. no. 61; mass no. of most stable isotope 145; m.p. 1,042℃; b.p. 3,000℃ (estimated); sp. gr. unk...

(Encyclopedia) Altai or Altay both: ăltīˈ, äl–, ălˈtī, Rus. əltīˈ [key], geologically complex mountain system of central Asia; largely in the Altai Republic, Russia, and in Kazakhstan, but extending into...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). ...

(Encyclopedia) myrtle, common name for the Myrtaceae, a family of shrubs and trees almost entirely of tropical regions, especially in America and Australia. The family is characterized by leaves (usually evergreen) ...