Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Kyushu kyo͞oˈsho͞o [key], island (1990 pop. 13,064,955), c.13,760 sq mi (35,640 sq km), S Japan. It is the third largest, southernmost, and most densely populated of the major islands of Japan. It ...

(Encyclopedia) white shark, large, ferocious shark, Carcharodon carcharias. Also known as the great white shark and maneater, this shark can attack swimmers and boats without provocation, though it does not typicall...

(Encyclopedia) seahorse, common name for certain small fishes of the family Syngnathidae, inhabiting warm waters but sometimes found as far north as Cape Cod. The elongated head and snout of a seahorse, flexed at ri...

(Encyclopedia) sandpiper, common name for some members of the large family Scolopacidae, small shore birds, including the snipe and the curlew. Sandpipers are wading birds with relatively long legs and long, slender...

(Encyclopedia) Burne-Jones, Sir Edward, 1833–98. English painter and decorator, b. Birmingham. Expected to enter the Church, he went to Exeter College, Oxford, where he met William Morris, who became his lifelong ...

(Encyclopedia) anchor, device cast overboard to secure a ship, boat, or other floating object by means of weight, friction, or hooks called flukes. In ancient times an anchor was often merely a large stone, a bag or...

(Encyclopedia) Palau pälouˈ [key], officially Republic of Palau, independent nation (2015 est. pop. 21,000), c.192 sq mi (497 sq km), W Pacific, in the W Caroline Islands. Belau, the indigenous name for Palau, is ...

(Encyclopedia) coral reefs, limestone formations produced by living organisms, found in shallow, tropical marine waters. In most reefs, the predominant organisms are stony corals, colonial cnidarians that secrete an...

(Encyclopedia) Channel Islands or Santa Barbara Islands sănˈtə bärˈbrə, –bərə [key], chain of eight rugged islands and many islets, extending c.150 mi (240 km) along the S Calif. coast from Point Conceptio...

(Encyclopedia) levee lĕvˈē [key] [Fr.,=raised], embankment built along a river to prevent flooding by high water. Levees are the oldest and the most extensively used method of flood control. They are constructed ...