Scientific Dictionary Help

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 07 Mar 2006, 15:14

Can somebody please point me to an on-line scientific dictionary? I try to look up some of the words used here, but they don't seem to appear in a common dictionary. I would like to teach myself what some of the words in the journal articles mean. The online dictionaries I've come across tell me I'm spelling words like "evertible" incorrectly.
Thanks,
Amanda

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 07 Mar 2006, 15:26

Hi Amanda,
I just googled for science dictionary, and this is what came out:

http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/search/dict-search.html

I checked it on "adipose", which was explained correctly

I hope it will be of any use.

Btw: I just picked the first one from the list, so if it's not what you're looking for you could google for other options.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 07 Mar 2006, 15:32

But the utexas site doesn't explain evertible or odontodes, which may not even be the words that Amanda is looking for...

Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's a better place than asking here... I'm sure HH is happy to answer any question on terms that can't be answered by someone else...

--
Mats

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 07 Mar 2006, 15:43

MatsP wrote:But the utexas site doesn't explain evertible or odontodes, which may not even be the words that Amanda is looking for...

Correct, I should have checked it on more difficult words...
Amanda, why don't you make a list of those words that need explanation and post it here? I'm sure several people will respond and I'm also sure several people may benefit from it.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 07 Mar 2006, 15:49

I agree with Marc, there's probably a whole lot of us that need some more knowledge. I know I sometimes don't know the words I read - I can usually make it out from context, but sometimes I'm completely lost...

--
Mats

Post by **Silurus** » 07 Mar 2006, 15:56

Amanda, what exactly do you need defined?

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 07 Mar 2006, 16:03

evertible: Merriam-Webster and another site told me I mis-spelled the word.

excresence: same thing.

I like the Chae.article.

Post by **Silurus** » 07 Mar 2006, 17:23

The correct adjectival form of "evert" is actually eversible (capable of being turned inside out), not evertible (according to both Merriam-Webster and OED).

Excresence should be correctly spelled "excrescence" (as in an outgrowth).

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 07 Mar 2006, 19:23

Happy also to help with this if I can. I was always going to add a glossary page with this kind of stuff on it but it died in about 1998 I think.

If someone cares to volunteer to manage it (and HH doesn't mind helping when everyone else gets stuck), I'm sure I could set something up .........

If I got really carried away something like <glossary>term</glossary> might be possible enabling something like this : http://diveintoaccessibility.org/day_17 ... onyms.html

Jools

test:
<acronym title="Local Fish Store">LFS</acronym>
<acronym title="The fin on the top/back of a fish between the dorsal and caudal">Adipose</acronym>

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 07 Mar 2006, 21:13

I did bookmark the Life Science Dictionary, Marc. It's the first one that didn't have landmines for refinancing my home.

I have 2 new words today: eversible and excrescence. Thanks, everybody!
Amanda

Intravenous · Post by **Intravenous** » 08 Mar 2006, 13:58

It may sound stupid but wikipedia can actually be a really good resource for scientific things...

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 08 Mar 2006, 14:12

http://www.wikipedia.com doesn't come up with anything in it's 1,011,000 articles about evertible/eversible. Excrescence turns up Excrescent, which explains that it's a term used in Etymologi (no, not Entymology - insects, but science of word relationships and history).

Odontodes search finds an article on Panaque, which actually explains what Odontodes is, at least sort of.

--
Mats

Intravenous · Post by **Intravenous** » 08 Mar 2006, 14:15

maybe its not so good for very specific terms, but if its just general scientific words it should help and it can explain in quite a lot of detail sometimes.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 10 Mar 2006, 22:38

Jools wrote: If someone cares to volunteer to manage it (and HH doesn't mind helping when everyone else gets stuck), I'm sure I could set something up .........

Could you pls explain this to some further extend?

Post by **Shane** » 11 Mar 2006, 00:38

Probably could include additional info such as abbreviations:

sp = species. "Your fish looks to be a sp of Panaque."

spp = plural of above. "There are more than a dozen described Panaque spp."

cf = "Confer." Meaning the animal appears to be a described sp. but the identity has not yet been confirmed. "We encountered these Panaque cf nigrolineatus in the Rio Apure and will compare them with the holotype on our return."

aff = "Affinis." related to, but different. "We came across these Panaque aff maccus in the llanos and hope to publish a description soon."

A few common words (taken in part from Ferraris' catfish book):

barbels: Threadlike projections that extend from the corners of the mouth or beneath the chin of catfishes. Sometimes called "whiskers." Barbels are covered with taste buds.

benthic: Living at the bottom of a lake, river, or ocean.

congener: One of two or more species belonging to the same genus.

conspecific: Belonging to the same sp.

dimorphic: Having two or more forms. Often male and female catfishes of the same sp are quite distinct in appearance. Such spp are said to be sexually dimorphic

mental barbels: Barbels on the chin.

monotypic: Referring to a genus or family that contains only a single sp.

nuchal shield: A bony plate between the back of the head and the dorsal fin.

odontodes: Bristlelike structures on the surface of certain catfishes.

operculum: A bony flap located just behind the head on each side of the body that protects the gills.

rictal barbels: Barbels that project from the corner of the mouth.

scutes: Boney plates on the surface of the skin. Unlike scales, scutes can not be easily removed from the skin.

serrae: A row of small spines or recurved points along the pectoral or dorsal spine.

speciose: Usually referring to a family or genus that has a large number of spp.

I am sure folks can think of many others.
-Shane

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 11 Mar 2006, 15:53

There seems to be an on-line void in the area of an Icthyology dictionary. I've spent close to a week now looking. When I click on a hit, it usually refers to one of three places. The one Marc cites and the two below:
http://www.biology-online.org/
And this site:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
advertises itself as free, but when you come to some definitions, it asks you to join for a fee. A nice feature though, is the speaker, which pronounces the word for you.

One word that is missing throughout is odontode. I've tried to use this as a benchmark. The closest I've come to a definition is the prefix. Or, a species of moth.

holotype
paratype
topotype
What do all of those numbers next to the photos of holotypes mean? Am I really in for information overload?

Amanda

Post by **Silurus** » 11 Mar 2006, 16:12

The numbers associated with pictures of types usually refer to the catalog number and the institution it is deposited in. The catalog number always consists of an institutional acronym and a catalog number. For instance, the lectotype of Corydoras paleatus would have BMNH 1917.7.14.18 in the caption. This means that the specimen is deposited in the Natural History Museum, London (formerly the British Museum (Natural History), hence the acronym) and has the catalog number 1917.7.14.18.

Different institutions have different numbering systems (in the case of the BMNH material, the first three sets of numbers is actually the date the specimen was catalogued).

A caption would then have the size of the specimen, given in mm and measured as standard length (SL).

Post by **Shane** » 11 Mar 2006, 17:19

Amanda,
I agree with you. I found lots of dictionary type pages related to plant taxonomy and terminology but none fish specific either.
-Shane

Deb · Post by **Deb** » 11 Mar 2006, 19:16

So, what are we waiting for? Let's start our own dictionary of terms. We ought to include all of the information already given by Shane and HH, and have members submit terms that they come across in their readings.
Let's make it really complete.

Even terms that appear in the regular dictionary, such as "lectotype", ought to be included, since they are sufficiently rare in everyday use, and not everyone will know what they mean.

If you thought this was something an ordinary member could do, I'd volunteer to manage this glossary/dictionary myself. (With appropriate help, of course ... )

Post by **Silurus** » 11 Mar 2006, 19:19

Depending on how far one wishes to go, pictures may become necessary. After all, it's difficult to explain the term "urohyal" without a picture, for instance.

Deb · Post by **Deb** » 11 Mar 2006, 19:48

Derek Lambourne's book Corydoras Catfish has an excellent line drawing right at the beginning with all the body parts labeled. Is that the sort of thing you mean?

Perhaps a similar drawing could be arranged for each catfish family, not necessarily each genus, and then a mini-drawing could be shown to illustrate terms such as "urohyal."

What is urohyal, anyway? Does it have something to do with the urogenital opening? This is a good example of a word I can't define, but hope I can figure out if I keep reading! (One of those contextual things that MatsP was talking about earlier.)

Deborah

Post by **Silurus** » 11 Mar 2006, 21:15

You can look up â??urohyalâ?

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 11 Mar 2006, 21:29

Urohyal
In fish biology, the urohyal is a bony or cartilaginous part of the median or posterior chunk of the hyoidean arch.

Yes, this definitely makes sense

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 12 Mar 2006, 15:56

Marc van Arc wrote:
Jools wrote: If someone cares to volunteer to manage it
Could you pls explain this to some further extend?

OK, I needed to teach myself some new programming things before I responded to this, don't think my delay in replying is for any other reason!

I am looking for one volunteer (and Marc is offered first refusal as he did a great job with the synonyms) to look after the glossary. What's involved is:

1. Monitor this topic, if someone posts a request for a glossary term then the procedure is

a) Search the site to establish the term is used on Planet
b) Obtain, write or research a definition
c) Put it into the glossary using an online admin page

2. If someone posts a term and a definition, check it and put it in the glossary (via online admin page).

3. Update definitions as new information or corrections come in(via online admin page)..

For my part, I have put the new glossary page at http://www.planetcatfish.com/core/glossary.php and it can be accessed via the "Cool Stuff" drop down. Suggestions for further places to put the link are welcome of course!

So, Marc, you up for it?

Jools

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 12 Mar 2006, 15:59

deb wrote:Derek Lambourne's book Corydoras Catfish has an excellent line drawing right at the beginning with all the body parts labeled. Is that the sort of thing you mean?

We do have http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/help_anatomy.php , but I accept it is looking its age (I did the original in 1997).

deb wrote:Perhaps a similar drawing could be arranged for each catfish family, not necessarily each genus, and then a mini-drawing could be shown to illustrate terms such as "urohyal."

That would require someone to draw them, I'm no artist.

Jools

Post by **Silurus** » 12 Mar 2006, 16:14

Jools wrote: We do have http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/help_anatomy.php , but I accept it is looking its age (I did the original in 1997).

Didn't I volunteer an alternate drawing (that was a little more detailed) a long time back? What became of it?

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1871

(Note that the original pic is no longer there, since I stopped using Tim's gallery)

Post by **Silurus** » 12 Mar 2006, 16:49

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 12 Mar 2006, 16:57

Yeah, it's still in my inbox with a note "learn flash and do this"... I've just not had the time; if anyone has flash skills and wants to have a crack at doing this - step up!

Jools

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 12 Mar 2006, 18:21

Jools wrote:So, Marc, you up for it?

I thought so, until I came to the "Urohyal-part", which doesn't make any sense to me at all (my comment there was meant to be ironic).
On the other hand one could learn a lot from it....
Perhaps we should wait a few days to see if someone else shows up.

bronzefry · Post by **bronzefry** » 12 Mar 2006, 18:26

Since I brought this mess up, I think I should participate somehow....

Amanda