Marine Resources Assessment for the Marianas Operating ... - SPREP

AUGUST 2005 FINAL REPORT
Melon—a fatty cushion forming a bulbous “forehead” in toothed whales; may act to focus sound for
echolocation
Mesopelagic—occurring in the oceanic zone from 200 to 1,000 m
Mesoplodon—a genus of beaked whales, which includes the Blainville’s beaked whale, Ginkgo-toothed
beaked whale, Hubbs’ beaked whale, Perrin’s beaked whale, and pygmy beaked whale
Mesoscale—large scale
Metabolism—all biochemical reactions that take place in an organism
Metadata—information about geospatial data (such as GIS shapefile or coverage file) that describes the
source of the data or information, the creation date, the data format, the projection, the scale, the
accuracy, and the reliability of the GIS file with regard to some standard
Metamorphosis—change in form and structure undergone by animal from embryo to adult stage
Metazoan—an organism composed of many cells
Microatolls—a miniature atoll; a colony of corals with a live raised rim surrounding a lower, dead coral
surface
Migration⎯the periodic movement between one habitat and one or more other habitats involving either
the entire or significant component of an animal population; this adaptation allows an animal to
monopolize areas where favorable environmental conditions exist for feeding, breeding, and/or other
phases of the animals' life history
Mollusk—group of marine and terrestrial invertebrates consisting of snails, slugs, squids, octopus, clams,
and others
Molt—the once a year shedding of fur (pinnipeds) or skin (beluga whales)
Monandric—protogynous hermaphrodites among which all males are sex-reversed females
Monospecific—genus with only one species
Morphology—the form and structure of an organism considered as a whole; appearance
Morphometric—the study of comparative morphological measurements
Mouthbrooder—fish which broods or protects the eggs or young by taking them in its mouth; oral
brooder
Mysticeti—suborder of cetaceans comprised of the baleen whales
Nanoplankton—plankton less than 50 m in length that cannot be captured in a plankton net and must
be removed from water by centrifuge or special microfilters
Nautical mile (NM)—a distance unit used in the marine environment that is equal to one minute of
latitude or 1.85 km
Nautilus—small cephalopod mollusk that is common fossil; found in Pacific and Indian Oceans, pearly or
chambered; has many small arms and lives in outermost chamber of beautiful spiral, chamber shell
Nearshore—an indefinite zone that extends seaward from the shoreline
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