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

AUGUST 2005 FINAL REPORT
Omnivore—an animal that feeds on both plant and animal tissue
Ophuiroid—referring to brittle stars and basket stars
Opportunistic—used to describe organisms that take advantage of all feeding opportunities and do not
prey on a few specific items
Overfish—a rate or level of fishing mortality that jeopardizes the capacity of a fishery to produce the
maximum sustainable yield on a continuing basis
Overwinter—staying the winter in one area
Oviparous—producing eggs that hatch outside mother’s body
Ovoviviparous—giving birth to live young which have developed from eggs that hatched within the
mother's body
Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)—long-lived El Niño-like pattern of Pacific climate variability marked
by widespread variations in Pacific Basin and North American climate
Pacific Ocean—a major ocean area contained in a basin extending approximately from 70° west
longitude (Cape Horn) to 147° east longitude. The separation of the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic
Ocean is a line marking the shortest distance between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands. The
Pacific and Indian Oceans are separated by a line running through the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java,
Timor, Cape Londonderry (Australia), Tasmania, and the 147° east longitude to Antarctica
Passive margin—the margin of a continent that is not significantly deformed by tectonic processes
because it is the trailing edge of a continent. It does not directly collide with other tectonic plates. The
Atlantic coast of North America is an example
Patch reef—a coral boulder or a clump of corals unattached to a major reef structure
Pavement—flat, low-relief, hard carbonate rock. Live cover includes macroalgae, stony corals,
zoanthids, and other sessile invertebrates
Pectoral fin—flipper; flattened fore-limb of a cetacean (supported by bone); for fishes, this fin is part of
pair, which is supported by the pectoral girdle and usually located just behind the gill opening
Pedal laceration—asexual reproduction where small masses of cells are pinched off the margins of the
pedal disk; grow slowly and differentiate into small anemones
Pelage⎯the fur or hair covering a mammal
Pelagic—open ocean; the primary division or zone in the open ocean that encompasses the entire water
column and is subdivided into the neritic (shallow) and oceanic (deep) zones
Photic zone—the uppermost zone in the water where sunlight permits photosynthesis
Photo-identification⎯the use of photographs to identify animals individually; for example, dorsal fin
shape and markings for dolphins and the underside of flukes for humpback whales
Photosynthesis—the autotrophic process in which solar energy is converted into organic matter (cellular
energy) by synthesizing water and carbon dioxide with chlorophyll; plants, algae, and phytoplankton
synthesize organic compounds via this process
Phototactic—movement of a whole organism toward (positive) or away from (negative) light
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