| Dace |
any of several species of North American and European
cyprinids in various genera, including Erythrogaster, Rhinichthys,
and others |
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| Damselfish |
pomacentrid fish not associated as adults with anemones, they may
be either solitary and territoral, or schooling forms; solitary types
are often kept by beginning marine aquarium hobbyists because they
are widely available, colorful, and extremely hardy |
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| Danio |
small cyprinids of the Indian subcontinent, including the Giant
Danio, D. aequipinnatus; any of the cyprinid fish in the general Danio
and Brachydanio, native to Asia and popular choices for freshwater
community aquariums |
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| Daphnia |
the most commonly encountered genus of water fleas, often cultivated
as food for freshwater aquarium fish or their fry |
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| Dardanus |
tropical marine hermit crabs imported from hawaii and the indo-pacific,
and maintained primarily for their beautifully colored appendages;
D. megistos, the Halloween hermit, has bright orange and black stripes |
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| Dartfish |
any of the gobies in the genera Nemateleotris or ptereleotris |
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| Dascyllus |
hambugs, several widely available damselfish from the Indo-Pacific
region |
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| Dasyatis |
type genus of the stingray family, Dasyatidae, elasmobranchs with
a flattened body and one or more venomous spines on the tail: found
worldwide |
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| Dasycladus |
marine alga commonly found on live rock speciment, resembling an
upright bottle brush a few inches tall |
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| Datinoides |
former name, widely used in the aquarium literature, for Coius,
the tigerfish, large predators found in brackish waters of the Malaysian
penninsula |
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| Daylength |
the period of time during which there is sufficent sunlight for
photosynthesis to take place |
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| Decapod |
crusteceans having five paris of locomotory appendages |
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| Dechlorinator |
an agent added to tap water to eliminate harmful chlorine |
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| Degrees of hardness |
divisions on an argitrary scale for expressing the amount of dissolved
carbonates of calcium and magnesium present in a sample of water |
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| Dendrochirus |
dwarf lionfish, family scorpaenidae; seldom over 6 inches 915cm0
inlength, they feed mostly on crustaceans and are venomous |
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| Dendronephthya |
spectacularly colored soft corals that are challenging to maintain
in the aquarium because they feed primarily upon unicellular marine
algae |
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| Denitrator |
a device for removing nitrate ions from aquarium water |
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| Denitrification |
the process by which anaerobic bacteria convert nitrate ions into
nitrogen gas |
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| Denitrifier |
any species of bacteria able to convert nitrate ions into nitrogen
gas |
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| Dentition |
the teeth of a particular species, or of a particular portion of
the jaw |
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| Depigmentation |
loss of coloration; bleaching |
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| Desalination |
removal of dissolved solids from seawater, usually to produce potable
water |
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| Dessication |
dehydration; drying out |
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| Detritus |
tiny fragments of slowly decomposing plant or animal material that
may accumulate over time in both marine and freshwater aquariums |
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| Diadema |
long spined sea urchins, found in all topical seas; the often poisonous
spines are4 directed toward the source of any disturbance |
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| Diaphram |
1) a sheet of muscle separating the pulmonary and abdominal cavities
of terrestrial vertebrates 2) the bellows of an aquarium air pump,
usually made of synthetic rubber and requiring periodic replacement |
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| Diatom |
any of the golden brown protists, also called stramenopiles, freshwater
or marine, that produce a bivalved shell composed of silicon dioxide |
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| Diatom filter |
a device for clearing fine particulate matter from aquarium water,
employing diatomaecous earth as the medium |
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| Diatomaceous earth |
a mineral deposit comprised of the shells of billions of fossil
diatome, often mined for use as an arasive or filtration medium |
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| Dichotomus |
having only two possible paths or choices; taxonomic references
often employ "keys" constructed to allow identification
of an organism by a logical process of elimination |
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| Dichromism |
the property of having two distinct color phases or forms, often
distinguishing the male and female of a species |
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| Dictyota |
a macrophytic brown marine alga found in shallow tropical waters
and producting a series of flattened branches that repeatedly divide |
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| Diel |
of the day, as in a "diel cycle" of behavior that recurs
over a 24-hour period |
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| Dimorphic polyps |
some colonial hydrozoans in which the colony is composed of two
distinct types of individual that are nevertheless genetically identical |
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| Dinoflagellate |
protists of the Phylum Sarcomastigophors, characteristically bearing
two locomotory flagells, each lying in a groove around the body, one
perpendicular to the other; certain species are important to aquarists
as fish parasites and as the zooxanthellae of various cnidarians |
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| Diodon |
porcupinefish, Family Diodontidae, with spiny skins and the ability
to ingest water or air to inflate themselves, making them difficult
for a predator to swallow |
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| Dioecious |
referring to flowering plants in which both male and female flowers
are borne on separate individuals |
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| Discosoma |
a genus of false corals, Phylum, Cnidaria, Order Corallimorpharia,
Often imported for minireef aquariums |
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| Disinfectant |
any agent that kills disease-producing organisms |
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| Distichodus |
ominivorous characins from tropical Africa; infrequently available
in the aquarium trade |
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| Dither fish |
those placed in the same aquarium with a potential breeding pair
to encourage the latter to spawn by giving them a sense of security
necessary for successful parenting; may also serve as a "target"
for the displacement of aggressive behavior between a potential breeding
pair |
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| Diverticula |
outpouchings, usually of the gut, but of any internal organ of an
animal |
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| Dolabrifera |
sea cats, opisthobranch gastropods with an internal shell, included
in marine aquariums for algae control |
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| Dolomite |
a natural carbonate mineral often recommended as a marine aquarium
substrate in older references: it is not as satisfactory as other
materals |
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| Doras |
one of the many genera of talking catfish, Family Doradidae, south
AMerican spiny catfish known for their ability to produce audible
sounds |
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| Dormitator |
sleeper gobies inhabiting fresh to brackish waters |
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| Dorsal |
anatomical reference to the back: in vertebrates the spinal cord
is in this position |
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| Dorsal fin |
the appendage, sometimes consisting of both spinous and nonspinous
sections, arising from the midline of the back of all fish |
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| Dorsal spines |
the supporting elements of the spinous protion of the dorsal fin |
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| Dottyback |
any of the small sea basses in the genus Pseudochromis |
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| Dragonet |
any of the marine fish of Family Callyonimidae: the two most popular
species are also known as "mandarinefish" |
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| Dromia |
sponge crabs, a species from tropical waters that camouflages itself
by attaching a piece of living sponge to its carapace |
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| Duckweed |
any member of the genus Lemna, tiny flowering plants that float
on the surface of freshwater ponds and aquariums |
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| Dulaniella |
a genus of unicellular marine algae often cultured as a food source
for other marine organisms |
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| Dulse |
leafy red seaweeds, usually those harvested for food or animal feed;
in the aquarium it is used for feeding herbivouous marine fish |
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| Dutch-type aquarium |
1) one in which various species of freshwater aquatic plants, arranged
in an artistic, naturalistic manner, are the primary aesthetic feature;
2) if marine, referring to a tank in which both inverterbrates and
fish are maintained, and filtration is accomplished by a wet/dry filtration
system |
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| Dwarf angle |
any of the marine fish of the genus Centropygae, mostly under 3
inches (7.6 cm) in length and feeding primarily on algae and tiny
inverterbrates |
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| Dwarf cichlid |
any of the freshwater fish of the genus Apistogramma, together with
related genera, seldom reaching over three inches (7.6 cm) in length
and native to Central and South America |
