| Calendopaedia The encyclopaedia of calendars. |
| GMT__Greenwich_Mean_Time Complete guide to times in every time zone in the world. |
| PlexGlobe__International_Clock_and_Global_Kit A productivity toolkit for global users and businesses that includes world clock and calendar. |
| Taxonomy_browser_(Viruses) The NCBI Taxonomy database allows browsing of the taxonomy tree, which contains a classification of organisms. |
| Ancient_African_Skies An article on the Borana Calendar by Laurance Doyle of the SETI Institute. |
| Archaeoastronomy Dr. Cornelius Holtorf ponders the relationship of Archaeoastronomy to the megaliths of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. |
| Cultural_Astronomy A multimedia introduction to archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy suitable for K-12 teachers and students. Part of the University of Chicago's Digital Library. |
| How_the_Shaman_Stole_the_Moon An archaeoastronomy book by William H. Calvin of the University of Washington. The book, which describes a dozen ways of predicting eclipses, can be purchased or downloaded for personal reading at no |
| Solar_Astronomy_in_the_Prehistoric_Southwest A slide show of Anasazi astronomical sites with extensive notes. |
| Tiwanaku_(Tiahuanaco)_Phase_IV Cesare Berrini's hypotheses concerning the relationships between bas-relief carvings on the Gateway of the Sun, the annual solar cycle, and geometric time measurement. |
| German_Site_Predates_Stonehenge A possible astronomical observatory has been found near Goseck, eastern Germany. From the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (English Edition). (August 22, 2003) |
| Oldest_Astronomical_Monument_Found Discovery of a 6,500-year-old monument at Nabta, Egypt. BBC article. (April 1, 1998) |
| Nature_Study_On_Line_Project Tips for becoming a backyard naturalist, everything from how to identify birds and weeds to the basics of ecology and animal behavior. |
| Recycled_Crafts Use waste materials to make crafts as not only an excellent way to recycle, but also as a good way to teach/learn about waste reduction. |
| Classification_of_Living_Things An introduction to the naming and relationships of living things. Classification involves much human judgement and is in a constant state of flux as new information is discovered. |
| Clear_Mind_Photos Photographs by Philip Goddard of insects, other invertebrates, wild flowers, lichen, fungi and some birds and mammals. |
| Dr__PI_bloobook Multilingual weblexicon for animals, plants, fungi, bacteria and other organisms of the world, covering more than 5000 species. |
| Encyclopedia_of_Life A new project to create an online reference source and database for every one of the 1.8 million species that are named and known on this planet. Includes FAQ and press resources. |
| Families Introduction to the classification of plants and animals from the Franklin Institute, with links to many groups of living organisms. |
| Dana_David_Laboratory The laboratory specializes in excavations at prehistoric sites in Israel and the biohistory of the eastern Mediterranean people. |
| Dutch_Bryological_and_Lichenological_Society Species list, herbaria, and publications. |
| EDIRC_-_Agricultural_Economics_Institutes Portal for academic departments, research institutes and associations that are focused on agricultural economics topics. |
| Airborne_Laser_Mapping_Web_Site A reference site dedicated to the emerging technology of airborne laser mapping. Of interest to surveyors, GIS specialists, aerial photogrametrists or others involved in remote sensing or mapping ind |
| German_Remote_Sensing_Data_Center Information about remote sensing, evaluation and monitoring, with animated satellite data. |
| Association_for_Mathematical_Didactics German society for mathematical didactics. Contact details, publications and links. [German, English] |
| CCOHS__Web_Information_Services Offers subscriptions to chemical databases as well as free access to Chemindex. |
| Chem_Sources Supplier information for approximately 200000 chemical compounds. Searching for compounds and supplier information is fee based. |
| SDBS,_Spectral_Database_for_Organic_Compounds Integrated spectral database system for organic compounds, which includes the following spectra - Electron Impact Mass (EI-MS), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), 1H and 13C NMR, Raman and Electron S |
| The_Prosper_Project Observation program targeted to understand eclipsing binaries without known light ephemeris. |
| Lancaster_University Department of Sociology; Centre for Science Studies. |
| Rensselaer_Polytechnic_Institute Science and Technology Studies. |
| University_of_Pennsylvania__History_&_Sociology_of_Science Focus on the social and humanistic aspects of science and the professions - influence of economic and political factors on research and the application of knowledge, and problems of science and techno |
| Wollongong,_University_of Science, Technology and Society Program. |
| Antique_Farming Virtual museum of the agricultural industry, concentrating on tractors and other farm machinery. |
| The_Potato_Then_and_Now__History The history of potato cultivation and its role in society, including the Irish potato famine. Particular focus on Prince Edward Island, Canada. |
| The_Big_Island_Fuel_Crops_Project Designed to develop farming methodologies and practices for Jatropha curcas and other similar biodiesel and biofuel crops successfully and profitably in Hawaii. |
| Agri-Trace Provides an all-inclusive package solution needed to implement, manage and maintain a system for permanent identification and traceability of agri-food products. |
| Farm_Image Provides specialist services in traditional soil analysis, environmental mapping, nitrogen sampling and the creation of maize mazes. Based in UK. |
| Water_Management_Systems Water management and environmental company monitoring the micro-climate worldwide, transmitting information over the internet and enabling timely and appropriate irrigation. |
| Auburn_University_-_Department_of_Biological_Sciences General departmental information, degrees, faculty, and staff. Also includes an overview of the hybridoma, sea laboratory and microscopy facilities. |
Scales have aparticular feature: they possess concentric patterns looking like the treerings you can see on cut tree trunks. ...But scales are permanent on fishskin: they don't fall like tree leaves so they can to be used to calculatea fishes age. But fish growth can be irregular (e.g. females stop growingwhile reproducing...) and a laboratory study of each species is necessaryto correlate the rings with real age. If you mount scales on a slide andlook through them toward a light source, you can see some iridescence (rainbowcolors) because light is diffracted light by the scale rings.
Another example of cycloid scale: sea bream.The picturesbelow show some scales from various common species. 
Ctenoid scales: Above, sole scale. Scale on the right: sea perch.It's not necessaryto be a great fisherman to observe scales: when you go to your fishmongerto buy some fish (assuming you eat fresh fish at least once a year!) askhim to scrape a little 'skin' off the various species he sells. You cannarrate to him a little story: that the observation of scales is the onlyway you have found to make your children eat fish .....
Anotherexample of a ctenoid scale: goby.You can try looking at anchovy whichare small fish but their scales are very large! Note:All scale pictures above are montages of 4 to 8 images taken using a 2,5xobjective.Some specieslike blennies, don't have scales, but a slimy skin with brown and blackspots: see picture below. These spots are of a size which can probablyfluctuate according to nervous stimuli (like in squids): if the blackspots are enlarged, the skin become darker to conceal itself on the darksea bottom thus escaping its predators. If the red spots become enlarged its colormimics a brown sandy color ...It's for the same reason that fishes havea pale coloured belly: they escape predators coming from below, becausethey are less visible against the silvered surface of the sea.
Left hand picture: dorsal fin of blenny. Above: detail of skin.Scales are easyobjects to mount. First, they must be well washed. I use the followingprocess to remove fat traces or mucous: I stain the scales for some secondswith e.g. eosin or methylene blue (it's useful to see them better!), Ishake them in a test tube filled with fresh water. In fact I use a fullglass of water with only ONE small drop of detergent to wash the plates.(This works well with insects too, which are difficult to wet.) Rinse wellthree or four times, and you can mount the scales in glycerine jelly. Darkfieldillumination works well when studying them too (e.g. sole scales, see imagesbelow).
GO TO PAGE 2 : Eggsand fish embryos!Commentsto the author Jean-MarieCavanihac are welcomed.MicroscopyUK Front PageMicscapeMagazineArticleLibrary All drawings and photographs © Jean-Marie Cavanihac2001Published in the January 2002 edition of MicscapeMagazine.Please report any Web problems or offer general commentsto the MicscapeEditor,via the contact on current Micscape Index. Micscape is the on-line monthly magazine of the MicroscopyUK website at Microscopy-UK © Onview.net Ltd, Microscopy-UK, and all contributors 1995 onwards. All rightsreserved. Main site is at www.microscopy-uk.org.uk with full mirror at www.microscopy-uk.net.
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