brown trout, prized and wary European game fish favoured for the table. The brown trout, which includes several varieties such as the Loch Leven trout of Great Britain, is of the family Salmonidae. It has been introduced to many other areas of the world and is recognized by the light-ringed black

weakfish, (genus Cynoscion), any member of a group of fishes in the croaker family, Sciaenidae (order Perciformes). A half dozen species inhabit the coastal regions of North America. The weakfish (Cynoscion regalis) is a marine sport fish but is usually less than 60 cm (2 feet) long. Much larger

sea turtle, any of seven species of marine turtles belonging to the families Dermochelyidae (leatherback sea turtles) and Cheloniidae (green turtles, flatback sea turtles, loggerhead sea turtles, hawksbills, and ridleys). Both families are highly aquatic, and most species only appear on coastal

sea urchin, any of about 950 living species of spiny marine invertebrate animals (class Echinoidea, phylum Echinodermata) with a globular body and a radial arrangement of organs, shown by five bands of pores running from mouth to anus over the test (internal skeleton). The pores accommodate tube

Isabelle Huppert: Versatility in the 1990s and 2000s: …Barrage contre le Pacifique (2008; The Sea Wall), an adaptation of Marguerite Duras’s novel of the same name. She was at the center of another exploration of colonialism’s effects in White Material (2009), in which she portrayed a French farmer defending her coffee plantation from rebels in an unnamed African…

Marguerite Duras: …Barrage contre le Pacifique (1950; The Sea Wall), her third published novel and first success, dealt semiautobiographically with a poor French family in Indochina. Her next successes, Le Marin de Gibraltar (1952; The Sailor from Gibraltar) and Moderato cantabile (1958), were more lyrical and complex and more given to dialogue.

sea walnut, any member of a common genus (Mnemiopsis) of gelatinous, planktonic marine invertebrates of the order Lobata (class Tentaculata, phylum Ctenophora). The sea walnut resembles the sea gooseberry morphologically, but adults lack conspicuous tentacles, and the body is prolonged into eight

cnidarian: Size range and diversity of structure: …Asia, and include the so-called sea wasps. The polyp is tiny and inconspicuous.

seawater, water that makes up the oceans and seas, covering more than 70 percent of Earth’s surface. Seawater is a complex mixture of 96.5 percent water, 2.5 percent salts, and smaller amounts of other substances, including dissolved inorganic and organic materials, particulates, and a few

sea whip, any of several genera of corals of the order Gorgonacea (phylum Cnidaria), characterized by a long, whiplike growth and a variety of bright colours. The “whip” consists of a colony of tiny polyps (cylindrical, stalklike forms with a mouth and eight tentacles at the upper, or free, end)

John Garfield: …Castle on the Hudson (1940), The Sea Wolf (1941), and Tortilla Flat (1942). A mild heart attack kept the actor from military service during World War II; fully recovered, he entertained troops and appeared in several war-themed films, the best of which was Pride of the Marines (1945).

harbours and sea works: The construction of harbours and sea works offers some of the most unusual problems and challenges in civil engineering. The continuous and immediate presence of the sea provides the engineer with an adversary certain to discover any weakness in the structure built to resist it.

lake, any relatively large body of slowly moving or standing water that occupies an inland basin of appreciable size. Definitions that precisely distinguish lakes, ponds, swamps, and even rivers and other bodies of nonoceanic water are not well established. It may be said, however, that rivers and

lake, any relatively large body of slowly moving or standing water that occupies an inland basin of appreciable size. Definitions that precisely distinguish lakes, ponds, swamps, and even rivers and other bodies of nonoceanic water are not well established. It may be said, however, that rivers and

Law of the Sea, branch of international law concerned with public order at sea. Much of this law is codified in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed Dec. 10, 1982. The convention, described as a “constitution for the oceans,” represents an attempt to codify international law

John Banville: Fiction: The Sea (2005), which was awarded the Booker Prize, tells the story of a widowed art historian who revisits a childhood destination on the sea. The Infinities (2009) is an eccentric work that relates a domestic drama that takes place in a parallel reality through…

air-sea interface, boundary between the atmosphere and the ocean waters. The air-sea interface is one of the most physically and chemically active environments on Earth. Its neighbourhood supports most marine life. The atmosphere gains much of its heat at the interface in tropical latitudes by back

undersea exploration: Exploration of the seafloor and the Earth’s crust: The ocean floor has the same general character as the land areas of the world: mountains, plains, channels, canyons, exposed rocks, and sediment-covered areas. The lack of weathering and erosion in most areas, however, allows geological processes to be seen more clearly on the seafloor than…

undersea exploration: Exploration of the seafloor and the Earth’s crust: The ocean floor has the same general character as the land areas of the world: mountains, plains, channels, canyons, exposed rocks, and sediment-covered areas. The lack of weathering and erosion in most areas, however, allows geological processes to be seen more clearly on the seafloor than…

Mertensia: Northern shorewort, oyster plant, or sea-lungwort (M. maritima), a fleshy, grayish-leaved plant, is about the same height as Virginia bluebell but has smaller flowers that bloom in summer. It grows along pebbly coasts of northern North America and northern Europe. Languid ladies (M. paniculata), from…

Djibouti: Transportation and telecommunications: …East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe–3 (SEA-ME-WE-3) telecommunications system.

East Asian mathematics: Theory of root extraction and equations: …and his Ceyuan haijing (“Sea Mirror of Circle Measurements”), written only one year after Qin completed his book, takes the search for the root of equations for granted. Li lived in North China, while Qin lived in the South, and is thought to have worked without knowing Qin’s achievements.…

rainbow trout, (Oncorhynchus mykiss), game fish of the family Salmonidae noted for its spectacular leaps and hard fighting when hooked. It has been introduced from western North America to many other countries. A brightly coloured fish of lakes and swift streams, it is covered with small black

Allen Toussaint: …man Marshall Sehorn set up Sea-Saint Studios in the mid-1960s, a new group of session musicians emerged, including Art Neville on organ, Leo Nocentelli on guitar, George Porter on bass, and Joseph Modeliste on drums. These musicians evolved a new variation of New Orleans’s famous “second line” rhythm (distinctive accents…

climate change: Decadal variation: …Variability (PDV), which involves changing sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the North Pacific Ocean. The SSTs influence the strength and position of the Aleutian Low, which in turn strongly affects precipitation patterns along the Pacific Coast of North America. PDO variation consists of an alternation between “cool-phase” periods, when coastal…

Seattle: Transportation: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac), 13 miles (21 km) south of the city center, is a major gateway connecting Asia, Europe, and North America and is among the leading U.S. airports in international passenger travel. It is served by dozens of airlines (including Alaska Airlines, headquartered…

sea-urchin cactus: Coryphantha echinus, native to Texas and parts of Mexico, is also known as sea-urchin cactus.

sea-urchin cactus, (genus Echinopsis), large genus of more than 100 species of cacti (family Cactaceae). Sea-urchin cacti are native to South America at medium elevations in desert shrublands or grasslands. Several species, but most especially the Easter lily cactus (Echinopsis oxygona), are valued

The Sea-Wolf, novel by Jack London, published in 1904. This highly popular novel combines elements of naturalism and romantic adventure. The story concerns Humphrey Van Weyden, a refined castaway who is put to work on the motley schooner Ghost. The ship is run by brutal Wolf Larsen, who, despite

undersea exploration: Exploration of the seafloor and the Earth’s crust: …techniques as those that employ Seabeam and Gloria (Geological Long-Range Inclined Asdic) permit mapping two-dimensional swaths with great accuracy from a single ship. These methods are widely used to ascertain the major features of the seafloor. The Gloria system, for example, can produce a picture of the morphology of a…

undersea exploration: Exploration of the seafloor and the Earth’s crust: The ocean floor has the same general character as the land areas of the world: mountains, plains, channels, canyons, exposed rocks, and sediment-covered areas. The lack of weathering and erosion in most areas, however, allows geological processes to be seen more clearly on the seafloor than…

law of war: Prohibited areas of combat: …placed on the seabed (the Seabed Treaty of 1971).

Arctic: Marine fauna: Marine birds are abundant in summer, all of them migrants except, apparently, for a small proportion of the black guillemot population that winters in the Arctic, using the open water, such as the polynyas, for feeding areas. The seabirds in the true Arctic zone are…

Seabiscuit, (foaled 1933), American racehorse (Thoroughbred) that in six seasons (1935–40) won 33 of 89 races and a total of $437,730, a record for American Thoroughbreds (broken 1942). His unlikely success proved a welcome diversion to millions during the Great Depression, and he became a national

Jeff Bridges: His subsequent films include Seabiscuit (2003), Stick It (2006), and Iron Man (2008), which was based on the Marvel Comics comic strip. In 2009 Bridges starred with George Clooney in The Men Who Stare at Goats, a comedy that centres on a secret U.S. Army unit trained to use…

Glenn T. Seaborg was an American nuclear chemist best known for his work on isolating and identifying transuranium elements (those heavier than uranium). He shared the 1951 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Edwin Mattison McMillan for their independent discoveries of transuranium elements. Seaborgium

Glenn T. Seaborg was an American nuclear chemist best known for his work on isolating and identifying transuranium elements (those heavier than uranium). He shared the 1951 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Edwin Mattison McMillan for their independent discoveries of transuranium elements. Seaborgium

seaborgium (Sg), an artificially produced radioactive element in Group VIb of the periodic table, atomic number 106. In June 1974, Georgy N. Flerov of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at Dubna, Russia, U.S.S.R., announced that his team of investigators had synthesized and identified element

Samuel Seabury was the first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. Seabury was educated in medicine at Yale University and the University of Edinburgh. After he became an Anglican priest in 1753, he served parishes in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in Jamaica, New York, and in

World War II: Burma, autumn 1942–summer 1943: …appointed supreme commander of the South East Asia Command (SEAC), and Stilwell was appointed deputy to Mountbatten. Stilwell at the same time was chief of staff to Chiang Kai-shek. The British–Indian forces destined for Burma meanwhile constituted the 14th Army, under Lieutenant General William Slim, whose operational control Stilwell agreed…

Raymond Deane: …2001 when his 1993 piece Seachanges (with Danse Macabre) was chosen as mandatory learning for the Leaving Certificate music curriculum, a graduation requirement for secondary-school students in Ireland. He was also chosen as the artistic director for the first two RTÉ (Radio Television Ireland) Living Music festivals in Dublin (2002…

Mary Seacole was a Jamaican businesswoman who provided sustenance and care for British soldiers at the battlefront during the Crimean War. Her father was a Scottish soldier, and her mother was a free black Jamaican woman and “doctress” skilled in traditional medicine who provided care for invalids

Ryan Seacrest is an American radio and television personality and producer who hosted the popular radio shows On Air with Ryan Seacrest and American Top 40 and appeared on numerous TV programs, including American Idol and Wheel of Fortune. During high school Seacrest worked at a hometown radio

English literature: Elegiac and heroic verse: “The Seafarer” is similar, but its journey motif more explicitly symbolizes the speaker’s spiritual yearnings. Several others have similar themes, and three elegies—“The Husband’s Message,” “The Wife’s Lament,” and “Wulf and Eadwacer”—describe what appears to be a conventional situation: the separation of husband and wife…

prosody: The personal element: …the old English poem “The Seafarer” (1912):

undersea exploration: Exploration of the seafloor and the Earth’s crust: The ocean floor has the same general character as the land areas of the world: mountains, plains, channels, canyons, exposed rocks, and sediment-covered areas. The lack of weathering and erosion in most areas, however, allows geological processes to be seen more clearly on the seafloor than…

seafloor spreading, theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones, known collectively as the mid-ocean ridge system, and spreads out laterally away from them. This idea played a pivotal role in the development of the theory of plate tectonics, which revolutionized geologic thought

spreading centre, in oceanography and geology, the linear boundary between two diverging lithospheric plates on the ocean floor. As the two plates move apart from each other, which often occurs at a rate of several centimetres per year, molten rock wells up from the underlying mantle into the gap

seafloor spreading, theory that oceanic crust forms along submarine mountain zones, known collectively as the mid-ocean ridge system, and spreads out laterally away from them. This idea played a pivotal role in the development of the theory of plate tectonics, which revolutionized geologic thought

seafood, edible aquatic animals, excluding mammals, but including both freshwater and ocean creatures. Most nontoxic aquatic species are exploited for food by humans. Even those with toxic properties, such as certain blowfish, can be prepared so as to circumvent harm to the consumer. Fish and other

Jamaica: The independent country: …elections of 1980 by the Edward Seaga-led JLP.

Texas Rangers: …the strong play of shortstop Corey Seager. With a regular season record of 90–72, the team returned to the playoffs, and in the AL Championship Series, the Rangers defeated the Astros, 4–3, to advance to the World Series. There Texas defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4–1, to win the franchise’s first…

Seagram Building, high-rise office building in New York City (1958). Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, this sleek Park Avenue skyscraper is a pure example of a rectilinear prism sheathed in glass and bronze. It took the International Style to its zenith. Despite its austere

Seagram Company Ltd., former Canadian corporation that was the world’s largest producer and distributor of distilled spirits. The company began when Distillers Corp., Ltd., a Montreal distillery owned by Samuel Bronfman, acquired Joseph E. Seagram & Sons in 1928. The new company, named Distillers

Fernán Caballero: …best-known novel, La gaviota (1849; The Seagull), was an immediate success with the public. No other Spanish book of the 19th century obtained such instant and universal recognition. It describes the career of a fisherman’s daughter who marries a German physician, deserts her husband to become an opera singer, falls…

Annette Bening: Career: …adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull. Bening later portrayed Senator Dianne Feinstein in The Report (2019), about the investigation into the U.S. government torture program in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, and she was cast in the superhero movie Captain Marvel

The Seagull, drama in four acts by Anton Chekhov, performed in 1896 and published in Russian the following year as Chayka. A revised edition was published in 1904. The play deals with lost opportunities and the clash between generations. The main characters, all artists, are guests at a country

Easington: Seaham, founded in 1828, is the area’s port. The new town of Peterlee was established in central Easington in 1948. Its original purpose was to replace the typical 19th-century housing of the nearby scattered mining villages and to create recreational and service facilities for the…

seahorse, (genus Hippocampus), any of about 50 species of marine fishes allied to pipefishes in the family Syngnathidae (order Gasterosteiformes). Seahorses are found in shallow coastal waters in latitudes from about 52° N to 45° S. Their habitats include coral reefs, mangroves, sea grass beds, and

seal, any of 32 species of web-footed aquatic mammals that live chiefly in cold seas and whose body shape, round at the middle and tapered at the ends, is adapted to swift and graceful swimming. There are two types of seals: the earless, or true, seals (family Phocidae); and the eared seals (family

Seal is a British singer known for his rich original blend of Motown, British glam rock, and Chicago house music, which earned him critical and popular acclaim, multiple Grammy Awards, and millions of dollars in sales. Seal’s dense rhythms and soulful melodies have been compared to those of such

Seal: Early life and career: Seal’s first album, Seal, released in 1991, exploded onto the British charts. It eventually went platinum in the United States and created a frenzy among record companies to sign the hot new star.

seal, in documentation, an impression made by the impact of a hard engraved surface on a softer material such as wax or clay, producing a device in relief. Seals have been used since remote antiquity to authenticate documents. The study of seals, known as sigillography, is a major historical

food preservation: Presterilization procedures: …cans and the cans are sealed. An airtight seal is achieved between the lid and the rim of the can using a thin layer of gasket or compound. The anaerobic conditions prevent the growth of oxygen-requiring microorganisms. In addition, many of the spores of anaerobic microorganisms are less resistant to…

Navy SEAL: History: …that eventually became known as SEAL delivery vehicle (SDV) teams. In 1987 all SEAL and SDV teams were placed under the new Naval Special Warfare Command, located at Naval Base Coronado, at the entrance to San Diego Bay, California.

printing: Origins in China: …showed up; some were religious seals used to transfer pictures and texts of prayers to paper. It was probably this use of seals that led in the 4th or 5th century to the development of ink of a good consistency for printing.

agenesis: …or both hands or feet), phocomelia (normal hands and feet but absence of the long bones), and amelia (complete absence of one or more limbs).

Antarctica: Biological resources: Commercial fur sealing began during the second half of the 18th century in the Falkland Islands and rapidly spread to all subantarctic islands in the zeal to supply the wealthy markets of Europe and China. The industry made immense profits, but the toll on mammal populations was…

sigillography: Royal and official seals: The great seal, or seal of majesty (a round seal showing the seated ruler with the royal insignia), first appeared in Europe on the seal of the emperor Henry II of Germany (ruled 1002–24), in France on the seal of Henry I (ruled 1031–60), and in…

Islamic world: Abū Bakr’s succession: …of the revealed messages as khatm al-anbiyāʾ (“seal of the prophets”). In his ability to interpret the events of his reign from the perspective of Islam, Abū Bakr demonstrated the power of the new conceptual vocabulary Muhammad had introduced.

Fisherman’s Ring: signet ring that is presented to the pope—the leader of the Roman Catholic Church—at his papal inauguration. Its standard design shows an image of St. Peter the Apostle with the reigning pope’s name inscribed above it. It was formerly used as a seal for the…

SEAL Team 6, common name for an elite U.S. military special missions unit consisting of Navy SEALs (Sea, Air, and Land forces). SEAL Team 6 is best known for the 2011 raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. It is overseen by the Joint Special Operations Command, a component of the

Indian philosophy: 19th- and 20th-century philosophy in India and Pakistan: …the chair of philosophy was Sir Brajendranath Seal, a versatile scholar in many branches of learning, both scientific and humanistic. Seal’s major published work is The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus, which, besides being a work on the history of science, shows interrelations among the ancient Hindu philosophical concepts…

Sealab, experimental program sponsored by the U.S. Navy intended to determine whether humans could live and work successfully for long periods of time at the bottom of the ocean. The name of the program also refers to any of the three experimental underwater habitats deployed in the Atlantic and

Bobby Seale is an American political activist who founded, along with Huey P. Newton, the Black Panther Party; Seale also served as the national chairman. He was one of a generation of young African American radicals who broke away from the traditionally nonviolent civil rights movement to preach a

Bobby Seale is an American political activist who founded, along with Huey P. Newton, the Black Panther Party; Seale also served as the national chairman. He was one of a generation of young African American radicals who broke away from the traditionally nonviolent civil rights movement to preach a

Lewis Allen: Milland also starred in Sealed Verdict (1948), a courtroom melodrama in which he romances a Nazi’s former mistress while preparing to prosecute her. In 1949 Allen helmed Chicago Deadline, a drama featuring Alan Ladd as an investigative reporter delving into the life and death of a prostitute. The two…

automobile: Electrical system: …and a low beam, called sealed-beam units. Introduced in 1940, these bulbs found widespread use following World War II. Such units could have only one filament at the focal point of the reflector. Because of the greater illumination required for high-speed driving with the high beam, the lower beam filament…

Marvin Hagler: …late 1974 when he fought Sugar Ray Seales to a draw. After losing two matches in 1976 to middleweights Bobby Watts and Willie Monroe, Hagler remained unbeaten for another decade.

packaging: Package closures must provide adequate sealing, and they must be sanitary and mechanically safe. Labeling for packages must be easy to print and to affix to the container material.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Institutions and practices: …to the initiate), and the sealing of husbands, wives, and children (which may also be undertaken by proxy for the dead) are essential ceremonies that take place in the temple. During the endowment, the person is ritually washed, anointed with oil, and dressed in temple garments. This is followed by…

Antarctica: Biological resources: Commercial fur sealing began during the second half of the 18th century in the Falkland Islands and rapidly spread to all subantarctic islands in the zeal to supply the wealthy markets of Europe and China. The industry made immense profits, but the toll on mammal populations was…

sealing wax, substance formerly in wide use for sealing letters and attaching impressions of seals to documents. In medieval times it consisted of a mixture of beeswax, Venice turpentine, and colouring matter, usually vermilion; later lac from Indonesia supplanted the beeswax. The wax was prepared

Seattle was the chief of the Duwamish, Suquamish, and other Puget Sound tribes who befriended white settlers of the region. Seattle came under the influence of French missionaries, was converted to Roman Catholicism, and instituted morning and evening services among his people—a practice maintained

Sealyham terrier, breed of terrier developed during the latter half of the 19th century by Capt. John Edwardes for hunting foxes, otters, and badgers on his estate, Sealyham, in Wales. A small, short-legged, sturdy dog, the Sealyham was bred for courage, stamina, and hunting ability. It has a

sedimentary rock: Coal: …into the various kinds of coal: initially brown coal or lignite, then soft or bituminous coal, and finally, with metamorphism, hard or anthracite coal. In the geologic record, coal occurs in beds, called seams, which are blanketlike coal deposits a few centimetres to metres or hundreds of metres thick.

private: Navy it is seaman, in the U.S. Air Force, airman.

Robert C. Seamans, Jr. was an American aeronautical engineer who pioneered in the development of advanced systems of flight control, fire control, and guidance for modern aircraft. In 1941 Seamans became an instructor of aircraft instrumentation at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),

Robert C. Seamans, Jr. was an American aeronautical engineer who pioneered in the development of advanced systems of flight control, fire control, and guidance for modern aircraft. In 1941 Seamans became an instructor of aircraft instrumentation at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),

Stephen Bleecker Luce: …to that end he published Seamanship (1863), which became a standard text.

Massachusetts: Cultural life: …and some 600 logbooks; the Seamen’s Bethel (chapel), also located in New Bedford, was immortalized by Melville in Moby Dick.

Zeami was the greatest playwright and theorist of the Japanese Noh theatre. He and his father, Kan’ami (1333–84), were the creators of the Noh drama in its present form. Under the patronage of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, whose favour Zeami enjoyed after performing before him in 1374, the Noh

steel: Tubes: Seamless tubing involved the piercing of a round billet; this process was developed in Britain in 1841. A greatly improved process was developed by the Mannesmann company in Germany in 1886; this involved rolling the billet longitudinally and at the same time forcing it onto…

seamount, large submarine volcanic mountain rising at least 1,000 m (3,300 feet) above the surrounding deep-sea floor; smaller submarine volcanoes are called sea knolls, and flat-topped seamounts are called guyots. Great Meteor Tablemount in the northeast Atlantic, standing more than 4,000 m

Fernand Léger: In 1909 he produced The Seamstress, in which he reduced his colours to a combination of blue-gray and buff and rendered the human body as a mass of slabs and cylinders that resembled a robot. His style was aptly nicknamed “tubism.”

Sean Hannity: …as well, as host of The Sean Hannity Show (1998– ), which was eventually syndicated on more than 500 stations in the United States. He also hosted the Fox News Channel show Hannity’s America, a weekly conservative current-affairs program. Following the end of Hannity & Colmes in 2009, Hannity assumed…

Simon Pegg: Career: …again for the 2004 film Shaun of the Dead, with Wright again directing and Pegg starring and cowriting the script. Frost, who had in part helped inspire the story—a “romantic zombie comedy” (also called a “rom-zom-com”) about friends who attempt to weather a zombie apocalypse from their local pub—again played…

Ireland: Constitutional framework: …the Oireachtas—the Dáil and the Seanad Éireann (Senate). Chief legislative power is centred in the 158-member Dáil. The Seanad may delay bills passed by the Dáil, or it may suggest changes in them, but it cannot indefinitely block their passage into law.

séance, (French: “sitting”), in occultism, meeting centred on a medium (q.v.), who seeks to communicate with spirits of the dead. Because strong light is said to hinder communication, a séance usually takes place in darkness or subdued light. It generally involves six or eight persons, who normally

surfperch, any of 23 species of fishes of the family Embiotocidae (order Perciformes). Surfperches are found in the North Pacific Ocean; three or four species are native to Japanese waters, but all others are confined to the North American coast, mostly off California. One species, the tule perch