- Sea of Azov (Wikipedia)
The Sea of Azov (Crimean Tatar: Azaq deñizi; Russian: Азовское море, romanized: Azovskoye more; Ukrainian: Азовське море, romanized: Azovs’ke more; Adyghe: Хы мыутӏэ, romanized: Xı mıut’ə) is an inland shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about 4 km (2.5 mi)) Strait of Kerch, and is sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Russia on the east, and by Ukraine on the northwest and southwest, currently under Russian occupation. It is an important access route for Central Asia, from the Caspian Sea via the Volga–Don Canal.
- Chordate (Wikipedia)
A chordate (/ˈkɔːrdeɪt/ KOR-dayt) is a deuterostomic animal belonging to the phylum Chordata (/kɔːrˈdeɪtə/ kor-DAY-tə). All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five distinctive physical characteristics (synapomorphies) that distinguish them from other taxa. These five synapomorphies are a notochord, a hollow dorsal nerve cord, an endostyle or thyroid, pharyngeal slits, and a post-anal tail. The name “chordate” comes from the first of these synapomorphies, the notochord, which plays a significant role in chordate body plan structuring and movements. Chordates are also bilaterally symmetric, have a coelom, possess a closed circulatory system, and exhibit metameric segmentation.