The crossword

ACROSS

7 ___ Nevada, US mountain range noted for its rich and varied habitats (6)

8 ___ woodpecker, bird native to Mexico (8) 9 Large ocean fish also called an opah (8) 10 US state to which the Kodiak bear is endemic (6)

11 Cold-water marine species in the family Cyclopteridae (8)

12 Stinging plant (6)

13 Natural world; sum of habitats and ecologies (11)

18 ___ anemone, fluffy-looking deep-sea creature (3-3)

20 Term for the development of an individual organism (8)

22 Plant in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for spices (6)

23 Not adult (8)

24 Forest epiphyte of Mexico and North America (8)

25 Fly ___, white-spotted red mushroom (6)

DOWN

1 Fruit belonging to the Philippine tree Canarium ovatum (4,3)

2 Horned pheasant (8)

3 Elk (6)

4 Spongy bog moss (8)

5 Upper front part of the body of a bird or mammal (6)

6 David George ___, author of The Songs Of Trees (7)

8 Student of fish (13)

14 ___ jellyfish, regenerating sea creature (8) 15 Migratory nocturnal bird, once known as a goatsucker (8)

16 Little auk, Alle alle (7)

17 Bearing apples or pears, for example (2,5) 19 New Zealand bird also called a brown creeper (6)

21 Male feline (3,3)

February answers

Across: 1 kelp gull, 5 ink-sac, 10 dormice, 11 army ant, 12 agave, 13 antshrike, 14 mandarin duck, 18 Burgess Shale, 21 nightfall, 23 pygmy, 24 daphnid, 25 Barbuda, 26 nances, 27 itch mite. Down: 1 Kodiak, 2 larval, 3 Grizedale, 4 Leeward Islands, 6 nymph, 7 scabious, 8 cat gecko, 9 bastard halibut, 15 Nile perch, 16 Abingdon, 17 tragopan, 19 agouti, 20 ayeaye, 22 tinge.