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The giant squid once faced a population bottleneck
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Genetic testing of giant squid corpses discovered all over the world has found that not only are they all the same species, they have surprisingly low genetic diversity. This suggests that some time in the recent past they were pushed to the brink of extinction, but managed to rebound and are now found throughout the worlds oceans.
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3163 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
A white-blooded ice fish
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This is a white-blooded ice fish, or "crocodile fish" ( Chaenocephalus aceratus). They lack both red blood cells and hemoglobin, and so have white blood. They have translucent bodies, and absorb oxygen directly from the water around them.
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2657 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
A hybrid dolphin whale
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The wolphin is the extraordinary result of breeding a female bottle-nosed dolphin with a male false killer whale. In captivity there are two occurrences, both are in the Sea Life Park in Hawaii. Unlike other hybrids, the wolphin is fertile.
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5695 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
The flipping ship
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The FLIP ( FLoating Instrument Platform) ship is an open ocean research vessel designed to partially flood and pitch backward 90 degrees, resulting in only the front 55 feet (17 metres out of 108 metres) of the vessel pointing up out of the water, with bulkheads becoming decks. When flipped, most of the buoyancy for the platform is provided by water at depths below the influence of surface waves, hence FLIP is a stable platform mostly immune to wave action. At the end of a mission, compressed air is pumped into the ballast tanks in the flooded section and the vessel returns to its horizontal position so it can be towed to a new location. ...
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3751 |
bio_man |
11 years ago |
To kill or not to krill?
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Without krill, most of the marine animals in Antarctica would disappear. So what are they?Krill are crustaceans, each about 5 cm long. In addition to their diet of phytoplankton, they have the ability to scrape ice-algae from the underside of ice formations. In turn, they are on the menu for hungry squid, penguins, seals and whales. In short, krill form an integral part of the Antarctic ecosystem. Together, krill would number in the billions, yet their numbers are decreasing. Why? One reason may be the melting and loss of ice formation due to increased global temperatures. Another reason is humans' greed. Krill oil, high in omega-3 fatty acids, is packaged as health medication to maintain healthy cholesterol. How many krill are worth the lif ...
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3016 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
One ugly fish
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The coelacanth is known as a “living fossil” because it looks very much like its ancestors from 300 million years ago. Its genome has been sequenced, and it, in fact, has been found to be evolving at a very slow rate. The genetic sequence also might help give some insight into the transition from fins to limbs.
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2790 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
A shrimp is the world's loudest animal?
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Meet the pistol shrimp. It is known to be the loudest animal and can emit a sound up to 200 decibels which it uses to stun its prey using its pincers. Check out the video below:
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3282 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
One very massive, shell-less turtle
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The Leatherback Sea Turtle is the largest turtle in the world, weighing approximately 900 kg. Contrary to appearance, the leatherback doesn't actually have a shell. What looks like a shell is in fact a leathery skin supported by small bones. This gives it a flexibility that a solid shell would not provide, allowing it to dive to astonishing depths.
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8569 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Another look at the goblin shark
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Another look at the goblin shark ( Mitsukurina owstoni), a deep sea creature that's been sighted less that fifty times since its discovery. They're the only living representative of the family Mitsukurinidae.
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4464 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
The plastisphere
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Much of the debris in our oceans consists of small fragments of detritus no larger than a fingernail. These confetti-like plastic pieces act as microbial reefs – their own ecosystems – in the vast open ocean. Scientists are studying them to help better understand the predation and symbiosis in these mini ecosystems themselves and also how they are affecting the ocean and its other communities on a broader scale.
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3330 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Baby stingrays
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Stingrays are ovoviparous, meaning that the eggs develop and hatch inside the mother, who then give birth to live young. They have between 5 and 13 offspring at a time. Before birth, the female holds the embryos in the womb without a placenta. Instead, the embryos absorb nutrients from a yolk sac, and after the sac is depleted, the mother provides uterine "milk". Two female stingrays at the London Aquarium have given birth to young in spite of the fact that they haven't been near a male in more than two years. Therefore, it stands to reason that female stingrays have the ability to store sperm in some way. ...
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2047 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Leafy Seadragon
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This is the spectacular Leafy Seadragon. Its dangling skin disguises the vulnerable species as floating seaweed. Like seahorses, the male Leafy Seadragon carries the eggs, which are bright pink when the female first deposits them, but turn purple or orange when they're ready to hatch after nine weeks.
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2196 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Meet the black swallower
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This is the aptly-named "black swallower" ( Chiasmodon niger), a fish known for eating bony fish up to 10x its mass and 2x its length. It's found worldwide in tropical and subtropical waters at a depth of 700-2,745 meters. Most specimens of this fish have been collected after one attempted to swallow prey too large for it to handle, and the prey could not be digested before decomposition set it. The release of gases forces the black swallower to the surface. This particular specimen was found washed up on the shore in 2007. The black swallower measures 19 cm long. The fish in its stomach is a snake mackerel measuring 86 cm. ...
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2878 |
savio |
10 years ago |
This fish looks like it can perform hypnosis
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Stargazer fish have their eyes situated on the tops of their heads and can bury themselves in the sediment with only their faces sticking out. Some species lure prey with a worm-shaped projection that comes out of their mouths. They are toxic and some can deliver a 50 volt shock!
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3908 |
savio |
10 years ago |
If Squidward were real
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The Banded Piglet squid is proof that not all deep sea creatures are nightmare-inducing. They swim "upside down" compared to other squid, leaving him resembling a Muppet with his tentacles as the hair, the syphon as the nose, and his patterning appearing to be a smile. These guys live at least 100 m below the surface. Because of those incredible depths, it has to create its own light from the photophores underneath its eyes. Unfortunately, because it lives so far down, not much is known about its life cycle or eating habits. ...
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3233 |
duddy |
10 years ago |