Walking Frog Fish

I realize we haven't gotten to the fish section yet, however I thought this was a very interesting looking fish that could raise some possible evolutionary questions. Plus it just looks cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcN4nfcletU&feature=related

Giant Isopod Video

I posted the giant isopods eating Doritos on my FB profile page, and my brother-in-law wanted to get in on the act. He writes, "My own link to Bathynomus giganteus (or giant isopods)." Impressive!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeOSXtBCY30

Other comments on FB:

I can hear my wife screaming already. Good night, those are huge.

Hmm. Wonder how they'd be boiled and dipped in butter... :D

Yikes!! Funny how their going for the bag of Doritos!
In Taiwan they are boiled and served with rice!

Earthworm Sex

We just talked about earthworm mating behavior on Monday in Zoology. Here's an impressive video of worms getting it on.

http://www.mcb.arizona.edu/wardlab/matingvid.html

Darwin and Change (Over Time)

I couldn't resist posting this one sent to me by another Zoology student...

Comic Strips on Evolution

Here's a link to more comic strips. This one is on evolution.

http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2009/02/evolution-of-darwinian-evolution.html

Lizards Show Evolution in Action

We just talked about evolution as a change in population dynamics a few articles ago with nematodes and pesticides. Here is a GREAT video illustrating this point once again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoeIIZFApF4

Those lizards that have retained a juvenile behavioral trait of shaking off their ant attackers and skidatilling out of there will survive and reproduce, unlike their buddies that remain statuesque, hoping to camouflage themselves and hide from the ants, (which obviously turns out to be a bad strategy!)

Anyone know how to spell skidatilling?

More on the Peacock Mantis Shrimp

Hey,
I noticed the gorgeous picture of the peacock mantis shrimp posted on the blog and wanted to find out a little bit more about them. This website gives a brief overview of their behavior for anyone considering keeping one in their aquarium. They are not related to shrimp or the praying mantis, but are named Mantis Shrimp because of similar appearance and hunting behavior to the shrimp and praying mantis.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/msubpestmshrimp/a/aa110498.htm

My favorite informational tid-bit was this:

There are two hunting categories, the "spearers" and the "smashers". The "spearers" use their spear-like claw to silently stab soft tissued prey. The "smashers" use their forceful, club-like claw to hit, crack open or pulverize harder bodied prey. It is interesting that the power of the "smashers" appendage can produce a blow close to the power of a .22 caliber bullet and are notoriously known as "thumb splitters". It is rumored that because of the tremendous strength these animals have, they can crack aquarium glass. From a story about how a pet Mantis Shrimp broke 1/4 inch aquarium glass, that was posted in The Daily Mirror (a British Newspaper) on Friday, April 10, 1998, page 11, this documentation leads us to believe that this is possible.

Then there is a link from that website to a brief story of "Tyson" breaking the aquarium class.

Here's another website you can purchase them at ($43.99!!), along with a warning of their aquarium breaking capabilities:

http://www.paradisepetshop.net/en/peacock-mantis-shrimp.html

Nematodes Resistant to Pesticides (and Evolution)

Dr. Palmer
I found this article on worms building up pesticide resistance. I wonder if we are seeing evolution working at incredible speed, or an ability of the worms to protect themselves.

http://www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=2034

Here's my input: This phenomenon is not due to random mutations following the exposure to the pesticide, which the writers of this article are implying allows for these nematodes to survive. Rather, evolution is a population effect, or a change in the overall dynamics of the population. Those nematodes that did not have that special "je ne sais quoi" certainly died off, leaving a greater percentage of nematodes that were better equipped to survive and reproduce. Hopefully this helps.

The Grandest Arthropods

The images are attached since i've collected them over the years.

First we have what a superficial internet search has told me is the largest crustacean the coconut crab.



Then there is the amazing psychedelic mantis shrimp. Some people keep them in domestic aquariums because of the colors.



Next up, a lot of textbooks with sort of north american bias like to show sow bugs/rolly pollies/woodlice as an example of isopods. This makes them look really meek and pathetic. But in Taiwan they raise and eat these giant isoods. With a little research apparently these are the suborder Calabozoida

Students Helping Students Study for Lab Practical

As I was studying for the lab I found some sites that I thought might help the other students.

http://www.brookings.k12.sd.us/krscience/zoology/mollusks/sp06%20Clam%20Dissection.ppt

interactive worm dissection
http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/virtual_labs/BL_14/BL_14.html

^crayfish dissection video (1 of 4) Related videos of this also include an earthworm, starfish, and clam. Essentially everything we need to know!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GQKy3nL7es&feature=related

Leeches and More Leeches (Subclass Hirudinea)

Dr. Palmer,

This video is incredible! It is a little gross, but it is a leech who has had a full blood meal and is actually excreting it on the floor of this man's home! It's a little tough to watch but is quite interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GyocYjPXbM&feature=related

This video I also found interesting, it shows a leech trying to penetrate itself into a carpet python. It fails, but is a great example of the snakes able to defend itself from the leech!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BTOZHX2FLo&feature=related

I seem to be finding leeches quite interesting tonight!!! If I find any more neat videos I will be certain to pass them along!

Medicinal Use of Leeches in India

I found this national geographic video about the uses of leeches in India for medicine, and might I say, I think I'll stick to modern, western, medical techniques!!!

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/culture-places/work/india_leechescure.html

To be honest, I'm amazed that so many people still allow the leech therapies to be preformed on them. It seems so barbaric, and I tend to wonder how well it really works? I would be afraid to let it happen! Do you know if the leeches could actually infect you if they, say, had had a blood meal from someone who had aids? I know that's an odd question - but I tend to think it's an odd practice!!!

Annelid Comic Strip

There's a funny web comic called Natalie Dee, and last month there was a special Annelid Week:

http://www.nataliedee.com/020509/annelid-week.jpg
http://www.nataliedee.com/020609/male-pore.jpg
http://www.nataliedee.com/020709/get-out-of-here-spider.jpg
http://www.nataliedee.com/020809/where-them-arms-come-from.jpg
http://www.nataliedee.com/020909/i-dunno-how-he-tied-that-cape.jpg
http://www.nataliedee.com/021009/why-is-that-rabbit-so-small.jpg
http://www.nataliedee.com/021109/true-love.jpg

Helpful Websites for Dissections

Here is an awesome link that lets you quiz yourself on the anatomy of a dissected clam

Clam

http://biog-101-104.bio.cornell.edu/biog101_104/tutorials/animals/clam.html

You can find almost all of the animals that we dissected in class online this way! Here are the links for the squid and crayfish.

Squid

http://biog-101-104.bio.cornell.edu/bioG101_104/tutorials/animals/squid.html

Crayfish

http://biog-101-104.bio.cornell.edu/bioG101_104/tutorials/animals/crayfish.html

If you google "Cornell University Dissections _______" (fill in the blank with the animal you want) the website will come up. It's a good way to quiz yourself outside of the lab with a real photo. I read that some schools provide these to students who object to actual dissections.

Giant Tubeworms (Polychaetes)

After class on Friday I was talking to one of your fellow classmates about these giant tubeworms that are located close the Galapagos Islands near volcanos and hydrothermal vents. Their environment seems truly inhospitable. "These worms live in pitch-black ocean depths in water laced with acid and toxic gas—harsh conditions that may resemble those in which life first evolved. Scientists want to decode the tubeworms' survival skills." Here's an articles from natgeo that gives a little more information.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1028_021028_TVtubeworm.html

Here's a link to video of this creature:

http://www.ocean.udel.edu/deepsea/level-1/creature/tube3.mov

Macropinna microstoma - Strange Fish!

Found this article about a weird looking fish.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2271861.ece

Heres another cool video about a fish with a transparent head...

Dr. Palmer,

I couldn't help myself, I got looking around at natgeo and I found this crazy looking fish!!!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090224-fish-video-vin.html

Here's video of this fish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zoygy-8PTtU

Cool Pink Dolphin

Hey,

Check out this pink dolphin!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4927224/Pink-dolphin-appears-in-US-lake.html

Hopefully the octopuses, as well as the tourists/dolphin lookers leave it alone! It's beautiful what a genetic mutation can do.

Zoology Student Takes Photos of Polychaetes in Florida Keys... and Misc.

Here is a site with a lot of good information and some pictures of christmas tree worms in the Class Polychaeta.

http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=543

I also took some pictures of some of them down in the Florida keys here are a couple if they work.

This is a documentary about the Sumbolt squid also known as Diablo Rojo which has razor sharp teeth lining every suction cup and have been known to become aggressive and even attack divers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG3IRWZSDos

Octopus Escapes through a One-inch Hole

Hey!

Here is a link of an Octopus escaping out of a one-inch hole. It's like a magic trick - their bodies are too cool.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4007016107763801953&q=octopus

Japan Mountain Leech vs. Giant Earthworm

I found this video of some kind of leech eating an earthworm, voice-over isn't the greatest, but the topic is interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpv9P1KOVMQ&feature=PlayList&p=421A64E287FF499B&index=0&playnext=1

Giant Sea Stars and Photosynthetic Sea Slug

Dr. Palmer,
I found some interesting articles I thought I would share.

This one is about an excursion to Antarctica where many new species were discovered. My favorite picture is of the giant sea stars.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/photogalleries/Antarctica-pictures/index.html

This one is about a sea slug that is photosynthetic.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16124-solarpowered-sea-slug-harnesses-stolen-plant-genes.html

New Species - Sea Squirt

I found another article that popped up front page of the CNN website. It talks about all the new findings that scientists are able to discover as technology develops. They found a never-before-seen sea squirt at 4,000 meters that acts like a venus fly trap around shrimp. It also talks about how they use coral to examine the environment and its ecological history.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/03/03/eod.popsci.species/index.html

Peace

Medical Use of Horseshoe Crabs

Apparently the class of merostomata don't have phagocytizing immune systems so their only defense is that the blood detects the membrane proteins of bacteria and it forms clots in response

http://www.horseshoecrab.org/med/med.html

Because of this property horseshoe crabs are used to quickly diagnose things like meningitis that can kill really quickly or detect small amounts of bacteria in biomedical supplies to mark contaminated stocks.

I thought you'd like that since your so into physiology and comparative studies
I've heard it said that because the ocean is so unexplored that many of these great things could be waiting to be discovered.

Arthropod Sex and Ecdysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7IyCw8PSGk&feature=related

In lab today we looked at the different reproductive structures of crayfish and I was wondering how the males went about fertilizing. If they implanted sperm with there Copulatory swimmerets or some other way...this video wasnt exactly what i had in mind, the music is hilarious!

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/57130/fossil_confirms_that_early_arthropods_molted/

I didnt know how long molting had been part of Arthropods life cycles...thats a long time with no change. Seems to be alot more advantageous than I thought...

Cool Spider Feeding Underwater

Some more microcosmos video's.

Cool spider feeding under water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNBEQwPC3Yo

Here is the full movie, if anyone is interested.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8131450577923045041&ei=26euSaDUF6qyqAPO_-iZDw&q=microcosmos&hl=en

Here is a related link!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070828-scuba-spider.html

Leech Therapy

Dr. Palmer-

This may not be scientifically worth discussing in class or worth any extra credit. But I was trying to find some new interesting things about our annelid friends and found this article about Demi Moore. It was way too funny not to pass it on.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-544588/Demi-Moore-admits-bizarre-beauty-secret-I-let-leeches-suck-blood.html

Enjoy

Horseshoe Crabs and Sex

These crabs are really rather fascinating. They found evidence of them being around 445 million years ago.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,326712,00.html

This link talks about some of the practical uses for horseshoe crabs today.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/horshoe-crab-47021206

And this article shows the crabs when they are mating in large groups.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uikyxWSMZU&feature=related

Off Balance Oceans

My family gets Chemical Engineering and News and I found an interesting article in the last edition. It is called "Off Balance Oceans" and discusses carbon dioxides impact on marine life. The change in pH is actually causing some of the organisms undue harm. It talks about the corals, offering the same idea that corals are very much effected by changing levels of carbon dioxide.

I wish I would have found this when we were talking about coral bleaching!

I scanned it into my computer and am sending you an electronic copy.

Earthworm and Allergies

I found this article on how earthworms may be major contributors to ragweed allergies by spreading seeds. Being allergic myself, I thought this was very interesting.

http://www.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/impact/2009/nri/02231_earthworm.html

Spider Evolution

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081231130944.htm