Meet the Man Who Stalks the World’s Biggest Catfish

Meet the Man Who Stalks the World’s Biggest Catfish

by Douglas Main

In the slow-motion depths of Southeast Asia’s Mekong River lurks the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish, one of the world’s biggest freshwater fish. When biologist Zeb Hogan first spied this shadowy goliath as an exchange student to Thailand in 1997, he knew he had to learn more about them.

Since then, he’s branched out and begun studying other huge fish as a biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a National Geographic Explorer. Now, he travels the world to find these beasts as a part of Nat Geo WILD’s “Monster Fish," which airs on Fridays.

The next episode will air tonight (July 19th ) at 10:00 PM EST. LiveScience’s OurAmazingPlanet got Hogan on the phone to hear more about his adventures…

What Good Is Half a Sucker?

What Good Is Half a Sucker?

by Carl Zimmer

The remora is so ridiculous that no one would try to make it up. The top of its head is a giant, flat suction cup. It uses the cup to lock onto the bodies of bigger animals, such as sharks, sea turtles, and whales. As the big animal swims for miles in search of a meal, the remora hangs on for the ride. When its host finds a victim, the remora detaches and feasts on the remains. It sometimes cleans its host’s body and mouth of parasites, and then clamps its head back on for another ride.

The remora’s ridiculousness makes it a fascinating evolutionary puzzle just waiting for the solving. Other species clamp themselves onto other animals–whale barnacles, for example, grow prongs from their shells that anchor them to whale skin–but among fish, remoras are exceptional. Their closest relatives include Mahi-Mahi and amberjacks, neither of which has anything on their head that even faintly resembles the remora’s sucker. Only after the ancestors of remoras and these ordinary fish split apart some 50 million years ago, the remoras evolved a remarkably new piece of anatomy.

When you look closely at the remora’s suction disk, its remarkableness only grows. It looks like a spiked Venetian blind. Pairs of slat-like bones called lamellae form a series of rows running down the length of its head, and muscles running from the remora’s skull to those bones pivot them, creating spaces between the rows…

Newly Discovered: Dart Frog Found in ‘Lost World’

Newly Discovered:  Dart Frog Found in ‘Lost World’

by MongaBay staff

Scientists have described a new species of poison dart frog after discovering it during a study to determine the impact of tourism on biodiversity in a tract of rainforest known as “The Lost World" in Guyana.

The scientists named the frog Allobates amissibilis — in Latin, “that may be lost” — in recognition of its home, which was the set for British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1912 book, The Lost World. The frog was discovered near Turu Falls, a waterfall at the foot of the Iwokrama Mountains in Central Guyana…

Water Bears — Tardigrades

Water Bears — Tardigrades— an animal built on only a few hundred cells.

Tardigrades are polyextremophiles.  (An extremophile is an organism that can thrive in a physically or geochemically extreme condition, one that would be detrimental to most life on Earth.)

• Tardigrades can withstand temperatures from just above absolute zero to well above the boiling point of water,
• pressures about 6 times stronger than pressures found in the deepest ocean trenches,
• ionizing radiation at doses hundreds of times higher than would kill a person,
• and the vacuum of outer space.

They can go without food or water for nearly 120 years, drying out to the point where they are 3% or less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce.  [Wikipedia]
____________________________

IMAGES
Tardigr E granul — 700x 
This water bear lives in moss and awakens, as it were, when the moss gets wet. It feeds on moss by sucking the cells off. If the moss becomes dry, the water bear will sense this and encapsulate itself.  If necessary, it can wait for years until the next rain.

Tardigr Pm kenianus — 300x 
This tardigrade, first discovered in Africa, feeds on bacteria and protozoans.

Both images courtesy of Oliver Meckes

Strange deep sea creatures confirmed as three new species

Strange deep sea creatures confirmed as three new species

DNA analysis has established that creatures captured by scientists from the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab during a voyage to the mid-Atlantic are members of the Torquaratoridae; a recently discovered family of acorn worms.

The identification of the delicate creatures–which could not be collected using the primitive deep sea grabs and dredges of previous centuries–may provide new insight not only into life in the deep sea but the evolution of life on earth.

The DNA analysis was conducted by Karen Osborn of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. A paper detailing the identification of the three new species was published Nov. 16 in Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B.

The Torquaratoridae, which were captured last year using a remotely operated vehicle launched from the RRS James Cook , have no eyes and no tail but manage to crawl along the sea floor harvesting food that has fallen from the surface.

“The DNA analysis has shown the relationships of the three Atlantic specimens to the growing family tree of the Torquaratoridae,” says Monty Priede, director of the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab and leader of the expedition that retrieved the samples from the Atlantic. “The way is now clear to correctly describe and name these new species, which at present are just know by their colours, pink, purple and white.”

Acorn worms are known as a scientific curiosity, inconspicuous burrowing animals that are related to the ancestors of back boned animals.

“They are perceived as an evolutionary dead end, having been surpassed by their cousins, the fishes which acquired tails became fast swimmers, conquered the oceans and gave rise to reptiles, mammals and birds,” Priede says.

“However the Torquaratoridae family of acorn worms has not stood still; on the contrary they crawl over the sea floor, ploughing nutritious sediment into the mouth and leaving a characteristic spiral trail behind. They have also been observed to make swimming movements lifting off the sea floor to drift on the currents between patches of suitable feeding territory.”

Priede added that expeditions to the deep sea, using remotely operated vehicles, were likely to lead to ‘an evolutionary explosion’ of these animals with 15 species discovered so far and many more likely to be found in coming years.”–Source: Office of External Affairs, University of Aberdeen, King’s College

xabi alonso talks about kissing Stevie, Cris' photoshoot, and Carles in a towel #lol #liverpool #gerrard #XabiAlonso

xabi alonso talks about kissing Stevie, Cris' photoshoot, and Carles in a towel

Interviewer: We're going to change the subject from a violent moment to a romantic one: your kiss with Gerrard. It was so beautiful! I hope you tell me you've celebrated better on other ocassions.
Xabi: Well, it was a spur of the moment thing, but I think it's just a funny anecdote, he came to me...
Interviewer: Keep in mind it was him.
Xabi: But well, I answered.
Interviewer: Would you do something like that again?
Xabi: No, you don't prepare for that kind of thing.

Karin Stack - Hair Stories (1998) ‪#‎cancer‬ ‪#‎hair‬ ‪#‎photography‬

Karin Stack - Hair Stories (1998)

Artist’s statement:

"How does an artist respond to a body made unfamiliar and out of control?

I produced Hair Stories after my 1998 cancer diagnosis. From the chaotic realm of illness and uncertainty, I produced a post-chemotherapy chronicle of hair growth through weekly photographs.

The ordered structure of the installation, which takes the form of several horizontal timelines, challenges the disorder confronted. Not without humor, these life-size photographic self-portraits follow my progress from bald to haired.

Using the ordered language of minimalism and scientific documentation, I examine the steady resumption of natural processes and the surprise of new hair growth. The photographs are made by scanning 35 mm negatives and digitally printing the images to control format and layout and to overlay an additional system of order, control and technology.

This project began as a flipbook. Sequential hair images are combined with stories that explore hair in the context of private and pivotal moments in my personal history, including diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer."