The NY Times recently did an article on soniferous fishes. These are animals like drums and toadfish that produce, and presumably communicate, with sound. In some circumstances, these noises can be heard by home owners living on canals or live-aboard boats.
However, there is a quote in the article from Professor Philip Lobel from Boston University that annoys (a noise?) me:
Yet of the 30,000 species out there, only about 1,200 sound producers have been cataloged, and far fewer have been recorded. Even common goldfish have merited just two scientific publications. In fact, said Philip Lobel, a professor of biology at Boston University, “Most aquarium fish are sonic. Keeping fish in an aquarium is like keeping a canary in a soundproof cage.”
Have you ever pressed your ear against a home aquarium? It’s typically a din of bubblers and impellers that are anything but noiseless. I’ve wondered what kind of effect that has on the captive fish. And now doubly so if it turns out the creatures are trying to communicate with each other over the racket.
NY Times: Run Noisy, Run Deep, and interactive piece that lets you listen to the noise of soniferous fish, including the fast repetitive ticks (FaRTs) of herring.
With the coming of spring in the northern hemisphere also comes a time to hunt for eggs. But it’s not just about birds anymore. The folks over at the Shark Trust also want people to head to the beach to look out for the fecundity of fish.
Colloquially known as mermaid’s purses, eggcases are the protective capsules laid by skates and some rays**. Inside is a tiny baby skate and a big yolk sac. Typically the capsules have odd keels and horns to help them remain tangled in seaweed and camouflaged on the bottom. The young develop for several months before hatching out as miniature adults. But after hatching, the horny cases begin to breakdown and may come loose, washing up on the shore. Storms might also dislodge living ones from the bottom. If you find a lot of eggcases in an area, it may indicate that a skate nursery is located nearby. This kind of information is valuable to conservationist who are trying to protect these species.
Why does the Shark Trust want you to record eggcases? In recent decades several species of skate and ray around the…coast have dramatically declined in numbers…The identification of these critical areas will enable the Shark Trust to propose conservation measures, in order to reverse the decline of these charismatic animals.
So now’s your chance to contribute to skate and ray conservation and have a lot of fun at the same time.
They have a lot of resources for citizen scientists and for educators who want to organize a local eggcase hunt. And if you don’t live near the coast, you can still take some time this spring to create your own giant eggcases (PDF link) out of balloons and papier-mâché. Or better yet, make some chocolate ones that you can send to me!
Continuing with my aquatic version of things vernal, there is news that rabbitfish might be helping to save the Great Barrier Reef. Many herbivorous reef fish species like parrotfish and tangs regularly graze on the fast-growing algae of the reefs. But apparently they only like to eat it when it’s young and not too weedy. This is where the rabbitfish comes in.
“Then, to our even greater surprise a fish we had never seen in this area before was observed grazing on the weed. The rabbitfish (Siganus canaliculatus), came out of nowhere and began to clear-fell the weed placed on the reef crest.”
The rabbitfish were caught on underwater videocams, in schools of up to 15 fish, grazing the crest, slopes and outer flats of the reef, and chomping away at more than ten times the rate of other weed-eaters.
Common names: Lionfish, lion fish, zebrafish, firefish, turkeyfish, red lionfish, butterfly cod, ornate butterfly-cod, peacock lionfish, red firefish, scorpion volitans
Happy Turkey Day for those in the States. Ben Franklin famously suggested that the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) would make a more fitting symbol for the United States than the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Many derisively scoff at the notion, but if you read this account of his recommendation, especially in light of current events, it’s rather telling we chose the latter bird instead.
But there is another turkey out there that I wanted to mention today. This one won’t end up on too many dinner plates, probably because it’s a venomous fish. more commonly known as the lionfish in the United States, Pterois volitans is also called the Turkeyfish in many other parts of the world. Normally found in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, it has recently been found in increasing numbers off the east coast of the U.S. It is a common and spectacular staple of the live reef fish trade and authorities suspect specimens released from aquariums were the original source of the invasive population.
The Turkeyfish is in the Scorpionfish family and is a predator of smaller fish. Authorities fear that as its range expands into new areas, it will have a disruptive effect on the ecology of these environments.
Blogfish was kind enough to tag me with the Hallomeme. Before it’s too late, I wanted to plunge deeper into one of his suggestions for an aquatic-themed scary movie.
The Creature from the Black Lagoon
The quintessential aquatic monster movie for me is The Creature from the Black Lagoon. It was scary because I grew up on a lake. Scary because that lake was in Florida, where the movie was filmed. Scary because my older sisters liked to wrap themselves in bog moss and tickle my legs, like the Gill Man did to Kay Lawrence. And it was scary because of Dick Bennick.
Dick Bennick was better know locally as Dr. Paul Bearer. At the time of his death in 1995, he was America’s longest running horror movie host. With him it was easy enough to segue from a morning filled with cartoons to a afternoon of Creature Feature on Channel 44, WTOG. I rarely knew ahead of time what horrible old movie would be showing. But I always hoped it would either be Gamera or the Black Lagoon.
Synopsis: Cuter than Cthulhu
Creature from the Black Lagoon was a black-and-white film released on March 5, 1954. It was filmed and originally released in 3-D and is considered a classic of the 1950s.
A geology expedition in the Amazon uncovers fossilized evidence of a link between land and sea animals in the form of a skeletal hand with webbed fingers. Another expedition is sent back to the Amazon to look for the remainder of the skeleton. However, when they return they discover that the entire research team has been mysteriously killed, perhaps by a jaguar. Excavations turn up nothing. But it’s suggested that perhaps thousands of years ago part of the embankment with the skeleton washed downriver. The tributary empties into the eponymous “Black Lagoon,” where unbeknownst, the amphibious “gill man” is watching, taking a special interest in the beautiful Kay Lawrence. The brave male scientist dive to collect fossils. But when Kay goes swimming, she is stalked by the creature. It gets caught in the ship’s draglines, and while trying to escape, leaves behind a claw, revealing its existence.
Further encounters with the creature claim the lives of some of the crew members, before the gill man is captured and locked in a cage aboard the steamer. When it escapes, Kay hits the gill man with a lantern. As they ship leaves for civilization, the way is blocked by fallen logs, courtesy of the escaped gill man. More tragedy as the monster abducts Kay and takes her to his cavern lair. The survivors chase and rescue her. The creature is riddled with bullets and stabbed in the heart, before sinking myseriously into the depths of the Black Lagoon.
We complain about the odious content restrictions of the RIAA and MPAA nowadays. But the crazy thing is, for the moment, I no longer have to wait through a month of Saturdays for it to show. I can watch it right now, for free, via Google video.
And maybe next year I will remember to order the feet, hands and head for a Gill Man costume.
Saw one of these embiggened octopus plushies today. FAO Schwartz sells them. At ~183 cm across, it’s probably a little too big (and spendy) for Cephalopodcast HQ.
Our octopi [sic] are available in two sizes. The Giant Octopus lives up to his name, reaching almost 63″ from head to tip of tenctacle and he makes a very comfortable pillow. If that’s too big to handle, we also offer a smaller version, constructed of the same richly-detailed plush.
There are many things to dislike about this video. Mixing limnetic and stenohaline fishes. Confusing a Holocentrid for a Salmonid. Undergravel filters. But then you realize the kid is probably just tripping and the beatbox blowfish is really amusing. So don’t sweat the details and just give it up for Sammy the Salmon and his amazing salmon dance…
The Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) is a bureau within the United States Department of State. It coordinates a portfolio of issues related to science, the environment, and the world’s oceans.
The Oceans and Fisheries Directorate has two offices dedicated to international oceans issues. The Office of Marine Conservation focuses on international fisheries matters and related problems and the Office of Oceans Affairs has primary responsibility for international ocean law and policy, marine pollution, marine mammals, polar affairs, maritime boundaries, and marine science.
The Pacific Science Center has a variation on a popular numbers game.
Do you Sudoku? Well, here’s a twist we think you’ll love. We call it PacSci-Doku…Instead of filling in the blanks with numbers, use letters. Hidden in one of the columns or rows is the answer to a science question. The question in this edition is:
What ancient sea reptile lived during the age of the dinosaurs in what is now Europe?
To find the answer, complete this PacSci-Doku using the following nine letters:
A O U S D L R P C
This might be a fun supplement for educators following along when National Geographic premieres its new giant screen film Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure on October 5th.
Stunning photo-realistic computer-generated animated transports audiences back to the Late Cretaceous, when a great inland sea divided North America in two. The film follows a curious and adventurous dolichorhynchops – familiarly known as a ‘dolly’ – as she travels through the most dangerous oceans in history. Along the way, she encounters long-necked plesiosaurs, giant turtles, enormous fish, fierce sharks, and the most dangerous sea monster of all, the mosasaur.
Last Sunday was International Rock-Flipping Day. I made another 60 second video highlighting some of our discoveries. It’s a little choppier production, since I only had the Powershot A95 (movie setting). Once again, edited with iMovie and scored in Garageband.
The way that taxonomy normally works, the person that describes a new species also gets to give it a new name. This bit of binomial classification is often a staid affair, although sometimes it can get a little silly. However, some researchers have cottoned on to the idea of selling off the privilege of naming rights to raise funds for more research. And this scheme recently gained a little more chic with the addition of Chrisite’s as the auctioneer and the patronage of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco.
The Blue Auction is an historical event offering individuals, companies and organizations the opportunity to bid for the privilege of having their name (or a name of their choice) forever attributed to new marine life species recently discovered off the coasts of the Bird’s Head Seascape in Indonesia by Conservation International.
A total of 12 lots shall be auctioned by Christie’s, and the proceeds will benefit marine conservation programs associated with the long-term preservation of such species as well as other environment and biodiversity-related programs. Participation to the gala event is for qualified bidders and by invitation only. Donations from interested parties and unsuccesful bidders are welcome.
To see the habitat that these funds will be used to protect, check out the interactive photo essay over at National Geo.
So how much would you pay to name a new species? Which of these organisms do you think will get the highest bid? I reckon the shark will be the most sought after. And what about this whole notion about selling off naming rights? Is nothing sacred? Or is the whole notion of binomial classification fundamentally flawed anyway?
When the first four-legged animals sprouted fingers and toes, they took an ancient genetic recipe and simply extended the cooking time, say University of Florida scientists writing in the journal PLoS ONE.
Even sharks — which have existed for more than half a billion years— have the recipe for fingers in their genetic cookbook — not to eat them, but to grow them.
We had a shark bite in Sarasota Bay recently. A hapless New College student went night swimming and got nibbled on by a (suspected) bull shark. She is expected to recover after receiving several dozen stitches. If you care to see the damage, she has posed for inspection.
Remarkably, it is only the seventh reported unprovoked1 shark bite in Sarasota County since 1882. These statistics are literally kept on file at the International Shark Attack File. They advise not being in the water during darkness or twilight hours when sharks are most active and have a competitive sensory advantage. Indeed. My buddy SB and I didn’t follow that advice in our undergrad days either. We took a couple turns snorkeling along Lido at sunset. But the severed head of a stargazer and a disemboweled cownose ray were pretty good clues we weren’t alone.
Of course, I kind of like the notion put forth by NBA star Gilbert Arenas. He recently opined that there are no such things as shark attacks:
There are these things called shark attacks, but there is no such thing as a shark attack. I have never seen a real shark attack. I know you’re making a weird face as you’re reading this. OK people, a shark attack is not what we see on TV and what people portray it as. We’re humans. We live on land. Sharks live in water. So if you’re swimming in the water and a shark bites you, that’s called trespassing. That is called trespassing. That is not a shark attack.
A shark attack is if you’re chilling at home, sitting on your couch, and a shark comes in and bites you; now that’s a shark attack. Now, if you’re chilling in the water, that is called invasion of space. So I have never heard of a shark attack. When I see on the news where it’s like, “There have been 10 shark attacks,” I’m like, “Hey, for real?! They’re just running around? Sharks are walking now, huh! We live on the land, we don’t live underwater.”
Perhaps the co-ed would have been less attractive had she slathered on some Shark Defense. This is a new sun tan lotion that purports to also repel sharks. Testing for the product took place at the Bimini Biological Field Station. This is also the location where a classic Mythbusters segment was filmed, one dealing with the notion that sharks can smell one single drop of blood in a thousand drops of water. It’s a shame Discovery hasn’t cottoned on to the idea of letting users embed their video into posts, a la Comedy Central. But you can follow the links below to see how Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman used condoms and syringes to bust this myth.
Unprovoked attacks are defined as “incidents where an attack on a live human by a shark occurs in its natural habitat without human provocation of the shark.”
Reports of an unusual “albino” sand tiger shark (aka, grey nurse, Carcharias taurus) are coming in from Austalia. Pictures and videos available by following the links.
This rare albino grey nurse has been spotted at Australian’s best known diving and fishing spot Fish Rock.
The photo of the 2.2m male was taken by Fish Rock Dive Centre owner Jon Cragg 2km off South West Rocks.
Mr Cragg was speechless when the amazing creature swam past him.
“I saw the big white shadow in the water with two other sharks then when I saw it I couldn’t believe it, it was like a ghost coming out of the darkness,” Mr Cragg said.
“No one has ever seen one like this before - it was pretty exciting.”
Lynch is a man of many talents. But it took me a moment to remember where I had seen his name before. Then I remembered he was the illustrator of my ornithology textbook.
In his 35 years with Yale University Lynch has been a medical illustrator, biomedical photographer, audiovisual producer, and for the past 20 years a designer of interactive multimedia teaching, training, and informational software and Web sites.
Looking for ways to make a difference by beginning or improving a youth water education program? Educating Young People About Water (EYPAW) is a searchable oline database of over 150 water-related curricula. The fine folks at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Environmental Resources Center have cataloged all of them according to topic, format and education goals.
Cephalopodcast.com - The Ocean Podcast: Featuring science education and information about our oceans. Produced in south Florida, it includes news and ideas for marine educators and those who wish to learn more about our water world.
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