Octopus kagoshimensis
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I’ve known that scorpions have fluorescent cuticles — if you go out into the desert with a black light and shine it on the ground, the scorpions will often glow green and blue and be easy to spot. I had no idea that many spiders exhibit the same phenomenon, but there they are, glowing away. I may have to visit my local head shop (in Morris? Hah!) and get some black light bulbs to see what the fauna in my living room is up to.
Fluorescence is actually a fairly common property: all it requires is a molecule called a fluorophore that can absorb and capture transiently photons of a particular wavelength, or energy, and release them at a lower energy. What this means is that a fluorescent substance absorbs light at one range of wavelengths, and then re-emits those photons at a longer wavelength; there is a color shift. In the case of black light posters and spiders and scorpions, they are absorbing light at wavelengths our eyes can’t detect (wavelengths below about 400nm, or ultraviolet light) and shifting it to a wavelength we can see, for instance to a nice blue at 450nm, cyan at around 500nm, or green at about 550nm. So to test this, all you need is a dark room, a spider, and a light source that glows at the wavelength that is absorbed by the fluorophore, and a detector (like, say, your eyes) that can collect light at the emission wavelength.
I have to second Steve — this is an amazing blog, The Daily Coyote. A woman and a cat living in remote Wyoming have a friend, a young coyote.
This has got to be a frightening relationship. That’s a place where coyotes are shot on sight, with no remorse … maybe if a few more people read about Charlie, though, they won’t be so quick to kill.
Two big specialty science carnivals are up today: Circus of the Spineless #27
and
Encephalon #37. Take your pick, invertebrates or nervous systems…or read them both.
We had a seminar from Marco Restani of St Cloud State University yesterday — he’s a wildlife biologist who talked about Tasmanian Devils. Just a little tip: don’t ever invite wildlife biologists or conservation ecologists to give talks. They are the most depressing people in the world, and they really make it hard to hide away from the ugly realities. This talk was no exception: the Tasmanian Devil is in big trouble, and is facing at least two major threats, each of which may be sufficient to wipe them out. And just looke at that guy! He’s adorable! How can you let them go extinct?
Last August, when I was at the Sci Foo camp, Paul Sereno brought along the skull of one of his latest discoveries…and whoa, is it ever a weird one. This is Nigersaurus taqueti, an herbivorous dinosaur with specializations for ground-level grazing. Look at this picture; in reality, it’s even more striking.
Those jaws and teeth—they are so neatly squared off and flat-edged. In addition, the skull itself on the spinal column is turned habitually downward. This is a creature that kept its face pressed to the ground as it nibbled its way across the landscape.
Another feature that was apparent is that the skull is awesomely light — it’s mostly empty spaces with a delicate webwork of bony struts holding it together. It’s so specialized it’s almost comical, and you can imagine something like this appearing on the Flintstones as a lawn mower or hedge trimmer.
Bora has more, and you can read the original on PLoS.
Sereno PC, Wilson JA, Witmer LM, Whitlock JA, Maga A, et al. (2007) Structural Extremes in a Cretaceous Dinosaur. PLoS ONE 2(11): e1230. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001230
I was sent this story of Russian workers in Chelyabinsk discovering a 5-foot long monster prehistoric fish that attacked them and that they had to kill with their equipment. Does this look like a horrible monster to you? Does it even look like a fish?
