This week/month/discrete time period's topic shall be the Phylum Mollusca.
5. Architeuthis spp. The Giant Squid.
Okay, how could I not include this one? It's big, we've finally got images of the things live and in the wild, and hey, it allows me to talk about GIANT FRIGGING SQUID!!
Okay: for interesting biology: apparently these things use the control of ammonia in their systems to control how buoyant they are. This is different from both boned fish and ceteaceans (aka whales and dolphins) who use air pockets to regulate density. It's really kind of neat system, but it does mean that squid meat tastes like cat pee (I actually wonder if a similar mechanism isn't used in sharks, who also don't have swim bladders, and whose flesh is also supposed to taste atrocious).
Also, there is the fact of squid sex! For an in depth look, I highly recommend P.Z. Myer's two pieces: Squid Sex and Squid Sex Part Deux. However, the part I found the most interesting is the idea of drive-by sex: occasionally the male will try and throw his spermatophores into the females. That's right, folks, it's reproduction by fastball!
4. Class Gastropoda: Slugs, snails, etc.
These little guys are really fascinating for one big reason: they're twisted. The snail's twisted shell isn't only a feature of that shell, it's a feature of the entire body plan. They started with a body with mouth at the front, and anus and gills at the rear, and turned it, so that in some extreme cases the anus and gills wound up over top of the head. Not a setup I'd choose for myself, mind you, but it's still a nifty trick. Plus, look at them! How can you not find these things cute?
Well, we appear to be reaching the end of this epic journey. Stay tuned for our next installment, when we look at my favorite phylum: phylum Grabbagoda!
4 comments:
Grabbagoda? That sounds like deeply suspicious Latin/Greek! I demand to see your sources! (Besides, what are you going to use as a humourous third thing for nature to be red in?
I can't spoil the surprise title, that would be telling. And Grabbagoda is at least as good latin as copeisanass.
When Cait and I were climbing Old Sarum (fascinating place ... the fog was so dense we couldn't see Salisbury Cathedral ... and the woman who owned the B&B we stayed in apologized for the weather ... but we thought it was great cause we just don't have fog like that in SK ... but I digress) we came across a snail just like that ... it was huge and really cute. (I agree that snails are cute) And then a vehicle came up the hill and on our way down, we found that it had died most gruesomely. It nearly broke my heart.
Actually most sharks control their depth through active swimming and use of oil in the liver and other organs. The one shark of note though it the Greenland Shark that lives in the Artic Ocean and Northern Atlantic. Apparently it cannot expel any nitrogenous waste so it stores it in the muscles were it is used to prevent the fish (sharks are fish... fun fact) from freezing to death. What this does to the meet though is make it very very toxic, if sled dogs eat it they tend to vomit go ridged and die a painfully slow death... so you know that it is eaten as a human delicacy... first you kill the shark and flay it, you take the meat and bury it in the sand for 4 months then boil it a few dozen times (I forget the number). They are also apparently highly sought after for their oil content.
Oh and bonus points if you can tell me who created copeisanass and why…(actually I'm not sure if that is the real name or not but it is still fun to say)
-Tyler
Post a Comment