The Barreleye Fish
Barreleyes, also known as spookfish (a name also applied several species of chimaera), are small, unusual-looking deep-sea osmeriform fish comprising the family Opisthoproctidae. Found in tropical-to-temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, the family contains thirteen species in six genera (four of which are monotypic.
These fish are named for their barrel-shaped, tubular eyes which are generally directed upwards to detect the silhouettes of available prey; however, according to Robison and Reisenbichler these fish are capable of directing their eyes forward as well. The family name Opisthoproctidae is derived from the Greek words opisthe ("behind") and proktos ("anus").
All species have large, telescoping eyes which dominate and protrude from the skull, but enclosed within a large transparent dome of soft tissue. These eyes generally gaze upwards, but can also be directed forwards.The opisthoproctid eye has a large lens and a retina with an exceptionally high complement of rod cells and a high density of rhodopsin (the "visual purple" pigment); there are no cone cells. To better serve their vision, barreleyes have large, dome-shaped transparent to translucent heads; this presumably allows the eyes to collect even more incident light, likely protects the sensitive eyes from the nematocysts (stinging cells) of the siphonophores from which it is believed the Barreleye steals food, and necessarily either serves as an accessory lens (modulated by intrinsic or peripheral muscles) or is composed of tissue with a refractive index very close to that of seawater. A recent study disclosed that the Dolichopteryx longipes is the only vertebrate known to use a mirror (as well as a lens) in its eyes.
Purple Squirrel Baffles Experts
A purple squirrel which appeared at a school has baffled experts who are unable to explain its colour.
Published: 3:55PM GMT 21 Dec 2008
Teachers and pupils at Meoncross School in Stubbington, Hants, were amazed when they saw the creature through the window during a lesson.
Since the squirrel, now nicknamed Pete, was first seen, it has become a regular fixture at the school but no one has been able to say whether the animal has fallen into purple paint, had a run-in with some purple dye, or whether there is another explanation.
Rare Prehistoric Shark Photographed Alive!
The frilled shark, Chlamydoselachus anguineus, is a living fossil shark species, the only member of the family Chlamydoselachidae in the order Hexanchiformes. The Southern African frilled shark is a proposed new species from the Southern African range. These two species are very different from the other hexanchiform sharks, and it has recently been proposed that the two frilled sharks should be given their own order: Chlamydoselachiformes. Additional extinct types are known from fossil teeth. The frilled shark was thought to be extinct itself; it was only discovered alive in Japanese waters in the 19th century. On January 21, 2007, a specimen was found alive off the coast of Japan near the Awashima Marine Park in Shizuoka, southwest of Tokyo. The shark was captured but was not adapted to live in the warm, shallow water that it was moved to. The specimen died soon after capture .
Source: Wikipedia
Weird Creature Found In A Trench In Russia
09 April 2009: Pravda reports that these weird creatures were found in an abandoned foundation pit in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk.
All photos webpark.ru
"A lot of people say it resembles a horshoe crab - what do you think?"
Alien-like Squid Seen at Deep Drilling Site
ROVs have filmed Magnapinna squid a dozen or so times in the Gulf and the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans . The
recent video marks the first sighting of a Magnapinna at an oil development, though experts don't think the squid's
presence there has any special significance. But the video is evidence of how, as oil- and gas-industry ROVs dive deeper
and stay down longer, they are yielding valuable footage of deep-sea animals.
Some marine biologists have even formed formal partnerships with oil companies, allowing scientists to share camera
time on the corporate ROVs—though critics worry about possible conflicts of interest.
The Perdido squid may look like a science fiction movie monster, but it's no special effect, according to squid biologist
Michael Vecchione of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who is based at the National
Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
In 1998 Vecchoine and University of Hawaii biologist Richard Young became the first to document a Magnapinna, based on juveniles of the Magnapinna pacifica species. M. pacifica was so unusual that the scientists had to create a new classification category to accommodate it: the family Magnapinnidae, which currently boasts four species.
In 2001 the pair released the first scientific report based on adult Magnapinna specimens, as seen via video. The study demonstrated that Magnapinna are common worldwide in the permanently dark zone of the ocean below about 4,000 feet (1,219 meters).
In 2006 a single damaged specimen from the North Atlantic led to the naming of a second Magnapinna species, M. talismani. And in 2007 the scientists documented two more: M. atlantica and a species based on a specimen from the mid-Atlantic.
That fourth Magnapinna species remains nameless, because its arms were too badly damaged for a full study. "However, it was clearly different from the three known species," Vecchione said.
The Magnapinna species apparently have only slight physical differences, mainly related to tentacle and arm structure in juveniles.
The subtlety of those variations makes it impossible to identify which species is in the oil-rig video, given that at least two Magnapinna species—M. atlantica and M. pacifica—are known to inhabit the Gulf of Mexico, Vecchione said.
Enduring Mystery
Based on analysis of videos not unlike the one captured at the Perdido site, scientists know that the adult Magnapinna observed to date range from 5 to 23 feet (1.5 to 7 meters) long, Vecchione said. By contrast, the largest known giant squid measured about 16 meters (52 feet) long.
And whereas giant squid and other cephalopods have eight short arms and two long tentacles, Magnapinna has ten indistinguishable appendages that all appear to be the same length.
"The most peculiar structure is that of the arms," said deep-sea biologist Bruce Robison of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California.
Referring to the way the tentacles hang down from elbow-like kinks, Robison said: "Judging from that structure, we think the animal feeds by dragging its arms and the ends of its tentacles along the seafloor as it drifts slowly above it."
The elbow-like angles allow the tentacles to spread out, perhaps preventing them from getting tangled.
"Imagine spreading the fingers of a hand and dragging the fingertips along the top of a table to grab bits of food," he added.
But NOAA's Vecchione suggests a feeding behavior that is more like trapping than hunting. He speculates that Magnapinna passively waits for prey to bump into the sticky appendages.
Strange Bedfellows?
As oil companies and their ROVs spend more time in the bathypelagic zone, more discoveries are sure to follow, experts say.
Eager for hard-to-come-by deep-sea video and data, some biologists are formally aligning themselves with the companies.
The U.K.-based SERPENT (Scientific and Environmental ROV Partnership using Existing iNdustrial Technology) project, for example, matches oil companies with researchers "to make cutting-edge ROV technology and data more accessible to the world's science community," according to the project's Web site.
Despite such partnerships, Monterey Bay's Robison said, most sightings of the Magnapinna squid have come from research vessels, not oil companies. The November 2007 video, for the record, was captured without scientific involvement.
Some scientists, including Robison, are not entirely comfortable relying on corporations for new data.
Andrew Shepard, director of NOAA's Undersea Research Center, is excited about the potential for new ocean resources, but he does have concerns.
"Oil companies are there to develop hydrocarbons, not find new species," Shepard said.
"These discoveries may, in fact, have a negative impact on very expensive and valuable lease tracts if someone decides a rare species needs to be protected."
But given how expensive and time consuming ROV-based deep-sea research is, scientific cooperation with industry is crucial, SERPENT project oceanographer Mark Benfield said.
"There are relatively few research vessels and far fewer ROVs and manned submersibles capable of working down through [extremely deep regions of the ocean]," said Benfield, who teaches at Louisiana State University.
Research funds are getting scarcer, he added, and "with SERPENT we gain access to sophisticated ROVs for free.
"These systems are based on vessels or rigs that spend months to years at a single location. This allows us to build up a much more complete picture of life in the deep-sea than would be possible with [only] academic ships and deep-submergence vehicles."
NOAA's Vecchione said he has "gotten a lot of interesting observations from the SERPENT project and other petro sources."
But the oil-industry collaborations "should not get in the way of purely scientific exploration," Vecchione said. "We need to be careful about deep-sea conservation."
National Geographic Digital Media researcher Liz Cosby contributed to this report.
Resource: nationalgeographic.com
The Purple Frog is a product of isolated evolution that has been taking place for over 130 million years. Evolving from the amphibian family Nasikabatrachidae, the Purple Frog is a very recent discovery, having being discovered in India in 2003 making the Purple Frog the first new family of frogs to be discovered since 1926. Currently the Purple frog is listed as endangered because the growth of deforestation is destroying its habitat. It is believed that the Purple Frog and its closest relative the Sooglossidae family’s ancestors shared that earth with dinosaurs for around 70 million years before splitting down two distinct evolutionary paths all before the firt human ancestors even emerged.
Although you would have to be extremely lucky to come across a Purple Frog (as only 135 have been recorded), the Purple Frog should be easy to identify due to its unique characteristics. Reaching around 7 centimeters in length the Purple Frog has a mixed coloration of purple and gray and is somewhat bloated in appearance. The head of the Purple Frog is very small compared to its body an the same is true with its limbs. As the Purple Frog spends most of its life underground it is an expert burrower making use of growths on its hind limbs to aid in burrowing.
To read more: itsnature.org
WATCH THIS FISH
INFLATE!
"Like other frogfish—a subset of anglerfish—H. psychedelica has leglike fins on both sides of its body..."
Giant Freshwater Ray
The photo is very real: this giant stingray may be the largest freshwater fish ever recorded. With an estimated weight between 550 to 990 pounds (250 to 450 kilograms), the image was captured as part of a National Geographic Society expedition in Thailand.
The stingray measuring around two meters in diameter was released later. Its tail was missing, and Zeb Hogan, Biologist from the University of Nevada, estimated its size with it could have reached 5 meters.
As part of the Megafishes Project, Hogan had already recorded last year a stingray four-meters long in Chachoengsao. See video on the right.
These giant stingrays were first described scientifically as recently as 1989, and the expedition and project are part of an effort to better understand, protect and preserve them.
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The naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber), also known as the sand puppy, or desert mole rat is a burrowing rodent native to parts of East Africa and the only species currently classified in genus Heterocephalus. It is one of only two known eusocial mammals (the other being the Damaraland mole rat) and has a highly unusual set of physical traits that enables it to thrive in a harsh, underground environment, including a lack of pain sensation in its skin and a nearly cold-blooded metabolism.
Typical individuals are 8–10 cm long and weigh 30–35 g. Queens are larger and may weigh well over 50 g, the largest reaching 80 g. They are well-adapted to their underground existence. Their eyes are quite small, and their visual acuity is poor. Their legs are thin and short; however, they are highly adept at moving underground and can move backward as fast as they can move forward. Their large, protruding teeth are used to dig, and their lips are sealed just behind the teeth to prevent soil from filling their mouths while digging. They have little hair (hence the common name) and wrinkled pink or yellowish skin.
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Dr Mike Edwards, an English teacher, said: "I was sitting in my classroom and looked out the window and saw it sitting on the fence. I had to do a double take.
"Since then it's been a bit of a regular at the school - everyone's seen it.
"We thought it might have been paint or something but then when you look at it up close, it's an all over coat, not in patches like you'd expect if it had been near some paint.
"Its fur actually looks purple all the way through. It's an absolute mystery."
Pupils, staff and parents have contacted vets and even e-mailed television nature expert Bill Oddie to see if an explanation could be found. Lorraine Orridge, the school's registrar, believes Pete's coloured fur looks like a school uniform.
She said: "The squirrel has become a bit of a legend among staff and pupils at the school.
"He makes an appearance most days and we always look forward to seeing him.
"We don't think he is a mutant squirrel but he may have had a mishap around the school.
"The old building where we have seen him nipping in and out is a bit of a graveyard for computer printers. He may have found some printer toners in there.
"We haven't seen any purple baby squirrels yet."
TV wildlife expert Chris Packham believes Pete will moult and lose his purple fur in time for spring.
He said: "I have never seen anything like it before.
"Squirrels will chew anything even if it's obviously inedible. It is possible he has been chewing on a purple ink cartridge and then groomed that colouring into his fur.
"Alternatively he may have fallen into a bucket containing a weak colour solution that has stained his fur.
"Underneath there's a normal grey squirrel who has just given himself an unusual hair colour - you would pay a fortune for that in some salons."
Resource: telegraph.co.uk
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Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute recently solved the half-century-old mystery of a fish with tubular eyes and a transparent head. Ever since the "barreleye" fish Macropinna microstoma was first described in 1939, marine biologists have known that it's tubular eyes are very good at collecting light. However, the eyes were believed to be fixed in place and seemed to provide only a "tunnel-vision" view of whatever was directly above the fish's head. A new paper by Bruce Robison and Kim Reisenbichler shows that these unusual eyes can rotate within a transparent shield that covers the fish's head. This allows the barreleye to peer up at potential prey or focus forward to see what it is eating.
Source : Wikipedia
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The naked mole rat is well adapted for the limited availability of oxygen within the tunnels that are its habitat: its lungs are very small and its blood has a very strong affinity for oxygen, increasing the efficiency of oxygen uptake. It has a very low respiration and metabolic rate for an animal of its size, thus using oxygen minimally. In long periods of hunger, such as a drought, its metabolic rate can reduce by up to 25 percent.
The naked mole rat is unique among mammals in that it is effectively cold-blooded, being unable to regulate its body temperature in the typical mammalian fashion. Instead it relies solely on behavioral means to keep a constant temperature. When cold, naked mole rats will huddle together or bask in the shallow parts of their burrow systems. When they get too hot, they retreat to the deeper, cooler parts of their tunnel system.
The skin of naked mole rats lacks a key neurotransmitter called substance P that is responsible in mammals for sending pain signals to the central nervous system. When naked mole rats are exposed to acid or capsaicin, they feel no pain. When injected with Substance P, however, the pain signaling works as it does in other mammals, but only with capsaicin and not with the acids. This is proposed to be adaptation to the animal living in high levels of carbon dioxide due to poorly ventilated living spaces, which would cause acid to build up in their body tissues.
The naked mole rat is native to the drier parts of the tropical grasslands of East Africa, predominantly South Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia.
Clusters averaging 75-80 individuals live together in complex systems of burrows in arid African deserts. The tunnel systems built by naked mole rats can stretch up to two or three miles in cumulative length.
Naked mole rat is one of the two species of mammals that exhibit eusociality. They have a complex social structure in which only one female (the queen) and one to three males reproduce, while the rest of the members of the colony function as workers. As in certain bee species, the workers are divided along a continuum of different worker-caste behaviors instead of discrete groups.Some function primarily as tunnellers, expanding the large network of tunnels within the burrow system, and some primarily as soldiers, protecting the group from outside predators.
This eusocial organisation social structure, similar to that found in ants, termites, and some bees and wasps, is very rare among mammals. The Damaraland Mole Rat (Coetomys damarensis) is the only other eusocial mammal currently known.
The relationships between the queen and the breeding males may last for many years. A behaviour called reproductive suppression is believed to be the reason why the other females do not reproduce, meaning that the infertility in the working females is only temporary, and not genetic. Queens live from 13 to 18 years, and are extremely hostile to other females behaving like queens, or producing hormones for becoming queens. When the queen dies, another female takes her place, sometimes after a violent struggle with her competitors.
Males and females are able to breed at one year of age. Gestation is about 70 days. A litter typically ranges from three to twelve pups, but may be as large as 28. The average litter size is 11. In the wild, naked mole-rats usually breed once a year, if the litter survives. In captivity, they breed all year long and can produce a litter every 80 days. The young are born blind and weigh about 2 g. The queen nurses them for the first month; after which the other members of the colony feed them feces until they are old enough to eat solid food.
Naked mole rats feed primarily on very large tubers (Tubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to overwinter and regrow the next year and as a means of asexual reproduction. Two different groups of tubers are: stem tubers, and root tubers.)
(weighing as much as 1000 times the body weight of a typical mole rat) that they find deep underground through their mining operations, but also eat their own feces (coprophagia).A single tuber can provide a colony with a long-term source of food—lasting for months, or even years, as they eat the inside but leave the outside, allowing the tuber to regenerate. Symbiotic bacteria in their intestines help them digest the fibres.
The naked mole rat is also of interest because it is extraordinarily long-lived for a rodent of its size (up to 28 years) and holds the record for the longest living rodent. The secret of their longevity is debated, but is thought to be related to the fact that they can shut down their metabolism during hard times, and so prevent oxidative damage. This has been summed up as "They're living their life in pulses."
Due to their extraordinary longevity for such a small rodent, an international effort was put into place to sequence the genome of the naked mole rat.
Source: Wikipedia
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The Goblin Shark
The goblin shark, Mitsukurina owstoni, is a deep-sea shark, the sole living species in the family Mitsukurinidae.The most distinctive characteristic of the goblin shark is the unorthodox shape of its head. It has a long, trowel-shaped, beak-like rostrum or snout, much longer than other sharks' snouts. Some other distinguishing characteristics of the shark are the color of its body, which is mostly pink, and its long, protrusible jaws. When the jaws are retracted, the shark resembles a pink grey nurse shark, Carcharias taurus, with an unusually long nose.
Mitsukurina owstoni is found in the deep ocean, far below where the sun's light can reach at depths greater than 200 m. They can be found throughout the world, from Australia in the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico in the Atlantic Ocean. They are best known from the waters around Japan, where the species was first discovered by modern science.
Goblin sharks feed on a variety of organisms that live in deep waters. Among some of their known meals are deep-sea squid, crabs and deep-sea fishes. Very little is known about the species' life history and reproductive habits, as encounters with them have been relatively rare. As seemingly rare as they are however, there seems to be no real threat to their populations and so they are not classified as endangered species by the IUCN.
The goblin shark was originally described in 1898 by Jordan as Mitsukurina owstoni, from a specimen obtained in the Sagami Sea, near Yokohama, Japan.
Another specimen caught was described in 1909 as Scapanorhynchus jordoni by Louis Hussakof. For a time, the species was moved to the genus Scapanorhynchus and was referred to as Scapanorhynchus owstoni, a scientific name now invalid.
The fossil record includes another two dozen or so related species in two (extinct) genera, Scapanorhynchus and Anomotodon.
The genus' name Mitsukurina is named after Kakichi Mitsukuri, a Japanese zoologist from the University of Tokyo who was responsible for bringing the then-unidentified specimen to David Jordan for proper taxonomic identification and description.The species itself was named by Jordan in honor of avid wildlife collector Alan Owston, who acquired the first specimen from a Japanese fisherman.
The shark's common name is a translation of the Japanese name tenguzame, which was the original term that Japanese fishermen used to refer to the shark prior to its description. It refers to the goblin-like tengu of Japanese folklore, which has a long nose reminiscent of the goblin shark's snout.
Mitsukurina owstoni is a bathydemersal deep-water shark usually found near the sea bottom, at depths of around 250 m. The deepest specimen ever caught was found at 1,300 m.
Only about 45 specimens of Mitsukurina owstoni have been described in the scientific literature.
Most goblin sharks that have been caught were from Japan (where it was first discovered), specifically in an area between Tosa Bay and Boso Peninsula. The species' Pacific range is rather large. M. owstoni specimens have been found in the waters off South Africa, from various sites throughout the western Pacific Ocean. Goblin sharks have also been found off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand.
In the Atlantic Ocean, they have been found in the western Atlantic off French Guiana, in the eastern Atlantic in the Bay of Biscay and off Madeira and Portugal.On the other side of the Atlantic, goblin sharks have been found in the Gulf of Mexico.
Goblin sharks can grow to 11 feet (3.3 m) long and weigh 350 lb (159 kg). They have the typical shark's semi-fusiform body. Unlike the common image of sharks, M. owstoni's fins are not pointed and instead are low and rounded, with the anal and pelvic fins significantly larger than the dorsal fins. Their heterocercal tails are similar to the thresher shark's, with the upper lobe significantly longer proportionately than other sharks'. In addition, the goblin shark's tail lacks a ventral lobe.
The pink coloration, unique among sharks, is due to blood vessels underneath a semi-transparent skin (which bruises easily), thereby causing the coloring. The fins have a bluish appearance. Goblin sharks lack a nictitating membrane. They have no precaudal pit and no keels. The front teeth are long and smooth-edged, while the rear teeth are adapted for crushing.
Up to 25% of the goblin shark's body weight can be its liver. This is similar to other sharks, such as the basking shark and the frilled shark, and contributes to the buoyancy of the shark, which, like all sharks, lacks a swim bladder.
Goblin sharks hunt by sensing the presence of prey with electro-sensitive organs in the rostrum, or snout, due to the absence of light in the deep waters where it swims. Once a shark finds its prey, it suddenly protrudes its jaws, while using a tongue-like muscle to suck the victim into its sharp front teeth. Some prey they have been known to feed on include deep-sea rockfish, (Helicolenus dactylopterus was found in one specimen), cephalopods and crustaceans.
Next to nothing is known from the goblin sharks' reproductive habits. Even though a pregnant goblin shark has never been caught or found, as members of the order Lamniformes, they are assumed to be ovoviviparous; their eggs mature and hatch inside the mother's body and the shark gives birth to live young.
The first goblin shark discovered was caught by a Japanese fisherman in the Kuroshio Current off the coast of Yokohama, Japan in 1897. This specimen was later identified as a 3.5-ft male shark.
In 1985, a goblin shark was discovered in waters off eastern Australia. Several specimens have been caught in the vicinity of New South Wales and Tasmania and are preserved at the Australian Museum. A four-meter long specimen was caught in waters off Tasmania in 2004. The shark was taken to the national fish collection in Hobart.In nearby New Zealand, a goblin shark was also caught in 1988.
In 2003, more than a hundred goblin sharks were caught off the northwest coast of Taiwan, an area in which they have previously not been found. Reportedly, the sharks were caught a short time after an earthquake occurred in the area.
A goblin shark was kept by the Tokai University of Japan; the specimen died after a week.
On January 25, 2007 a 1.3 m long goblin shark was caught alive in Tokyo Bay, in waters 150 to 200 m (500 to 650 ft) deep. It was taken to the Tokyo Sea Life Park to be displayed in an aquarium, but died two days later on January 27.
Later the same year in April, several animals were seen swimming in shallow waters in the Japanese Sea. A live one was caught near Tokyo Bay. It is the first time the animals have been seen swimming in shallow waters.
In August 2008, a live Goblin Shark was filmed in the wild in Japan by NHK for their documentary on goblin sharks
Source: Wikipedia
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Kelly Hearn
for National Geographic News
November 24, 2008
A mile and a half (two and a half kilometers) underwater, a remote control submersible's camera has captured an eerie
surprise: an alien-like, long-armed, and—strangest of all—"elbowed" Magnapinna squid.
In a brief video from the dive recently obtained by National Geographic News, one of the rarely seen squid loiters above the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico on November 11, 2007.
The clip—from a Shell oil company ROV (remotely operated vehicle)—arrived after a long, circuitous trip through oil-industry in-boxes and other email accounts.
"Perdido ROV Visitor, What Is It?" the email's subject line read—Perdido being the name of a Shell-owned drilling site. Located about 200 miles (320 kilometers) off Houston, Texas (Gulf of Mexico map), Perdido is one of the world's deepest oil and gas developments.
The video clip shows the screen of the ROV's guidance monitor framed with pulsing inputs of time and positioning data.
In a few seconds of jerky camerawork, the squid appears with its huge fins waving like elephant ears and its remarkable
arms and tentacles trailing from elbow-like appendages.
Despite the squid's apparent unflappability on camera, Magnapinna, or "big fin," squid remain largely a mystery to science.
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"PSYCHEDELIC" Fish
(new species discovered)
2008- 2009
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