Topic: Sea Creatures That You Should Probably Be Aware Of (Read 306075 times)

bainidhe_dub · « **Reply #450 on:** 29 Dec 2011, 08:55 »

Bull sharks give birth to live young. Can't speak to where the eye should/would be in a cyclops mutation, but their eyes are kinda in line with the nose, and the eyeball looks about right. It seriously looks like a cartoon character though.

pwhodges · « **Reply #451 on:** 29 Dec 2011, 10:06 »

This report gives it some credentials, perhaps, as does Snopes.

Carl-E · « **Reply #452 on:** 29 Dec 2011, 10:33 »

It's a little hard to see, but i believe the other eye didn't develop properly, and that whole area of the skull was ~~atrophied~~ underdeveloped. If you look at the picture, the other eye socket appears as though it should have developed right below the guy's middle finger. It's off center as a result. Weird, but far from mpossible. Only an x-ray would tell for sure, though.

Edit: The snopes article claims x-rays were done and it was a true cyclops mutation. Even weirder! And again, probably wouldn't have survived.

LTK · « **Reply #453 on:** 29 Dec 2011, 10:42 »

Maaaaaaan. That goes completely against everything I learned about hox genes, but I guess I just shouldn't make the mistake of underestimating nature's capacity for freakiness.

BeoPuppy · « **Reply #454 on:** 05 Jan 2012, 07:13 »

http://gizmodo.com/5872809/this-fish-has-teeth-so-big-it-bites-peoples-balls-off

BeoPuppy · « **Reply #455 on:** 02 Feb 2012, 12:18 »

http://io9.com/5881542/this-massive-crustacean-crawled-up-from-the-depths-to-say-hello

Lines · « **Reply #456 on:** 02 Feb 2012, 12:57 »

Quote from: LTK on 29 Dec 2011, 08:23

Sharks don't have wombs.

Having dissected a shark in high school I can at least prove you wrong on that one. Thankfully my shark was one of the few that didn't have babies. (The baby sharks made me sad.)

That cyclops thing is weeeeeird!

LTK · « **Reply #457 on:** 02 Feb 2012, 13:24 »

Quote from: Linds on 02 Feb 2012, 12:57

Having dissected a shark in high school I can at least prove you wrong on that one. Thankfully my shark was one of the few that didn't have babies. (The baby sharks made me sad.)

That cyclops thing is weeeeeird!

Not quite! Wombs are organs exclusive to mammals, although I was wrong about sharks not producing live young. Some sharks are oviparous and lay eggs, some are ovoviviparous and hatch their eggs in the oviduct, and some are viviparous and maintain a placental link to the fetus. I dissected a shark as well; a spiny dogfish in my first university year. Mine didn't have babies, but it had swallowed a fish that only barely fit in its stomach. Someone else's shark did have babies, and a crapton of them to boot.

I still have the shark's dorsal spine on a necklace somewhere.

Lines · « **Reply #458 on:** 02 Feb 2012, 14:59 »

Well, I meant more along the lines of they can have babies inside of them and can be pulled out of them, but yeah.

On average I think most people in my class had at least 6 babies in their sharks? There were a startling amount of them. It was pretty disgusting, actually.

Barmymoo · « **Reply #459 on:** 02 Feb 2012, 17:41 »

Wait what, you guys dissect sharks? We once dissected a pig's heart but that was only once and also only two girls in the whole class were prepared to do it (and I was one of those two).

Lines · « **Reply #460 on:** 02 Feb 2012, 17:59 »

Yeah, I took an advanced biology class my senior year of high school and that what we got. Before that, all I'd dissected were worms, a crawdad, and a squid. And oh man, that just reminded me, my lab partner and I were the first to finish our sharks and the rest of the class had to come back after the weekend to finish and oh god the smell was AWFUL.

So...science teachers...please finish dissections BEFORE the weekend, ok?

pwhodges · « **Reply #461 on:** 03 Feb 2012, 00:21 »

I remember the times when the dogfish were already high when delivered - we still had to dissect them, though. The cranial nerves of the dogfish is what I had to do in my Zoology A-level practical, if I remember correctly. I had also done worms (catch your own), rats, frogs; I did them all more than once, as I took Biology one year, and then specialised to do Zoology the next (it was my worst A-level grade...). And we didn't share them, either - we each had to do our own animal.

BeoPuppy · « **Reply #462 on:** 09 Mar 2012, 02:20 »

http://io9.com/5891734/watch-hermit-crabs-try-new-shells-on-+-including-a-glass-bottle

BeoPuppy · « **Reply #463 on:** 04 May 2012, 04:45 »

http://io9.com/5907579/holy-hell-this-15+pound-giant-crab-isnt-done-growing-yet

LTK · « **Reply #464 on:** 15 Jun 2012, 06:02 »

What the hell is this.

Lines · « **Reply #465 on:** 15 Jun 2012, 11:29 »

A sentient piece of fabric? Or possibly just this, according to google.

LTK · « **Reply #466 on:** 15 Jun 2012, 14:18 »

The fact that the wikipedia article is so short does not put me at ease. This thing seemed to move like it had an unusual degree of purposefulness, much more like an octopus than like any jellyfish. Just look at that amorphousness. I'd be scared of it suffocating me like a sentient plastic bag.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #467 on:** 16 Jun 2012, 19:11 »

It was determined to be a living creature and not some flotsam because of its apparently large testicles. Ah. Hmm.

Check out this thing:

The gulper eel is some kind of pyramid-headed monstrosity, but no worries - they only grow up to six feet in length.

Orbert · « **Reply #468 on:** 18 Jun 2012, 10:01 »

Basically a mouth and a means to propel the mouth through the water. Very efficient.

Akima · « **Reply #469 on:** 01 Aug 2012, 15:54 »

Watch an Imperial Cormorant dive 45m (150ft) to the seabed to catch lunch.

Lines · « **Reply #470 on:** 01 Aug 2012, 20:10 »

Pretty cool!

LTK · « **Reply #471 on:** 02 Apr 2014, 17:31 »

Hagfish have a defense mechanism whereby they secrete thick slime from their skin where bitten, which immediately turns the surrounding water into a thick goop which suffocates whatever fish was unfortunate enough to have taken the bite.

I feel sorry for those predators. Imagine trying to eat something that immediately blows up to fill your entire mouth and expands into your windpipe. Must be terrifying.

Akima · « **Reply #472 on:** 03 Apr 2014, 01:28 »

I'm amazed it happens so quickly.

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Author Topic: Sea Creatures That You Should Probably Be Aware Of (Read 306075 times)

Zingoleb