Extreme lifestyle in the deep sea

In a bizarre deep-sea version of foie gras, male whalefish stuff themselves with copepods early in life to fatten their liver, and then stop eating and consume their own liver while pursuing mates. The lifestyle choice is so extreme that these perversely named small fish actually lose their stomach and esophagus while relying on energy stored in their distended liver (see photo, right).

Female whalefish, being more conventional, continue to eat and do the other normal things that fish do. Males and females of the deep sea whalefish are so different that they were thought to be different species until DNA sequencing revealed the strange truth.

The habits of male whalefish rival the extreme adaptations to the deep sea of the bizarre male anglerfish which transforms into a parasitic appendange of the female anglerfish.

An interesting scientific backstory is that male, female, and juvenile whalefish are so different that they were thought to be three different scientific families of fish, only very distantly related. How strange is it that they're really all the same species? According to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science press release:

To put the team’s discovery into perspective, consider that cats, dogs, and walruses also represent three biological families. It’s as if the researchers discovered that dogs are really male walruses, and that kittens aren’t cats but a walrus’s juvenile form.

Their findings, published in the January 22 issue of Biology Letters, represent “the most extreme example of metamorphoses and sexual dimorphism ever documented in vertebrates.”

From the more turgid scientific paper:

We resolve a long-standing biological and taxonomic conundrum by documenting the most extreme example of ontogenetic metamorphoses and sexual dimorphism in vertebrates...Larvae have small, upturned mouths and gorge on copepods. Females have huge gapes with long, horizontal jaws and specialized gill arches allowing them to capture larger prey. Males cease feeding, lose their stomach and oesophagus, and apparently convert the energy from the bolus of copepods found in all transforming males to a massive liver that supports them throughout adult life.

hat tip: Branch

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Where the basking sharks bask

Who knew they follow the sun, just like people? Basking sharks are big, they eat plankton, and they look really funny with their huge mouth and throat swung open to do their plankton-eating thing (photo at right).

BTW, the latin name for basking sharks is Cetorhinus maximus or "big monster-nosed fish" (roughly). Can you see why?

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Fish can count

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish--who knew fish could think such thoughts?

A new study shows that fish can count, and it makes me wonder what else fish might be thinking when they're staring at me.

Suddenly, I feel naked under a judgmental eye, which is not what I was thinking when I snapped this picture of a scrutinizing sergeant major (left).

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Speedy ocean bacteria dart after food

Who knew ocean bacteria are faster than a cheetah? And even more amazing, who knew that this darting behavior is globally important, possibly impacting climate change? How fast are they exactly? See geeky numbers below.

What are ocean bacteria chasing, that they have to be speed demons? Micro patches of food that don't last very long, like the yummy goop that leaks out of popped algae or the food trail left behind by a sinking particle.

Scientists set up artificial food patches and filmed through a microscope to observe the streaking bacteria. Roman Stocker, one author of the paper, says "If you are a bacterium, the ocean looks like a desert to you, where food mostly comes in small patches that are rare and ephemeral. When you encounter one, you want to use it rapidly."

OK, so how fast are they really? The single rotating flagellum of P. haloplanktis propels it forward at the amazing speed of 500 body lengths per second, way faster than a cheetah's mere 30 body lengths per second. That's relatively blazing fast for the ocean bacteria. Of course, with a body length of 2 microns (0.000002 meters), this relative speed has the microscopic bacteria swimming at the amazing pace of about 10 feet per hour. Wow. That's just a bit faster than a slug, but slower than a snail.

And what's the climate change link? Scientists believe that the actions of bacteria may determine whether oceans produce or consume CO2 in the future. We gotta know.

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Burning Man

It's burn night on the playa, Burning Man is happening. And all I can do is watch on the lousy streaming video. Oh well, it's better than not burning at all.

I've seen some comments from bloggers that don't "get" why people like Burning Man. It's the strangest planet I've ever been on, and it resets my mind back to where it oughta be.

Here's a link to some photo galleries from some of my people, check it out. And here's 1998, one of my favorite years. See what the fuss is all about. And get yourself there next year, if it looks like something that might "get" you.

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Parkour, FreeRunning, its body surfing on land

Obstacle surfing on land with just hands and feet, it's parkour. Or freerunning. Whatever, it's the most amazing body sport and you won't believe it.

This one's for Thomas who likes the surf videos.

Oh so many years ago I did a baby version of this with college friends. Highlights for us were running across the tops of a long series of church pews (one nasty fall in a dark chapel at midnight), jumping across big gaps and over small (parked) cars, and climbing and spinning around poles. A fun start is finding the highest post you can jump directly up onto without doing any climbing (not touching anything except the top).

These moves are unreal, long series of linked runs, jumps, and manuvers up over through and around obstacles like railings, etc. Gotta see it to believe it. To paraphrase the immortal words of tres arboles for a family blog, this video got me excited.

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Ocean bubble bath in Australia

You won't believe it unless you see the pictures. Foam in the ocean and on beaches in Australia covered mile after mile and piled up into mountains. It was enough to cover beaches and partially cover some buildings.

Thanks to Deep-Sea News for the story. Yamba in New South Wales was, for a while, the Cappuccino Coast. According to the Daily Mail:

Scientists explain that the foam is created by impurities in the ocean, such as salts, chemicals, dead plants, decomposed fish and excretions from seaweed.

All are churned up together by powerful currents which cause the water to form bubbles.

These bubbles stick to each other as they are carried below the surface by the current towards the shore.

As a wave starts to form on the surface, the motion of the water causes the bubbles to swirl upwards and, massed together, they become foam.

The foam "surfs" towards shore until the wave "crashes", tossing the foam into the air.

"It's the same effect you get when you whip up a milk shake in a blender," explains a marine expert.

"The more powerful the swirl, the more foam you create on the surface and the lighter it becomes."

Something similar happened 30 years ago, so this is not unique.

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