Faquatics

*********AQUATIC FACTS TO BLOW YOUR MIND ********

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Hypselodoris bullockii

…is a colorful species of Chromodoridid nudibranch that is native to the tropical western Pacific Ocean and the eastern Indian Ocean. Although H. bullockii is typically a light purple color, it is surprisingly quite variable in color and can occupy a large range of colors. Like all other 7chromodorid nudibranchs H. bullockii feeds almost exclusively on sponges.

Classification

Animalia-Mollusca-Gastropoda-Heterobranchia-Euthyneura-Nudipleura-Nudibranchia-Doridoidea-Chromodoridae-Hypselodoris-H. bullockii

Images: Jens Petersen and Samuel Chow

[mindblowingscience]

Fish emit coral ‘cologne’ to hide from predators

A species of small fish releases a chemical camouflage made from its own diet to make sure it doesn’t become dinner for predators.

Filefish feed on their home corals and then emit an odor that makes them invisible to their predator’s nose. This type of camouflage from diet has been previously shown in insects, such as caterpillars, which mask themselves by building their exoskeletons with chemicals from their food.

The new study shows that animals don’t need an exoskeleton to use chemical camouflage, meaning more animals than previously thought could be using this survival tactic.

“This is the very first evidence of this kind of chemical crypsis from diet in a vertebrate,” says Rohan Brooker, a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Biology at Georgia Institute of Technology. “This research shows that you don’t need an exoskeleton that for this kind of mechanism to work.”

Continue Reading.

[laboratoryequipment-blog]

Scientists Estimate Total Weight of Plastic in Ocean Nearly 269,000 tons of plastic pollution may be floating in the world’s oceans, according to a study published in PLOS ONE by Marcus Eriksen from Five Gyres Institute and colleagues. Microplastic pollution is found in varying concentrations throughout the oceans, but estimates of the global abundance and weight of floating plastics, both micro and macroplastic, lack sufficient data to support them. To better estimate the total number of plastic particles and their weight floating in the world’s oceans, scientists from six countries contributed data from 24 expeditions collected over a six-year period from 2007-2013 across all five sub-tropical gyres, coastal Australia, Bay of Bengal and the Mediterranean Sea. The data included information about microplastics collected using nets and large plastic debris from visual surveys, which were then used to calibrate an ocean model of plastic distribution. Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2014/12/scientists-estimate-total-weight-plastic-ocean

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Lepidodermella squamata

…is a freshwater species of Gastrotrich (A minor phylum of microscopic marine  and freshwater worm like invertebrates, commonly known as “hairybacks”) which occurs in North America, South America, Japan, and much of Europe. L. squamata is typically found along the surface of water plants in lakes, ponds, streams, and marshes. L. squamata will feed on a range of detritus, bacteria, and algae, gliding across the substrate via the cilia on its ventral surface. 

Classification

Animalia-Gastrotricha-Chaetonotida-Chaetonotidae-Lepidodermella-L. squamata

Image: Guiseppe Vago

[libutron]

Biscuit Sea Star - Tosia australis

Tosia australis (Valvatida - Goniasteridae) is an attractive sea star that is pentagonal (five-sided) in shape, with the plates at the end of each arm being swollen and enlarged. It differs from other sea stars by having shallow arcs between the arms, forming a distinctive pentagonal shape. 

This species is found in Southern Australia and Tasmania.

References: [1] - [2] - [3]

Photo credit: ©Peter Fuller | Locality: Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia (2009)

[libutron]

Threespot Dascyllus - Dascyllus trimaculatus

Dascyllus trimaculatus (Perciformes - Pomacentridae) is a species of damselfish native to the Indo-Pacific region, commonly known as Threespot Dascyllus and Domino Damselfish.

These fish are blue-black with dark scale margins. Juveniles have a white spot on the forehead and one on the side of the body. As an individual ages, the forehead spot disappears and the spot on the side of the body becomes indistinct or disappears. 

References: [1] - [2] - [3]

Photo credit: ©Peter Fuller | Locality: Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, Australia (2009)

[amnhnyc]

This fearsome 17-foot-long Xiphactinus audax is ready for #FossilFriday!

Alive during the Late Cretaceous (about 85 million years ago), Xiphactinus and its relatives were large predators with strong jaws and many teeth. Xiphactinus swam in the great inland sea that covered most of North America at the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. This specimen was collected in Lane County, Kansas. 

Find Xiphactinus in the Hall of Vertebrate Origins. 

[dynamicoceans]

Pygmy Seahorse by Benko Ben on Flickr.

[themidnightclub]

Ulysses bobbing up and down, day in, day out, for over 30 years. Keet blowing endless bubbles in a corner against the wall. An unnamed orca beaches itself over and over again. Kalia beaches herself and violently thrashes, repeatedly. Orcas bob motionlessly at the surface of the water. And sad, abused Morgan, chews on the walls of her tank and breaks her teeth.

These are all blatant examples of stereotypy behavior in orcas.

"[Stereotypy] are repetitive behaviors in captive animals, particularly those given inadequate mental stimulation. These behaviors may be maladaptive, involving self-injury or reduced reproductive success, and in laboratory animals can confound behavioral research”

Circus tricks are not natural ‘behaviors’, and stereotypy behavior is unhealthy. But these are the real behaviors captive orcas express. Are they healthy? 

[smallsciencecollective]

Ocean Acidification by Beth Archie

Small Science Collective, download printable pdf here

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Apolemia uvaria

…a species of Apolemiid Siphonophore that can be found worldwide, but is most common in the Mediterranean, North-East Atlantic, and areas around Australia and New Zealand. Although A. uvaria is sometimes called a jellyfish it is actually a type of colonial hydrozoan, which consists of many polyps living together in a ‘colony’. Like other siphonophores Apolemia uvaria is a predator and will feed on pelagic zooplankton which are dispatched with stinging tentacles. The polyps in A. uvaria colonies are specialized to preform different tasks, most of the colony consists of stinging tentacles with a gas float and swimming bells at the front. 

Classification

Animalia-Cnidaria-Hydrozoa-Siphonophorae-Physonectae-Aoplemiidae-Apolemia-A. uvaria

Image: Seascapeza

[laboratoryequipment-blog]

Fish from Acidic Waters Less Able to Smell Fish living on coral reefs where carbon dioxide seeps from the ocean floor are less able to detect predator odor than fish from normal coral reefs, according to a new study. The study confirms laboratory experiments showing that the behavior of reef fishes can be seriously affected by increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the ocean. The new study is the first to analyze the sensory impairment of fish from CO2 seeps, where pH is similar to what climate models forecast for surface waters by the turn of the century. Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2014/04/fish-acidic-waters-less-able-smell

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Butterfly ‘Crab’ (Cryptolithodes typicus)

…a species of lithodid crustacean (specifically a relative of the king crabs which are unrelated to true crabs) that occurs in coastal regions in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, ranging from Amchitka Island, Alaska to Santa Rosa Island, California. Like other members of the genus Cryptolithodes the unusual carapace of C. typicus is used as a form of camouflage, allowing the crab to graze on algae unbothered. 

Classification

Animalia-Arthropoda-Crustacea-Malacostraca-Decapoda-Anomura-Lithodidea-Lithodidae-Cryptolithodes-C. typicus

Image(s): NOAA

[todropscience]

via save our ocean

[scienceyoucanlove-deactivated20]

Bioluminescent Organisms, Japan

Photograph by Paul A. Zahl

The transparent shells of tiny Cypridina hilgendorfii, found in the coastal waters and sands of Japan, hold a creature that emits a luminous blue substance when disturbed. During World War II, the Japanese harvested these creatures for soldiers to use when reading maps and messages at night.

(Photo shot on assignment for “Nature’s Night Lights—Probing the Secrets of Bioluminescence,” July 1971, National Geographic magazine)

from nat geo

[danidoroi]

Crude oil causes developmental abnormalities in large marine fish: Deepwater Horizon oil disrupts heart development in tunas

Crude oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster causes severe defects in the developing hearts of bluefin and yellowfin tunas, according to a new study by a team of NOAA and academic scientists. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, show how the largest marine oil spill in United States history may have affected tunas and other species that spawned in oiled offshore habitats in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Atlantic bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, and other large predatory fish spawn in the northern Gulf during the spring and summer months, a time that coincided with the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010. These fish produce buoyant embryos that float near the ocean surface, potentially in harm’s way as crude oil from the damaged wellhead rose from the seafloor to form large surface slicks. The new study shows that crude oil exposures adversely affect heart development in the two species of tuna and an amberjack species by slowing the heartbeat or causing an uncoordinated rhythm, which can ultimately lead to heart failure.

Source

[mothernaturefucker-blog]

coral spawning