#litner

[cbevensee]

Organism of the Week -  Sarcastic Fringehead

      The sarcastic fringehead, or Neoclinus blanchardi, is in the Animalia kingdom, Chordata phylum, Actinopterygii class, Perciformes order, and Chaenopsidae family.

     Sarcastic fringeheads are described as small, but temperamental fish with very large mouths. They are most commonly 7.6 to 29 centimeters (3 to 8 inches) in length but they can reach 30.5 centimeters (12 inches). They can be brown or gray with a red tinge and green or pale marks. They have large heads with an extremely large jaw that extends past their eyes. In their giant mouth, they have many sharp teeth. They use their mouths and teeth to scare away and intimadate possible danger. When two fringeheads encounter each other, they open their mouths and bump into each other. If one of the fish does not leave, they will attack each other with their teeth. The sarcastic fringehead diet is unknown, but biologists believe that they eat smaller fish and crustaceans like the fish they are related to such as the flagblennies and tubeblennies.

     Sarcastic fringeheads are found in the waters of the Pacific coast of North America. They live in burrows such as logs, shells, cracks in rocks, or even trash thrown into the ocean. These fish are extremely territorial and will attack anything near. They rest with their heads out of their shelter, allowing them to be aware of any possible intruders near. If they are threatened, they use their large mouths, showing their sharp teeth to intimidate the animal. If intimidation doesn’t work, they will attack.

      Breeding occurs between January and August. Fringeheads are oviparous, meaning that the females lay eggs that hatch. The female lays about 3,000 eggs under rocks or in clam burrows, protected by the male. The eggs are about 0.9 to 1.5 millimeters (0.035 to 0.06 inches) in diameter and they stick together and to the nest by filaments in the egg. When the egg hatches, the larvae are about 3 millimeters long (.12 inches). Sarcastic fringeheads live up to six years.

Fun Fact: The name ‘sarcastic’ is used from the Greek definition meaning “to tear flesh.”

http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Neoclinus_blanchardi/

http://www.factzoo.com/fish/sarcastic-fringehead-big-mouth-aggressive.html

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5911216/meet-the-sarcastic-fringehead-an-oddly-named-fish-who-looks-like-the-predator

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/sarcastic_fringehead

[harimii-blog1]

[anaria-raquel]

OOW 15 - Aye-Aye

The scientific name for this organism is Daubentonia madagascariensis, but it is commonly called and “Aye-aye”. The taxonomic classifications are as follows:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia 

Order: Primates

Family:  Daubentoniidae

Genus/Species: Daubentonia

The Aye-aye is a species from the Lemur family from the rainforests of Madagascar. Its the largest primate in the world, and its also the most unique looking animal due its possessive looking body. The body and long tail are covered in shaggy black or dark brown fur with a thin layer of of white hairs which helps them to blend in to the forests in the dark. The aye aye has very large eyes, a pointed face, a pink nose and rodent-like teeth. Aye-aye’s also have large ears with help for hearing predators when they come around. They have long body limbs with sharp pointed claws at the end of each finger. 

Aye-ayes usually live in costs forests of eastern and northern Madagascar. Since 1983 their population numbers have increased because before 1983, they were thought to be extinct. 

Aye Ayes have a very strict breeding season, depending on the when the female comes into season. When a female is ready to mate she calls to male Lemurs who are known to gather around her and will fight aggressively between one another for breeding rights. 

After a gestation period that lasts for about five months, an infant is born and spends it's first two months in the safety of the nest, not being weaned until it is at least 7 months old. Young Aye Ayes will stay with their mother until they are two years old and leave to establish a territory of their own. A female Aye Aye is thought to be able to start reproducing when she is between 3 and 3.5 years old where males seems to be able to do so at least 6 months earlier.

The Aye Aye is an omnivorous animal that feeds on other animals and plant matter. Males are to cover distances of up to 4 km a night in their search for food, feeding on a variety of fruits, seeds, insects and nectar. Once the Aye Aye has detected it's prey it uses it's sharp teeth to get a hole into the wood. The Aye Aye is also known to use this long digit to eat eggs and coconut flesh and is thought to be the only primate to use echolocation when searching for food.

Fun fact: Aye-ayes have a third eyelid

Link:

http://a-z-animals.com/animals/aye-aye/?r

http://ipfactly.com/aye-aye/

[cbevensee]

Organism of the Week -  The Queen Conch

The Strombus Gigas, or more commonly known as the queen conch or the pink conch, is in the Animalia kingdom, the Mollusca phylum, the Gastropoda class, the Neotaenioglossa order, the Strombidae family, the Strombus genus, and the Gigas species.

The queen conch is a marine gastropod mollusk with soft bodies and a large, beautiful spiral-shaped shell used for protection. Their shells are built from calcium carbonate that is extracted from the sea. The color is pale to bright pink with hues of yellow, peach, and cream with wide flaring lip. Inside the shell is where the organism lives with a head and two tentacles and at the lip of the shell is a large foot. One tentacle has eyes and the other has the senses of touch and smell. The queen conch reaches up to 12 inches (30.4 cm) long and weighs up to 5 pounds (2.3 kg) and they live 20-30 years in deeper waters. To move, they “leap” by uses their claw-like operculum to dig and push into the sand causing them to be thrown forward. The pink conchs beautiful shells are collected by people and are used for jewelry they’re also eaten by both humans and animals which contribute to their decrease in population. Their main predators are loggerhead turtles, nurse sharks, snails, blue crabs, eagle rays, spiny lobsters, crustaceans, and humans. Some queen conches produce very rarely, natural pearls that can be white, brown, orange, or pink. The pearls are porcelain-like and have a silky glimmer and a wavy pattern.

Queen conches are found in warm, shallow water usually not deeper than 70 feet (21 meters) in coastal waters of northern South America, north through the Caribbean and the Bahamas to south Florida and Bermuda. They live in seagrass meadows such as turtle grass or manatee grass, coral rubble, or on reefs. 

The pink conch reproduces through internal fertilization during the summer. About three days later, the female lays 180,000 to 750,000 eggs in very long, gelatinous strands covered in sand for camouflage so they won't get eaten. The eggs hatch after about five days spending about 18 to 40 days floating and feeding on phytoplankton until they settle on the ocean floor and change into the adult form. When the conch is 2 to 3 months old, their shells are white and when they are 5 to 6 months old they get brown stripes. During their first year, they live under the sand during the day and come out to feed on the surface of the sand at night. When they reach one year old, they are about 10 centimeters and their shell develops pointed spines. When they’re three to four years old their shell forms a broad, flared lip and it continues thickening until it’s about 5 millimeters meaning it’s fully grown when they’re about 5 years old. 

The pink conches are herbivores and their diet consists of algae, detritus, grasses, and floating organic debris. To eat, they use a radula, a rough tongue-like organ that has thousands of denticles. 

Fun Fact- It’s a myth that you can hear the sound of the ocean when you listen into a conch shell, it’s actually the sound of blood rushing through the veins in your head. 

https://www.keywestaquarium.com/queen-conch

http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Strombus_gigas.htm

http://www.karipearls.com/extremely-rare-queen-conch-6-x-4-mm-natural-pearl1.html

http://www.naturefoundationsxm.org/education/queen_conch/about_the_queen_conch.htm

http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/pr/species/invertebrates/queen-conch.html

http://ian.umces.edu/imagelibrary/displayimage-toprated-0-7617.html

[eymbeeart]

this happend earlier cause reasons.definatly gonna finish her.

inspiration-http://lord-dominik.deviantart.com/art/Yoko-mina-125491950

finished - http://eymbeeart.tumblr.com/post/138721236051/finished-that-yoko-better-looking-sketch

[peachii-bear]

You know what I realized?... Yoko must be a dementor! Seriously, she's got the kiss of death!!!