Channeled Whelk with Egg Cases

Channeled Whelk with Egg Cases, originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

Family friends bought us passes for Project Oceanology's Enviro Lab cruises at an auction this summer, and finally, as the summer draws to a close, we were able to take advantage of them. Project O is an outreach center that focuses on marine science and environmental awareness especially of the Long Island Sound ecosystem. Their Enviro Lab boats are equipped with a small sample trawl, water quality samplers and sediment samplers. I had been on the Enviro Lab boats with classes from the Marine Science undergraduate program at Avery Point (Project O is located on the Avery Point Campus).

For Johann and Tammy it was a new and exciting adventure. Johann's favorite part was examining the results of the benthic sample trawl. After seeing the Mystic Whaler (Which chanteyman extraordinaire Geoff Kaufman often sails aboard) he was inspired to sing a round of "Donkey Riding" as he reeled in the line from the trawl. The fun really started when he got to get really hands on with the samples helping quickly sort the haul and get all the animals into the large wet tanks. In the haul were a dozen Scup (Stenotomus chrysops), several Sea Robin (Prionotus carolinus), some Atlantic Moonfish juveniles (Selene setapinnis), what looked like a small striped bass (I didn't get to see it but that was the description), a feisty female little skate (Leucoraja erinacea) and a spotted hake (Urophycis regia).

While there was quite a number of vertebrates in the haul, there were far more inverts brought up. Among the inverts there were in excess of a hundred spider crabs (Libinia emarginata), two lobster (Homarus americanus,)(both female), two European Green Crabs (Carcinus maenas), one Jonah Crab (Cancer borealis), several broad-clawed hermit crabs (Pagurus pollicaris) and one male Horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus). Molluscs were well represented as well with many mud snails (Nassarius obsoletus) and slipper shells (Crepidula fornicata)as well as a half dozen loligo squid.

The real prize though was this female channeled whelk (Busycotypus canaliculatus formerly Busycon canaliculatus). Johann spotted her and pointed out the fact she was currently "laying" and egg case string. Soon after the animals were sorted into the tanks, the guide showed the whelk and explained the egg case string to the guests, then she carefully (more or less) dropped the whelk back into the sound.

The main reproductive time for the channeled whelks is the fall. Egg strings like the one this lady is laying will consist of 40-160 or more egg cases all joined by a tough leathery string. Each case may have as many as 100 eggs inside, though the average number of eggs per case is closer to 40. Not all the eggs in each case are fertilized though and the unfertilized eggs serve as food for the young whelks which emerge from the cases as miniature adults.

There is a small fishery for whelks here in the Long Island Sound, mostly sold in Italian markets as scungili. Unfortunately the most common bait used is chopped up horseshoe crab.

Life Photo Meme

Deep Fried Shrimp!

Kevin gets published!

After a three year gestation period, Kevin, and co-author Stephane Hourdez' 20 page paper "A new species of Alvinocaris (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea: Alvinocarididae) from hydrothermal vents at the Lau Basin, southwest Pacific, and a key to the species of Alvinocarididae." is out in the wild!

In it they describe a bigger, oranger species of alvinocaridid, Alvinocaris komaii, discovered in the Lau Basin of the South Pacific. I always love species description papers and this one does not fail to delight with wonderful holotype illustrations including details of the distinctive telson and dactyli of some of the pereopods . They also discuss the new species place in the whole Alvinocaris genus, and oh yes, a dichotomous key of all known species of Alvinocarididae!



I'm really impressed with the paper and with species description, molecular evidence and dichotomous key it is very complete! Awesome job.

So, I take it A. komaii was named for Tomoyuki Komai of Natural History Museum and Institute in Japan?

Lophozozymus incisus

Lophozozymus incisus - one of the most beautiful crabs in the world, originally uploaded by artour_a.

There are beautiful crustaceans and then there is Lophozozymus incisus!
What a beauty! And well captured by Artour_a. But not one you would want to eat as there are reports of them having tetrodotoxin. From Society, French Polynesia

Tsai et al. (2006) Tetrodotoxin in several species of xanthid crabs in southern Taiwan. Food Chemistry. vol. 95 (2) pp. 205-212
doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2004.12.032

Get an MS working with Freshwater Crabs

From the Crustacean mailing list:

Graduate Teaching Assistantship and M.S. Degree in Biology
Freshwater Crab Biodiversity and Conservation

There is an opening beginning in Fall semester 2009 for a 2-year position as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. Applicants must hold a BS/BA degree in Biology or a relevant subject, and be willing to pursue a Masters Degree in Biology at Northern Michigan University (NMU), in Marquette, Michigan. The student will work on a thesis research project in the area of Afrotropical freshwater crab biodiversity and conservation (Crustacea: Decapoda: Potamoidea). The student will take all course work at NMU, and will be based in the laboratory of Dr. Neil Cumberlidge.

For more details:

Contact: Dr. Neil Cumberlidge, Department of Biology, Northern Michigan University, 1401 Presque Isle Avenue, Marquette, Michigan 49855-5341, USA; (906)227-2215 (voice); (906)227-1063 (fax); e-mail: ncumberl@nmu.edu; http://faculty.nmu.edu/ncumberl.

Name that Decapod!

Going once!
Going twice!
Gone to the friend of the spineless in the red plaid pants!
So now sir, what are we going to call this fine new decapod species?

That could be you – ok, without the red plaid pants I hope!, but still...

A new species of shrimp was recently described from the waters off south western Australia. Ph.D. student Anna McCallum is auctioning off the rights to name the new species of shrimp from the Lebbeus genus.


The auction will occur on Ebay beginning at 9:00 a.m. on March 22 and end at 9:00 a.m. on March 31, 2009 Australian Eastern Standard time, which if I'm thinking straight today means from 6pm on the 21st to 6pm on the 30th US Eastern Standard (3pm to 3pm for Pacific). Proceeds from the auction will go to The Australian Marine Conservation Society, who is sponsoring the event at Ebay, to help protect the same area that the shrimp was found – south western Australia.

In addition to the right to provide the species name, the winer will also receive a signed painting of the new species by science illustrator and artist Mali Moir.

While I like this particular auction,I have mixed feelings about the practice in the general case. I wonder what everyone thinks about auctioning off naming rights (taxonomists especially feel free to chime in!).

Clearing the Archives #1: Hermit Crabs

I'm trying to clear out my archives of accumulated photos I took over the last year. Most of these were to post on this blog but I was never able to get around to it or just plain ole forgot. I'm horrible when it comes to downloading my photos! So for the next few weeks I will post some of my pictures from my folder aptly titles "Needs to be Sorted". I'll write what I can recall of the photo.

The following hermit crabs were Steph's pets in our office at my former job at Penn State. They are absolutely adorable! I think we had 7 at one time. At least 2 different species. I don't remember what they were anymore. Nick, a grad student doing molecular ecology with corals, dumped off several small ones after snipping a claw from them for genetics. So I guess we were kind of a hermit crab sanctuary/rehabilitation clinic. I think hermit crabs might make the perfect first pet for Elliot. Probably a land crab.

Work with an Invert! - Lawbstah Health

From the Crust-L:

Graduate Student Positions in Lobster Health

Looking for motivated and enthusiastic students to conduct MSc research in the area of lobster health at the AVC Lobster Science Centre (http://www.lobsterscience.ca).

Four (4) funded graduate training opportunities are currently available:

Three (3) projects involve the use of a recently developed American lobster (Homarus americanus) DNA microarray to explore changes in lobster gene expression; (i) during the moult cycle; (ii) to evaluate female reproductive status; and (iii) host-pathogen interactions (Aerococcus viridans and Anophryoides haemophila). The fourth project will examine the role of hemolymph biochemistry panels to evaluate nutritional, moult recovery, and female reproductive status.

Familiarity with field sampling techniques, lobster biology, and basic laboratory skills are assets but not required. An ability to work in collaboration with others is essential.

Students are expected to develop a thesis, take graduate courses and present their results at regional, national and international meetings and publish (results) in high quality journals.

Positions to begin as early as September 2009 and funding is for 2 years.

Interested students are expected to have a BSc or DVM degree. Students possessing a DVM degree are strongly encouraged to apply. All applicants must submit; (i) a letter profiling their research interests and outlining practical experience, course work in marine biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, aquaculture, aquatic biology and related subjects; (ii) university transcripts; and (iii) an updated curriculum vitae (cv). The cv should include the names and contact information for three (3) professional references.

Please submit questions and applications to:
Microarray Projects Hemolymph Biochemistry Projects
Dr. Spencer Greenwood
AVC Lobster Science Centre and
Department of Pathology and Microbiology
Atlantic Veterinary College
University of Prince Edward Island
550 University Avenue
Charlottetown, PEI
C1A 4P3
CANADA
sgreenwood at upei dot ca
902-566-6002

Dr. Andrea Battison
AVC Lobster Science Centre,
Atlantic Veterinary College
University of Prince Edward Island
550 University Avenue
Charlottetown, PEI
C1A 4P3
CANADA
abattison at upei dot ca
902-894-2845

Mr. Arthrobalanus

Today, Charles Darwin is mostly remembered for the theory of evolution, natural selection and his four most famous books"The Voyage of the Beagle", "On the Origin of Species", "The Descent of Man" and "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals". Few realize he published some 21 major books (one he was a writer an editor of a multi-volume set which I have counted as one book) and numerous papers. Even without the theory of evolution and the four most popular works, Charles Darwin was an eminent scientist, well published in geology, general zoology and in the area that most concerns us... invertebrates.

Of the many books he published, one was about the structure of coral reefs, two were about the interactions of plants and insects; five were completely about invertebrates. Of those only one, "The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Actions of Worms, with Observations on Their Habits" was not about barnacles. He spent 8 years and published four monographs on the barnacles.



First the back story. Barnacles were, when Charles Darwin went off to university, understood to be molluscs. Linneaus and Cuvier both reasoned they were molluscs because of the morphology of their shells and the presence of a sea water filled "mantle" cavity. In 1830 John Thompson showed they were related to crustaceans when he published the results of watching the metamorphosis of a nauplius into a cyprid larvae and then into and adult barnacle.

By 1844 Charles had almost completed the description of the specimen collected on the Voyage of the Beagle, and he had completed the first draft of On the Origin of Species. 1844 was also the year that Vestiges came out, which caused Darwin to rethink publishing "On the Origin" in its current form, and which prompted his friend Hooker to remark in 1845: "no one has the right to examine the question of species who has not minutely described many."

Darwin returned to writing "Geological Observations on South America" and by 1846 had cleared his desk, except that "illformed little monster" he would later come to call Mr. Arthrobalanus, a microscopic barnacle. Darwin figured it would take a few months, at most a year to examine, describe and publish the results. Then he could return to the issue of revising and publishing "Origins". 8 Years later he finished with the barnacles, having written 4 monographs on them.

I had originally intended to have described only a single abnormal Cirripede, from the shores of South America, and was led, for the sake of comparison, to examine the internal parts of as many genera as I could procure.

Unfortunately Mr. Arthrobalanus turned out to be a vexing character – a microscopic, parasitic barnacle. Darwin requested barnacles from friends and colleagues around the word to try and understand how arthrobalaus fit in. He began looking at life histories and larval forms. With each new species loaned to him, he sank deeper into the world of Cirripedia. Loius Agassiz called out for someone to revise the group, since had not been evaluated since becoming part of the crustaceans, a move which required a complete re-evaluation of their anatomy. In Darwin he found a willing patsy author.

For years he studied barnacles from around the world. The modern barnacles he dissected, the fossils he disarticulated. Yep, he did the fossils too, since no complete re-examination of the barnacles would be complete without re-examining the multitude of fossilized species. Darwin both suffered and enjoyed the challenge of the work. He suffered from eye and mental fatigue dissecting each day, but he made discoveries that kept him excited:

I believe Arthrobalanus has no ovisac at all!, & that the appearance of one is entirely owing to the splitting, & tucking up to the posterior penis, of the inner membrane of sack.— I have just found a Cirripede with an indisputably abortive anterior penis; so that this chief anomalous feature (viz two penes) in Arthrobalanus is in some degree brought within bounds.—

In short order Darwin had trained himself to become a taxonomist. He relied on homology and embryology for both description and as a key to the evolutionary relationships between group members lines of descent. In the 8 years he worked on Barnacles he soon became the worlds leading authority on the subject and quickly met his friend Hooker's objection to Vestiges, since he had now described many indeed, in creating the first modern taxonomic description of the Cirripedia. This "detour" actually provided time to rethink "On the Origin" and provided him with invaluable experience describing species and their relations to create a more compelling argument of evolution.

Soon after publishing the first monograph on living cirripedia, Charles Darwin was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of London, for his work. Clearly Mr. Darwin was a friend of the invertebrates.

Oh, Darwin renamed Mr. Arthrobalanus to be Cryptophialus minutus a burrowing or boring barnacle, a rather curious and unusual group of barnacles that includes sexual dimorphism and reduced males.

The sources for all of this post are Darwin Online and the Darwin Correspondence Project, a pair of excellent resources for studying anything Darwin, especially with the PDF's of his Ciripedia Monographs (PDF files)!

Cumacean Workshop

Recognize this crustacean?

If you're on the west coast you'll soon have the opportunity to learn how to recognize this deep sea cumacean (Campylapsis sp.) and many other members of this important order of crustaceans found worldwide from the shallows to the abyss. The Southern California Association of Marine Taxonomists is holding a workshop on cumacean morphology and taxonomy with Les Watling, at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum on March 9th and 10th 2009. It's open to anyone interested in getting hands on, practical experience in cumacean identification.

Hmmm... I don't think we've reported on cumaceans here yet. Let's see what we can dig up.

Krill, It whats for dinner

At least for many larger predator species in Antarctica. I don't know maybe a half a plateful of these with some pasta? Maybe the folks on board the R/V Gould (currently headed to the new research season in Antarctica) have a recipe?

Of course the question is...how many species (and what species) are in the picture, and which one tastes best?

Rare sighting in the Azores!

Portuguese fisheries biologists have made a rare sighting of the endangered amphipod, the Right Whale Lice.

Cyamus ovalis Photo: Vicky Rowntree, University of Utah

The lice, and their host, were spotted off the coast of the Azores according to the report from the New England Aquarium's Jeff Ives and Aquarium whale researcher Philip Hamilton. Phillip has the complete story along with pictures and map of the sighting and positive ID of the host (last seen in Gulf of Maine just a few months ago!). For some reason though they seem to focus on the host organism, rather than the awesome whale lice.

Invert vs. Vert - Nom,Nom,Nom edition

Go get your own egg!, originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

Nothing like a bit of chain dogfish egg / embryo for breakfast!

Actually the cut away section of outer casing was protected by a securely wrapped piece of parafilm, so I guess no Nom,Nom,Nom'ing going on...

But I wonder, there was that recent research about eating preference in cuttlefish appetites being shaped by what they saw through their egg membrane...
Will this chain dogfish ignore squid and only go after crustaceans?

Or is this the equivalent of the nightmare about your food eating you, you know the one where you run into a 2 meter tall steak knife wielding walking talking squid as you turn the corner and all he keeps repeating is ... what you never had that dream?

Freshwater Ostracod

Freshwater Ostracod, originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

Time for an ostracod portrait! This is one of around a hundred ostracod (I believe they are of family Podocopida) that were saved from one a small tank that we tore down this week. I had to make sure we saved a few of them to seed the remaining tank – which I have never seen even a single ostracod in (until now!)

These particular ostracod have a very cyclical lifestyle in the tank which makes me wonder if they might have originated in vernal pools. We see the ostracod predominantly from September through June, when hundreds can be counted in very short order. In July and August I only a small handful can be found, even allowing far more time.

You can find out more about ostracods including their bioluminescent dances and their connection to the Nobel Prize, (truly fascinating buggers, very important to paleontology too) at:

The Other 95% - Ostracod Posts
Evolutionary Novelties - The OstraBlog Posts

As a side note, I think I have finally got a rig for taking pictures through he scope figured out. Actually it's not a rig yet, but now at least I can fabricate a mount so I can have the camera securely connected to the scope.

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Subphylum

Crustacea

Class

Ostracoda

Order

Podocopida

Life Photo Meme

Clean up time!

Mark your calendars down for the 20th of September for International Coastal Cleanup Day. Donate a couple hours to helping to clean up the beaches and waterways of litter both above and below the waters surface. In my own area there will be at least three separate efforts including one sponsored by the University's EcoHusky and diving clubs. Other local efforts are being sponsored by the local nature center and the Mystic Aquarium.

To find out what groups are organizing in your area you can register as a volunteer, or contact your local US coordinator (pdf) or international coordinator (pdf) directly.

A hermit crab found Alex and I found on Southwater Caye in Belize using a bottle cap as a shell. Of course this is indicative of a two fold problem.

#1 - a lack of available size-appropriate shells caused in part by increased shell collecting
#2 - too much trash available

Classification of the Caribbean Hermit or Tree-Climbing Crab:

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Subphylum

Crustacea

Class

Malacostraca

Order

Amphipoda

Suborder

Decapoda

Family

Coenobitidae

Genus

Coenobita

Species

Coenobita clypeatus

Life Photo Meme

Right Whale Lice

Cyamus ovalis Photo: Vicky Rowntree, University of Utah

In an earlier post, I joked (well half joked) about the need to save the whale lice, even if you don't care about the right whales. I thought today I would expand on the brief comment about the lice and their special relationship with whale and how they can actually tell us about the populations of right whales and their evolution.

Image courtesy of Mariano Sironi, Institute of Whale Conservation, Buenos Aires

In the image above you can see the characteristic white and black rough patches known as callosities on the face of a right wale. The raised dark grey bits are indeed part of the whale. Those are rough ridges that become sharper and harder. They are not really lice, but a caprellid amphipod, in other words a crustacean. Whale lice specifically are in the family Cyamidae consists of 35+ species in seven genera and are collectively known as cyamids.

On each right whale around 5000 Cyamus ovalis coat the callosities and gives them their white color is Cyamus ovalis. In the spaces between the raised callosities live around 500 C. gracilis. On adult whales approximately 2000 C. erraticus live in the genital and mammary slits. C. erraticus is highly mobile though often occupying wounds, and living in large concentrations on the heads of young calves. Of these C. gracilis is the smallest with ~6mm long adults and with the other two species measuring ~12-15mm long as adults.

Closeup of Right Whale callosity with C. ovalis. From Iain Kerr, Ocean Alliance/Whale Conservation Institute

The cyamids were named "whale lice" by early whalers in reference to their own head and body lice. Mmmmm fun! While not actual lice, they behave similarly in a few key ways. Cyamids have no free swimming stage and spend their entire life on one species of whales, transferring from whale to whale through intimate contact, primarily between a mother and it's calf. They were recently used, similarly to their lice namesakes, to track the population structure and evolution of their hosts.

In 2005 a team of scientists published the results of their study of the population structure and evolution of right whales based on DNA studies of the whales' cyamids. The cyamid DNA is in some ways more informative than the whales' own DNA as the cyamids complete many generation per whale generation and the population of the cyamids, especially C. ovalis, is far greater than that of the whales, offering the researchers more mutations to track.

The team collected cyamids from globally distributed right whale strandings and used variation in the mitochondrial COI gene to analyze the population structures of both the cyamids and by inference the right whales they inhabit. The first finding was that there was no obvious population structure within ocean basins. They also found high levels of haplotype diversity but low gene differentiation suggesting a large population with high transfer rate between individual whales.

The North Atlantic and Southern Ocean populations however have apparently been fully isolated for several million years. This supports the view that the North Atlantic, Southern Ocean and North Pacific right whales have been isolated for millions of years and shouldbe considered separate species. In a gene tree for the right whale cyamids the three different nominal species clustered out as seven distinct species. C. avalis, C. gracilis and C. erraticus fall out with separate North Atlantic and Southern Ocean species which diverged approximately 6.3mya. Interestingly the Northern Pacific C. ovalis form a tight clade nested within the tree of the Southern Ocean C. ovalis suggesting that there was more recent contact those two populations than between the Northern Atlantic and Southern Ocean populations.

By studying the cyamid crustaceans Jon Seger and his team were able to provide another line of evidence that each oceanic basin population of right whales is in fact a distinct species. They also found four new species of right whale cyamids and that the number of right whales in each basin was higher than originally estimated for pre-commercial whaling populations.

Classification of the nominal species Cyamus ovalis:

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Subphylum

Crustacea

Class

Malacostraca

Order

Amphipoda

Infaorder

Caprellida

Family

Cyamidae

Genus

Cyamus

Species

Cyamus ovalis

References:
Kaliszewska et al. (2005). Population histories of right whales (Cetacea: Eubalaena) inferred from mitochondrial sequence diversities and divergences of their whale lice (Amphipoda: Cyamus) Molecular Ecology, 14 (11), 3439-3456 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2005.02664.x

Slow Down - Think of the Invert Children!!

Jeff at The New Blue is trying to get the word about the comment period for the Final Environmental Impact Statement of the Ship Strike Reduction rule. Jeff is a genuine friend of the inverts and believe it or not this is an important issue for inverts and invert lovers!

The Final Environmental Impact Statement is finally available for comment. This document outlines and assesses the alternatives to the proposed rule (10 knots per hour, inside 20 nautical miles (nm) for ships over 65') to protect critically endangered whale populations from ship strikes. This proposed rule and the process to get it approved has been mired by the Vice President and certain interest groups such that a process which normally requires 90 days has dragged out to 540 days and a significant weakening of the rule from a 30nm zone to the currently proposed 20 nm zone.


Right whale researcher Amy Knowlton is asking for some help. She needs 10-15 minutes of our time. She has put together a great page at NEAQ about the proposed rule, why it is needed and the process to date. It is a quick but good read on the subject. Please, go take a look at it, then become part of the process by commenting on the proposed rulings.

So how is this invert related?
Easy... the whale lice. There are three distinct species of whale lice which are found only on right whales of the North Atlantic. These small crustaceans do not have a free swimming stage, but rather spread from whale to whale through intimate contact, mostly from a mother to her calf. The whale lice then live their entire lives on the whales, multiple generations living in a very unique habitat in select areas on the whales. Protection for the whales means protection for these wonderful invertebrates. Each whale carries somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 of these whale riders.

Of course for me, there is the "Think of the children" too. I was fortunate enough to be aboard a NOAA research vessel in the Gulf of Maine when we came across a small group of right whales. Their distinctive blow is unmistakable. I was unable to get any pictures, but it was one heck of way to have your 6am coffee! I want my son to be able to have that experience in the not too distant future. I know he does too. He even wants to help collect whale poop to help out.

So if not for the cetaceans, do it for the crustaceans! Go read and send a comment to shipstrike [dot] eis [at] noaa [dot] gov for the generations of unique inverts that depend on the whales for everything. As Jeff, says it sure wouldn't hurt to mention a preference for the original 30 nm zone.

Who's got the oldest?

In my post about harvestmen, I mentioned the ancient fossilized penis found in 2003, that dated back 400 - 412 million years ago. Unfortunately, I forgot the Dec, 2003 publishing of an even older specimen of male genitals. In Herefordshire England, 425 mya, an ostracod was buried in volcanic ash during the Silurian Period and quickly mineralized, preserving even the soft tissues.


Originally in Science: 10.1126/science.302.5651.1645

Colymbosathon eclecticos, Greek for "Amazing swimmer with a large penis", could easily be mistaken for a modern ostracod, so similar is the morphology. Like the harvestman example before, this indicates a group with a basic body plan (and even much of the detail) that has shown very little change over a 400+ million year period. Ostracods are well known in the fossil record back to about 500 mya. From this find they have been relatively stable for almost the entire time.

It also shows two examples (one terrestrial, one marine) of male copulatory organs from the late Silurian–early Devonian periods. In the ostracod this is especially interesting as it extends the identification of specific gender in a group that is very common in the fossil record, but for which previous gender identification was only to the Cretaceous Period (65–145 mya).

Not to leave the lady inverts out, where there is a male copulatory organ there hopefully can be found a receptive female. It took the same team a few years to process and publish the finding of a female ostracod from the same area, known as the Herefordshire Lagerstätte. The unique thing about this new fossil ostracod ? Hint the new species name is Nymphatelina gravida.

Like C. eclecticos, this ostracod was found in the Herefordshire Lagerstätte and her soft organs were remarkably well preserved, including her eggs. When the team used their grinding and 3D reconstruction technique, they discovered what appears to be a brood of some 20 eggs preserved in her shell. The same brooding is observed in modern ostracods, such as the modern Gigantocypris dracontovalis pictured below the 3D reconstruction of N. gravida. Another remarkably conserved body plan and biological behavior (parental brooding).

Oh, Nymphatelina gravida translates roughly to "young pregnant ocean guardian woman."


Top is digital reconstruction of N. gravida brooding it's eggs (yellow), bottom is the modern ostracod G. dracontovalis also brooding.
Original image from University of Leicester


Update: Todd has reason to ask "Who has the oldest" of C. eclecticos as well, the oldest ostracod eyes in Ostra-blog 4.

References:

D. J. Siveter (2003). An Ostracode Crustacean with Soft Parts from the Lower Silurian Science, 302 (5651), 1749-1751 DOI: 10.1126/science.1091376

David J. Siveter, Derek J. Siveter, Mark D. Sutton, Derek E.G. Briggs (2007). Brood care in a Silurian ostracod Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 274 (1609), 465-469 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2006.3756

Mark D. Sutton, Derek E. G. Briggs, David J. Siveter, and Derek J. Siveter (2001). Methodologies for the Visualization and Reconstruction of Three-Dimensional Fossils from the Silurian Herefordshire Lagerstätte. Palaeontologia Electronica, 4 (1)

Blue King Crab Zoea - Paralithodes platypus

These little zoea, from the Alaska Seagrant and the Alaska King Crab Research, Rehabilitation and Biology program (AKCRRAB), are just so damn cool! Ok, maybe it's just me but I find larval development and dispersion to be extremely cool.

Red King Crab Zoea - Paralithodes camtschaticus

Alright, this is not my picture (Again! Gotta get out and get more invert images!) but I've been a bit under the weather.

Anyways, the current Life Photo Meme is "Free"... well, these tiny red king crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus) zoea aren't going to go free, but if the program they are part of works out like people are hoping, there might be many more of them going free in a few years with a hopeful rebound in stocks.

These zoea are part of the Alaska King Crab Research, Rehabilitation, and Biology (AKCRRAB) project in Alaska, a collaboration of industry, local, state, and federal groups to conduct research aimed at hatching and rearing wild red and blue king crabs in large scale hatcheries to a stage where they can be released into the wild and contribute to reversing low wild stock abundance in Alaska.

The program is in its second year, with two successful red king crab hatches. University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate student Celeste Leroux has been conducting experiments to evaluate diet, culturing, density, and other parameter effects on larval growth and survival. Considering that they are highly cannibalistic in the early stages of life, one of the big hurdles will be learning how to maximize survival, while keeping large numbers of the larval crabs.

Classification of the red king crab:

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Subphylum

Crustacea

Class

Malacostraca

Order

Decapoda

Infaorder

Anomura

Family

Lithodidae

Genus

Paralithodes

Species

Paralithodes camtschaticus (Tilesius, 1815)

House Crab