Invert vs. Vert (Anti-aircraft edition)

Hat tip to DrM at DSN


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SpeciesDay - Unionidae

It's been a bit quieter around here than Kevin and I prefer, but now the finals are all done and I can finally say "I can has cheezburger wit dat?"

Seriously though, in the next month or so there will be some changes in this space... in the mean time:

Did you know there are 198 199 invertebrates listed under the Endangered Species Act?

Yep, inverts make up 34% of the 575 animals protected under ESA. But is this good or bad that inverts are underrepresented here??

Care to guess how many of those 198 199 are molluscs?
I'll give you a starting point - only two of the 198 199 invert species protected under ESA are cnidarians. Elkhorn Coral (Acropora palmata) and Staghorn Coral (Acropora cervicornis) are listed as Threatened. First correct answer, gets a small hand made tote bag free (allow 3-4 weeks for creation and delivery though!)

Today, May 15th is Endangered Species Day, and the the net was all atwitter with postings and tweets about endangered species. I just got done with the prototype for an outreach product that includes some of those endangered molluscs so I tweeted out the Shinyrayed Pocketbook (Lampsilis subangulata) a member of that marvelous group of freshwater mussels, the Unionidae.

If you recall from our earlier posting, this is the group of freshwater bivalves that has the habit of spitting its spawn into the face of an unsuspecting fish. The spawn are technically a form of larvae unique to these mussels called the glochidia and for some reason all my vertebrate loving friends seem to think that the whole "spewing spawn in your face" technique is rather disturbing. The young molluscs that are now in the face and mouth of the hapless fish attach to the its gills and encyst there. They feed on the blood in the gills until they are ready to drop to the sediments and metamorphose into a full adult form.

The shiney-rayed pocketbook is found in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, mainly in the Chattahoochie and Flint rivers. In its most recent review it was assessed as endangered with a recovery priority of 5 (high threat and low potential for recovery). The good news though is that from 2003 to 2007 the range of the Shiney-rayed Pocketbook did extend into more of the river than it had been in recent years.

The shiney-rayed pocketbook handles the details of reproduction and larval distribution a little differently than our last Unionoida. Our last fresh water mollusc, the Snuffbox, lures a fish in with it's mantle flaps which look like a small fish. When the fish attacks the lure, the snuffbox springs its trap, catching the logperch's head between it's valves. It then uses it's mantle to smother the fish for a few moments. When it releases the smothering hold on the fish a little, it also releases it's glochidia which is has been brooding in the shell. The fish gasps for water (air) and gets water and glochidia.

The shiney-ray takes another very interesting tack at larval distribution. Its females also brood the young until they reach the glochidia stage then release them to parasitise largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and spotted bass (M. punctatus). The season for releasing glochidia will be begin in just a few weeks, late May through August.) The females, create a superconglutinate, a group of large packets (conglutiates) of glochidia attached to what appears to be a long transparent mucus rope.

The superconglutinate strongly resembles a small fish, which lures in larger predatory fish. When a larger fish attacks the superconglutinate the mass ruptures and glochidia are freed to attach to the gills of the fish. The glochidia parasitize a fish host until they are ready (able?) to metamorphose into juvenile mussels and settle to the substrate in sandy or muddy, slow moving regions. It is thought that the main purpose of the parasitic stage is not actually for nutrition and growth, but for transportation and distribution since the larvae would be unable to fight even a weak river flow to hold position or fight upstream, but attached to a fishes gills they can expand upstream or at least maintain position. This is borne out to some degree by recent expansion of L. subangulata up current in some locations.

Of course a video is highly warranted here, so courtesy of M.C. Barnhart, I give you the close cousin of L. subangulata showig off her superconglutinate. The orange-nacre mucket (Lampsilis perovalis, the species in the video, is one of only 2-3 other species known to create a superconglutinate.



References:

Roe, K., Hartfield, P., & Lydeard, C. (2001). Phylogeographic analysis of the threatened and endangered superconglutinate-producing mussels of the genus Lampsilis (Bivalvia: Unionidae) Molecular Ecology, 10 (9), 2225-2234 DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-294X.2001.01361.x

Bogan, A., & Roe, K. (2008). Freshwater bivalve (Unioniformes) diversity, systematics, and evolution: status and future directions Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 27 (2), 349-369 DOI: 10.1899/07-069.1

Barnhart, M., Haag, W., & Roston, W. (2008). Adaptations to host infection and larval parasitism in Unionoida Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 27 (2), 370-394 DOI: 10.1899/07-093.1

Invert vs. Vert 19: Belizean Arachnid edition

Just so you know, Belizean arachnids ain't messin around.


See the rest of the challenges!

Bring out the Tats Round 1

DSN recently posted Ocean Tattoos from the illustrious Love Lab at UCSC UCSB. Of course mindful of the historic Invertebrate Wars and the recent artful attempts by pro-echinoderm agents to renew the conflicts, I thought maybe a survey of science tattoo subjects could be used as a proxy to head it off.

With that in mind I headed over to Carl Zimmer's science tattoo galleries for a pilot study. I figured out of the 200 or so science tattoo's in his gallery at most a quarter of them were of animals so that would provide a nice sample size I could handle between classes. Sure enough, I ended up with 41 tattoos for which the animal was the subject, and that wasn't of a specific personality (e.g. no Darwin tattoos). I then evaluated each tat for the main subject phylum, except the case of the chordata, where I evaluated as invertebrate chordates and vertebrates (this being an invert centric blog after all)

The score:
Vertebrates: 16
Invertebrate Chordates: 1 (Pikaia)
Arthopoda: 13
Cnidaria : 2
Echinodermata: 2
Lobopodia: 1
Mollusca : 5

For the invertebrate war phyla, I was surprised that both echinoderms and molluscs are so under-represented in the gallery. I may have to get a tat for graduation, and another when I get a masters.

Hopefully the Love Lab won't be so vertebrate skewed...

Hmmm... who belongs to this winning one?

Spiders, Contributing to Frog Declines

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?

Wolf's Den

For those who claimed we were exceptionally biased in our Invert vs. Vert wars...this one comes from one of my favorite fish ecologists...


Wolffish eating a sea urchin from CLF (credit: Jonathan Bird) on Vimeo.

Oh, the horror. This poor echinoderm managed to wander right in front of the wolf's den. Then again, it is a worthy sacrifice, considering the current state of the wolffish. That's it, yeah, the urchin was doing it's part to save the wolffish!

I'll have to add the score in later... I gotta run, late for class! In the mean time enjoy the other Wolffish videos from CLF, including another invert vs. vert.

Bivalve vs. Fish

This one is for the folks who thought bivalves are "boring benthic creatures" that just sit around like a lump on or in the substrate...


This is the Snuffbox Mussel (Epioblasma triquetra), a member of the Family Unionidae, the freshwater pearly mussels. Unionidae larvae (glochidia) are ectoparasites on the gills of fish. Getting the glochidia on the fish gills can be tricky and a variety of methods have evolved within the Unionidae. One general method is to get the fish close, real close, then "spit" your larvae into their face so they breath them in and across the gills. (one of my son's favorite Parasite Unleashed cards) The Snuffbox (and several other species) takes this to an extreme by actually clamping onto the fishes head, then pumping water and glochidia into the now gasping fishes throat. Even within this general method there is huge variation, with adaptations of shell shape, mantle and specialized glochidia brood pouch (marsupial gill). The following video is from M.C. Barnhart showing the capture of a logperch (Percina caprodes) and then the glochidia being pumping into its gills.

So Daniel over at the wonderful newish backboned blog, Something Fishy, thinks vertebrates are something interesting. Other than they taste good, I'm not sure why. Go there to see poor innocent invertebrates mauled by the uncontrollable, violent, greedy, self-centered and all around horrible Axolotl and Archer Fish. Poor little under-appreciated majority, always being picked on by the big guy. May we find solace in the fact that INVERTABRITZ RULEZ TEH INTERNETZ!!1!!11!!!!!11!! Game on bee-otch.

The score breakdown (winners are italicized):
Cricket vs. Archer Fish
Earthworm vs. Axolotl
Mantis vs. Mouse
Tantula vs. Coral Snake
Ants vs. (dead) lizard
Tarantula vs. Fer de Lance Snake
Mantis vs. Snake
Octopus vs. Fish
Jellies vs. Salmon
Man Sized Sea Scorpions vs. Armor Plate Fish
Octopus vs. Moray + half dozen fish
Centipede vs. Bat
Centipede vs. Mouse
Octopus vs. Shark

Inverts 11: Verts 2

So another Friday Fight video... I wonder who the favorite will be?

After a quick (post?) coitus snack the Mantis takes on a mouse...



Makes you almost feel sorry for those little rodents, centipedes, scorpions, spiders and now mantis all pickin on them.


The score breakdown (winners are italicized):
Tantula vs. Coral Snake
Ants vs. (dead) lizard
Tarantula vs. Fer de Lance Snake
Mantis vs. Snake
Octopus vs. Fish
Jellies vs. Salmon
Man Sized Sea Scorpions vs. Armor Plate Fish
Octopus vs. Moray + half dozen fish
Centipede vs. Bat
Centipede vs. Mouse
Octopus vs. Shark

Inverts 10: Verts 2

Thanks to Johann in a comment at a previous post who alluded me to another Tarantula vs. Snake video. This time it was a coral snake though, which are pretty frikkin deadly. Good job Mr. Tarantula!

The recap (winners are italicized):
Ants vs. (dead) lizard
Tarantula vs. Fer de Lance Snake
Mantis vs. Snake
Octopus vs. Fish
Jellies vs. Salmon
Man Sized Sea Scorpions vs. Armor Plate Fish
Octopus vs. Moray + half dozen fish
Centipede vs. Bat
Centipede vs. Mouse
Octopus vs. Shark

Inverts 9: Verts 2

Myrmecos has an awesome time-lapse video of ant recruitment. Lizard get pwned x 8000. I was actually quite impressed by the removal of bones...

The recap:
Tarantula vs. Snake
Mantis vs. Snake
Octopus vs. Fish
Double feature: Man Sized Sea Scorpions vs. Armor Plate Fish and Jellies vs. Salmon
Octopus vs. Moray + half dozen fish
Centipede vs. Bat
Centipede vs. Mouse
Octopus vs. Shark

Inverts 8: Verts 2

We already showed the unworthiness of snakes in the last episode. Just to kick them when they're down, lets watch a snake can pwned by a Tarantula!

Hat tip to not exactly Ed Yong.

Archives of the previous fights:
Mantis vs. Snake
Octopus vs. Fish
Double feature: Man Sized Sea Scorpions vs. Armor Plate Fish and Jellies vs. Salmon
Octopus vs. Moray + half dozen fish
Centipede vs. Bat
Centipede vs. Mouse
Octopus vs. Shark

Inverts 7 - Verts 2

For your Friday Night Fight:



The series is now Inverts 7 - Verts 2

Archives of the previous fights:
Octopus vs. Fish
Double feature: man sized scorpions vs. armor plate fish and Jelly vs. Salmon
Octopus vs. Moray + half dozen fish
Centipede vs. Bat
Centipede vs. Mouse
Octopus vs. Shark

Inverts 6: Verts 2

Yep, still racking them up. Octopus, the stealth bombers of the Invertebrata, takes down a weasley little goldfish. Its just too easy...

The breakdown:
Inverts 5: Verts 2
Inverts 3: Verts 1
Inverts 3: Verts 0
Inverts 2: Verts 0
Inverts 1: Verts 0

Inverts Hit a Double! Inverts 5: Verts 2

As you may have heard, a "man-size" fossil sea scorpion was recently found in Germany. Though I focused on the reporting and not the cool science, Deep Sea News confirms that this is definitely a score for the invertebrates. With chelicerae as a big as a toddler, I am pretty sure I would be sliced in half, though I would put up a good fight... Unfortunately, the largest known arthropods are hypothesized to be wiped out large toothy armor-plated fish. So, I am forced to give a point to both parties.

But my friend over at Lunartalks (hat tip to Peter Mc from the Beagle Project) more than makes up for Eurypterids dropping the ball. He reports on Jelly swarms committing genocide at salmon farms off of Ireland and how it makes him really feel.

For those keeping track:
Inverts 1: Verts 0
Inverts 2: Verts 0
Inverts 3: Verts 0
Inverts 3: Verts 1

Invertebrates 3: Vertebrates 1

Rick has gotten a point for the vertebrates. Although a cheeky one at that. An epic battle between an octopus and moray in which the weakened octopus escapes the wrestling clutches of the moray with the ink tactic only to be picked off by a couple of spectator fish. But inverts won the battle in this one, just not the war. Hence, I concede.

Invertebrate 3: Vertebrates 0

First I brought you Octopus vs. Shark
Then came Centipede vs. Mouse
and now...

Centipede vs. Bat
When will this madness stop!! The absence of sound on this pirated YouTube video only makes it more eerie. For those wanting to hear David Attenborough's soulful narration, go here. This is a giant Amazonian centipede (genus Scolopendra, probably S. morsitans) taking down a bat in midflight. Sweet.

Thanks to Ed Yong for bringing this to my attention.

Invertebrates 2: Vertebrates 0

If you aren't keeping score, Invertebrates 1: Vertebrates 0 was an octopus taking down a shark. Here we have a Vietnamese Giant Centipede (named Father Christmas by the proprietors of the YouTube video), Scolopendra subspinipes, taking down a typical mouse. This video was being watched by my intro bio students this morning while doing a "Diversity of Life" lab. This group was doing the animals and picked out the leech to do there class presentation on over any vertebrates. I am proud I must say. When discussing the leech reproduction, they referred to it "sexytime". Nice.

Cephalopod Awareness Day: Score One for the Spineless, Octopus Takes Down Shark

"To say the least it was a big surprise to find out that sharks were be taken by an octopus, a mere invertebrate. Kind of gives new meaning to top predator."

These are 3-4 foot sharks and I find highly presumptuous of the narrator to state that a shark can be taken down be a "mere invertebrate". Not all sharks are Tiger, Great White, Bull or White Tips. Being a backboned bully doesn't give you automatic rights to being a "top predator".

Anyways, this is kind of an old one courtesy Stevan Hoggs. Enjoy the edge of the seat carnage and mayhem and try not to squeal with delight too loudly in your cubicles.