Happy Holidays everyone! Its been great having you all as readers and participators in this blog for the 2nd year! Enjoy this short stop-motion video of an Insect Christmas by Vladislav Starevich. As the NC State Insect Museum notes, beware of the dubious taxonomy and just be amused by somersaulting insects.
A new invertebrate interactive game, I guess it's a game, sorta like Tamagotchi are a game, or are they?
Anyway, better than any tamawhatever, now you can design your own squid and set them free into the waters around New Zealand to hunt toothfish and grow. Check back in on them every once in a while and see how they grow. Its a wonderful addition to Te Papa Colossal Squid pages.
To all our friends, and friends of inverts everywhere, we'd like to wish you a Merry Cephalopodmass and Happy Holothuridays!
This was taken at the Mystic Aquarium around Halloween during the SeaScare festivities. The African Penguins were creating paintings for a raffle and in between sessions they occasionally interacted with the giant tarantula in their playroom.
I am posting this as a bit of a present to Kevin, who has an odd, some might even allow it is an un-natural, love for penguins. It also serves as a bridge to mention that our favorite Aquarium blogger Jeff Ives brings us a new blog: The Rockhopper Penguin Expedition Blog. Kevin is going to be in penguin heaven what with all the photos and cool video from the South American colonies of rockhoppers.
As a side note, I really do get into the expedition blogging, especially when they connect to the everyday activities as well as the major science activities. It really helps connect me to the sense of discovery and adventure. Does that make sense?
Quick survey of the twangs on my web, some invert, some not so much...
Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice & Sunsets is back with a wonderful video of spider chemical substance reactions.
Karen James has a great discussion of science heroes and humanity vs deification, some great recipes, Newton's fingernails, and Galileo's finger over at The Beagle Project.
Miriam has posted a most psychedelic image of one of the most awesome structures in the world... the radula!
Emmet Duffy at the Natural Patriot has a review of the recent open access PNAS paper tracing the source of that last fast food meal giving great support to the notion to eat local. Can't wait to give a pdf of that paper (and the review) to my Econ prof, who claims to eat $1 menu fast food twice a day, every day extolling it's excellent value. (Of course I may take the...ahem....spineless route and give them to him after grades post instead of before the final tomorrow night.)
The final twang comes from the Wild Shores of Singapore where RIA posted a good intro to the ScienceNow piece on deep sea squid sex, complete with sperm packets everywhere... even lodged in a human throat!
Time to cram for Calc now....
Kevin just sent me an email about a blogger both of us have followed for some time - dalantech of the No Cropping Zone - a very talented macro photographer. (I love his deconstructions!)
December Drone by *dalantech
Check out the latest Carnival of the Blue up at the fabulous WaterNotes! Lots of great writing from our ocean blogging colleagues.
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?
