Author Topic: Biological Curiosities thread.  (Read 2094 times)

Offline Naryar

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Biological Curiosities thread.
« on: April 06, 2010, 04:32:46 AM »
This for the biology-interested members (I am studying biology).

Was lurking on Wikipedia yesterday and found some really weird species :



Not, that is not an Annelid, but a legless amphibian !

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caecilian

Oh, and the longest creature in the world is not the whale, but a Nemertea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lineus_longissimus




Offline G.K.

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2010, 04:35:05 AM »
I intend to study biology, but there better be no pictures of spiders in this thread.
My above post explains everything about everything.

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Offline Naryar

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2010, 04:45:07 AM »

Offline G.K.

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2010, 05:02:29 AM »
Ok, I'm ignoring this thread forever.
My above post explains everything about everything.

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Offline lloopp D lloopp

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2010, 06:17:38 AM »
As am I.
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Offline Urjak

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2010, 09:04:21 AM »
The clock spider! Really just a large huntsman...

Anyway Naryar, that amphibian is very interesting. To think that it is a actually an amphibian, instead of an earthworm.

Also, the longest confirmed animal was a Lion's Mane Jellyfish, measured at 120 feet. If the speculation is true though, the bootlace worm could be much longer.

EDIT: Speaking of biological curiosities, this fish with a transparent head always struck me as pretty interesting:

Any comments would be appreciated. :D

Offline Reier

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2010, 09:46:58 AM »
Ooo I love science.

I learned about caecilians when I was 7 XD
And I saw that fish on some random show the other night ^^

But if you want weird, the sea squirt is one of the most:





Those things have one of the weirdest life cycles ever. They are actually chordates - don't have a backbone per se, but have a notochord or something.


Anyway, they swim around as larva-ish thingies, eating small prey and stuff like that. Then they glue their head to a rock.  They go through some kind of metamorphosis and lose their mode of locomotion etc. and become a filter feeder and stay there for the rest of their life.



EDIT: This pic of the caecilian shows it's not a worm  ;) :


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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #7 on: April 06, 2010, 12:16:16 PM »
I love that caecilian.
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Offline Clickbeetle

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2010, 11:09:40 PM »
Mantis shrimps are pretty interesting.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis_shrimp



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Offline R0B0SH4RK

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #9 on: April 08, 2010, 11:13:34 PM »
Pistol shrimps are cooler IMO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpheidae

Offline Viper89

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #10 on: April 08, 2010, 11:28:30 PM »
The clock spider! Really just a large huntsman...

Anyway Naryar, that amphibian is very interesting. To think that it is a actually an amphibian, instead of an earthworm.

Also, the longest confirmed animal was a Lion's Mane Jellyfish, measured at 120 feet. If the speculation is true though, the bootlace worm could be much longer.

EDIT: Speaking of biological curiosities, this fish with a transparent head always struck me as pretty interesting:

(Image removed from quote.)
Hmm a huntsman, Did you actually know that off the top of your head ? Also what about Giant Squids?  Edit forgot the giant squid question I thought they were up their with the biggest animals.

Offline Naryar

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2010, 07:30:08 AM »
Pistol shrimps are cooler IMO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpheidae

Quote from: That Article
The snapping shrimp competes with much larger animals, like the Sperm Whale and Beluga Whale, for the title of 'loudest animal in the sea'. The animal snaps a specialized claw shut to create a cavitation bubble that generates acoustic pressures of up to 80 kPa at a distance of 4 cm from the claw. The pressure is strong enough to kill small fish.[7] It corresponds to a zero to peak pressure level of 218 decibels relative to one micropascal (dB re 1 μPa), equivalent to a zero to peak source level of 190 dB re 1 μPa at the standard reference distance of 1 m. Au and Banks measured peak to peak source levels between 185 and 190 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m, depending on the size of the claw.[8] Similar values are reported by Ferguson and Cleary.[9] The duration of the click is less than 1 millisecond.

The snap can also produce sonoluminescence from the collapsing cavitation bubble. As it collapses, the cavitation bubble reaches temperatures of over 5,000 K (4,700 °C).[10] In comparison, the surface temperature of the sun is estimated to be around 5,800 K (5,500 °C). The light is of lower intensity than the light produced by typical sonoluminescence and is not visible to the naked eye. It is most likely a by-product of the shock wave with no biological significance. However, it was the first known instance of an animal producing light by this effect. It has subsequently been discovered that another group of crustaceans, the mantis shrimp, contains species whose club-like forelimbs can strike so quickly and with such force as to induce sonoluminescent cavitation bubbles upon impact.[11]

The snapping is used for hunting (hence the alternative name "pistol shrimp"), as well as for communication.

... WAT

Offline Stagfish

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2010, 05:12:46 PM »
If a parasitic wasp infects a caterpillar this happens.

Offline System32

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #13 on: April 10, 2010, 06:28:37 PM »
Pistol shrimps are cooler IMO.

Mantis shrimps single handedly increase the viewing threshold for life by 33%.
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Offline Naryar

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #14 on: June 06, 2010, 09:04:11 AM »
If a parasitic wasp infects a caterpillar this happens.

Whoa Click got owned Interesting. Is it the larvae that are chemically controlling the caterpillar ?

And is New Scientist doing it wrong ? They're parasitoids, not just parasites :P

On another note, here is the toughest animal ever

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade

Offline Naryar

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Offline Urjak

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #16 on: June 19, 2010, 09:13:14 AM »
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portia_%28spider%29

Among my favorite spider list. I have read about them before, their intelligence is mind-boggling when compared to that of other spiders.
Any comments would be appreciated. :D

Offline Viper89

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #17 on: June 19, 2010, 09:42:35 AM »
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portia_%28spider%29

Among my favorite spider list. I have read about them before, their intelligence is mind-boggling when compared to that of other spiders.

I like jumping spiders to :smile: , a couple years back I seen the biggest one I've ever seen in my life it was about the size of tarantula no joke, and we don't have those type of spider up here in NewYork. It had florescent blue fangs and was all black, has anybody else notice that sometimes their fangs are different colors? I've seen only a handful with different color fangs.

Offline Urjak

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #18 on: June 19, 2010, 09:53:09 AM »
I seen the biggest one I've ever seen in my life it was about the size of tarantula no joke,

I don't think so. There are no Jumping spiders that big, the largest of them are no more than 20 mm, about two centimeters. There is a South American species of Tarantula that may be able to jump a moderate distance, but not like the jumping spider.
Any comments would be appreciated. :D

Offline Naryar

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Re: Biological Curiosities thread.
« Reply #19 on: June 19, 2010, 10:24:39 AM »
FLUORESCENT BLUE FANGS ??