Hi! It’s been two weeks since I posted a passion blog because last week I got a library book for my paradigm shift research.  So I feel a little out of the loop in my own blog, if that makes sense… and by the way, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  For this blog post, in spirit of my favorite holiday and also because I am feeling pretty spastic this week, there isn’t really a topic of organism, just any organism that I come across that I deem pretty creepy.

So our first scary creature is Neoclinus blanchardi, or the sarcastic fringehead:

This fish is just really kind of weird to me.  They live in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of North America.  What makes is scary is that when its mouth is closed, it looks like an old man.  But when it opens is parachute-like mouth, it’s pretty horrifying.  These are very territorial fish, and when another fish trespasses, the fringehead charges, with its jaws wide open.  They can grow to be about a foot long.  They are usually brown or grey, but the jaws can be brightly colored, usually yellow.  This thing honestly just looks like an alien.  But we all know that the ocean can create really terrifying creatures, which is why I have one more fish for this scary post:

This is Macropinna microstoma, the barreleye fish.  I’m just going to point out the obvious here: it’s HEAD is TRANSPARENT.  It isn’t surprising that these are also called spook fish.  They are found in a lot of places in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.  They have skulls of course, but the eyes just aren’t inside of it.  They protrude far out, and are tubular shaped.  Even weirder: their eyes are oriented straight up, instead of in front of it.  The green orbs in the picture are the eyes, not the dents in front.  This is so the fish can see silhouettes of its prey against any light above it.  They are pretty small, only around 6 inches long. What in all of nature is happening here?

Third is the mata mata, (Chelus fimbriata):

This is a freaky freshwater turtle that lives around South America.  I am very conflicted about this animal.  Turtles are my favorite animal (alright, tied with wolves), and so I really don’t like that this one is really creepy looking.  What is up with its head?  It just looks extremely malformed, like it was dumped into toxic waste.  There are wrinkles and ridges all over this thing, supposedly to look like bark on a tree, but I think that it is just unfortunately ugly.  They only eat fish and invertebrates, and they do this by staying motionless and then just sucking its prey down whole.  Oh, and another thing: they have really creepy claws.  What is a cute animal doing with claws? Really?

Last for this week is a species of the Gold Orb Web Spider, Nephila komaci:

I am sorry about this, but I really need to add a spider to this scary blog to really make it complete.  This, my friends, is the largest known web-spinning spider.  Only a couple specimens have been found so far, in Madagascar and South Africa.  It was not seen in the wild until 2007.  These are red to yellow, with a white patch usually at the top of their abdomen.  Its pretty big, about 6 inches across.  But what is really impressive (or frightening) is that webs have been found to be over a meter across.  Walking into that would be a nightmare.  The silk they produce is a pretty golden color.  You can rest easy tonight though, this spider is not lethal to humans.  So instead to keep you wide awake tonight, just imagine a dozen of these slowly creeping along on your bed in the middle of the night.

Have a fun and safe Halloween!

Best,

Sam

So are you all excited for the number seven on the passion blog list? I know I am! Over the past month or so, these blogs have switched from being a sort of chore to what is probably the most interesting assignment that I get to have in any of my classes.  Plus it is weekly, which is so unlike all of the other assignments and projects we have in any other class…  Anyway, I digress, and lets move on the main feature: CRAZY MAMMALS!

Our first contender for this week as being one strange mammal is Tachyglossus aculeatus, or the spiny echidna.

This cute little guy looks really painful, but echidnas are actually quite docile.  They naturally live in the countries of Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.  They are about a foot long, and they have fur as well as spines.  In some species the fur extends out further than the spines, so they just look fuzzy.  What is weird about this species is that it is a monotreme, which is a mammal that lays eggs!  After the eggs hatch, the babies climb into the mothers pouch where they grow some more. They eat ants, termites, and other small insects.  Finally, these animals have a very long lifespan; recorded up to 50 years!

Next up is the Aye-aye, (Daubentonia madagascariensis):

These are very rare mammals that only live on the island of Madagascar.  Good thing too; they win the world for ugliest mammal on the planet!  Their head and body length is about a foot, and they have long, black, course hair with a surprisingly fluffy tail.  The strange part of this animal is that their third fingers on their hands are very long, thin, and flexible.  This is because the aye-aye like to eat bugs out of little holes in trees, and the finger is used to dig them out, but they also use them to scoops out the insides of fruits.  They live to be around 20 years of age. Aye-ayes are nocturnal, and have a wide variety of vocalizations, from hisses to screams.

Third on the list is the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), and although this was an obvious one, I think it deserves a spot on this blog:

The platypus is native to Australia and Tasmania, and is another monotreme, and mammal that lays eggs.  And is this a weird mammal!  It has the bill of a duck, the feet of an otter, and the tail of a beaver.  In addition, it is one of the only known venomous mammals on the planet!  The males have little spurs on their hind legs that cause extreme pain (but not death) in humans if contact with it is made.  They are fairly large, with a length of around 17 to 20 inches. Platypuses have even been known to growl!

Lastly for this week is one crazy mammal, the Water deer (Hydropotes inermis), and while this sounds like a very common animal, wait until you see it:

Honestly, I know what you are thinking, that this is a fake photoshopped picture, but I kid you not, this is real.  Even go look online for yourself!  With three inch fangs hanging down over their jaws, it isn’t surprising that this animal has gained the name of Vampire Deer.  They do not grow antlers, and are only found in some parts of China and Korea.  They are also pretty good swimmer!  This type of deer are mostly solitary and very territorial.  Finally, the fangs are for fighting over mates, even though the females have them as well.  There is no known connection to the fangs and their diet.  They seem to still be vegetarians, or they are just very good at hiding their true diet of sucking the blood of whoever comes near…

Well, I hope you enjoyed this piece, and that you aren’t getting bored with these posts!  Feel free to keep reading, and I really enjoy comments!

Have a great week,

Sam

Wow, are we really already over halfway through the number of blogs we write this semester?  I feel as though I have hardly covered any animals/plants at all!  Pretty sad really…  Well now is my sixth blog post about our crazy planet, and the topic for this week just happens to be moving to an entire taxonomic kingdom we haven’t even touched on yet: Fungi!  By the way, fun fact, fungi are not plants mainly because they cannot make their own food; instead, they take it from dead organisms in the ground.

The first fungus I will focus on is the Blue Milk Mushroom (Lactarius indigo):

This is a pretty straightforward fungus, except that it is bright blue, and when damaged, it excretes a bright blue “milk” that slowly turns green with air exposure.  This indigo mushroom naturally grows in eastern North America, East Asia, and Central America.  These are pretty small, with a diameter of 2 to 6 inches, and as tall as 3 inches.  You can actually eat these, and they are sold in markets in China, Guatemala, and Mexico.  It looks like something a fairy would want to sit on, or it that just me?

Now is Rhodotus palmatus, or the Wrinkled Peach:

Again, this is a pretty obviously named one, because the tops of the cap look like a wrinkly peach.  Interestingly enough, this is the only species in the genus of Rhodotus, so there aren’t very many close relatives.  This is a fairly rare species, but has been found in North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.  They generally like hardwood logs to grow on.  They are generally very small, only a couple inches across and tall.  The exact color (which ranges from orange to pink to red) is determined by the type of light that it gets while maturing.  They have been observed excreting little orange droplets, but not much is known about what that is.  The edibility is unknown as well – although I can’t imagine who would want to eat something that looks like a peach gone bad – so it is advised not to be eaten.

Up next on the list is the Violet Coral Fungus (Clavaria zollingeri):

Another widely distributed fungus (seen in North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia), this is a bright purple tendril fungus that grows in groups that make it seem like an above-ground coral.  It can grow to around 4 inches tall, and the width varies since they grow in clusters.  This is a very fragile fungus and without odor.  It is edible in small quantities and is said to taste like radish or cucumber.  However, it isn’t very useful in cooking, and may have a laxative effect.  I feel bad for the poor scientist who found that out…

Another weirdly shaped fungus is the Golden Jelly Fungus, or Tremella mesenterica:

This fungus is found around the world as well, a yellow-orange jello-looking organism.  It usually grows around 3 inches, and has a very uneven and lobed surface.  Even grosser, it is greasy and slimy to the touch.  What is really cool is that when it dries out, it turns into a very thin film until exposed to moisture again, when it revives back to its original state.  It likes to break through the bark of dead trees.  In China, vegetarians make a soup out of the “brain fungus”, which it is called sometimes.  This seems disgusting, but that may just be my opinion.

I hope, like always, that this was another brief yet really fun and interesting post about the world we live on.  Feel free to comment, and please give me suggestions on overall topics you want me to include for the last few weeks of the blog!

Have a great week, its HOMECOMING!  Are you going to the game? I am!

Best,

Sam

Hi, I hope everyone has been enjoying my blogs so far, and that everyone is doing well with their own passion blogs!  Now let’s get right to it.  Up this week for my own passion blog is Deep sea creatures.  This topic was bound to happen eventually, because we know less about underwater life than we do the surface of the moon!

The first creature to talk about this week is the Giant Isopod, or Bathynomus giganteus:

.

This is just like those cute little pill bugs you find everywhere that roll up into little balls and crawl around.  There are two major differences, however.  First, this isopod lives underwater, and second, this is not a centimeter in length.  In fact, this creepy organism grows to be 16 inches long! How gross would it feel to have that crawling all over you?  Food is very scarce down at the bottom of the ocean, and so they eat whatever they come across, like dead carcasses and slow moving organisms.  In fact, the Giant Isopod can go months without eating.  Speaking of food, there are people in Taiwan that actually boil these up and serve them with rice!

Moving along, the next creature is Regalecus glesne, or the Oarfish:

This thing is massively creepy.  Also known as the ribbon fish because of its long and thin appearance, these are not as rare as you would expect.  They are deep sea fish, but are commonly caught on accident by fishermen.  Often they wash up on shore or float when sick or dying, and it is believed that these oarfish are responsible for many claims of sea serpent sightings.  Not surprising, since Regalecus glesne can grow to be 50 feet long and 600 pounds!  They have silver bodies with red fins, and for as large as they are, they only eat very small organisms like plankton or small squid.  I definitely would not ever want to touch one of these!

Third is the Coelacanth, or Latimeria chalumnae:

This is thought to be the oldest living species of fish on the Earth!  It has barely changed any of its appearance for millions of years!  These are very large fish, growing normally to around 6.5 feet! Coelacanths eat almost anything they can fit into their mouths, which would be a ton anyway even if they couldn’t unhinge their jaws to get bigger bites!  In addition, these fish have a usual lifespan of around 60 years, which is extremely long for an animal!  They are currently on the endangered list, as there are only around 500 specimens expected to be in the wild.

Last for this week is Harriotta raleighana, or the Long-Nosed Chimaera:

How messed up is this thing?!  Very little is known about this creature, even though many marine biologists have tried to study it.  These scary fish can grow up to five feet long, and the nose is an obvious feature.  Packed with sensory nerves, the Chimaera senses prey using its highly adapted nose, since it cannot see anything at the bottom of the sea. In South Africa, it has been given the name of “ghost shark”, although they aren’t closely related to sharks.  Finally, as if you would want to get close to it at all, the Long-nosed Chimaera has a very poisonous spine on its dorsal fin that would easily kill a person.  Sleep well tonight!

Well I think that I should wrap this up for now.  Please comment and tell me your opinions on this or any one of my blogs! Theme suggestions of something you really want to see would be very helpful! Which one of these creatures would you want to see in person? Probably none, right?

Have a good week!

Sam