The average everyday plant-like crinoid not only walks about, it swims!
Crinoidea is the fancy name for feather stars and sea lilies. They look very plant or coral like but are actually relatives of the starfish. They tend to have feathery arms in multiples of five, and they sit on stalks (in sea lilies) or have little feet called cirri (in feather stars). Feather stars can walk around on their cirri, or they can swim about using their ten arms (it's crazy!). Check out the videos for more.
An informational video by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. A good overview of the Crinoid order. It finishes with a breathtaking shot of a swimming feather star.
For those of you with ADD, here's the short version:
Bonus song: Help I'm Alive by Metric. It's what I'm listening to while I type :B
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
To the sea!
A couple of interesting ocean related things.
Yay Target!
Target has decided to stop selling Atlantic farmed salmon and will be stocking Pacific Alaskan salmon instead. This is exciting. "Why should I be excited?" You ask. Alaskan salmon are very well managed. They cost a bit more, but you'll still be able to buy them in fifty years. They contain only natural ingredient (free of pink dyes used by farms to make the flesh pink), and they haven't been swimming in their own concentrated excrement most of their lives (MMmmm farmed salmon D:). Also, salmon farming practices produce a great deal of waste and pollution directly in the ocean (see excrement).
For more fun food facts, and to see the best choices in seafood, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program. You can print out a pocket guide, or checkout the bestest seafood for you and the oceans :D
/plug
Yay Octopus!
Did you know that octopus use tools?... Actually, if you've spent any time at all reading about octopus, this should come as no surprise to you, but here's a cute little guy who carries around a coconut shell. The veined octopus (from Indonesia) picks out coconut shells discarded by humans. The cephalopods carry them along until they feel a need to hide. Then they make like a turtle and climb into a little coconut shell box. Silly Cephs o=
Pacific Travelers:
Finally, I give you the real time tracking site, TOPP for tags on Pacific pelagic animals. You can see the tracks of different species of sharks, seals, albatross (ALBATROSS!), and a sea turtle. Also some maps of sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a. I recommend pushing all the buttons :B
Other News:
The continuing saga of my moving has found me opening some boxes I haven't seen since I packed them a year an a half ago when I left Davis for parts unknown (the East Coast). I have found some lovely things such as my pencil cup, my floppy disk collection, three stuffed animals, artwork, notes, drawings, and some old cartoons. Over the coming weeks and months, I'm going to share some of these since they are either cool or hilarious, so stay tuned.
Otherwise, I have about three commissions and an auction I'm juggling amongst other things. I'm putting some pieces together for The Works Anti-Valentine Auction in San Jose... I must buy a frame tomorrow.
Yay Target!
Target has decided to stop selling Atlantic farmed salmon and will be stocking Pacific Alaskan salmon instead. This is exciting. "Why should I be excited?" You ask. Alaskan salmon are very well managed. They cost a bit more, but you'll still be able to buy them in fifty years. They contain only natural ingredient (free of pink dyes used by farms to make the flesh pink), and they haven't been swimming in their own concentrated excrement most of their lives (MMmmm farmed salmon D:). Also, salmon farming practices produce a great deal of waste and pollution directly in the ocean (see excrement).
For more fun food facts, and to see the best choices in seafood, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program. You can print out a pocket guide, or checkout the bestest seafood for you and the oceans :D
/plug
Yay Octopus!
Did you know that octopus use tools?... Actually, if you've spent any time at all reading about octopus, this should come as no surprise to you, but here's a cute little guy who carries around a coconut shell. The veined octopus (from Indonesia) picks out coconut shells discarded by humans. The cephalopods carry them along until they feel a need to hide. Then they make like a turtle and climb into a little coconut shell box. Silly Cephs o=
Pacific Travelers:
Finally, I give you the real time tracking site, TOPP for tags on Pacific pelagic animals. You can see the tracks of different species of sharks, seals, albatross (ALBATROSS!), and a sea turtle. Also some maps of sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a. I recommend pushing all the buttons :B
Other News:
The continuing saga of my moving has found me opening some boxes I haven't seen since I packed them a year an a half ago when I left Davis for parts unknown (the East Coast). I have found some lovely things such as my pencil cup, my floppy disk collection, three stuffed animals, artwork, notes, drawings, and some old cartoons. Over the coming weeks and months, I'm going to share some of these since they are either cool or hilarious, so stay tuned.
Otherwise, I have about three commissions and an auction I'm juggling amongst other things. I'm putting some pieces together for The Works Anti-Valentine Auction in San Jose... I must buy a frame tomorrow.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Dude, I think someone might read this o.O
Did you know I have comments?!
... I didn't <.<;;
But seriously folks, thanks for stopping in :3
And now for today's entertainment I give you Science!
Meet the Elements:
An introduction to what goes into an elephant by They Might Be Giants.
For a more thorough take, try naming all the elements:
A delightful song by Tom Lehrer. I have a version on CD in which he says "there will be a test on this later" in the middle :P
Why the Sun really shines:
Refuting their previous statement that "the sun is a mass of incandescent gas," They Might be giants are going with the now hip, "the sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma" o=
I'd also urge you to check out "I am a Paleontologist", "The Mesopotamians", the original "Why Does the Sun Shine", and of course the ever classic "Istanbul" by They Might Be Giants. Enjoy :D
... I didn't <.<;;
But seriously folks, thanks for stopping in :3
And now for today's entertainment I give you Science!
Meet the Elements:
An introduction to what goes into an elephant by They Might Be Giants.
For a more thorough take, try naming all the elements:
A delightful song by Tom Lehrer. I have a version on CD in which he says "there will be a test on this later" in the middle :P
Why the Sun really shines:
Refuting their previous statement that "the sun is a mass of incandescent gas," They Might be giants are going with the now hip, "the sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma" o=
I'd also urge you to check out "I am a Paleontologist", "The Mesopotamians", the original "Why Does the Sun Shine", and of course the ever classic "Istanbul" by They Might Be Giants. Enjoy :D
Holy Buprestidae Batman!
Some things just stop you in your tracks. I found myself engrossed in aquakej's Etsy shop while checking on the best tags to use for my items. Here I've been trying to mimic insectine beauty for years, and this woman has simply used the insects themselves!
In addition to just looking awesome, the use of real insects can be environmentally beneficial. Instead of cutting down their land to grow corn or graze cattle, an insect farmer usually requires a rain forest to stay in place. In the examples which I have read, a farmer grows an abundance of the desired insects food plant, and the insects lay their eggs in this patch. Some of the chrysalis' (chrysalises? chrysali? chrysalie? chrysalahhh-haa!) are gathered up to pupate in controlled circumstances while some are left to grow into a wild adult which will later lay eggs in the farmers patch (we hope).
An alternative to this method is to propagate host plants in a more controlled environment and keep a breeding stock supplemented with wild populations. This generally requires a stable stand of native plants including host and non-host varieties (for various reasons, one being so you can control the population growth of the bugs your breeding), and a stable wild population.
Anyway, the jewelry is cool, bug farming is interesting. Check it out :3
In addition to just looking awesome, the use of real insects can be environmentally beneficial. Instead of cutting down their land to grow corn or graze cattle, an insect farmer usually requires a rain forest to stay in place. In the examples which I have read, a farmer grows an abundance of the desired insects food plant, and the insects lay their eggs in this patch. Some of the chrysalis' (chrysalises? chrysali? chrysalie? chrysalahhh-haa!) are gathered up to pupate in controlled circumstances while some are left to grow into a wild adult which will later lay eggs in the farmers patch (we hope).
An alternative to this method is to propagate host plants in a more controlled environment and keep a breeding stock supplemented with wild populations. This generally requires a stable stand of native plants including host and non-host varieties (for various reasons, one being so you can control the population growth of the bugs your breeding), and a stable wild population.
Anyway, the jewelry is cool, bug farming is interesting. Check it out :3
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
My Brains! My Brains!
They're melting out my ears D:
Goodness, but I'm tired! I spent this evening at the Monterey Bay Aquarium at my apprentice guide training class. I am going to be an apprentice guide :D It shall be awesome. Tonight we got to play with the touch pools. I think I enjoyed petting the urchin the most, but I also learned about handling the animals, kelp defenses, and plankton. Additionally, one of the epic level manager types gave a talk, in character, about working at the canneries back in the day.
I spent a bit more time with one of my group members who is quite young and significantly less jaded than I am. It was kind of a weird backwards mirror. It makes me think I need to be less cantankerous, but it also makes me think of how I was naive in so many places (and still am really) before I went to school o.O
More on this later.
BugsAndMonsters:
I have put a couple of Valentine's Day cards up on my Etsy. Check them out!
More designs to follow.
Beware the thrall of science:
I went to LiveScience yesterday to look at an article about photosynthesizing nudibranchs (sea slugs). While I was there, I became interested in articles about how the particular areas where fat accumulates can have serious health effects, and how cell phones may save us from Alzheimer's among other things.
But back to the nudibranchs (or nudie brancs if you like ;). These are wacky creatures. Many nudibranchs contain stinging cells as a defense mechanism, but they do not produce the cells. They eat anemones and somehow conscript the cells into their own tissues intact! This article describes a new kind of sea slug which scientist have found to conscript chloroplasts (those are photosynthesizing cells from plants and algae). Even more, these slugs have taken the genes to make chlorophyll (the pigment plants use to photosynthesize), and put them in their own DNA. They don't need to eat if they get enough sunlight. All they have to do is get themselves a bunch of chloroplasts and go. They've become the terminators of the ocean!
Goodness, but I'm tired! I spent this evening at the Monterey Bay Aquarium at my apprentice guide training class. I am going to be an apprentice guide :D It shall be awesome. Tonight we got to play with the touch pools. I think I enjoyed petting the urchin the most, but I also learned about handling the animals, kelp defenses, and plankton. Additionally, one of the epic level manager types gave a talk, in character, about working at the canneries back in the day.
I spent a bit more time with one of my group members who is quite young and significantly less jaded than I am. It was kind of a weird backwards mirror. It makes me think I need to be less cantankerous, but it also makes me think of how I was naive in so many places (and still am really) before I went to school o.O
BugsAndMonsters:
I have put a couple of Valentine's Day cards up on my Etsy. Check them out!
More designs to follow.
Beware the thrall of science:
I went to LiveScience yesterday to look at an article about photosynthesizing nudibranchs (sea slugs). While I was there, I became interested in articles about how the particular areas where fat accumulates can have serious health effects, and how cell phones may save us from Alzheimer's among other things.
But back to the nudibranchs (or nudie brancs if you like ;). These are wacky creatures. Many nudibranchs contain stinging cells as a defense mechanism, but they do not produce the cells. They eat anemones and somehow conscript the cells into their own tissues intact! This article describes a new kind of sea slug which scientist have found to conscript chloroplasts (those are photosynthesizing cells from plants and algae). Even more, these slugs have taken the genes to make chlorophyll (the pigment plants use to photosynthesize), and put them in their own DNA. They don't need to eat if they get enough sunlight. All they have to do is get themselves a bunch of chloroplasts and go. They've become the terminators of the ocean!
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