Clipmarks | abailart's cuttlefish biosemiotics collection

27 Aquatic lifeforms you never caught while fishing

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:14:21 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Fascinating.

Clip Source: sasthamcotta.wordpress.com

Robot Fish

Deep-sea glass squid

Snaggletooth

Axolotl

Mudskipper

Slander Lanternfish

Deep-sea stargazer

Giant Hatchetfish

Dumbo Octopus

Eelpout

Black-lip Rattail

Humpback Anglerfish

Coelacanth

Northern Seahorse

Longhorn Cowfish

Leafy Sea Dragon

Lumpfish

Atlantic Wolffish

Lionfish

Deep-Sea Lizardfish

Fangtooth Fish

Black Chimaera

Clown Triggerfish

Longlure Frogfish

Prehistoric Frilled Shark

Black Swallowe

Mantis Shrimp

Tags: marine life

Haeckel's beautiful radiolarians

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:13:09 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Radiolarians (also radiolaria) are amoeboid protozoa that produce intricate mineral skeletons, typically with a central capsule dividing the cell into inner and outer portions, called endoplasm and ectoplasm. They are found as zooplankton throughout the ocean, and because of their rapid turn-over of species, their tests are important diagnostic fossils found from the Cambrian onwards. Some common radiolarian fossils include Actinomma, Heliosphaera and Hexadoridium.

German biologist Ernst Haeckel produced exquisite (and perhaps somewhat exaggerated)^{[citation needed]} drawings of radiolaria, helping to popularize these protists among Victorian parlor microscopists alongside foraminifera and diatoms.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Biomimetics - Design by nature

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:26:25 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: "What has fins like a whale, skin like a lizard, and eyes like a moth? The future of engineering."

Clip Source: www.core.form-ula.com

An electron micrograph reveals sharkskin’s secret to speed: tooth-like scales called dermal denticles

sharkskin denticles spurred the design of his Speedo Fastskin, whose texture functions to reduce drag, bumping up speed

via> National Geographic (April 2008)

Behind the squared-off contours of the boxfish lies a lesson in sleek design. Low drag helps the fish swim up to six body lengths per second, stabilized by the keel-like edges of its carapace.

the thorny devil lizard of the arid Australian desert demonstrates its ability to wick water to its mouth via channels between its scales. Scientists hope to mimic the mechanism to develop water-capture technologies for dry regions

burs

invention of Velcro

NASA was an early user

a fly trapped in amber

striations on its surface that seemed to reduce light reflection

has been adapted to dampen reflection on computer monitors and solar cells

the lotus leaf a naturally self-cleaning, water-repellent surface

flipper of a humpback whale

U-shaped motion

Biosemiotics

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:25:18 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Site full of great things.

Clip Source: www.ento.vt.edu

Topics in Biosemiotics

What is Biosemiotics by Kalevi Kull

Nature, Origin, and Evolution of Signs

Signification at Mollecular Level

Signification in Humans

Signification in Animals and Plants

Signification in Transhumans and Posthumans

Papers

Organizations

References

General Semiotics

Artificial Life

Theoretical Biology

Mathematical Biology

Virtual and Augmented Reality

Economical Games

General System Theory

Philosophy

Ethics

Tags: biosemiotics

Stingray migration

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:57:54 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: Amazing pics

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Gliding silently under the seas these magnificent stingrays resemble a golden cloud stirring in the ocean.

Taken off the coast of Holbox Island in Mexico in July last year these spectacular pictures show the twice yearly migration of thousands of cow-nosed stingrays.

The surface of the water covered by warm and different shades of gold, looked like a bed of fall leaves, gently moved by the wind

Measuring up to 7ft from wing-tip to wing-tip, cow nose rays are known for their long migrations in large schools.

In the Atlantic Ocean, their migration is northward in the late spring and southward in the late autumn.

Cow nose rays have a unique feature - long, pointed pectoral fins that separate into two lobes in front of their high-domed heads.

Despite having poisonous stingers cow-nosed stingrays are known to be shy and non-threatening when in large schools.

"We were surrounded by them without seeing the edge of the school, and we could see many under the water surface too.

Flatfish caught evolving, thanks to its roving eye

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:33:06 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: Now Friedman reports finding two different missing links. They are fossil fish with their eyes in different places on the two sides of their skulls - one in the normal position and one closer to the midline (see Diagram). One is Amphistium, a previously described genus found in several fossil deposits in Europe, in which the asymmetry went unnoticed because in fish fossils only one side of the animal is generally preserve. The other is Heteronectes, a new genus. At 10 to 20 centimetres long, the specimens were clearly adults and not larvae in which the eyes were migrating

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

THE slightly skewed faces of two fossil fish have caught the evolution of flatfish eyes in action, filling a gap in the fossil record that has plagued the theory of evolution since Darwin's day.

The asymmetric placement of flatfish eyes has long been a puzzle. Larval flatfish have their eyes on opposite sides of the skull, but when they are still tiny - around one centimetre long - one eye migrates to the opposite side so that both eyes point upwards when the fish lies on its side on the sea floor.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

"Both the initial and final states make sense" because they offer evolutionary advantages for swimming in open water or along the bottom, respectively, says Matt Friedman at the University of Chicago. The problem for natural selection is that intermediate forms seemed to offer no clear advantage, and no examples had been found. As such, flatfish eyes have been used to challenge Darwin's theory ever since it was published in 1859.

Tags: evolution

Grunting Fish: our vocal ancestors

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:47:55 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Couple of videos on site

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Grunting fish have helped scientists to date the origins of vocal sounds to about 400 million years ago

Toadfish and midshipman fish use a variety of different sounds to attract mates and scare off rivals.

Now US researchers have found that the area of a fish's brain that drives vocalization is extremely primitive.

Writing in the journal Science, they say it suggests that the ability to communicate through sound emerged very early in the evolution of vertebrates.

Professor Bass told BBC News: "We identified where this pattern generator developed in the brains of these fishes, and then we looked at where it was in frogs, birds and primates."

The team discovered that the neural networks for vocalization were all situated in the same region.

"You could see that was a very ancient part of the nervous system shared by all vertebrates.

"Maybe then we will find even more evidence for commonality. That's an exciting prospect."

Tags: vocalisation, evolution, nervous system

ΘΑΛΑΣΣΟΚΟΣΜΟΣ

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:45:13 GMT

clipped by: rastamangr

Clip Source: www.cretaquarium.gr

New Research On Octopuses Sheds Light On Memory

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:39:13 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: It is not completely understood how these two systems are interconnected, if at all. However, the organization in the octopus demonstrates a sophistication that was not described yet in other animals. In the octopus, the short-term and long-term systems are working in parallel, but not independently. This is so because the long-term memory area -- in addition to its capacity to store long-term memories -- also regulates the rate at which the short-term memory system acquires short-term memories. This regulatory mechanism is probably useful in cases where faster learning is significant for the octopus' survival in emergency or risky situations.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Research on octopuses has shed new light on how our brains store and recall memory,

Why octopuses?

Octopuses and other related creatures, known as cephalopods, are considered to be the most intelligent invertebrates because they have relatively large brains and they can be trained for various learning and memory tasks, says Dr. Hochner.

Their behavior repertoire and learning and memory abilities are even comparable in their complexity to those of advanced vertebrates. However, they are still invertebrate mollusks with brains that contain a much fewer number of nerve cells and much simpler anatomical organization than that of vertebrate brains. This unique constellation was utilized to tackle one of the most interesting questions in modern neuroscience, which is how the brain stores and recalls memories

Tags: octopuse, memory

Sea Stars of Cold Oceanic Waters

Fri, 30 May 2008 17:21:15 GMT

clipped by: Lubaska
clipper's remarks: Alaska and the Aleutian Island Chain is the richest region in the world for Sea Stars with well over one hundred named species in 45+ genera with at least another 25 recently discovered species presently under description. A sampling of this rich and amazingly colorful fauna is presented herein.