Goodbye to the Chinese Paddlefish?

What do you know--another tragedy out of China.

This one comes in the form of an expected recently extinctified (made up word) giant freshwater fish known as the Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius). It used to haunt the mighty waters of the Yangtze River. These monsters measured in at around 21 feet long, but haven't been spotted in over six years, despite a recent survey conducted to determine their numbers, which look to be approaching zero.

Photo source: BBC


















If the Chinese paddlefish is indeed gone, like the Yangtze river dolphin before it, then the title of the world's largest freshwater fish will be bequeathed to another, like the Mekong giant catfish or the arapaima of the Amazon river.

But then, it's suspected that the paddlefish wasn't a true freshwater fish. Ready for new vocab word (for you non-ichthyologists)? Anadromous. That's when a fish lives most of its life in marine environments but then returns to freshwaters to spawn. It's thought that the Chinese paddlefish might have been (or is) anadromous.

But not all is necessarily lost. Though the survey was three years long and the research team employed a variety of tactics to try to locate even a single paddlefish, it's quite possible that individuals eluded the researchers. The Yantze River system is immense and complicated, and there are any number of places where paddlefish, especially smaller ones, could still be found. But without intervention, things don't look good.

I'm thinking that the dissemination of some good ol' misinformation might work here. Tell the fishermen on the Yangtze that hooking or netting a paddlefish will render them impotent for seven years, and we might find a resurgence in their numbers (I always suspect Traditional Chinese Medicine as being a contributor to an Asian animal's decline).

Thanks for the article, Ida.

Wolf Trap

One constant danger while you're fishing is the possibility of damaging or breaking your pole. So what happens to an angerlish if its pole is broken? Does it regenerate? Does anyone know? I'm curious because the wolf-trap anglerfish below looks to have such a complicated set of tackle protruding from its head.

We know why it's called an anglerfish. But why wolf-trap? It has to do with the shape and mechanics of the fish's jaw. The upper jaw is three times larger than the lower jaw, and it is able to open and close sideways. When in the ventral position, the upper jaw combines with the lower jaw and forms a compartment in which prey is held just prior to being swallowed. Think of a Venus flytrap. Or, think of it as a wolf trap.

Thanks for the anglerfish, Theodosia and Chris.

Photo source: Cracked.com

Big-mouthed & Fang-mouthed

I just want to take a moment to introduce the Khorat big-mouthed frog to the Ugly Overload community. This frog is among 163 new species discovered in the Greater Mekong region of Thailand.

How does it feel, you fang-mouthed frog, to know that you have a ready-made blog family awaiting you with open arms the very moment that you're discovered by us humans? That's got to give you a nice warm and fuzzy feeling.

Photo source: AP Photo/David S. McLeod, WWF Greater Mekong via Yahoo!

Fly Mating Ignorance

This is a family-friendly blog, so I'll spare the many, many comments that can be had at these flies' expense. Suffice it to say that Steve caught them in the act of mating, and that the one on the bottom (I presume the female) was blowing spit bubbles that the one on top (the male?) was eating.

What in the world could that be? There's so little I know about fly mating, and I don't know if I'd have it any other way.

Thanks for the photo, Steve.

Of Waterbugs, Slurping, and Rostrums

What is this? Tell me what it is! Is it a waterbug? How afraid do I need to be?

If it is a waterbug, then it can be one of any 2,000 species found the world over (save for the poles, of course). Some waterbugs feed are predatory and feed on everything from invertebrates to small fish and amphibians. Others are omnivores, and still others feed on plants.

Many are equipped with rostrums, which are useful in being able to slurp out the innards of their chosen prey. Others, like water boatmen, are able to chew their food a bit and suck up the resulting pulp. Yummy, yummy. I'm suddenly very glad to have teeth, and that most of my slurping involves cold, sugary drinks.

Photo courtesy: Team Ali Baba

Silvery-cheeked Hornbill

Whenever I see a hornbill, and I behold that mighty beak and its casque, all I see is a massive wedge of toenail, complete with fungal infection. I want to call my grandpa's podiatrist and have him prescribe these birds some sort of anti-fungus medication, anything to mend what seems to be a jagged mass of bone and keratin.

Like other hornbills, the silvery-cheeked hornbill is a smart bird. They inhabit tall evergreen forests in eastern Africa, from the Sudan and Ethiopia, all the way sown to south Africa. They feast on almost anything they can get their beak on, including fruits, insects, and small vertebrates.

Photo source: Helen Grose



















Silvery-cheeked hornbills are dutiful parents. They share the task of incubating the eggs in a nest cavity. Once the eggs hatch, the female seals herself in the nest with the chicks until they are half grown. Meanwhile, daddy brings home fruit in his gullet and regurgitates them for the family. At one such nest it was estimated that the male brought home 24,000 fruits in a 120-day breeding cycle (200 fruits a day!).

My kids may not always like what we put on the table for dinner, but they need to count their blessings that I don't come home from work with an engorged gullet and then proceed to regurgitate softened spaghetti and salad for that night's meal. It's all about perspective.

Whale-falls

When a whale dies its cadaver sinks to the bottom floor where it provides the equivalent of over 2,000 years of normal biological detritus to the local ecosystem. In other words, if you're a scavenger lurking in a small-time cave, and a whale corpse falls nearby, you've got your meals planned for a long, long time. And you're very happy.

These whale-falls prove to be such a boon to its environs that they create their own ecosystems.

The first shift scavengers are your sharks and hagfish. They show up to eat all the flesh. Next come the bacteria, to colonize the bones. Then come the bristleworms.

Nine new bristleworms have recently been discovered on whale-falls . It's quite possible that many of these new bristleworms can live only on whale-falls. Other bristleworms are equipped with special root systems that allow them to devour whale bones directly. Though these new ones don't seem to have any such specialized equipment, some do seem to feed on the bacteria that bloom on the whale skeletons. Whatever the food of choice, whale-falls seem to be veritable manna from heaven for bottom-dwelling ocean denizens.

Photo source: LiceScience.com



















With the economic downturn, couldn't we all use a good whale-fall? It'd be nice to walk outside one day and see pallets of food and cash drift down from the sky and land in my yard. I may have to fight off other first-shift scavengers, like my neighbors. Then there'd be second- and third- shift scavengers, the salesmen and local businesses and politicians who catch wind of my good fortune and try to sell me stuff, and the family and friends who try to mooch off me. But that's okay. I can share.

Thanks for the link, Ida.

If I Only Had a Brain, Heart, Bones, and Eyes...

Little is known about the granrojo jellyfish (discovered in 2003). It's one of the largest jellies, coming in at 2-3 feet across (which isn't as monstrous as I was hoping), and they live at depths of 600 - 1500 meters. They're the only described member of their genus. Despite having no heart, brains, eyes, or bones (I sense a remake of the Wizard of Oz here...), they are avid hunters.

Notice something unusual about jelly, as compared to most others? Where are the dangly arms? They've traded them in for a thick 'oral arms'. I suggest staying clear of anything, even abyssal ones, that have oral arms. Nothing good can come from encountering one.

Thanks for the article, Theodosia and Chris.

Photo source: Cracked.com