A sucker for convergent evolution
A sucker for convergent evolution avatar

By , on October 4th, 2012 4 comments   Adaptations, Carnivals & Link Love, Organisms   , , ,  

Recently Chris Mah, that most passionate advocate of all things with pentaradial symmetry (i.e. echinoderms: urchins, starfish etc.), wrote an excellent blog post about how starfish tube feet don’t work the way you think they do. He was right, at least in my case; I had always assumed that they were suckers, and that the . . . → Read More: A sucker for convergent evolution

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No fish is an island
No fish is an island avatar

By , on March 19th, 2012 10 comments   Microbes, Organisms   , , ,  

Image: Australian Museum Tongue biters have been in my inbox a few times lately. If you’ve managed never to come across these interesting little isopods before, they are members of a wholly parasitic group called the Cymothoidae. For regular readers of Deep Sea News, you can think about them as smaller versions of Bathynomus, which . . . → Read More: No fish is an island

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Its the end of the worm as we know it
Its the end of the worm as we know it avatar

By , on April 5th, 2011 4 comments   New Research, New Species, Organisms, Uncategorized   , , ,  

Coomera brayi Dove & Cribb 1995 Hi, my name’s Al and I’m a parasitologist (Hi Al!) #AA I’ve just read a most remarkable paper by my PhD advisor, Dr. Tom Cribb (University of Queensland), and his close colleague Dr. Rod Bray (NHM London, ret.). In it, they describe patterns in the history of taxonomic . . . → Read More: Its the end of the worm as we know it

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Sea Pigs
Sea Pigs avatar

By , on July 6th, 2009 2 comments   Carnivals & Link Love, Organisms   , , , , , , ,  

Dr. Mah direct quoate, “Small snails (genus Stilapex) that work their way into the body wall and suck on their juices!! So, what's weirder then sea pigs??? SEA PIG SNAIL PARASITES!!!!” Photo from Australian R/V Tangaroa weekly log Everything you ever wanted to know about sea pigs (Holothuroidea: Scotoplanes sp.) from the Echinoblog. The best . . . → Read More: Sea Pigs

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