It looks like a very tiring way to get around
Category: Organisms
Posted on: May 19, 2008 6:20 AM, by PZ Myers
But at least it is locomotion with style.
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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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(Complete listing)A reading from the Book of Armaments, Chapter 4, Verses 16 to 20: Then did he raise on high the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, saying, "Bless this, O Lord, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy." And the people did rejoice and did feast upon the lambs and toads and tree-sloths and fruit-bats and orangutans and breakfast cereals… Now did the Lord say, "First thou pullest the Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the number of the counting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand Grenade in the direction of thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.
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Comments
What kind of creature is that? It's awesome.
Posted by: younglinguist | May 19, 2008 6:54 AM
Had to watch without sound... is that a nudibranch?
Posted by: Stephen Wells | May 19, 2008 6:56 AM
It is a nudibranch, and is the most erotic thing I'll see today.
Posted by: True Bob | May 19, 2008 7:02 AM
It looks like a flat worm to me. They can be every bit as pretty as nudibranchs. You hardly ever see them.
Posted by: SAILOR | May 19, 2008 7:08 AM
Looks can be deceiving, well at least in Aplysia
brasiliana.
http://www.biol.wwu.edu/donovan/papers/aplysia.pdf
Of these, only the cost of lateral-bend swimming in
the nudibranch Melibe leonina has been studied.
Swimming using lateral bending is relatively costly
due to high energy expenditure, and a non-directional
and slow swimming speed (Caldwell and
Donovan, 2003). In comparison, parapodial flapping
is characterized by directional, relatively fast swimming,
and it is likely that the transport costs would
be much lower. In this paper we examine the costs
of swimming by parapodial flapping in Aplysia
brasiliana.
Posted by: Fernando Magyar | May 19, 2008 7:22 AM
I always wondered how, with deep sea animal footage, they discriminate actual behavior from, "Oh Shit! My Retina is BURNING!"
Posted by: MichaelBok | May 19, 2008 7:27 AM
Then again maybe not so much, should have finished reading the paper before posting my previous comment.
Posted by: Fernando Magyar | May 19, 2008 7:40 AM
Spanish dancers are gorgeous, and HUGE in a nudibranch aspect.
Posted by: Niobe | May 19, 2008 7:44 AM
Spanish Dancer, I believe. Hexabranchus sanguineus.
Posted by: Shadow | May 19, 2008 7:48 AM
So I decided its time I read up on these critters and edumacated myself, went to amazon and the go-to book on them costs almost 1/100 of my annual income.
Oh well. Guess I'll stay stupid.
Posted by: craig | May 19, 2008 7:58 AM
oh, its called "Nudibranchs of the World."
Posted by: craig | May 19, 2008 7:59 AM
The pattern of the movement of each lateral side looks to me, very reminiscent of the undualtions made of the ventral fin in knifefish. Which one might actually expect since in both cases they are undulating a long piece of tissue to propel the animal parallel to its long axis. Has anyone evry tried some flow visualisation with these?
Posted by: Dave Hone | May 19, 2008 8:04 AM
See, this is obviously evidence for design, because no way evolution would invent something that impractical...
but G-d likes pretty sparkles.
Posted by: wazza | May 19, 2008 8:10 AM
Another nudibranch link? Does PZ have a new favorite invertebrate?
Posted by: LordJiro | May 19, 2008 8:18 AM
No, no, no.
Quite the reverse.
It's a very effeminate looking method of locomotion; like it's taking a dress off and then stepping back into it. It's obviously a member of the Nazi sea slug brigade and could only have been selected for by evolution.
Posted by: Wallace Turner | May 19, 2008 8:26 AM
Jumpin' Jeezus, that critter's having fun!
Posted by: Richard Harris | May 19, 2008 8:43 AM
this is how i'm going to move from now on.
Posted by: alex | May 19, 2008 8:57 AM
Oh, does this ever bring back some memories. I remember reading about nudibranchs and their gyrations in one of the Jacques Cousteau books I received as a kid, how they would escape predators by twisting until they lifted off the seabed. Then vacationing with my parents in Florida one summer I found some small mahogany-colored nudibranchs with cyan gills and took them home overnight in a bucket. They happily crawled around, eating seaweed and would occasionally flex their bodies until they floated up to the surface and would sink back down. The only reason I could see for this was that it was fun. They weren't as pretty as this little beauty, but they were wonderful to watch. I released them the next day even though I wanted to keep them forever.
Posted by: Christopher Waldrop | May 19, 2008 9:14 AM
Ah, is anyone else reminded of this music by their sheer beauty, grace and ahleticism of movement? They're so damn erotic and gorgeous. Like beautiful little flamenco dancers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FTBPqAIorU
Posted by: Bride of Shrek | May 19, 2008 9:17 AM
With that midline groove, I can't help thinking of it as a disembodied vagina.
That or one of my HH6 chick embryos... I have nightmares about those things... http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1471-213x-7-32-s1.png
It is very awesome, either way.
Posted by: Confused | May 19, 2008 9:35 AM
The first thing that came to mind watching the fascinating Spanish Dancer was artificial animals created in computer simulation. I'm looking for a link. Here's an amazing item on locomotion (the foot) presented on TED by Robert Full from the Poly-PEDAL lab at Berkley.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/195
Posted by: rickflick | May 19, 2008 9:40 AM
Alex (17) said: "this is how i'm going to move from now on."
I got an amazingly vivid flash of the Ministry of Silly Walks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqhlQfXUk7w
Posted by: Blaidd Drwg | May 19, 2008 9:44 AM
"We're sorry, this video is no longer available."
<thunderstorm cloud building up above head>
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | May 19, 2008 10:10 AM
I found a link to Simulated Environment Evo Test (Evolved Virtual Creatures) by Karl Simms. His web site no longer shows this early work, but it has interesting similarities to the Spanish Dancer.
In spite of the general effect of something struggling in the infancy of its development, it is interesting to think the Nudibranch has probably been doing this for many millions of years and never found a need to improve on it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zy-JRteZxo
Posted by: rickflick | May 19, 2008 10:14 AM
As a heterosexual male, I envy your imagination.
Posted by: Emmet Caulfield | May 19, 2008 10:24 AM
Looking just at the still image at the beginning of the video, I thought to myself : "looks sort of like a hot-air balloon"
But then . . .
Ah-ha! it looks like a balloon. Balloons are man-made objects!
Clear proof of Intelligent Design!
(/joke)
Posted by: DLC | May 19, 2008 10:26 AM
Damn! That beats anything I'll see in the finals of "Dancing with the Stars" tonight.
Posted by: Lynne | May 19, 2008 10:49 AM
I, too, see a vagina. A happy swimming vagina.
If there is a designer for all life on Earth at present, it clearly likes vaginas a lot more than the Christians seem to think.
Posted by: Esme | May 19, 2008 12:12 PM
I WISH a vagina could do that. Personally though, it reminds me of square dancing and spelunking.
Posted by: Jams | May 19, 2008 12:59 PM
DLC (#26):
Paging Stuart Pivar. Paging Stuart Pivar. Please pick up the white courtesy phone. . . .
Posted by: Blake Stacey | May 19, 2008 1:03 PM
@#29: I never thought I'd see the words "vagina" and "spelunking" in one short post without any reference to Ann Coulter.
Posted by: Emmet Caulfield | May 19, 2008 1:55 PM
Esme: Good to know I'm not the only one who sees it.
Emmet: trust me, my imagination is more trouble than it's worth.
Posted by: Confused | May 19, 2008 2:38 PM
rickflick #21 and #24
Those are both fascinating videos, thanks
Posted by: RamblinDude | May 19, 2008 2:38 PM
It never arrives first but it always arrives in style.
Posted by: bunnycatch3r | May 19, 2008 2:40 PM
Incredible eroticism? Numerous comparisons to vaginas? It's a slug. You people are twisted. o.0
Posted by: Nentuaby | May 19, 2008 3:03 PM
Ay, chico! ...chica? I have no idea how to tell.
Posted by: El Fields | May 19, 2008 3:53 PM
I think I caught this act about 30 years ago at El Tio Pepe.
Posted by: Annapolitan | May 19, 2008 4:22 PM
I've been night diving, off Australia, only time to see how colorful the ocean really is. Never saw anything that cool unfortunately.
Posted by: Venger | May 19, 2008 5:30 PM
What's the story behind its color?
Posted by: Stephen Bahl | May 19, 2008 6:17 PM
I not only see the vagina, I see the labia major and minors along with the clitoris, yes quite erotic indeed
Posted by: intelcurio | May 19, 2008 7:14 PM
Gorgeous! The accompaniment is really fun, too - Spanish vs. Arabic music dueling. Any idea what the song is?
Posted by: Vegan Atheist | May 19, 2008 7:52 PM
From the comments at YouTube, I found out that it is Baila Maria by Ishtar Alabina.
Gentlemen (in particular), you really should look at the gallery in the web site.
Posted by: OriGuy | May 19, 2008 8:08 PM
The development of flamenco music is intimately tied in with Arabic culture, having originated in Andalucia which of course was under Moorish/Arab rule for centuries.
After looking at her website, I must confess that Ishtar Alabina certainly lives up to her namesake.
I'm sure that there would be more than a few of us 'gentlemen' who would be more than happy to fertilise her. :)
Posted by: DingoDave | May 19, 2008 8:35 PM
Query: Is it pronounced Nudibran(ch) or Nudibran(k)? My daughter asked and I have no clue (history major).
Posted by: (((Billy))) | May 19, 2008 8:50 PM
Why can you all get the video!?! I just tried again: "sorry, no longer available".
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | May 19, 2008 8:53 PM
Why can you all get the video!?! I just tried again: "sorry, no longer available".
interesting.
try a direct link?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBlB1-EabgI
Posted by: Ichthyic | May 19, 2008 9:04 PM
Why can you all get the video!?! I just tried again: "sorry, no longer available".
That's strange, I just tried it again and it worked fine.
Could it have anything to do with clearing your cookies or web history, or something like that?
Posted by: DingoDave | May 19, 2008 9:05 PM
Is it pronounced Nudibran(ch) or Nudibran(k)
more like the latter (k sound).
http://www.bartleby.com/61/88/N0188800.html
click on the little speaker icon.
Posted by: Ichthyic | May 19, 2008 9:06 PM
This gives me what I've always had with YouTube for the last few weeks (starting during an... extended evening when I watched perhaps 5 in a row): it pretends to start loading, and stays in this state forever. I assumed it was a very weird connection problem...
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | May 19, 2008 9:20 PM
It reminds me of the traditional dances of Jalisco, in Mexico.
Posted by: Ribozyme | May 19, 2008 9:24 PM
I assumed it was a very weird connection problem...
weird. I had the same problem with the latest version of Firefox, but reinstalling the flash-player seems to have fixed it.
try uninstalling, then reinstalling the most recent flash player?
if that doesn't work, check this out:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/download-youtube-video-with-greasemonkey-script.html
Posted by: Ichthyic | May 19, 2008 10:43 PM
btw, the online downloader linked from there works great:
http://www.videodl.org/
just enter the link and then click "get it"
works to download the movie for later viewing (I use VLC media player - free) or to view on that webpage itself.
Posted by: Ichthyic | May 19, 2008 10:51 PM
I'm trying my new talk and type. It's very very cool and I don't make so many mistakes. Looks like I'll be able to comment quicker and easier. Almost as easy as that beautiful creature swimming above.
By the way PZ, I love your blog. I lurk here often, and sometimes even comment every once in awhile.
I will be writing a paper on the history of the legal battles between creationism and the teaching of evolution for a significant part of my grade in my graduate studies. I suspect my professor is a creationist and if anyone has any suggestions on how I can do this without alienating him and receiving a bad grade since I obviously think intelligent design is a load of crap, how will I go about doing this? I've got to go as far back as the earliest legal battles that prevented the teaching of evolution and how in his words the establishment is now "censoring" the teaching of intelligent design. It's gonna be very hard for me to do without expressing my opinion. If his comment means that he believes that Bullshit then I could be in trouble. Any suggestions?
Posted by: Barklikeadog | May 20, 2008 2:41 AM
I suspect my professor is a creationist and if anyone has any suggestions on how I can do this without alienating him and receiving a bad grade since I obviously think intelligent design is a load of crap, how will I go about doing this?
I'd say you have a duty to write the paper as you see fit, especially if this is a graduate level paper.
If your prof. doesn't respect your argument, even if well supported, the problem is with your prof., not you. Conflict at that level simply can't be resolved by avoidance and "framing" for very long. If he is on your committee, you're in trouble.
Having said that, if you REALLY are truly stuck with this guy, the thing to do is stick entirely to the transcripts of the cases involved. If commentary is necessary (as from various participants of the trials, or analysts) cite it very clearly. This will allow you to avoid having to say it's your opinion.
In your conclusion, make sure to avoid making judgements as to the "value" of either side in the issue. (IOW, don't say things like ID lost because it was vacuous and worthless (even though it is). Just summarize the arguments put forward on each side, and use the Judge's opinion to resolve between the two. Only make conclusions relevant to the legal issues involved, not the philosophical or scientific ones.
If, after reading your paper, your prof. then calls you out to clarify your own opinion on the matter, then your prof. wants a fight.
all's fair at that point, so give it to 'em.
If bad repercussions result, you have avenues for redress since how a prof. grades you most certainly cannot be based on a personal disagreement of opinion.
bottom line, and stressing again, though, if this person is on your committee, and you have such a plain disagreement with something that is so likely extremely important to them, you have a serious problem that you shouldn't wait to resolve using proper channels.
IOW: get this person off your committee ASAP.
Posted by: Ichthyic | May 20, 2008 5:28 AM
....one more thing:
If you are going to end up butting heads with this guy (sounds like you are), make damn sure you know your shit before hand.
He says ID is being censored?
don't just say it isn't, explain in great detail why censorship has nothing to do with ID not being represented in journals or in science:
it has nothing to offer.
paint your argument out step by step.
use the arguments of behe and dembski themselves to show that in reality, their ideology is entirely untestable without a-priori knowledge of what or who the designer is.
learn the many ways Dembski's understanding of probability is completely fubar, as is his understanding of information theory.
In short, be prepared if you plan on butting heads with this guy.
Frankly, as I said before, you'd be WAY better off just removing him from your committee.
Also, if this guy is a "lone nut", make doubly sure that other profs. in your dept. don't try to use you to expose him.
either way, you can easily get screwed, and graduate school ain't cheap.
Posted by: Ichthyic | May 20, 2008 5:35 AM
You mean YouTube now uses a more recent version of Flash than what I have? That makes sense. I'll try it at the next opportunity.
Or how many designers there are in the first place.
That's something the IDologists have never tried to figure out. They simply assume designers are like Highlanders, and never even mention the question. The only evident possible reason is religious: they all have a religion, which just so happens to be monotheistic.
Introduction to Multiple Designers Theory
Poor Americans. =8-)
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | May 20, 2008 6:30 PM