From JAMSTEC: Scaly foot--a spiral gastropod clad in iron sulfide scales
Found only in an extremely limited region of hyrdothermal areas within the Indian Ocean, which is called "Kairei Field". As the name suggests, this creature is covered in rugged scales that protect it from predators. How it actually creates its iron sulfide scales, however, is not yet fully understood. A JAMSTEC research team succeeded in observing the creature in an onboard tank for the first time in February 2006. You can download my paper on this species for free here.
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Russ comments in our previous post
Au contrair. The record shows that Planktos was long advocating and involved in ecorestoration not merely recently. The Way Back machine easily proves this. The strawman of Planktos that was created and the ad hominem attacks that were and are the hallmark of…
Overall I'm pretty pleased with the attention that the first caecilian article received (it's here): it was in the Sb top five most active articles for most of today (Jan 4th), and elicited a decent amount of response. Thanks as always to everyone who commented and especially to those who added…
Alviniconcha hessleri (Mollusca: Mesogastropoda: Provannidae)
When you think of hydrothermal vents, what comes to mind first? Is it the gushing black smoke out of a chimney? Perhaps you envision the enormous tubeworms with their red velvety plumes sticking out of their white tubes. Some may…
tags: coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae, fish, living fossil, Indonesia
Indonesian coelacanth, Latimeria menadoensis, and Arnaz Mehta Erdmann, at about a 50 foot depth -- this is to give you an idea of the fish's size.
Image: Mark V. Erdmann, July 1998 (Smithsonian Institute [larger]).
This past…
That's a great photo. I love this snail. Has it been named yet?
Not as of yet
I SFG
I heart SFG
The coolest gastropod on the face of the planet. Hell, the coolest invertebrate ever.
A plate mail clad snail... Will they ever make it into the aquarium trade? I have a tank I've been meaning to fill up....
The little guy's adorable!!! That is just so amazing how it uses pyrite for pretection. Is it known what it eats? (Still reading paper, sorry if that was already mentioned!)
That's so cool! I can imagine there are fossilized forebears of this guy waiting to be discovered somewhere too. imagine those fossils!
In fact, I wonder if they have already been found but not recognized for what they are? Crazy.
I think this is a good competitor on your next Friday Deep Sea Picture:
http://rifters.com/real/2007/10/remedial-gigerology-part-2.html