Darren Naish inspects "trace fossils" on Tetrapod Zoology, geologic records of footprints and other indentations left behind by animals. Although these telltale signs can "provide excellent information on behaviour and lifestyle," it can sometimes be hard to tell what kind of creature made them in the first place. Such is the case with a set of mysterious parallel grooves preserved in a Jurassic sandbar, which may have been formed by the snouts of ancient sea monsters trolling for snacks. On Laelaps, Brian Switek reconsiders unilinear assumptions of cetacean evolution, citing "a particularly rich fossil site" in Pakistan which has revealed a broad diversity of early whale species. And on Neurotopia, Scicurious outlines the sexual proclivities of diatoms, prolific photosynthesizers which often reproduce asexually but were recently caught doing it with each other by the millions. Finally, visit Eric Klemetti for an incredible video of an underwater volcano spewing ire on Eruptions.
Links below the fold.
- Who made the giant Jurassic sea-floor gutters? on Tetrapod Zoology
- Breaking the Chain of Early Whale Evolution on Laelaps
- Friday Weird Science: The Million Diatom Orgy on Neurotopia
- Friday Flotsam: Undersea volcanism revisited and a Mayon update on Eruptions
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