Strange Science

All right. I wanna see a show of digital hands.

Who has ever had a Sea Monkeys kit when they were growing up? Come on, don’t be shy!
Leave a comment and tell me about it!

I had a couple, if I remember well. I LOVED the little guys. I could sit and watch them for hours. I’ve been tempted to pick up another kit lately, but haven’t yet had the time.

Well, for any of you unfamiliar with the strange and fascinating world of Sea Monkeys, here’s a nice little shameless plug - I mean, official advertisement to show you how it’s done:

Aw, yeah - it’s a bit cheesy, but it sure looks easy, right?

Basically, these shrimp-like creatures live happily inside a custom tank with pure, clean water and yummy powder-food to keep them alive and well. They’re pretty cute from a distance, but they’re actually kind of creepy close up…

WHOA!

What I find most interesting is their locomotion - the way they move underwater. See how they move their many little legs? Lots of arthropods like shrimp and baby lobsters move like that, too. It helps direct microscopic food toward their mouths as well, so they basically eat as they go. Pretty cool, right?

Now, if these little chaps didn’t get your going “Ewww”, then this fellow might.

Enter the triops! It looks like something straight out of the days of dinosaurs, doesn’t it?

If you’ve got a hankering to get some of these pets for your own to observe and admire, be sure to go give the official Sea Monkeys website a look, and pick up some triops on your way. It’s well worth the money, especially if you love marine critters like I do. =P 

Yes, you read right. Unicorns live not in lush forests or hidden amongst the misty shadows of mystic realms…they live right in the icy-cold oceans of the Arctic Circle. Though their “horn” isn’t really a horn at all, but rather an extremely elongated tusk (a type of tooth) that can grow almost 9 feet long!

This tusk’s purpose is not fully understood, but it can be assumed that it is used for defense, and perhaps even courtship and mating rituals for the species.

Male narwhals are best known for this spiraled tusk, but even some females grow their own, though not as prominent as the males’. The video below shows these fantastic oceanic mammals swimming and interacting in the wild.

If you’d like to find more information about these strange sea creatures, drop by National Geographic’s website and read more about them!

=D

Imagine this:

You’re a placid whale coasting gracefully in the sea without a care in the world.  One day, you’re swimming along in the ocean and decide to take a dive to around 3000 feet down.
A sharp pinch suddenly pokes you on the side of your back, and before you can even figure out what it is, a tiny pair of teeth has twisted out a circular chunk of skin. You’ve just been chomped by one of the tiniest sharks in the sea.

The cigar-shaped cookie cutter shark!

Just look at those teeth!

At a length of about 20 inches, this sneaky little shark takes a bite out of fish a lot bigger than itself. With the ability to leave bites the size of Oreos in its wake, this little guy usually leaves little more than an ugly scar on its prey, rarely enough to actually kill.

Cookiecutter bite on a dolphin's dorsal fin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides taking a bite out of whales, dolphins, fish and squid, cookiecutter sharks have also been reported sinking their nasty little teeth into the rubber coating of submarine sonar.

Bite mark in rubber sonar cover - teeth marks clearly visible.

 

If you’re chomping at the bit to learn more about these fiesty little fish, head on over to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s website, Elasmo-Research.org’s website, and MarineBio.org’s site.

 

If you’re just looking for shark cookie cutters…well, they have those, too.

Borneo Island has been making serious waves in the scientific community as of recently - in fact, ever since 1996, they’ve been the source of discovery for over 400 newly-found species of animals! Check out MSNBC’s article on the topic - dated 2006, but a wealth of information and statistics for your viewing pleasure. 

In more recent news, a new specie of frogfish has been found this year, the Psychedelic Frogfish, which has forward-facing eyes and a bunch of other wild abilities! Just take a look at it in action in this video.