As you may have noticed, there has been little activity on this blog in the past month. Unfortunately there is much to do in fleshspace. I've been scrambling around in the lab, getting things in order, and preparing for a scientific conference this coming weekend. I'll be giving a talk, and therefore will devote my time to that. More fun-filled musings from the inside of my head to follow soon. In the meantime, I'd like to share this delightful video clip with all of you. It features some of the best ever footage of a most prehistoric looking fish, the frilled shark, Chlamydoselachus anguineus. Although hardly fresh news (the shark was filmed off the coast of Japan about a year ago) it is still quite mesmerizing and an elegant reminder of how little we now about the things that stir in the depths below. Enjoy.
If ever you have time check out Lone Grey Squirrel's blog (in my blogroll). He's a scientist in Malaysia. I believe I saw this video on his site last year. See, great minds Do think alike! Good luck at your conference.
ReplyDelete"delightful clip" LOL-- spoken like a true biologist!
ReplyDeleteFinds such as that are so exciting. It feels like we've experienced a bit of time travel (and, naturally, makes me hungry for more.)
Have fun at the conference! Are you as dynamic a speaker as you are a writer?
Scar-ee!
ReplyDeletei had a roommate once that looked like that before shed put her makeup on in the morning... freeeeaky. *d
ReplyDeleteSpooky isn't it? But, how cool.....That somewhere, here on earth, there is a species, protected from time...
ReplyDeleteand us....
You think Dalyn was kidding? I can vouch for her. I've seen it.
ReplyDeleteHere's an idea for your next posting: Video tape your lecture and put part of it on here. I realize that this would let us see what you actually look like, apart from the leering eye. I suppose it would also mean you having to deal with the paparazzi... but come on. Do it anyway.
Holy Kamoly! Look at those teeth! Indeed, it does look like an eel, in fact, didn't even look real, really, it's eyes seemed not to move. And sad, more, that she died after having been captured. What good is that? Better left, to be. Reminds me of a story of a photographer who was eager to get a shot of some baby cardinals, in a nest, and used a ruler to put the nest in a more acceptable position, for the photograph... upsetting the nest, and the babies dying. How we do sometimes interfere.
ReplyDeleteclaire: indeed, this is not remotely 'new' news. But I do like to generate my own content and don't really post videos and other news snippets - that's what the Side Branches section is for. Oh, and thank you!
ReplyDeleteaine: it does make one hungry for more. If you ever get the chance, check out Claire Nouvian's amazing book The Deep. It's filled with creatures that make the mind boggle.
angela: when next you're swimming in the sea, remember that stuff like this is swimming in it, too.
dalyn: how unfortunate for the roommate.
singleton: and it's exciting to consider that there might be more to discover in the future.
IF: no. Primarily because it would be hideously boring: would you really enjoy a talk about normalized qRT-PCRs and RNA hybridization blots of transcript-derived fragments? I didn't think so. But I *may* put up a post about aphid saliva one day, if nothing else tempts me first.
shimmerings: that's a horrible story, sort of like the Disney documentaries about lemmings. But that's just an urban legend, I'm told. Truth be told, the shark was already on its way to the big glass tank in the sky when it was filmed. In the final throes of death the animal becomes disoriented and swims near the surface, something a healthy one never would do. Which is why they've not been filmed before. The same happens to the oarfish, another enigmatic denizen of the deep.
I guess that explains why it's eyes looked cloudly and listless. I saw a tiny little blow fish, of some sort, in a store aquarium, just this weekend, that was cloudy eyed, his little spinners (fins) had been eaten nearly entirely off, and he wasn't able to propel, so he just bobbed around, waiting to die. It was heart breaking, because you could see his little gills moving, still... he was still struggling to breathe, and you could see tiny movements from what remained of his fins. And man, what a fish that oarfish is, too. So much that we do not see.
ReplyDeleteBTW, it's probably not important, but the previous last two times I have posted to your blog, I received an email in my box, saying that my email was undeliverable... apparently you receive notice when someone posts to your blog... and when I do, now, for whatever reason, I am receiving notice that it's being returned to me? I'm not sending you emails, just posting. Thought you might want to know, if there's a problem with your email box, for whatever reason. Apparently being returned from you email address at college?
That was nice. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThe ocean is deeper than space, no?
Good luck at your conference!!!!
:-)
Oh, sorry for the Leona look. It won't last long.
ReplyDeletechristineeldin: hey, what happened to the Church Lady persona? I'm going to miss her... Oh, and thank you!
ReplyDeleteshimmerings: the oarfish is a splendid thing - it's also known as the King of the Herrings. And thanks for the heads-up: this blog is still tied to my previous college address, which I haven't checked in yonks. The inbox was indeed overflowing. Order has been restored now. Sorry for the pseudo-spam.
May I get your permission to use one of your blog posts on orchids in a print publication? With attribution and links, of course, and a copy of the publication mailed to you.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you are still alive and blogging...
ReplyDeleteThe low bandwith in SA means that I can't play the video - I have no stamina for teh stress involved in undertaking such an activity.
cuig: which publication is this? What kind of reader does it target? Please provide me with some more details, and I'll certainly consider it.
ReplyDeletetwanji: I'm sorry to hear that. Are you also in one of the 'previously lit' areas?
Listen, I'm not interested in what you're actually TALKING about (partially because I would have no idea how to interpret it). I'm interested in seeing the face behind the blog and the witty comments. Think about it. I'll do a video post if you do. :)
ReplyDeleteThe Irish Orchid Society quarterly publication, Pollinia.
ReplyDelete--The Electric Orchid Hunter said...
cuig: which publication is this? What kind of reader does it target? Please provide me with some more details, and I'll certainly consider it.--
IF: the hotness of my countenance might distract you from the message I'm trying to convey. And we can't have that. ;)
ReplyDeletecuig: I hereby grant the Irish Orchid Society permission to reprint one of my articles in their quarterly newsletter, provided you cite me as the author and mention this blog and its URL. If you intend to add photographs I've taken (like these or those), I'll be more than happy to email you the full-resolution originals.
The Electric Orchid Hunter
ReplyDeleteThanks for granting permission. The article I will use is "Reversal of Fortune." I think the photos as on the site will work, but I'll be happy to use the originals; send to me: editor@pollinia.org
Thank you.
Fine and dandy, but though I am the originator of the written content, I cannot claim ownership of the photographs (which are freely available from other online sources, including the National Geographic Society website) and so do not possess the originals of those. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteUmmm, hello? Did you think I made the request because I understood/was interested in the message? :)
ReplyDelete