Sea Slug That Emits Light Found in Cuba
By · CommentsThis, from the Latin American Herold. Full story can be found here: Linkity Link Yo
SANTA CRUZ, Spain – Researchers have found in Cuba a unique sea slug that emits light when it is disturbed.
In addition, two of the biologists described five other new slug species – one of which is considered to be a true so-called “living fossil” – that they found in Spain’s Canary Islands.
There are more than 260 species of sea slugs in the Canaries and researchers believe that two of the recently discovered species are “very peculiar,” according to Leopoldo Moro, of the Canary Islands government’s Biodiversity Service.
One of them is a living fossil, namely the sea slug named Akera silbo and found on the island of La Gomera.
A glowing slug. I am so there. I’ve done some searching but can’t find a pic of a slug aglow. When I find it, I’ll put it up.
Until then, enjoy one from my Light Table collection.
"Light Table Cuthona" - my version of a glowing slug. This little guy is lit from the inside by placing a very powerful dive light under the kelp its sitting on. Click on the image to get a full eyeful of his glowing sluggyness.
Many thanks to professional nudi spotter, Claudette Dorsey for the lead on this story.
-K
Nudibranch Art – very, very nice!
By · CommentsI saw this on one of my favorite sites, the slug site (www.slugsite.us) Featured below is work from a very talented artist, Gar Waterman. His site can be found here: http://www.garwaterman.com/
This from the artist:
A year in French Polynesia at aged 9 – this was back in 1965 – way too long ago – with my father, underwater film maker Stan Waterman, introduced me to diving, and over the years I have accompanied him on many wonderful expeditions shooting various films. We were usually hunting larger marine creatures for the camera, but often the thing that would make a given dive special for me was the discovery of the odd nudibranch hanging out on a coral head. Fast forward 45 years, and I am a stone sculptor who, more often than not, uses the rhythm and grace of things under the sea to inspire my work.
Gotta love these pieces. I love the fact that something so shapeless, like a slug, can be captured in something so immovable – like stone.
Inspiring work, Gar.
-K
SJ012 – Cuthona divae
By · Comments
Muh Muh Muh My Cuthona!
This week, Doug Fieger died. Who is Doug Fieger? He’s the guy from the 70′s pop band, The Knack. These guys were huge for awhile during the post-high school days of my misspent youth. Their biggest hit, My Sharona was a staple on the radio and in the clubs. Its been covered, re-covered, sampled, lifted and used in many movies and TV shows.
Its also the tune I can’t help but hum into my regulator every time I see a Cuthona divae.
Although the Fed Ex is the mascot of SlugJunkie, at present (and for the last several years) the My Cuthona has been my very favorite local Nudi.
With its graceful Lalique frosted crystal Rhinos and body, its lovely furry cerata with its pink to cinnamon-colored core, and its unashamed habit of laying eggs wherever the heck it wants – this Nudi has become a fav of mine.
Rest in Peace, Doug. Your band’s tune is always in my head and on my mouthpiece whenever I see my fav local Nudi.
-K
SJ is on the air!!!
By · CommentsThis week we shipped the first SoCal Nudi ID Lineup cards, and we’ll swing open the doors and pour out all this sluggy goodness on the world.
We’re still filling out the gallery pages – there are already tons of shots, and we’re putting up hundreds more in the next several says.
Come back often – you never know what Nudi nonsense we’ll put up here.
Thanks for visiting!
-K
Meet “Elastic Water”
By · Comments
Was the lens this was shot through made of elastic glass? Just askin...
Found this today. Interesting stuff. There are several agencies that have covered this story, so I give it a 4 of 10 on my BS-o-Meter. You’d think that of all the smart people involved with this project, one of them would have more than just, you know, their crappy Cell Phone Camera.
Here’s the story:
Think Silly Putty, and you’ll probably have a very good idea what the brains at Japan’s Tokyo University have created. The new material, called “elastic water,” retains its Flubber-like consistency by mixing a few grams of clay and organic matter to H20, essentially binding the whole into a jelly-like putty.
According to the Japan Science and Technology
Agency (JST), Japanese Scientists invented “Elastic Water”. Also made it to the news of Japan’s National TV channel
The study period is scheduled to end in September 2010, if the scientists can succeed in increase the density of the substance, it can be used to produce ecologically clean plastic materials.
A report has already been published in the latest issue of British scientific magazine “Nature”.
The aqua substance isn’t headed for toy retail outlets, though we won’t be surprised if it does spin off in that direction. For now, its intention is more visionary and intended to facilitate quick tissue attachment.
The Japanese scientists–who detail their findings in the latest issue of the scientific journal Nature–are also looking to increase the density of the substance for use as an ecological plastic material.
We say it’ll be even more brilliant if they find a way to convert their creation back into potable liquid at a snap, so elastic water can be easily ferried to disaster zones where water supplies have been disrupted.
(Source: Crave Asia via Akihabara News)
Hermit Crab in Glass Shell
By · CommentsI’ve seen this image floating around the internets for awhile – so I thought I’d track it down and put it up here, with of course, credit to the artists that created it.
We see hermit crabs all the time when we’re diving. I have tons of shots of them. But we only see their heads and claw(s) and feet. Its wonderful to see the rest of the little guy and how they set themselves up in the shell.
Information on the photo and the artist can be found here.
How amazing is this??!!?
This is from the blog I found all of this from. Blog located here. Text below.
A hermit crab at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay is preparing to move into a new home – a hand-blown transparent glass shell!
The bizarre shell is the work of a team of talented glass sculptors from Sunderland and is based on an original design dating back to the 1930s.
The original shell was built to the specifications of Lawrence R Brightwell, a former curator of the Brighton Aquarium, Daily Mail Columnist, cartoonist and well known animal artist.
He wanted to find a way to study the crab’s internal workings without having to resort to damaging the crustacean’s outer shell.
The glass shell is part of a set commissioned by Cornwall Wildlife Trust from Sunderland-based Wearside Glass Sculptures and on loan to the aquarium.
Blue Reef’s Matt Slater said: “We were all rather sceptical that a crab would voluntarily choose to move from the relative safety of a discarded whelk shell into a clear glass one.
“However, he’s showing a keen interest in the new shell and I reckon he’ll swap over in the next day or so.
“Crabs are always on the look out for a better shell and, from his point of view, the glass version clearly looks more attractive,” he added.
In the wild their shells offer such safety that hermit crabs are often active during the day and can be seen out in the open secure from the unwanted attentions of would-be predators like gulls and other seabirds.
Hermit crabs usually make use of the discarded shells of other creatures – like whelks – to offer protection for their soft, vulnerable bodies. Some of their legs have become specially adapted to grasp the shell tightly from the inside.
The crab’s head, claws and two pairs of walking legs protrude from the front of the shell but can be drawn inside if danger looms with the entrance blocked by their large right claw.
In One Cubic Foot…
By · CommentsThis in, from the Guardian UK (they’re reporting on a National Geographic story) about what one photographer found in one cubic foot of space on a coral reef.
All things bright and beautiful: what photographer found in one cubic foot
David Liittschwager’s amazing images ? featured in next month’s National Geographic magazine capture Earth’s ecosystems as never before
Just how much life can you find in an ecosystem of one cubic foot? That is the question photographer David L?iittschwager set out to answer when he took a 12-inch metal frame to a range of different environments on land and in water, in tropical climes and temperate regions and began to chart the living organisms.
The answer? An astonishing amount. In each place he visited, the photographer, best known for his large images of rare animals and plants, was amazed at the diversity and abundance of life that passed through such a small area.
In five distinct and contrasting environments, from a tropical forest to a city-centre park, Liittschwager set down his green-edged metal cube, and started watching. Each creature that passed through the cube was counted and charted with the help of his assistant and a team of biologists. Over a three-week period the team photographed each inhabitant that passed through the cube, down to creatures measuring a mere millimetre.
In total, more than a thousand individual organisms were photographed, and the diversity of each environment can be seen on nationalgeographic.comhttp://www.nationalgeographic.com/]. “It was like finding little gems,” Liittschwager said.
The team started out at Central Park in New York – or more specifically, in the Hallet nature sanctuary, a 3.5-acre deciduous woodland area, populated with trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally. There they found the tufted titmouse and eastern grey squirrel, creatures as big as a raccoon and as small as a leopard slug.
In Moorea, in French Polynesia, they discovered a vast array of species (pictured) thought to only be a very small selection of the reef’s full diversity. Among their findings were the inch-long file clam, the whitespotted boxfish, sacoglossan sea slug and the frankly terrifying post-larval octopus.
Life found in one cubic foot of Coral Reef
While in the tropical cloud forest of Monteverde, in Costa Rica, most of the animals in the treetop ecosystem were as small as a fingertip, there were hawk moths, sharpshooter leafhoppers and burio tree seeds.
The fine-leaved vegetation of the fynbos of Table Mountain in South Africa, thought to hold one of the richest concentrations of plant diversity in the world, revealed the purple flower of the alice sundew, and no shortage of cape zebra cockroaches. Finally, in the fresh water of Duck River in Tennessee, one of the most biodiverse waterways in the US, swam golden darters and longlear sunfish as well as the bigeyed chub.
Kinda cool, really.
Here’s a shot of the device they used to stake out the one-cubic foot.
The framed used
How much life could you find in one cubic foot? That’s a hunk of ecosystem small enough to fit in your lap. To answer the question, photographer David Liittschwager took a green metal frame, a 12-inch cube, to disparate environments—land and water, tropical and temperate. At each locale he set down the cube and started watching, counting, and photographing with the help of his assistant and many biologists. The goal: to represent the creatures that lived in or moved through that space. The team then sorted through their habitat cubes, coaxing out every inhabitant, down to a size of about a millimeter. Accomplishing that took an average of three weeks at each site. In all, more than a thousand individual organisms were photographed, their diversity represented in this gallery. “It was like finding little gems,” Liittschwager says.
Slugs On Sale! The Nudi Nordstrom is now open!
By · CommentsAttn Nudi Lovers and lovers of all that is slimy: You can now shop the Slug!
We’ve opened the store. The Southern California Nudibranch Lineup sheets are coming in. We’re taking orders for the first edition. Get yours now by crawling over to the SlugShop and picking a few up.
These are super reference cards that will make identifying the little slimers you see all around the waters of Southern California a whole lot easier.
Features of the Southern California Nudibranch Lineup include:
- Convenient size – 6″ X 9″, with a portrait orientation – so it will fit into most any standard log book
- Very heavy duty 10mil Laminate – making the card completely waterproof and virtually indestructible
- Large, clear, sharp photographs that provide both fidelity of color and primary identifying features
- Two sided. Each sheet features 24 Nudis – 12 on a side (3 X 4). This limited number allows me to present the photos large enough to be meaningful. Card #002 features 22 Nudis the two common Navanax species added.
- Cards #001 and #002 are sold as a set. They are punched so you can keep them together with a zip tie or snap them into the top or bottom ring of your log book – so they swing out
What makes these cards really work is the tile design employed for each Nudi.
The tiles are oriented on the card so Nudis with similar features and/or colors – or Nudis that are easily confused with each other, are set on the card in near horizontal or vertical proximity so you can start to better tell them apart.
This is a super reference guide for any diver. We’re offering the 2-card set here for $20 delivered to any address in the US. Orders outside the US will require additional postage.
Now available in our SlugShop.
Thanks!
-K
Golf Balls – Humanity’s Signature Litter?!?!?!
By · Comments
Golfball with Mexichromis Nudibranch. 103 FSW at the base of the wreck of the Valian. Catalina, Island
Check this out from CNN. Link here - text below
London, England (CNN) — Research teams at the Danish Golf Union have discovered it takes between 100 to 1,000 years for a golf ball to decompose naturally. A startling fact when it is also estimated 300 million balls are lost or discarded in the United States alone, every year. It seems the simple plastic golf ball is increasingly becoming a major litter problem.
The scale of the dilemma was underlined recently in Scotland, where scientists — who scoured the watery depths in a submarine hoping to discover evidence of the prehistoric Loch Ness monster — were surprised to find hundreds of thousands of golf balls lining the bed of the loch.
It is thought tourists and locals have used the loch as an alternative driving range for many years. The footage shot by underwater robotics team SeaTrepid, can be seen below.
With an increasing number of golf balls discarded each year, the Danish Golf Association devised a number of tests to determine the environmental impact of golf balls on their surroundings.
It was found that during decomposition, the golf balls dissolved to release a high quantity of heavy metals. Dangerous levels of zinc were found in the synthetic rubber filling used in solid core golf balls. When submerged in water, the zinc attached itself to the ground sediment and poisoned the surrounding flora and fauna.
Course manager for the Danish Golf Union, Torben Kastrup Petersen, said the scale of the problem is unknown: “There has been very little research on the environmental impact of golf balls, but it’s safe to say the indicators are not good. We are planning to collaborate with environmentalists in America to conduct more tests to fully explore the extent of the problem.”
Local government ministers in Scotland have also complained about the level of golf ball littering. UK lawmaker Patrick Harvie told CNN: “From the moon to the bottom of Loch Ness, golf balls are humanity’s signature litter in the most inaccessible locations.”
OK.
Really? Hundreds of thousands on the bottom of the loch.
Lets do some maths. In place of the hysterical “hundreds of thousands”, lets use 300,000.
Lets replace the purposefully vague “many years” for a term less than a decade, but more than a few. Lets say 6 years.
6 years is 2190 days. To keep things simple (no seasonal weighing or even crediting more tourist traffic on weekends, etc.) We’ll treat each of the 2190 days over the last 6 years the same.
That’s 137 golf balls A DAY landing in the loch, every day for 6 years.
At the rate the video shows that wacky Nessy sniffer discovering the “hundreds of thousands” of menacing golf balls would take a couple of decades for sure.
I’m not saying we can’t be better stewards of our waterways, as we surely can. And heaven knows I got no love for entitled goobers standing on the front porch of their beach-front home yelling “fore” and shanking balls onto my dive sites. Get this: we just saw one at 103FSW at the base of the Valiant in Catalina…. that is one long ass drive from Descanso beach, Tin Cup.
But I believe we would all be served better for media outlets and scientific types to get a tighter grip on their horses before they start throwing around these figures.
-K
