Andrew Bleiman's Blog, page 2

Spectacular Deep Sea Squid Footage

Stunning footage of deep-sea squids from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), where researchers use remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to observe and record deep-sea animal behaviors.

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Spectacular Deep Sea Squid Footage

Stunning footage of deep-sea squids from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), where researchers use remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to observe and record deep-sea animal behaviors.

Meth Snails Feel the Need... the Need Not to Extend Their Breathing Tubes Lest They Get Poked

Turns out casual experimention with a little meth here and there is a good thing, if you're a snail. A paper recently published in the Journal of Experimental Biology explains how snails were able to remember negative stimuli longer when under the influence of a bit of speed.

When great pond snails (Lymnaea stagnalis) venture into low oxygen water, they extend a breathing tube above the water's surface. Researchers seperated a bunch of these party snails into two groups and put one sober group in normal water and another in meth-laced water. Then when the snails went to extend their breathing tubes, the researchers poked the top of the tube, and the snail quickly retracted its molluskular snorkel. Two days later, the researchers took the same two groups of snails and returned them to their respective pools (normal water and the one with pure Monster Energy Drink) and watched the results. The snails in regular water once again extended their breathing tubes. However, the meth snails took off their shells and started grinding together on the dance floor to C&C Music Factory. Also, they didn't re-extend their breathing tubes.

[image error]This snail passed out in the wrong neighborhood

Researchers say this demonstrates a longer memory due to meth, but maybe it just means that when someone stabs you in the throat on meth, the sheer terror of the experience is multiplied ten fold and it leaves more of an impression on your simple three-neuron snail brain.

Thanks to Chris Cleveland of Dieselpoint Search and Navigation for bringing this to our attention.

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Meth Snails Feel the Need… the Need Not to Extend Their Breathing Tubes Lest They Get Poked

Turns out casual experimention with a little meth here and there is a good thing, if you’re a snail. A paper recently published in the Journal of Experimental Biology explains how snails were able to remember negative stimuli longer when under the influence of a bit of speed.

When great pond snails (Lymnaea stagnalis) venture into low oxygen water, they extend a breathing tube above the water’s surface. Researchers seperated a bunch of these party snails into two groups and put one sober group in normal water and another in meth-laced water. Then when the snails went to extend their breathing tubes, the researchers poked the top of the tube, and the snail quickly retracted its molluskular snorkel. Two days later, the researchers took the same two groups of snails and returned them to their respective pools (normal water and the one with pure Monster Energy Drink) and watched the results. The snails in regular water once again extended their breathing tubes. However, the meth snails took off their shells and started grinding together on the dance floor to C&C Music Factory. Also, they didn’t re-extend their breathing tubes.

[image error]This snail passed out in the wrong neighborhood

Researchers say this demonstrates a longer memory due to meth, but maybe it just means that when someone stabs you in the throat on meth, the sheer terror of the experience is multiplied ten fold and it leaves more of an impression on your simple three-neuron snail brain.

Thanks to Chris Cleveland of Dieselpoint Search and Navigation for bringing this to our attention.

Time-lapse photography is the best!

One chrysalis is bursting at the seams! This is what is about to happen...

The newly emerged butterfly will spend its first two hours pumping hemolymph into its wings. In this way, the soft, folded wings will straighten out and become more solid, more flight-ready.

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Time-lapse photography is the best!

One chrysalis is bursting at the seams! This is what is about to happen…

The newly emerged butterfly will spend its first two hours pumping hemolymph into its wings. In this way, the soft, folded wings will straighten out and become more solid, more flight-ready.

Life cycle / Cycle of life

Since we last checked in, all 5 of our caterpillars made their transformation to chrysalis! Unfortunately, one of the Georges settled in too close to the side of the container. As he began to pupate, the forming chrysalis touched the plastic side, which must have been enough to cause a small tear in its surface. A few drops of liquid ran down the side, and the little guy stopped pupating. As I have come to find out, the caterpillar actually liquefies as it pupates. From this caterpillar soup, a butterfly will develop over 7 to 10 days. Except in George's case. RIP, George.

Here are a few shots from DAY 11 and DAY 13:

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Life cycle / Cycle of life

Since we last checked in, all 5 of our caterpillars made their transformation to chrysalis! Unfortunately, one of the Georges settled in too close to the side of the container. As he began to pupate, the forming chrysalis touched the plastic side, which must have been enough to cause a small tear in its surface. A few drops of liquid ran down the side, and the little guy stopped pupating. As I have come to find out, the caterpillar actually liquefies as it pupates. From this caterpillar soup, a butterfly will develop over 7 to 10 days. Except in George’s case. RIP, George.

Here are a few shots from DAY 11 and DAY 13:

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If you click on the picture from DAY 11, you may be able to see the white stripe running down the side of the caterpillar. Along this stripe are small holes called spiracles. These are the breathing organs of the caterpillar (and the pupa and butterfly). They open into a series of tubes called tracheae, which exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide on their surface. Though arthropods don’t have blood, they do have an analogous substance called hemolymph. When it’s oxygenated, it’s blue!

These guys are pretty vulnerable when they are in chrysalis. Some insects have chemical defense systems, but painted ladies use a different scare tactic to ward off predators, as I found out when I transferred the pupae to their butterfly habitat…

Death by Ass Eel (not) Debunked

So a week back or so, a number of friends read an article about death by rectal eel and immediately thought of me. For those of you who missed the story, it went a little something like this:

* Chinese man gets drunk with friends and passes out

* Friends think it would be hilarious to insert a large living swamp eel into the man's butt while he is unconscious

* Hilarity does not ensue. In fact, the man dies. Chinese doctor says the eel "consumed the man's bowels"

The article was widely reported in major news outlets like CNN and the Times, but I am linking instead to the UK edition of Practical Fishkeeping. Like the other articles, it is a cautionary tale about the dangers of combining booze, Chinese people and eels. However, also like the other articles, it is suspiciously short on detail.

[image error]

Well I, for one, was skeptical. #1 Wouldn't there be a near total lack of dissolved oxygen in aqueous solution in your intestines? #2 Wouldn't it be challenging for an eel to open its jaws in there? Realizing that I was a bit out of my depth, I shared these concerns with two doctors who know a thing or two about a man's bowels. I would like to share the thoughts of one in particular who we will call "Saylor Tchreiber" to protect his reputation:

First of all, thank you for adding a solid dose of hilarity to what has otherwise been, a fairly mundane Monday.

Assuming that these 'friends' were actually able to wriggle the eel through the poor guys a-hole, it is technically possible that this eel could have caused the death of this person...though probably not as stated, and the process would likely have been more sensational than it sounded in the article.

First of all, the wall of the intestine itself is quite elastic, so there would be plenty of room for the eel to open it's mouth and bite the mans intestine. Second, the intestine is constantly turning back and forth on itself, so it would likely be the case that the eel could have bit through one of the many in-foldings of the intestine, thus leading to the intestinal contents spilling into the peritoneal cavity. Once this barrier was breached, the eel would find itself in an acqueous environment, low, but not devoid, in oxygen. This whole process would be INTENSELY painful, and I find it unlikely that someone even in the utmost depths of a drunken stupor would not have awoken. The article gives no time-frame to the death, but were the eel to sever one of the major arteries passing through the peritoneal cavity, it is possible that he could have died due to a massive internal hemorrhage. This would have occurred quite quickly. A much longer, more miserable, and unlikely possibility is that the eel may have eventually died within the guy, but that the combination of bacteria, physical trauma and blood loss within the peritoneal cavity would have provided an environment ripe for developing sepsis.

On the other hand, a search for medical case studies describing any medical case involving (eel AND intestine) does not bring up any hits whatsoever....I'll make sure to write it up should I ever be given the opportunity...

So there you have it. Sometimes death by anal swamp eel is really just what it sounds like.

Read the comments on this post...

Death by Ass Eel (not) Debunked

So a week back or so, a number of friends read an article about death by rectal eel and immediately thought of me. For those of you who missed the story, it went a little something like this:

* Chinese man gets drunk with friends and passes out

* Friends think it would be hilarious to insert a large living swamp eel into the man’s butt while he is unconscious

* Hilarity does not ensue. In fact, the man dies. Chinese doctor says the eel “consumed the man’s bowels”

The article was widely reported in major news outlets like CNN and the Times, but I am linking instead to the UK edition of Practical Fishkeeping. Like the other articles, it is a cautionary tale about the dangers of combining booze, Chinese people and eels. However, also like the other articles, it is suspiciously short on detail.

[image error]

Well I, for one, was skeptical. #1 Wouldn’t there be a near total lack of dissolved oxygen in aqueous solution in your intestines? #2 Wouldn’t it be challenging for an eel to open its jaws in there? Realizing that I was a bit out of my depth, I shared these concerns with two doctors who know a thing or two about a man’s bowels. I would like to share the thoughts of one in particular who we will call “Saylor Tchreiber” to protect his reputation:

First of all, thank you for adding a solid dose of hilarity to what has otherwise been, a fairly mundane Monday.

Assuming that these ‘friends’ were actually able to wriggle the eel through the poor guys a-hole, it is technically possible that this eel could have caused the death of this person…though probably not as stated, and the process would likely have been more sensational than it sounded in the article.

First of all, the wall of the intestine itself is quite elastic, so there would be plenty of room for the eel to open it’s mouth and bite the mans intestine. Second, the intestine is constantly turning back and forth on itself, so it would likely be the case that the eel could have bit through one of the many in-foldings of the intestine, thus leading to the intestinal contents spilling into the peritoneal cavity. Once this barrier was breached, the eel would find itself in an acqueous environment, low, but not devoid, in oxygen. This whole process would be INTENSELY painful, and I find it unlikely that someone even in the utmost depths of a drunken stupor would not have awoken. The article gives no time-frame to the death, but were the eel to sever one of the major arteries passing through the peritoneal cavity, it is possible that he could have died due to a massive internal hemorrhage. This would have occurred quite quickly. A much longer, more miserable, and unlikely possibility is that the eel may have eventually died within the guy, but that the combination of bacteria, physical trauma and blood loss within the peritoneal cavity would have provided an environment ripe for developing sepsis.

On the other hand, a search for medical case studies describing any medical case involving (eel AND intestine) does not bring up any hits whatsoever….I’ll make sure to write it up should I ever be given the opportunity…

So there you have it. Sometimes death by anal swamp eel is really just what it sounds like.