The Spanish dancer is typically red (indicated by its species name, sanguineus) and sometimes yellow and it is one of the largest nudibranchs, many over 40 cm in length.
These brightly colored, undulating swimmers are found throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific and Red Sea. They were given the name Spanish dancer because their swimming movement (often referred to as dancing) resembles the movement of a Spanish flamenco dancer’s dress. The animal whirls, spins, and undulates; its unfurled parapodia (the wide edges of the mantle) create the ruffled-dress look that propels it though the water.
When the Spanish dancer is not dancing, it crawls. It’s parapodia are tightly curled around the edges of the mantle, and it moves quite slowly.
As an unusual member of the superfamily Eudoridoideahe, the feather-like or soft, leaf-like gills on the mantle are exposed and do not have a pouch in which they can retract. In fact, each gill is inserted separately into the body wall.
The Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), lives in the deep, cold waters of the Antarctic. It is also known as the Antarctic Squid or the Giant Cranch Squid. As of 2009, it is considered the largest species of living squid. Relatively little is know about this species, because only a few specimens have been studied. However, from these specimens, scientists estimate that the colossal squid can reach a maximum size of around 12 to 14 meters (39 to 46 feet). This makes it not only the largest squid but the largest invertebrate species on Earth!
Where is the Colossal Squid found?
The colossal squid has only been found in the waters of the southern oceans, including specimens collected on the south end of New Zealand, southern Africa, and the southern tip of Argentina.
What does the Colossal Squid eat?
From studies of the guts of these and other similar squid, scientists can deduce what this squid eats. They believe the primary diet consists of chaetognaths, toothfish, and other deep sea squid.
What eats the Colossal Squid?
Squid dissolve readily in the guts of predators, such as whales, yet one piece of the squid remains: the beaks. Based on a recent study, scientists found that 14 percent of the squid fed on by Antarctic sperm whales are Colossal Squid. By calculating the estimated sizes of all squid found, it was then deduced that 77 percent of the biomass of sperm whales consisted of colossal squid. Other organisms that feed on these squid are bottlenose whales, pilot whales, southern elephant seals, Patagonian toothfish, Pacific sleeper sharks, and albatross.
Along the western coastline of North America, a coldwater current flows down the coast. The water is nutrient-rich and supports large forests of kelp and other algae. These forests provide food and habitat for a great number of other animals. One of the herbivorous predators of these kelp is the Californian Purple Sea Urchin (Stronglyocentrotus purpuratus). When outbreaks of sea urchins occur, it can be a disaster for the kelp beds. The number of urchins is controlled by otters, sea stars, and the amount of food in the area.
Where do California Purple Sea Urchins live?
These sea urchins are found along the west coast of North America from Punta Banda Mexico to British Columbia, Canada. It is one of the dominant organisms in the kelp forest community.
How large to Purple Sea Urchins grow?
Most of these urchins will grow to a diameter of 4 inches. They can live for a long time, too: up to 70 years old.
Roles in Biomedical Research
The California Purple Sea Urchin has been chosen as an ideal species for genetics study. It is one of the most abundant urchins on the west coast so it is readily available for study. It is also a deuterostome, a term used to describe the development of the zygote. Because humans are also deuterostomes, these invertebrates provide great research subjects in developmental biology. In fact, we share about 7700 genes with these urchins and this study of their genetics can shed light on our own.
A. filiformis is a small brittle star that lives in soft bottom sediment. These brittle stars burrow down into the sediment and extend their arms into the water column to collect food particles. The extended arms may get eaten by predatory fish or damaged by physical factors. The arms then easily break off but can be regenerated by the animal. The new arms develop fully with a new functional nerve system.
Anyone who has spent time walking along the seashore looking for shells and enjoying the ocean will surely have seen the Portuguese Man-of-War (Physalia physalis). It goes by several names including the blue bubble, blue bottle, man-of-war, and the Portuguese man o’ war. But did you know that this tentacled, stinging organism is not a jellyfish? In fact, its not even a single organism, but a collection of four separate polyps.
The Portuguese Man-of-War have specialized polyps and medusoids that make up the organism. Its the uppermost polyp, a gas-filled bladder (a pneumatophore), that these blue bottles are named after. But the painful stings come from the man-of-war’s second organism.
Long tendrils that can reach 165 feet (50 meters) in length are covered in venom-filled nematocysts which are used to paralyze and kill fish. If you’re a human and you get stung, its very painful but rarely lethal.
Next time you go out to the beach, remember that the Portuguese Man of War, while it may look like a jellyfish is really a collection of specialized hydroid polyps! Its a fun ecofact for you to impress your beach going friends with. Just make sure you don’t touch it, because even washed up blue bottles can pack a punch!
For more information
Information about Siphonophores, including information about life cycles, body plans and colonial organization: siphonophores.org
The black widow spider is a group of spiders which includes the southern black widow (Latrodectus mactans), the northern black widow (Latrodectus variolus), and the western black widow (Latrodectus hesperus). As the name indicates, the southern widow is primarily found in (and is indigenous to) the southeastern United States, ranging from Florida to New York, and west to Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona, where they run particularly rampant. The northern black widow is found primarily in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, though its ranges overlap that of L. mactans quite a bit. The western widow is found in the western United States, as well as in southwestern Canada and much of Mexico. Black widows range in the southern parts of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario – but only on the Bruce Peninsula. They are often confused with the False Black Widows.
Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are some of the most famous butterflies in the world. They are textbook examples of warning coloration; their brilliant colors are used to warn predators of their unpleasant taste.
For a long time, people knew that the monarch butterfly migrated south in the winter. However, until recently, no one knew where these butterflies went. Today we know they travel to a small mountainous region of Mexico.
Monarch Butterfly Life Cycles Video
To help show you the life cycle of the monarch video we have an amazing video from Lafayette Regional School’s 4th grade students:
What do Monarch Butterflies eat?
Have you ever wondered what those beautiful butterflies that we call Monarchs actually eat? You might be surprised when you realize that you probably have a lot of their food sources in or around your own backyard. However, you should also realize that a butterfly comes from a caterpillar. So lets start from the beginning.
The larvae (caterpillars) of monarch butterflies eat ONLY milkweed; this is why the monarch butterfly is dubbed the “milkweed butterfly.” The larvae stage is the only stage of the monarch butterfly that feeds on milkweed; there is something in milkweed that allows the caterpillar to grow and keep all of the vitamins needed to transform into a beautiful butterfly. In turn, the adult butterflies consume all sorts of different things, including nectar, water, and even liquids from some of the fruits we consume. If you are looking to attract monarch butterflies to your backyard, simply plant a few fruit-bearing trees along with plenty of flowers and you should definitely have yourself a back yard full of monarch butterflies. They especially like to drink from mushy slices of banana, oranges, and watermelon. There are special feeders you can buy that are colored like a flower and come with special sugar you mix in water to make food for them to eat.
Monarch Migrations
Monarch butterflies are not able to survive the cold winters of most of the United States, so they migrate south and west each autumn to escape the cold weather. The monarch migration usually starts around October each year, but it can start earlier if the weather turns cold sooner than that.
Monarch butterflies will spend their winter hibernation in Mexico and some parts of Southern California where it is warm all year long. If the Monarch lives in the Eastern states, usually east of the Rocky Mountains, it will migrate to Mexico and hibernate in oyamel fir trees. If the monarch butterfly lives west of the Rocky Mountains, then it will hibernate in and around Pacific Grove, California, in eucalyptus trees. Monarch butterflies use the very same trees each and every year when they migrate, which seems odd because they aren’t the same butterflies that were there last year. These are the new fourth generation of monarch butterflies, so how do they know which trees are the right ones to hibernate in? Monarch butterflies are the only insects that migrate to a warmer climate that is 2500 miles away.
Video Credits: Lafayette Regional School’s 4th Grade Class
This is the largest, or at least the longest, insect in the living world. It can grow to 22 inches long if you count the legs as well (Its body is still a whopping 14 inches!). It is extremely long and slender, making it blend in with its surroundings of sticks, leaves and vines.
It has been named the Chan’s Megastick, because it was found by a local villager and handed to Malaysian amateur naturalist Datuk Chan Chew Lun in 1989.
Chan’s Megastick was discovered in the tropical rainforests of Borneo, Indonesia. The largest specimen discovered is under the care of the Natural History Museum in London.
Almost nothing is known about the biology and lifestyle of this bizarre insect. It is a vegetarian. They most likely live high in the forest canopies of the rainforest, making it very difficult to find in this relatively unexplored area of rainforest ecosystems.
Most stick insects lay their eggs individually and fling them in to the air where they land on the ground and hatch in the soil.
A very close relative is Phobaeticus serratipes, another stick insect found in Malaysia and Indonesia. It is very long as well. But so far chani is at least a half inch longer than serratipes.
The horseshoe crab or Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) is a marine chelicerate arthropod. Despite its name, it is more closely related to spiders, ticks, and scorpions than to crabs. Horseshoe crabs are most commonly found in the Gulf of Mexico and along the northern Atlantic coast of North America. A main area of annual migration is the Delaware Bay, although stray individuals are occasionally found in Europe.
A national symbol of Panama has been declared extinct by BBC filmmakers. The crew was in Panama to film the unique frog for David Attenborough’s most recent series on reptiles and amphibians, entitled Life in Cold Blood. The filmmakers achieved their objective and captured the golden frog on film, including rarely seen behavior.
The golden frog was devastated by the chytrid fungus, which has caused astounding declines in frog populations worldwide. According to the BBC, soon after the filming, scientists evacuated the remaining frogs from the area. Hilary Jeffkins, senior producer of Life in Cold Blood, is quoted by the BBC as saying, “The whole species is now extinct in Panama – this was one of the last remaining populations. Its final wave was in our programme.”
