Ecology & Zoology

Sex And Food In The Giant Squid

A nifty news story about students in a Florida classroom watching a giant squid dissected in Melbourne, Australia, led me to hunt down an article about the dissection itself. Was it really a giant squid, I wondered wearily, or merely a very large squid? It ...

Article - Danna Staaf - Nov 21 2009 - 12:05am

ACS Genes Discovery May Make Valuable Plants Survive In Difficult Terrain

According to a recent GENETICS study, a family of genes (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase, or ACS genes) are responsible for production of ethylene and since this gas affects many aspects of plant development, it could lay the foundation for futu ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 21 2009 - 3:52pm

Giant Squid: The Band?

I discovered that Giant Squid was a band when I was searching for squid products on Amazon (yes, that is pretty typical behavior for me). Okay, I thought, rather miffed, some punk band thinks it's cool to name themselves after an enormous marine inver ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Nov 21 2009 - 11:55pm

Squid Sucker Rings Can Hurt (A Little)

I wrote the following about the toothed sucker rings of the Humboldt squid in Squid Says: What's For Dinner? Probably Not You: Each ring would barely fit on the finger of an infant, and the "teeth" range from the length of a pinhead to micro ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Nov 22 2009 - 8:48pm

Scientists Discover New Species Of Chameleon In Tanzania--Kinyongia Magomberae

While surveying monkeys in the Magombera Forest in Tanzania, environmental scientists this week unexpectedly discovered a new species of chameleon called Kinyongia magomberae, or the Magombera chameleon. The researchers distinguished the new specimen by co ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 8 2010 - 6:58pm

Census of Marine Life Biased Towards Cephalopods?

Speaking of cirrate octopods (as I have been recently), BBC News In Pictures: Monsters of the deep is strongly dominated by a cirrate octopus! Yay! Three of the eight photos feature Grimpoteuthis: Picture #1 is very much dead, probably preserved in ethanol ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Nov 23 2009 - 5:17pm

More Cephalopods in COML!

I love that the Census of Marine Life is getting news coverage! It proves that people can get excited over cool exploratory science--natural history of the deep--that doesn't have any immediate application. If you want to hear deep-sea species discuss ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Nov 24 2009 - 1:35pm

In Defense Of Dissection

An opinion piece in the Boston Herald criticizes the squid dissection component of an overnight family education event at the New England Aquarium: The barbaric highlight of the night was when the children were instructed to use the squid’s pseudo-spine to ...

Article - Danna Staaf - Nov 26 2009 - 1:38am

Lots of "Lively" Squid Are No Longer Alive

Humboldt squid are apparently still swarming off the coast of northern California, according to this account from Marin: The fishing began roughly 30 miles from shore when captain Rick Powers killed the motor and told his 28 clients to drop their lines to ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Nov 27 2009 - 8:27pm

Cephalopod Collectives

Today's Ecoview column in the Tuscaloosa News addresses this question: Q: Can you tell me what a group of squid is called? A squad? A school? I’ve tried to look it up, but I haven’t seen anything definite that says, “A group of squid is called... ” I ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Nov 29 2009 - 11:47pm