53 posts · 44,163 views
Marine biologist and invertebrate zoologist.
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- June 7, 2010
- 02:17 PM
- 3,867 views
What in Darwin’s Name Are Chaetognaths?!
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
Lynn Margulis classified the Chaetognaths, known as arrow worms, as deuterostomes. Deuterostomy is characterized by several developmental characteristics including radial, indeterminate cleavage, a posterior position of the blastopore (deuterostomy=”second mouth”), enterocoelous coelom formation and a tripartite adult body plan . . . → Read More: What in Darwin’s Name Are Chaetognaths?!... Read more »
Ball, E., & Miller, D. (2006) Phylogeny: The Continuing Classificatory Conundrum of Chaetognaths. Current Biology, 16(15). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.07.006
Chen, J.-Y., & Huang, D.-Y. (2002) A Possible Lower Cambrian Chaetognath (Arrow Worm). Science, 298(5591), 187-187. DOI: 10.1126/science.1075059
Marlétaz, F., Martin, E., Perez, Y., Papillon, D., Caubit, X., Lowe, C., Freeman, B., Fasano, L., Dossat, C., & Wincker, P. (2006) Chaetognath phylogenomics: a protostome with deuterostome-like development. Current Biology, 16(15). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2006.07.016
- May 21, 2009
- 02:56 PM
- 1,648 views
Do Vent Crabs Do It Under the Gyre?
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
Vent crabs live in the dark depths of the ocean. Previous studies have shown that the vent crab Bythograea thermydron has a reproductive cycle synchronized with Spring and Summer phytoplankton blooms 2.5 km above the East Pacific Rise. It was hypothesized that female crabs moved away from the toxic vents, once impregnated, to raise their [...]... Read more »
Hilário, A., Vilar, S., Cunha, M., & Tyler, P. (2009) Reproductive aspects of two bythograeid crab species from hydrothermal vents in the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 153-160. DOI: 10.3354/meps07858
McKitrick, M. (1993) Phylogenetic Constraint in Evolutionary Theory: Has It Any Explanatory Power?. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 24(1), 307-330. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.es.24.110193.001515
- April 20, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 1,404 views
Guest Post: The Largest Habitats on Earth
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
Peter Etnoyer is a deep sea coral habitat specialist with NOAA’s National Center for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) in Charleston, SC. He returns to Deep Sea News to deliver this important report on an exciting new development in deep sea science. The journal Oceanography published a new full-color thematic issue [...]... Read more »
Etnoyer, Peter J., Wood, J., & Shirley, T.C. (2010) How large is the Seamount Biome?. Oceanography, 23(1), 206-209. info:other/
Staudigel, H., Koppers, A.A.P., Lavelle, J.W., Pitcher, T.J., & Shank, T.M. (2010) Defining the word ‘Seamount’. Oceanography, 23(1), 20-21. info:/
- May 21, 2009
- 11:57 PM
- 1,279 views
Trilobites Ride the Crazy Train
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
A new paper published recently in the journal Geology reports on peculiar conga party lines of our paleo-friend, the Trilobite. Gutierrez-Marco and colleagues discovered a quarry replete with marine invertebrate fossil, including potentially some of the largest trilobite specimens ever found. Curiously though, these capricious little critters were found exhibiting some rather gregarious behavior! They [...]... Read more »
Gutierrez-Marco, J., Sa, A., Garcia-Bellido, D., Rabano, I., & Valerio, M. (2009) Giant trilobites and trilobite clusters from the Ordovician of Portugal. Geology, 37(5), 443-446. DOI: 10.1130/G25513A.1
- March 22, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 1,177 views
Dispatches from Antarctica – Farewell Weddell Sea
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
David Honig is a graduate student in marine science at Duke University in the lab of Dr. Cindy Van Dover. He is participating in LARISSA, a 2 month multinational expedition to study the causes and consequences of the ice shelf collapse. He will be posting regular updates on the expedition exclusively for [...]... Read more »
Domack, E., Ishman, S., Leventer, A., Sylva, S., Willmott, V., & Huber, B. (2005) A Chemotrophic Ecosystem Found Beneath Antarctic Ice Shelf. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 86(29), 269-276. DOI: 10.1029/2005EO290001
H. Niemann1, D. Fischer, D. Graffe, K. Knittel1, A. Montie, O. Heilmayer, K. Nöthen, T. Pape, S. Kasten, G. Bohrmann.... (2009) Biogeochemistry of a low-activity cold seep in the Larsen B area, western Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Biogeosciences Discussions, 2383-2395. info:other/
- October 28, 2009
- 12:22 AM
- 1,089 views
(Sieve) Size Matters
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
Enter the sieve. It is a marine biologists best friend, saving hours of sorting and enabling quantification of fauna. In fact you can get these miracle workers at McMaster-Carr for a mere $40-50. You take good care of these puppies and they will last several graduate student’s lifetimes! I prefer the 500 micron mesh size [...]... Read more »
Gage, J., Hughes, D., & Gonzalez Vecino, J. (2002) Sieve size influence in estimating biomass, abundance and diversity in samples of deep-sea macrobenthos. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 97-107. DOI: 10.3354/meps225097
Breea Govenar, Derk C. Bergquist, Istvan A. Urcyuo, James T. Eckner, & Charles R. Fisher. (2002) Three Ridgeia piscesae assemblages from a single Juan de Fuca sulphide edifice: structurally different and functionally similar. Cahiers Biologie Marine , 247-252. info:/
Pavithran, S., Ingole, B., Nanajkar, M., & Goltekar, R. (2009) Importance of sieve size in deep-sea macrobenthic studies. Marine Biology Research, 5(4), 391-398. DOI: 10.1080/17451000802441285
- August 30, 2010
- 03:30 PM
- 1,055 views
Yicaris – Progenitor of the Crustacea
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
Finding any new fossil is rare. Finding invertebrate fossils is made even more rare because of the squishy nature of most invertebrates. Sometimes the wandering paleontologist, toiling away with utmost care through dust and debris, can find parts of squishy invertebrates like scolodonts (polychaete jaws), coral rubble, carbonate shell cement, or maybe sea star or sponge . . . → Read More: Yicaris – Progenitor of the Crustacea... Read more »
Zhang, X., Siveter, D., Waloszek, D., & Maas, A. (2007) An epipodite-bearing crown-group crustacean from the Lower Cambrian. Nature, 449(7162), 595-598. DOI: 10.1038/nature06138
- July 24, 2009
- 01:47 PM
- 1,041 views
Deep Sea Corals and Methane Seeps
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
This is a tale of cause and effect in the deep sea woven by threads of hypotheses held together by the loom of targeted sampling efforts and multiple lines of evidence. You see, dear readers, once upon a time existed an observation. Hovland (1989) noticed along the Norwegian coastline that carbonate reefs occurred in sediment [...]... Read more »
Becker, E., Cordes, E., Macko, S., & Fisher, C. (2009) Importance of seep primary production to Lophelia pertusa and associated fauna in the Gulf of Mexico. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 56(5), 786-800. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr.2008.12.006
Hovland, M. (1990) Do carbonate reefs form due to fluid seepage?. Terra Nova, 2(1), 8-18. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3121.1990.tb00031.x
HOVLAND, M., & THOMSEN, E. (1997) Cold-water corals—are they hydrocarbon seep related?. Marine Geology, 137(1-2), 159-164. DOI: 10.1016/S0025-3227(96)00086-2
Hovland, M. (2003) Do Norwegian deep-water coral reefs rely on seeping fluids?. Marine Geology, 198(1-2), 83-96. DOI: 10.1016/S0025-3227(03)00096-3
- July 15, 2010
- 02:05 PM
- 1,018 views
Determining the Fate of Carbon in a Mixotrophic Anemone
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
It has been known for a long time that some anemones form symbiotic relationships with Zooxanthellae. For a while it was assumed that the anemones mainly persisted by utilizing carbon translocated from its symbionts, called autotrophy, but they can may supplement this by heterotrophic feeding on plankton. A study by . . . → Read More: Determining the Fate of Carbon in a Mixotrophic Anemone... Read more »
BACHAR, A., ACHITUV, Y., PASTERNAK, Z., & DUBINSKY, Z. (2007) Autotrophy versus heterotrophy: The origin of carbon determines its fate in a symbiotic sea anemone. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 349(2), 295-298. DOI: 10.1016/j.jembe.2007.05.030
- August 25, 2010
- 09:00 PM
- 999 views
Mahjong-Induced Seizures
by Kevin Zelnio in The Online Laboratory of Kevin Zelnio
Mahjong indoctrination starts early in China.
Anyone that knows me outside of the blogosphere, knows I won’t turn down a good game of Mahjong. Part of the fun is figuring out which scoring system your host is going to use, because I swear to to this day it changes by the minute. “Oh, is that a [...]... Read more »
Chang RS, Cheung RT, Ho SL, & Mak W. (2007) Mahjong-induced seizures: case reports and review of twenty-three patients. Hong Kong medical journal, 13(4), 314-8. PMID: 17664536
- October 16, 2009
- 12:20 PM
- 996 views
Friday Freak 10/16/09 – Gersemia juliepackardae
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
TGIF IS DEAD LONG LIVE TGIF!
Craig and I are making some changes around these parts. You’ll notice them soon enough. One change starts now. We are getting rid of one of our longest running and most successful (not very) commerical franchises. We are disbanding the traditional Friday Deep Sea Pic and TGIF. We will [...]... Read more »
G.C. Williams, & L. Lundsten. (2009) The nephtheid soft coral genus Gersemia Marenzeller, 1878, with the description of a new species from the northeast Pacific and a review of two additional species (Octocorallia: Alcyonacea). Zool. Med. Leiden, 83(34), 1067-1081. info:other/
- August 21, 2010
- 08:42 AM
- 918 views
Myrmecomorphy
by Kevin Zelnio in The Online Laboratory of Kevin Zelnio
I absolutely adore the theory of evolution. It has a divine predictive, the results so wondrous in and of themselves. During my studies into symbiosis I have seen alot of strange and unusual adaptations, but the deeper I dig they more they keep getting stranger and stranger. The word this week is:
Myrmecomorphy
Top: [...]... Read more »
Nelson, X., & Jackson, R. (2007) Complex display behaviour during the intraspecific interactions of myrmecomorphic jumping spiders (Araneae, Salticidae). Journal of Natural History, 41(25), 1659-1678. DOI: 10.1080/00222930701450504
- August 20, 2009
- 02:48 AM
- 915 views
Shrimp Tails: Describing a New Species
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
... Read more »
Zelnio, K., & Hourdez, S. (2009) A New Species of Alvinocaris (Crustacea: Decapoda: Caridea: Alvinocarididae) from Hydrothermal Vents at The Lau Basin, Southwest Pacific, and a Key to The Species of Alvinocarididae. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 122(1), 52-71. DOI: 10.2988/07-28.1
- October 8, 2010
- 09:10 PM
- 906 views
Sea Squirts, SLOSS, and Sex
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
Long time readers will know how perverse and socially inappropriate the unseemly sea squirt is. But there is an interesting property of sea squirt pornography and local oceanography that may have consequences in the debates surrounding marine reserve design. Castillo and colleagues examined the spawning behavior of intertidal tunicates (Pyura praeputialis, an invasive) . . . → Read More: Sea Squirts, SLOSS, and Sex... Read more »
Castilla, J., Manriquez, P., Delgado, A., Gargallo, L., Leiva, A., & Radic, D. (2007) Bio-foam enhances larval retention in a free-spawning marine tunicate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(46), 18120-18122. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0708233104
- April 1, 2010
- 06:12 PM
- 898 views
The ‘Eye’ of the Vent Shrimp
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
*Not to be confused with the hit song by Survivor.
The vent shrimp Rimicaris exoculata (literally the Rift-shrimp deprived of eyes) swarms hydrothermal chimneys, with temperatures reaching over 350 C, en masse in the darkness of the deep sea. It has a certain peculiarity in that its eyes are completely absent yet there is a high [...]... Read more »
Chamberlain, S. (2000) Vision in hydrothermal vent shrimp. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 355(1401), 1151-1154. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2000.0657
Nuckley, D., Jinks, R., Battelle, B., Herzog, E., Kass, L., Renninger, G., & Chamberlain, S. (1996) Retinal Anatomy of a New Species of Bresiliid Shrimp from a Hydrothermal Vent Field on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Biological Bulletin, 190(1), 98-110. DOI: 10.2307/1542679
Pelli, D., & Chamberlain, S. (1989) The visibility of 350 C black-body radiation by the shrimp Rimicaris exoculata and man. Nature, 337(6206), 460-461. DOI: 10.1038/337460a0
- August 15, 2010
- 04:16 PM
- 883 views
Wolf Spider Leg Regeneration Impairs Foraging
by Kevin Zelnio in The Online Laboratory of Kevin Zelnio
Study organism, photo from Uetz Lab (click through).
Wrinn & Uetz studied how leg loss and regeneration affected the condition, growth and development time of the wolf spider, Schizocosa ocreata (Lycosidae, photo at left). Spiders may amputate their legs as a defense strategy, but it’s not clear what trade-offs exist. For instance, if a spider [...]... Read more »
Wrinn, K., & Uetz, G. (2007) Impacts of leg loss and regeneration on body condition, growth, and development time in the wolf spider Schizocosa ocreata. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 85(7), 823-831. DOI: 10.1139/Z07-063
- October 30, 2009
- 06:13 AM
- 879 views
New Species Friday 10/30/09 – Ophryotrocha fabriae
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
Say hello to my little fried… In fact, this guy is so small you might have missed if you didn’t use the right sieve mesh size! So small, that they are best viewed as a scanning electron micrograph (SEM) image like the one on the right. Ophryotrocha fabriae is a new polychaete annelid in the [...]... Read more »
Paxton, H., & Morineaux, M. (2009) Three Species of Dorvilleidae (annelida: Polychaeta) Associated With Atlantic Deep-Sea Reducing Habitats, With The Description of Ophryotrocha Fabriae, New Species. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 122(1), 14-25. DOI: 10.2988/08-22.1
- May 26, 2010
- 03:40 PM
- 866 views
Tahitian Tree Snail Avoid Extinction by Heading for the Mountains
by Kevin Zelnio in The Online Laboratory of Kevin Zelnio
Partula spp. from Society Islands. Photo Credit: Marc Agren
In a short, but sweet, paper by Lee et al. published in the Current Biology, there is a “glimmer of hope” for montane tahitian tree snails (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Partulidae, Partula spp.). They examined the mitochondrial haplotype diversity of tree snail specimens locked away [...]... Read more »
LEE, T., BURCH, J., JUNG, Y., COOTE, T., PEARCEKELLY, P., & OFOIGHIL, D. (2007) Tahitian tree snail mitochondrial clades survived recent mass extirpation. Current Biology, 17(13). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.05.006
- May 27, 2010
- 07:44 AM
- 848 views
Huge Silicate Sponge Spicules and the Evolution of Calcification
by Kevin Zelnio in Deep Sea News
Picture is copyright Emily S. Damstra and used by permission.
The deep-sea sponge Monorhaphis chuni (Hexactinellida) has the world’s largest known biosilica structure! A silicate spicule that can grow up to 3 meters long. That’s at least a meter longer . . . → Read More: Huge Silicate Sponge Spicules and the Evolution of Calcification... Read more »
Jackson, D., Macis, L., Reitner, J., Degnan, B., & Worheide, G. (2007) Sponge Paleogenomics Reveals an Ancient Role for Carbonic Anhydrase in Skeletogenesis. Science, 316(5833), 1893-1895. DOI: 10.1126/science.1141560
Müller, W., Eckert, C., Kropf, K., Wang, X., Schloßmacher, U., Seckert, C., Wolf, S., Tremel, W., & Schröder, H. (2007) Formation of giant spicules in the deep-sea hexactinellid Monorhaphis chuni (Schulze 1904): electron-microscopic and biochemical studies. Cell and Tissue Research, 329(2), 363-378. DOI: 10.1007/s00441-007-0402-x
- October 5, 2010
- 05:08 PM
- 840 views
Assassin Bugs Use Their Victims as Shields
by Kevin Zelnio in The Online Laboratory of Kevin Zelnio
When we think of ‘prey’ we generally think of nourishment, but prey has other use too. Jackson & Pollard report on a fascinating case in which the ant-snatching assassin bug (Acanthaspis petax) makes a “backpack” of its victims to avoid being seen by its own predator, the deadly jumping spider. Masking to avoid [...]... Read more »
Jackson, R., & Pollard, S. (2007) Bugs with backpacks deter vision-guided predation by jumping spiders. Journal of Zoology, 273(4), 358-363. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2007.00335.x
Nelson, X., & Jackson, R.R. (2006) Vision-based innate aversion to ants and ant mimics. Behavioral Ecology, 17(4), 676-681. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ark017
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