Clonus Posted October 3, 2009 Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 http://io9.com/5357663/tongue+eating-parasites-attack-fish-near-normandy Do I need to explain why I posted this in this area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted October 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 Re: Strange Zoology http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8195000/8195029.stm OK, strange botany as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phookz Posted October 3, 2009 Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 Re: Strange Zoology http://io9.com/5357663/tongue+eating-parasites-attack-fish-near-normandy Do I need to explain why I posted this in this area? Damn it must suck not having arms and hands. Stranger than fiction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusterBoy Posted October 4, 2009 Report Share Posted October 4, 2009 Re: Strange Zoology For a moment I seriously wondered if this was a spoof photo, like the one of the shark attacking a UH60. Then I figured out it was for real. But, as creepy as that parasite is (and what it does) as the fact that the fish seems to have human-style teeth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted October 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2009 Re: Strange Zoology Sewer blob: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drhoz Posted October 25, 2009 Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 Re: Strange Zoology Sewer blob: ah, the Tubifex worm cluster.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Bushido Posted October 25, 2009 Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 Re: Strange Zoology http://io9.com/5357663/tongue+eating-parasites-attack-fish-near-normandy Do I need to explain why I posted this in this area? Sorry. I was going to reply to this twenty minutes ago, but after the link loaded, I had to go barf a lot.... :ugly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drhoz Posted October 25, 2009 Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 Re: Strange Zoology Sorry. I was going to reply to this twenty minutes ago, but after the link loaded, I had to go barf a lot.... :ugly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusterBoy Posted October 25, 2009 Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 Re: Strange Zoology That blob thing is gross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Bushido Posted October 25, 2009 Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 Re: Strange Zoology The tubifex colony was actually really interesting to watch, at least to me. That tongue / parasite thing--- chunk-blowin' fuel, right there.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drhoz Posted October 27, 2009 Report Share Posted October 27, 2009 Re: Strange Zoology Another entry in Australia's catalogue of such horrors as spiders that eat snakes, snails that eat fish, and spiders that eat birds - a katydid that eats cicadas Picture a male cicada, all dressed up for his first date. He's been enjoying an internet romance with a nice lady cicada, and is finally getting to meet her. Instead, he finds a giant, spiky, and somewhat psychotic-looking katydid. ( photo by Robert Read ) Cicada : OMGWTFBBQ. You're the chick I've been singing with?!? Katydid : Yup Cicada : But you're a grasshopper! And a bloke!!! Katydid : Katydid, actually. And it gets worse. Cicada : How?!? Katydid : Now I'm going to bite off your head and eat you Cicada : Aaaahhh!!!!!!! Katydid : OM NOM NOM NOM And this happens all the time, because the Katydid Chlorobalius leucoviridis can mimic the female's part in the duet of at least 22 species - including species from New Zealand & the US it could never have met. Soundbite of this aggressive acoustic mimicry here and here more pics here and here This behaviour was discovered by husband-and-wife team Dave Marshall & Kathy Hill and local colleague Max Moulds, who were in Australia to study cicadas of the Cicadettini tribe, in which the females respond to cues in the male's song with a noisy flick of her wings. Indeed, one of the best ways to catch Cicadettinine cicadas is to emulate the response with a snap of your fingers, and if you get the timing right the males will come running ( or flying, rather ). It's just that the Katydids discovered the trick first. Marshall & Hill were rather startled to find a large carnivorous katydid where they thought they were hearing a Kobonga oxleyi ( isn't that an AWESOME name? I could say it all day. Kobonga. Kobonga ) and Moulds somewhat agonized when they fed half his hard-sought cicadas to the things to prove that the katydids were luring them to their doom. Original paper here, and New Scientist's article and video about them here. The katydids also respond to coins being clicked together, and car indicators, so give them a few more years and maybe they'll start hunting humans too, just like everything else on this continent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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