Ecology & Zoology

So I guess squid are doing really well this year. It's estimated that around-the-world squid in mass outweighs the human population. . . . Along the coast of California, the squid season has been…

Very cool new research on feeding in ancient ammonites! (Thanks to R. Olley for the link.) Ammonites, though not the direct ancestors of modern-day cephalopods, are their ancient cousins--and they…

If you're not from a part of the U.S.A. that read the "Li'l Abner" comics by Al Capp, you may not know Sadie Hawkins Day - but butterflies do.   Sadie Hawkins, as comic strip aficionados know,…

It's not a cartoon, an ancient flightless bird was actually able to use its wings like a flail - or nunchaku, if your perspective is more Asian. Paleontologists have discovered that Xenicibis, a…

One of the more commonly known facts about squid is that they squirt ink. When I ask kids, "Why do you think they do that?" the answer is usually "to escape predators" or something similar. This…

Strange but true! Oil supertankers cool themselves by pumping water from the ocean through their overheated innards, but as it turns out, there's more than just water in the ocean. Market squid have…

Aravalli hills are around 600 km long and cover very rich diversity due to their peculiar location . However unlike temperate hills this hill range passes through hostile climate of Rajasthan and…

A couple of recent articles on the closure of the California market squid fishery focus on the southern (Van Zant in the Long Beach Press-Telegram) and northern (me in the Monterey Weekly) fishing…

Bummer! A shipment of Uruguayan squid (probably Illex argeninus, the same species of Falkland Islands' fame) has been blocked by the EU due to high cadmium content. Cadmium, like other heavy metals,…

Squid are usually caught by means of a normal fishing line and a special hook-and-lure combination called a jig. Jigs are weighted, glow in the dark, and have several circles of upturned hooks on…