Ecology & Zoology

Sadly, Lake Squid Don't Exist

One of the more whimsical squid news stories I've seen in a while: A squid, a dog, and a mini-mystery solved at a Minnesota lake. "Of course, squid are not found in Minnesota lakes," reports journalist Al Edenloff. So true, and so charmingly ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Mar 28 2012 - 9:51pm

This Is A Job For RoboSquirrel

Most people don't know this, but there is a secret war going on in the animal kingdom; since before recorded history began, squirrels and rattlesnakes have been going at it.  Over time, some squirrels have even  developed the ability to use rattlesnak ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 3 2012 - 2:08pm

Is That A Squid on Your Face?

It was the year 2000, I think, and I was on a college field trip to the tidepools. The class was Invertebrate Zoology, so we were flipping rocks over and listing off the phyla as fast as we could identify them. Then someone lifted a big slab and gasped: th ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Apr 5 2012 - 10:35pm

Colossal Squid off Australia

A new instance of Mesonychoteuthis hamiltonii, more commonly known as the colossal squid: A HUGE squid weighing 120 kilograms found off Portland [Australia, not Oregon] last week is believed to be a rare species to south-west waters. Local fisherman and b ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Apr 9 2012 - 6:16pm

Cephalopod April Fools' Roundup

As a gullible sucker myself, I appreciate the cultural tradition of having one day out of the year when I know not to take anyone seriously. Technologists may produce the most labor-intensive April Fools' Jokes, but cephalopods know how to have their ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Mar 26 2015 - 11:09pm

The Sweet Smell Of Synthetic Whale Ambergris

In Moby Dick, Melville scoffs that “fine ladies and gentlemen should regale themselves with an essence found in the inglorious bowels of a sick whale.” Following the example of the Ancient Egyptians and Chinese, the fragrance industry has employed this es ...

Article - Rachel Nuwer - Apr 11 2012 - 2:08pm

Cephalo-fiction!

It's called Knowledge and it's a short story by John Frizell in Nature. Did you know that Nature publishes short stories, one at the back of every issue? They do! No human could have grasped the squid's name. Human eyes could not distinguish ...

Article - Danna Staaf - Apr 18 2012 - 12:02pm

Poison Becomes Food: Worm Lives On Carbon Monoxide And Sewer Gas

A small marine worm, Olavius algarvensis, is faced with a scarce food supply in the sandy sediments it lives in off the coast of Elba, so it must deal with a highly poisonous menu: it lives on carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide. O. algarvensis can thrive ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 17 2012 - 4:00pm

A Zero-Sum Game Of Squid?

I may have  mentioned before  that squid fishermen of the Falkland Islands go after two very different species:  Illex argentinus, the shortfin squid, an open-ocean animal that migrates between Falkland and Argentinian waters, and  Loligo gahi, the Patagon ...

Article - Danna Staaf - Apr 24 2012 - 6:11pm

Desperate Fishwives- Goby Girls Go Gaga

Gobies are the little fish you may have seen under the pier or swimming around your feet in salty water if you’ve visited the coasts of Western Europe. These seemingly boring brownish fish live a hectic life, lasting only one year. Up close, the gobies are ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 29 2012 - 4:00am