Andrew is a post-doctoral researcher in North Carolina focused on population and conservation genetics in hydrothermal vent communities.
Rimicaris exoculata
Rimicaris exoculata, the eyeless vent shrimp is an iconic member of hydrothermal vent communities on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The shrimp is characterized by a lack of eyes, an enlarged carapace, chemoautotrophic symbionts that they farm in their gills, and, most curiously, large photoreceptors on the top of its carapace. A solution to the mysterious eyespots was first hypothesized by Cindy Lee Van Dover, who inferred that Rimicaris exoculata can “see” low-level light produced by hydrothermal vent effluent.
Iconic, novel, biologically fascinating; of all the adjectives I can think of to describe Rimicaris exoculata, the one that jumps immediately to mind is sort-of-canoe-shaped. In fact, it’s so sort-of-canoe-shaped that this hydrothermal vent shrimp needs to have a canoe made in its image.
Presenting the grand unveiling of Project S – the Rimicanoe (sensu strictissimo Rimicaris exocu-yacht-a)!
Project S revealed! The Rimicanoe!
Rimicanoe began as a scale model in cardboard and evolved into a stitch-and-glue plywood masterpiece of shear geekery.
The scale concept model
The incredibly unwieldy watercraft comes complete with enlarged carapace, segments, and eyespots:
For detecting hydrothermal vents
The vessel’s fantail is, well, an actual fantail:
signed by my awesome 5-person build team
Thanks to my build team: Kevin (and Elliot), William, David H., and Amy!
~Southern Fried Scientist
And Happy Birthday Cindy!
Awesome! Now you just need a giant souther fried mermaid on the prow.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
How’s she handle?
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
not well
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
[...] the Rimicanoe! By Kevin Zelnio, on May 27th, 2010 Southern Fried Scientist has finally posted our latest creation. Those follow @sfriedscientist and @kzelnio on twitter may have heard us mention Project S. It is a [...]
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
[...] at Southern Fried Science created the Rimicanoe (with help from yours truly), a biomimetic canoe designed like a a deep-sea hydrothermal vent [...]
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
This is wonderful. I can’t even describe just how wonderful.
I don’t suppose you have any friends named “Tyler”? Then we could have “Rimicanoe and Tyler, too.”
Like or Dislike:
2 
0