Southern Fried Science

Eleven Marine Organisms that would make Amazing Aquaman Villains

September 19, 2013October 27, 2013 Andrew Thaler 2 Comments

Physalia_physalis1 — Physalia physalis. Public domain.

Black Manta. Ocean Master. The Trench. Scavenger. King Shark. Toxin. The Fisherman. Aquaman has had some pretty memorable villains over the last 80 years. Also, the Fisherman. This is Southern Fried Science, a blog famous for two things – inspiring the world with our unique blend of marine science and conservation and doing horrible, horrible things to Aquaman.

Catch me flounder for I have finned. It has been 98 days since my last Aquaman is Awesome post.

Sure, Black Manta has some pretty sweet gear, a compelling back story that justifies his hatred of the Atlantean king, and he looks like he’s poised for some serious awesome during DC’s Villains Month. The Trench even appear to be able to utilize chemosynthesis, when they’re not trapping dogs in cocoons. You know where I’m going with this, don’t you?

That’s right. No matter how ridiculous Aquaman’s comic book foes become, you can bet all your clams I’ll find real marine organisms that would make equally amazing villains. Here’s eleven of them.

Meet Man-o-War, the colonial killer that understands the value of teamwork.

Imagine a super villain composed of thousand of individual organisms that form one giant super-organism. Rather than a body filled with vital organs, this villain can take massive damage without a loss of ‘self’, only to spawn new minions to replaced the damaged parts. Now give this deadly foe 60-foot long venom-filled tentacles whose sting brings excruciating pain. Such a villain would certainly assume the identity ‘Man-o-War’.

The Portuguese Man-o-War (Physalia physalis), arguably the best known of the siphonophores (it is a cnidarian, but it is not a jellyfish) possess tentacles that unleash an unbelievably painful sting, the weapon of choice for our newest menace. But the weapon does’t make the man (o-war), and our villain has a strategic secret. Man-o-Wars are not singular animals, they are a colony of highly specialized polyps — each one an individual animal that combines to form a deadly super-organism.

The pneumatophore is a polyp the creates a gas-filled bladder for flotation. This produces the distinctive ‘sail’ of the Man-o-War, a bilaterally symmetric air sac that allows the colonial to remain at the surface and provides some propulsion by catching the wind. The sail is not just a sac of air, it also has defensive capabilities. When attacked, the sail is able to deflate, allowing the colony to sink below the surface and avoid predators. The gonozooids, which occur in tight clusters, are responsible for reproduction. Man-o-Wars engage in both asexual and sexual reproduction. Young colonies can reproduce clonally by budding, but as the colony becomes more mature, that gonozooids become sexually differentiated and release eggs and sperm to form new colonies. The gastrozooid takes care of all the digestion-related needs and surround the dastardly dactylozooids. Finally, the dactylozooids produce 10-meter (or longer!) tentacles that capture prey and drag them towards the gastrozooids. This is some serious teamwork.

Man-o-War even has minions. The shepherd fish is immune t the stinging tentacles and hangs out within the tentacles. The fish gains the protection of its lethal ally while the Man-o-War gets to use the shepherd fish as bait to lure other fish into its deadly trap.

Imagine Aquaman facing off against a colony of polyps that combine to form a deadly super-organism with massive stinging tentacles. Siphonophores have no nervous system, so Aquaman’s fish-talking power are useless. No matter how many dactylozooids, gatrozooids, and pneumatophores he destroyed, the gonozooids are there, churning out more.

But Man-o-Wars are not without their own predators, the largest of which is the enormous, cnidarian nom nom-ing Leatherback Turtle. Despite their size, leatherbacks are the largest live sea turtle, they survive exclusively on large numbers of jelly-like organisms — to the tune of the equivalent of eating 16 cucumbers per day. Leatherbacks aren’t the only animals that prey on Man-o-War, the salacious siphonophore has many foes, two of which join this list as super-villains in their own right.

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Blackfish: the Science Behind the Movie

September 18, 2013June 11, 2015 Chris Parsons 13 Comments

Conservation, Popular Culture, Science

The Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove” told the story of the dolphin hunt in the Japanese town of Taiji. Dolphins there are driven into a shallow cove and killed for meat and other products, with a select few set aside alive for sale to dolphinariums. Many are now saying that this year’s documentary on killer whales (Orcinus orca) in captivity, “Blackfish,” will be nominated for next year’s Oscar. Documentaries rarely get many viewers in movie theaters, but Blackfish, which cost only $76,000 to make and was initially released at only five movie theaters, has already grossed about $2 million nationwide and has been ranked among the 10 best performing nature documentaries, which include “March of the Penguins” and the much vaunted IMAX-friendly “Earth” and “Oceans” documentaries.

Blackfish focuses on the four people who have been killed by captive killer whales, bad corporate behavior by marine theme parks (especially SeaWorld) and the ethics of keeping killer whales in captivity. The film focuses particularly on the story of Tilikum, a 12,000lb male killer whale who was captured from Iceland in the early 1980s, has been living at SeaWorld of Florida since 1992, and to date has been involved in the deaths of three people. His last victim, his trainer of six years Dawn Brancheau, was brutally dismembered after he pulled her into the tank with him on February 24, 2010.

Momentary Distractions: Bonus Fleet short story for Southern Fried Science readers

September 13, 2013October 27, 2013 Andrew Thaler

Popular Culture

Fleet, my fist foray into book-length, serialized science fiction, is a decidedly salty vision of the near future, where an unknown plague has left land uninhabitable and sea level rise has created vast new oceans to explore. The last survivors of the human race are scattered across new and dangerous seas. The only traces of a previous world are lost among the flotsam.

Fleet is an experiment in serial self-publishing. New parts will be released the first Monday of every month through the end of 2013, but Southern Fried Science don’t have to wait a whole month to revisit the fleet. Near the middle of each month, I will post a short mini-chapter for anyone to read and enjoy. While not part of the central story line, these mini-chapters will add details to the world of Fleet and provide glimpses into the lives of minor, yet still important, characters.

The first Momentary Distraction, Genesis, tells the story of the fleet’s ancient origin, as remembered by the last survivors of global disaster.

Dolphin intelligence researcher did not say that dolphins aren’t intelligent as Daily Mail, Sunday Times claim

September 12, 2013October 27, 2013 David Shiffman 11 Comments

Science

davesquare

A screen capture of the Daily Mail's headline for this article — A screen capture of the Daily Mail’s article headline

Earlier this week, the Daily Mail ran an article which claimed that dolphins are not as intelligent as is commonly believed. The crux of this provocative argument comes from an interview with Dr. Justin Gregg, a research associate with the dolphin communication project who studies social cognition.

According to the Daily Mail article, Justin Gregg said, “Dolphins are fascinating in their own right, but in terms of intelligence they are nowhere near as special as they have been portrayed…they are less sophisticated than chickens.” In an editorial that was likely the source of the Daily Mail article, the Sunday Times claims that he said “Not only are dolphins dimmer than the average chicken, says Justin Gregg, a zoologist, but they are also capable of gang rape and acts of violence. So don’t be taken in by those winning smiles.”

Unsurprisingly, this article has ruffled some feathers in the marine mammal researcher community.

Cocktail Week Reboot: How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel.

September 11, 2013October 27, 2013 Andrew Thaler 1 Comment

Science

It’s Cocktail Week over at Deep Sea News. In honor of this most auspicious event we’ve dredged up the post that put Southern Fried Science on the chart, nearly five years ago. Enjoy this blast from our southern fried past.

The Flip - One research vessel you may a drink on — The Flip – one research vessel that mandates a drink

Introduction

Beer brewing is the delicate and dedicated blending of art and science. Finding the perfect balance of grains, hops, malt, adding just the right flavoring agents, boiling for exactly enough time to release the tannins, starches, humic acids from you wort, activating enzymes to break down those starches, forging the perfect mash from the ether of sobriety to give birth to that most glorious pint, these are skills that take a lifetime to master. Perfect beer is meticulously planned and carefully crafted.

Screw that.

You’re six days into a 2 month expedition, and if you were lucky enough to not be on a dry ship, it’s de facto dry by now anyway. You’re eying the ethanol stores, the crew is eying each other, and all hell will break loose if y’all don’t get some sweet water soon. This is no time for artistry.

This is not, as a rule, a terribly good beer (though, with a good brewmaster on board, it can be). This is a beer to pass the time and ease the pain of life at sea. I can guarantee that if you are careful, it will be at least as good as the cheapest commercial alternative.

One month until ScienceOnline Oceans: Here’s what you need to know!

September 11, 2013October 27, 2013 David Shiffman

davesquare ScienceOnline Oceans starts on October 11th, one month from today! Here’s what you need to know in order to make the most of the meeting.

1) There are still spots available! If you’ve been considering attending (or if you are already planning attending and know others who might be interested), there are still spots available! The conference registration fee remains $150 for students and $200 for others. Register here.

2) Make your hotel reservation this week! If you haven’t yet made your hotel reservation, you need to do it THIS WEEK! We strongly recommend staying at the conference hotel, as bus transportation to conference events and field trips is to and from the hotel. Additionally, the hotel bar is the evening social gathering place for the conference. We consider time at the hotel as part of the conference! You don’t need to pay at the time you make the reservation, you pay when you check out.

Information about hotel reservations can be found here: http://oceans.scienceonline.com/hotel-information/

If you do not reserve before the weekend, then

you may not be able to get a room at the conference rate
you may not be able to get a room at all, and, most importantly
ScienceOnline is financially responsible for paying for the rooms we contracted for (if we don’t get enough reservations)!

There is also a roomshare Wiki: http://sciooceans.wikispaces.com/Roomshare

**Please note that if you are planning on participating in a Friday afternoon workshop, it may be easier to fly in Thursday night, and if you are participating in a Sunday field trip, it may be easier to fly home Monday morning. A limited number of hotel rooms are available at the conference rate on both Thursday and Sunday evening.**

Six sea monsters that make their horror movie counterparts look tame

September 8, 2013January 3, 2017 Andrew Thaler

Popular Culture, Science

Evolution is infinitely creative. Sometimes, amid the beauty and wonder, the awe that emanates from the shear power of natural selection, and the poetry of descent with modification, evolution produces something that terrifies. I am not talking about our natural predators, for whom fear is part of our evolutionary heritage, but rather creatures that appear as though they emerged from our darkest nightmares. But even our nightmares are limited by our finite minds.

Evolution has no such limits and the immense size and incomprehensible diversity of the oceans has produce animals that make us yearn for the comforting familiarity of the common Pumpkinhead. Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I present six sea monsters that make their horror movie counterparts look tame:

1. These mind-bending tapeworms crawled straight out of Slither.

Here is a classic horror movie scenario for you: alien/parasite/mutant invaders enter your body, latch on to you brain, and take control, forcing you to do their bidding as they multiply and infect those around you. From Body Snatchers to Slither, mind-controlling parasites are a mainstay of the genre. But you’re a reader of Southern Fried Science. You already know all about barnacles that take over crab brains and induce sex-changes when necessary or fungi that invade ants and force them to climb to their doom. Mind control parasites aren’t really all that uncommon, but they mostly infect invertebrates. There aren’t any deadly mind-melting monsters that can take over us higher organisms, right? Right?!

Wrong.

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Conserving the Endangered African Wild Dogs of Zimbabwe

September 6, 2013September 6, 2013 Guest Writer

Conservation

Dr. Rosemary Groom grew up in Zimbabwe and has spent the last 12 years working in wildlife conservation in East and southern Africa. She is a dedicated conservation biologist, with a strong belief in the importance of large scale multidisciplinary conservation programs. Rosemary has worked on various different projects, from reptiles to large African herbivores, but for the past five years she has been working on large carnivore conservation in Zimbabwe, for the small, home-grown, hands-on charity The African Wildlife Conservation Fund. The endangered African wild dog is the focal species for the program, but Rosemary also runs the Gonarezhou Predator Project, focussing on African lions. Rosemary is a member of the IUCN canid specialist group and is currently acting as the southern African coordinator for the Rangewide Conservation Program for Cheetah and Wild Dogs. She has published several papers in peer reviewed scientific journals and currently holds a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Johannesburg.

African Wild Dogs. Photo courtesy Rosemary Groom

African wild dogs are the most endangered large carnivore in southern Africa. There may be as few as 660 packs left in the wild – that’s only 660 breeding females! African wild dogs are beautiful, amiable and charismatic animals with very endearing pups – not the feral domestic dogs that some people believe them to be.

In fact, African wild dogs have their own evolutionary lineage and are more closely related to wolves than they are to domestic dogs.

But unfortunately they are highly endangered and their global population is declining… Threats include habitat loss and fragmentation, wire snaring, disease, human persecution and even predation by lions.

Sick of fictional mermaid documentaries? Try some dystopian maritime science fiction, instead!

September 2, 2013October 27, 2013 Andrew Thaler 4 Comments

Popular Culture

Welcome to the Fleet! It’s the near future, the rising tides have swallowed much of the world’s coastlines, and the last survivors of a deadly plague are scattered across a new and vastly different ocean. But all is not well in the Reach. The fish are dwindling, the currents are shifting, and secrets long thought … Read More “Sick of fictional mermaid documentaries? Try some dystopian maritime science fiction, instead!” »

And now for something completely different: An experiment in Science Fiction and Kindle Direct Publishing

August 29, 2013October 27, 2013 Andrew Thaler 3 Comments

Popular Culture

Longtime readers have occasionally humored my attempts at short science fiction stories, the like of which can be found in Eno Magazine and Nature. Writing these short pieces is fun, but there’s a longer story that’s been festering in my head for the better part of a year and it’s finally time to come out.

Welcome to the Fleet.

Fleet is set in the near future, in a world of maximum sea level rise where the human population has been reduced to a few small enclaves and disease outbreaks are rampant and devastating. Amid the hardships, a trio of fishers slowly begin to unlock a long buried mystery that will challenge their loyalty to the fleet and each other.