Whale Shark.

This wonderful giants are the largest of all living fish (it's not a whale). This shark is named so almost entirely based on its size. They can grow up to about 40 ft. and can weigh up to 15 tons (30,000 lbs!) and like elephants, they can live up to 60 - 70 years (reports estimate some might be over 100). Impressive, no?

Around the world, there are different names for them, most based on shapes on its back... in Kenya the story is someone threw shillings on its back, in other places the name literally means 'starts on its back' but my alltime favorite: "Ca Ong"... Vietnamese for "sir fish."

Their life cycle is also interesting. Typically, you hear there are 3 birthing classifications of animals... monotreme (they lay eggs), marsupial (pouch... animals are born premature) and embryonic (matured by mothers nourishment in womb). Whale sharks have something similar to the first and last of these types. They are ovoviviparious... meaning they have eggs, but they remain in the body, are hatched and followed by a live birth. This is different than embryonic because they are nourished through yolk in a closed egg, versus being nourished through tubes connected to the mother. They can give birth to up to 300 pups (yes, shark babies are called pups).

As large as they are, they are known for being gentle. The only injuries they have ever incurred on people are from accidental hits from its tail fin. In fact, they're normally playful with divers.

The other similarity they have to whales is their feeding -- they are a type of filter feeding shark (only 3 species in the world), meaning they eat krill, phytoplankton and occasionally small squid or vertebrates. Apparently when things bigger than that are caught and line the filter, they have been seen to 'cough' as a mechanism to clean the filter. A shark coughing is a funny image. They also swim really slowly... average top speed: 3.1 mph. They have quite a lot of weight to move, so I guess that's fair.

You can find them all over the world in the tropics.... Carribean, India, Africa, Japan, Hawaii, you name it. And they come relatively close to the shore, so if you are a diver, you can see them somewhat often if you are looking specifically for them.

There are a few places you can see them in aquariums... Japan, Taiwan, and the Georgia Aquarium.

Here's a wonderfully relaxing video from Okinawa aquarium in Japan (featuring other fish, too):

Lychee Stink Bug.

Actually this 'stink bug' is not related to most stink and shield bugs, it's in a different family. But they have the same function, and resemble the others in shape. Like the others, if agitated, with release a pungent secretion (sounds gross, doesn't it?) to fend off predators and perhaps even trick a couple that its dead. And if you've been following my blog, you'll know that not all insects are bugs -- bugs are a specific type of insect. And this one is correctly named and is actually a bug.

Their colors are striking and are mostly to blend in with flora in the area (they can be found in Thailand). It is also used to trick birds into thinking their are poisonous. Not many terrestrial living things have blue colors (outside of birds) and red is typically a sign of poison of sorts (think: poison dart frogs). The first image is of a nymph (immature) and the second is matured -- the additional section of the bug is actually its wing case -- nymphs are flightless.

Calliostoma javanicum.

To be honest, I don't know much about them. I wasn't able to find a common name (it may not have one), but it is a sea snail hailing from C. America. But I do really lik their shells -- it's one of those things that seems like if a child drew it, you'd think, 'oh that's really organized, not likely to be found in the real waters.' But as you know now, you'd be wrong.

One thing worth noting, generally, about animals that build shells, is that studies in biomimicry turn to these types of animals to try to solve human problems. For example, each species precisely places calcium particles to build its shell, and understanding the chemical process could be helpful in cleaning large pipelines. If certain chemicals, for example, can build certain contained structures of calcium buildup, people can save millions of dollars a year in not needing to maintain pipes as often as they do today.

Indian Peafowl.

You probably know them as 'peacocks.' Which would be halfway right... they're actually peafowls... peacocks are just the male counterpart (when you think about it, it makes sense). And the female is called, you guessed it, a peahen.

Before I get to anything else, I'd like to point out that oddly, this is one of the few national birds that is sex-specific. India specifically has the peacock as the bird, not the peafowl. So the national bird isn't even the full species. Strange. Perhaps because the peahen is not quit so pleasant on the eyes (picture 2), at least in comparison to the peacock (picture 1).

So on to the bird. It's obvious why everyone can recognize one -- they're large, showy and have beautiful colors. Which all fits into the the insight they offer to evolutionary theory. Why would a bird need to be that colorful and over-the-top? The ladies are choosy. It may seem like an abritrary guideline to pick based on looks, but its very telling about the mate. The larger the feathers, the more vulnerable the peacock is to predators and the harder it is for them to mobilize. So if one can survive to adulthood with larger and more colorful feathers than another, this means that its able to compensate for its handicaps, or else it wouldn't be alive. It can also tell a female how healthy a male is -- unhealthy males will have dull colors. It should be noted that their feathers are irredescent, meaning they reflect diffferent colors based on lighting, which is pretty awesome.

What I find most fascinating is the relationship between the display and its immune system. Its very relatable to human behaviors:

The larger feathers, stronger colors and more active displays all require more testosterone than one without those attributes. More testosterone = weaker immune system. So how is this good? Like surviving against predators, it signifies to the female that though it weakens their immune system, their baseline health is better than others, or else the weaker immune system would weaken its chance of survival or their ability to compete. One with less testosterone doing the same display might have duller colors or die before maturity.

So the lesson is: looks do matter. Though it seems superficial, animals prefer certain looks over another because certain looks are associated with better health, better ability to hunt or provide for offspring, or any other set of criteria. Appearance is the culimination of all these things. Which explains why we as people tend to be largely attracted to the same types of features -- they might provide insight into their health or ability to provide, even if we don't conscientiously think about it in those terms. And no, I'm not saying we should use looks to base relationships because I think we define 'success' for ourselves and offspring as something else. And we have medical assistance to counter health problems, so it may not always necessarily be the most important to find someone who is naturally as healthy since we all depend on medical developments to counter shortcomings.

This is me rambling a little bit, but I think it's a good demonstration of the types of decisions people make and is a nice reminder of how we are animals and not in a totally separate set of rules. People who spend more money on cars, houses or whatever are telling others they can spend their money while still being able to have enough to provide for whoever it is they are trying to attract. A honda and a ferrari have the same function but one tells you more about the types of resources they have to 'waste.' I'm not saying its shallow or inappropriate. In fact I think I'm saying that there is evolutionary logic in explaining that behavior and that it's the same as we see in other animals, like peafowls.

Oh yea, and they have really annoying screams, so if you're ever in a place where there are a lot of peacocks, prepare to not sleep, they wine all night.

Nomura's jellyfish.

This Jellyfish, living near the coasts of China and Japan, is tied to be the largest species of jellyfish (the other is the Lion's Mane Jellyfish). They can grow up to 2 meters across its diameter and can weigh up to 450 lbs. Crazy.

To my knowledge, they sting but are not known to be deadly stings. Perhaps the threat is the fact that they travel in swarms (see picture 1). Currently, these swarms are presenting a problem to Japanese fishermen, as they are expecting their 3rd large swarm of jellyfish in 4 years. This is a problem not because they are some sort of terrifying predator, but they ruin catches. Their weight and quantity break nets, allowing large catches to escape -- considering these nets can be up to 100 meters wide. So people intentionally try to catch and kill them to lower their population, but here comes their genius defense system:

Like all living things, the biological 'success' is to have offspring -- this jellyfish achieves this by releasing millions of sperm and eggs whenever it is attacked. Since they travel in swarms, that means their sperm and egg will likely meet other individual's sperm and egg. So while it in essence doesn't 'defend' itself, in the grand scheme of things, it does. If one wants to attack it, it will have more to deal with, hence not really being able to defeat the numbers. In the case of the fishermen, when they try to kill off jellyfish, they just form new polyps that will later return in larger numbers.

But the question remains, why are there so many suddenly showing to begin with? Here comes the catch-22 (this works as a pun, since it deals with catches): Overfishing. When people catch too many fish in an area, the ecosystem obviously will change a little bit (at the very least). Combine this with people killing sea turtles, and you have a jellyfish dilemma. The reduced number of fish means fewer fish are eating these jellyfish and their polyps, therefore actually managing the population (the polyps cannot defend themselves by dropping sperm and eggs as they are not fully developed). Turtles also eat the jellyfish farther out in the ocean, meaning that the polyps tend to stay away from the shores. However, since the swarms drift closer to shore since there is nothing killing them, we get large numbers of mature jellyfish and hence larger numbers of offspring.

So, while we don't want people to stop having an income (this is village fishing, not large industrial ships) so they can take care of their family, slowing down would help them maintain a fish population and will be able to catch more fish since fewer swarms of jellyfish will ruin their ventures. But it's difficult to expect struggling people to see this as a long-term issue when those who are doing well are struggling to do the same.

Here is a video from Arkive.org of a turtle feasting on one.

Small-Spotted Genet.

This cat of Africa and now most of Western Europe is a wonderful one. Though common, they are hard to spot because they are nocturnal and elusive. They'll eat birds, small mammals, etc. and does this best at night, when few animals will be able to chase them.

This cat is unusual in that it retains an ancient feature -- an elongated nose. Most cats have flatter faces or broader noses, and this is thought to be a remnant of ancestral species. The top picture is from my last trip to Kenya, and he would sit in this tree all day. Which turned out to be a great teaching tool to the students. They could see him everyday, and while practicing photography skills, they were able to understand how to focus and the difference it makes (seeing as he would hide himself deep behind the branches). So, to you, genet, thank you.

Black Skimmer.

Black Skimmers can be found all along the Americas. They breed in the northern hemisphere, and migrate down to the south during fall and winter.

As you can guess from the pictures, I would hope, they are named for their behavior of skimming for fish. They have a large lower mandible (see last picture) that drags in the water. When it hits something, it flinches its neck down and closes its beak, hoping to catch something.

What's nice about it is, from an observation perspective, a lot of animals are hard to see performing certain behaviors. These, however, are pretty much seen always doing this, so it's fun to watch.

If you ever get a chance, take a boat out on the Atlantic coast of the Eastern Shore and watch them go to town.