TSUNAMI YIELDS PHOTOGRAPHIC PROOF OF EVOLUTION!

Natural Selection at Work

Published on January 23, 2005 By kingbee In Current Events

sorry bout luring you in with the u/c headline...as well as for its somewhat misleading message.

while the pix below portray deepsea creatures that very well may evidence evolution in process, what i'm about to reveal is the story of this article--which was gonna be about strange deepsea creatures that washed ashore as the result of the tsunami--and how it evolved when i discovered my inspiration was actually a hoax.

but first...some pix!

this lil guy is a vampire squid

This strange jelly-like animal is halfway between a squid and a finned octopus. In life it is dark brown to black with a pair of fins on the body that are used to slowly fly through the water. They have eight arms with deep webs that form a large umbrella for engulfing prey. On each side, between the bases of the first and second arm pairs, there is a pit that contains a long thin filament. These are filaments considered the equivalent of another pair of limbs, linking them with the squids and cuttlefishes that have ten limbs. Vampire squids have been seen from submersibles hanging mid water with these long filaments trailing from their body, suggesting that they are used to sense vibrations in the water. These animals are great at light shows. They have a pair of large light organs on the tip of their body complete with black eye lids. They can also make light on their arm tips and squirt a cloud of luminous fluid with bright glowing spots inside. Vampire squids start their lives with two pairs of fins, losing one pair as they get older.

and this one is a spookfish

This species occurs in the South Pacific and off Japan , at depths 700-1300 m. It reaches 1.2 m long. This genus of deep-sea chimaeras goes under different names in different countries. In the USA it is known as a Long-nosed Chimaera while in Europe they use the common name Cyrano Chimaera, named after the fictional French character Cyrano de Bergerac, who had a very long nose. This strange cartilaginous fish uses its long snout to scan over the seafloor for the electrical impulses of its prey that bury in the muddy seafloor, just like a metal detector. Like other chimaeras (such as ghost and elephant sharks), these animals lay horny egg cases in which their young are left to develop, potentially for up to one year.

these, along with photos of 23 other weird-looking creatures, can be seen in a powerpoint display entitled 'deepseaphpotoalbumtsunami' posted here: Link. the link that led me there described the contents as pix of stuff that had been washed ashore by the tsunami.

hoping to find more, i googled several combinations of those words and found a similar article at slashdot.com (using the same photos). comments revealed their true source: the creature features section of oceans.gov.au (which owns the copyright). Link

delving a lil deeper, i learned all of the bizarre creatures pictured are specimens trawled (or otherwise captured) while exploring deep ocean locations.

that's how the article evolved thru my natural selection of a valid source.

as far as the other evolution goes, read the description of the vampire squid provided at the site. as far as i'm concerned (i'm notta biologist, of course) this appears to be a 'bridge' between two distinct species...all three of which are still alive as we. then check out the pectoral and pelvic fins of the spookfish. my totally unscientific observation is they sure look like theyre analogs of more advanced vertebrate arms and legs.

Comments

Marvin Cooley

on Jan 23, 2005

KINGBEE.............YOU THINK LIKE A BIG DUMMY!!!

Texas Wahine

on Jan 23, 2005

Marvin sucks dong

ha ha ha

dabe

on Jan 23, 2005

How quickly an interesting article and subsequent discussion deteriorates.

Of course, adaptation is a major driving force for how animals evolve. And, these two creatures are prime examples of that. Of course, the operative term here is "evolution".

ADAPTATION = EVOLUTION = ADAPTATION = EVOLUTION

Whether God had a hand in the original placement of the inhabitants of this planet can be debated until the cows come home. Fact is, since they "appeared" on this planet, they have evolved over the thousands, and millions, and possibly billions of years. If God is infinite, this is not inconceivable. Evolution and God can comfortable coexist.

As a side note, the day after the 1991 Halloween nor'easter, also known as the Perfect Storm, I was walking along the beach on Fire Island, NY and was amazed at the number os starfish and surf clams that had washed ashore. It was a site I have not seen since that storm, and I frequent Fire Island, well... frequently. It never occurred to me that the tsunami could have washed creatures ashore. Only that it washed people out. It would seem so obvious. Too bad it was a hoax, but it made some sense. And, this made for an interesting article.

Now, I'm going to check out those links. Thanks kingbee. Interesting stuff

kingbee

on Jan 24, 2005

KINGBEE.............YOU THINK LIKE A BIG DUMMY!!!

we all have our burdens in life, marvin. youve very perceptively identified mine. please dont hold it against me.

kingbee

on Jan 24, 2005

Marvin sucks dong

yeah, but...is it highly evolved dong?

kingbee

on Jan 24, 2005

It never occurred to me that the tsunami could have washed creatures ashore. Only that it washed people out. It would seem so obvious. Too bad it was a hoax, but it made some sense

while reading your comment, i remembered reading the force of the wave generally travels under the surface but considerably higher than the depths at which these things live; underwater damage does occur but only in relatively shallow water where the wave slows as its contacts the seafloor.

hope you enjoyed all the other photos. and thanks for the comment!

TheFazz

on Jan 24, 2005

It seems this story really got around. Here's another
Link of it. I wonder who started this hoax...

scatter629

on Jan 24, 2005

regardless of the hoax behind the tsunami link, your article reminded me of the Marianas trench off the Philippine archipelago, one of the world's deepest undersea regions. Filipino fishermen around the area celebrated their prize catch of a record-weighing rockfish which upon closer study by marine biologists turned out to be a prehistoric specie. The seafloor does hold evolutionary secrets.

Moderateman

on Jan 24, 2005

here ya go kingbee, this has been an intrest of mine since I was a child, this fish was thought to be extinct 65 million years, the first one was caught in the 1930s... so in a way this does support your arguement... enjoy!

Lateral view of a Coelacanth.

The mouth of a large female Coelacanth, caught June 1989.

A Comoros fisherman with a Coelacanth.

Australian Museum staff member, Mike Dingley, examining the Coelacanth specimen in the More than Dinosaurs Exhibition. This fish is registered in the Australian Museum fish collection as AMS IB.7555.

Above and below: Images of the Coelacanth in the More Than Dinosaurs Exhibition. View larger image.

View larger image.

View larger image. An amazing discovery
A few days before Christmas in 1938, a Coelacanth was caught at the mouth of the Chalumna River on the east coast of South Africa. The fish was caught in a shark gill net by Captain Goosen and his crew, who had no idea of the significance of their find. They thought the fish was bizarre enough to alert the local museum in the small South African town of East London.

The Director of the East London Museum at the time was Miss Marjorie Courtney-Latimer. She alerted the prominent south African ichthyologist Dr J.L.B. Smith to this amazing discovery. The Coelacanth was eventually named (scientific name: Latimeria chalumnae) in honour of Miss Courtney-Latimer.

This Coelacanth specimen led to the discovery of the first documented population, off the Comoros Islands, between Africa and Madagascar. For sixty years this was presumed to be the only Coelacanth population in existence.

Sulawesi Coelacanth
On July 30 1998, a Coelacanth was caught in a deep-water shark net by local fishers off the volcanic island of Manado Tua in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia. This is about 10 000 km east of the Western Indian Ocean Coelacanth population. The fisher brought the fish to the house of American biologist Mark Erdmann who along with his wife Arnaz had seen a specimen in the outdoor markets the previous September. The local people were familiar with the Coelacanth and called it raja laut or 'king of the sea'.

When the Coelacanth from Sulawesi was first documented, the only obvious difference between it and the Coelacanth from the Comoros Islands was the colour. The Comoros Coelacanth is renowned for its steel blue colour, whereas fish from the Sulawesi population were reported to be brown. In 1999 the Sulawesi Coelacanth was described as a new species, Latimeria menadoensis by Pouyaud, Wirjoatmodjo, Rachmatika, Tjakrawidjaja, Hadiaty and Hadie.

The discovery of a new species of Coelacanth in Sulawesi, opens up the possibility that Coelacanths may be more widespread and abundant than was previously assumed.

Living fossil
The Coelacanth specimen caught in 1938 is still considered to be the zoological find of the century. This 'living fossil' comes from a lineage of fishes that was thought to have been extinct since the time of the dinosaurs.

Coelacanths are known from the fossil record dating back over 360 million years, with a peak in abundance about 240 million years ago. Before 1938 they were believed to have become extinct approximately 80 million years ago, when they disappeared from the fossil record.

How could Coelacanths disappear for over 80 million years and then turn up alive and well in the twentieth century? The answer seems to be that the Coelacanths from the fossil record lived in environments favouring fossilisation. Modern Coelacanths, both in the Comoros and Sulawesi were found in environments that do not favour fossil formation. They inhabit caves and overhangs in near vertical marine reefs, at about 200 m depth, off newly formed volcanic islands.

The discovery by science of the Coelacanth in 1938 caused so much excitement because at that time Coelacanths were thought to be the ancestors of the tetrapods (land-living animals, including humans). It is now believed that Lungfishes are the closest living relative of tetrapods. The Coelacanth may still provide answers to some very interesting evolutionary questions.

Coelacanth characteristics
Coelacanths are quite different from all other living fishes. They have an extra lobe on the tail (see bottom image), paired lobed fins, and a vertebral column that is not fully developed. Coelacanths are the only living animals to have a fully functional intercranial joint, which is a division separating the ear and brain from the nasal organs and eye. The intercranial joint allows the front part of the head to be lifted when the fish is feeding. One of the most interesting features of the Coelacanth, is that it has paired fins which move in a similar fashion to our arms and legs.

The Australian Museum Coelacanth
The Australian Museum has a Coelacanth on display in the More than Dinosaurs Exhibition (Registration number: AMS IB.7555). It was captured off the Comoros Islands, and purchased by the Trustees of the Australian Museum in 1965. The fish was transported to the Western Australian Museum by the US RV Atlantis, where it starred briefly in the Perth media. It was then sent by air to the Australian Museum. Once on display it became affectionately known as the 'wishing fish'. Visitors dropped coins through a small crack in the holding case of the tank and made a wish. Unfortunately after a time the coins discoloured the liquid in the tank, and the practice was stopped. The Coelacanth is currently on display in the More than Dinosaurs Exhibition at the Australian Museum.

Related links
The fish out of Time website
On the Trail of the Coelacanth, a Living Fossil
Species description of Latimeria menadoensis
Further reading
Bruton, M.N. in Paxton, J.R. & W.N. Eschmeyer (Eds). 1994. Encyclopedia of Fishes. Sydney: New South Wales University Press; San Diego: Academic Press [1995]. Pp. 240.
Erdmann, M.V., Caldwell, R.L. & M.K. Kasim Moosa. 1998. Indonesian 'king of the sea' discovered. Nature 395. 24 September, 1998.
Forey, P. 1998. A home away from home for coelacanths. Nature 395. 24 September, 1998.
Fricke, H. 2001. Coelacanths: a human responsibility. Journal of Fish Biology. 59 (Supplement A): 332-338.
Greenwell R.J. 1994. Animal Enigmas - Prehistoric Fishing. BBC Wildlife March 1994.
Leech, G. 1998. Catch of the day reeled in from the edge of extinction. The Australian. Friday 25 September, 1998.
Pouyaud, L, Wirjoatmodjo, S., Rachmatika, I., Tjakrawidjaja, A., Hadiaty, R., & W. Hadie. 1999. Une nouvelle espèce de coelacanthe. Preuves génétiques et morphologiques. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, SCI Vie / Life SCI No. 322: 261-267.
Smith, J.L.B. 1956. Old Fourlegs. Longmans, Green and Co. Pp. 260.
Talbot, F.H. 1966. The Coelacanth, Living Relic of 50 Million Years Ago. Australian Natural History. 15(5):137-140.
Thomson, K.S. 1991. Living Fossil. The Story of the Coelacanth. Hutchinson Radius. Pp. 252.
Weinberg, S. 1999. A Fish caught in Time. The Search for the Coelacanth. Fourth Estate. Pp. 239.
Page researched and compiled by M. McGrouther and L. Miller, May 2004.

Texas Wahine

on Jan 24, 2005

*ahem* I would like to apologize for my drunken dong comment. If I were to guess, tho . . . I would say that it is not highly evolved dong. Of course, I could be wrong, as I have no evidence to back up my assertion.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!