Snail Chain ©Creative Commons BY-NC-ND, Eric Heupel 2008
One small section of a BUNCH of Lymnia sp. snail eggs pulled from our fresh water aquarium. They like to lay their egg clutches on the underside of larger broad leaved aquatic plants.
These snails are reproductive powerhouses! Not only are they simultaneous hermaphrodites which practice sperm sequestration and/or self fertilization, but they reach reproductive maturity and begin egg laying only a month after hatching or “eclosion.” Combine that with the 20-40 eggs per clutch they lay, and one can see how they can quickly grow the population.
Lymnaea sp. snail eggs ©Creative Commons BY-NC-ND, Eric Heupel 2008
This shot was lit by the microscopes flourescent base light from below and a pair of remote flashes from above, giving pretty good definition to the individual eggs and inside the invisible gelatinous mass. The following shot was with the base CFL illuminator only.
Bottom lit Lymnaea snail eggs ©Creative Commons BY-NC-ND, Eric Heupel 2008
Did I mention they were prolific breeders? Every six months to a year we break down one of our two freshwater aquariums and rebuid it. The last time we made sure there are no eggs on the plants. After a full month of no snails we introduced one small adult snail. Two months later there were nover 50 snails in the tank. This time no adult snails. We have a single egg mass with 13 eggs in it. We’ll see how far we let those go.
As long as I’m not subjected to further displays of their extreme hermaphroditic proscuousity!
PZ Myers has a great post realted to these snails that shows the early development of the Lymnaea zygote, especially focussed on the 3rd division from four cells to eight, which begins the pattern of molluscan spiral cleavage. The details of that division have profound effects on the organism, including whether they are sinestral or dextral.
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Mollusca
- Class
- Gastropoda
- Order
- Pulmonata
- Family
- Lymnaeidae
- Genus
- Lymnaeas
Tags: mollusk, mollusc, gastropod, lifephotomeme
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Cabbage White
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
A Small Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) from our garden. These little beauties are often overlooked because of their plain coloration, but they are among my favorites. I see the adults most often enjoying Queen Anne’s Lace, but the caterpillars feed mostly on plants of the Brassicaceae (cabbage or mustard family). Next year we plan to plant some horseradish in the garden, which will hopefully attract more of these little beauties and let me capture the entire life cycle for Larval Images.
There is a chance to capture some of that life cycle now as the small white will continue to be found here until the hard freeze comes. They hibernate in pupae form and will be the first butters we see in the late winter or early spring.
Of course, this is also one of my favorites, because it’s the N.American cousin of the Large Cabbage White (Pieris brassicae) of Eurasia. P. brassicae is the species that I blogged about at The Other 95%. Some recent research showed it is in the middle of a three way evolutionary arms race with its host plant and a parasitic wasp, because the male’s ejaculate attracts parasites both direct and indirectly.
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Family
- Pieridae
- Genus
- Pieris
- Species
- Pieris rapae
Life Photo Meme
Johann’s Great White Egret
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
A week or so ago, Johann and I headed out to the hardware store to pick up some PVC pipe so we could make a light tent for shooting Tammy’s booties. We both took our cameras to see if there were some photo opportunities along the way. The hardware store was a bust, but the journey there and back was golden!
First we spotted some great white egrets on an area of marsh. It was high tide and the marsh was flooded. The egrets were hunting through the clumps of marsh grasses for mummichog and other tasty treats. We pulled to the side of the road and got quite a few shots. Eventually a blue heron arrived on the scene, though it stayed pretty far out on the marsh edge. A male kingfisher also visited, perching on the abandoned osprey roost. Up the road at another marsh was a snowy egret prancing along the flooded mosquito ditch. So in one afternoon outing he added the White Egret, Snowy Egret, Blue Heron and kingfisher to his newly started Life Photo Bird List.
Johann’s film card was filled by the time we left the marsh, so he was my spotter when we saw the osprey with it’s striped bass. He was so excited to be buzzed so closely by the osprey that he was literally jumping up and down for all he was worth.
Soon we’ll have to get him his own flickr account.
At the same spot I managed to catch the egret in mid mummichog flip…
Gulp!
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Ciconiiformes
- Family
- Ardeidae
- Genus
- Ardea
- Species
- Ardea alba
My father is a professional nature photographer and one of the perks of that is having an excuse to travel around the world (hopefully writing it off as a business expense!). He recently returned from a trip (with Mom) to Kenya for a photo safari. Although there was one major mishap, they each reported that the trip was great even with Mom’s broken ankle! The species list from their trip had Johann’s jaw on the floor the entire time especially when he learned they witnessed the wildebeest migration.
Dad gave me permission to post this one for the Life Photo Meme so let’s find out a bit about the Masai Giraffe…
Masai Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi)
The Masai is the largest of nine subspecies of giraffe, with some males reaching 6.5m high. This also makes it the tallest mammal. They used to be common throughout Africa but now are found only in Kenya and Tanzania. Like the other giraffes they feed on fruits, flowers, seed pods and leaves, preferring the Acacia trees, eating up to 66kg (145 pounds) a day. Keeping that boy going is a basketball sized heart. Oh, and that 2m long neck has the same seven cervical vertebrae you and I have… theirs are just really elongated!
The Masai don’t have many predators as adults, but the chief among them is the lion. Leopards and hyenas will sometimes try and take as adult, as will crocadiles when the giraffe is drinking. Adult giraffes have lethal kicks with sharp hoofs that can crush a lions skull. Understandably then most predation on giraffes is on the young. Only about 50% of giraffe babies survive the first 6 months.
Without height cues how can you tell what giraffe it is? The best evidence is DNA evidence. That is what David Brown et al. used in their recent paper Extensive population genetic structure in the giraffe (go Open Access!!). There have been a number of proposed subspecies for iraffes in the past. Since giraffes are highly mobile with no major geographic barrier to prevent their intermixing and interbreeding. all giraffes are considered one species, but there are clear geographic differences in populations traits such as coat patterns. Using mitochondrial DNA sequences and microsatellites the team determined there were six separate subspecies of giraffe. Overall there are at least 11 distinct populations, with each subspecies except the Angolan giraffe having at least two distinct subspecies.
Based on their DNA analysis the researchers determined that the six subspecies are: the Masai giraffe (G. c. tippelskirchi), the Reticulated giraffe (G. c. reticulata), the Rothschild’s giraffe (G. c. rothschildi), the West African giraffe (G. c. peralta), the Angolan giraffe (G. c. angolensis) and the South African giraffe (G. c. giraffa). The two closest related subspecies, also most likely the closest to the root species are the Masai and reticulated giraffes which the researchers determined split about 1 million years ago.
So how do you tell them apart if you’re at the zoo or you see them in a photo from Africa?
The coat pattern is a good clue. Here is a comparison of the three main giraffes in Kenya: the Masai, the reticulated or Somali giraffe, and the Rothschild’s.
Masai Giraffe Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Subphylum
- Vertebrata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Girafidae
- Genus
- Giraffa
- Species
- G. camelopardalis
- Subspecies
- G. c. tippelskirchi
References
David M Brown, Rick A Brenneman, Klaus-Peter Koepfli, John P Pollinger, Borja Milá, Nicholas J Georgiadis, Edward E Louis, Gregory F Grether, David K Jacobs, Robert K Wayne (2007). Extensive population genetic structure in the giraffe BMC Biology, 5 (1) DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-5-57
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Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
Before refrigerating the leaves we check them for predators and other hitchhikers. This Lady Bird Beetle was a scant 1.8mm in diameter. I checked it first under the microscope, then put everything I could into the macro to get a half decent shot. For hand held I think it holds up pretty well. Gotta work on flash techniques though.
Unlike most lady bird beetles, this tiny beetle feeds primarily on fungus found on leaves and stems of many plants.
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Coleoptera
- Family
- Coccinellidae
- Genus
- Psyllobora
- Species
- Psyllobora vigintimaculata
Originally I had a special guest photo lined up for the Life Photo Meme, but somehow I forgot it’s Invert Thursday! The guest photo is definitely not an invertebrate. So I guess that posting will have to wait for next week!
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Panning
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
This is one of my older shots, but right now it is most appropriate for Wild, the theme of the current Life Photo cycle.
This great blue was captured launching itself out of the brackish pool on the property of UCONN’s Avery Point, headed for who knows where after getting a few fish and frogs from the pond. They are around the pond this time of the year. With my current situation Johann and Tammy accompany me to the school often and have taken to walking the pond area as well as running around the campus.
Watching Johann chase under the dragonflies and run with the swallows, like this heron he is free and just a little wild and it is beautiful. I am chaffing to be able to run with them and be just a little wild as well. Soon.
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- SubPhylum
- Vertebrata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Ciconiiformes
- Family
- Ardeidae
- Genus
- Ardea
- Species
- Ardea herodias
Tern Formation
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
Terns are considered threatened in many states, including Connecticut and Rhode Island where the colony nesting sites are protected.
These two were hitting the water going after herring or some other clupeoid fish that were breaking the surface to escape submerged predators. Fish such as herring and sand lance make up the majority of the terns diet. They terns will also eat crustaceans, polychaetes and insects though that is less common.
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Subphylum
- Vertebrata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Laridae
- Genus
- Sterna
- Species
- Sterna hirundo
Update:
I should clarify that the common tern is not considered threatened on a national basis. Some states list them as threatened and there have been significant local declines in many areas – possibly tied to waterfront development trends and beach usage patterns. The IUCN considers them as Least Concern with a global population of 1,000,000 to 5,000,000 individuals globally (and they are truly a global species!)
One of two horseshoe crabs, Limulus polyphemus (Linnaeus, 1758), seen on a recent trip to the beach. The horseshoe crab is an ancient resident of the shores of Eastern North America, having changed very little since the early Paleozoic Era some 450 million years ago.
The name horseshoe crab is a bit of a misnomer as they are not crustaceans as crabs are, but are chelicerata like spiders, scorpions and ticks. All chelicerata lack the mandibles of crustaceans and other arthropods to chew food, but have pointed appendages called chelicerae (think spider fangs) to bring food to the mouth. Because the lack chewing structures though most chelicerates drink blood (ticks & mites) or inject digestive enzymes into their prey to pre-digest they food so they can then drink it. Horseshoe crabs are scavengers, eating molluscs, worms and bits of flesh. Lacking jaws they use their legs to tear food up and a gizzard filled with gravel and sand to further process the food.
Horseshoe crabs are primarily used as bait for fishermen. Unfortunately they are hacking up enough of them to significantly contribute to recent declines in the number of horseshoe crabs. Another contributing problem is beachfront development and traffic. Horseshoe crabs make their nests on beaches on the spring tide. There females make 15-20cm depressions in the sand just below the high water mark and lay a batch of eggs in the nest before dragging a male, clinging to her tail with special claspers, across the nest to fertilize the eggs. In total a large female may lay 60,000 eggs. On the next spring tide the eggs hatch and the larvae emerge. They will swim in the plankton for 5 to 7 days before settling to the bottom and spending a dozen years molting and growing before becoming sexually mature. They can live another 10 15 years as adults.
The egg nests are important for a number of migratory shorebird species which time their return to be on the beaches of the Del-Mar-Va peninsula and especially Delaware Bay during the horseshoe crab nesting season. Unfortunately with decreasing number of adults breeding there are significantly fewer nests. The cascading impact was enough to prompt New Jersey to ban taking horseshoe crabs for any reason other than for medical purposes.
The medical industry uses horseshoe crab blood to test serums for contamination as the blood of horseshoe crabs has a unique substance that clots in the presence of harmful bacteria. Horsecrabs are gathered and “donate” blood for use, then are returned to the sea where their blood volume quickly returns to normal levels. Oh, like cephalopods (and other molluscs) these are true blue bloods, since their blood does not contain iron based hemoglobin (like ours) but instead copper based hemocyanin which turns blue when exposed to oxygen.
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthopoda
Subphylum Chelicerata
Class Merostomata
Order Xiphosura
Family Limulidae
Genus Limulus
Species Limulus polyphemus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Monarch, 1st Instar
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.
Life is hard, but beautiful. Like all monarchs this little caterpillar will need to go through 5 instars then pupate before it can emerge as an adult and migrate south early this October. All along the way many predators will eat it if they discover the caterpillar. The compounds in milkweeds do help, but they are not a complete protection against all predators.
We watched the mother lay her egg on a butterfly weed plant in our garden. A few days later the egg was gone, along with a sizable chunk of leaf. Looking around carefully I found the caterpillar under another leaf on the plant.
Unfortunately we have not seen the caterpillar since. We are thankful that the the mother felt our garden was good enough, especially considering where it started from and all the work we’ve put into it. The garden was designed for the birds (lower garden) and butterflies (upper garden) and I think having a butterfly mother lay an egg in the upper garden was a mark of success. Hopefully, if we are here next year we will be able to report a successful egg to adult life-cycle from within the garden.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Suborder: Macrolepidoptera
Family: Danaidae
Genus: Danaus
Species: Danaus plexippus