not exactly breaking news, but CNN has a piece about the Tangaroa's work.... two cephs made the "Ten creepiest creatures from deep down under" list....


http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/07/07/creepy.critters/index.html

Good article on NORFANZ there, WK. I hope a documentary is being pulled together for this?

As a former seafood department employee, I was under the impression that all or most sharks have sandpaper like skin, but this article mentions it as if it were an anomoly, am I wrong? :?:

Litho,

No, you're not wrong. Perhaps the skin of the shark in question was more rugose than most (or, maybe the author of the article knew little about sharks, and seized on the rough skin as a "grabber").

:roll:

Clem

rugose, eh? New vocab word - thanks!

As a former seafood department employee, I was under the impression that all or most sharks have sandpaper like skin, but this article mentions it as if it were an anomoly, am I wrong? :?:
Hi Lithographette. Fantastic millipede, by the way.

Indeed, as Clem has indicated you are absolutely right. Shark's skin feels rough because it contains tiny scales known as dermal denticles that are closely packed. These are streamlined with fluted crowns and aided with a mucus secretion from pores in the skin, maintain a laminar flow in the water. These become detatched after death but are not normally noticed as they are usually microscopic.

From a palaeontological angle (as usual), the earliest sharks are known purely from these scales and date to about 450 mya in the late Ordovician.

Phil

rugose, eh? New vocab word - thanks!

Rugose=rough or wrinkled

Verbose=me

:oops:

The shark in question, Oxynotus, has skin which is much more prickly than other sharks - the denticles are very large & distinctive.

Incidentally, there is no real reason to travel far to discover new species: a centipede of a new genus and species was recently discovered in a pile of leaf litter in New York's Central Park. Formally described as Nannarrup hoffmani in July 2002.

Incidentally, there is no real reason to travel far to discover new species: a centipede of a new genus and species was recently discovered in a pile of leaf litter in New York's Central Park.

That expedition must have cost the AMNH millions.

:wink:

That expedition must have cost the AMNH millions.


getting there was cheap, but there were hidden costs :roll: afterall the specimin has to be preserved in something....

Thanks for all the info! As an artist who leans towards depictions of sealife, I really do enjoy truly understanding the biological aspects of their unique visages, and as a geek, I like to be able to spout off knowledge of sharkskin features to my friends while we sit around talking about who knows what!