Friday, May 11, 2007

Friday Nudibranch Blogging


Let my senses be lit
by Mexichromis multituberculata
without which love dies or sleeps!

(Photo by Jun Imamoto.)

13 comments:

ntodd said...

I'm hungry.

[and my word verification is 'cunnt']

Hecate said...

I swear that I look forward to these.

Phila said...

Hecate said...

I swear that I look forward to these.


Mission accomplished!

watertiger said...

preeeeeeeetttty!!!!

Anonymous said...

Flowers are colorful in order to attract pollinators as I understand it. What is the rationale for these creatures' appearance?

four legs good said...

THis is the highlight of my day.

Anonymous said...

I like the name, although I don't know what's so Mexican-colored about it. Whatever these things are that you bring around for us on the weekends, I think they're great. Keep up the good work.

Phila said...

Flowers are colorful in order to attract pollinators as I understand it. What is the rationale for these creatures' appearance?

It's generally considered to be a warning that they're poisonous, stinging, foul-tasting, or what have you...it's known as aposematic coloration.

Anonymous said...

Hey Phila,Thanks a lot.The picture is simply awesome!
Breakdown Insurance

olvlzl said...

What is the rationale for these creatures' appearance?

Adaptationism alert!

I showed my niece the last one, she couldn't believe that it was real.

Phila said...

Olvlzl,

See above (i.e., me at 12:03).

olvlzl said...

It was a joke, Phila. Though not 100%. I'm sure some of it is adaptation, though knowing what the rest of life is like, I think the "spandrels" idea is part of it too. And some of it might be mechanisms yet unknown. I'm not a biologist but I've seen enough of complicated systems to suspect anything that minimizes the complexity, the yet unknown and the entirely unexpected. Or maybe I just spent too much time on the Scienceblogs recently.

Phila said...

It was a joke, Phila. Though not 100%. I'm sure some of it is adaptation, though knowing what the rest of life is like, I think the "spandrels" idea is part of it too.

No argument from me...I'm nobody's idea of an adaptationist.