New species found in Gulf of Mexico

A study released earlier this month uncovered 107 new species of organisms living in deep water areas of the Gulf of Mexico. While the majority of discoveries were microscopic, the findings are providing scientists with knowledge of communities more than a half mile below the surface on the ocean floor. “It's a terrific finding for science,” said Paul Sammarco with the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Chauvin. “It helps the understanding of the evolution of organisms.” The report, “Investigations of Chemosynthetic Communities on the Lower Continental Slope of the Gulf of Mexico,” involved researchers reaching areas previously unstudied by using submarines. A manned vehicle, Alvin, and the remotely operated Jason II were used on excursions in 2006 and 2007, with four sites studied at length. Some of the bigger organisms discovered were new species of tube worms, a marine invertebrate that can reach up to 6 feet long and live up to 100 years, said Gregory Boland, biological oceanographer with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. “The tube worms were probably the biggest,” Boland said. “They only grow a few millimeters a year.” Most of the smaller finds include new genera and species of crustaceans. That includes eight genera and 77 species of copepods, one genera and 17 species of ostracods and four species of tanaidacea. Among other discoveries, researchers found one of the largest-known mussel beds in the deep Gulf. Boland, a key researcher on the report, said the organisms are subsisting in unique ecosystems called chemosynthetic communities hidden in the depths of the Gulf.

Prehistoric Park (2006– ) WATCH TV

Nigel Marven travels back in time to rescue exotic creatures on the brink of extinction. CGI is used to create animals no longer seen on earth, from woolly mammoths, and T Rex, to dinosaur-eating crocodiles. Stars: Nigel Marven, Rod Arthur, Suzanne McNabb | See full cast and crew »

Eublepharis Satpuraensis,-New species of lizard found in Satpura Hills

A new species of gecko has been discovered in the Satpura Hill ranges in Central India by four researchers. This is the second discovery made by the researchers in last six months in the areas, which are known to be unexplored amongst scholars.

The new species has been named Eublepharis Satpuraensis after the location it was found in. The lizard belongs to the family of leopard geckos, which are supposed to be by far the least studied lizards in India.

The paper has been published in the recent edition of Phyllomedusa journal. Researchers Zeeshan A. Mirza, Rajesh V. Sanap, David Raju, Atish Gawai and Prathamesh Ghadekar have co-authored the paper on the basis of their findings.

The gecko was located while they were studying the amphibians in the region. “The first picture of this species came to me in 2009 from Melghat Tiger Reserve. Later a few more pictures followed which led us to Satpura Hills, where we discovered the new gecko,” said Mr Mirza, who is currently doing his research at Bengaluru’s National Centre for Biological Sciences.

The specimens of adult male and female were found in the Satpura Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, and juveniles were collected from Amravati district. The species were collected near the boulders, rocky outcrops and burrows mostly in the nights.

The paper also states that the geckos are nocturnal and secretive in nature. At the slightest disturbance, the species retreats. The adults were also offered scorpions and grasshoppers in captivity, which they readily accepted. Very few residents in the vicinity were found to be aware of the presence of the species. Due to its colouration, the gecko is regarded as poisonous and is often killed by locals.

New species of frog found in the Meadowlands

For years now, late on spring nights, a small cadre of researchers has stepped into hip waders, flicked on headlamps and lugged recording equipment deep into the marshes of New Jersey. Then, they listened.

The scientists, who study frogs that live in patches of wetland that most people don’t give a thought about, have developed an ability to distinguish the breeding calls of various species that fill the marsh nights with a grating cacophony. Recently, that unusual skill, combined with the tools of modern science, helped a team of Rutgers University researchers complete the identification of an entirely new frog species that has been living in the Meadowlands for millennia, near where turnpike Exit 16E sits today.

COURTESY OF ERIK KIVIAT

Jeremy Feinberg, left, a doctoral student at Rutgers University, and Erik Kiviat, executive director of Hudsonia, an environmental research institute, surveying a new species, the Atlantic Coast leopard frog.

The team, led by Jeremy Feinberg, a Rutgers doctoral candidate, used genetic testing and bioacoustic analysis, along with observations from field biologists, to identify the Atlantic Coast leopard frog as a species distinct from the southern and northern leopard frogs-READ MORE LINK-http://www.northjersey.com/news/new-species-of-frog-found-in-the-meadowlands-1.1181955

Scientists challenge 'Abominable Snowman DNA' results

A theory that the mythical yeti is a rare polar bear-brown bear hybrid animal has been challenged. Last year, Oxford University genetics professor Bryan Sykes revealed the results of DNA tests on hairs said to be from the Abominable Snowman. The tests matched the samples with the DNA of an ancient polar bear. But two other scientists have said re-analysis of the same data shows the hairs belong to the Himalayan bear, a sub-species of the brown bear. The results of the new research by Ceiridwen Edwards and Ross Barnett have been published in the Royal Society journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Among Dr Edwards' previous work was an attempt to carry out DNA analysis of a sample taken from bones of a polar bear washed into caves in north west Scotland 18,000 years ago.READ MORE -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-30479718

Panesthia guizhouensis, -New Wood-eating Cockroach Species Found in China

Chinese scientists have found a new species of cockroach, and a new subspecies. Unlike the cockroach pests that most of us are familiar with, these live outdoors and eat wood. The new species and subspecies are described in the journal ZooKeys. Nearly 4,600 species of cockroach are found worldwide, but only 30 or so are considered to be pests, which gives the others a bad name. The new species and subspecies belong to the genus Panesthia, which is known for xylophagy (feeding on wood) instead of living in houses and eating rubbish. The new species, Panesthia guizhouensis, was collected from rotten wood near a large pool in Guizhou Province. A colony of more than 60 nymphs and 52 adults emerged from a log when it was split. The new subspecies is called Panesthia stellata concava. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word “concavus,” which refers to the hind margin of the yellowish mark on nymphs being concave. Fifty-five species and nine subspecies have been reported in this genus, but they are still mysterious to scientists because of their secluded lifestyle. “With this new discovery, we hope to reignite the scientific interest towards this peculiar and rather intriguing cockroach genus,” said Dr. Yanli Che, one of the co-authors.READ MORE-http://entomologytoday.org/2014/12/19/new-wood-eating-cockroach-species-found-in-china/

A New Species of the World’s Biggest Whale Has Been Discovered—and They’re Small

Does the world’s largest animal have a pint-size variety? Not exactly, but the population of blue whales living off Chile’s southern coast could be a slightly smaller version of their Antarctic neighbors, and that has scientists thinking they may have found a new subspecies of the cetacean. But don’t be fooled: These so-called “pygmy blue whales” are only small if you’re comparing them with the 100-foot behemoths with which they share a name. Still, the new findings—published in the journal Molecular Ecology on Thursday—should help researchers get closer to determining just how many types of blue whales exist in the world’s oceans, and that could make a big difference in understanding the best way to conserve the endangered species. Researchers from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Universidad Austral de Chile worked together on the study, comparing the genetic identify of 52 whales found off southern Chile with blue whales from Antarctica, northern Chile, and the eastern tropical Pacific-READ MORE LINK-http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/12/19/new-species-blue-whale-discovered-and-theyre-small

British bats 'showing signs of recovery'

Populations of 10 British bat species are stable or increasing following previous years of decline, a new report has suggested. The species included Daubenton's and Brandt's. The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) enlisted more than 3,500 volunteers to help with its National Bat Monitoring Programme. The citizen science project collected data from 3,272 sites across Great Britain from 1997 to 2012. In the report, the trust said the results revealed a "generally favourable picture" and "signs of recovery" for bats over the monitoring period. The study did, however, generate different trends for Natterer's, serotine and pipistrelles. The report added: "This study demonstrates that use of volunteer programmes can be successful in monitoring bat populations, provided that key features including standardised survey methods and volunteer training are incorporated. "Some species that are more difficult to detect and identify may however require specialist surveillance techniques."

New record for deepest fish

A new record has been set for the world's deepest fish. The bizarre-looking creature, which is new to science, was filmed 8,145m beneath the waves, beating the previous depth record by nearly 500m. Several other new species of fish were also caught on camera, as well as huge crustaceans called supergiants. The animals were discovered during an international expedition to the Mariana Trench, which lies almost 11km down in the Pacific Ocean. The 30-day voyage took place from the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel, Falkor, and is the most comprehensive survey of world's deepest place ever undertaken. The Hadal Ecosystem Studies (Hades) team deployed unmanned landers more than 90 times to depths that ranged between 5,000m and 10,600m. They studied both steep walls of the undersea canyon. Dr Jeff Drazen, co-chief scientist from the University of Hawaii, US, said: "Many studies have rushed to the bottom of the trench, but from an ecological view that is very limiting. "It's like trying to understand a mountain ecosystem by only looking -read more link -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30541065-ALSO READ -http://io9.com/a-bizarre-new-species-of-fish-has-been-discovered-at-a-1673109432

7ft ichthyosaur fossil found on beach near Penarth

An amateur fossil hunter has unearthed a 7ft skeleton of a carnivorous marine reptile on a beach in south Wales. Jonathan Bow, 34, discovered the ichthyosaur while walking the shoreline in the Penarth area. A palaeontologist at the National Museum Wales said the discovery is important as it appears to be complete. "Something this large and complete is a once in a lifetime find," said Mr Bow, a computer programmer in Swansea. Other fossils from the Jurassic period have been unearthed in the area, dating back 200 million years. He said anyone walking the dog on the beach could have found it, adding that an inch-long piece of rock took his eye after being exposed on a changing tide in September. It took Mr Bow and his brother a day to expose the fossil in about 60kg (132lb) of stone. Jump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue. Jonathan Bow described the fossil as a 'whopper' But he explained that the "labour intensive" work only began after it was taken away from the beach in three sections. The stone around it had to be removed so it could be fully appreciated and then he alerted the museum service about his find. Ichthyosaurs (fish lizards) were predatory reptiles that swam the world's oceans while dinosaurs walked the land. They died out around 25 million years before the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs and were replaced by plesiosaurs, a long neck marine reptile. Mr Bow has also discovered part of a jaw of a plesiosaur since he started his hobby several years ago. Palaeontologist Cindy Howells, collections manager in the Department of Geology at National Museum Wales, described the ichthyosaur as a "potentially very, very important find" given it was complete. She has only seen it in photographs and hopes to view it for herself soon along with the other finds made by Mr Bow. Ms Howells said other ichthyosaur skulls and paddles have been found in Wales previously but never a fully articulated specimen, although other complete remains have been discovered in Dorset and elsewhere.

Not such a big beast! Newly discovered Government files reveal six-month investigation to prove 'monster' that stalked moors near Bodmin was actually just a cat Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2874033/Not-big-beast-Newly-discovered-Government-files-reveal-six-month-investigation-prove-monster-stalked-moors-near-Bodmin-actually-just-cat.

Despite no solid proof of its existence ever being found, it is one of Britain’s most feared animals. But newly-unearthed records have revealed a six-month Government investigation into the Beast of Bodmin Moor proved it was far from a monster – and, rather, just a large pussycat. The probe in 1995 into the Cornish ‘beast’ and other unknown animals reported to have been roaming Britain found there was no 'verifiable evidence' of exotic cats loose in the UK. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2874033/Not-big-beast-Newly-discovered-Government-files-reveal-six-month-investigation-prove-monster-stalked-moors-near-Bodmin-actually-just-cat.html#ixzz3MA6CLwY7 Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Arctic ground squirrels unlock permafrost carbon

Arctic ground squirrels could play a greater role in climate change than was previously thought. Scientists have found that the animals are hastening the release of greenhouse gases from the permafrost - a vast, frozen store of carbon. The researchers say it suggests the impact of wildlife on this area has been underplayed. The findings are being presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco. Dr Sue Natali, from Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts, US, said: "We know wildlife impacts vegetation, and we know vegetation impacts thaw and soil carbon. "It certainly has a bigger impact than we've considered and it's something we will be considering more and more going into the future." The Arctic permafrost, where deep layers of soil remain frozen all year round, covers nearly a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere and contains a great deal of carbon. Dr Natali explained: "Carbon has been accumulating in permafrost for tens of thousands of years. The temperature is very cold, the soils are saturated, so that when plants and animals die, rather than decompose, the carbon has been slowly, slowly building up. "Right now the carbon storage is about 1,500 petagrams (1,500 billion tonnes). To put that in perspective, that's about twice as much as is contained in the atmosphere."-READ MORE -http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30456869

quest-for-the-real-life-kraken

For centuries, fishermen from Norway and Greenland have told tales of a terrifying sea monster: the kraken. Supposedly, this vast creature has giant tentacles that can pluck you from your boat and drag you to the depths of the ocean. You can't see it coming, because it lurks deep beneath you in the dark water. But if you suddenly find yourself catching a great many fish, you should flee: the kraken might be beneath you, scaring the fish towards the surface. In 1857, the kraken began to move from myth to reality, thanks to the Danish naturalist Japetus Steenstrup. He examined a large squid beak, about 8 cm (3 in) across, that had washed up on Denmark's shores several years earlier. Originally he could only guess at the overall size of the animal, but soon he was sent parts of another specimen from the Bahamas. When Steenstrup finally published his findings, he concluded that the kraken was real, and it was a species of giant squid. He named it Architeuthis dux, meaning "ruling squid" in Latin. Only after Steenstrup had described the creature could scientists begin to unravel whether there was any truth to the old myths. Was this huge squid really as dangerous as the legends had led people to believe? Where did it come from, and what was it up to in the dark depths of the sea?READ MORE -http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141212-quest-for-the-real-life-kraken

A pterodactyl under the bridge in Arkansas

We return this week to a class of unexplainable observations that we have not visited in a while: An apparent encounter with a creature that is recognized by science, but is said by the experts to have gone extinct millions of years ago. It involved one of the strangest reptilians from the ancient era when dinosaurs ruled the Earth: A pterodactyl. (I know that among the scientific establishment ‘pterosaur’ is the preferred term for this fascinating family of critters, but in my younger days I got in the habit of calling them pterodactyls, and I do so to this day.) There was one disappointing element encountered when I found this eyewitness report posted on the Phantoms and Monsters website, one of my favorites that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in the unexplained. (It can be visited at www.phantomsandmonsters.com.) The location was described only as ‘central Arkansas,’ making any follow-up investigation nearly impossible. The proximity between the creature and the witness, however, allowed her to give an excellent and detailed description that would make a suggestion of a misidentification fueled by an overactive imagination nearly impossible to defend. That clear spring afternoon seemed normal for Laura Dean, who at around 2 p.m. was driving through the scenic Arkansas countryside on her way to the grocery store. As she crossed a bridge, however, she saw something flying out from under the bridge that was not a normal part of the state’s natural abundant wildlife. She had an excellent view of it because as it flew upward at an angle, it passed no more than five or six feet from her. She described it as being medium gray in color, covered with a leathery skin but no feathers, with a stiff protuberance sweeping backward from the top of its head and ending in a point. Its eyes were large and yellow-gold in color. It was obviously struggling to gain altitude, and its slow flight gave the witness enough time to note enough details of its appearance to later allow an artist to draw a detailed rendering of it, which will be posted with this column if space allows. (Making decisions like that is why newspaper editors earn their salary.)READ MORE-http://ccheadliner.com/opinion/a-pterodactyl-under-the-bridge-in-arkansas/article_e36aa902-808b-11e4-bf4c-33d69e553bf3.html

Weird new species of deep-sea worm found in Monterey Bay

A weird new species of deep-sea worms that live on the rotting bones of dead animals on the ocean floor have reversed their own course of evolution unlike any others known in the animal kingdom, scientists report. The males of these bizarre creatures have become immensely larger than their own diminutive tribal forebears, and they mate in fashions vastly different than their closest relatives, the researchers say. The little worms were discovered thriving on the decaying bones of a long-drowned seal nearly 3,000 feet deep at the bottom of Monterey Bay, in the same area where an equally strange species of worm was found a dozen years ago by a team from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, or MBARI. Where Darwin once noted that in most animals sexual selection drives males and females to be different, the genes of these tiny male worms have abruptly made them equal in size to the females in the age-old Darwinian competition for food and sex. The worms were discovered by marine biologist Greg Rouse of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography during expeditions above the mile-deep Monterey Canyon and off the Oregon coast aboard the research vessel Western Flyer, led by MBARI’s evolutionary biologist Robert Vrijenhoek. The species is called Osedax priapus after the mythological god of fertility because the 3-inch-long males have been observed extending their eyeless bodies far out to hunt for females to mate. Osedax means “bone devourer.” Vrijenhoek discovered the first known species of the Osedax worms in 2002, and noted they had no mouth, no stomach, no legs and no eyes. But the body of each red-crested female held hundreds of males so tiny they looked like larvae barely visible in the microscope and they subsisted only on tiny scraps of yolk from the thousands of eggs that each female carried inside her body. The newly discovered worms are an “evolutionary oddity unlike any other in the animal kingdom,” Rouse said. The tiny dwarf males are now tens of thousands of times larger than the other species, and are just as large as the females, he said. And the males that once fed only on scraps inside the females are now consuming the same rotting bone as the females. “This case is exceptional because the genes for producing full-size adult males should have deteriorated over time because they weren’t used by the dwarf males,” Vrijenhoek said. “But apparently the genes are still there. “And although those microscopic dwarf males weren’t competing with the females for food, in this much larger species they do,” Vrijenhoek said in an interview. “So it’s our hypothesis that here there’s a new potential for sexual conflict, and the ability of the males to stretch themselves out like rubber bands to roam for females suggests that they’ve reinvented mating. “It’s a throwback to an earlier ancestral species more than 40 million years ago,” he said. “We’re continuing to collect more species to see what their genes are telling us.” By now more than 20 species of the annelid worms have been found. The scientists have reported on the new species of annelid worms in the journal Current Biology. David Perlman is The San Francisco Chronicle science editor. E-mail: dperlman@sfchronicle.com

Salmo kottelati-New trout species found in Turkey

London: A new trout species belonging to the Salmonidae family, which includes salmon, trout, char, grayling and freshwater whitefish, has been found in Alakir Stream in Antalya, Turkey. The new species Salmo kottelati, discovered by group of researchers from Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, is named after Maurice Kottelat, who contributed to the knowledge of the fish fauna of Europe and Asia. It inhabits cold and clear water, with moderate current and gravel and pebble substrate. Its maximum known body length is 21 cm, while the largest representative of the family can reach up to 2 metre in length. Salmonids include over 200 species, which have a high economic value because of their taste and famed sporting qualities. The genus Salmo is widely distributed in rivers and streams of basins of the Marmara, Black, Aegean and Mediterranean seas. The genus is represented by 12 species in Turkey. The new species is distinguished from the other members of the family by having fewer parr marks along lateral line and a larger mouth gape and maxilla, which is a part of the fish jaw. Salmonids are predatory fishes feeding on small crustaceans, aquatic insects and also small fish. In order to understand the rich genus diversity in Turkey, the researchers collected samples from more than 200 localities throughout the country between 2004 and 2014. The findings appeared in the journal ZooKeys.

Blakeney Point seals to star in BBC Winterwatch

Pioneering filming techniques are set to be used to capture a record-breaking seal colony in north Norfolk for the new season of the BBC's Winterwatch. Military-grade thermal imaging will be used for the first time to film thousands of seals on the Blakeney Point National Trust reserve at night. Producer Bill Markham said the technology allowed for "an intimate view" that was previously impossible. More than 1,756 pups have been born at the reserve so far this winter. The number has already broken the 2013-14 season total of 1,566 with at least another two of months of pupping still to go. An additional 700 pups have been born further around the coast at Horsey which is "slightly up" on the same time last year, said Eilish Rothney from the Friends of Horsey Seals group.READ MORE-http:///news/uk-england-norfolk-30310463

Spider-style sensor detects vibrations

By copying the design of an organ found in spiders' legs, engineers in South Korea have built a sensor that can detect miniscule vibrations. It works because the vibrations open and close cracks in a very thin layer of platinum, changing its conductivity. A similar slit-based system is found inside the joints of some spiders. The team reports in the journal Nature that when they stick their sensor to the neck or wrist, it can read out what someone says - or their pulse. Speaking to BBC News, Prof Mansoo Choi said the project began two years ago, when one of his colleagues at Seoul National University read a paper in the same journal. It described how a particular species of wandering spider communicates with potential mates, metres away on the same plant, by scratching the leaves and "hearing" the vibrations. The organ in the spiders' legs that detects these incredibly faint vibrations is made up of a series of slits. It is called the "lyriform organ" because the slits vary in length, like the strings of a lyre.READ MORE-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30414752

mystery-of-the-man-eating-snakes?

Several centuries ago, a group of Borneo natives left their villages and headed deep into the jungle, searching for a home away from the Dutch colonialists who had begun spreading across their island. Eventually, they found a nice spot in the lowland rainforests near the mountains in Borneo's centre. They built houses and cultivated crops, and caught fish from the Burak river. All was well. Then children began vanishing. One at a time, the kids disappeared, leaving behind baffled and frantic adults. This happened eight days in a row. Was it the work of a forest ghost, or jungle nomads, or a big carnivore like a clouded leopard? To find out, the villagers set a trap and baited it with another child, sacrificing one more life to stop the slaughter.READ MORE-http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141113-mystery-of-the-man-eating-snakes

Every year 80 tonnes of venomous sea snakes are harvested in the Gulf of Thailand, but it's a dangerous business and the snakes might be threatened.

WHY?


Each month, fishermen in the Gulf of Thailand risk their lives harvesting live sea snakes. It's risky for both parties: the snakes are in danger of being over-harvested and the fishermen could get bitten. Scientists are now calling for a monitoring programme to assess the impact the on-going trade will have on their population numbers and to look how it affects the ecosystem. A team reports in the journal Conservation Biology that fishermen have noticed a decline in their population since 2009. The researchers now want to understand if this is due to overfishing or other factors like pollution.READ MORE-http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141204-fishing-for-deadly-sea-snakes

Scientists seek to solve mystery of Stegosaurus plates

Researchers hope to learn how much it weighed, how it moved and what it used its iconic back plates for.

A UK team has scanned each of its 360 bones into a computer and has digitally reconstructed the dinosaur.
The specimen, nicknamed "Sophie", has been acquired by the Natural History Museum in London.
Although Stegosauruses are one of the most well known dinosaurs, they are among those that scientists know the least about. There are only six partial skeletons of the creature, which lived around 150 million years ago.
It could grow to the size of a minibus and the gigantic plates which ran along its back were its most distinctive feature.READ MORE-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30301895

2 headed bearded dragon a rare creature.

Picture is of a living 3 year old 2 headed bearded dragon called -Poncho and Lefty .This was seen on a t.v programme called FREAK SHOW -FOX -this is not a photo shop -http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a604888/fox-uk-to-air-reality-documentary-series-freakshow.html#~oXFVzhRhVW64Ow

Bat nav: Animals' 3D brain compass found

By recording from the brains of bats as they flew and landed, scientists have found that the animals have a "neural compass" - allowing them to keep track of exactly where and even which way up they are. These head-direction cells track bats in three dimensions as they manoeuvre. The researchers think a similar 3D internal navigation system is likely to be found throughout the animal kingdom. The findings are published in the journal Nature.-READ MORE-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30317656

Electric eels 'remotely control their prey'

A jolt from an electric eel does more than stun its prey, scientists say.

A study, reported in the journal Science, has now shown that eels can use their electric organs to remotely control the fish they hunt.

A researcher from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, found that the electric discharges from eels made the muscles of their prey twitch.

This makes the fish easier to capture either by immobilising it or making it "jump" to show where it's hiding.

Kenneth Catania, who led the study, set up small aquatic arenas to test the eels' hunting abilities - putting an eel and an unfortunate fish into the same tank.

Electric eels "reach into the nervous system" of their prey

When they spotted their prey, the eels released pulses of electricity that appeared to immobilise the fish.

Further study revealed that the eels' electric pulses directly activated the nerves that controlled their prey's muscles.

"When the eel's pulses slow down - when the eel gets tired at the end of its attack - you see individual fish twitches, with one twitch from every pulse," said Dr Catania.

"That tells us that the eel is reaching in to the prey's nervous system, controlling its muscles."

In further observations of the eels' hunting strategies, Dr Catania noticed that the hungry creatures would emit pairs of pulses when their potential meal was out of view.

"People had known since 70s that eels give off these pairs of pulses - or doublets - as they explore looking for food," he said.

"Usually when they're excited and they know that food is around but can't -READ MORE-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30335335

Indonesian shell has 'earliest human engraving'

Zig-zag patterns found on a fossilised shell in Indonesia may be the earliest engraving by a human ancestor, a study has claimed. The engraving is at least 430,000 years old, meaning it was done by the long-extinct Homo erectus, said the study. The oldest man-made markings previously found were about 130,000 years old. If confirmed, experts say the findings published in the journal Nature may force a rethink of how human culture developed. One of the report's authors, Stephen Munro, told the BBC it could "rewrite human history". "This is the first time we have found evidence for Homo erectus behaving this way," said the researcher, from Australian National University. 'No other explanation' Hundreds of fossilised freshwater mussel shells were excavated and collected in Java by Dutch scientist Eugene Dubois in the 1890s, then stored in boxes for years in the Dutch city of Leiden. In May 2007, Mr Munro took photos of them as part of his research for his PhD. The engravings stood out very clearly on the digital photos when they had not been visible to the naked eye.READ MORE-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-30324599

Sulawesi streaked flycatcher (Muscicapa sodhii).-http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141204-birds-new-species-animals-indonesia-science-world/

An Indonesian bird first observed 15 years ago is a species previously unknown to science, a new study confirms. An elusive bird, spotted on the island of Sulawesi (map) in 1997, now has an official name: the Sulawesi streaked flycatcher (Muscicapa sodhii). Ben King, a bird-watching guide, and his clients were the first to notice the bird, which had a distinctive streaked throat and looked smaller than a related species, the gray-streaked flycatcher (M. griseisticta). (See photo: "New Bird Found in Indonesia.") Several years later, that sighting inspired bird expert Frank Rheindt of the National University of Singapore and colleagues to travel to Sulawesi in 2011 and 2012 to search for the enigmatic animal. But the bird's unassuming, high-canopy lifestyle made it tough to find, and the team didn't spot a specimen until 2012, according to the study, published November 24 in the journal PLOS ONE. "After traveling to an area where it had previously been reported, it took many days of dedicated searching to find one in the first place," said study co-author Rheindt.READ MORE-http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141204-birds-new-species-animals-indonesia-science-world/

8 Strange New Spider Species Found on Indian Tiger Reserve

Eight potentially new species of spiders have been found living in India’s Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, a park near the southwestern coast of the subcontinent. The reserve is in the Western Ghats regions, which is known for being a biodiversity hotspot, stuffed with many species of plants and animals. But while much of the larger flora and fauna have been described, the area’s smaller inhabitants – the charismatic minifauna – have gotten a bit less attention. So, in early October, a team of scientists set out to survey the Reserve’s spider species. For four weeks, the team found, photographed, and cataloged a multitude of eight-legged critters – logging 210 different spider species in total, says leader A.V. Sudhikumar of the Centre for Animal Taxonomy and Ecology of Christ College, Irinjalakuda. “We explored different habitats like evergreen forests, mountain top grass lands, moist deciduous forests and small shola forests,” Sudhikumar said, noting the inherent difficulties of working in the area. “Field study was not so easy because so many deadly poisonous snakes were there. Bison and bears were common visitors of our campsite. We could enjoy the roaring of tigers during our sleep.” But among the many spiders the team managed to find were eight species -READ MORE-http://www.wired.com/2014/12/new-indian-spider-species/

In New Jersey, a newly discovered species of frog

Zoologist Brian Zarate first heard the creature's unfamiliar calls in 2003 while he and other researchers were working in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Morris County. The strange series of "chucks and occasional groans" emanated from a small frog no bigger than the length of a thumb. One of them was captured and photographed by Zarate, then a state contract biologist with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, who pondered the mystery along with his group. It couldn't have been the southern leopard frog, a species found widely in the Pine Barrens, they reasoned. It must be a northern leopard frog released into the wild, possibly by a high school biology teacher. At the time, the scientists didn't realize they were looking at a species that had not been described or mapped in any papers or field guides. Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20141201_In_New_Jersey__a_newly_discovered_species_of_frog.html#DrBtxL56LCrp0pEm.99

That's a lot of creepy crawlies: THIRTY new species of spider found in less than a square mile of Chinese rainforest Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2862528/That-s-lot-creepy-crawlies-THIRTY-new-species-spider-square-mile-Chinese-rainforest.html#ixzz3L7VmNZIU Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

If you have trouble coping with a spider in your bath, be glad you don't live in the Xishuangbanna tropical rainforest in China. Scientists have recently identified 30 new species of arachnid in less than a square mile of the mysterious forest in the southern part of Yunnan. And they believe many more are yet to be discovered in the biodiversity hotspot - called Mengbanaxi in ancient times, meaning a 'miraculous utopia' and also known as 'the Kingdom of Tropical Fauna and Flora'.The team, from the Institute of Zoology with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have warned that the find highlights how many undiscovered creatures are being lost to the world for ever, due to the destruction of the rainforests for logging and farming. Professor Shuqiang Li, of the academy, based in Beijing, said: 'The amazing biological diversity we have witnessed during our work on spiders in the area is perhaps only a part of what Xishuangbanna tropical rainforests hold.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2862528/That-s-lot-creepy-crawlies-THIRTY-new-species-spider-square-mile-Chinese-rainforest.html#ixzz3L7VT4LRF

Walking fish baffles bystanders in BidefordThe

‘Walking’ fish baffles bystanders in BidefordThe strange fish spotted in the Torridge.

  

Fishermen shocked to see fish appear to ‘walk’ out of River Torridge before slithering back into water.

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An encounter of the fishy kind has baffled a Bideford angler after he watched a strange sea creature emerge from the River Torridge.

The fish emerged onto mud by Bideford’s Bank End car park and was spotted by Robert Harrowet and his friends Rob and Chris.

“It came out of the water and tried to walk on its fins. It had the tail of a conger eel and the head of a pike and was trying to pick something up with its mouth,” said Robert.

“I’m a keen fisherman myself – sea fishing and freshwater – and I’ve never seen anything like it.”

After the fish had completed its mysterious business it slithered back into the water again.

Robert suggested it could have been a coelacanth, a ‘living fossil’ thought to be extinct but rediscovered in 1938, though usually found around the Indian Ocean.

Marcus Williams, senior biologist at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth told us the fish could be a rockling: “Rocklings do have the ugly eel like appearance, but this behaviour would be abnormal,” he said.

“A fish we can definitely eliminate is the snakehead fish, as this would be brackish estuarine water and they are solely fresh water.”

Tell us what you think the fish might be? Email newsdesk@northdevongazette.co.uk or add your comment to our Facebook page.