New critter found...

[Wildcard]

This is kinda cool looking. Sorry if it has been here before, I just saw it.
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=528085557&pt=Y

 

[Rick Murchison]

This is kinda cool looking. Sorry if it has been here before, I just saw it.
http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&etMailToID=528085557&pt=Y

First I've seen of it. Thanks.
I reckon that hair takes the place of eyes...
Rick

 

[Santa]

... or mits.

 

[LeslieH]

The public logs & pictures of the Easter Island expedition are at http://www.mbari.org/expeditions/EasterMicroplate/index.htm The samples were taken by people aboard the submersible Alvin and the new crab was probably taken on 24 March 2005, as the log mention "white, hairy galatheids".

We find new species all the time. The invert fauna from the west coast of North America is very well known but I still have a list of over 200 new species of polychaetes. A survey I'm working on now has produced another 53 possible new species. New fish species have been described at a rate of about 270 a year in the last 3 years. A new family is rarer but still not that uncommon.

What's unusual is the amount of press this critter is getting. The bigger research institutions, museums, & universities have all been spending a lot of money on PR for this sort of thing lately. The public perception (including policy makers & politicians) is that nearly everthing's been described so taxonomy is unnecessary. It's hard to find people who want to become taxonomists - the pay is poor, there's little respect, and jobs are rare. Yet as fast as humans are modifying the world around them the more crucial it is to describe the earth's other inhabitants and understand their ecological roles before they disappear. the lack of taxonomists is reaching crisis level. Publicizing these new discoveries is an effort to reverse the current states of affairs so taxonomists and taxonomic studies will be supported for the future.

 

[ch0ppersrule]

looks kinda cool and spooky. almost like a pet with all the hair. (how's it going in the scorpion and camel spider desert?)

Melissa

 

[H2Andy]

my theory is that this is the animal used by Subway Sandwich
to make their Seafood and Krab sandwiches

i bet they're pissed this has come to light

 

[Natasha]

First I've seen of it. Thanks.
I reckon that hair takes the place of eyes...
Rick

It is also blind. The researchers found it had only "the vestige of a membrane" in place of eyes, Segonzac said.


I love it! Very cool looking.