Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Who needs men????


OK, so no news yet, but I was just looking over today's newsbits and saw this... Apparently they've pretty much proven Parthenogenisis in Sharks from a case in a Nebraska aquarium. There was apparently a suspected case in Detroit a couple years back also. Parthenogenisis means "who needs men" in latin... OK that's not true... but it essentially means "virgin birth" in greek apparently. No male is involved and is relatively common in the insect world, and has been seen in many species of creatures outside of mammals, this was the first known proven episode in sharks.

The photo above is of a Goldrim Surgeonfish (acanthurus nigircans). They are a neat fish which strongly resembles a Powder Blue Tang (acanthurus leucosternon) in a sort of night time pattern. They are not one of our more common tangs (a.k.a. surgeonfish), but we do see them from time to time. This is my most recognizeable pic of one.

Aloha,

Steve

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great photo... I just took a fish ID course at the Shedd and I am rather pleased to say that that I knew what that was. :)

If you are ever in
Chicago dive
with Chicago Scuba Meetup!

Anonymous said...

So, are Goldrim Surgeonfishes capable of Parthenogenisis? anyway, it's a really cute fish... is it ok to put them in aquariums?