Close-up view of a young sea star or starfish, demonstrating two of the key anatomical features of echinoderms, the phylum to which they belong. The first is the pentaradial (five-way radial) symmetry that gives it its characteristic star shape, which is highly unusual. This symmetry means that, unlike most ‘higher’ animals, the sea star has no head or…
Month: January 2016
X-ray shows the bone structure of a bat’s wings
Bats are the only group of mammals to have achieved powered flight (as opposed to gliding), and represent one of only four known instances of the evolution of true flight, along with insects, birds and pterosaurs. Here, the bone structure of the wings is highlighted in the brown long-eared bat, Plecotus auritus. The majority of support for the…
In Focus: ‘Skin teeth’ stories: using shark denticles to look to their past
Our guest post this week comes from Erin Dillon, a short-term fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. If you would like to contribute a guest post, please get in touch on Twitter or Facebook. What were shark communities like before humans? We know that shark populations have waned significantly over the past several centuries, but we don’t yet…
#wormwednesday: bone-eating ‘zombie’ worm doesn’t need teeth or mouth
Despite sounding like a sci-fi creation, ten species of Osedax worms have been described since their discovery in California’s Monterey Bay in 2002. These curious polychaete worms feed on bones which have sunk to the bottom of the sea – mainly whale fall, but they have also been found in fish and cow remains. The worms live…
Asymmetry in ancient whale skulls aided directional hearing underwater
Modern cetaceans broadly form two distinct groups: baleen whales, which include humpbacks, blue whales and other krill-feeders, and toothed whales such as orcas, dolphins and sperm whales. There are several clear differences in their biology and lifestyles which are reflected in their anatomy. One example of this is that the skulls of toothed whales are…
Barnacle cirri
Barnacles can be found on rocks, sea walls, boat hulls and countless other surfaces in oceans across the world. We usually see them as small, closed mounds resembling beaks, when they are out of the water and closed up to prevent water loss. But when underwater, the barnacle opens up and protrudes many specialised feeding…
In Focus: Vascular ‘safety net’ doesn’t protect the brains of giraffes from dangerous pressure changes
Our guest post this week comes from Haley O’Brien, a PhD student at Ohio University, and Dr. Jason Bourke from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. If you would like to contribute a guest post, please get in touch on Twitter or Facebook. Both giraffes and sauropod dinosaurs are renowned for their signature long necks. As…
Parasitoid wasp Wallaceaphytis kikiae, discovered in Borneo
This minute wasp was discovered in the tropical forests of Malaysian Borneo and measures just 0.75 mm in length (750 µm). Its generic name, Wallaceaphytis, refers to Alfred Russel Wallace, who independently proposed a theory of evolution by natural selection at the same time as Charles Darwin after extensive travel, specimen collection and research in…
Feeding an ocean: diatoms
Diatoms are tiny microalgae which make up a large proportion of phytoplankton (plankton which is more closely related to plants than to animals) living in the world’s waters. More than 100,000 living species of diatoms form the basis of countless food chains, and are eaten by everything from tiny zooplankton (which includes small animals such…
Cast of the trachea, bronchi and bronchioles of a domestic dog.
This resin cast shows the branching of the windpipe or trachea (centre top) into bronchi and then bronchioles through the lungs. Air is drawn into these ever-smaller channels until they reach the alveoli, where gas exchange between the lungs and the bloodstream occurs. Image courtesy of the RVC.
Gene expression patterns in developing Drosophila flies
In this image we see 16 Drosophila melanogaster fly embryos, photographed during their development under a confocal microscope. Fluorescent markers for different proteins have been injected into the embryo, so researchers can see exactly where they are expressed (produced). The labelled proteins here are involved in organising the embryo into different parts as it develops, so we can…
#fossilfriday: the world’s largest known animal finally goes on show!
This week a fossil which was so recently discovered that it hasn’t been officially named yet went on public display for the first time at a New York museum. The titanosaur, which was unearthed in 2014 in Argentina, is so large (more than 37 metres long!) that it spills out of the gallery hall at…
Anatomy To You 