11 results found.
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 79: Jan-Feb 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Those slippery (adult) eels Every year untold millions of adult eels swim down the rivers of the continents toward the sea, where they are literally swallowed up. They are never seen again! In the Atlantic, the oft-told sci-entific tale is that all the adult eels from Europe and eastern North America converge on the Sargasso Sea. Here, they mate and die. It is in this area of the Atlantic that one finds high concentrations of eel larva, called leptocephali; and this alone is why the eels are thought to spawn here. In a long article in Science News, E. Pennisi is the latest to wonder where the adult eels are. She relates how, despite several ambitious expeditions well-armed with nets, traps, and sundry eel-catching devices, ". .. no one has ever spotted adult eels in the spawning grounds." Actually, Pennisi's article focusses on the Pacific and a 1991 Japanese expedition that searched for the spawning grounds of Anguilla Japonica , the Japanese eel. Earlier searches had been in conclusive. The 1991 attempt, after arduous labors and 16,000 kilometers of cruising, found the highest concentrations of leptocephali east of the Philippines. But, as in the Atlantic, even though many larvae were captured, no adult eels turned up in the nets. (Pennisi, Elizabeth; "Gone Eeling," Science News, 140:297, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 264 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf079/sf079b08.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Eel Oddities Garter snakes are reknowned for their habit of congregating in large, writhing masses, but we never heard of "eel balls" until A. Gardiner mentioned them in a recent issue of the Fortean Times. "These [eel balls] are recorded in Christopher Moriarty's excellent Eels: a Natural and Unnatural History (David and Charles, 1978). Moriarity cites Pliny as the earliest historical reference. According to him, Eel Balls occur in Lake Garda, Italy, when it has been storm-tossed by the effects of the October 'Autumn star'. Smitt in his Scandanavian Fishes (1895) says that eels knot themselves together in bunches 'up to a fathom in circumference' and are seen rolling along the stream beds, or, strangely, resting in this position. On 17 August 1935, fishery scientist J.C . Medcof observed, in the outflow of Lake Ainslie in Nova Scotia, 'three splendid clumps of Eels, half a metre in diameter, 30 to a clump, knotted tightly and remaining motionless in the rushes.' Medcof mentions that Eel Balls are sometimes free floating on the surface, which suggests formation with an air pocket or some communal control of air bladders. He says that this behavior occurs before eels 'silver' prior to the spawning migration. The record of Eel Balls in Nova Scotia proves that this behaviour is not confined to the European Eel." ( ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 232 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf074/sf074b06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 45: May-Jun 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Gulper Eel And Its Knotty Problem Occasionally brought up from great depths in nets, the gulper eel consists mainly of a huge mouth followed by a large bag of skin and, finally, a very long thin tail. The eel, often 6 feet long, can swallow prey as large or larger than itself. Such features are not particularly rare in deep-sea-creatures, but we do have to briefly describe this grotesque fish to get a delightful anomaly. It seems that in a few recovered specimens, the thin tail is tied in several overhand knots! Now moray eels can knot themselves, but the gulper eel is just a floating stomach with negligible musculature in its whiplike tail. So, just how did the knots get there? (de Sylva, Donald P.; "The Gulper Eel and Its Knotty Problem," Sea Frontiers, 32:104, March-April 1986.) Comment. We cannot resist mentioning the occasional discovery of groups of rats all tied together by their tails. Called "rat kings," these hapless snarls of rodents are usually dismissed as pranks or outright prevarication. How-ever, in recent years, respected naturalists have found "squirrel kings" in the wild. Gulper eels are not the only animals with knotty problems. From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 156 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf045/sf045p07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 57: May-Jun 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Eels Strike Back Credit cards and bank cards are commonly kept in holders made from eelskin. So what! Who likes eels anyway? Well, there may be more to eelskin than meets the eye. Thousands of bank cards, when taken out of their eelskin holders, have failed to work in bank machines. The electronic coding on the cards has somehow been erased or scrambled. Perhaps, says one theory, the eelskins have bits of magnetite in their skins for navigational purposes. (Some other animals have such magnetic particles in their bodies to help orient them.) But could these tiny particles be powerful enough to erase card information? Another theory is that magnetic clamps on purses and handbags are the culprits. (Anonymous; "Credit Cards Fall Prey to Primitive Fish," New Scientist, p. 30, March 3, 1988.) Banking-business bane. From Science Frontiers #57, MAY-JUN 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 69 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf057/sf057b09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 14: Winter 1981 Supplement Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Eyes of deep-sea fish have spare parts The sunlight that filters down into the depths of the sea is exceedingly weak. It is so dark down there that one would expect deep-sea fish to be blind like many cave-dwelling animals. They are not blind; rather many have eyes of fantastic size and novel construction. An unusual feature of some deep-sea eyes is a layered retina. In the conger eel, five layers of photoreceptors are plastered on top of one another. Yet, experiments with conger eel eyes reveal that only one layer of photoreceptors is active at any one time. R. Shapley and J. Gordon, who carried out these experiments at the Plymouth Lab., surmise that the extra retinal layers are being held in reserve, much like the rows of spare teeth found in sharks' mouths. If so, deep-sea fish are the only animals that have evolved spare stores of visual pigments. (Anonymous; "The Mystery of the Non-Functioning Receptors," New Scientist, 88:366, 1980.) Comment. Why haven't cave-dwelling fish taken the same evolutionary route? From Science Frontiers #14, Winter 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A GOLDEN CALENDAR FOR USE AT STONEHENGE? DID THE PHARAOHS CHEAT WITH CONCRETE? Astronomy An unexplained event Gaia on mars? SOLAR ECLIPSE AFFECTS A PENDULUM -- AGAIN! Biology Eel oddities Echidna eccentricities Searching for monster sharks WHEN IDENTICAL TWINS ARE NOT IDENTICAL Geology 'TERMITE BANDS' IN SOUTH AFRICA THE MECHANICAL PARADOX IN THRUST FAULTING Geophysics NEWTONIAN GRAVITY MAY HAVE BROKEN DOWN IN GREENLAND 50-POUND 'ICE BOMB' FALLS IN WEST VIRGINIA EARTHQUAKE LIGHTS OBSERVED IN CANADA Psychology Predictive psi Maths & Logic Pi surprise Physics Repent! the phase change is coming! Cold fusion update ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 79: Jan-Feb 1992 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology A TERRESTRIAL RIDDLE A MARTIAN RIDDLE Astronomy MERCURY'S POLAR CAPS AND ICY MINICOMETS Memories of 1913 Whence the x-ray background? Biology The louse line Siberian lake monster Those slippery (adult) eels Geology Deeply-buried life Black gold -- again Spooky spike Geophysics The ups and downs of spook hill Milky sea Revolving sphere of light Man-killer lightning A LUMINOUS-TUBE PHENOMENON CROP CIRCLES: IF SOME ARE HOAXES, ARE THEY ALL HOAXES? Psychology Telepathic rabbits Chemistry & Physics New kind of cold fusion ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 33: May-Jun 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects California Sea Serpent Flap During October and November 1983, several sightings of a dark, eel-like creature came from the California coast. (Stinson Beach, north of San Francisco, and Costa Mesa). Three humps (just like in the classic sea serpents on old maps) followed a small head, which rose above the surface to look around. Many individuals saw the serpent, some with binoculars. At Stinson Beach, the animals was followed by about 100 birds and two dozen sea lions. (Anonymous; "' Sea Serpents' Seen off California Coast," International Society of Cryptozoology Newsletter, 2:9 , Winter 1983.) Comment. Of the vertebrates, only mammals are built so that they can easily flex vertically. Reference. We catalog mammalian "sea serpents" under BMU in Biological Anomalies: Mammals II. For more information on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 57: May-Jun 1988 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Updating man-in-the-americas Who built these chambers? Stonehenge in quebec? Astronomy A NEARBY RING OF COMETS? Martian canals: is lowell vindicated? Biology You can fool some of the animals some of the time, but.... Mysterious bird deaths Does the aids virus really cause aids? The eels strike back Yeti evidence too hard! Living stalactites! subterranean life! (in three parts) Subterranean life! (part 3) Geology Florida more exotic than the travel agents promise Geophysics Outrageous earthquake waves The large-scale structure of electrical storms Unusually large snowflakes General Morphic resonance in silicon chips Did charles darwin become a christian? ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 45: May-Jun 1986 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology The Lost City of Nan Madol Bubonic Plague As An Indicator of Diffusion? The Rabbit in the Moon: More Evidence of Diffusion? Astronomy The Martian Great Lakes Antarctic Meteorites Are Different Disparity Between Asteroids and Meteorites Biology The Gulper Eel and its Knotty Problem Bats May Have Invented Flight Twice (At Least!) Scant Ant Chromosomes Champ in 1985 Platypus Bill An Electrical Probe Polar Bear Coats Are Thermal Diodes Geology When Antarctica Was Green Wrong-way Primate Migration Eastern Quakes May Be Lubricated by Heavy Rainfalls The Exploding Lake Backtracking Along the Paluxy: Or is There A Deeper Mystery? Geophysics Electromagnetic Radiation From Stressed Rocks Some English Meteorological Anomalies Ozone Hole Over Antarctica Psychology Be Happy, Be Healthy: the Case for Psychoimmunology ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 14 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf045/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 89: Sep-Oct 1993 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Why do electric fish swim backwards?This is not a trick question like the one about the chicken crossing the road. To understand the answer to the electric fish puzzle, we must restrict the discussion to those fish with active electric sensing systems. This group includes electric eels, South American knife fish, and African elephant snout fish. All of these have evolved, in a remarkable instance of parallel evolution, the capability of generating pulses of electricity. These pulses (up to 1,000 per second) radiate through the surrounding water. Prey and other nearby objects distort these oscillating electric fields. Electroreceptors on the fish and a sophisticated data processing system convert the field distortions into an "image" of the surroundings. M. and S.J . Lannoo, of Ball State University, have watched the black ghost knife fish, which plies murky Amazon waters, approach likely prey tail first. Swimming backward using an elongated belly fin, the knife fish slowly cruises past its potential victim. If the electrical image looks appetizing, the knife fish grabs its dinner with a forward lunge as it appears in front of it. "The researchers suggest that the fish swims past objects in order to scan them with its electroreceptors. This is the only way the fish can identify prey because an electric sense cannot be focussed like an eye. But if the fish carried out its scan by swimming forwards, the prey would end up ...
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