Wednesday
Jun232010
Play Bit-o-Critter, round 25
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 7:20AM
OK, since yesterday's BoC went off so quickly, here's another round hot on the heels. A double header this time. See if you can identify the following two animals from just the bit shown. Post your best guess in the comments section. The winner gets bragging rights and a smug sense of self satisfaction. First one I would like at least genus, the second one I'll accept the common or scientific name for the group.
25A
Reader Comments (5)
I'm going with a pteropod (Clione sp.) for 25B.
Really not sure about 25A but I'll say Physalia.
Yes! 25B is a sea angel, or Clione. Nice job! Not so lucky on the other one. Keep looking.
Is 25A Salpa cylindrica?
Boo-ya. 2 for 2. Can I ask, how did you work it out? Can you enlighten readers of anything else about salps that they might not know?
I just started thinking about gelatinous plankton and salps came to mind. I did a little looking around and came up with a guess. That biological oceanography class comes in handy sometimes!
I really don't know much about salps. They are pelagic tunicates that graze on phytoplankton. They can be found as asexual, solitary individuals or in long chains. Salps are also important in carbon cycling in the ocean.