Play Bit-o-critter, round 32

Its been a while since we had a BoC and nobody got the last one (it was an orange barrel sponge, Xestospongia sp.).  Here’s the newest challenge then.  Common or scientific name for the species is fine.  First correct answer in the comments wins bragging rights!

The solution to Bit-o-Critter round 30

I was so impressed with Sarah F. solving round 30 of Bit-o-Critter that I forgot to post the solution for everyone else.  It was, as she correctly surmised, a baby sailfish.  I drew the particular bit of image from this Flickr set, which has a sort of abstract look to start with. 

Even though baby sailfish are cute as they come, they’re aggressive predators from a very early age.  Just look at the size and investment in the mouth! 

Play Bit-o-Critter round 30 - and win stuff.

In celebration of the thirtieth round of Bit-o-Critter: prizes!  The winner this time will receive a bottle of SPF 30+ ReefSafe sunscreen -  its great stuff; I used it in Mexico this summer - and in case you forget to apply, a bottle of Beach Buff burn cooler.  Both are from the kind folks at Tropical Seas. 

Here’s the critter.  First correct full scientific name in the comments wins.  And don’t panic if you don’t see your comment straight away - the order of submission is preserved in the moderation queue.

 Good luck

Play Bit-o-Critter, round 29

A simple one-shot round, this one.  Full scientific name please!  The winner gets to pick the next round.  Go for it:

The solution to Bit-o-Critter round 28

I’ll chalk it up to the change of domain in the middle of the round, but there were no guesses on round 28 of BoC.  Here’s the solutions:

28A - Flying Squid - Ommastrephes bartramii.  It is a lifelong dream of mine to see one of these bad boys.  Have any of you seen one?  if so where, and what was it like?

28B - Boxing crab, Lybia tesselata.  David Gross, the Round 27 winner picked this one.  I admit I was a bit mean in the crop because I put a bit of the crab and a bit of the anemone it carries.  I know next to nothing about this critter, perhaps David can enlighten us in the comments.  Funky looking thing though, like some sort of submarine cheerleader.

Play Bit-o-Critter, round 28

In this weeks Bit-o-Critter, where the aim of the game is to guess the animal from the excerpt shown, we have two invertebrates, one of which was proposed by last weeks winner, David Gross.  I need the correct answer for both animals, in the same comment, for you to be declared the winner.  If you give away one, you just made it easier for someone else. OK, here we go:

 28A

28B

The solution to Bit-o-Critter round 27

The last BoC was a triple header from previous winner Sarah F. and you had to get 2/3 scientific names correct.  David Gross was the first to do that, correctly identifying the first as a reticulated brittle star Ophionereis reticulata and the third as a flamingo tongue snail Cyphoma gibbosum

 

Nobody got the third one, which was a fireworm, Hermodice carunculata.  That's one of very few BoC's that has never been solved

Play Bit-o-Critter Round 27 - new and improved!

There's a new Bit-o-Critter rule in play - if you get it right, you get to pick the next round animal(s) and stump your colleagues.  Here's Sarah F.'s trio of selections, which she picked as her reward for getting round 26 correct.  Scientific names please.  First person to get 2/3 correct in a single comment wins.

Play Bit-o-Critter Round 26

OK folks, I'll take the genus name for organism in the top half of the photo, with a bonus for the other organism in the bottom half.  If you couldn't tell that this was two organisms, then there you go, I just gave you a hint. :-)

The solution to Bit-o-Critter round 25

After some time, Sarah F. was able to get both of the Round 25 Bit-o-Critters.  Congrats, enjoy the warm inner glow of vanquishing your opponents.

25A was one of the more common salps, Salpa cylindrica.  As Sarah noted in her answer, salps 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."  One of the other cool things about salps is how they move; they're basically little jet engines.  The ridges you see along the body in the photo below are muscle bands that can be squeezed in sequence to push water through a central canal and jet them along through the water.  Some salps are surprisingly powerful swimmer.  Photo credit: Census of Marine Zooplankton

25B was a sea angel or Clione sp.  Even though they are about as far from snails as you can imagine, they are actually molluscs.  They're pteropods (= wing-foot), which is one of two groups of exclusively pelagic molluscs (the other being heteropods).  A photo doesn't do them justice, so instead enjoy this weird and mildly amusing Japanese video of a Clione gently swimming, and then violently attacking its lunch, to the tune of....well, just watch it and see...

If you have any idea what they are saying, I'd love to know...

Disconnect in 3... 2... 1...

Things will probably be a little quiet on here for the next week or so as I take some much needed vacation time.  In the meantime, nobody has guessed at Bit-o-Critter round 25 yet, so now's your chance to swoop in for the kill!

Play Bit-o-Critter, round 25

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

25B

The solution to that pesky Bit-o-Critter, round 23b

Commenter Will Edwards just successfully identified the BoC wrasse from Round 23 as Ophthalmolepis lineolatus, or what we Aussies like to call a Maori wrasse.  I think the common name comes from the blue lines on the face and their resemblance to the facial tattoos of several Polynesian peoples.  Its a temperate rocky shore wrasse not to be confused with the humphead maori wrasse or Napoleon wrasse Cheilinus undulatus, which is a huge beast of a thing from coral reefs.

I grew up catching O. lineolatus off the rocks in S.E. Australia with my dad, usuallly using a peeled shrimp on a No. 2 hook on a paternoster rig.  We would also catch mado sweep, which we called "footballers" (striped jersey), mono's, which we called "butter bream" and the occasional luderick, which we called "blackfish".  I looked on jealously while older guys would cast ganged pilchards with an Alvey, way out into the wash in the hopes of tailor (Americans call them bluefish) or even a kingfish (US = yellowtail) or mulloway.  I also remember my dad dressing me down one one time because I left a packet of shrimp bait in the trunk (Australia...summetime...you get the idea).  When we went to pile into the car and drive home the next day, well, lets just say I wasnt so comfortable sitting down...  Good times, good times...

Picture - Australian Museum

The solution to Bit-o-Critter round 24

Well that was quick; I guess I made it too easy.  Heather D guessed correctly that it was the beautiful Pyjama Squid, Sepioloidea lineolata.  These gorgeous little cephalopods hail from my home country of Australia, just like the wrasse in BoC 23b, which is still up for grabs.  I think technically pyjama squids are a cuttlefish because the eye is a slit not a round pupil and because the undulating fin runs the full margin of the hood.  I could be wrong, but thats what I was always taught.  Perhaps someone with more cephalopod knowledge can chime in here.

Photo credit: Mark Norman @ the cephalopod page