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Fish out of Water
July 28 , 2008
Someone forgot to tell the Mangrove Killfish, that’s it’s supposed to live in water. Instead, it spends up to three months living under logs in trees, breathing air through its skin. Odd little creature, indeed.
That’s probably what the scientists who discovered it thought as well. During a routine expedition, scientists moved a half rotten log, and found hundreds of these creatures, all alive and very seemingly happy. Upon further research, they realized it spends several months of every year out of the water and living inside trees.
Hidden away inside rotten branches and trunks, the mangrove killfish temporarily alters its biological makeup so they can breathe air. Biologists believe the fish had flopped their way to their new homes when their pools of water around the roots of mangroves dried up. They then lined up end to end along tracks carved out by insects.
Biologists are astonished it can cope for so long out of its natural habitat.
Not only can it live out of water, it can breed without a mate, , making Rivulus marmoratus Poey (the scientific name), one of the oddest fish known to man. Their gills are altered to retain water and nutrients, while they excrete nitrogen waste through their skin. Once they return to water, the process reverses.
Around two inches long, they normally live in muddy pools and the flooded burrows of crabs in the mangrove swamps of Florida, Latin American and
Caribbean .
As amazing as it may seem, they are not the only fish able to breathe air. The walking catfish of South-east Asia has gills that allow it to breathe in air and in water, and then of course there’s the climbing perch of can suffocate in water unless it can also gulp in air.
Do you have video of one of these air breathing fish or another similar creature? We would love to see it! Upload your video and images to share with the Splashvision community today!
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- The SplashVision Team (help us grow and forward this to friends)
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Desert Oasis
July 23 , 2008
When you think of the
Middle East , waterfalls and blue water flowing 100 miles through the desert are not exactly the images that come to mind. The idea has floated around for decades, but recently the canal has been given a new backwind from one of the world's richest people: Israeli real-estate mogul Yitzhak Tshuva, the owner of
New York 's Plaza Hotel. In theory it could refill the shrinking
Dead Sea , produce hydroelectric power, provide badly needed drinking water and bring Israelis and Arabs together in a thriving free-trade zone.
It is hard to predict how the proposed artificial waterway from the Red Sea to the
Dead Sea , popularly known as the Red-Dead canal, will turn out.
The Dead Sea has been shrinking for years because the Jordan River waters that once replenished it is now pumped for drinking water and agricultural use, and because Israeli and Jordanian factories mining the sea's valuable minerals have led to massive evaporation.
The dramatic recession of the sea, where salt concentrations are so high that no marine life can survive and humans float effortlessly on the surface, has harmed a lucrative tourism industry and caused dangerous sinkholes to gape suddenly along its banks.
Proposals for canals that would channel water from the Mediterranean Sea or the
Red Sea have been debated since the 1980s, tickling the imagination before invariably being shelved by reality and economics.
But this time may be different- Tshuva and other leading Israeli financiers can foot the whole bill for the canal, its desalination plants and hydroelectric installations. He said the cost would be around $3.3 billion, none of which would have to come from the public coffers. Presumably they would, make their money back from the sale of electricity and the tourist industry that is sure to spring forth.
Although far from being set in stone, it is one of the most viable plans ever presented.
Do you have video of a remarkable transformation dealing with water? Upload it and share with the SplashVision community today!
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Hurricane Dolly
July 22 , 2008
HURRICANE CENTER
MIAMI FL
1100 AM EDT TUE JUL 22 2008
REPORTS FROM A NOAA HURRICANE HUNTER PLANE INDICATE THAT DOLLY IS GRADUALLY INTENSIFYING. THE SFMR ON BOARD OF THE PLANE REPORTED AN ISOLATED PEAK OF 65 KNOTS.
A MINIMUM PRESSURE OF 991 MB AND AN OPEN EYEWALL OF 20 NMI IN DIAMETER. SSMI DATA SHOWS THE EARLY STAGES OF A CONVECTING RING AROUND THE CENTER. CONVECTIONALSATELLITE IMAGES REVEAL NUMEROUS CONVECTIVE BANDS WITH A LITTLE BETTER DEFINED OUTFLOW. BEST ESTIMATE OF INITIAL INTENSITY IS 60 KNOTS.
GLOBAL MODELS SHOW A LARGE 200 MB ANTICYCLONE OVER DOLLY.
THIS UPPER-LEVEL PATTERN IN COMBINATION WITH WARM WATERS SHOULD RESULT IN STRENGTHENING. BOTH GFDL AND HWRF INTENSITY FORECASTS HAVE GONE UP AND DOWN WITH EACH RUN...BUT THE OVERALL TREND IS UPWARD.
THE OFFICIAL FORECAST BRINGS DOLLY TO 80 KNOTS AT LANDFALL...5 KNOTS HIGHER THAN INDICATED BY ALL GUIDANCE.
FIXES FROM THE NOAA PLANE INDICATE THAT DOLLY IS MOVING TOWARD THE
NORTHWEST OR 305 DEGREES AT 10 KNOTS. A GENERAL NORTHWEST TO WEST-NORTHWEST TRACK WITH A SLIGHT DECREASE IN FORWARD SPEED IS INDICATED UNTIL LANDFALL ON WEDNESDAY. THEREAFTER...A RIDGE IS FORECAST TO BUILD NORTH OF DOLLY AND THE CYCLONE SHOULD THEN TURN MORE TO WEST...BUT VERY SLOWLY.
THE OFFICIAL FORECAST IS VERY CLOSE TO THE MODEL CONSENSUS AND BRINGS THE CORE OF DOLLY NEAR THE /US BORDER ON WEDNESDAY.
IT SHOULD BE RE-EMPHASIZED THAT...DUE TO THE INHERENT UNCERTAINTIES...ONE MUST NOT FOCUS ON THE EXACT
LANDFALL
POINT
IN THIS FORECAST.
THE
CENTER OF
DOLLY IS BEGINNING TO SHOW UP ON
BROWNSVILLE RADAR.
FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS
INITIAL 22/1500Z 24.0N 94.5W 60 KT
12HR VT 23/0000Z 24.8N 95.6W 70 KT
24HR VT 23/1200Z 25.7N 97.0W 80 KT
36HR VT 24/0000Z 26.0N 98.0W 60 KT...INLAND
48HR VT 24/1200Z 26.0N 99.5W 40 KT...INLAND
72HR VT 25/1200Z 26.0N 102.5W 20 KT...REMNANT LOW
96HR VT 26/1200Z...DISSIPATED
For more weather related information please visit or favorite "Weather Links" to the right.
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