microrobert
05-16-2014, 04:08 AM
New 'Alien' Catfish Species Confuses Scientists with Monster-like Features
http://images.scienceworldreport.com/data/images/full/8423/catfish.jpg?w=680
A close-up scanned image of the bony structures in the face of Kryptoglanis shajii
It looks like something out of a monster movie. Scientists have discovered a strange, subterranean catfish called Kryptoglanis shajii, and the more researches look at it, the stranger it gets.
The catfish itself lives in springs, wells, and flooded rice paddies. While it normally lives beneath the Earth, it will sometimes rise to the surface. In fact, it's so elusive that it was only described as a new species in 2011. Now, scientists are taking a closer look at this species.
"The more we looked at the skeleton, the stranger it got," said John Lundberg, one of the researchers, in a news release. (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-05/du-att051314.php) "The characteristics of this animal are just so different that we have a hard time fitting it into the family tree of catfishes."
From the outside, the fish doesn't look very unusual. Instead, it's the skeleton that's bizarre. The catfish has numerous individual bones in its face that gives it a compressed front end with a jutting lower jaw-like a bulldog's snout. The catfish also possesses four rows of conical, sharp-tipped teeth. These particular features are unique among catfish; that said, there could be a functional purpose for these differences.
"In dogs that was the result of selective breeding," said Lunberg in a news release. (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-05/du-att051314.php) "In Kryptoglanis, we don't know yet what in their natural evolution would have led to this modified shape."
While researchers have examined the fish using digital radiology and high-resolution X-ray computed tomography, they're still unsure what these features could be used for. That said, the fish likely eats meat, and moves swiftly in its environment.
Despite the research, the scientists are still unsure which catfishes are most closely related to the new species. It's possible that it simply represents one of many unresolved branches on the catfish family tree, in a section where even DNA has proven unhelpful.
The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. (http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1635/053.163.0101?journalCode=ansp)
Want to see the catfish for yourself? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBqndwVdnrc).
New 'Alien' Catfish Species Confuses Scientists with Monster-like Features (VIDEO) (http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/14725/20140515/new-alien-catfish-species-confuses-scientists-monster-features-video.htm)
http://images.scienceworldreport.com/data/images/full/8423/catfish.jpg?w=680
A close-up scanned image of the bony structures in the face of Kryptoglanis shajii
It looks like something out of a monster movie. Scientists have discovered a strange, subterranean catfish called Kryptoglanis shajii, and the more researches look at it, the stranger it gets.
The catfish itself lives in springs, wells, and flooded rice paddies. While it normally lives beneath the Earth, it will sometimes rise to the surface. In fact, it's so elusive that it was only described as a new species in 2011. Now, scientists are taking a closer look at this species.
"The more we looked at the skeleton, the stranger it got," said John Lundberg, one of the researchers, in a news release. (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-05/du-att051314.php) "The characteristics of this animal are just so different that we have a hard time fitting it into the family tree of catfishes."
From the outside, the fish doesn't look very unusual. Instead, it's the skeleton that's bizarre. The catfish has numerous individual bones in its face that gives it a compressed front end with a jutting lower jaw-like a bulldog's snout. The catfish also possesses four rows of conical, sharp-tipped teeth. These particular features are unique among catfish; that said, there could be a functional purpose for these differences.
"In dogs that was the result of selective breeding," said Lunberg in a news release. (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-05/du-att051314.php) "In Kryptoglanis, we don't know yet what in their natural evolution would have led to this modified shape."
While researchers have examined the fish using digital radiology and high-resolution X-ray computed tomography, they're still unsure what these features could be used for. That said, the fish likely eats meat, and moves swiftly in its environment.
Despite the research, the scientists are still unsure which catfishes are most closely related to the new species. It's possible that it simply represents one of many unresolved branches on the catfish family tree, in a section where even DNA has proven unhelpful.
The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. (http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1635/053.163.0101?journalCode=ansp)
Want to see the catfish for yourself? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBqndwVdnrc).
New 'Alien' Catfish Species Confuses Scientists with Monster-like Features (VIDEO) (http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/14725/20140515/new-alien-catfish-species-confuses-scientists-monster-features-video.htm)