Blog Profile / The Lord Geekington
| URL : | http://cameronmccormick.blogspot.com/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Biology / Zoology | |
| Posts on Regator: | 155 | |
| Posts / Week: | 0.6 | |
| Archived Since: | March 12, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
Feresa: The Growling Wolf-Dolphin
The dolphin Feresa attenuata has been bestowed with dreadfully stupid common names. Feresa has been recognized as distinct from Orca since Gray (1871), which makes "Pygmy Killer Whale" both inappropriate and archaic. The alternative "Slender Blackfish" is actively misleading as the superficially similar Pseudorca is more slender (Reeves et al. Show More Summary
A Baby Cadborosaur No More. Part 3: Dealing With Traits
William A. Hagelund's specimen was given a very detailed description with 24 traits: an eel-like (or sea snake-like) appearance, head held out of the water while swimming, undulatory movement, dark eyes, limpid eyes, large eyes, seal-like...Show More Summary
A Baby Cadborosaur No More. Part 2b: Hagelund's Account - annotated
See the previous article for an uninterrupted version of Hagelund's account.The encounter took place at Pirate's Cove Marine Provincial Park, De Courcy Island, British Columbia in August 1968. It runs from pages 177 to 180 in Hagelund (1987). Show More Summary
A Baby Cadborosaur No More. Part 2a: Hagelund's Account
Hagelund (1987), pages 177-180: With my two sons and their grandfather aboard our centre cockpit sloop, we spotted a small surface disturbance in the calm anchorage where we had dropped the hook for the night. Lowering the dinghy, my youngest son Gerry and I rowed out to investigate. Show More Summary
A Change of Scenery
After blogging on Blogger since 2006 I've decided to give WordPress a try. There is a lot of juvenile baggage on this page and I think a move will help me distance from that and try and become a better and above all more consistent blogger. Anyways, the primary purpose of this post is to announce my first article on a new blog:Lophenteropneusts and Beyond
Feresa: The Growling Wolf-Dolphin
The dolphin Feresa attenuata has been bestowed with horribly stupid common names. Feresa has been recognized as distinct from Orca since Gray (1871), which makes "Pygmy Killer Whale" an archaic artifact. The alternative "Slender Blackfish" is actively misleading as the superficially similar Pseudorca is more slender (Reeves et al. Show More Summary
Eocetus, "Eocetus", and Friends
I was shocked that Uhen (2010) remarked that Basilosaurus drazindai and Basiloterus hussaini "probably represent protocetids... akin to Eocetus". This would place the whales outside Pelagiceti and imply that the now-questionable basilosaurids were potentially capable of walking on land, despite being enormous. Show More Summary
Billfish Bills - What Are They Good For?
In the prior article, I discussed long-beaked "dolphins" (Eurhinodelphidae) and noted that I couldn't find hypotheses on the function of their uneven jaws in the literature... aside from a weird proposal involving Skimmers. The Theatrical...Show More Summary
Picture of the Indiscriminate Interval #000008 - Eurhinodelphis longirostris
Eurhinodelphis longirostris at the American Museum of Natural History. The most striking trait of Eurhinodelphidae is a toothless extension of the rostrum beyond the mandible (Lambert 2005), superficially similar to the bills of Billfish and Swordfish. Show More Summary
Picture of the Indiscriminate Interval #000007 - Narwhal
Monodon monoceros at the American Museum of Natural History. Narwhals are a bit strange even by cetacean standards. I'll let the title of this Tet Zoo article speak for itself: "A 3-m tooth that can bend 30 cm in any direction and is hypersentitive to salinity, temperature and pressure... Show More Summary
The Giant Turtle Therizinosaurus
Therizinosaurus, you look... unwell. Reconstruction by K. K. Fierova, from Maleyev (1954). I am quite fond of old, weird reconstructions, and the initial classification of Therizinosaurus cheloniformis as a "turtle-like reptile" 1 resulted in the magnificent specimen above. Show More Summary
A Giant Snapper At Last!
A common cliché in fringe anecdotes is that when eyewitnesses see something beyond belief, the camera has the lens cap on/no film/failed to work/been misplaced. Logically this should be taken as a strike against veracity... but I began to wonder otherwise when it happened to me. Show More Summary
Picture of the Indiscriminate Interval #000006b - Morone saxatilis
I can assure you this Nightmare Mode identification challenge is solvable. Okay, so maybe fish crania are rarely figured in the literature and this particular example was damaged before I could photograph it, but all the pieces are there, I swear! Location is a major clue. Show More Summary
Picture of the Indiscriminate Interval #000006a
I am getting bored of 'Cadborosaurus', so before finishing the series, here is a mysterious object found on the shoreline near Independence Park, Bristol, Rhode Island. This object is very fragile and part of the anterior end has broken off; to make up for this complication, I feel obliged to hint that size is a major clue.
A Baby Cadborosaur No More. Part 9: ... and the rest!
Woodley et al. (2011) didn't just concern itself with poachers, pipefish, and 'Cadborosaurs'; everything vaguely similar to the Hagelund specimen in the region was considered. Just in case. Aulorhynchus flavidus from Flickr user jmandecki. Show More Summary
A Baby Cadborosaur No More. Part 8b: The Bay Pipefish
Poachers, despite a startling similarity to Hagelund's illustrated specimen, are problematic candidates as they are apparently incapable of undulatory locomotion and at-surface behavior is unlikely. Pipefishes don't look as similar but are capable of undulating at the surface and can be unambiguously described as "eel-like" or "sea snake-like"... Show More Summary
A Baby Cadborosaur No More. Part 8a: Pipefish in a Bucket
Internets. Is there anything they can't do? This should quell any doubts that pipefish are unambiguously eel-shaped, can swim in an undulatory fashion and near the surface to boot. Many thanks to Scott Mardis for bringing this to my attention.Previous entries: A Baby Cadborosaur No More. Show More Summary
A Baby Cadborosaur No More. Part 7: Poachers
I'm thoroughly sick of the 'reptilian hypothesis', so I'll condense my aborted article into this: the Hagelund specimen is obviously not a plesiosaur or thalattosuchian.It is time to move on to better candidates... I want to finish this series at some point. Show More Summary
A Baby Cadborosaur No More. Part 6b: Reptilian Reproduction
Here's that quote again, from LeBlond and Bousfield (1995), page 82:The thinness and elongation of the body, the poikilothermy (or cold-bloodedness) which it seems to imply, and the great difference in size between the young and the adult are strong points in favour of a reptilian nature. Show More Summary
A Baby Cadborosaur No More. Part 6a: Cold Water on the 'Reptilian Hypothesis'
LeBlond and Bousfield (1995) made remarkable conclusions about the affinities of 'Cadborosaurus' (page 82):The thinness and elongation of the body, the poikilothermy (or cold-bloodedness) which it seems to imply, and the great difference in size between the young and the adult are strong points in favour of a reptilian nature. Show More Summary