#weird molluscs

[drhoz]

#2800 - Verpa penis - Watering Pot Shell

As usual I've saved something special for the milestone. Quite likely the weirdest bivalves in the world, and that's a group that includes shipworms and freshwater species that hitch a lift upstream in fish gills.

Originally described as Serpula penis by Linnaeus in 1758. But since Serpula is now a genus of tube worms, it certainly didn't stay there. Exactly whose penis is another question, but I'm sure you could find something similar in the Bad Dragon catalogue.

Another names have included Aquaria radiata, 10 different Aspergillum, three different Brechites, Clepsydra javanica, three Penicillus, and Serpula aquaria. An Aspergillum is a device for sprinkling holy water. One of the definitions of Clepsydra ('water thief') is a hollow brass ball with a long neck and lots of small holes around the bell, that if dipped in water will hold it until you take your thumb off the opening at the end of the neck. The common names also include waterspout shell. So all-in-all it would seem most of the taxonomists were making the same associations, based on the wide end of the shell being covered in dozens of tiny holes.

Most of those generic names are invalid because they'd already been applied to something else. I'm honestly amazed 'Verpa' hadn't already been applied to another animal, and it IS the name of a fungus genus. It means 'erect penis' in vulgar Latin, incidentally. Guess what the fungus looks like.

And they really are bivalves, although there's little evidence of that left in the adult shell.

The Clavagelloidea includes genera that bore into living coral, but Verpa lives in soft sediments, with the wide end buried, and the long tube sticking up into the water. The bivalve's siphons run up the tube, to inhale and exhale water, but they can also use their mantle to pump water out through the small holes at the wide end. This presumably loosens the sand and mud, and helps secure the wide end as an suction anchor. Some have been found with sharp curves and bends in the tube, which probably indicates they got knocked over at some point but survived to keep growing.

Some research suggests that the genera in the Clavagelloidea that currently form the Penicillidae and the Clavagellidae actually evolved seperately, possibly from the Lyonsiidae, but converged on the same bizarre anatomy. Clavagellids first appeared in the Upper Cretaceous, but the Penicillids like Verpa didn't show until the Oligocene at least 40 million years later.

Found off the coast of SE Asia and Australia, but very rare and presumed extinct in some areas since they haven't been seen in 50 years.

Otago Museum, Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand

[cutiepieautistic]

Source

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

Green Shell Semi-Slug: the researchers who discovered this species originally wanted to name it "Ibycus felis," because it often rests with its tail curled around its body, which reminded them of a sleeping cat

The Latin name of this species is Ibycus rachelae, but it's also known as a green-shelled or long-tailed semi-slug. The species was first described in 2008, and it is found only in the montane forests of Sabah (Borneo) and Peninsular Malaysia.

The term "semi-slug" refers to an intermediate stage of evolution as a snail evolves into a slug. These snails still have shells that are at least partially visible, but they have been reduced to the point where the shell can no longer accommodate the snail's whole body. There are many different species of semi-slug, but most of them have a noticeably reduced, receding, and/or transparent shell that is partially concealed beneath the mantle.

This article describes another peculiar characteristic of semi-slugs (including Ibycus rachelae):

... semi-slugs don’t just look weird, they act weird, too. They employ sharp projectiles called love darts in their courtship rituals, by shooting several of them at a prospective mate. The mate, in turn, shoots several love darts right back.

Researchers have found that if semi-slugs are able to lodge love darts into one another, the subsequent copulation tends to be much more successful. It’s thought that the mucus distributed by the love dart ensures greater survivability of the sperm

This is what the "love darts" look like (when magnified under SEM):

The tiny, harpoon-like structures are made of calcium carbonate, and they transmit certain hormones (via mucus) that help to increase the likelihood of reproductive success. Semi-slugs are not the only gastropods that use "love darts," however; they are also used by some other land snails and slugs.

Sources & More Info:

World Wildlife Fund: Borneo's New World (PDF)

Basteria (Journal): The Slugs and Semislugs of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo (PDF)

Forest Research Institute Malaysia: Introduction to the Land Snails and Slugs of Malaysia (PDF)

Malay Peninsular Terrestrial Molluscs: Ibycus rachelae

Live Science: World's Longest Bug and 'Ninja' Slug Discovered in Borneo

Australian Geographic: Meet the Semi-Slug, a Snail without a Home

[acheronist]

reading wikipedia pages about things that might have been the loch ness monster and guess who showed up in the history section for the stronsay beast

yeah i said oh i'm sure

[weirdcreaturefeed]

Weird Creature of the Day: Red Triangle Slug

Thank you for the wonderfully positive response yesterday! Today we're checking out Triboniophorus graeffei!

Red triangle slugs are a common air-breathing slug found along the east coast of Australia. They are considered part of the Athoracophoridae family, also called the leaf-veined slug family. Measuring up to 15 cm/5.9 in, they are Austalia's largest native land slug!

Like most slugs, they love damp spaces such as forests, shrublands, gardens, and, on occasion, your bathroom. They primarily eat algae off of eucalyptus trees, and also sometimes mold, if they're visiting your home. You'll know if this guy has recently had lunch by the telltale circular marks their radula (mouth) leaves behind.

The iconic jaunty red triangle around their breathing pore reminds me of 80s/90s fashion and/or bowling alley carpet. And! It matches the red edge they have around their foot-- very fashion-forward. They don't develop this pattern until adulthood.

Some individuals have markings that are more red or orange, and their main body may be yellow, grey, white, pink, red, or even green. Research is still being done to determine if these variations merit classifying them into separate species.

While they may be considered common, red triangle slugs have one hell of a defense mechanism that sets them apart from other common slugs. While all slugs secrete a slippery mucus that helps them slide around, red triangle slugs can ALSO secrete a highly adhesive mucus that can pin predators down, sometimes for days at a time! Perhaps you will not find her common now!

Coincidentally, this slug lives in the same place that the fictional cartoon dog Bluey does (Brisbane).

[puddleorganism]

SCUG ATTACK!!!!!!!

I’m trying to figure out a scug design I like, so to experiment I drew them as a bunch of weird wet beasts. Because scugs are weird wet beasts. To me

[dailyoctoblog]

I’m disappointed in myself that until today (watched a documentary that spoke about them in some detail) I didn’t care for nautiloids… those poor suckers are as old as Father Time and they’re still just bumping around in their little shells… and their tiny little pinhole eyes… their intelligence doesn’t seem to measure up to its cousins (grandkids?)… about the only thing they have going for them is that they can live up to a whopping 20 years!!! but other than that they’re kind of helpless and i love them

[onefriendeveryday]

Samuel - 21/11/2023

The two hundred and fifty first friend. A snail. He is very sociable and spends lots of time with his friends. He enjoys the company of others and can get rather lonely if no-one is around. He is always chatting with people or making plans. Whenever someone asks what he did at the weekend, he always has an answer and some story or other to tell. He may be a little slower than others, but he doesn't mind. It just gives him more time to enjoy life and to talk to whoever he's travelling with. His friends are more than happy to take a little bit more time with him. They enjoy his company just as much as he enjoys theirs.

[critter-creature-or-beast]

I showed this to my husband and his questions were "what is that" and, after I answered, "where's the rest of it"

[vexwerewolf]

Being autistic is weird because I think I'd be entirely entirely immune to the maddening effects of witnessing an Elder God but learning that barnacles are arthropods rather than molluscs nearly gave me an existential crisis

[ravewing]

cambrian period dashboard simulator

redlichiida-realdeactivated0455414

petition to ban anomalocarises from the local sandbar. theyre so fucking big and it's freaking everyone out and me personally ion want a trilobite muncher looming over me when im trying to have a drink.

🪲 trillybite17 Follow

they dont call them the ABNORMAL shrimp for nothing, they're fucking weird

🎸 punkrock-halluci Follow

No, you know what petition needs to be started? One to get rid of ignorant bigots like you. Have you ever SEEN an Anomalocaris ever eat– let alone ATTACK– a trilobite? No, you haven't. Because they DON'T EAT TRILOBITES. Do some fucking research before you say shit like this.

⚜️ splendidmarrella Follow

fyi if you get rid of anomalocarises from public spaces then you will quite literally starve. you know those dead soft-bodied organisms yall scavenge and eat? yeah anomalocaris is the one providing those for you. as a scavenger myself i have been personally impacted by loss of food due to unfair treatment of anomalocarises that have forced them to leave the shallows that i live in and let me tell you eating detritus and nothing else is literally awful. please think twice before you post something prejudiced like this.

🩶 pleurae71 Follow

common hallucigenia + marrella W

ignore the OP, i promise most of us trilobites aren't like them- i don't even know why this is a debate. i guarantee they've never stepped outside of their little rock cave in their life

🌀 xcorynexospikesx Follow

LMFAOO they deactivated☠️

32,354 notes

🫧 cambripuns Follow

What do you call a Hurdiidae without any eyes? A Hurddae!

♟️vampeytoia Follow

actually you'd call it 'uncle maximilien' because my uncle maximilien was hatched with no eyes

💼 stanley-shrimp Follow

Valerie, you and I both know damn well that you do not have an "Uncle Maximilien," let alone one with no eyes. Stop lying on the internet and stop leaving your soft-bodied organism carcasses on my front sandbed. It smells putrid.

♟️ vampeytoia Follow

wow ok mr fun police. just go and piss on my parade like that

51,039 notes

👾 fiveeyedcoolguy Follow

giys i.m tripping bals rn lol. shuld not hv eaten tge 'detritus " browni e from the hallucigna.. i saw thr magic anomllcrais

🪱 pinkpikaiapage Follow

What?? Elaborate

👾 fiveeyedcoolguy Follow

He told me a prophecy

6,211 notes

🦐 apexshrimpy Follow

she cambrian on my period till i explosion

#anomalo talks #misc tag #is this hash tag funny or no?

211 notes

🎸 punkrock-halluci Follow

thinking about dying my spikes again. what color should i get?

🍢 leancho852 Follow

Do magenta to match your skateboard!!

🎸 punkrock-halluci Follow

ohh that's actually really smart thanks🙏

17 notes

🪨 shalesifters Follow

🧽 the-odontogriphus767 Follow

yo wtf. none of these fuck the landmasses. we're all in the ocean for a REASON

🦪 biofilmer08 Follow

Hey, actually, a few other molluscs and I browse on the microbial biofilm :)

♟️ vampeytoia Follow

🤓

9,761 notes

🕸️ arthropodstemz Follow

reblog if u get around by undulating ur lateral lobes

21,006 notes

📜 g-wiwaxia Follow

Did anyone else happen to see @shalesifters poll on the landmasses (followed by the reblog of the mollusc)? I'd like to think that I was born in the wrong generation. I should have been able to experience the joys of being a land-dweller. I may just have grown tired of being in the ocean every day; quite frankly I just want some sort of change or reform (especially considering the incredulous prices of jellyfish nowadays...)

#Rant #I hope you guys get the idea. I expect some (likely a copious amount of, actually) hate for this one, but regardless I thought that I'd share my thoughts here #I'd like to move to Laurentia

74 notes

📸 daily-cambrian-pics Follow

⚜️ splendidmarrella Follow

omg thats me on the bottom in the middle! @romip51212 @kookykootenia look its us from earlier today

🫑 kookykootenia Follow

Woah whatt this is actually crazy

🍤 romip51212 Follow

yo i look rad in that.. changing my header immediately

8,121 notes

🦂 radiodont-radiostatic Follow

DNI if you support any of the anti-anomalocaris propaganda that's circling around. Sick and tired of the twisted lies that are being spread on here. I won't stand for the slandering of my brethren.

#static speaks #dni #will not hesitate to block and report any of you bigoted assholes

93 notes

🪼 jlyfsgh224256 Follow

q

79,343 notes

🍌 nectocarisking69420 Follow

I FUCKING LOVE DETRITUS

🍌 nectocarisking69420 Follow

Yo wtf was i on last night

🍢 leancho852 Follow

You were speaking your truth king. Don't hold back

755 notes

🪸 see-you-lagerstatte Follow

thought too long about the big white orb beyond the surface and broke down crying. What to do about this?

#why is it there?????? what is it???? #please im going insane over this

23 notes

🐾 catboycanadaspis Follow

born to say "nya!" and meow. forced to consume the coarse particles found on the sediment surface

886 notes

🌊 tidal-trilobite Follow

hey has anyone else noticed that it's been harder to breathe lately or is it just me? can't afford to go to the doctor for an exam rn

🦀 clackyappendages Follow

I thought that it was just me! I might sound crazy but have there been less archaeocyathids lately??

🐚 sand-muncher-757 Follow

i've had TWO neighbors pass away from hypoxia in the past month, definitely have noticed the breathing issues too. also i havent seen an archaeocyathid in so long either. so weird😬😬

682 notes

[rassicas]

In the splatoon fanbase, there are many misconceptions surrounding the relationship between inklings and water. without fail whenever I mention something related to the topic I'll get replies of "actually the canon is [some popular but incorrect theory]" "no they can do this and this canonically [it's actually a headcanon]" "no its really [something NOA made up]"

so to briefly go over The Facts:

Inklings canonically die when submerged in water. And yes, getting "splatted" is them dying for real, respawning is also an in-universe thing that has existed for at least 2000 years and not just a game mechanic. While the dying in water thing originally came from a game mechanic, it has been repeatedly stated that they incorporated this into the inkling's biology. The water weakness is not because of the water itself being toxic. The reason is based in osmosis. in the process of their evolution, Inklings (and octolings) changed a lot, and one of these changes was the ability to transform between a humanoid and swim form. Doing this transformation requires skin that is a thin, semi permeable membrane [this kind of skin is a trait found in real life molluscs]. The evolutionary trade off is that, because of how semi permeable their skin is, the ink inside of their bodies will bleed out when in contact with another liquid. This is the answer given directly by the series' creator. And here it is confirmed that while the water weakness originated from game mechanics, it is very much became a part of an inkling's in-universe biology. Kind of like how a slug will die if you sprinkle salt on it (for a reason that's almost the same as the inklings), but ultimately needs salt in its diet through the food it eats to live, inklings do drink water and other liquids. Its also not like they touch water and immediately explode, it seems they can wash their hands in it and dip their feet in it and be fine.

Some people think the water weakness is stupid, personally i think its reasonable because Inkling biology is already weird as hell and of how ridiculously advantageous it is to be an ink-based cephalopod. the ink gives them the ability to jump absurdly long distances and cheat death to an extent. they're not losing much by not being able to dunk themselves in water. Anyway point is it sucks that all the relevant canon information on this is one of those japan only things/exclusive to developer interviews and pretty much every time it's brought up in English the localizers make shit up. I plan to make a video about this one of these days, but with how 'controversial' the topic is, and how many little details and connected concepts there are, I've been holding it off because I want to do it right. there's also some specific details that are unclear that I've been hoping would be clarified in the artbook or a dev interview but haven't, I might just have to go for it at this point. for the time being, i hope this post helps clear up a few things!

[completelylusingit]

What's the bullshit between remotaid and Octillery?

okay. you have no fuckin idea. strap in buddy we're about to go down 400 years of academic slapfighting

adding a cut cuz this got Long.

so. most people know that for a really long time NOBODY could believe that remoraid, the most fish pokemon to ever fish pokemon, and octillery, which looks like a cephalopod, were an evolutionary line.

though obviously locals had known for ages, it took numerous high-profile documentations to really give the idea some ground. it actually took a really weird specimen found in 1630 that had some weird form of evolutionary stasis syndrome and stalled halfway through and died to really be the final nail in the coffin.

I think there's still life-scale figures on display in a museum in johto somewhere, if you're not squeamish you should absolutely look it up it's gnarly.

now, that raised the question of What The Fuck Were These Things

of course as it goes with traits-based taxonomy, they got it really wrong, and also could not agree on a single fuckin damn thing. for the longest time remoraid had been classified with the cartilaginous fish like sharpedo and mantine and octillery was classified with cephalopods like clobbopus. now obviously those both can't be true

this was well well before darwinian evolution was even a glimmer in that fucker's eye, so there was really no good explanation for it, instead propositions included but were not limited to: magic, spontaneous merging, hybridization, "maybe fish and cephalopods are like really close actually", and my personal favourite, divine intervention

roll around to the 1700s, people have settled into their two camps: team cephalopod and team vertebrate. these fuckers HATED eachother, and would for the next 300 years. like there were actual brawls about this, it could get ya stabbed at a conference if ya talked to the wrong guy.

both had the same argument, opposite directions: clearly one part of the line was coincidentally really similar to this other completely unrelated taxonomic group, and those other guys are stupid and wrong.

there was alot of dissections, studies, but the evidence was conflicting. to be clear, remoraid aren't vertebrates, they don't have a true boney spine, so they couldn't just be fish, but octillery lack many key features of true cephalopods.

come along ol' Charlie D and his grand new idea in the 1830s, this Did Not Make It Better. now the question was Worse cuz how the fuck would something like this evolve.

clearly something was goin on convergently, those two groups are so far removed it's ridiculous, for perspective it's the difference between you and a durant. the fight was which was which.

people got SO PISSED about this it's absurd, if you ever want free entertainment just look up academic papers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries about this line, lots of "in response to" (aka "that guy was high on shroomish shit")

it actually took until the late 20th century when dna sequencing got good enough to compare them.

you wanna know the answer?

NEITHER. THE ANSWER IS NEITHER.

genetically, they are most closely related to cephalopods, so they got a point there, but they're not true members of the actual clade by any means.

technically they're not that close, but they're closer than to fish. their actual position is as basal relatives of the clade, by technicality, but they're not close to ANYTHING ELSE. the basic "skeleton" of a remoraid is actually the ancestral shell that comes free with being a mollusc, and it becomes the hard internal shell of octillery that they use to bash into shit.

the "fins" of remoraid are actually what become the "arms" of octillery when they evolve, the suction pad on their dorsal "fin" is adapted into the arm suckers.

everything else? fucking Everything Else? yeah that's convergent. I know. I know.

they look like fish. I know they look like fish. They Are Not Even Remotely Fish

and that's why everyone who decides to pursue the field of cladistics is beyond the edge of sanity

good day and good night.

[sea-spines]

what are sea angels and why are they so funky?

SEA ANGELS!! i love love love sea angels! they are a type of sea snail, actually! in the mollusc phylum & gastropod class. i think that’s kind of surprising, just looking at them. they propel themselves through water with those wing-like structures. and even though they’re small and cute and graceful, they’re actually pretty intense predators; they eat other sea gastropods. super interesting, beautiful & honestly just weird animals <3

photo sourced from monterey bay aquarium

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Dubior

Debut: Kirby's Return to Dream Land

Kirby's Return to Dream Land is very realistic, because it accurately depicts the phenomenon that, when you go to space, you will encounter funny robots flying about! What is their purpose? We don't know! There is, however, a sort of controversy or misunderstanding revolving Dubior.

You see, Dubior grants the Spark ability. Because it is a robot that runs on electricity, and uses all sorts of electric attacks! However, many people do not like this, and think it should instead give the UFO ability.

Perhaps I am in the minority here, but I disagree! Dubior may be a flying machine in space, but at least to me, it does not seem all that much like a UFO! It is just a funny robot. The UFOs in this series have all had a very distinct design trend, which Dubior does not follow. Besides...

What is a UFO? An Unidentified Flying Object. Dubior is not unidentified. It's Dubior! It says it right there on its health bar! Objectively, Dubior is not a UFO. It is just a FO. And nobody says FO.

What Dubior HAS always reminded me of is those little handheld vibrating massagers! You know, the ones with a central round part and three or four orbs that vibrate and you rub it on your back? It is a fun thing to be reminded of!

Anyway, Dubior is a mid-boss, and a very special one! As Kirby and friends journey across Popstar, they will encounter various mid-bosses as usual, culminating in a classic Mid-Boss Tower Level in which they are fought one after another, each fight taking place higher in the tower.

This tower is so high that it pierces the atmosphere, and Dubior is fought last, on nearly the top floor! It is no coincidence that the most alien of foes is only on the closest point of this planet to outer space. This foreshadows that it will reappear, and more often, on the distant planet Halcandra! This seems to be where it was created, but for what reason? We don't know!

What we do know is that in Planet Robobot, the Haltmann Works Company uses Dubiors as part of their invasion! I assume they reprogrammed or recreated ones they found on Halcandra, since we know they have been there. It is the only of their returning mid-boss arsenal to not be mechanized, which is amusing. How are you going to mechanize a robot? You're not!

Geez. I can't believe I've said so much about Dubior and I have not even gotten to its wonderful antenna thing! It's clear by now I find Dubior delightful, but to me, the antenna is its best feature. When it first appears and sees Kirby, the three weird floating rectangles seem to freak out, growing and flashing red and white, as if it would be saying INTRUDER ALERT INTRUDER ALERT.

Dubior is also a parent! Happy birthday to Dubior Jr.! I love love looove when things are named like that. This is a machine! You would think it would be named something like Dubior Lite or Dubior Micro, but no! This was Born, and Named, after its proud robot parent. As were its many siblings, because many Dubior Jr.s can be spawned! Mollusc Fans may notice that Dubior Jr. looks quite like a nautilus, with a body like a curved shell, and a brim above its eyes like the leathery "hood" of a nautilus! It is a strange decision, since Dubior's design does not appear to draw from any real creature, but of course I am very happy about it. I'm Mollusc Fans!

Finally, we have Dubior EX, who I do not have much to say about, but am including because it would be wrong not to. This one is pink, and with only one eye, positioned to appear slightly menacing as opposed to regular Dubior's wide-eyed innocence! I prefer regular Dubior, but EX is very cool on its own merits, too.

If after all this you still consider Dubior to be UFO-like, I'm not upset with you.