Odd, Identical Species Found at Both Poles

February 15, 2009--Spinning a "mucus net" off its paddle-like foot-wings to trap algae and other foods, the swimming snail species Limacina helicinia is no bigger than a bean. But the discovery that it and at least 234 other species inhabit both Arctic and Antarctic waters is big news to biologists.

Finding so many species inhabiting both Poles "startled" scientists, according to a statement today from the Census of Marine Life, an international project to assess all marine life--past, present, and future--by 2010. Among the other dual-Pole species: whales, worms, and crustaceans.

Exactly where these species came from and how they ended up a world apart--with comparatively warm oceans in between--remains a mystery, the scientists said.

Macropinna macrostoma (common name "barreleyes") can rotate its eyes to a vertical position; because its head is transparent, it can then see predators or prey above itself without moving its body!

Two net-caught individuals contained fragments of jellyfish, which must have been their last meal. Such a potentially painful dinner requires incredible stealth, so it’s now thought that barreleyes carefully maneuvers its body near such stinging organisms, keeping its “eyes on the prize,” as the researchers said, throughout the entire hunt. Its tiny mouth then picks at the victim while a transparent shield protects the fish’s eyes.

Originally posted by The All Seeing I
Over 200 New Amphibians Found in Madagascar

Most have the shape of a typical tropical frog... but some have some truly spectacular skin designs/patterns