AgnosticWeb.com
Log in
Register
Search:
Back to the entry by David Turell
Post reply
Reply to the message by
David Turell
Name:
E-mail:
(optional, won't be displayed directly)
Leave this field empty:
Homepage:
(optional)
Leave this field empty:
Location:
(optional)
Remember me (cookie)
Category:
Introduction
The atheist delusion
Agnosticism
Evolution
The limitations of science
Origins
The nature of a 'Creator'
Where is it now?
Endings
Identity
Animals
Humans
Religion
Art
Politics
What should be taught in schools?
A mad world
General
Subject:
Formatting help
skip to input
format text bold
[b]bold text[/b]
format text italic
[i]italic text[/i]
insert hyperlink
[link=http://example.com/]link text[/link] / [link]http://example.com/[/link]
set text color
[color=#rgb]colored text[/color]
font size
[size=small]small text[/size]
[size=large]large text[/size]
insert list
[list][*]list item[/list]
insert image
[img]http://example.com/image.jpg[/img]
left: [img=left]http://example.com/image.jpg[/img]
right: [img=right]http://example.com/image.jpg[/img]
thumbnail: [img=thumbnail]http://example.com/image.jpg[/img]
thumbnail left: [img=thumbnail-left]http://example.com/image.jpg[/img]
thumbnail right: [img=thumbnail-right]http://example.com/image.jpg[/img]
:-)
;-)
:-P
:-D
:-|
:-(
Message:
> It's a balance of nature. In this case wait until your prey has a full meal then eat him: > > https://www.livescience.com/60836-sea-slugs-kleptopredators.html?utm_source=ls-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20171102-ls > > "A type of brightly colored sea slug has a taste for microscopic marine creatures called zooplankton, and it feeds on them using a method that's never been seen before: It captures quantities in a gulp by using a middleman. > > "The sea slug's unsuspecting helpers are hydroid polyps — tiny, coral-like animals that live in colonies and gorge on zooplankton. And the sea slug, known as a nudibranch, treats the polyps as living fishing nets, avidly scooping them up and swallowing them down as soon as the hapless hydroids finish their zooplankton supper. > > "The nudibranch Cratena peregrina is a common type of bottom-dwelling marine mollusk found in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coastal waters near the Iberian Peninsula, Senegal and the Canary Islands. It measures about 1 to 2 inches (3 to 5 centimeters) in length, and has a pale body covered with colorful, elongated, fleshy spines called cerata, which help with respiration by increasing the surface area on the upper part of the animal's body. > > "C. peregrina was previously known to feed on hydroid polyps, but the study authors discovered that the nudibranchs preferred polyps that had just eaten. In experiments, when presented with a colony of polyps that had just fed and a colony that was "empty," the sea slugs ate twice as many of the polyps that were full of zooplankton. > > "In fact, kleptopredation provides the nudibranchs with enough plankton to account for about half of their diet, overturning previous claims that polyps were the nudibranchs' primary food source, according to the study. > > "Their findings hint that nudibranchs may not be the only marine creatures to use this previously unknown strategy, and that predator-prey interactions in this group may be more complex than once thought, the researchers wrote. " > > Comment: Clever trick, just watchful waiting. Probably a learned behaviour. Part of an eco-niche balanced system of nature.
OK - Submit
Preview