by Matthew Cobb
Goblin sharks are little-known weird-looking deep-sea sharks, with a very pointy nose that is covered with electric field detectors (ampullae of Lorenzini) that help it find its prey in the abyssal depths. But it’s what it can do with its mouth which is most amazing, as shown by this gif (which on this blog website [JAC: I apologize on Matthew’s behalf] is pronounced ‘jiff’, folks! – don’t comment on this unless you have something new to say compared to these remarks):
(Is the prey is alive and just very stupid or has it been lulled into a lethally false sense of security, and if so how?)
Here’s some disturbing footage of a goblin shark accidentally nomming a diver’s arm. What this deep-ocean shark was doing at aqualung-diver depth (ie max 300 metres or so)?
If you want to know more about these deep-sea beasts, this neat piece from wired.com will help.
Good grief, that looks like something out of science fiction movie. That fish looks dead to me, but I’m not betting my life savings on it.
This movie, in fact.
b&
The “nose” of the goblin shark reminds me of the “paddle” or rostrum on the American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula). Is this an example of convergent evolution? I doubt that the diver is anywhere near 300 meters. Most recreational scuba diving goes on at 33 meters or less, with some specialized divers going to depths of maybe 100 meters.
Don’t forget to watch Richard Dawkins discuss his new book on CSPAN this weekend!
That was startling!
When it’s mouth is fully extended it looks a bit like Homer Simpson’s. Or maybe I have too vivid an imagination.
I don’t have anything to say about the pronunciation of GIF. I rarely have anything intelligent to add to the discussion on this website. I’m patiently waiting for a debate on the pronunciation of SQL to start up. Is it an initialism, an acronym or neither? Maybe this is the wrong website for that.
which on this WHAT?!?!?
aaahh. That’s better.
Amazing cool that diver had.
Funny you mentioned SQL as I was thinking about that acronym after reading about GIF.
It really gets my goat when SQL is pronounced ‘sequel’ and unfortunately I hear it a lot as I work with DBs sometimes.
It’s only one more syllable to pronounce each letter.
That’s why I think GIF shouldn’t be said other than using each word of the acronym.
You wouldn’t pronounce ABC as abeker.
Obviously there are some exceptions, such as LASER.
Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation is rather a mouthful.
By the way Michael, I read your book a couple of months ago.
A very good read.
I was surprised at how blasé the Parisians were toward the end.
Picnicking by then river and then having German tanks firing on them.
I would have stayed indoors with the curtains closed.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I pay the bills by slinging SQL, and I and everybody else I know in the field pronounces it, “sequel.”
Cheers,
b&
Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. 🙂
Fortunately for me, the guy who signs my invoices doesn’t care what either of us likes to call it…though he calls it, “sequel,” too.
Sorry!
It might help if you think of it as what came after — the successor, or sequel — to flat files….
b&
Looks like I got a bite! I’m an SQL accommodationist. I pronounce it like an initialism, that is how it was always pronounced in the courses I have taken, but I am comfortable with either pronunciation.
+1
Ess-Queue-Ell
The acronym used to be SEQUEL, but a trademark forced it to become SQL. SEQUEL is the name of a database-related product (several, actually).
SQL Server from Microsoft is “ess queue ell server”, manifestly not “sequel server”.
Happy?
You mean I actually have a point?
Would make it the first time ever. 🙂
I have a book that says SQL should be pronounced ess-que-el and that it is not an acronym or initialism. Readers of this website know that if something is written in a book it shouldn’t be questioned.
Gospel truth.
That was surprising. I had not seen that much jaw protrusion in a shark before. Of course the adaptation makes sense given its habitat. Prey can be scarce down there.
From the Wikipedia article on goblin sharks — “Adults inhabit greater depths than juveniles. Immature goblin sharks frequent the submarine canyons off southern Japan at depths of 100–350 m (330–1,150 ft), with individuals occasionally wandering into inshore waters as shallow as 40 m (130 ft).”
From a more extended version of the posted video, the shark is described as a juvenile 1.2 m long, and there is day footage of it that is plainly not at a great depth.
http://science.discovery.com/video-topics/strange-creatures/quest-for-the-goblin-shark-deep-bite.htm
The clips appear to be from a documentary “Quest for the Goblin Shark” about the goblin sharks of Tokyo Canyon, a deep sea trench that runs from the mouth of Tokyo Bay.
Cool! Just in time for Halloween. I knew of goblin sharks, but I didn’t know they could do that with their jaws.
As for gif…Matthew is stirring his caldron of mischief! (also just in time for Halloween) 🙂
That is almost as Alien-looking as the pharyngeal jaws of the moray eels.
The bite looked like a Pavlov* type reflex?
*Adding in a jiffy: here pronounced “Jaw-low”, perhaps. =D
The whole mouth/gullet area looks highly distensible and the automatic biting reflex in the video would seem to be adaptive in the deep sea where meals may be few and far between.
Umm, how do you “pronounce” anything on a … er, that “B” word?
Amazing footage!
Reblogged this on Mark Solock Blog.
Is this the same shark as the one that has 2 wombs to stop their unborn baby sharks from eating each other? I heard about this shark but can’t remember which one it is.
Hmmm ; the sound you hear is a brain-cell grinding due to insufficient lubrication.
Googling “intrauterine cannibalism” leads me to a zoology article which asserts that “Intrauterine cannibalism is known to occur in lamnoid sharks such as the sand tiger shark, […] The Carboniferous period chimaera, Delphyodontos dacriformes, is suspected of having practiced intrauterine cannibalism, also, due to the sharp teeth of the recently born (or possibly aborted) juveniles, and the presence of fecal matter in the juveniles’ intestines.”
Where’s that “Devils Chaplin” quote to run up the flagpole?
Thank you so much!!
I had looked on google but couldn’t find it and then this article came up. The word ‘intrauterine’ wasn’t part of my vocabulary until now. And now I have another book – Devil’s Chaplain – to add to my ever increasing tbr list.
Lovely blog – thanks.
Oh noes!
She used the ‘B’ word.
oh no! I didn’t know it was a problem. sorry ;(
It’s just one of those combinations of words which sounds highly euphonic (to my ear) but denotes something that most people would consider horrifying.
I’m assuming that I have the “Devil’s Chaplain” book on my “Biology/ Evolution” shelf (not the “to be read shelf”, which has gained 3cm of Dawkins recently) ; I’m pretty sure that I’ve read it, but I’d have to re-read at least the contents page to be sure.
But I was actually referring to the comment in a letter from Darwin to (IIRC) Hooker of about 1868, for which the book was named. The subject was a fine one for bed-time reading (pinch of salt alarm!), the Ichneumon Flies and their reproductive habits.
Ah well yes, I can imagine the pull of that for bedtime reading. A little like a tax manual although that can sometimes make one laugh or cry.
I don’t have a whole shelf for Biology / Evolution and Darwin is on my Modern / Post Modern shelf because I most recently read him as part of a course of that name. Maybe I should put him back.
“I likes to eat ya with my little mouth too!”
“Oh no y’all git back up inside me little mouth.”
“I wants to play toooo!”
“Git back inside! I’ll git you when we’s eatin’em!”
“…Zzzzilp!”
(Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) That is an amazing shark, though!
Mind-blowing vid & (soft g) gif.
If “gif” is pronounced “jif” then, for symmetry, I think “Jerry” should be pronounced “Gerry”. 🙂
(Unfortunately “Matthew” doesn’t have any “g”s or “j”s.)
Which it is, of course. (Think you’d have to go with “Gary” for the phonetic point you want to make…) 🙂
No, “Gerry” is pronounced with a “g” not a “j”. I said so & I guess that’s good enough.
(OK, I’ve never encountered “Gerry” as an actual name, of any pronunciation. But presumably it must be pronounced with a “g” as in “gif”.)
Well, don’t tell my mother-in-law, Geraldine.
G and j sound the opposite of each other in English and French. Leads to lots of confusion when English and French speakers try to communicate about the letters G and J.