Blog archive:
Science

Can you imagine living without the vertebrae in your neck? Surely no animal on earth has a backbone that doesn't connect with its skull. Think again ...

Keep an eye out for electrocuted bats on powerlines at this time of year.

I just read an amazing web page about a fish that suckles its young while they are still inside the female's body.

Arggghhhh! Nothing gets my goat more than reading a novel or a report that shows a scientific name with both the genus and species names with upper case letters or neither word in italics.

The Slingjaw Wrasse is aptly named. The video shows excellent slow-motion footage of the greatly protrusible mouth during feeding. Click on the link to the fact sheet for more information on this species.

Fish scientists find on average about one species per week previously unknown from Australian waters, yet there is still so much we don’t know, says Museum ichthyologist Dr Jeff Leis.

Over the years quite a few people have asked me about the Candiru. Is it really true that this fish can end up inside the bladder of an unfortunate person who urinates in the wrong stream?

In 2009, colleagues at the University of Washington, created quite a stir when they described a new species of frogfish from Indonesia.  The fish goes by the scientific name Histiophryne psychedelica.  When you watch the movie you'll probably agree that psychedelica is

Someone asked me about the difference between common and standard names. The video covers this topic and more.

Ichthyology Collection Manager, Mark McGrouther, talks about deepsea anglerfishes.

The Frill Shark normally lives in oceanic waters at depths from 120 m to 1500 m. This fish was filmed alive (although most likely moribund) by Japanese divers.

The movie shows an underwater encounter with a rare Megamouth Shark.

After adding the BBC Life footage of Sailfish feeding to the site last week, Tom Rayner suggested that I look at 'The Last Sardine'.

Convict Fish dig extensive tunnel networks from which huge numbers of striped juveniles emerge. This spectacular footage from the BBC Life series showcases the species.

If you are a fish, one of the most effective ways to avoid a predator must be to leave the water. Fishes have evolved different strategies to do just that, but few manage to do so as spectacularly as the flyingfishes. It is not uncommon to see a fish glide up to 200 m.