Dr. Henry Wu: You’re implying that a group composed entirely of female animals will...breed?

(via elle-emeno-pee)

Once upon a time, in a faraway land,
A young Prince lived in a shining castle
Although he had everything his heart desired,
The Prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind.
But then, one winter’s night, an old beggar-woman came to the castle,
And offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold.
Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the Prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away,
But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances,
For beauty is found within.
And when he dismissed her again, the old woman’s ugliness melted away
To reveal a beautiful Enchantress.
The Prince tried to apologize, but it was too late,
For she had seen that there was no love in his heart.
And as punishment, she transformed him into a hideous Beast, and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived there.
Ashamed of his monstrous form, the Beast concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world.
The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his 21st year.
If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return,
By the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken.
If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time.
As the years passed, he fell into despair, and lost all hope.
For who could ever learn to love a Beast?

(via privtla)

biomedicalephemera:

Top: Bichir and trunkfish [top], Electric Catfish [bottom]
Center: Electric “eel” - Electrophorus electricus
Bottom: Indo-Pacific Moray Eel - Muraena nudivomer (now Gymnothorax nudivomer) 

A while ago I saw this Bird and Moon illustration of animals with misleading names, but I kept seeing people asking, “Ok, if they’re not THAT, then what ARE they?” For some reason, I completely forgot that I wanted to cover those questions, but hey, better late than never!

The electric eel isn’t an eel - it’s a knifefish. Knifefish (Gymnotiformes) are actually more closely related to electric catfish (Siluriformes) than they are to true eels (order Anguilliformes), but developed their electroconductive organs through convergent evolution - the first signs of the organ evolution in both the electric eel and the electric catfish appeared after they shared a common ancestor.

In addition to electric eels and electric catfish, electric rays (order Torpediniformes) are the only other “strongly electric” fishes - that is, fish that produce electric shocks over one volt, and use their electrogenerative organs to either stun or kill prey and/or attackers. There are many fish that can produce a small current (“weakly electric”), but it is used for electrolocation and electrocommunication, instead.

Images:
Fishes of Zanzibar: Acanthopterygii. J. Van Voorst, 1866.
The Standard Natural History. John Sterling Kingsley, 1884.
Wild life of the world. Richard Lydekker, 1915.

(via scientificillustration)