Big, Bad Leviathan

Jaw-dropping news of a major paleontological find: like a heavily armed Sperm Whale on steroids. Behold Leviathan melvillei, brought to you by Belgian paleontologist Olivier Lambert courtesy of "Nature."

Clearly, it's named after the author of "Moby-Dick" because it seems like something out of fiction.

Here's a taste of the (pay-to-view) article in "Nature":

Here we report the discovery of a new giant sperm whale from the Middle Miocene of Peru (approximately 12–13 million years ago), Leviathan melvillei, described on the basis of a skull with teeth and mandible. With a 3-m-long head, very large upper and lower teeth (maximum diameter and length of 12 cm and greater than 36 cm, respectively), robust jaws and a temporal fossa considerably larger than in Physeter, this stem physeteroid represents one of the largest raptorial predators and, to our knowledge, the biggest tetrapod bite ever found. The appearance of gigantic raptorial sperm whales in the fossil record coincides with a phase of diversification and size-range increase of the baleen-bearing mysticetes in the Miocene. We propose that Leviathan fed mostly on high-energy content medium-size baleen whales. As a top predator, together with the contemporaneous giant shark Carcharocles megalodon, it probably had a profound impact on the structuring of Miocene marine communities.

Here's the video with a quick glimpse at this rorqual eater and its discovery in the Peruvian desert. (The full "Nature" video is here.)

Discover Magazine brings this monster, which had interlocking teeth on the skull and lower jaw, alive:

It’s perhaps no coincidence that the biggest shark in history – the mighty Megalodon – also appeared at the same time in the same part of the world. It too was thought to have hunted whales and many of its teeth have also been found at Cerro Colorado. For the moment, it’s hard to say if the two predators were direct competitors, since they may have swum in different parts of the Peruvian seas. Lambert speculates that the adults of either species could have eaten the young of the other but there’s no evidence for this yet....

The skull is beautifully adapted to capture large, powerful prey. The snout was short and wide, allowing it to bite more strongly with its front teeth and resist the struggles of its prey. Its temporal fossa – the shallow depression on the side of the skull – was enormous and could old huge jaw-closing muscles. The bite would have been the largest of any tetrapod (the animal group that includes mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians). And the teeth were deeply embedded in the jaw bones for each support, and interlocked to give the animal a shearing, meat-carving bite. They were also angled forwards, giving Leviathan a better grip on prey with curved bodies.

The skull also creates a mystery. Sperm whales have a unique organ in their heads called the spermaceti, and Leviathan’s was particularly large. The spermaceti is full of a waxy substance that was originally thought to be the animal’s sperm (hence the name). Its purpose isn’t clear although there are many theories, all of which must now be considered in the light of Leviathan’s very different lifestyle.

This is one of those new chapters that are so thrilling to observe from their first moments, and I can't wait to find out more about Leviathan and his place in biological history.

Base Jumping A Blue Hole

I think some others have done similar stuff, but this one stands out aesthetically to me.

Sleight Of Hand(fish)

Scientists have unloosed descriptions of nine new species of handfish on the world, says National Geographic. Looking something like an anglerfish or a frogfish, they're quite a sight.

And all of them live off Australia -- which by my reckoning makes Reason #368 why I need to book that Down Under dive holiday. (And no, Reason #367 is not Men At Work.)

All of the world's 14 known species of handfish are found only in shallow, coastal waters off southeastern Australia, the review notes.

The organization that issued the study -- "a review of the handfish family by Hobart-based fish taxonomists from the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship, Daniel Gledhill and Peter Last" -- points out that it hasn't always been that way, though:

"Handfishes are small, often strikingly patterned or colourful, sedentary fish that tend to ‘walk’ on the seabed on hand-like fins, rather than swim. Fifty million-years ago, they ‘walked’ the world’s oceans, but now they exist only off eastern and southern Australia,"Mr Gledhill says.

They can't be lobe-finned fish, of course, but they certainly are reminiscent of them -- like they're ready to crawl iguana-style onto a rock and sun themselves.

With their dainty "hands" and slow gait, they look like easy pickings for predators. Except, according to NG:

Handfish's slow movements and tendencies to stay within tightly confined habitats would seem to make the fish easy targets for predators. But researchers think handfish have a secret weapon: a toxic skin that kills most attackers.

The Only Sure Bet Is Devastation

I can appreciate nihilistic humor as much as the next fellow. But it's certainly grating to see that bookmakers at Paddy Power are taking bets on which sea creature will be driven to extinction first in the wake of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The odds-on-favorite was the Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle at 4/5 when I checked today, followed by the Bluefin Tuna at 6/4, then the Leatherback Sea Turtle and the Brown Pelican at 8/1 each.

Hat tip: Richard Black's Earth Watch blog, which added:

I wondered, though, whether species extinctions are a suitable subject for gambling. Isn't inviting people to estimate the relative odds of two species taking the dodo trail in the pursuit of cash just a bit - well - tasteless?

[Paddy Power's] Mr Robertson countered with the opposite notion. It's actually a positive thing for conservation, he said, because punters whose knowledge of the natural world extends to horses and greyhounds might discover a bit more in the process of trying to beat the odds.

Diver Down: Inside The BP Slick

While the nut-job reporting detracts from it (I mean, the reporter actually says, "As bad as the pictures have been for more than a month now, you really don't get the full scope by looking at the surface."), this ABC News video is among the first that I've seen dipping beneath the surface of BP's gushing gift to Mother Nature.

But what it thankfully does is draw attention to the woeful inadequacies of the "dispersant approach" to such spills. Philippe Cousteau sounds like one of those who don't put a lot of stock in the effects of such toxic cocktails.

Making The Rounds: Anglerfish Dimorphism

This cartoon's a little salty with the language, but hey, anglerfish can be like that sometimes.

Why Dolphins Don't Read 'Spy'

"The Onion" on dolphin intelligence and why "Spy" magazine never caught on among cetaceans:

GALVESTON, TX—A study conducted by marine biologists at Texas A&M University has found that bottlenose dolphins, long thought to be among the most intelligent members of the animal kingdom, are "utterly incapable" of pointing out the flaws of celebrities and knocking them down a peg or two.