Posts

Showing posts from October, 2017

SLIDING STONES

Image
the sailing stones of death valley famously known as hottest place on earth.death valley also sits at driest and lowest elevation in north america .its strangest feature of all time is the mysterious racetrack playa. the flat desert landscape,seemingly propelled by no power other than their own, the sliding stones: located on the border of california and navada, death valle national park was designated in 1933, and is home to one of the world's strangest phenomena: rocks that move along the desert ground with no gravitational cause. known as 'sliding stones' scientist s reserches :  t he force of race track playa are composed of dolomite and syenite , the same materials that make up the surrounding mountains. they tumble down due to the force of erosion , coming to rest on the parched ground below . once they reach the level surface of the playa, the rocks somehow move horizontally, leaving perfect tracks behind them to record their path.   Many of the large...

Dipnoi fish

Image
The Dipnoi are a group of fish, are sarcopterygiian are commonly known as the lungfish. Their "lung" is a modified swim bladder , which in most fish is used for buoyancy in swimming, but in the lungfish also absorbs oxygen and removes wastes.  Modern lungfish in Africa and South America are able to survive when their pools dry up by burrowing into the mud and sealing themselves within a mucous-lined burrow. During this time, they breathe air through their swim bladder instead of through their gills, and reduce their metabolic rate dramatically.  These fish will even drown if they are kept underwater and not allowed to breathe air! Fossilized lungfish burrows of Gnathorhiza have been found in rocks as old as the permian with the lungfish still inside, and older burrows are known from the Carboniferous and Devonian. The oldest fossil dipnoan is Diabolichthyes , from the Lower devonain of Yunnan, China. It is not clear whether this particular fish was marine or live...

LUNG FISH

Image
The Australian lungfish ( Neoceratodus forsteri ) is considered the most primitive extant species of lungfish, with the African and South American species more derived and more closely related. As their name suggests, members of this group possess 1 lung (Ceratodontiformes) or 2 lungs (Lepidosireniformes) which they use to breathe atmospheric oxygen.  When young, lungfishes possess external gills, which are lost (in most species) as the fish develops.  Members of Lepidosireniformes are capable of estivation, a state of dormancy and low metabolism during periods of desiccation.  As lungfish develop from juveniles to adults, their teeth fuse together to form tooth plates which they use to chew their food (all lungfishes are omnivorous).  All lungfish demonstrate an uninterrupted cartilaginous notochord and an extensively developed palatal dentition. Basal (" primitive" ) lungfish groups may retain marginal teeth and an ossified braincase, but der...