Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion
In a time of the spring, old paths are obscured and new growth begins.
Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit DiscussionIn a time of the spring, old paths are obscured and new growth begins.
It’s the second installment of this mantis shrimp blog today, and what a glorious morning it is to talk about stomatopods for me, Mantis Shrimp Man, the web’s preeminent stomatopodophile.
Stomatopod is the Latin name for mantis shrimp, and you may have caught yourself wondering what the heck stomatopod means in Latin. Obviously, pod means foot, but what about stoma? I remember from back in high school biology that leaves have stoma in them, pores to let moisture out. So, does stomatopod mean porous foot? Almost. It means mouth foot.
Does that mean that these mantis shrimp actually have mouths in their feet, with little teeth and stuff? While that would be very interesting, no. The choice of the Latin name mouth foot was chosen because their anatomy revolves around an interesting front pair of feet that are used to capture food and bring it to their mouths.
I’ll be talking about that pair of feet quite a bit in the future, because they’re just fascinating. Be patient. In the meantime, read a short article from Duke Magazine on the subject.
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September 29th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
I always thought “pod” meant “foot”.
Obviously that was a Freudian slip, and now it is time to bring out the shrimp cocktail sauce.
September 29th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Oh, dear, yes. Let me edit that.
Blog entry tomorrow with a link to an article that has a mantis shrimp recipe!
September 29th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
While you’re at it, better edit “the Latin name mouth food” in the third paragraph, too.
There’s a lesson in here somewhere about blogging on an empty stomach.
September 30th, 2007 at 5:28 am
They don’t call those Freudian things slippery for nothing. Thanks.
September 30th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Boy, if pod meant food that would sure make cephalopods scary.
September 30th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
test
September 30th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
[…] Cephalopods? […]