Strange things are afoot

Xenopus laevis=Strange foot smooth
As I was doing some research for a infectious disease presentation I had to deliver, I read up on the African Clawed Frog. The earliest case of chytridiomycosis (remember that amphibian skin disease I'm studying?) was found in a specimen from 1938.
This frog is very odd looking:

It's very flat and the way its eyes are laid it reminds me of a Planarian (a common flatworm; we just looked at some in the Bio lab I lead!).
Anyways, they are powerful swimmers (just look at those gams!) and use the claws on their back legs to tear up food.
But more importantly for humans, they keep well. They are common pets and lab animals. They've been used for developmental research because they and their embryos are very easily maintained in the lab. They were also extensively used in human pregnancy tests!! This article in Slate gives a good overview of the practice. Apparently it was found that a pregnant women's urine induces these frogs to produce their own eggs! So, they were quickly shipped all over the world. Of course whenever this happens you know there are escapees and thus grew a theory of how chytridiomycosis became widespread.
Due to their invasive status it is illegal to own any of these without a legal permit in many U.S. states including Oregon and Virginia. So don't think about it.
Salt Lake City soon! Am very grateful PDX has free wifi to pass the time :)

Pathogen

Pathogen

Greek

Pathos + ginomai (-gen)

Suffering, passion + to arise, to come into existence, to cause to be

Not a word with positive connotations but I was thinking about it and look what it is made of.
The construction is succinct. That is exquisite, no?

I present to you: The Western Gray Squirrel

Sciurus griseus as they are known within KINGDOM ANIMALIA! Turns out a few of my students want to spell it "Anamalia". Yeesh.

I think I mentioned them before on this blog. Or maybe it was in Tombololo...but anyways, these creatures and the ever present pine forests are one of the most obvious reminders I am not on the east coast anymore.
Their genus name, Sciurus, comes from the Greek skiouros meaning shadow-tailed because they seem to sit in the shadow of their tail. A little ominous no?

They scamper around campus all the time and today I finally had my camera ready for a picture. The first thing you notice is that these are much larger (~ one foot excluding the tail!) than their cousins the eastern gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis. They have bigger ears and darker gray coloring throughout the body. The western squirrel, on the left of the image, has a darker and bushier tail than the eastern.
Online it says western squirrels are very nervous and skittish but I guess the ones on campus are quite habituated to sharing the grounds with lots of people. Also, know these squirrels can bark?

In other news I am really glad there is going to be Thanksgiving Break soon! I am getting really excited for next term! I am going to dive headfirst into disease! I am so looking forward to it!!

Did I ever tell you about that time I saw a WHALE?!

Me and my friend departed Depoe Bay (~12 mi north of Newport, OR) one fateful morning in search of whales. This is the smallest harbor (of the world?) the U.S. for sure. We saw some harbor seals in Whale Cove (no whales though):

Look at that face :) That looks like Sophie!

Anyways, here is a really nice shot of a tail! When you see them dive like this, when they orient their body vertically in the water, this means they are starting a very deep dive so don't expect it to come up for a while!
All the whales we ended up seeing this day were gray whales, Eschrichtius robustus. It was first described by Lilljeborg in 1861 from a Swedish fossil. The funny looking genus name "Eschrichtius" is name in honor of a colleague, zoologist Daniel Eschricht, of the author. The Atlantic population became extinct in the 18th century, most likely due to whaling but no one can say for certain... There were reports (mid-late 1600s) up and down the east coast of the US even (NY to FL) of whales having similar description to gray whales. Curious indeed. Their gray and white coloration sure does make them distinct.
And just last year there were sightings of a gray whale off the coast of Israel! This might be more common if the Arctic ice cap continues to melt at this current rate...
So what we have today are Pacific populations! Namely, the ones I saw were a part of the larger eastern Pacific group, they stay up and down the west coast of the US and Canada. There are about 20,000+ of them.
A really small separate population lives off the coast of Korea. It seems no one knows too much about this group but they are probably in trouble and there is very little if any mixing between the too groups...

We got pretty close to some individuals! Much closer than I thought we were going to get. To bad didn't have a closer shot though. Maybe we could see some barnacles!

And my favorite shot because you can see its face:
There was one whale (I think this one) that stayed on the surface of the water for a good while. Everyone was able to get good shots! So you see how white the head is? The whale is actually a nice dark slate color with some natural blotches but gray whales are also one of the most parasitized cetaceans out there! They not only serve as a free ride for barnacles and whale lice but many many other ectoparasites (parasites that live on the surface of the skin). These parasites drop off when they migrate up north and the scarring left behind creates the mottled white patterns we see. Encounters with predators like sharks and orcas can also result in white marks. Scientists can used these distinct markings to ID individuals.
Anyways wow I really got into Googling gray whales didn't I?


Lingcod! I have 1/2 of the fillet in my freezer! The deckhand whipped out his fishing pole every time we stopped to see whales. We ended up seeing 5! Not a bad day at all :)

Slug Pneumostome

I had to pick up a package one day and along the way came upon 2 neat things:

1. This is a slug. A European red slug, Arion rufus, to be more precise (aren't I always precise?). I've seen many of these around my neighborhood, they come in this reddish-brown body with a striped burnt orange foot (at first I thought they were dog turds on the ground). Anyways I never examined them closely before and never noticed that circular depression on the right side of its body. That is its pneumostome. It's breathing pore! This one is very easy to see, I wish I could've seen it breathe, I've never seen a slug breathe before. It never opened, maybe it was scared? It didn't seem scared as it did not hesitate coming towards the camera all curious and bold.














2. There is some kind of muskrat/beaver/rat thing living in the neighborhood! There is a small island in the complex that is connected to the larger wetland preservation area behind it via some aqueduct. Anyways I don't know if the creatures live in the small island or commutes in from the larger wetland but I saw 2 foraging in the small island on my way to pick up a package.
The pictures don't get any better unfortunately and there was lots of brush in the way but here you see most of its body. They must've known I was there but seemed unperturbed by my picture taking. And my camera is not quiet. Anyways I dog came by and that commotion scared them away.







Anyways, little happenings all around :)