Impurest's Guide to Animals #57 - Gozillognomus sp and Samurai Crab

Well it is official; Impurest’s Guide to Animals is one years old today!! So with all my heart I say thank you to everyone who commented, critiqued, read and reviewed this series and got us this far. And while we’re no Immortal Jellyfish (last week’s issue) I hope that I can give you all another years worth of issues. And without further ado, and a little suggestion from @ccraft, I present to you this weeks issue…

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Issue #57 - Godzillognomus schrami

Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Arthropoda

Class – Remipedia

Order – Nectioedia

Family – Godzillidae

Genus – Godzillognomus

Species – schrami

Related Species - Despite appearances, G. schrami, as well as the twenty three other species in the class Remipedia, are crustaceans (1)

Range - Godzillognomus schrami is found in a single anchaline like on the island of Eleuthera, in the Bahamas

Up from the Depths

Godzillognomus schrami is a blind marine crustacean, which grows to just under a centimeter in length. Living under a layer of sulfur rich water, they swim using the oar like limbs (the name Remipede translates to Oar-Foot in Latin) on each segment of their body. For some reason this arrangement of ‘legs’ rotates the Remipede onto its back, and as such they swim upside-down (2).

Being blind Remipedes navigate using touch, and in some species including Godzillognomus schrami, a highly developed sense of smell. And while there is debate over whether the species is a scavenger or an active predator, several of the relatives of Godzillognomus schramis are venomous, and do indeed hunt live prey. The venom is similar in chemical make-up, as that of terrestrial rattlesnakes, although other features set it apart from the venom used by more closely related terrestrial arthropods (3).

And after this there's more, as another little crustacean emerges just as the Remipede swims back into the darkness

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Issue #57a - Samurai Crab

Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Arthropoda

Class – Malacostraca

Order – Decapoda

Family – Dorppidae

Genus – Heikopsis

Species – japonica

Related Species - The genus Heikopsis contains one species, besides the Samurai Crab, Heikeopsis arachnoides (1)

Range - Samurai Crabs are found in coastal waters off the Southern tip of Japan

Ghost in the Shell

The Samurai Crab is a small crustacean, with a carapace width of 6cm, with visible muscle attachments to the shells, which create a series of ridges on their backs. Like the majority of crustaceans Samurai Crabs are Bentham (bottom dwellers) and act as opportunistic scavengers, feeding off of shellfish, dead or weakened fish and the bodies of larger animals that sink to the bottom. It was this opportunistic feeding behavior that sparked the current level of folklore that surrounds these crabs.

During the Genpei War (1180 - 1185 AD), the Emperor, at the time only a child, and his most loyal samurai, were attacked and defeated in the bay of Dan-no-ura. Years after their bodies had sunk to the bottom; fisherman began to catch crabs with unsettling patterns on their shells, ones that resembled the masks of samurai warriors. Through a phenomenon called pareodolia, a condition where the mind sees images of people or animals in unconnected objects (4), the local people believed that the samurai spirits had been trapped in the crab’s shells and continued to watch over them from the beyond. However things are never that simple, cultural records show the crabs weren't overly fished in historic times, in fact the reason for these ‘masks’ at all was simple, the bigger the ridges the stronger the crab (5).

Bibliography

1 - www.arkive.org

2 - Cameron McCormick (November 10, 2008). "Remipedia".The Lord Geekington.

3 - http://www.ibtimes.com/first-venomous-crustacean-found-remipede-liquefies-prey-toxic-bite-1438838

4 - Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp. 77–79

5 - http://martinjclemens.com/the-heikegani-crabs-and-the-problem-with-pareidolia/

Picture References

1 - http://www.fsbio-hannover.de/oftheweek/160/title.jpg

2 - http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/images/taxa/inverts/speleon_fang_b.jpg

3 - https://cristyburne.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/samurai-crab.jpg

4 - https://arthropoda.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/h-japonica.jpg

Wow so one year, one year that’s gone by in a flash. We get back to our gooey trio next week as well as our usual format. But until then critic, comment and check out past issues in Impurest’s Bestiary

Happy One Year Anniversary

Impurest Cheese

During the Genpei War (1180 - 1185 AD), the Emperor, at the time only a child, and his most loyal samurai, were attacked and defeated in the bay of Dan-no-ura. Years after their bodies were drifted to the bottom; fisherman began to catch crabs with unsettling patterns on their shells, ones that resembled the masks of samurai warriors. Through a phenomenon called pareodolia, a condition where the mind sees images of people or animals in unconnected objects (4), the local people believed that the samurai spirits had been trapped in the crab’s shells and continued to watch over them from the beyond. However things are never that simple, cultural records show the crabs weren't overly fished in historic times, in fact the reason for these ‘masks’ at all was simple, the bigger the ridges the stronger the crab (5).

Literal survivor of the fittest

@cbishop,@foolsgold,@ostyo,@wildvine,@samimista,@cattlebattle,@xwraith,@cgoodness,@ms-lola, @squares, @scorpion2501,@darthaznable,@scattered316,@bumpyboo,@knightsofdarkness2, @wolverine08,@dboyrules2011, @joshuadbr,@nighthunder,@johnjo719,@itsomething, @delphic,@dngn4774,@bruxae, @jaken7,@ccraft,@wim_garnet,@claymore1998, @ironspiderchan45,@kfhrfdu_89_76k,@dccomicsrule2011,@hylian,@darling_luna, @transcendence, @rd189, @unbreakable_fs4, @quinnofthestoneage, @fuzzylittlerodent and @thetruebarryallen

We made it to a year. Huzzah

@cgoodness: Yep it pretty much sums that up in a nutshell

That thing is so damn close to having "Godzilla" in its name.

Happy Birthday, IGTA!!

This was my favourite part, you can totally see how the myth came about. What a fascinating creature :D

Well done! Really liked how you mentioned pareodolia, it's very interesting how our brains work.

@cgoodness: Congrats on being more awake then I and finding a sarcastic looking eel as well

@bumpyboo: Yep almost everything in myth can be traced back to something in the natural world, thanks for the comment

@ccraft: Yep well there isn't much on the Samurai Crab besides the folklore. It was a challenge to find anything else so kudos on choosing something like that

@jaken7: Yep it really is, just wait I found Cthulhu as well...

@impurestcheese: thanks? and its bad joke eel :/ its a meme

O_O

*hype intensifies*

@jaken7: Yep you'll know it when it turns up in a few weeks, just have the gooey trio to do first

@cgoodness: Ah okay

Well the folklore is the most interesting thing about the samurai crabs. It's pretty cool they don't eat these crabs, and just throw them back into the water.

Have you seen this video?

@ccraft: Yep I have and thanks for posting it here :-)

Congrats on the one year! And thanks for all your posts so far. I like learning.

A whole year?

Happy Year Two!

Oh ya congrats on a whole year

Heres looking to year two!!!!

@xwraith: @potatobaron: @cgoodness: @rd189: @laflux: @bruxae: Thanks guys, sorry about the saturation post but I've just got through arrivals in Pisa, for my job interview in Sienna tomorrow

@impurestcheese: good luck, and what happened to your previous one? I remember you going to court over unfair pay or something

It's so little O.o

Also Godzillognomus schrami looks alot like a Polycheate worm lol

@impurestcheese:

Quite informative.

Yay! Crabs... I bet its tasty. :p And congratz on the 1 year, Impurest. Hope to read many more. ^_^

Add my congratulations to the growing list of people lauding your awesome series hitting the one year mark. I always associate CV with your lessons, which makes it weirdly awesome in so many ways.

What is it with backward moving sea life? (:P)

Seriously, can a crab look any cooler? Their markings really are incredible, very much like a samurai.

@cgoodness: I won, and my former employers were forced to pay what I was owed.

@hylian: They both are quite small

@laflux: Yes it looks uncannily like a mini bobbit worm

@ostyo: Hmm some kind of dancing gorilla meme

@the_kidd: Thanks this issue is relatively fact light compared to some

@dboyrules2011: Thank you and yes they are apparently

@ms-lola: Thanks, who knew so many people were reading? I think you mean upside down oriented marine life if you are referring to the Sea Swallow way back in October (?). And it looks like you fell for the crabs crypt markings. Hmm wonder what you'll see on next weeks animal?

@impurestcheese: Yes. What the hell, I swear to you, in my mind I was thinking upside down and yet I still typed out backward. Damn it.

I can't wait for next week! (and good luck on your interview)

@ms-lola: Thanks I'll take all the luck available to me, luckily I speak Italian almost fluently so I shouldn't have to much trouble keeping up

@impurestcheese: Hehe anytime. ^_^

@dboyrules2011: Thanks and if they taste anything like the I had lobster risotto tonight, those crabs will be delicious

@impurestcheese: Get out! You are officially the most bad_ss viner. I'm not kidding.

@impurestcheese: :) I had to laugh at that lol.

Congrats on keeping this up for a whole year, that takes some dedication.

I'm a bit curious on what live prey the Gozillognomus was assumed to hunt if it did hunt live prey

@unbreakable_fs4: Thanks, and it does indeed. As for Godzillognomus's prey, it was found in the same area as small worms and shrimp so it probably eats them. Currently it has no predators being the only carnivore in the lake it lives in.

@dboyrules2011: What it tasted brilliant

@ms-lola: Well as a kid I lived all over the world so I was bound to pick up some language skills. I also speak French, Spanish, Czech and Gallic too.

@impurestcheese: No problem, and Thanks :)

@unbreakable_fs4: Cool beans

Another happy first year! Feels like ages since I read your first article.

@scattered316: Thanks for the comment, and perhaps it was, time moves in mysterious ways.