Thursday, July 01, 2021

Much Like the Night the Ocean is Dark and Full of Terrors

I've never been scuba diving and I never will because the ocean is a scary place.  For example, a commercial lobster fisherman recently found himself inside a whale's mouth.  His name is not Jonah but his first mate is Josiah so perhaps it should've been expected.


Also scary: moray eels.  Click on that link and feel bad for the reporter who had to write that story.  Her LinkedIn profile says she graduated from Brown in 2016 so she's probably delighted to be writing for the Times, and she has sufficient license to come up with witty captions like "When an Eel Climbs a Ramp to Eat Squid From a Clamp, That’s a Moray" and "If the squid is so big, it still eats like a pig, that’s a moray" but the subject matter is nightmare fuel.  Apparently moral eels can crawl out of the water and hurl themselves at food which they catch in their mouths, and then their second set of "pharyngeal jaws" shoot forward from the back of their throat to drag the food into their guts.  


Reminds me of a Xenomorph.


A glutton for aquatic punishment, the same reporter also wrote about why walruses clap.  Apparently it's "a demonstration of strength and fitness to rivals and potential mates."  Sort of like the clapping at Robbie's wedding.  The walrus at issue, Sivuqaq (that's his name, not a typo), "started clapping as he approached sexual maturity and the behavior was often accompanied with a visible erection."  Imagine if this is your job, studying walrus erections?  Even worse, imagine paying all that money to go to Brown only to report on walrus erections?

That's not the terrifying part though.  "Walruses are able to clap underwater so hard that the water between their flippers vaporizes into a cloud of bubbles, which then collapse onto themselves to produce an extremely loud sound."  The sound reached 200 decibels!  That's some ferocious clapping.  This is a family blog so I won't add a gif like the clapping at Robbie's wedding.  Instead, here's Sivuqaq making it clap.



23 comments:

Juan Carlos said...

But can walruses clap the booty?

Juan Carlos said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Marls said...

This is the content that I come to GTB for. Walrus erections and witty aquatic wordplay. Love it.

Marls said...

Ed O’Neil would like to remind you that it’s always Booty Time Across The USA

T.J. said...

Terrifying that Marls beat me to the Ford Fairlane-inspired comment pre-8am

zman said...

They killed the fucking koala!

T.J. said...

Hey, great pipes, huh? I've heard cats fuck with more harmony.

Marls said...

I coulda been a fisherman. Fishermen, they get up, they fish, they sell fish, they smelt fish.

Juan Carlos said...

The same reporter needs to investigate if walruses get the clap.

rob said...

my daughter recently started working at an asian restaurant in our town. great sushi, creative menu - really dig it. she's the only non-asian employee, which is a good learning experience for her. i'm extremely curious about the guy who owns the place. everyone calls him 'boss', and he hangs out in his office chain-smoking cigs. according to my daughter, he's gregarious and funny. she comes home with a new 'boss' story every night. i really think there's an action-adventure-comedy film going on there, and my kid is oblivious. looking forward to the next episode.

TR said...

Happy Bobby Bonilla Payday Day to all.

Whitney said...

Happy Canada Day to most of you

zman said...

Someone in my meeting just said "Penetration is single digit" and luckily I'm on mute because I can't stop giggling.

zman said...

Now the followup question "Why is penetration so difficult?"

Marls said...

Only the penitent man shall penetrate

rob said...

knighthawk scored in game 4 of the eastern conference finals. gonna go out on a limb and say those were the first finals points ever scored by a tribesman. not a member of the tribe, though. dolph schayes scored meshuga points.

Whitney said...

Zman crushing it with content lately. I salute you, brother.

rob said...

i have looked into the future, friends, and i can tell you that the content deluge isn't going to slow down any time soon. these are the best...of tiiiiimes.

Whitney said...

I had that album on cassette in 1981. Wore it out.

rob said...

precocious lad, you

Whitney said...

I had too much time on my hands.

Juan Carlos said...

There's a lot going on in that video

TR said...

“A lot going on” is an understatement. Is Tommy Shaw in a jumpsuit?

Come Sail Away was my first ever favorite rock tune. Styx was a band that was better on the radio than on the telly.