New Snail Species Discovered In Croatia's Deepest Cave 34
minty3 writes "The new snail species, Zospeum tholussum, has no eyes or pigmentation on its shell and is considered to be a true eutroglobiont or cave-dweller. It was found by a team of cavers and biologists from the Croatian Biospeleological Society. While on an expedition to determine the cave’s depth, they collected animal specimens including one of the previously unidentified snails along with eight of its empty shells."
No pigmentation on its shell? (Score:5, Funny)
Lives in dark? No pigment? (Score:3, Funny)
What's his Slashdot UID?
And I bet he never gets first post, either....
Re: (Score:2)
Lives in dark? No pigment?
i.e. -- mom's basement.
Wow... (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
It took you 15 minutes after the original was posted to repost this joke... and I thought the snails were slow.
Re:Great (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sorry... there's spelunking. There's caves (trolls! darkness!). There's a brand-new species. It doesn't even have eyes (take that, Beholder!). It's something that makes a neat trace for evolution (eat that, micro-evolutionists!). It shows what is necessary for species to survive - sometimes, that's something completely different from what we expect.
And somehow, that's not news for nerds? Stuff that matters? Go shove your "I need things to cater to myself exclusively" attitude so far up your ass that you'll find your own species of blind, unpigmented species of snails.
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I'm sorry... there's spelunking. There's caves (trolls! darkness!). There's a brand-new species. It doesn't even have eyes (take that, Beholder!)...
Ok, what are the odds of two /. stories containing references to the Beholder? Here is the other comment on the 3D gun art story: Art [slashdot.org]
What is even more weird is that I just found my box of D&D books in my parents attic. I showed my kids, including the Beholder. Sadly, they were disinterested in the books. Video games makes it way too easy to play RPG.
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it's not stuff that matters
It matters to the snail!
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It's science. It's the discovery of a new species. It involves caves and exploration to depths previously unreached. It involves slimy creatures that the mainstream wouldn't love -- tiny little snails with no eyes and translucent shells and bodies that hitch a ride on bigger mammals to cover large distances. Where is your inner child such that you look at those pictures and feel no sense of wonder or joy about it?
If you can't find a single nerdy interest in all of this, and all you have to offer is some
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Dwelling in the depths in a dark, moist environment? No pigmentation? Only moves a few centimetres every week?
This has Slashdot written all over it.
How to prepare them (Score:2)
And now extinct! (Score:1)
Awesome! We find a new snail species, collect only known specimen, and then will promptly end up killing it by doing so!
Is there anything in the scientific method about the ethics of species discovery and potential extinction? Have to wonder how much discovery has led to species extinction in the past 100 years
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100% of species that went extinct in our lifetime were discovered first.
Pretty clear correlation, 'eh?
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Awesome! We find a new snail species, collect only known specimen, and then will promptly end up killing it by doing so!
Is there anything in the scientific method about the ethics of species discovery and potential extinction? Have to wonder how much discovery has led to species extinction in the past 100 years
Um, if they just took the only living member of the species out of the cave, I'm pretty sure that the species was already doomed to become extinct in the very near future.
Truly true? (Score:5, Informative)
That's tautology - "eutroglobiont" means "true cave dwelling organism" - the "eu" prefix means "true".
For a second there (Score:2)
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Why a shell at all? (Score:1)
"its empty shells" (Score:2)
Does this mean that this snail molts, or was that a poorly-written way of saying eight empty shells from the same species?
Did it find Nikoli Ceausescu's soul? (Score:2)
I gather it was heading downward.
Am I the only one.. (Score:2)
Zospeum tholussum, has no eyes or pigmentation on its shell