G E T A W A Y
love
dad
Sunday, May 3, 2026
Saturday, May 2, 2026
Vertebrate
O S T R A C O D E R M
J A W L E S S F I S H
We have to go back 450,000,000 years to find
our first sign of an animal having a vertebra, or a
close likeness. Prior to that there were plenty
of jellyfish populating the oceans as well as
assorted animals of the kind you find in tidepools.
The earliest vertebrate species were simple
in plan and may have looked like oversize worms
wiggling through water. The specimen above has
two dorsal fins to stabilize the animal, behaving much
like a sailboat's keel to keep it upright.
The animal leads with its armored head,
flattened and taking the shape of a shovel blade.
The eyes are new, as is a distinct and enlarged
neural center that becomes the individual's brain.
The mind discovers light, quickly learning it is
the best and most reliable source for information,
far more than either touch or smell delivers.
Now the animal can identify something from a
distance, know its size, its headed direction
and know whether it is food or foe.
P L A C O D E R M
30,000,000 years later and we enter the
Devonian Period - The Age of Fishes.
The basic body plan of a fish is revealed
with the Placoderm. The name means
Plated Skin in Greek, referring to the animal's
armored head. Vertebrates now have a
lower jaw and with it, the ability to bite
like a true carnivore, capturing its prey using
fangs.
Then, after 60,000,000 years of life's further
development, a global environmental catastrophe
occurs, killing off most living species on Earth.
The Placoderms disappear from the fossil record.
S H A R K
20,000,000 million years have passed.
The land is now covered in thick forest.
This time of great plant abundance is
know as the Carboniferous Period, a later
source for stored energy in the form of
its buried oil, coal and natural gas.
The first animals capable of dwelling on land
would find these vast forests a never-ending
buffet.
Sharks appear in the fossil record.
Their skeleton made of cartilage makes them
lighter, faster and more maneuverable than bony fish.
The shark pictured above sports an anvil-shaped,
front dorsal fin. Its bulk hinders swimming but
the flat-head fin is a male display device important
in courtship.
A C A N T H O D I I
S P I N Y F I N N E D F I S H
Every fin attaches to a spine, except for the tail.
Its skeleton is cartilage but the head is bone.
Bone makes for a stronger helmet.
Cartilage is used to boost performance while
bone provides strength for protection.
How is it the two separate developments of
cartilage and bone, manage to combine
in one group of vertebrates?
The spiny finned fish succeeded for millions of years.
It ended with an environmental catastrophe that destroyed
most of life on Earth. The spiny-finned fish were swept
from the fossil record along with the placoderms.
O S T E I C H T H Y E S
M O D E R N B O N Y F I S H
Over 95% of all vertebrate species
in existence today are fish. They are found
most everywhere life can exist. Fish have
an exceedingly adaptable genetic makeup.
Some notable features:
M. Gills for respiration. Exchanging gases
with the surrounding water. They can't breathe
without water constantly moving over the gills.
A shark must continually swim in order to breathe.
A modern fish has an operculum, a bony gill cover
that flaps while the fish is hovering, enabling the
animal to breath while standing still.
E. Swim Bladder for buoyancy.
It gives the fish neutral buoyancy, enabling it to
hover in the water and not sink. It is a thin walled,
gas-filled sac that has proven highly adaptive.
Some species of fish that live in stagnant ponds
are able to supplement their gills with using their
swim-bladder for respiration when water becomes
oxygen deprived. Lungs replace gills for respiration
as the fish's gas bladder fulfills a new purpose.
I. Nostrils for smelling, only.
As yet they have no roll in breathing.
They are sensors that detect chemical cues
in the water for feeding and navigation.
This is a vital sensory organ behind the salmon's
remarkable journey home to the stream of their birth
for the purpose of reproduction.
A C T I N O P T E R Y G I I
R A Y - F I N N E D F I S H
Fins supported by thin, bony rays provides for
superior responsiveness and overall performance.
The design is powered by competition and
responses to continuing environmental changes.
Somehow the code to life was written.
It's instructions have been coded in molecular
verse and passed from individual to individual
for hundreds of millions of generations now.
The mystery only deepens with the additional
knowledge we gain. It's a principle of science.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, April 26, 2026
Saturday, April 25, 2026
Fish
K E L P B E D S
A forest worth of marine plantlife provides a nutrient-rich
habitat for hundreds of species tied to the ocean.
Thick kelp runs deep to its seabed roots, continuing on
for many miles, hugging the continental coastline.
The water, weighted with life, drags down the energy
of currents and storm surf, protecting the land
against erosion.
Here is our self-sustaining community of animals.
Otters bob on the surface, crushing shellfish while
seals dart about for rockfish and salmon, and
octopus linger nearby. Overhead - pelicans, terns
and gulls.
A N G L E R F I S H
The Seadevil lives in a bizarre world 4,500 feet
beneath the ocean's surface. It is a realm virtually
void of light. The pressure of this depth is enough
to quickly crush a modern submarine. And yet,
here life exists.
The creature above is called an anglerfish
because it has a rod and lure sprouting from the
top of its head. The lure's bioluminescent light
attracts curious inhabitants to their doom;
gobbled up by an enormous mouth armed with
needle teeth, and forced into a stomach that
handles most anything that fits into its mouth.
The anglerfish can swallow something its own
size in one gulp.
Down here you don't often get an opportunity
for a meal.
L A M P R E Y
Had you a ticket to ride 500 million years back
in time you would undoubtedly find many fish
such as this in the oceans of its time.
A couple billion generations later here are their
offspring, a living fossil. Today they live on the
fringe of fish diversity as jawless parasites.
No jaw, no bite. You nab your prey with a
suction cup for a mouth. Your thorny tongue
creates a nourishing open wound.
Here's a free ride.
So you stick around.
F L O U N D E R
Here is a flatfish having both eyes on the same
side of the head. One eye migrates to the other
side early in its development. Why not just have
both eyes born on the same side? Probably because
larva are just trying to survive and they need to see
everywhere. The adult hides beneath sand, his eyes
are all that appears above the surface.
They look like gravel. Maybe a bit too...
crunch. You're dead.
Plus the flounder is like a chameleon -
it changes color to match its surroundings.
If you're a small fish or crab happening by,
you're going to get eaten.
F L Y I N G F I S H
We start with a very fundamental fish design -
streamlined torso, tailfin, doral fin and so on.
Nearly all fish design begins with this.
The scenario leading to this biological variation
involves how to escape a barracuda, a predator
hot on your tail and faster than you.
Go where it can't. The air above.
If you can reach a speed of 35 mph you can
clear the water's surface. You then fan out your
enormous pectoral fins and glide some 600 feet,
out of reach of the pursuing barracuda.
Six hundred feet.
The Wright brothers' first flight was only
one hundred and twenty.
S E A H O R S E
Must be the product of a coral habitat.
Exotic. Colorful. A real animation feature
for the family until we find out dad is pregnant.
Not to worry, though. It happens all the time.
When the female finds her eggs fertilized
she passes them into the male's brood pouch.
Here they are nurtured the next two to four weeks.
Once the brood is hatched the process starts
over again. Mom presents dad with a new batch
of eggs to fertilize.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, April 19, 2026
Saturday, April 18, 2026
Primate
T A R S I E R
This animal moves at night and it is the only primate
that is a one hundred percent meat eater - insects,
small lizards and birds. It can leap more than fifteen
feet from branch to branch and its eyes are literally
bigger than its stomach. The eyes are so huge they
completely fill their sockets.
Like the owl, the Tarsier compensates for the eye's
immobility by being able to rotate their head almost
180 degrees in either direction. Also, Tarsiers have
created a new tool for personal defense. They
vocalize with one another above dog whistle frequency.
We can't hear their chatter. No sound to follow.
Quiet and tiny. The world's smallest primate.
Slightly larger than your morning mug for coffee.
It's easy to surmise that the first primates may have
been similar to this, living in trees much like squirrels.
Maybe, but true or not the Tarsier of today is far more
sophisticated than its predecessors millions of generations
back in time.
R I N G - T A I L E D L E M U R
A highly social primate native to the large African
island of Madagascar. They travel in "troops" of up
to thirty individuals, with females dominating every
aspect of life. Somewhere along the path of animal
development the female's role began expanding
beyond giving birth to running everything.
We find matriarchal societies all through the
animal world. With the insects, males are a
mere tool for providing genetic diversity. For
the female, the male is simply sex and a meal.
Once the eggs are fertilized the male is quickly
consumed, providing the young valuable protein
for which to grow.
The factors leading to matriarchal society in
larger animals are probably shared across species.
Elephants, lions and ring-tailed lemurs - all matriarchal.
What factors determine gender role?
Here's where your scientist enters the story.
Observation comes first. Grab your notepad and
follow your subject around for the next two years.
Then analyze all your gathered information to
arrive at a possible explanation. Your reasoning
now provides the basis for your hypothesis.
The next step is to create a test that will determine
the validity of your theory. Once completed,
a description of your chosen methods and
your resulting conclusions are published
in a reputable scientific journal for review
by colleagues in your field of study.
They render judgment on your claims.
To what degree did your research
advance the education of humanity?
This is the basis for building scientific knowledge.
P R O B O S C I S M O N K E Y
This monkey from Borneo stands apart from all
other primates because of the male's long,
drooping nose. Females apparently favor
large nosed males. The bigger schnoz
indicates a more robust body with larger
testicles and a presumed higher sperm count.
Sounds like speculation based on observation.
Let's make it our hypothesis.
The large nose provides space for an echo
chamber, amplifying the male's honk! to
a volume that penetrates the surrounding
dense jungle. That is fact.
And a bit of humor beyond the reason.
M A N D R I L L
Best dressed monkey. The most colorful, anyway.
They live in dense tropical rainforests, along with
birds hopping about the jungle canopy, displaying
their own flamboyant and brilliant plumage.
They are all males needing to be seen
despite the thick, stifling vegetation all about.
The jungle can also be filled with plaintive love
calls in the languages of many different species.
It's like Times Square, New Year's Eve...
it's tough getting noticed.
Mandrills lay their colors out thick.
Bright blues and reds do the trick with females.
The more color you have on your face and rump,
the more distinguished you look to the ladies.
It is alleged that your social ranking determines
the intensity of your color. The higher your rank
the brighter your colors. Similarly, you fade in
color as you lose status.
Arriving at doormat you find your colors drained
to beige.
G O R I L L A
Silverback, the dominant male, oversees
the family, but mainly in the role of protector.
The male's chest-beating is meant as a warning.
It is better to ward off your adversary than to risk
a vicious scrap. You can't afford serious injury
with no one around to tend to your wounds.
Koko was an ape raised in captivity. During this
time she built a vocabulary of over two thousand
words using the American Sign Language for the
deaf. With these words she was able to convey
complex emotions, such as grief.
There is a belief among some primate researchers
that gorillas have a consciousness of death
that is similar to what human's experience.
How would you go about testing that hypothesis?
Is a valid test even possible?
C H I M P A N Z E E
The thinker. Life is deeply emotional.
Family dynamics. Social status. Compassion.
Lending a helping hand. Determined enemy.
A war between rival chimpanzee groups involves
ruthless killing until one side or the other is eliminated.
People find them cute as juveniles.
Their charm is mostly gone once they reach
adulthood and become more as nature intended.
They become an animal named Spartacus,
demanding respect.
They aren't stupid. They use rocks for
hammers, twigs to fish for termites, use chewed
plant to salve their wounds, and eat bitter fruit to
ward off nasty parasites.
They also have strong family values.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, April 12, 2026
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