Is there a rat(fish) catcher in the house...?

[j d worthington]

Puget Sound Ratfish are usually of a color to blend in with the conditions at the bottom of the Sound... but not this one:

Scientists discover rare albino ratfish - Yahoo! News

Titled: "Scientists discover rare albino ratfish", from AP, datelined Mon., Sept. 24, 2007.

Personally, I think the thing looks rather neat... very distinctive....

 

[Sephiroth]

It's very beautiful, to me.

Trust it to go and commit suicide before they could breed it with something.......

 

[Talysia]

What an interesting find. You just never know what's under the sea, but I like the fact that we're continuing to learn and find new things.

 

[Sephiroth]

Absolutely, one of the things you hear the scientists involved in deep-ocean research say often is that "we know the surface of the Moon, or even Mars, better than we do our own deep oceans". It amazes me that people can now descend in submersibles to the floor of the Abyssal Plains.

What I really want to know is, what life exists at the bottom of the deepest trenches?

You wouldn't catch me in one of those submersibles, the thought of being in a submarine scares the hell out of me......

 

[Erin99]

What I really want to know is, what life exists at the bottom of the deepest trenches?

Yes, that's something I've always wondered too, especially once I'd read about the tiny microbes that live amongst the scorching outbursts from the Earth's crust: Research Finds Life 1000 Feet Beneath Ocean Floor | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference (the article's quite old, but it's the first one I found on Google).

Trust it to go and commit suicide before they could breed it with something

Committed suicide! That's fantastic! Intelligent ratfish, the next stage of evolution. Humans beware.




Oh no, sorry, she committed suicide, didn't she?

Lucky escape, then.

 

[Sephiroth]

Heh.

Ah, it's the Black Smokers, yes. They receive absolutely none of their energy for life from the Sun. It's one of the things that makes some people think there may be a possibility of microbial life on Europa, a moon of Jupiter. These ephemeral little communities last only as long as the volcanic vent remains active, and when it shuts off, everything dies. But when a new vent opens up somewhere else, there they are again!

Lucky escape for them, or us?

 

[Erin99]

Lucky escape for them, or us?

Haha! Very true.

It's one of the things that makes some people think there may be a possibility of microbial life on Europa, a moon of Jupiter.

Yes, I read about that. I wish NASA would hurry up and find some life - even bacterial - because then these arrogant people who believe we're the only form of life in the universe will finally keep quiet.

And then all we need is to find intelligent life... Chances are they'll find us first, though. Or perhaps they already have, and that's why they left without saying hello.

Can't say I blame them.

 

[Sephiroth]

No, quite.

Ah, I tend to think that the physical exploration of the universe will turn out not to be necessary, not beyond a certain small section of our local region within this galaxy, and that a transition to an inner (mental) from an outer (physical) world negates the need for the kind of material alien civilisation we often see in fiction. But that's akin to a metaphysical belief on my part, and what the hell do I know?

.......I seem to be drifting further and further off topic!

 

[Erin99]

That's an interesting idea - and it would save us coming up with light speed technology and interstellar drives.

And you're right about off topic; we started out on fish!

Ahh, how we so easily wander through topics. The intelligent mind is not caged by obligation, nor bound by subjects.

 

[Sephiroth]

Oh, well said!