Scientists discover the most primitive living eel

Creating a new species, genus and family of animal

2011-08-19

(Press-News.org) Scientists at the Smithsonian and partnering organizations have discovered a remarkably primitive eel in a fringing reef off the coast of the Republic of Palau. This fish exhibits many primitive anatomical features unknown in the other 19 families and more than 800 species of living eels, resulting in its classification as a new species belonging to a new genus and family. The team's research is published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Aug. 17.

Many of the physical features of this new genus and species of eel, Protoanguilla palau, reflect its relationship to the 19 families of Anguiliformes (true eels) currently living. Other, more primitive physical traits, such as a second upper jaw bone (premaxilla) and fewer than 90 vertebrae, have only been found in fossil forms from the Cretaceous period (140 million to 65 million years ago). Still other traits, such as a full set of bony toothed "rakers," in the gill arches are a common feature in most bony fishes, but lacking in both fossil and living eels. The team's analyses of total mitochondrial DNA indicate that P. palau represents an ancient, independent lineage with an evolutionary history comparable to that of the entire order of living and fossil eel species.

"The equivalent of this primitive eel, in fishes, has perhaps not been seen since the discovery of the coelacanth in the late 1930s," said Dave Johnson, ichthyologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and lead author of the team's research. "We believe that such a long, independent evolutionary history, dating back to the early Mesozoic (about 200 million years ago), retention of several primitive anatomical features and apparently restricted distribution, warrant its recognition as a living fossil."

Anguilliformes, a distinct group of bony fishes, first appeared in the fossil record about 100 million years ago. They eventually lost their pelvic fins, and their dorsal, anal and caudal fins became continuous. Living eels are very diverse and can be found in a large variety of habitats—from shallow coastal waters to the deep open ocean.

"The discovery of this extraordinary and beautiful new species of eel underscores how much more there is to learn about our planet," Johnson said. "Furthermore, it brings home the critical importance of future conservation efforts—currently this species is known from only 10 specimens collected from a single cave in Palau."

INFORMATION:

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Using powder-free latex gloves reduces latex allergy rate in health care workers

2011-08-19

Researchers at The Medical College of Wisconsin investigating latex allergy in health care workers have demonstrated the most effective public health strategy to prevent allergic sensitization is by stopping the use of powdered latex gloves. Previous medical studies pointed out this association of latex allergy to powdered latex glove use but were not able to completely confirm this link in specific workers. Reducing the use of powdered gloves reduced the allergen in the air and in air ducts at two hospitals, and prevented sensitization to latex in health care workers ...

Why spiders don't drop off of their threads

2011-08-19

This release is available in German. "The strength of spider dragline silk exceeds that of any material produced in laboratories, by far. All attempts to manufacture threads of similar strength have failed thus far," explains Professor Horst Kessler, Carl von Linde Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at the TU Muenchen (TUM-IAS). In collaboration with the workgroup of Prof. Thomas Scheibel, who was a researcher at the TU Muenchen until 2007 and who now holds a chair of the Institute of Biomaterials at the Universitaet Bayreuth, Professor Kessler's team has been ...

Consumers willing to pay more for sustainable apparel if business is transparent, MU study finds

2011-08-19

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The public often views the apparel industry as lacking transparency, sustainability and ethical practices. Scandals like child labor, sweat shops, and environmentally damaging manufacturing methods have alienated many consumers from the industry. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that consumers are willing to support apparel companies that do have employ sustainable and ethical practices; but those businesses have to prove it. Gargi Bhaduri, a doctoral student, and Jung Ha-Brookshire, an assistant professor of textile and apparel management ...

Stock markets can regulate themselves

2011-08-19

This release is available in German. Whenever crisis threatens the financial markets, voices are loud in calling for greater control. It is dubious, however, whether tighter regulation would actually offer investors better protection against losing their capital. "Economic history shows us that strictly regulated stock markets do not necessarily function better than those that are given a free hand," says historian and economist Carsten Burhop of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn. Based on selected sample cases, he and two British colleagues, ...

Study focuses on relationship between glaucoma and diabetes, hypertension

2011-08-19

Many Americans suffer from diabetes and hypertension and, according to a study by researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center, these individuals may have an increased risk of developing open-angle glaucoma (OAG). Joshua D. Stein, M.D., M.S., a glaucoma specialist at Kellogg, led a research team that recently reviewed billing records of more than 2 million people aged 40 and older who were enrolled in a managed care network in the United States and who visited an eye care provider one or more times from 2001 to 2007. The researchers found that people with ...

Competitive Scrabble makes you smarter

2011-08-19

Since competitive Scrabble players are expert at studying language, University of Calgary researchers sought to determine if and how players' techniques and training changed the process of reading words. They tested competitive Scrabble players to understand the extent to which the players relied on the meaning and physical orientation of words in order to understand them as a part of the English language system. Their study shows, for the first time, that it is possible to develop visual word recognition ability in adulthood, beyond what researchers previously thought ...

Researchers complete first major survey of amphibian fungus in Asia

2011-08-19

An international team of researchers has completed the first major survey in Asia of a deadly fungus that has wiped out more than 200 species of amphibians worldwide. The massive survey could help scientists zero in on why the fungus has been unusually devastating in many parts of the globe -- and why Asian amphibians have so far been spared the same dramatic declines. The disease chytridiomycosis, caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis or Bd, is the culprit behind amphibian extinctions in Central, South and North America, Australia and Europe. The new Asian ...

AIDS researchers isolate new potent and broadly effective antibodies against HIV

2011-08-19

NEW YORK, NY, LA JOLLA and SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA, SEATTLE, WA, August 17, 2011 — A team of researchers at and associated with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), The Scripps Research Institute, the biotechnology company Theraclone Sciences and Monogram Biosciences Inc., a LabCorp company, report in the current issue of Nature the isolation of 17 novel antibodies capable of neutralizing a broad spectrum of variants of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The new antibodies, large protein molecules that bind to pathogens and flag them for destruction, were ...

Researchers push to import top anti-bullying program to US schools

2011-08-19

LAWRENCE, Kan. — An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Kansas plan to bring a highly successful anti-bullying effort, the KiVa program, to American schools. Starting as early as the 2012-13 school year, a pilot program could kick off in selected classrooms in Lawrence, Kan. If shown to be successful there, soon afterward the model could expand nationally. KiVa, implemented in Finland in 2007, has impressed researchers with its proven reduction in bullying incidents. According to one recent study, KiVa "halved the risk of bullying others and of ...

Want to improve employee engagement? Make it part of the performance management process

2011-08-19

TORONTO, ON – The performance management process should evaluate and focus on employee engagement in addition to job performance, according to a paper published from the University of Toronto and University of Guelph. Engagement involves high levels of identification with one's work in terms of attention, absorption and feeling integrated in the performance of one's tasks and roles. The paper's authors – Professor Alan Saks from the University of Toronto and Professor Jamie Gruman of the University of Guelph – contend performance management should involve an evaluation ...

New West Health-Gallup survey finds incoming Trump administration faces high public skepticism over plans to lower healthcare costs

THE LANCET DIABETES & ENDOCRINOLOGY: Global Commission proposes major overhaul of obesity diagnosis, going beyond BMI to define when obesity is a disease.

Following a 2005 policy, episiotomy rates have reduced in France without an overall increase in anal sphincter injuries during labor, with more research needed to confirm the safest rate of episiotomi

Scientists discover the most primitive living eel

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: