tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post115910676364258138..comments2023-07-26T08:12:40.144-04:00Comments on Flatbush Gardener: Blog: Endangered Ugly ThingsChris Kreussling (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-1159371811560361122006-09-27T11:43:00.000-04:002006-09-27T11:43:00.000-04:00We've got an endangered native Salamander found in...We've got an endangered native Salamander found in Barton Springs pool here in Austin. It might be considered ugly by some, but it's become the emblem for the forces against water pollution, and its presence has had environmental, political and commercial impact. <BR/><BR/>http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/salamander/<BR/><BR/>AnnieAnnie in Austinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14662139490401110432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-1159231054357002672006-09-25T20:37:00.000-04:002006-09-25T20:37:00.000-04:00Very interesting site you've found for us. I'm goi...Very interesting site you've found for us. I'm going to bookmark it and check back.Carol Michelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-1159215271122677712006-09-25T16:14:00.000-04:002006-09-25T16:14:00.000-04:00I'd be struggling to say some of these critters ar...I'd be struggling to say some of these critters are "cuddly"! But fascinating, yes. We are strange beings, we humans, the way we assume the right to use our own criterion to judge the right of other creatures to live or die. Any means we use to spread the word that <I><B>all creatures</I></B> that live, that 'breathe', are exquisitely important to all of us, I'll support!Katihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12741429036637277079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-1159213563301575792006-09-25T15:46:00.000-04:002006-09-25T15:46:00.000-04:00Loretta: Well, I find lizards and snakes cuddly as...Loretta: Well, I find lizards and snakes cuddly as well, but I'm not like <I>most</I> people!<BR/><BR/>Garfman: Welcome to the blogosphere!<BR/><BR/>Biosparite: I find mussels (any molluscs, really) more beautiful than hagfish, that's for sure! That story of mussel reproductive strategy is fascinating. I've never heard of anything like that. When I was in elementary school, one of the things I wanted to be when I grew up was a marine biologist; I lived in Florida at the time, so lots of <I>marine</I> about. I don't know the corresponding term for <I>fresh</I>water (hypohaline?).Chris Kreussling (Flatbush Gardener)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-1159210206756409962006-09-25T14:50:00.000-04:002006-09-25T14:50:00.000-04:00I find "freshwater mussels" (actually bivalves of ...I find "freshwater mussels" (actually bivalves of the family Uniondae) to be beautiful, too. These animals are endangered both by habitat destruction, pollution and the incursion of the Asian clams released into American waterways by immigrants and now very abundant throughout the country. Freshwater mussel reproduction includes construction of a minnow mimic in their mantle tissue; when a fish strikes at it, the clam releases free-swimming larvae that take hold of the fish's gills and fins for a brief period of parasitism that does no harm to the fish but which serves to nourish and distribute the clam offspring. I have a fossil freshwater clam (ELLIPSIO sp.) which I collected from the lower Pleistocene part of the Bermont formation exposed at the bottom of the Leisey Shell Pit in Tampa, FL; it evidently washed out with other freshwater shells into the Gulf as the result of a long-ago hurricane/flood. I hope its distant decendants catch a break from ongoing threats posed by unthinking development; introduction of exotic species into American waterways; and unending discharge of industrial waste, sewage, and agricultural runoff.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-1159209713889750602006-09-25T14:41:00.000-04:002006-09-25T14:41:00.000-04:00Thanks for spreading the word to help to change th...Thanks for spreading the word to help to change that.Garfmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16057842879826183783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-1159208970115743912006-09-25T14:29:00.000-04:002006-09-25T14:29:00.000-04:00Oh, it's always like that- the photogenic and fuzz...Oh, it's always like that- the photogenic and fuzzy, cuddly critters get the love of the press...Lorettahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06416367693737249819noreply@blogger.com