What mysteries lie beneath the sea...or near it? This division of March Mammal Madness took us into
uncharted waters. Literally. We didn't have any maps. Join us as we tackle The Cipher of the Sea Beasties!
The planktonic copepod was taken back 50 million years to shallow waters. It was getting settled in
this new environment when the saber-toothed anchovy zoomed by after a school of fish, causing the
copepod to drift off in its wake...and off the field of battle. We didn't even know ye, copepod.
The lathe acteon snail found itself on the Pacific Ocean's floor near a hydrothermal vent -
a little TOO near the hydrothermal vent for comfort. it turned to edge its way
back to safer waters, but its movement caught the gaze of the pink vent fish - which struck the snail,
gulped it down, and advanced to the next round.
While the vampire squid may sound ominous, it weighs in at only two stoats.
The basket star, meanwhile, can reach up to weights of 22.7 stoats! Once again, the lower ranked
creature encounters home habitat advantage. The basket star was out of its depth - or rather deep in
the depths - where the vampire squid roams. The basket star struggled to find an anchor in the dark.
The vampire squid was startled, and released bioluminescent mucus toward the basket star,
which sank deeper and deeper out of the field of play. The vampire squid lives another day.
The blue glaucus found itself in the depths of the Atlantic ,
much deeper and much darker than its usual habitat. Suddenly, it spied a light in the darkness!
The glaucus swam toward it. But the light was not safety, but the bioluminescent glow
of the dragonfish luring the glaucus into its sights...and its jaws...and its stomach.
Many of tonight's contenders had to face the dreaded - all together now - home habitat
advantage. The hydra found this out the hard way. It opened its mouth to taste the sea star, but instead
gulped in salt water from the Gulf of Mexico. The sea star calmly watched as the hydra flailed,
then disintegrated.
Hey there MC! I was following the cichlid down the Amazon River when - zoop! - March Mammal Magic
transported us to the Western Interior Seaway. That's an ocean that went across
North America about 75 million years ago! So the cichlid was in salt water, which is bad news.
Really, REALLY bad news. It sank to the bottom, where the ammonite shuffled over to it and ate it! Yechh! Back to you.
The Aphrodite anthias was under a great deal of pressure - literal pressure. it was on the yeti
crab's home turf, which happens to be among the hydrothermal vents on the sea floor. The anthias
collapsed under the extreme water pressure drifting by the yeti crab ("Yoink!") which ate its remains.
Some 10 million years ago, part of Australia was a lush rainforest and home to Platyzilla ,
a three-foot long carnivorous platypus. The tube anemone was confused in this new environment,,
and quickly buried itself in a freshwater pool. A curious platyzilla swam by and
chomped. Platyzilla have a full set of teeth. The anemone has been...masticated.
Now we know the winners and the losers; who goes on to the next round, and who sleeps with the fishes.
Well, I guess everyone here is sleeping with the fishes. Anyway! Join us next time as we continue
this Mystery of March Mammal Madness . Thank you for watching.