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2007-07-31 Science & Technology
When Mollusks Ruled The Earth
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Posted by Anonymoose 2007-07-31 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views ]  Top

#1 When Mollusks Ruled The Earth

The world was their oyster?
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2007-07-31 00:13||   2007-07-31 00:13|| Front Page Top

#2 Okay-y-y. so to save planet Earth and all humanity, the oysters have to be properly and righteously wiped out. Alrighty then, Global Oyster(s) Barbecue it is.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-07-31 00:39||   2007-07-31 00:39|| Front Page Top

#3 The world was their oyster?

And they were as happy as clams!
Posted by Angie Schultz 2007-07-31 01:23||   2007-07-31 01:23|| Front Page Top

#4 And they were as happy as clams!

Until those nasty ammonites mussled their way in.
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2007-07-31 02:01||   2007-07-31 02:01|| Front Page Top

#5 And so now we have a world that is dominated by the nematode. Nematodes are the dominant life species on the planet if you go by numbers of them. If someone were to look at the fossil record, though, they will never see them because nematodes probably won't leave any fossils, just as any soft bodied animals without bones from that period didn't either.
Posted by crosspatch 2007-07-31 02:52||   2007-07-31 02:52|| Front Page Top

#6 we have a world that is dominated by the nematode

Between the huge populations of both liberals and Muslims, it becomes rather clear that this world holds a superabundance of worms.
Posted by Zenster">Zenster  2007-07-31 04:10||   2007-07-31 04:10|| Front Page Top

#7 

The whole Permian period, stretching from about 300 million to 250 million years ago, saw gradual warming. This would have slowed down circulation in the ocean, eventually leading to very low levels of oxygen in the water. Massive volcanism near the end of the Permian might have wreaked even further havoc on the environment.
So my neighbors' SUVs caused warming in the environment 258 million years ago?

Now THAT'S POWER! I gotta get me one of those.
Posted by eLarson 2007-07-31 07:37|| http://larsonian.blogspot.com]">[http://larsonian.blogspot.com]  2007-07-31 07:37|| Front Page Top

#8 Since the discovery of steaming, breading, and deep-frying, the world has been safe from the mollusk threat.

Me, I just keep some cocktail sauce on hand, just in case.
Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford  2007-07-31 07:44|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2007-07-31 07:44|| Front Page Top

#9 We should be grateful and sing!


A fish-like thing appeared among the annelids one day.
It hadn't any parapods nor setae to display.
It hadn't any eyes nor jaws, nor ventral nervous cord,
But it had a lot of gill slits and it had a notochord.

Chorus:
It's a long way from Amphioxus. It's a long way to us.
It's a long way from Amphioxus to the meanest human cuss.
Well, it's goodbye to fins and gill slits, and it's welcome lungs and hair!
It's a long, long way from Amphioxus, but we all came from there.

It wasn't much to look at and it scarce knew how to swim,
And Nereis was very sure it hadn't come from him.
The mollusks wouldn't own it and the arthropods got sore,
So the poor thing had to burrow in the sand along the shore.

He burrowed in the sand before a crab could nip his tail,
And he said "Gill slits and myotomes are all to no avail.
I've grown some metapleural folds and sport an oral hood,
But all these fine new characters don't do me any good.

(chorus)

It sulked awhile down in the sand without a bit of pep,
Then he stiffened up his notochord and said, "I'll beat 'em yet!
I've got more possibilities within my slender frame
Than all these proud invertebrates that treat me with such shame.

My notochord shall turn into a chain of vertebrae
And as fins my metapleural folds will agitate the sea.
My tiny dorsal nervous cord will be a mighty brain
And the vertebrates shall dominate the animal domain.
Posted by Eric Jablow">Eric Jablow  2007-07-31 08:05||   2007-07-31 08:05|| Front Page Top

#10 Nah, the song for this is Murray Head - One night in Bangkok

"One night in bangkok and the world's your oyster ..."
Posted by bombay">bombay  2007-07-31 11:56||   2007-07-31 11:56|| Front Page Top

#11 The rise of mollusks across the globe was a harbinger of doom roughly 250 million years ago

Our weapons are useless against them! Boiling water! Melted butter! Beer batter!
Nothing can stop them! Nothing! Run for your lives!
Posted by tu3031 2007-07-31 12:01||   2007-07-31 12:01|| Front Page Top

#12 Quick! Break out the melted butter and lemon juicw! If you squirt it at them it repels them!
Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues  2007-07-31 12:08||   2007-07-31 12:08|| Front Page Top

#13 We have met the enemy and they are delicious.
Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-07-31 13:03||   2007-07-31 13:03|| Front Page Top

#14 All your clam chowder are belong to us!
Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader  2007-07-31 13:10||   2007-07-31 13:10|| Front Page Top

#15 The largest die-off in Earth's history was not the cataclysm that ended the Age of the Dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. Instead, it was the so-called end-Permian mass extinction, which eliminated as much as 95 percent of the planet's species before even the earliest dinosaurs strode the planet.

Man, if only I'd have gotten in on the Halliburton stock back then! I could probably drive a Toyota Prius over 100 mph, get busted for pot and a DUI and still get a slap on the wrist today, eh?
Posted by BA 2007-07-31 14:37||   2007-07-31 14:37|| Front Page Top

#16 I assume this was another in the 'consequences of global warming' series.

So how come the Chesapeake Bay oysters are not thriving now? Are they not better adapted to such stressful and changing environments, and so could have thrived?
Posted by Bobby 2007-07-31 17:24||   2007-07-31 17:24|| Front Page Top

#17 I for one welcome our new mollusk masters!
Posted by borgboy2001 2007-07-31 20:05||   2007-07-31 20:05|| Front Page Top

#18 The rise of mollusks across the globe was a harbinger of doom

Aaa-balone!
Posted by Pappy 2007-07-31 22:45||   2007-07-31 22:45|| Front Page Top

23:58 OldSpook
23:57 Zenster
23:48 Xenophon
23:47 Zenster
23:43 trailing wife
23:33 Anonymoose
23:22 JosephMendiola
23:17 JosephMendiola
23:07 Pappy
22:48 Zenster
22:48 Broadhead6
22:45 Pappy
22:43 JosephMendiola
22:40 Zenster
22:39 Broadhead6
22:35 Shieldwolf
22:29 Pappy
22:28 Sigmund Freud
22:27 Shieldwolf
22:24 Sigmund Freud
22:23 Pappy
22:11 Zhang Fei
22:07 Old Patriot
21:49 Mike









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