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The True Color of Ancient Sea Creatures
sciencehabit writes "Looking a bit like a dolphin, but with a long slim snout filled with pointy teeth, one species of ichthyosaur was practically invisible in the murky depths of Jurassic seas, thanks to dark pigmentation that covered its entire body. That's one conclusion of a new study that provides an unprecedented peek at the coloration of sea creatures alive during or soon after the dinosaur era. The approach involves bombarding fossils with charged particles and then analyzing the particles that are knocked from the surface, which reveals remnants of ancient pigments. Dark pigmentation may have helped ichthyosaurs and other predators camouflage themselves in the murky depths while they hunted prey."
"Spoiler: It's gray." - Dr. C.Nohues, President of the National Colorblindness Association.
I'm sure a Creationist would have an answer for this, but how exactly does a flood kill sea animals? More specifically, how does it kill some sea animals but not others? Or did Noah also load up his ark with giant fishbowls full of every sea animal as well so that the horrible sea-animal killing flood didn't kill off the dolphins? I can see it now. Noah enters the Whale Room and climbs a very big ladder to be able to sprinkle dried plankton flakes into the whale tank. (Diorama of this scene coming soon to a Creationist museum near you!)
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
If you flood the oceans with enough rain that salinity rapidly changes, it will kill the entire ecosystem pretty quickly - just ask anyone who saw Finding Nemo and tried keeping a clownfish in a freshwater tank. Floods also tend to kick up sediments, throw chemicals in the water and lots of other fun stuff that will end up killing many creatures - including vital parts of the food chain.
As for killing some animals but not others, it's a long shot but possible depending on the adaptability of the creatures. If they can find a new food source and the changes in salinity/chemicals/sediments/etc don't kill them, then they'll probably thrive. Although the dried plankton flakes theory isn't too bad either.
Cuttlefish are fairly ancient, but their color-changing skin boasts a higher resolution than Apple's Retina displays. And while I couldn't find a good number for how many colors than they handle, it's assuredly far, far higher than 8 bit. However, there are rumors of cuttlefish comparable to Windows phones that only display blue with white symbols...
When scientists test obvious assumptions, you get people whining about how we should've known that anyway. When scientists don't test obvious assumptions, you get people whining about how we can't possibly know for sure.
You know what? If you're so good at figuring out what scientists should do, you do it, and I'll go use my advanced degree to play the markets.
It's all I can do not to stab someone in the eye with a pen when I see them reading those stories in front of me on the bus most mornings.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
They don't figure it out by blind comparison but analytically. The instrument in question gives you information on the chemical composition of the pigment, which in this case indicates it's a melanin derivative. Melanin derivatives are dark brown or black in colour. This tallies with the fact that the colour organelles are the same shape as modern melanin-containing ones as opposed to carotenoid-containing ones, and the types of organelles are so evolutionarily ancient that they've probably been that shape since long before these organisms existed.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
Have gnu, will travel.
If you read the article, they aren't scanning the bones. They used mass spectroscopy to scan pigment traces in the rocks surrounding the outlines of the soft tissues, so they are actually looking at the chemical remnants of pigments in the rock. They were able to detect eumelanin, which is a dark pigment found in skin and hair. They did not see any eumelanin traces in other parts of the fossil-bearing rocks except right around the fossils.
A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.