Penis snake is neither penis nor snake - discuss
May 23, 2016 10:44 AM Subscribe
With such headlines as Man-aconda — the snake that looks like a penis (The Sun, natch), and references to it as a "trouser snake" or "floppy snake" might make you think the large, eyeless and limbless creature might actually be a snake. But it is not, it's a Ceacilian, a group of limbless amphibians with no or tiny eyes. But what's really impressive about this large creature is that is is lungless, despite residing in environments like muddy mangrove pools. A paper by Marinus Hoogmoed et al. (PDF, 22 pages, 2011) from Bol. Mus. Para. Emílio Goeldi. Cienc. Nat., Belém, describes several then-new specimens of Atretochoana eiselti from Brazil, which were compared to older preserved specimens that were kept with scant information.
Previously: Limbless amphibian species found in the state of Kerala, South India
Previously: Limbless amphibian species found in the state of Kerala, South India
The discovery was made in November last year as a stretch of the river was being drained, but was only made public today after the snake’s genus was finally confirmed.
Good thing they're draining the Amazon or else we never would have found this out.
posted by bleep at 10:52 AM on May 23, 2016 [5 favorites]
Good thing they're draining the Amazon or else we never would have found this out.
posted by bleep at 10:52 AM on May 23, 2016 [5 favorites]
I love the sub-heading:
BOFFINS in Brazil have discovered a new type of snake -- which resembles a male MANHOOD.
posted by phunniemee at 10:54 AM on May 23, 2016 [6 favorites]
BOFFINS in Brazil have discovered a new type of snake -- which resembles a male MANHOOD.
posted by phunniemee at 10:54 AM on May 23, 2016 [6 favorites]
Sometimes I wonder what kind of penises people are looking at to make comparisons like this.
This kind.
posted by phunniemee at 10:55 AM on May 23, 2016 [3 favorites]
This kind.
posted by phunniemee at 10:55 AM on May 23, 2016 [3 favorites]
BOFFINS in Brazil have discovered a new type of snake -- which resembles a male MANHOOD hentai tentacle monster.
posted by picklenickle at 11:29 AM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by picklenickle at 11:29 AM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yes, but how good does it taste?
posted by alex_skazat at 11:36 AM on May 23, 2016
posted by alex_skazat at 11:36 AM on May 23, 2016
Sometimes I wonder what kind of penises people are looking at to make comparisons like this.
Soggy-tubesock-full-of-gravel penises
posted by beerperson at 11:46 AM on May 23, 2016
Soggy-tubesock-full-of-gravel penises
posted by beerperson at 11:46 AM on May 23, 2016
PENIS SNAKES ON A PLANE
posted by chavenet at 12:54 PM on May 23, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 12:54 PM on May 23, 2016 [4 favorites]
largest lungless tetrapod
Curiosity led me to look up that lungs evolved while tetrapods were still fish. So is it right to assume that ancestors of the Ceacilians had lungs, but that they have since lost them?
posted by little onion at 1:17 PM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Curiosity led me to look up that lungs evolved while tetrapods were still fish. So is it right to assume that ancestors of the Ceacilians had lungs, but that they have since lost them?
posted by little onion at 1:17 PM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
That's probably safe to assume. Atretochoana eiselti is one of two lungless caecilian. Similarly, Eocaecilia, an extinct genus of caecilian had small legs and better-developed eyes than modern caecilians.
Seems like a odd feature to "lose" through evolution, but I'm no evolutionary biologist.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:29 PM on May 23, 2016 [3 favorites]
Seems like a odd feature to "lose" through evolution, but I'm no evolutionary biologist.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:29 PM on May 23, 2016 [3 favorites]
Never go up against a caecilian when lungs are on the line!
posted by bleep at 1:39 PM on May 23, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by bleep at 1:39 PM on May 23, 2016 [11 favorites]
I don't know what this means either.
posted by bleep at 1:40 PM on May 23, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by bleep at 1:40 PM on May 23, 2016 [5 favorites]
"Of the six we collected, one died, three were released back into the wild and another two were kept for studies.... We think the animal ... probably feeds on small fish and worms, but there is still nothing proven."
How the fuck have they been studying them for six months if they don't know what they eat?
posted by saucysault at 1:56 PM on May 23, 2016
How the fuck have they been studying them for six months if they don't know what they eat?
posted by saucysault at 1:56 PM on May 23, 2016
How the fuck have they been studying them for six months if they don't know what they eat?
Maybe it's the larval form of a blast ended skrewt.
posted by phunniemee at 2:01 PM on May 23, 2016 [3 favorites]
Maybe it's the larval form of a blast ended skrewt.
posted by phunniemee at 2:01 PM on May 23, 2016 [3 favorites]
How the fuck have they been studying them for six months if they don't know what they eat?
It could be the difference between "what it eats in the wild" and "what it will eat when in a cage, hungry, and given nothing else".
posted by JiBB at 2:17 PM on May 23, 2016
It could be the difference between "what it eats in the wild" and "what it will eat when in a cage, hungry, and given nothing else".
posted by JiBB at 2:17 PM on May 23, 2016
Sometimes I wonder what kind of penises people are looking at to make comparisons like this.
Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't call myself a connoisseur, but if I saw that when a guy and I were getting down to business I don't think I could stop myself from saying WHAT. WHAT IS THAT. WHAT.
posted by chainsofreedom at 3:52 PM on May 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't call myself a connoisseur, but if I saw that when a guy and I were getting down to business I don't think I could stop myself from saying WHAT. WHAT IS THAT. WHAT.
posted by chainsofreedom at 3:52 PM on May 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
If you're at work, it's safe to click on phunniemee's link.
posted by blnkfrnk at 4:33 PM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by blnkfrnk at 4:33 PM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
filthy light thief: Seems like a odd feature to "lose" through evolution, but I'm no evolutionary biologist.
It makes me think of cave fish that have lost their sight. In this case, though, the lungs had to be replaced by another way to get oxygen (absorbing it through their skin), so it's more complicated than simple loss-of-sight mutations.
When you cross blind fish from different caves you sometimes get fish with sight, since the loss-of-sight mutation was at a different spot in fish from each cave, which makes me wonder if you could restore the lungs of these creatures with some judicious cross-breeding.
posted by clawsoon at 6:04 PM on May 23, 2016
It makes me think of cave fish that have lost their sight. In this case, though, the lungs had to be replaced by another way to get oxygen (absorbing it through their skin), so it's more complicated than simple loss-of-sight mutations.
When you cross blind fish from different caves you sometimes get fish with sight, since the loss-of-sight mutation was at a different spot in fish from each cave, which makes me wonder if you could restore the lungs of these creatures with some judicious cross-breeding.
posted by clawsoon at 6:04 PM on May 23, 2016
Wait, everyone else's penis looks like that, right?
But not so small, of course.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:26 PM on May 23, 2016
But not so small, of course.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:26 PM on May 23, 2016
Anyone else find its penis-snake-smile kind of charming?
posted by Miss T.Horn at 8:50 PM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Miss T.Horn at 8:50 PM on May 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
Seems like a odd feature to "lose" through evolution, but I'm no evolutionary biologist.Ceacilian, you're breaking my heart,
You've lost your appendages baby
Oh ceacilian, so how do you breathe?
Cutaneously seems too slow
I don't know...
(Apologies to Simon & Garfunkel - but mostly to everybody else ;))
posted by Pinback at 9:45 PM on May 23, 2016 [5 favorites]
Soggy-tubesock-full-of-gravel penises
Don't body-shame me!
posted by pattern juggler at 11:37 PM on May 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
Don't body-shame me!
posted by pattern juggler at 11:37 PM on May 23, 2016 [2 favorites]
Are you sure it's not a sand trout?
posted by Captain l'escalier at 3:13 PM on May 24, 2016
posted by Captain l'escalier at 3:13 PM on May 24, 2016
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posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:48 AM on May 23, 2016 [20 favorites]