There are a few famous agates out there: the owl, the scared face. There are many approximate ones but it is rare to find one so well defined like this....
BITS ‘N’ PIECES
An agate gemstone recently discovered inside of volcanic rock could be worth more than $10,000 thanks to its uncanny resemblance to Cookie Monster from “Sesame Street.”
The agate was recovered from the Rio Grande do Sul region of Brazil by gemologist Lucas Fassari. Mike Bowers of California, who is the current owner of the sweet piece, posted a video of himself opening the unassuming rock on Jan. 16, which is backed by the Muppet’s famous ditty, “‘C’ is for Cookie.”
There are a few famous agates out there: the owl, the scared face. There are many approximate ones but it is rare to find one so well defined like this.
Do you know why some gorillas have black teeth and tongues? Well, the tannins in the plants gorillas eat are responsible for turning their teeth and tongues black. We humans have the same problem, but to a lesser degree, with staining from tannins in tea, wine, etc. We don’t eat or consume the degree that gorillas would, as they need to eat a considerable amount of vegetation to meet their nutritional requirements and maintain body mass.
The ocean sunfish is a very large, oddly shaped fish. It gets its name from its habit of floating on its side, warming itself in the sun. This species has no tail and swims with its very large dorsal and anal fins. It is the heaviest bony fish in the world, reaching weights of up to 5100 pounds (2300 kg), and the distance from the top of the dorsal to the bottom of the anal fin can be as much as 14 feet.
Ocean sunfish’s preferred prey are jellyfishes. Jellyfishes are are low in calories/nutrients, so a fish with a body as large as the ocean sunfish has to eat a whole lot of jellyfishes to support its weight.
They have a high growth rate. Adults are too large to be threatened by any but the absolute largest potential predators, but medium-sized individuals are eaten by sea lions, killer whales, and large sharks.
The reproductive behaviours of ocean sunfish are not well known, but they reproduce via broadcast spawning, where females release eggs and males release sperm into the water column at the same time. This behavior increases the likelihood that eggs will become fertilized and that fertilized eggs will not be eaten by egg predators. However, scientists are not sure if ocean sunfish reproduce in groups or in pairs. Female ocean sunfish produce more eggs than any other vertebrate. They can release as many as 300 million eggs at a time and spawn several times throughout their lifetimes. Newly hatched ocean sunfish weigh less than a gram, and this species is noted for one of the most impressive transformations in size in the animal kingdom. The biggest adult ocean sunfish are 60 million times larger than when they hatched.
