Giant Fish

Seventy five percent of the Earths surface is covered by water. The average depth of the ocean is about 4,267 meters (14,000 feet). Taking all that in to consideration, it shouldn't be a shock to anyone that there are some monstrous fish lurking in the water. Like, the infamous GOLD FISH!


I'm kidding. There is nothing monstrous about the shrimpy goldfish. But here are a couple monstrous fish!


 (In this Aug. 18, 2012 photo provided by Jody Bright, Molly Palmer stands with her husband Shawn Palmer near her catch_ a 12-foot marlin that took more than four hours to get on her team’s boat, weighing it at more than a half-ton _ a would-be world record, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Courtesy Jody Bright)


(A monster white sturgeon weighing an estimated 1,100 pounds and measuring 12 feet, 4 inches was caught and released on the Fraser River, a British Columbia waterway famous for its big sturgeon...just not this big.)


(Catches of white sturgeon averaging 30 to 100 pounds are typical on the Fraser, even an occasional 250-pounder, but nothing as massive as this sturgeon, believed to be the biggest freshwater fish ever caught on rod and reel in North America...and possibly the oldest.)


I don't know why I've been frequenting fish lately. Maybe I should stop by a Red Lobster. 

Dog Sleeping With a Toy

I've decided to momentarily return to this blogs roots and post a picture of a funny pet.

So, without further adieu I present you all this weeks Funny Pet!!




This is a dog. Let's call him Jake for the time being. Apparently he is sleeping with a stuffed animal. Cute. Right? However, the cynic within me can't help but think the owners simply stuffed the toy into the legs of the dog in order to create a cute picture. But maybe the dog truly enjoyed sleeping with the toy. Maybe?

Catfish

Catfish. A very misleading name. One might imagine a cute, cuddly kitty. Or a furry fish. Something nice. Maybe something like this.



But in reality, catfish are ugly monsterous things.



But apparently, people like to hug them as though they were really cats. Next time. Info on the deceiving catfish.

Termites- Living Bombs

When the insects can no longer forage, nature weaponizes them

What are your plans for retirement? Do you plan on touring the country in an RV with the grandkids, or perhaps finally catch up with all that paragliding you never did when you were younger? Perhaps you should just be glad that you'll age more gracefully than the Neocapriterme taracua — as the termite enters its old age, it becomes a toxic, living bomb, ready to explode at a moment's notice.

The discovery came when researchers Jan Å obotník of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Thomas Bourguignon of the Free University of Brussels were examining termites in French Guiana. They noted that select termites had pale blue spots on their abdomens. When disturbed and unable to fight using their jaws, the insects commit suicide and burst, releasing a mix of chemicals that can poison and kill their attackers.

It's believed those blue spots are actually crystals that help give the termites' toxic stew its potency. Only older termites have the crystals — essentially, when the insect gets too old to forage for food, it turns into a living defensive weapon for the insect colony. Pretty cool, but if given the option, we think we'll stick to our RV tour when we grow old, thanks.

[Image credit: Soldier subterranean termites via Shutterstock]

This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca