Scott & Jeanette Johnson, Kwajalein Unterwater
Info
Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands in 1835 and observed the 14 different species of finches and their different beak shapes in a spatially isolated area.
He concluded that all the finches originally descended from a single species and, over many generations and small-scale adaptations, formed new species that hardly competed for food on the isolated islands. Each individual species specialized in a different type of food source, from nuts and seeds to insects and cactus fruit pulp, and this was precisely because of the different beak shapes.
Long, pointed beaks are particularly good for snatching insects, while broad, blunt beaks are best for cracking seeds and nuts.
“To each his own pleasure”.
The term “ecological niche” was coined by the American naturalist Joseph Grinnell in 1917.
Today, an ecological niche is understood to mean the interrelationship between an animal species and the environmental factors relevant to that species, taking into account all biotic and abiotic parameters, whereby abiotic factors include air, water, soil, light and climate, while biotic factors include the behavior of conspecifics, enemies, competitors, parasites, symbionts, pathogens, food plants and prey.
If a species has found a place to live, taking into account the factors mentioned, then it has found its “ecological niche”.
A good example of this is the small hydrozoon Nemalecium caeruleus, which has found its very own place in crevices and turns in normally living corals and on thin rock needles.
Here the hydrozoon forms enchanting white-blue shimmering colors on its upper side.
Short description;
The Hydranth column is transparent over most of its length, except for the lumen and the outermost distal part, which are white.
The apical digestive region is transparent, the tentacles have a characteristic bluish fluorescence, while the hypostome and nematodactyls are milky white.
The species has been scientifically documented from the island of Réunion (Gravier-Bonnet & Mioche 1996; Gravier-Bonnet & Migotto 2000; both as N. lighti), the Maldives (Gravier -Bonnet & Bourmaud 2012, as Nemalecium sp.) from Indonesia (Di Camillo et al. 2008), as Nemalecium sp.; in the present study from Plazi
However, at present (as of 2024), only the material from Bali can be clearly assigned to Nemalecium caeruleus; other distribution records should be confirmed by molecular analyses.
In addition, photos from iNaturalist.org show specimens (mainly identified as Nemalecium sp.) from India, the Christmas Islands, Taiwan, southern Japan, New Caledonia, Fiji and Hawaii, whose specific identity still needs to be verified by DNA analysis. It remains exciting!
Etymology:
The epithet “caeruleus” is derived from the Latin word “caerŭlĕus”, meaning “sky-blue”, which aptly describes the color of the live animal.
He concluded that all the finches originally descended from a single species and, over many generations and small-scale adaptations, formed new species that hardly competed for food on the isolated islands. Each individual species specialized in a different type of food source, from nuts and seeds to insects and cactus fruit pulp, and this was precisely because of the different beak shapes.
Long, pointed beaks are particularly good for snatching insects, while broad, blunt beaks are best for cracking seeds and nuts.
“To each his own pleasure”.
The term “ecological niche” was coined by the American naturalist Joseph Grinnell in 1917.
Today, an ecological niche is understood to mean the interrelationship between an animal species and the environmental factors relevant to that species, taking into account all biotic and abiotic parameters, whereby abiotic factors include air, water, soil, light and climate, while biotic factors include the behavior of conspecifics, enemies, competitors, parasites, symbionts, pathogens, food plants and prey.
If a species has found a place to live, taking into account the factors mentioned, then it has found its “ecological niche”.
A good example of this is the small hydrozoon Nemalecium caeruleus, which has found its very own place in crevices and turns in normally living corals and on thin rock needles.
Here the hydrozoon forms enchanting white-blue shimmering colors on its upper side.
Short description;
The Hydranth column is transparent over most of its length, except for the lumen and the outermost distal part, which are white.
The apical digestive region is transparent, the tentacles have a characteristic bluish fluorescence, while the hypostome and nematodactyls are milky white.
The species has been scientifically documented from the island of Réunion (Gravier-Bonnet & Mioche 1996; Gravier-Bonnet & Migotto 2000; both as N. lighti), the Maldives (Gravier -Bonnet & Bourmaud 2012, as Nemalecium sp.) from Indonesia (Di Camillo et al. 2008), as Nemalecium sp.; in the present study from Plazi
However, at present (as of 2024), only the material from Bali can be clearly assigned to Nemalecium caeruleus; other distribution records should be confirmed by molecular analyses.
In addition, photos from iNaturalist.org show specimens (mainly identified as Nemalecium sp.) from India, the Christmas Islands, Taiwan, southern Japan, New Caledonia, Fiji and Hawaii, whose specific identity still needs to be verified by DNA analysis. It remains exciting!
Etymology:
The epithet “caeruleus” is derived from the Latin word “caerŭlĕus”, meaning “sky-blue”, which aptly describes the color of the live animal.
