Selects: How Coelacanths Work | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hi everyone. Happy weekend. I hope. you're having a lovely, lovely Saturday. wherever you are in the world. We're. going to jump back in time to June 6, 2017 to talk about celacanths. How celacanths work. What in the world. is a celacanth? Uh, I think I kind of. remember. Check it out right now. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a. production of iHeart Radio.

Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm. Josh Clark with Charles W. Chuck Bryant, Jerry Jerome Roland, and just the whole. the whole House Stuff Works gang here to. present to you stuff you should know. All three of us. How you doing? I'm good. Yeah. Yeah. I'm. a little I'm a little caffeinated, I. should warn you. Oh, a little bit. Like. when teeth are about to just come right.

out of my face. That's not good. Uh you. know, we did a video about cilacants one. time. Yeah. Like was it this day in. history about when they were discovered? Yeah, I ran across it cuz it smacked is. familiar to me and you know the constant. fear we have of recording an an entire. podcast over uh is sort of always there. Yeah. The fear that sometimes comes. true. Yeah. So, I I definitely went back. and looked and I was like I knew he did. something. Yeah. We were trapped in a. shipping container, right? I didn't.

watch it. I didn't either. I just saw. enough to say, "Oh, yeah. I remember. that one." Yeah. That really weird weird. thing we did. But this is really cool. I. think I do too. Cilants were um Well, they're interesting. despite what the how Stuff Works article. would lead you to believe. Uh, it was. Yeah, it was a little thin, wasn't it? A. little bit. It was all right. Okay. But. luckily the rest of the internet is. there for us. Right. Thanks especially to Smithsonian and.

Mental Floss for this one. Right. Yeah, that Mental Floss uh article was kind of. neat actually. It was. So, you want to. go back to the beginning? Actually, the second beginning, maybe. Oh, well, I don't know what you're. talking about now, so just Okay. Okay, follow me. We'll go back to the very. beginning. We'll go back to something. about 400 million years ago. Okay. During the Deonian period, which is aka. the rise of the fish. Yes. The age of.

the fish, right? And in this Deonian. period, there's a lot lot of stuff going. on. Things have been swimming around for. a while on Earth. There's a nice. atmosphere that's developed. The things. in the ocean are starting to say, "Oh, what's out there? I want to see what's. on land. Yeah. You can just crawl out. and see. Yeah. I want to taste clover. So they start trying and and during this. period there was the progression from. the the sea to the land. Yeah. And one.

of those things that was was starting to. develop legs to get onto land was called. the celacanth. Yeah. Which um a it means hollow spine. which is we'll get to. There's a reason. for that, right? And B, it's spelled uh. C O E L A C A N T H, which is uh you. know, not how you would think it might. be spelled. No. Or pronounced rather, right? Either one. But it's celacanth.

It is celacanth. Uh and what it is is a. fish that is um like you said, been. around for a long long time. It's um. kind of funny looking and we'll get into. all the physical characteristics that. make it unusual. uh in a sec, but it is. notable uh mainly for the fact that. everyone thought it was gone forever, right? Until it was suddenly discovered. This thing that that swam with the. dinosaurs was discovered a new in the.

1930s, right? And then again a little. bit later on. Yeah. Because it it it was. it pops up for the first time around um. 407 million years ago, I think I said. and and then it just drops off 80. million years ago. So they said, "Well, a lot of stuff. went the way of the dinosaur around the. time the dinosaurs went away." Yeah. Um. so that's probably what happened to the. sea. So, it was quite a big surprise in. the 1930s when a uh a trwler um that was.

out fishing, a twler called the Naren, which is captain by Hendrickk Gusen off. the coast of South Africa, came in and as was Captain Gusen's want, uh he contacted the director of the. local museum in East London, woman named. Miss Marjorie Courtney Latimer, and she. used to come over and look at the fish. loads this guy would bring in because. they were buddies. Yeah. And he he gave. her a call like normal and said, "I got.

a load. You want to come look at it?". And she was like, "It's 2 days before. Christmas and it's blazing hot out. Don't forget we're in South Africa at. the time." Uhhuh. And she's like, "I. don't feel like it." But the world was. saved. The world of ichthology was saved this. day. Yeah. because this lady Marjorie. Courtney Latimer was so nice that she. decided to go look at the fish anyway. just to wish the captain and his crew a. merry Christmas. So, uh she takes a look.

at this fish and here is her quote uh as. she recounted. It wasn't her quote at. the time. Her quote at the time, it's. probably a South African expletative, right? Uh, but she said later, "I picked. away the layers of slime to reveal the. most beautiful fish I had ever seen.". Uh, and of course, only a a fish lover. can find this thing truly beautiful. Yeah, cuz it's kind of ugly. It is. Uh, it was 5t long, a pale mauvey blue with.

faint flexcks of whiter spots. It had an. iridescent silver blue green sheen all. over. It was covered in hard scales, and. it had four limblike fins and a strange. little puppy dog tail. Uh, not. literally, of course. Uh, it was such, which would be great, though. Actually, it did. That's the dog fish that has. that. Uh, it was such a beautiful fish. More like a big china ornament, but I. didn't know what it was. And, um, it was. pretty faithful that she was called in.

uh, to look at this thing because it. ended up being one of the most important. zoological finds of, you know, history. probably of the 20th century at least. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. this woman's. curiosity. um something in her said this is weird. this is unusual this is this is. something worth looking into so she took. it with her this thing was like 5 feet. long just under 2 m aboutund how many. pounds 127 pounds this is a significant.

fish and uh Miss Courtney Latimer talked. her way into a cab with it she took a. cab back to the East London Museum with. this fish stuffed in the back seat and. um she took it to the taxiderermist and. had it stuffed. Unfortunately, the. taxiderermis wasn't completely aware of. how to preserve a fish for. identification and threw out the. skeleton and the gills, which are what. you need for for um to ID a fish. apparently. Well, she probably should.

have said something. Well, she she like. this is no ordinary mount. Yeah, right. She probably should have. or maybe she. did and he just ignored her. He's like, I'm not going to get bossed around by a. woman. This is 1938. So, she contacts a guy named JLB Smith. who is an ichthologist. He's the head of. the eichthology department at a. university in Grahamstown and a PhD in. chemistry. Um, he's a smart guy and he's the the.

local fish expert as far as she knows. Yeah. And they're they're pals. And so. she said, "Hey, I've got this uh weird. looking fish." And then uh Smith, his. quote was, "I told myself sternly not to. be a fool, but there was something about. that sketch uh and apparently it was it. was sketched." She sent him a sketch of. the fish to begin with. Yeah. Uh that. seized upon my imagination and told me. that this was something very far beyond. the usual run of fishes in our seas. Uh. and luckily even though the fish was um.

um I guess mounted in a traditional form. which like you said takes away its uh. how you can identify it she was able to. preserve some of the scales and somehow. from these scales he was able to say. this is a colacanth celacanth right well. that's what he said at first and she. went it's pronounced cilacanth he's like. oh apparently he said when he saw that. scale and I and identified it positively. as a celacanth his quote was if I'd met. a dinosaur in the street, I wouldn't.

have been more astonished. Yeah, I like that guy. Little hyperbole. there, but I like it. So, he um I mean. this is seriously this is like the. zoological find of the century and would. be for the next 60s something years, right? So, he uh very magnanimously. says, "You know what? I'm going to name. this thing after you." and he uh named. it as a new species Latimeia Chalumn. because um. well obviously her name was Courtney.

Latimer. Yeah. Courtney hyphen Latimer. Yes. And uh it was found in the Chalumna. River at the mouth of it where it hits. the coast off of the eastern coast of. South Africa. So that's a great name. It's it's perfect. Yeah. It really puts. it in a place in time. Uh so they have. now discovered this thing. They realize. that they have a big find on their. hands. Um they thought this thing had. long been extinct by tens of millions of. years. Uh and so they started to.

research and you know try and learn more. about this fish. Yeah. Which is no. ordinary fish. No. But I mean this was. so this was 1938, right? Yeah. And it. was the only one that had been found for. another 60 years. Yeah. I mean, there's. only so much you can find from a a. stuffed fish, but it did prove because. it had been caught alive. It wasn't like. they pulled up a fossil or a dead fish. It had been alive when it was caught.

Yeah. I think it was attached to another. fish. Oh, really? Like potentially. trying to eat it. Oh, okay. Which is one. of the uh well, not unusual, but. interesting things about the celacanth. is that it's a it eats meat. Well, there's a lot of unusual things about. the celacanth. Yeah. Um so fast forward. another 60 years exactly um in Indonesia. which is on the other side of the Indian. Ocean, the eastern side of the Indian. Ocean. It was um actually first seen in.

1997 by a biologist named Mark Erdman. who was in Indonesia doing some his PhD. dissertation and he saw a celacanth in. the market. That's crazy. That's a. celacanth. What's that doing here? So. apparently he put a bit of a bounty out. on it with the locals and within a year. by 1998 they had brought him a freshly. caught one. Yeah. Which is quite a task. Yeah. It's a finding a a a once thought. extinct fish. Yeah. It's a big one.

Well, and we'll get to a little bit why. it's even tougher than you would think, too. Sure. So, the the one that Erdman. found was brown, right? Yeah. It was a. little bit different color, right? the. one uh like uh Courtney Latimer. described, those are known to be like. steel blue. This one's brown, a little. smaller than the the one that Courtney. Latimer found. Um and so eventually when. Erdman got his hands on that one, um he. described it as a new species.

Yeah. I mean, uh, it turns out that at. one point, um, you know, hundreds of. millions of years ago, there were, you. know, potentially over a hundred. different varieties of this fish. Uh, and they came in all shapes and sizes. Um, these obviously were pretty big, but. there were some that were smaller and. faster. Uh, ba basically just kind of a. wide variety. And as far as we know, I. think are these the only two known. survivors? Yes. so far. Yeah. The the one that Courtney.

Latimer found are known as the uh West. Indian Ocean celaca. Those are the blue. ones. They're typically found off of the. uh west no the east coast of Africa, south of Kenya, I believe. Yeah. Um down. to about the Corros Islands. Uh, I think. that's they're actually also known as. the Corros Island celacanth because. there's that's that seems to be where. they inhabit the most or the highest. density of them is. Yeah. And um some of.

the weird some of the weirdos that have. uh well, we assume that they've been. extinct, but you never know. Uh, one of. them was toothless uh and over 10 ft. long. That was the megalosacanthus. Very appropriately named. Uh, some of. them said, "Forget you ocean. I'm going. to go to the freshwater. So, there were. actually freshwater celacants at one. time. And like I said, some of them were. slow and ambushed prey, some were uh. smaller and faster. Uh but they've.

pretty much universally all been. predators from what I've seen. Right. And uh the two species that are alive. today that we know of um are aside from. that megalisanth. um tend to be a little bigger than the. the extinct species. Yeah. which um I. read is a a good. it's a good example of why they. shouldn't be called living fossils, which is what they're frequently called. Yeah, that's Darwin's term for something. that um basically never changed, right?

Uh and they've actually studied the. genome of the celacanth and found that. they very much haven't changed and the. kind of the main reason is they haven't. had to. um they've kind of stayed in the. same places and when you stay in the. same places and you eat the same stuff. then maybe you don't change so much. I. read the I read the opposite of that. they have changed enough that they that. they have been evolving and a good. example of that is that they're bigger.

than they used to be. Oh interesting. Yeah. But the two species that are alive. today um they have traced their genomes. back and decided that they've been. separated for several million years at. least. Yeah, this one uh they finally. got the full genome and they said that. uh it it does indeed match the fish's. appearance of slower evolution uh in a. journal published in nature uh because. they have a slower rate of substitution. Gotcha. Um basically she the uh the.

doctor Well, yeah, I guess she is a. doctor. Just sounded weird to say that. The doctor the researcher who is also a. doctor. Yeah. who was uh she said it may. reflect the fact that they do not need. to evolve quickly because they've lived. in relatively unchanging environment uh. where there are few predators uh and. they basically haven't needed to change. over time like other organisms. Well, that brings up another thing, too. There's a there's a big question. Why. would they just drop off of the fossil. record if they've been around this whole. time? if they didn't just go extinct 80.

or 65 million years ago. The um only. explanation I've seen is that the places. where the fossils turned up were areas. conducive to fossilization. Like there. was a lot of sediment that could turn. bone into rock. Yeah. And then the areas. that the living uh species live at now. are not conducive to that kind of thing. Possibly because they're mostly living. around volcanic rock that doesn't. necessarily produce fossils. Huh. You. want to take a break? Yeah. Let's take a. break and we'll get back and talk a.

little bit about this funny fish. [Music]. All right. So, we've talked a little bit. about what makes the celacanth such a. interesting critter. Um, can a critter.

be a fish? Mhm. Yeah. Have you heard of. the cuddlefish? That's a critter if. there ever was one. Yeah. A cuddly. critter. Mhm. Uh, so here are some. remarkable things about the celacanth. Um, they can live as deep. I mean, they're deep water dwellers. They can. live as deep as 2,000 or more feet. But. generally uh they think the um. I think they generally live about 500 to. 800 ft in what they call the twilight.

zone, right? Which is still pretty deep. That's it. Remember our cave episode? Yeah. Um that had the same thing. Remember there was like organisms that. live in the dark, organisms that live in. the twilight zone, and organisms that. live in the lighted zone. Yeah. These. guys live in that threshold between. light and dark in the ocean. And they um. apparently are nocturnal hunters. Yeah, they come out at night. Uh kind of stay. hidden. Most of these uh habitats are are caves, right? Uh that they tend to stay in, but.

there's one off of Tasmania that do not. live in caves. And so they have. officially been placed on an endangered. list because they don't have the. protection uh from uh by catch that. these other cave dwellers have. Right. That makes sense. Yeah. So the the um. average day or in the life of a. celacanth, at least the cave dwelling um. species, they they'll you know during. the daytime they're hanging out in a. cave. They'll hang out in a cave with. I've seen between up to 12 to 16 other.

celacants. Yeah. Have a little coffee. Yeah. Maybe just talk. Yeah. You know, talk about their night. And then as. night falls, they'll leave their caves. and they'll they'll go hunting. And like. you said, they're um carnivorous. predators. Um they do that passive by. catch thing for the most part, right, where they let the the current bring the. food to them, but they uh just basically. hang out and wait for a cuttlefish. It's.

one thing they eat. Squids, other. sephalopods, some fishes, but they seem. to not um show aggression toward one. another from what I understand. Yeah. And um while they are passive hunters, they do have an unusual feature which is. uh like we said, one of many, but they. have what's called a rostal organ, which. just means it's in the nasal region in. their snout. Mhm. Uh and it's filled. with a jelly like substance that they. think uh and they think most of this.

stuff I mean they've done a lot of good. studying but for something so rare you. can't you know be super sure but they. think that it detects uh low-level. electrical signals and frequencies from. prey. Yeah. Like a shark or a ray. Yeah. It's a electroensory organ where when. living tissue contacts water it can make. an electrical impulse that can be picked. up. Yeah. And this uh cool mental floss. article was I think 11 uh 11 things. about the celacanth. I can't remember.

how it was put, but just 11 interesting. features. Are you 11 fishy facts? Was. that it? Unfortunately, that's why I. forgot it. Uh title aside, it's an. interesting article. And um one of the. things that they don't know why they do, and I have a feeling it has to do with. that electrical frequency, is they. they'll swim nose down um for up to two. full minutes, which is weird for a fish. They're just kind of hovering in place, headstanding, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I. guess I mean that if they have that.

nasal uh bag of jelly that helps them. locate fish, I would imagine that's what. they're doing there, right? I I imagine. it like tanto like holding a railroad. track, you know. Yeah, I think it's the same. thing basically. So, um when they catch. their prey, they eat them and they can. eat stuff that's way bigger than them. because uh again, which is this is um. unique to to celicants among living.

things. They have a hinge in their. cranium that allows basically their head. is convertible. The top of their skull. can retract, allowing their mouth to. open really wide. Yeah. So, they can eat. a large large cuttlefish. Yeah. And I. think the that feature also allows it to. uh their mouth to close with like much. greater force with extreme prejudice. Yeah. Like when it's unhinged. Yeah. Um. emotionally and physically, it can. really close that mouth uh super hard.

Yeah. They hate themselves for eating. cuttlefish. They just can't stop. So. those are just a couple of the features. Another is um and we mentioned earlier. that uh the name literally translates. into hollow spine. Uh this is because. they have what's called a noto cord. which is a hollow pressurized tube. filled with oil where a lot of uh fish. start this way uh and then they'll. eventually get a spine. But this doesn't. go away, right? And not just fish.

vertebrates. Apparently um there's a lot. of mammals that go through this. I think. possibly even humans in the embryo. And. the celacantha says, "I'm good with the. noticord." I'm going to stick here. Yeah, I'm going to stop here. Which is. strange. It is strange. You want to hear. some more stranges? I could do this all. day. Well, it's a strange fish. Celacanth um we don't quite understand. how they reproduce. And the reason why. is because. males don't seem to have any sex parts.

They don't have junk. They think. possibly males grow it when they need. it, but it's otherwise it's it's not. around. They're growers. They're not. showers. Right. Exactly. It's exactly. right. So, we have no idea how they. reproduce, but we know that the um the. mode of reproduction is called uh oo. viviparity, which is however the eggs. that the female has get fertilized. Once. they're fertilized, they gestate or the.

eggs develop in the female. Yeah. And. then they hatch in the female. Yeah. And. then the live fishes continue to gestate. and like the whole period lasts like. three years before they're born. So they. they go from egg to being hatched to. being born within a three-year period. And so apparently this does not make the. mom Celacanth very happy. And sometimes.

she will try to eat her newborn pups. Yeah. So supposedly. celacanth pups, that's what they're. called, can dive really deep very. quickly the moment they're born to get. away from mom. To get away from their. mom who's like three years. Yeah. Three. years. Paging Dr. Freud. Yeah. Uh. yeah, I think sharks may be the only. other uh fish that give birth to live. little ones. Is that right? I mean, most fish lay.

eggs, right? So, it's definitely. unusual. Yeah, it's it may not be. unique. Um but uh the other thing about. their their sexy time is there's also a. theory that um they are monogamous. Uh, yeah, I saw that too. In 2013, a German. team, um, they had a couple of corpses. of two pregnant um, I believe the the. African version. Yeah, the Vladimir. Chalumn. And, uh, cuz what was I don't.

remember what the other one was. It was. Vladimir something else for the. Indonesian version. Yeah, we'll just go. with that for now. I I was practicing. pronouncing it. Vladimra Menadoensis. Okay. Wow. Thanks. Nice work. Uh so they. analyzed these two pregnant ladies uh. unfortunately that were no longer with. us and they found out that they had like. most definitely had a single father. Yeah. Which they said was unusual. Sure. Cuz one of them had 26 26 little baby.

pups inside of her. Right. And they um. they thought at first well maybe it's. because the the celacanth is so rare. that the female wouldn't have. opportunity to mate with more than one. male. And they said, "Well, wait a. minute." Well, that's true. Well, no, not necessarily. Once they found out. that they stayed, they hang out. together. Yeah. In caves all day long, what else you going to do once once. General Hospital's over? Just looking. around at everybody like, "Well, what do. you want to do?" Yeah, that's a good. point. All right. Okay. Well, let's uh.

ponder that and take another break and. uh we'll finish up with even more. interesting things about the celacanth. [Music]. You should know. [Music]. All right. So, these guys have live.

babies. Yep. They might mate with a. single mate. Good day. They have uh they. can unhinge their jaw to eat more, right? They have a jellyfilled thing in. their nastra. that that detects electricity. That. detects electricity. I know. I'm having. trouble saying detects too. Uh. what else? This is sort of a recap. They. have an oil filled spine. Oil filled.

spine. They're they're just good with. They're like, I don't need a real spine. This one's my favorite. They were long. thought to be the missing link between. the fishes and the tetropods, which are. land dwelling for limbmed animals. Yeah. Because a notable thing I don't think we. mentioned yet is this thing has well I. think I did in the quote uh from Miss. Vladimir Courtney Vladimir but uh they. have four fins that move sort of like. you would think legs would move if a.

fish could swim out onto the beach. Legs. and arms. Yeah. Like you remember how. Shaggy walked in Scooby-Doo? I do. Just. like that. That's basically how a cela. swims. Yeah. And the fact that their. their fins are suspiciously armlike in. appearance. just made people think that even more. What's more, their arms, what are called. lobes, are attached by a bone that is. compared to the humorris in humans. Yeah. So, a lot of people said, well, that's it. It's the missing link. The.

celacanth is the missing link between. the fish and the land dwelling for lil. animals. Yeah. And apparently once the. the genome came around they said no. little disappointing they said yes we're. all related technically we are all um. what are known as sarcopterigians. Okay man um which means we are fleshy. limb vertebrates. So we're all that. Gross. So we are related but it's not.

like our direct ancestor. In fact, we're. more closely related to the lungfish. than the celacanth. But the celacanth. holds this place of honor as probably. living on something of its own branch uh. and is a very close cousin if not bro of. the lungfish. So we're related by. marriage, right, to the celacant. But we. legally we probably could marry a. celacanth. Sure. And have it not be. super creepy, right? Except for the fact. that it's a fish, right? You feel its.

fleshy lobe fin stroking the back of. your head as you kiss it. Uh I got. something for you. That was I'm just. walking right past that one. Um they. taste gross. So don't think it's some. weird delicacy, right? uh not you know. that there are that many of them to eat, but apparently if you do eat them, they. can make you sick because these things. are filled with ura, with oil, with. waxester and fat. Yep. Like 98.5%.

fat. That's just in its skull. Oh, I. thought that was the whole body. No, it's it's its brain occupies 1.5%. of the area inside its skull. The other. 98.5% is fat. And that's at the point. that they're an adult, right? Yeah. Supposedly, their brains are bigger. proportionately when they're younger and. they just stay there. Yeah. They're. frozen in uh perpetual like I guess.

toddlerhood pretty much. They love life. Yeah. No responsibilities, no bills. Mom and dad up after him. Yeah, exactly. What else? I got one for you. Okay. Vestigial. lungs. Oh, yeah. Man, I love these. things. So they grow, they had CT scans. done, and this is from the Mental Foss. article, uh, of these embryos, and they. start growing little lungs, uh, early in.

the the gestation period, and. it slows down a bit, and then by the. time they're an adult, the organ serves. no purpose. Yeah. It's just there. Yep. It's a good one. It is. It was It's. almost like the celacanth was an attempt. an evolutionary attempt. and it's just like I'm gonna scrap this. design. Let's move on to the long fish. Yeah, maybe. So, you know,

um one of the things that struck me. though, Chuck, was when they were. talking about how a couple of females. that had fully formed young in them. ready to be born were caught. It's like. that was a lot of the celacanth. population that got wiped out with those. two caught fish. Yeah. I mean, if there. are only hundreds, then everyone matters. Yeah. They think. that there's possibly about a thousand. of the uh ones that live around. Indonesia. and far fewer of the ones that live uh.

off of the west coast of Africa on the. western side of the Indian Ocean. Um, and as a result, both of them are on the. endangered species list. They're both. protected. And the problem is is that if. something happens to these species and. these species die out this time, the. whole order is gone. um for good this time around. Yeah. Unless we revive them uh with some of. their DNA. Yeah. All right. I got one.

last one. Okay. Um and this was on. Mental Floss' list as well. Okay. uh under the title, "A prominent. hematologist. once wrote a celacanth operetto." Right. So that's an attention grabber. Yeah. Uh. apparently in 1975 there was a man named. uh Charles Rand of Long Island. University and he was a hematologist and. um was doing some work with the cilacant. and uh this was when the big revelation.

was they learned that it gave birth to. live young and he I guess was a a music. guy and decided to write a little. operetta about this discovery titled. Aila's Lament or quintuplets at 50. Fathoms can be fun. Mhm. All sung to the. tune of uh various Gilbert and Sullivan. songs, right? That's a that's a hematologist for you. Wow. For sure.

I have no comment on that. Well, I I. mean, it speaks for itself, right? Other. than I wish this was on tape somewhere. Surely it's on YouTube. Everything's on. YouTube. You think? Yeah, sure. you want to go over some of these other. quote living fossils end quote. Yeah. Um. so again there was there's some fishes. out there that may have made the jump. kind of to land or almost did or what. have you, but there's there's some. interesting fishes that are worth.

mentioning. Speaking of making the jump, did you see that shark that jumped into. the boat the other day? No. There was a. fisherman uh and I guess the shark just. did, you know, one of their famous uh it. was a great white. Oh god. did one of. its breaches. Mhm. Where they just jump. out of the water and this thing did that. and landed in a dude's fishing boat. Wow. Uh and he he got banged around a. little bit but was not like you know uh. bitten or anything and basically went. into his little control room I think and. called for help and this shark like I. mean it was kind of sad. I think the.

shark just died. Uh but there were. pictures of it. It's it's huge. It's. like 8t long. Oh my god. It's not a. little guy. Yeah. Can you imagine? No. My god. That guy did the right thing. He. ran. He pooped his pants, too. Yeah, I. may have jumped into the water had that. happen. Uh, all right. So, uh, living. fossils. Um, the bow fin. Yeah, the. dogfish, mudfish, or grindle. I like, uh, dog fish. Yeah, this guy, I looked. all these up. Uh, he lives in the.

Mississippi River Basin in the Great. Lakes, uh, and other places. um and are. pretty mean supposedly. Like it eats. small mammals, snakes, frogs, other. fish. Yeah. Like they'll they'll go. after you, right? Um it's sort of normal. looking. Just sort of a long fish. Uh. nothing remarkable as appearance-wise, though. I'll tell you one that's. remarkable appearance-wise is the gar. Yeah. You know, I just saw a long noose. gar. They are so ugly. Last weekend, I.

was like, it was floating dead in a. lake. Mhm. I was like, "What in the. world?" Because it it I went by it at. first. I was like, "Was that a. swordfish?" It's like, "Well, I know. it's not a swordfish, right?" But in the. long nose ones, I mean, this this thing. had a he had a 12-in beak. Oh. I mean, it looked prehistoric. Yeah, they very. much do look prehistoric, which is one. of the reasons why they're called a. living fossil. Um, and they are just. mean. Apparently, they're known to kill. other fish, even not even to eat them.

Yeah. just because they were in their. way basically. Yeah. Like you see this. nose? Yeah. And you can't eat gar. They're inedible. And as a matter of. fact, if you eat their eggs, it will. kill you. They're very toxic to humans. Yeah. And they just go around killing. other fish. So they're not the best. thing to have in your lake if you like. to fish in a lake. No. And they um Did. you ever see Vernon, Florida, the. documentary? No, I've never seen that. one. By the great Errol Morris. It has. uh one of the interviews. Uh, it's one. of my favorites is with a guy talking.

about talking about the garfish. Oh, really? Yeah. I gotta see that one. Come. across one of those. Oh, boy. I finally. saw Thin Blue Line for the first time. Oh, yeah. That's a good one. It is. really good. You probably saw it after. the parody Mhm. of uh Documentary Now. Yeah, I definitely did. I saw the. Documentary Now, which they nailed. Like, it's like perfect. They really do. One of the great shows. Uh, what's next? Hagfish. Yeah. Mud dwellers. Yeah, they. basically look like eels, but they're. fish. But the the interesting thing.

about hagfish, aside from the fact that. they don't have any eyes, is that they. eat fish from the inside out. Yeah, I. think you underplayed it when you said. they basically look like eels. It looks. like something out of dune. Okay. Like. the body looks like an eel, but have you. seen the the front end of this thing? Sure. It's frightening. Oh, yeah. And to. think about that crawling up in you and. eating you from the inside out, right? Because if you're a dead or dying fish. and you're like, "Oh man, I hope I hurry. up and die before a hagfish finds me.". Well, yeah. And a hagfish swims down.

your throat and then eats you from the. inside out. That's a bad day. That's not. a good death. No. Uh and then lastly, what about the sturgeon? Love the. sturgeon. Did you know that they they. are both freshwater and saltwater here. in North America? I did not know that, but um I know one thing is they're huge. Yeah, they get up to like 20 feet long. Yeah. And I didn't I didn't see any. pictures of them that big, but I've seen. pictures of fishermen with like sturgeon.

that look like they're at least eight or. nine feet long. Right. Uh and they're. crazy looking. Yeah. Well, the reason I. was surprised that they are largely. North America is I always associate them. with um the Baltic area where they. they're the beluga. sturgeon is prized for its caviar. That's what I always think of when I. think sturgeon. Not well. I didn't. realize that that's where beluga came. from either. Yeah. Uh and they have. armor-l like skin and they're they're. these retractable mouths that I guess. they're different varieties, but some of.

them look almost like alligators from. like the head forward. Yeah. They're. weird looking fish. Yeah. But they don't. want to hurt anybody. They just want you. to eat their eggs. Is that true? Yeah. They're like the giving tree of the. lake. All right. Up with sturgeon. Uh. you got anything else? I got nothing. else. Well, if you want to know more. about living fossils like uh you know. celacants or us, right? Uh you can type. those words in the search bar at. houseuffworks.com. And since I said. search bar, it's time for listener mail.

Uh I'm going to call this my uh mom. married Bob Doro. Oh, I like this one. You see that one? Great. And I thought. it was cuz the that was the subject. line, right? And then the very first. line of the email was, "Sorry about that. attention-grabbing subject line." Right. And I thought it was a lie because a lot. of times people say something. remarkable. Yeah. In the subject line. that is completely false. Yeah. Which. always ticks me off. Sure. But this is. true. Uh my mom married the wonderful,

talented, and sweet Bob Duro 23 years. ago. And uh if you didn't listen to the. show, Bob Duro was um part of the genius. behind Schoolhouse Rock. Mhm. Um you. know, the original genius, right? Uh, it. was wonderful to hear you two speak so. highly of him in your recent podcast. My. own family listens to you guys a lot. So. to hear you speak of our Bob with such. reverence, it warmed our hearts. When. you when you mentioned early in your. podcast that you wished you could have. gotten Bob on the show, I wanted to jump. through my phone to say I can make that.

happen. Uh, Bob learned about you guys. about two weeks ago when we took a short. road trip for Mother's Day and listened. to the grave robbing episode. Um, how. awesome is that? I know the guy listened. to us right before we released the the. Schoolhouse Rock episode. Yeah. So, he's. primed and ready to hear us mention him. Fortuitous. Yeah. Uh he chuckled often. during the ride and when we got to our. destination, he asked something to the. effect of, "Who are those comedy guys? They're good." Man, that made me feel. good. Yeah. Uh and then to have the.

Schoolhouse Rock episode pop up a few. weeks later, it was like, "Whoa, you guys were spot on in your. characterization of Bob as a creative. genius. A lot of his genius comes from. his hard work. The age of 93, he is. still traveling the world taking gigs. That's awesome. Uh my mom often. complains that he doesn't know how to. say no. Uh thank you for giving Bob and. Schoolhouse Rock its proper due. Next. time you come up the coast, the. Northeast that is. We'll be there and. I'm sure Bob won't say no. And that is. from Pete. Uh I guess his stepson. Yeah.

And um Pete sent in a picture of he and. Bob. Yeah. And and that's him in the. flesh. It's pretty awesome. pretty neat. Uh, and you should go to www.boboro. d o r o u g.com. and just check it out. 93 and going. strong. Nice going, Bob. Thanks for. listening to us. And thank you, Pete, for writing in to let us know that we. were spot on about what a great guy he. is. Yeah, we were genuinely thrilled to. hear this. Yeah. Uh, if you want to.

genuinely thrill us, uh, you can send us. an email to stuffodcast.com. [Music]. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple. Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows. [Music].