Sumbe rattan (Calamus melanoloma)

Sumbe rattan (Calamus melanoloma) is a species of plant in the Arecaceae, a dense shrub, growing erect or climbing, cylindrical stems, segmented, green, full of spines up to 3.5 cm long and yellow with black tips.

C. melanoloma has a green to dark brown sheath. The petiole is cylindrical, green, has long spines and is yellow or black.

Leaflets have units on each side, ribbon-shaped, a pulse in the middle, regular and spaced for 2 or 3 or 4 units, wide in the middle and pointed ends. The spines are long and slender.

Sumbe rattan grows in the lowlands to an elevation of 600 meters in forests, slopes, wastelands, rocky soils and often near the sea.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Arecales
Family: Arecaceae
Subfamily: Calamoideae
Tribe: Calameae
Genus: Calamus
Species: Calamus melanoloma

A deep-sea isopod Bathyopsurus nybelini adapted to feed submerged Sargassum algae

NEWS - Incredible footage shows a marine species, Bathyopsurus nybelini , feeding on something that sinks from the ocean’s surface. Researchers using the submersible Alvin found the isopod swimming 3.7 miles down using its paddle-like legs to catch an unexpected food source: Sargassum. Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Montana, SUNY Geneseo, Willamette University and the University of Rhode Island found the algae sinking, while the isopod waited and adapted specifically to find and feed on the sinking nutrient source. The Sargassum lives on the surface for photosynthesis. The discovery of a deep-sea animal that relies on food that sinks from the waters miles above underscores the close relationship between the surface and the deep. “It’s fascinating to see this beautiful animal actively interacting with sargassum, so deep in the ocean. This isopod is extremely rare; only a handful of specimens were collected during the groundbreaking Swedis...

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