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Tag: catfish

  • “Alien” Catfish Confuses Scientists

    A tiny catfish that is rarely seen by humans is baffling scientists who are trying to categorize it. The small catfish has a mouth full of teeth and a severe under bite.

    The fish have not been studied much because they only live in the Western Ghats mountain range in Kerala, India. They usually stay underground but will occasionally be found in wells, springs and flooded rice paddies in the area.

    The catfish species was not even categorized as a new species until 2011 because so few of them have ever been seen. Once the species was discovered, scientists became interested in learning more about it and began studying it more thoroughly.

    “The more we looked at the skeleton, the stranger it got,” Lundberg, Drexel’s resident fish zoologist and a professor in the university’s School of Arts and Sciences, said in a statement. “The characteristics of this animal are just so different that we have a hard time fitting it into the family tree of catfishes.”

    Although the catfish is similar to other species, scientists have found that it is missing several bony elements that are found in other catfish species and that fish’s bones have a unique shape.

    Scientists also found that the fish feeds on small invertebrates and insect larvae. They are curious as to why it evolved to have so many teeth and a protruding bottom jaw.

    The scientists plan to continue to study the small fish to determine among other things, why it is so different from other catfish species and which fish or animals it is closely related to. The studies could lead to the discovery of more catfish species in other remote locations.

    What do you think of the new catfish species and why do you think it evolved to have so many teeth if it only eats insect larvae and small invertebrates?

    Image via YouTube

  • Online Dating: Are You Catfish-Proof?

    A growing number of people are content to look for (and have found) love online. Usually initial contact is followed by brief flirting and later back and forth contact via social media. Eventually plans are to meet face to face and things progress from there.

    Yet for others, the last step which brings online contact to offline relationship never happens. Instead, individuals get entangled in a love affair with an idea rather than a person. They pin their hopes on a photograph and text on a screen, never dreaming that they are actually being strung along by a troll.

    In short, these people have been “catfished”.

    The term is born from the movie and MTV television show. Often the television show embarrasses poor gullible souls who find out the hard way that they should have engaged in a bit more background checking.

    Much of the time the persons they meet look nothing like they claim and are unrepentant narcissistic personality types. How charming.

    Do you want to waste valuable time in an online “relationship” that doesn’t pay off? Of course not!

    Here are a few helpful tips to help you avoid falling into the dreaded catfish-trap of online dating:

    1.) Don’t Talk To Anyone Without A Webcam It’s amazing how much drama you can avoid by simply refusing to chat to anyone whose personal appearance you can’t immediately identify. Instead of trying to build an online relationship with a photo and text on a screen, you can skip to the part where you begin to connect with an actual person.

    2.) If You’ve Never Met…It Isn’t True Love. This is a hard pill for some people to swallow, especially with so many connections starting online. However, that’s the whole point; the connections start online. What follows are typically in-person meetings and connections at some point.

    It doesn’t matter how much the person compliments you, bears their soul, or insists that you’re the only person they love and that understands them. At a certain point, you need to meet. If a person claims to love you despite never meeting you and hems and haws about meeting you, let it be a sign to move on.

    Got other tips to avoid being fooled while trying to date online? Share them below!

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Chris Birdman Andersen Cleared in Investigation

    The Miami Heat’s Chris “Birdman” Andersen’s name has been cleared in an investigation after a woman posed as Andersen to talk to underage girls online. Andersen’s Denver home was raided in May 2012 as part of the investigation by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Unit. Fifteen months later, authorities have determined that not only is Andersen clear of any criminal wrongdoing, but that he is the victim of a catfish hoax as well.

    The situation started in 2010 when Andersen met with a California woman he met online. While Andersen thought the woman was 21, she was actually 17, and when Andersen didn’t show more interest, the woman became upset. That sounds straight forward enough until you throw in the third wheel that complicated the mess out of everything, leading to a 15 month investigation: Shelly Lynn Chartier.

    Chartier, a woman from Canada, is said to have arranged the initial meeting between Andersen and the California woman. After things didn’t work out between Birdman Andersen and the California woman, Chartier stepped in and began operating under the aliases of both people. After using Andersen’s identity to make sexually explicit demands of the California woman, the woman went to the police, which prompted an investigation into Andersen by the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit.

    Apparently neither Andersen nor the California woman realized they weren’t really communicating with the other later on, but instead were part of a catfishing scheme. Catfishing schemes became well-known when Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o was duped into thinking that the Internet girlfriend he thought was real died. Unfortunately for Birdman Andersen, the catfishing scheme he got roped into was far more complicated and had serious implications.

    In a statement made by a representative for the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, “Based on the information that we have been able to obtain and analyze, we are not pursuing charges against Chris Andersen.” Chartier, on the other hand, has been arrested by Candian authorities and charged with the following: possession of child pornography, personation, extortion and transmission of child pornography,

    “We were always confident that Chris was innocent but we just couldn’t figure out what had happened,” Andersen’s lawyer, Mark Bryant, told ESPN.com. “It turned out that it was a Manti Te’o situation. It was Manti Te’o on steroids.” The Heat organization issued a statement saying, “We are not surprised that this is the end result. We are happy for Chris and glad this unfortunate incident is behind him.”

    Miami Heat fans are thrilled to see their star center finally have his name cleared from the investigation. “I can’t tell you how much Chris agonized about the label placed on him and some of the public’s perception that resulted from these acts,” Bryant said. “Chris among all things is a member of our community and has a long, documented history of reaching out to children. He’s done this through assisting with children’s camps, local orphanages, literally (dressing up as) Santa Claus in our community.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Thomas Gibson “Catfish” Video Released

    Thomas Gibson “Catfish” Video Released

    Thomas Gibson, former star of “Dharma And Greg” and current star of “Criminal Minds”, has reportedly been busted in a “Catfish” type relationship with someone he made a steamy hot tub video for.

    Gibson, who is married, had reportedly been having an online relationship with the woman for two years. Her identity hasn’t been released, but according to TMZ, she’s a woman from North Dakota who sent Gibson photos that she’d taken from porn sites claiming to be of her and told him she was a big fan; that was all it took for Gibson, who became involved in an online relationship with her until he found out the photos were fake; she says his lawyers sent her letters telling her to back off, and she hasn’t heard from him since. She did give TMZ this video that Gibson shot of himself in a hot tub, however.

    Gibson allegedly tweeted a response to a fan who called him out on his actions, calling the story a “spliced bunch of lies” and “no one’s business”, but it appears his account has been deleted.

    The art of “catfishing”–or having a false online identity–became famous when the movie “Catfish” was released in 2010 and took viewers behind the scenes of a man unraveling the sordid tales his online girlfriend had told him. It has since spawned a television show.