Big Bacteria Stores Genome Aplenty

The large (up to 600 micrometers) bacteria Epulopiscium, found in the gut of the unicornfish, carries up to 200,000 copies of its genome, far more than is found in any other organism. (News source.)

Ontario Cougar Sightings Continue

More stories here on cougar-like sightings from Ontario.

New Fish in West Virginia

A new species of darter has been discovered in West Virginia. (News source.)

"A new species of fish has been discovered in the lower Elk River near Charleston by a West Virginia University professor. Stuart Welsh, assistant professor in the Wildlife and Fisheries Resources Program in the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences, named the new species Crystallaria cincotta, or 'diamond darter.'
"His findings were recently published in Zootaxa, an international journal for animal taxonomists. The diamond darter is a close relative of the crystal darter (Crystallaria asprella), a small fish found in the drainage basins of the Mississippi River. Diamond darters are translucent; adults range from 3-5 inches long."

The Carraguar

Just added to BioFortean Review:

The Carraguar, or Night-Tiger, of Colima, Mexico
Chad Arment

India's "Bigfoot"

An odd little review here of the Mande Barung, of India's Galo Hills in Meghalaya.

OOP Python

A dead 12-foot python was found in a channel of Nippersink Lake (near Chicago, IL). It's thought that snappers may have eaten the head. (News source.)

(I'm thinking retic morph, as it's oddly patterned, but it looks like it is badly decomposed, so can't be certain from the poor images shown... doesn't appear to be a boa or Burmese.)

Cryptofiction Novel

Found this one while browsing on Amazon, released in March 2008: Ancient Lake, by David Coleman. Looks more like straight horror with a cryptozoological creature (Bigfoot-related, from what I gather on the details page), but could be interesting.

Kraken Papers

I've just added a couple of downloadable papers (from 1813 and 1814) on early accounts of giant squid to the BioFortean Review PDF Archive.

Glacier Island "Sea Monster"

An Alaska newspaper recounts the story of the 1930 Glacier Island carcase. (If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time the whole story was been given.) (News source.)

Spain: Black Cat

A black feline in Spain is being blamed for attacks on pigs. (News source.)

California Black Cat Photo

A California man caught a black feline on a digital camera trap, and wonders if it might be a black mountain lion. Experts note that the feline is too far away, and the picture too blurred, to be identified. (News source.)

Lake Pepin

The Lake City (MN) Tourism Board is offering a $50,000 reward for "undisputable photographic and scientific evidence" of their local lake monster, from Lake Pepin. Of course, they don't want DNA evidence, as they don't want to "hurt" the creature, whatever it is. Just what we need, more stupid publicity ploys exploiting cryptozoology for tourism dollars. (News source.)

Giant Earthworm Expands Range

Two new localities are now suspected for the rare giant Palouse earthworm. Specimens are thought probable for this species, though not conclusively identified. (News source.)

More on Colossal Squid

Some interesting details about the bioluminescence of the colossal squid at NatGeo.

New Fly is Salmon Buffet

Biologists knew that when the Yolo Bypass flood corridor between Sacramento and Davis floods, the juvenile chinook salmon "grew like gangbusters," but they didn't know why, until they discovered that the fish were feasting on midges. After taking these small flies to an expert, he realized that the flies were a new species that lies dormant in the soil until flooding occurs. (News source.)

Largest Gecko in India?

A new species is being described in the news as the largest gecko yet found in India, at 250 mm. (I'm a bit leery of this claim; the Tokay gecko, for example, is found in northern India, and can surpass that length in at least parts of its wide range.) The new species has been named Hemidactylus aaronbaueri, after lizard expert Dr. Aaron Bauer of Villanova. (Dr. Bauer, of course, should be a familiar name, as he has written on the cryptozoological giant gecko and other unusual cases.) The lizard was first photographed two years ago, and the photos forwarded to the Bombay Natural History Society for identification, where they realized it was a new species. Since then, about 20 more have been found on rocky cliffs in north west Ghats. (News source.)