The Replica Report brings you remarkable Resemblances and the Extractionists that discover them from around the world. Whether Recognized in a cloud, scribble, or grilled cheese sandwich, if it makes the news, you'll find it featured here. The Replica Report is an extension of Art In A Nutshell - a museum whose exhibits reveal the power of Extractionism: the Recognition of Resemblances and their subsequent Extraction and Utilization.
The Replica Report goes galactic today looking at 4 galaxies whose shapes Resemble the letter 'G'. A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system consisting of stars, stellar remnants, and a interstellar medium of gas and dust, and, it is hypothesized, an important but poorly understood component called dark matter. Examples of galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million stars to giants with a hundred trillion stars, each orbiting their galaxy's own center of mass.
Galaxies contain varying numbers of star systems, star clusters and types of interstellar clouds. In between these objects is a sparse interstellar medium of gas, dust, and cosmic rays. Observational data suggests that super massive black holes may exist at the center of many, if not all, galaxies. They are thought to be the primary driver of active galactic nuclei found at the core of some galaxies. The Milky Way galaxy appears to harbor at least one such object.
Galaxies have been historically categorized according to their apparent shape; usually referred to as their visual morphology. A common form is the elliptical galaxy, which has an ellipse-shaped light profile. Spiral galaxies are disk-shaped with dusty, curving arms. Those with irregular or unusual shapes are known as irregular galaxies and typically originate from disruption by the gravitational pull of neighboring galaxies and are what make the alphabet series possible. Such interactions between nearby galaxies, which may ultimately result in a merging, sometimes induce significantly increased incidents of star formation leading to starburst galaxies. Smaller galaxies lacking a coherent structure are referred to as irregular galaxies.
Src : Wikipedia & http://cas.sdss.org/dr7/en/
The Echiura, or spoon worms, are a small group of marine animals. Urechis unicinctus is a species of marine spoon worm widely referred to as the "Penis Fish" (very easy to see the Resemblance reference here). While the Urechis caupo is often called the "Fat Innkeeper" worm (not so easy to figure out the Resemblance reference here).
Urechis caupo
lives in burrows in sand and mud. It gets the name "fat innkeeper worm" because the tunnels it creates often contain other animals. In fact, at least four other animals are known to live with the Fat Innkeeper Worm in its tunnel home (get the Resemblance to an Inn Keeper?). Frequent guests of the Worm include a fish called a goby, a small pea crab, a clam and a scale worm. They feed on food that the Innkeeper Worm leaves behind.
The Fat Innkeeper Worms are common in the sandy mud of the Elkhorn Slough. They live in a U-shaped tunnel or burrow and have a unique method of eating. It secretes a slime net, which serves to trap small food particles. The worm circulates water through the tunnel, trapping food in the slime net. When the mucus net becomes loaded with food, it is loosened from its attachments and the entire net with its burden of food is swallowed by the worm.
Fat Innkeeper Worms are eaten by bat rays, leopard sharks and otters, who suck or dig them out of their burrows.
The Penis Fish in the other hand is commonly eaten raw with salt and sesame oil in Korea and in parts of Japan. In Chinese cuisine the worm is stir-fried with vegetables, or dried and powdered to be used as an umami enhancer. In particular, the worm is considered an important ingredient in Shandong cuisine and is used in numerous recipes. It is also used for fishing bait.
