Ugly tiddler of the deep
QUESTION Why is the flabby whalefish so called? The flabby whalefish is a bizarre deep-sea creature which lives in the oceanic bathypelagic realm, between 3,300 ft and 13,000 ft down. This region is practically pitch black and is poor in nutrients, and the whalefish has adapted to this by developing some unusual traits.
It has no scales, but a loose skin, hence flabby, the baleen whale-like appearance of adult females inspiring the rest of its name although, sizewise, that is where the likeness ends; an adult male is just one or two inches long. Females may grow up to 18 in.
The female has a large mouth and a highly distensible stomach, allowing it to consume and digest prey which would normally be too large, and hold it in its stomach until it can be digested.
Adult males don’t eat, their jaws having fused shut during their transformation from the juvenile phase. Male juveniles retain the shells of the prey they have consumed and continue to metabolise these through the remainder of their lives.
Both these traits probably evolved because of extreme food scarcity in the ocean depths it inhabits.
Flabby whalefish have tiny eyes, so highly developed sensory pores running the length of their bodies detect vibrations and help them perceive their surroundings.
They also lack swim bladders, the fluid-filled sacs that other fish use to maintain buoyancy.
They range from brown-orange to bright red. Where they live, little light penetrates and longer electromagnetic wavelengths (such as red and orange) are harder to perceive, making them practically invisible.
Dr Ken Warren, Glasgow.
QUESTION Is Elton John’s live album One Night Only a misnomer? The idea behind this album was to record elton at Madison Square Garden, a venue he had appeared at more times than any other performer of the rock era, and release an album of greatest hits in record time.
Legendary producer Phil Ramone lined up a series of elton’s friends and associates including Kiki Dee, Billy Joel, Bryan Adams, Mary J. Blige, Anastasia and Ronan Keating to make it a memorable event.
It looked good on paper but some strange decisions were made, including the album’s name.
Songs were selected from two concerts performed on October 20 and 21, 2000, so it was clearly not ‘one night only’. While the set was expertly mixed by Ramone, the resulting CD saw good songs cut and others scattered randomly throughout the album.
elton had originally performed the first four songs from his 1973 masterpiece, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, on it but these were cut, meaning Funeral For A Friend (Love Lies Bleeding) possibly his best album opening song, was lost.
While Billy Joel, Kiki Dee and Mary J. Blige are in fine form on their duets, Ronan Keating destroyed Your Song with his breathy delivery, Bryan Adams sounds like he is being strangled on Sad Songs, and Anastasia appeared not to have heard her duet Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting before the performance.
Presumably the record company was contractually obliged to keep their parts in.
The haste in which the CD was recorded and released is evident right from the title yet elton is on good form throughout, the band is tight and there are plenty of highlights for dedicated fans.
Emma Newhart, Romford, Essex.
QUESTION What was Captain William Mudge’s contribution to the world of map-making? further to the earlier answer, William was not the only remarkable member of a remarkable family.
The inventor of the lever escapement, the greatest improvement applied to pocket watches, was his father’s eldest brother Thomas (1715-94). Thomas is also generally regarded as one of england’s finest horologists and was appointed watchmaker to King George III in 1776.
The Queen and the British Museum own splendid examples of his clocks and watches.
he was involved in John harrison’s work on the 1760 Longitude marine chronometer (he made three), but has had a rather bad press in Dava Sobel’s book for divulging details of harrison’s h-4 model to the Swiss horologist Ferdinand Berthoud, although he swore that he did not mean any harm.
While Thomas’s recognition was established right from the start, his younger brother, Rev Richard Mudge (born 1718 in Bideford, Devon, died in 1763 as rector of Bedworth, Warwickshire) had to wait until the middle of the 20th century to be discovered as an outstanding composer of six Concertos in seven parts for strings, organ or harpsichord (number 6) and basso continuo (published 1749) — considered equal to handel’s works — with an added canon in 8 parts Non Nobis Domine (William Byrd).
We can safely assume Rev Richard was not the recipient of his friend handel’s rough rejoinder about another clerical composer: ‘A parson make concerto? Why he not make sermon?’
Concerto No 1 in D has a trumpet part and was first issued on an LP, together with works by Jeremiah Clarke and Capel Bond, with the title Baroque Trumpet Music by english composers in 1958 with Maurice Andre (trumpet) and the ensemble Orchestral de l’Oiseau-Lyre conducted by Pierre Colombo.
It was not until 2008, however, that all seven works were recorded by a Swiss (!) chamber orchestra.
In the meantime a computer-generated MIDI of all seven works by P. J. Mudge (2004) gave an idea of the high quality of his ancestor’s works, despite slightly clipped endings to all the tracks. E.Felix Schoendorfer,
Stoke Poges, Bucks.
QUESTION What is the widest bridge in the world? The widest long-span bridge in the world is Sydney harbour Bridge, which opened on March 19, 1932.
It carries two overhead railway tracks (both electric), eight lanes of roadway, a cycle track and footpath and is 160 ft wide.
tim Mickleburgh, Grimsby, Lincs.
Is there a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Scottish Daily Mail, 20 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6DB. You can also fax them to 0141 331 4739 or you can e-mail them to charles. legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.