![]() He chose Johnny Pollard to be Seabiscuit’s new jockey. Once Seabiscuit’s nerves had been calmed and his ailments had been treated, Smith decided it was time to return him to the races. Seabiscuit’s new companions were a stray dog named Pocatell, a spider monkey known as Jo Jo, and his lifelong traveling mate, a calm horse name Pumpkin. He also gave his colt a double sized stall complete with roommates. He put leg braces and bandages on Biscuit’s legs, and equipped him with blinkers for training and racing to keep his mind on business. Tom Smith babied his new colt in hopes of Seabiscuit one day living up to his potential as the grandson of the mighty Man O’ War. Seabiscuit was in serious need of some rest and relaxation, and a chance to form a bond with people. He raised hell at the starting gate, intimidated the grooms, nervously paced his stall, and refused to eat. The horse was 200 pounds underweight with a weary temperament. He was not surprised that Seabiscuit was tired and sore after all he had done in just 2 years at the track. Smith remembered having seen the colt race a month earlier at Suffolk Downs. Then Seabiscuit was in the hands of his new trainer, Tom Smith, an old western cowboy who knew how to communicate with horses like no other. He went on to race 23 more times at the age of 3, capturing 9 of these outings, before he was claimed by Charles and Marcella Howard after winning a claiming race at Saratoga. At age 2 he had raced a record 35 times with only 5 wins to his name. Aristotle's lantern may actually refer to the globular shape of whole echinoids, which resemble the ancient lamps of Aristotle's time.Seabiscuit became one of thoroughbred racings greatest legends at a time when the sport needed it the most. However, this has recently been suggested to be a mistranslation. Some scientists thought his writings referred to the jaw apparatus looking like a kind of a lantern, specifically a horn lantern. What’s in a Name Question #3 or Why is it Called Aristotle’s Lantern: It’s named after the Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle, of course. Sea biscuits and sand dollars have a modified form of Aristotle’s Lantern that they use to crush and grind sand. Kind of like a set of conveyor belts! Echinoids graze off the substrate using a jaw apparatus known as an Aristotle’s Lantern. Sea biscuits use small tube feet/spines on their underside to transfer sediment containing food particles into their mouth. Notice the spines in the pictures of the sea biscuit below: In other words, they are modified to help the sea biscuit move around in sediment where they live and feed. Therefore, their spines are shorter and more hair-like. ![]() Irregular urchins exhibit secondary bilateral symmetry as adults these organisms display bilateral symmetry, but in a manner unlike that they possessed as larvae.īecause sea biscuits have a different lifestyle than the regular sea urchins, they don’t need their spines for defense. ![]() During development, echinoderms become five-fold (i.e., pentamerous) symmetrical, meaning they can be split into five similar segments around a central axis (center of the body). Most echinoderms exhibit bilateral symmetry as larvae, meaning they can be divided into matching halves by drawing a line down the center. Thus, anatomical characteristics exhibited by irregular urchins are thought to represent modifications to the anatomy of regular forms. Irregular urchins are considered to have evolved from an ancestral regular urchin form. Irregular echinoids have a definite front and back and move in a particular direction, often burrowing in sediment. (Picture a spiny sea urchin in your mind.) Their longer, often painful-to-predators spines help protect them as they move around. Irregular: Regular echinoids, or sea urchins, have no front or back end and can move in any direction. ![]() What’s in a Name Question#2 or Regular vs. Both sea biscuits and sand dollars have a mouth midway on their underside and anus at the end, and as such are called irregular urchins. Sea biscuits tend to be more oblong and rounded than their cousins, the sand dollar. The genus Clypeaster is in the phylum Echinodermata which, in addition to sea urchins, also includes starfish, sea lilies, and sea cucumbers. ![]()
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