Brazilian fisherman chokes to death after trying to hold catch in his teeth

The man was fishing with friends on a beach in Icapui, in the state of Ceara, at the time. 

After he reeled in a sole fish, he had bet with friends that he could hold the catch between his teeth. 

But the sole slipped down his throat and became trapped in his windpipe. 

The man managed to drive two miles to hospital, but collapsed and died when he got there.

Icapui’s police chief Carlos Alberto said doctors removed the fish, but it was too late.

He said: 'It was a silly thing to do, but he didn’t deserve to die because of it.'

On Tuesday the wife of the unnamed man posted a tribute to her husband on a social networking site.

She said: 'Only one thing comforts my heart, that I was the best wife and friend that I could have been. 

'The best woman that I could be, there, in every hour and in every moment.'

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/918892-brazilian-fisherman-chokes-to-death-after-trying-to-hold-catch-in-his-teeth#ixzz2DK8iDshN

Mystery of the Flatfish Head Solved

ScienceDaily (June 25, 2012) — Those delicious flatfishes, like halibut and sole, are also evolutionary puzzles. Their profoundly asymmetrical heads have one of the most unusual body plans among all backboned animals (vertebrates) but the evolution of their bizarre anatomy has long been a mystery. How did flatfishes, with both of their eyes on one side of their head, evolve? So puzzling was the anatomy of flounders and their kin that they were used in early arguments against Darwin and his theory of natural selection. Skeptics wondered how such unusual features could have slowly evolved whilst remaining advantageous for the fishes' survival.

A new fossil discovery described in the latest issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology by Oxford University researcher Dr Matt Friedman finally solves the mystery. Friedman's fossil fish, named Heteronectes (meaning 'different swimmer'), was found in 50 million year old marine rocks from northern Italy. This study provides the first detailed description of a primitive flatfish, revealing that the migrated eye had not yet crossed to the opposite side of the skull in early members of this group. Heteronectes, with its flattened form, shows the perfect intermediate stage between most fish with eyes on each side of the head and specialized flatfishes where both eyes are on the same side.


Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120625160358.htm