Selects: How Coelacanths Work

Coelacanths are incredibly interesting as far as fish go. For one, they were thought to have gone the way of the dinosaur, along with the dinosaur. They also give birth to live fish and tend to dwell more than 800 feet below the ocean's surface. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Learn all about these fascinating creatures in this classic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.

• 0:04Josh Clark?

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• 0:47Josh Clark?

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• 1:09Speaker 02

  Hi, everyone. Happy weekend. I hope you're having a lovely, lovely Saturday, wherever you are in the world. We're gonna jump back in time to June 6, 2017, to talk about coelacanth. How coelacanth work? What in the world is a coelacanth? Uh, I think I kind of remember. Check it out right now.

• 1:35Speaker 00

  Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart Radio.

• 1:45Josh Clark?

  Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with Charles W. Chuck Bryant, Jerry Jerome, Roland, and just the whole, the whole How Stuff Works gang. Here to present to you stuff you should know.

• 1:58Speaker 02

  All three of us.

• 2:01Speaker 03

  How you doing?

• 2:01Josh Clark?

  I'm good.

• 2:02Speaker 03

  Yeah?

• 2:03Josh Clark?

  Yeah. I'm a little caffeinated, I should warn you.

• 2:06Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 2:07Josh Clark?

  A little bit, like, when teeth are about to just come right out of my face.

• 2:10Speaker 03

  That's not good. Uh, you know, we did a video about zelocamps one time.

• 2:15Josh Clark?

  Yeah, like, was it This Day in History about when they were discovered?

• 2:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:19Josh Clark?

  I ran across it.

• 2:20Speaker 03

  Because it smacked as familiar to me and, you know, the constant fear we have of recording an entire podcast over

• 2:27Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 2:27Speaker 03

  Uh, is sort of always there.

• 2:29Josh Clark?

  Yeah, the fear that sometimes comes true.

• 2:31Speaker 03

  Yeah. So, I definitely went back and looked and I was like, I knew we did something.

• 2:36Josh Clark?

  Yeah, we were trapped in a shipping container, right?

• 2:38Speaker 03

  Uh, I didn't watch it.

• 2:39Josh Clark?

  I didn't either. I just saw enough to say, "Oh yeah, I remember that one."

• 2:43Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 2:43Josh Clark?

  That really weird, weird thing we did.

• 2:46Speaker 03

  But this is really cool, I think.

• 2:48Josh Clark?

  I do too. Zelocamps were, um, well, they're interesting. Despite what the HowStuffWorks article would lead you to believe.

• 2:57Speaker 03

  Uh, it was, yeah, it was a little thin, wasn't it?

• 3:00Josh Clark?

  A little bit.

• 3:01Speaker 03

  It was all right.

• 3:02Josh Clark?

  Okay.

• 3:03Speaker 03

  But luckily, the rest of the internet is there for us.

• 3:05Josh Clark?

  Right. Thanks especially to Smithsonian and Mental Floss for this one, right?

• 3:11Speaker 03

  Yeah, that Mental Floss article was kind of neat, actually.

• 3:14Josh Clark?

  It was. So, you want to go back to the beginning? Actually, the second beginning, maybe?

• 3:21Speaker 03

  Oh, well, I don't know what you're talking about now, so just...

• 3:26Josh Clark?

  Okay, well, follow me. We'll go back to the very beginning. We'll go back to something about 400 million years ago.

• 3:32Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 3:33Josh Clark?

  During the Devonian period, which is AKA the rise of the fish.

• 3:37Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 3:38Josh Clark?

  The age of the fish, right? And in this Devonian period, there's a lot, lot of stuff going on. Things have been swimming around for a while. On Earth, there's a nice atmosphere that's developed. The things in the ocean are starting to say, "Oh, what's out there? I want to see what's on land."

• 3:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, maybe I can just crawl out and see.

• 3:58Josh Clark?

  Yeah. I want to taste clover.

• 4:02Josh Clark?

  So they start trying and during this period, there was the progression from the sea to the land.

• 4:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 4:09Josh Clark?

  And one of those things that was starting to develop legs to get onto land was called the coelacanth.

• 4:18Speaker 03

  Yeah, which A, it means hollow spine, which is, we'll get to, there's a reason for that.

• 4:25Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 4:26Speaker 03

  And B, it's spelled C-O-E-L-A-C-A-N-T-H, which is, you know, not how you would think it might be spelled.

• 4:35Josh Clark?

  No.

• 4:36Speaker 03

  Or pronounced, rather.

• 4:37Josh Clark?

  Right. Either one.

• 4:39Speaker 03

  But it's coelacanth.

• 4:40Josh Clark?

  It is coelacanth.

• 4:41Speaker 03

  And what it is, is a fish that is, like you said, been around for a long, long time. It's kind of funny looking. And we'll get into all the physical characteristics that make it unusual in a sec. But it is notable mainly for the fact that everyone thought it was gone forever.

• 5:02Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 5:03Speaker 03

  Until it was suddenly discovered, this thing that swam with the dinosaurs, was discovered anew in the 1930s.

• 5:11Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 5:12Speaker 03

  And then again, a little bit later on.

• 5:13Josh Clark?

  Yeah, because it was, it pops up for the first time around 407 million years ago, I think I said. And then it just drops off 80 million years ago. So they said, well, a lot of stuff went the way of the dinosaur around the time the dinosaurs went away.

• 5:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 5:33Josh Clark?

  So that's probably what happened to the coelacanth. So it was quite a big surprise in the 1930s when a trawler that was out fishing, a trawler called the Nareen, which is captained by Hendrik Goosen off the coast of South Africa, came in and as was Captain Goosen's wont, he contacted the director of the local museum in East London, a woman named Miss Marjorie Courtney Latimer. And she used to come over and look at the fish loads this guy would bring in because they were buddies.

• 6:06Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:07Josh Clark?

  And he gave her a call like normal and said, I got a load, you want to come look at it? And she was like, it's two days before Christmas and it's blazing hot out. Don't forget we're in South Africa at the time. And she's like, I don't feel like it, but the world was saved.

• 6:25Josh Clark?

  The world of ichthyology was saved this day.

• 6:28Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:28Josh Clark?

  Because this lady, Marjorie Courtney Latimer, was so nice that she decided to go look at the fish anyway, just to wish the captain and his crew a Merry Christmas.

• 6:39Speaker 03

  So she takes a look at this fish, and here is her quote,

• 6:45Speaker 03

  as she recounted. It wasn't her quote at the time. Her quote at the time is probably a South African expletive.

• 6:52Speaker 03

  But she said later, "I picked away the layers of slime to reveal the most beautiful fish I had ever seen." And of course, only a fish lover can find this thing truly beautiful.

• 7:03Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 7:03Speaker 03

  Because it's kind of ugly.

• 7:05Josh Clark?

  It is.

• 7:05Speaker 03

  "It was five feet long, a pale mauvey blue with faint flecks of whiter spots. It had an iridescent silver-blue-green sheen all over. It was covered in hard scales, and it had four limb-like fins and a strange little puppy dog tail." Not literally, of course. It was such... Which would be great, though, actually.

• 7:26Josh Clark?

  Yeah. That's the dogfish that has that.

• 7:29Speaker 03

  "It was such a beautiful fish, more like a big china ornament, but I didn't know what it was." And it was pretty faithful that she was called in to look at this thing, because it ended up being one of the most important zoological finds of, you know, history, probably.

• 7:46Josh Clark?

  Of the 20th century, at least.

• 7:47Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 7:48Josh Clark?

  For sure. Yeah, this woman's curiosity. Something in her said, "This is weird. This is unusual. This is something worth looking into." So she took it with her. This thing was like five feet long, just under two meters, about 100 and how many pounds?

• 8:06Speaker 03

  127 pounds.

• 8:07Josh Clark?

  This is a significant fish.

• 8:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 8:09Josh Clark?

  And Ms. Courtney Latimer talked her way into a cab with it. She took a cab back to the East London Museum with this fish stuffed in the backseat. And she took it to the taxidermist and had it stuffed. Unfortunately, the taxidermist wasn't completely aware of how to preserve a fish for identification, and threw out the skeleton and the gills, which are what you need for...

• 8:37Josh Clark?

  To ID a fish, apparently.

• 8:38Speaker 03

  Well, she probably should have said something.

• 8:40Josh Clark?

  Well, she...

• 8:42Speaker 03

  Like, "This is no ordinary mount."

• 8:45Josh Clark?

  Yeah, right, she probably should have.

• 8:47Speaker 03

  Or maybe she didn't, he just ignored her.

• 8:49Josh Clark?

  He's like, I'm not gonna get bossed around by a woman, it's 1938. So she contacts a guy named J.L.B. Smith, who is an ichthyologist. He's the head of the ichthyology department at a university in Grahamstown, and a PhD in chemistry. He's a smart guy, and he's the local fish expert as far as she knows.

• 9:11Speaker 03

  Yeah, and they're pals, and so she said, hey, I've got this weird-looking fish. And then, Smith, his quote was, "I told myself sternly not to be a fool, but there was something about that sketch," and apparently it was sketch, she sent him a sketch of the fish to begin with.

• 9:28Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 9:30Speaker 03

  "that seized upon my imagination and told me that this was something very far beyond the usual run of fishes in our seas." And luckily, even though the fish was,

• 9:41Speaker 03

  I guess, mounted in a traditional form, which, like you said, takes away its, how you can identify it, she was able to preserve some of the scales, and somehow, from these scales, he was able to say, "This is a Coelacanths, Selacanth."

• 9:55Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 9:56Speaker 03

  Well, that's what he said at first, and she went, "It's pronounced Selacanth."

• 9:58Josh Clark?

  He's like, oh. Apparently, he said, when he saw that scale and identified it positively as a Selacanth, his quote was, "If I'd met a dinosaur in the street, I wouldn't have been more astonished." I like that guy.

• 10:13Speaker 03

  A little hyperbole there, but I like it.

• 10:14Josh Clark?

  So he, I mean, this is, seriously, this is like the zoological find of the century, and would be for the next 60-something years, right? So he very magnanimously says, "You know what? I'm going to name this thing after you." And he named it as a new species, Latimeria chalumne, because...

• 10:37Josh Clark?

  Well, obviously, her name was Courtney Latimer.

• 10:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:40Josh Clark?

  Courtney hyphen Latimer.

• 10:41Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 10:42Josh Clark?

  And it was found in the Chalumna River, at the mouth of it, where it hits the coast off of the eastern coast of South Africa.

• 10:51Speaker 03

  So that's a great name.

• 10:52Josh Clark?

  It's, it's perfect.

• 10:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:54Josh Clark?

  It really puts it in a place and time.

• 10:56Speaker 03

  Uh, so they have now discovered this thing. They realize that they have a big find on their hands. Um, they thought this thing had long been extinct by tens of millions of years. Uh, and so they started to research and, you know, trying to learn more about this fish.

• 11:14Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 11:15Speaker 03

  Which is no ordinary fish.

• 11:16Josh Clark?

  No, but I mean, this was, so this was 1938, right?

• 11:20Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:20Josh Clark?

  And it was the only one that had been found for another 60 years.

• 11:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:26Josh Clark?

  I mean, there's only so much you can find from a stuffed fish. But it did prove, because it had been caught alive. It wasn't like they pulled up a fossil or a dead fish. It had been alive when it was caught.

• 11:39Speaker 03

  Yeah, I think it was attached to another fish.

• 11:41Josh Clark?

  Oh, really?

• 11:42Speaker 03

  Like potentially trying to eat it.

• 11:44Josh Clark?

  Oh, okay.

• 11:44Speaker 03

  Which is one of the, uh, well, not unusual, but interesting things about the coelacanth is that it's a, it eats meat.

• 11:52Josh Clark?

  Well, there's a lot of unusual things about the coelacanth.

• 11:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:55Josh Clark?

  Um, so fast forward another 60 years exactly. Um, in Indonesia, which is on the other side of the Indian Ocean, the eastern side of the Indian Ocean. It was, um, actually first seen in 1997 by a biologist named Mark Erdman, who was in Indonesia doing his PhD dissertation, and he saw a coelacanth in the market.

• 12:17Speaker 03

  That's crazy.

• 12:17Josh Clark?

  That's a coelacanth. What's that doing here? So apparently, he put a bit of a bounty out on it with the locals. And within a year, by 1998, they had brought him a freshly caught one.

• 12:29Speaker 03

  Yeah, which is quite a task.

• 12:32Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it's finding a once thought extinct fish.

• 12:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 12:38Josh Clark?

  It's a big one.

• 12:39Speaker 03

  Well, and we'll get to a little bit why it's even tougher than you would think, too.

• 12:42Josh Clark?

  Sure. So the one that Erdman found was brown, right?

• 12:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was a little bit different color.

• 12:49Josh Clark?

  Right. The one like Courtney Latimer described, those are known to be like steel blue. This is a brown, a little smaller than the one that Courtney Latimer found. And so eventually, when Erdman got his hands on that one, he described it as a new species.

• 13:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, it turns out that at one point, you know, hundreds of millions of years ago, there were, you know, potentially over 100 different varieties of this fish. And they came in all shapes and sizes. These obviously were pretty big, but there were some that were smaller and faster. Basically, just kind of a wide variety. And as far as we know, I think are these the only two known survivors?

• 13:36Josh Clark?

  Yes.

• 13:38Speaker 03

  So far.

• 13:38Josh Clark?

  Yeah, the one that Courtney Latimer found are known as the West Indian Ocean sea lechante. Those are the blue ones. They're typically found off of the west, no, the east coast of Africa, south of Kenya, I believe.

• 13:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 13:55Josh Clark?

  Down to about the Cormoros Islands. I think that's, they're actually also known as the Cormoros Island sea lechante, because there's, that's, that seems to be where they inhabit the most, or the highest density of them is.

• 14:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, and some of the weird, some of the weirdos that have, well, we assume that they've been extinct, but you never know. One of them was toothless and over 10 feet long. That was the Megalo sea lechante.

• 14:24Josh Clark?

  Very appropriately named.

• 14:25Speaker 03

  Some of them said, forget you ocean, I'm gonna go to the freshwater. So there were actually freshwater sea lechants at one time. And like I said, some of them were slow and ambushed prey. Some were smaller and faster, but they've...

• 14:41Speaker 03

  Pretty much universally all have been predators, from what I've seen.

• 14:44Josh Clark?

  Right, and the two species that are alive today that we know of are, aside from that Megalos celacanth, tend to be a little bigger than the extinct species.

• 14:56Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 14:56Josh Clark?

  Which I read is a good, it's a good example of why they shouldn't be called living fossils, which is what they're frequently called.

• 15:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's Darwin's term for something that basically never changed.

• 15:11Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 15:11Speaker 03

  And they've actually studied the genome of the celacanth and found that they very much haven't changed. And kind of the main reason is they haven't had to. They've kind of stayed in the same places. And when you stay in the same places and you eat the same stuff, then maybe you don't change so much.

• 15:30Josh Clark?

  I read the, I read the opposite of that, that they have changed enough that they, that they have been evolving. And a good example of that is that they're bigger than they used to be.

• 15:40Speaker 03

  Oh, interesting.

• 15:41Josh Clark?

  Yeah, but the two species that are alive today, they have traced their genomes back and decided that they've been separated for several million years at least.

• 15:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, this one, they finally got the full genome and they said that it does indeed match the fish's appearance of slower evolution in a journal published in Nature, because they have a slower rate of substitution.

• 16:05Josh Clark?

  Gotcha.

• 16:06Speaker 03

  Basically, she's, the doctor, well, you know, I guess she is a doctor. Just sounded weird to say that.

• 16:14Josh Clark?

  The doctor?

• 16:14Speaker 03

  The researcher, who is also a doctor.

• 16:16Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 16:17Speaker 03

  Who was, she said it may reflect the fact that they do not need to evolve quickly because they've lived in relatively unchanging environment where there are a few predators. And they basically haven't needed to change over time like other organisms.

• 16:30Josh Clark?

  Well, that brings up another thing, too. There's a, there's a big question, why would they just drop off of the fossil record if they've been around this whole time?

• 16:37Speaker 03

  I don't know.

• 16:38Josh Clark?

  If they didn't just go extinct 80 or 65 million years ago? The only explanation I've seen is that the places where the fossils turned up were areas conducive to fossilization, like there was a lot of sediment that could turn bone into rock.

• 16:52Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 16:53Josh Clark?

  And then the areas that the living species live at now are not conducive to that kind of thing, possibly because they're mostly living around volcanic rock that doesn't necessarily produce fossils.

• 17:06Josh Clark?

  You want to take a break?

• 17:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, let's take a break and we'll get back and talk a little bit about this funny fish.

• 17:27Josh Clark?

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• 18:30Josh Clark?

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• 19:39Josh Clark?

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• 19:55Speaker 02

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• 20:23Josh Clark?

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• 20:51Speaker 02

  All right. So we've talked a little bit about what makes the sea lechwe such an interesting critter. Can a critter be a fish?

• 20:58Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 20:59Speaker 02

  Yeah?

• 21:00Josh Clark?

  Have you heard of the cuttlefish? That's a critter if there ever was one.

• 21:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, a cuddly critter. So here are some remarkable things about the sea lechwe. They can live as deep, I mean, they're deep water dwellers. They can live as deep as 2,000 or more feet. But generally, they think the...

• 21:20Speaker 03

  I think they generally live about 500 to 800 feet in what they call the twilight zone.

• 21:26Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 21:26Speaker 03

  Which is still pretty deep.

• 21:27Josh Clark?

  That, remember our cave episode?

• 21:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:31Josh Clark?

  That had the same thing, remember? There was like organisms that live in the dark, organisms that live in the twilight zone, and organisms that live in the lighted zone.

• 21:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:39Josh Clark?

  These guys live in that threshold between light and dark in the ocean. And they apparently are nocturnal hunters.

• 21:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, they come out at night, uh, kinda stay hidden. Most of these habitats are caves.

• 21:55Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 21:55Speaker 03

  Uh, that they tend to stay in, but there's one off of Tasmania that do not live in caves. And so they have officially been placed on an endangered list because they don't have the protection from bycatch that these other cave dwellers have.

• 22:09Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 22:11Josh Clark?

  That makes sense.

• 22:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:12Josh Clark?

  So the, the, um, average day in the life of a coelacanth, or at least the cave dwelling, um, species, they'll, you know, during the daytime, they're hanging out in a cave. They'll hang out in a cave with, I've seen between up to 12 to 16 other coelacants.

• 22:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, have a little coffee.

• 22:30Josh Clark?

  Yeah, maybe just talk.

• 22:31Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:32Josh Clark?

  You know, talk about their night. And then as night falls, they'll leave their caves and they'll, they'll go hunting. And like you said, they're carnivorous predators. They do that passive bycatch thing for the most part, right? Where they let the, the current bring the food to them. But they, uh, just basically hang out and wait for a cuttlefish. It's one thing they eat, squids, other cephalopods, some fishes. But they seem to not, um, show aggression toward one another from what I understand.

• 23:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, and, um, while they are passive hunters, they do have an unusual feature, which is, uh, like we said, one of many, but they have what's called a rostral organ, which just means it's in the nasal region in their snout. Uh, and it's filled with a jelly-like substance that they think, uh... And they think most of this stuff, I mean, they've done a lot of good studying, but for something so rare,

• 23:30Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 23:30Speaker 03

  you can't, you know, be super sure. But they think that it detects uh, low level electrical signals and frequencies from prey.

• 23:38Josh Clark?

  Yeah, like a shark or a ray.

• 23:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 23:40Josh Clark?

  It's an electro-sensory organ where when living tissue contacts water, it can make an electrical impulse that can be picked up.

• 23:48Speaker 03

  Yeah, and this cool Mental Floss article is, I think, eleven

• 23:53Speaker 03

  eleven things about the sea lechlanth, I can't remember how it was put, but just eleven interesting features.

• 23:59Josh Clark?

  Are you, are you eleven fishy facts?

• 24:02Speaker 03

  Was that it?

• 24:02Josh Clark?

  Unfortunately.

• 24:03Speaker 03

  That's why I forgot it. Uh, title aside, it's an interesting article and um, one of the things that they don't know why they do, and I have a feeling it has to do with that electrical frequency is they, they'll swim nose down um, for up to two full minutes, which is weird for a fish.

• 24:21Josh Clark?

  They're just kind of hovering in place, head standing, right?

• 24:24Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 24:24Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 24:25Speaker 03

  And I guess, I mean, if they have that nasal bag of jelly

• 24:30Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 24:31Speaker 03

  that helps them locate fish, I would imagine that's what they're doing there, right?

• 24:34Josh Clark?

  I, I imagine it like Tonto, like, holding a railroad track. You know?

• 24:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 24:40Josh Clark?

  I think it's the same thing, basically.

• 24:41Speaker 03

  Uh-huh.

• 24:42Josh Clark?

  So, um, when they catch their prey, they eat them, and they can eat stuff that's way bigger than them because, again, uh, which is, this is um, unique to sea lechlanth among living things. They have a hinge in their cranium that allows, basically their head is convertible. The top of their skull can retract, allowing their mouth to open really wide.

• 25:06Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 25:06Josh Clark?

  So they can eat a large, large cuttlefish.

• 25:10Speaker 03

  Yeah, and I think the, that feature also allows it to, uh, their mouth to close with like, much greater force.

• 25:17Josh Clark?

  With extreme prejudice.

• 25:18Speaker 03

  Yeah, like when it's unhinged.

• 25:20Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 25:21Speaker 03

  Emotionally and physically, it can really close that mouth, uh, super hard.

• 25:27Josh Clark?

  Yeah, they hate themselves for eating cuttlefish.

• 25:29Speaker 03

  I guess so.

• 25:30Josh Clark?

  They just can't stop.

• 25:31Speaker 03

  So, those are just a couple of the features. Another is, um, and we mentioned earlier that, uh, the name literally translates into hollow spine.

• 25:40Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 25:41Speaker 03

  Uh, this is because they have what's called a notochord. Which is a hollow pressurized tube filled with oil, where a lot of fish start this way, and then they'll eventually get a spine, but this doesn't go away.

• 25:55Josh Clark?

  Right, and not just fish vertebrates. Apparently, there's a lot of mammals that go through this. I think possibly even humans in the embryo.

• 26:03Speaker 03

  And the coelacanth just says, "I'm good with the notochord."

• 26:06Josh Clark?

  I'm gonna stick here.

• 26:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 26:07Josh Clark?

  I'm gonna stop here.

• 26:08Speaker 03

  Which is strange.

• 26:09Josh Clark?

  It is strange. You wanna hear some more strangeness? I could do this all day.

• 26:13Speaker 03

  Well, it's a strange fish.

• 26:14Josh Clark?

  Coelacanth, we don't quite understand how they reproduce. And the reason why is because males don't seem to have any sex parts. They don't have junk. They think possibly males grow it when they need it, but otherwise, it's not around.

• 26:35Speaker 03

  They're growers, they're not showers.

• 26:36Josh Clark?

  Right, exactly. That's exactly right. So, we have no idea how they reproduce, but we know that the mode of reproduction is called ovoviviparity, which is however the eggs that the female has get fertilized. Once they're fertilized, they gestate, or the eggs develop in the female.

• 27:00Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:00Josh Clark?

  And then they hatch in the female.

• 27:03Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:04Josh Clark?

  And then the live fishes continue to gestate, and like the whole period lasts like three years before they're born. So, they go from egg to being hatched, to being born within a three-year period. And so, apparently, this does not make the mom coelacanth very happy. And sometimes, she will try to eat her newborn pups.

• 27:28Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:29Josh Clark?

  So supposedly, coelacanth pups, that's what they're called, can dive really deep very quickly the moment they're born.

• 27:36Speaker 03

  To get away from mom.

• 27:37Josh Clark?

  To get away from their mom, who's like, three years.

• 27:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:41Josh Clark?

  Three years.

• 27:42Speaker 03

  Paging Dr. Freud.

• 27:43Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 27:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, I think sharks may be the only other fish that give birth to live little ones.

• 27:54Speaker 03

  Is that right?

• 27:55Josh Clark?

  I don't know.

• 27:56Speaker 03

  I mean, most fish lay eggs.

• 27:58Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 27:58Speaker 03

  So it's definitely unusual.

• 28:00Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it may not be unique.

• 28:03Speaker 03

  But the other thing about their sexy time is there's also a theory that they're monogamous.

• 28:11Josh Clark?

  Yeah, I saw that too.

• 28:12Speaker 03

  In 2013, a German team, they had a couple of corpses of two pregnant. I believe the African version, yeah, the Latimera chalumne. And because, what was the, I don't remember what the other one was. It was Latimera something else for the Indonesian version.

• 28:30Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 28:32Speaker 03

  We'll just go with that for now.

• 28:33Josh Clark?

  I was practicing pronouncing it. Latimera menadoensis.

• 28:37Speaker 03

  Okay, wow.

• 28:38Josh Clark?

  Thanks.

• 28:39Speaker 03

  Nice work. So they analyzed these two pregnant ladies, unfortunately, that were no longer with us. And they found out that they had, like, most definitely had a single father.

• 28:51Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 28:51Speaker 03

  Which they said was unusual.

• 28:52Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 28:53Speaker 03

  Because one of them had 26, 26 little baby pups inside of her.

• 28:58Josh Clark?

  Right, and they, they thought at first, well, maybe it's because the coelacanth is so rare that the female wouldn't have opportunity to mate with more than one male. And they said, well, wait a minute.

• 29:10Speaker 03

  Well, that's true.

• 29:11Josh Clark?

  Well, no, not necessarily. Once they found out that they stayed.

• 29:14Speaker 03

  They hang out together.

• 29:14Josh Clark?

  Yeah, in caves all day long. What else are you gonna do?

• 29:18Speaker 03

  I don't know.

• 29:18Josh Clark?

  Once General Hospital's over, just looking around at everybody like, whoa, what do you want to do?

• 29:23Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's a good point. All right, well, let's ponder that and take another break. And we'll finish up with even more interesting things about the coelacanth.

• 29:49Josh Clark?

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• 29:58Speaker 02

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• 30:11Josh Clark?

  Or discover Toyota's off-road lineup, including the iconic 4Runner and Land Cruiser, designed to go beyond the everyday. And with Toyota's proven reputation for quality and reliability, plus hybrid power on many models, you can get more for every mile and drive for less along the way.

• 30:27Speaker 02

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• 30:51Josh Clark?

  You know, eating is a huge part of our lives. It fuels us, it brings us together, and it's one of life's great pleasures. But once a meal's over, we don't think much about what happens next, unless something starts to feel off. Because what we eat and how our bodies respond to it is complicated.

• 31:07Speaker 02

  That's right. From the very first bite, food kicks off a chain reaction, signals moving between the gut, the brain, and the immune system, a constant back and forth we can't see and often don't fully understand. So we want to introduce to you Eating Interrupted, a new podcast from iHeart Ruby Studio. It's hosted by longtime journalist and Crohn's patient Cynthia McFadden. Eating Interrupted explores everything from food allergies and intolerance, and why they seem to be on the rise, to how digestion changes as we age, and what it's really like to live with a chronic GI condition.

• 31:35Josh Clark?

  Through personal stories and expert insight, listen in to unpack what it means when your body doesn't always respond to food the way you expect, and what science is now revealing about why. Listen to Eating Interrupted on the iHeart app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 31:54Speaker 04

  First thought is like, wow, how are we gonna do all this?

• 31:57Josh Clark?

  Hey, this is Josh and Chuck from Stuff You Should Know.

• 32:00Speaker 02

  That's Alan Goya, planning engineer at AT&T, and he's talking about Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers, where every seat, screen, phone, and transaction is connected with AT&T fiber and 5G, redefining the fan's experience. And Alan's master plan made it all possible.

• 32:16Speaker 04

  It was gonna rival anything that was already built. And that takes quite a bit of people and different teams to all be on the same page.

• 32:24Josh Clark?

  That includes field services manager Drexel Jones. His team made sure it all came together and held up on game day.

• 32:30Speaker 05

  Through what Alan's whole crew designed, we connected the event visitors to the world.

• 32:35Speaker 02

  And after years of hard work and collaboration, it was opening night.

• 32:39Speaker 05

  To actually see the whole stadium light up and data's flowing is a beautiful thing.

• 32:43Speaker 04

  What the fans experience is incredible. It gave me a lot of pride.

• 32:47Josh Clark?

  AT&T, connecting fans to what they love.

• 32:50Speaker 06

  Connecting changes everything. AT&T.

• 33:03Speaker 03

  All right, so these guys have live babies.

• 33:07Josh Clark?

  Yep.

• 33:07Speaker 03

  They might mate with a single mate.

• 33:10Josh Clark?

  G'day.

• 33:11Speaker 03

  They have a... They can unhinge their jaw to eat more.

• 33:14Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 33:15Speaker 03

  They have a jelly-filled thing in their nastro.

• 33:20Josh Clark?

  It detects electricity.

• 33:23Speaker 03

  It detects electricity.

• 33:25Josh Clark?

  I know, I'm having trouble saying detects, too.

• 33:27Speaker 03

  Uh... What else? This is sort of a recap.

• 33:30Josh Clark?

  They have an oil-filled spine.

• 33:33Speaker 03

  Oil-filled spine. They're just good with, they're like, I don't need a real spine.

• 33:36Josh Clark?

  This one's my favorite. They were long thought to be the missing link between the fishes and the tetrapods, which are land-dwelling, four-limbed animals.

• 33:49Speaker 03

  Yeah, because a notable thing I don't think we mentioned yet is this thing has, well, I think I did in a quote from Miss Latimer, Courtney Latimer, but they have four fins that move sort of like you would think legs would move if a fish could swim out onto the beach.

• 34:06Josh Clark?

  Legs and arms.

• 34:07Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:07Josh Clark?

  Like, you remember how Shaggy walked in Scooby Doo?

• 34:10Speaker 03

  Uh, I do.

• 34:11Josh Clark?

  Just like that. That's basically how a seagull swims.

• 34:14Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:14Josh Clark?

  And the fact that their fins are suspiciously arm-like in appearance. Just made people think that even more. What's more, their arms, what are called lobes, are attached by a bone that is compared to the humerus in humans.

• 34:31Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:32Josh Clark?

  So a lot of people said, well, that's it. It's a missing link. The coelacanth is a missing link between the fish and the land-dwelling forlorned animals.

• 34:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 34:40Josh Clark?

  And apparently, once the genome came around, they said, no.

• 34:45Speaker 03

  A little disappointing.

• 34:46Josh Clark?

  They said, yes, we're all related. Technically, we are all what are known as sarcopterigians.

• 34:54Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 34:56Josh Clark?

  Man. Which means we are fleshy limb vertebrates. So we're all that.

• 35:02Speaker 03

  Gross.

• 35:02Josh Clark?

  So we are related, but it's not like our direct ancestor. In fact, we're more closely related to the lungfish than the coelacanth. But the coelacanth holds its place of honor as probably living on something of its own branch and is a very close cousin, if not bro, of the lungfish. So we're related by marriage.

• 35:24Speaker 03

  Right.

• 35:24Josh Clark?

  To the coelacanth, say.

• 35:26Speaker 03

  But legally, we probably could marry a coelacanth.

• 35:29Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 35:29Speaker 03

  And have it not be super creepy.

• 35:31Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 35:32Speaker 03

  Except for the fact that it's a fish.

• 35:34Josh Clark?

  Right. Feel its fleshy lobe thin, stroking the back of your head as you kiss it.

• 35:39Speaker 03

  I got something for you. That was, I'm just walking right past that one. They taste gross, so don't think it's some weird delicacy.

• 35:49Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 35:49Speaker 03

  Not, you know, that there are that many of them to eat. But apparently, if you do eat them, they can make you sick because these things are filled with urea, with oil, with wax ester and fat.

• 36:05Josh Clark?

  Yep.

• 36:05Speaker 03

  Like 98.5% fat.

• 36:08Josh Clark?

  That's just in its skull.

• 36:10Speaker 03

  Oh, I thought that was the whole body.

• 36:11Josh Clark?

  No, it's, it's, brain occupies 1.5% of the area inside its skull. The other 98.5% is fat.

• 36:22Speaker 03

  And that's at the point that they're an adult.

• 36:24Josh Clark?

  Right, yeah. Supposedly, their brains are bigger proportionately when they're younger.

• 36:28Speaker 03

  And they just stay there.

• 36:30Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 36:31Speaker 03

  They're frozen in perpetual, like, I guess, toddlerhood.

• 36:36Josh Clark?

  Pretty much. They'd love life.

• 36:38Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:39Josh Clark?

  No responsibilities, no bills.

• 36:43Speaker 03

  Mom and dad wipe up after them.

• 36:44Josh Clark?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 36:46Speaker 03

  What else? I got one for you.

• 36:49Josh Clark?

  Okay.

• 36:50Speaker 03

  Vestigial lungs.

• 36:52Josh Clark?

  Oh, yeah. Man, I love these things.

• 36:55Speaker 03

  So they grow, they had CT scans done, and this is from the Mental Floss article, of these embryos, and they start growing little lungs

• 37:06Speaker 03

  early in the gestation period, and it slows down a bit, and then by the time they're an adult, the organ serves no purpose.

• 37:16Josh Clark?

  Yeah, it's just there.

• 37:18Speaker 03

  Yep. That's a good one.

• 37:20Josh Clark?

  It is. It was, it's almost like the coelacanth was an attempt, an evolutionary attempt. And it's just like, I'm gonna scrap this design, let's move on to the long fish.

• 37:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, maybe so.

• 37:33Josh Clark?

  You know?

• 37:35Josh Clark?

  One of the things that struck me, though, Chuck, was when they were talking about how a couple of females that had fully formed young in them, ready to be born, were caught. It's like, that was a lot of the coelacanth population that got wiped out with those two caught fish.

• 37:52Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, if they're only hundreds, then everyone matters.

• 37:57Josh Clark?

  Yeah, they think that there's possibly about a thousand of the ones that live around Indonesia, and far fewer of the ones that live off of the west coast of Africa, on the western side of the Indian Ocean. And as a result, both of them are on the endangered species list, they're both protected. And the problem is, is if something happens to these species, and these species die out this time, the whole order is gone.

• 38:28Josh Clark?

  For good, this time around.

• 38:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 38:30Josh Clark?

  Unless we revive them with some of their DNA.

• 38:34Speaker 03

  Yeah. All right, I got one last one.

• 38:36Josh Clark?

  Okay.

• 38:38Speaker 03

  And this was on Mental Floss's list as well.

• 38:40Josh Clark?

  Okay.

• 38:42Speaker 03

  Under the title, "A prominent hematologist..." Once wrote a coelacanth operetta.

• 38:47Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 38:48Speaker 03

  So that's an attention grabber.

• 38:49Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 38:50Speaker 03

  Apparently in 1975, there was a man named Charles Rand of Long Island University. And he was a hematologist and was doing some work with the coelacanth. And this was when the big revelation was, when they learned that it gave birth to live young.

• 39:07Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 39:07Speaker 03

  And he, I guess, was a music guy and decided to write a little operetta about this discovery titled A Coelacanth's Lament, or Quintuplets at Fifty Fathoms Can Be Fun.

• 39:23Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 39:23Speaker 03

  All sung to the tune of various Gilbert and Sullivan songs.

• 39:28Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 39:30Speaker 03

  How about that?

• 39:31Josh Clark?

  That's a hematologist for you.

• 39:33Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 39:33Josh Clark?

  For sure.

• 39:35Speaker 03

  I have no comment on that.

• 39:37Josh Clark?

  Well, I mean, it speaks for itself, right?

• 39:39Speaker 03

  Other than I wish this was on tape somewhere.

• 39:42Josh Clark?

  Surely it's on YouTube. Everything's on YouTube.

• 39:44Speaker 03

  You think?

• 39:45Josh Clark?

  Yeah, sure.

• 39:47Speaker 03

  You want to go over some of these other quote, "living fossils," end quote?

• 39:50Josh Clark?

  Yeah. So, again, there was, there's some fishes out there that may have made the jump kinda to land, or almost did, or what have you, but there's, there's some interesting fishes that are worth mentioning.

• 40:04Speaker 03

  Speaking of making the jump, did you see that shark that jumped into the boat the other day?

• 40:08Josh Clark?

  No.

• 40:09Speaker 03

  There was a fisherman, and I guess the shark just did, you know, one of their famous, it was a great white.

• 40:15Josh Clark?

  Oh, God.

• 40:15Speaker 03

  Did one of its breeches.

• 40:17Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 40:17Speaker 03

  Where they just jump out of the water.

• 40:19Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 40:19Speaker 03

  And this thing did that and landed in a dude's fishing boat.

• 40:22Josh Clark?

  Wow.

• 40:22Speaker 03

  And he, he got banged around a little bit, but was not like, you know, bitten or anything.

• 40:27Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 40:28Speaker 03

  And basically went into his little control room, I think, and called for help. And this shark, like, I mean, it was kinda sad. I think the shark just died.

• 40:35Josh Clark?

  Oh.

• 40:35Speaker 03

  But there were pictures of it. It's huge. It's like eight feet long.

• 40:39Josh Clark?

  Oh, my God.

• 40:39Speaker 03

  It was not a little guy.

• 40:41Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 40:41Speaker 03

  Can you imagine?

• 40:42Josh Clark?

  No.

• 40:42Speaker 03

  My God.

• 40:43Josh Clark?

  That guy did the right thing. He ran.

• 40:46Speaker 03

  He pooped his pants, too.

• 40:47Josh Clark?

  Yeah, I may have jumped into the water had that happened.

• 40:50Speaker 03

  Uh, alright, so, uh, living fossils, um, the bofin.

• 40:55Josh Clark?

  Yeah, the dogfish, mudfish, or grindle. I like, uh, dogfish.

• 41:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, th- this guy, I looked all these up, uh, he lives in the Mississippi River Basin, and the Great Lakes, uh, and other places, um, and are pretty mean supposedly. Like, eats small mammals, snakes, frogs, other fish.

• 41:15Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 41:16Speaker 03

  Like, they'll, they'll go after ya.

• 41:17Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 41:18Speaker 03

  Um, it's sort of normal looking, just sort of a long fish, uh, nothing remarkable as appearance-wise, though.

• 41:25Josh Clark?

  I'll tell you one that's remarkable appearance-wise is the gar.

• 41:29Speaker 03

  Yeah, you know, I just saw a long-nosed gar.

• 41:32Josh Clark?

  They are so ugly.

• 41:33Speaker 03

  Last weekend, and I was like, it was floating dead in a lake.

• 41:37Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 41:38Speaker 03

  I was like, what in the world? Cause it, I went by it at first, I was like, was that a swordfish?

• 41:43Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 41:44Speaker 03

  Well, no, it's not a swordfish.

• 41:45Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 41:46Speaker 03

  But, and the long-nosed ones, I mean, this, this thing had a, he had a 12-inch beak.

• 41:51Josh Clark?

  Oh.

• 41:51Speaker 03

  I mean, it looked prehistoric.

• 41:53Josh Clark?

  Yeah, they very much do look prehistoric, which is one of the reasons why they're called a living fossil. Um, and they are just mean. Apparently, they're known to kill other fish, even, not even to eat 'em.

• 42:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 42:05Josh Clark?

  Just cause they were in their way, basically.

• 42:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, like, you see this nose?

• 42:08Josh Clark?

  Yeah, and you can't eat gar, they're inedible, and as a matter of fact, if you eat their eggs, it will kill you. They're very toxic to humans.

• 42:16Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 42:16Josh Clark?

  And they just go around killing other fish. So, they're not the best thing to have in your lake if you like the fish in a lake.

• 42:22Speaker 03

  No, and they, um, did you ever see Vernon, Florida, the documentary?

• 42:26Josh Clark?

  No, I've never seen that one.

• 42:28Speaker 03

  By the great Errol Morris, it has, uh, one of the interviews, uh, is one of my favorites, is with a guy talking about, talking about the garfish.

• 42:36Josh Clark?

  Oh, really?

• 42:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 42:37Josh Clark?

  I gotta see that one.

• 42:38Speaker 03

  Come across one of those, oh, boy.

• 42:40Josh Clark?

  I finally saw Thin Blue Line for the first time.

• 42:43Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, that's a good one.

• 42:44Josh Clark?

  It is really good.

• 42:45Speaker 03

  You probably saw it after the parody

• 42:46Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 42:47Speaker 03

  of, uh, Documentary Now.

• 42:49Josh Clark?

  Yeah, I definitely did, I saw the Documentary Now one first.

• 42:52Speaker 03

  Which they nailed, like, it's like, perfect.

• 42:54Josh Clark?

  They really do.

• 42:55Speaker 03

  One of the great shows. Uh, what's next? Hagfish?

• 42:58Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 42:58Speaker 03

  Mud dwellers?

• 42:59Josh Clark?

  Yeah, they basically look like eels, but they're fish. But the, the interesting thing about hagfish, aside from the fact that they don't have any eyes, is that they eat fish from the inside out.

• 43:11Speaker 03

  Yeah, I think you underplayed it when you said they basically look like eels. It looks like something out of Dune.

• 43:16Josh Clark?

  Okay.

• 43:17Speaker 03

  Like, the body looks like an eel, but have you seen the the front end of this thing?

• 43:21Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 43:21Speaker 03

  It's frightening.

• 43:22Josh Clark?

  Oh, yeah.

• 43:23Speaker 03

  And to think about that crawling up in you and eating you from the inside out.

• 43:27Josh Clark?

  Right, because if you're a dead or dying fish and you're like, oh, man, I hope I hurry up and die before a hagfish finds me.

• 43:33Speaker 03

  Oh. Yeah.

• 43:34Josh Clark?

  And a hagfish swims down your throat and then eats you from the inside out.

• 43:39Speaker 03

  Boy.

• 43:39Josh Clark?

  That's a bad day. That's not a good death.

• 43:42Speaker 03

  No.

• 43:43Josh Clark?

  And then, lastly, what about the sturgeon?

• 43:45Speaker 03

  Love the sturgeon.

• 43:46Josh Clark?

  Did you know that they they are both freshwater and saltwater here in North America?

• 43:51Speaker 03

  I did not know that, but I know one thing is they're huge.

• 43:56Josh Clark?

  Yeah, they get up to like 20 feet long.

• 43:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, and I didn't I didn't see any pictures of them that big, but I've seen pictures of fishermen with like sturgeon that look like they're at least eight or nine feet long.

• 44:06Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 44:07Speaker 03

  And they're crazy looking.

• 44:08Josh Clark?

  Yeah. Well, the reason I was surprised that they are largely North America is I always associate them with the Baltic area where they're the Beluga sturgeon is prized for its caviar. That's what I always think of, I think, sturgeon.

• 44:23Speaker 03

  Well, I didn't realize that that's where Beluga came from either.

• 44:26Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 44:27Speaker 03

  And they have armor-like skin and they're they're these retractable mouths that I guess there are different varieties, but some of them look almost like alligators from like the head forward.

• 44:37Josh Clark?

  Yeah, they're weird-looking fish.

• 44:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 44:39Josh Clark?

  But they don't want to hurt anybody. They just want you to eat their eggs.

• 44:42Speaker 03

  Is that true?

• 44:43Josh Clark?

  Yeah. They're like the giving tree of the lake.

• 44:46Speaker 03

  All right. Up with sturgeon.

• 44:48Josh Clark?

  Uh, you got anything else?

• 44:50Speaker 03

  I got nothing else.

• 44:51Josh Clark?

  If you want to know more about living fossils, like, you know, coelacans.

• 44:56Speaker 03

  Or us?

• 44:57Josh Clark?

  Right. You can type those words in the search bar at howstuffworks.com. And since I said search bar, it's time for listener mail.

• 45:07Speaker 03

  I'm gonna call this, "My Mom Married Bob Doro."

• 45:12Josh Clark?

  Oh, I like this one.

• 45:13Speaker 03

  Did you see that one?

• 45:14Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 45:15Speaker 03

  And I thought it was, because that was the subject line.

• 45:18Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 45:19Speaker 03

  And then the very first line of the email was, "Sorry about that attention-grabbing subject line."

• 45:23Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 45:23Speaker 03

  And I thought it was a lie, because a lot of times, people say something remarkable

• 45:27Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 45:27Speaker 03

  in the subject line that is completely false.

• 45:29Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 45:30Speaker 03

  Which always ticks me off.

• 45:31Josh Clark?

  Sure.

• 45:32Speaker 03

  But this is true.

• 45:34Speaker 03

  "My mom married the wonderful, talented, and sweet Bob Doro 23 years ago." And if you didn't listen to the show, Bob Doro was part of the genius behind Schoolhouse Rock.

• 45:44Josh Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 45:46Speaker 03

  You know, the original genius.

• 45:47Josh Clark?

  Right.

• 45:48Speaker 03

  "It was wonderful to hear you two speak so highly of him in your recent podcast. My own family listens to you guys a lot, so to hear you speak of our Bob with such reverence, it warmed our hearts. When you mentioned early in your podcast that you wished you could have gotten Bob on the show, I wanted to jump through my phone to say, 'I can make that happen.'" "Bob learned about you guys about two weeks ago, when we took a short road trip for Mother's Day and listened to the grave-robbing episode."

• 46:14Speaker 03

  How awesome is that?

• 46:15Josh Clark?

  I know, the guy listened to us right before we released the Schoolhouse Rock episode.

• 46:20Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 46:21Josh Clark?

  So he's primed and ready to hear us mention him.

• 46:23Speaker 03

  Fortuitous.

• 46:24Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 46:25Speaker 03

  He chuckled often during the ride, and when we got to our destination, he asked something to the effect of, "Who are those comedy guys? They're good." Man, that made me feel good.

• 46:33Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 46:34Speaker 03

  And then to have the Schoolhouse Rock episode pop up a few weeks later, it was like, whoa. "You guys were spot-on in your characterization of Bob as a creative genius. A lot of his genius comes from his hard work. The age of 93, he is still traveling the world, taking gigs."

• 46:47Josh Clark?

  That's awesome.

• 46:49Speaker 03

  "My mom often complains that he doesn't know how to say no. Thank you for giving Bob and Schoolhouse Rock its proper due. Next time you come up the coast, the northeast, that is, we'll be there, and I'm sure Bob won't say no." And that is from Pete.

• 47:03Speaker 03

  I guess his stepson.

• 47:04Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 47:04Speaker 03

  And Pete sent in a picture of he and Bob.

• 47:08Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 47:08Speaker 03

  And that's him in the flesh.

• 47:10Josh Clark?

  It's pretty awesome.

• 47:11Speaker 03

  Pretty neat. And you should go to www.bobdoro, D-O-R-O-U-G-H.com and just check it out.

• 47:20Josh Clark?

  Yeah.

• 47:21Speaker 03

  Ninety-three and going strong.

• 47:22Josh Clark?

  Nice going, Bob. Thanks for listening to us. And thank you, Pete, for writing in to let us know that we were spot on about what a great guy he is.

• 47:29Speaker 03

  Yeah, we were genuinely thrilled to hear this.

• 47:32Josh Clark?

  Yeah. If you want to genuinely thrill us, you can send us an email to [email protected].

• 47:42Speaker 00

  Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts, MyHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

• 47:58Josh Clark?

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• 48:30Speaker 07

  What's that?

• 48:31Speaker 02

  My fresh detector.

• 48:32Speaker 07

  Uh, your what?

• 48:33Speaker 02

  There it is.

• 48:34Speaker 07

  What is it detecting?

• 48:36Speaker 02

  Fresh produce, fresh meat.

• 48:39Speaker 07

  Okay, what happens if it detects something really fresh?

• 48:44Speaker 02

  Apparently, we celebrate.

• 48:46Speaker 08

  At Food Lion, you can count on fresh food at fresher prices when your fresh detector is going off. Head to your local Food Lion or shop at foodlion.com. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.