Pub Quiz thread

Is it this one:

Pseudoliparis swirei
And it is the deepest fish ever caught. Scientists today formally documented the world's newest, deepest fish, Pseudoliparis swirei, an odd little snailfish caught at 7,966 meters in the Mariana Trench—

 

That's the one - known as Swire's snailfish. It's amazing to think that something so small could withstand the pressure of all that water bearing down on it.

Back to you.

 

i am amazed i got it ....... the pale skin made me think that way

 

What food used to be called a bed bug?

 

I know this is a bit of a long shot, but is it Coriander ? I actually like it but I know a lot of people complain that the plant smells like bugs.

 

Yes the greeks named it after bed bugs...
I love it and have rows of plants growing ..as i am a curry lover...

 

I grow it as well Yorkie - apart from in Indian cooking a lot of it is used instead of parsley in Portuguese and Moroccan cooking. Personally I like it more than parsley.

 

Me too.....
great in scrambled eggs with some harissa..... yum!

 

Ok. Yorkie. Another botanic one - which plant was once used as a currency, with actual properties being sold in exchange for them. For bonus points, when and where ?

 

Was it the mayans and cocoa beans in Latin America?

 

Mint?

The Mongolians used to use tea as currency.

 

It appears that there are more answers than one However - the one I am thinking of was used in Europe, despite being an import from the Ottoman empire. Next to Saffron they may even have been the most expensive plants ever in terms of weight. Another clue is that they are not edible.

 

Think of what is thought of as Europe's first financial bubble.

 

The financial bubble was more of a speculative one in as much as people were purchasing these for higher and higher prices, intending to sell for a profit. Some single plants sold for 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsworker. So, comparing this to Saffron, you could even say it was the most expensive plant ever traded. The speculative bubble burst but this had little effect in what was, at the time, the richest nation in the World per capita. There are many cases where it replaced money altogether and could be used for transactions for land or houses - a few handfulls of the right ones would have easily bought a house and land at one stage.

 

Tulips?

 

You've got it BB. In the Netherlands in the early 17th Century they became something of speculative item with individual bulbs selling for vast sums of money - known as Tulipmania which led to a speculative crash which ruined many people at that time. Literally a handfull of bulbs of the right strain could buy you a house and land at one time. Over to you.

 

Cheers cologne - must remember to go to the bank tomorrow to count my bulbs...

What form of bush medicine do some African tribes use to heal cuts?

 

Guessing simply going by the name. Gum Arabic.

 

No - what I'm looking for could be termed a novel use of wildlife.

 

Ant pincers as sutures I recall seeing from way back? They get the ant to bite around the wound then break its head off with the pincers in fixed in place?