“We are not afraid of predators, we’re transfixed by them, prone to weave stories and fables and chatter endlessly about them, because fascination creates preparedness, and preparedness, survival. In a deeply tribal way, we love our monsters…”
Marrus Orthocanna
A colonial animal composed of a complex arrangement of zooids, some of which are polyps and some medusae.
A pelagic siphonophore in the class Hydrozoa. The best known siphonophore is the Portuguese Man o’ War (Physalia physalis).
(via halfman-halfocean)
Philinopsis sp. by Samantha Craven
Headshield slugs are not nudibranchs but members of the clade Cephalaspidea.
Bristleworm/ Fireworm (Chloeia parva) by Samantha Craven
Bristleworms are Polychaetes (marine Annelid worms). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are made of chitin. To touch is to pain. They can also release the bristles into the water, so you can even get stung in the general vicinity.
Thuridilla sp. by Samantha Craven
Thuridilla is a genus of sacoglossan sea slugs, shell-less marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusks in the family Plakobranchidae. They are not nudibranchs, but are often confused for them.
Juvenile Common Egg Cowrie (Ovula ovum) by Samantha Craven
The surface of the shell is smooth, shiny and completely snow white, with a dark reddish-purple interior, visible through the wide and long aperture, which bears teeth on one side only. In the living cowries the mantle is black, with a pattern of small white spots in adults, while juveniles resemble some toxic nudibranchs of the genus Phyllidia owing to their orange yellow sensorial papillae. The lateral flaps of the mantle usually hide completely the white surface, but the mantle is quickly retracted into the shell opening when the cowry is disturbed (source)
Doto sp.
Alarming Images of Oil-Drenched Gulf
Over two years after the BP oil disaster, the environmental group Greenpeace has received more than 300 new images, taken in 2010, of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill showing oil-covered turtles and sperm whales swimming through oil. The images were taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Greenpeace had submitted a Freedom of Information Request for images and information related to the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster in 2010. The request finally came through and what was offered was this first batch of files.
The disturbing images, all taken in 2010, show oil-drenched turtles and sperm whales swimming through oil.more images here
Wonderpus (Wunderpus photogenicus) by Samantha Craven
I’m fairly confident this one is a Wonderpus - I learnt the other day that the third tentacle of the Wonderpus is shorter than the rest. I have no idea which one is the third one, but this Octopus definitely has one shorter than the rest. I’m assuming it’s the third one. So there you go.
And another… Coconut Octopus (A. marginatus) by Samantha Craven
This particular octopus just had it’s head sticking out the sand. It slowly prised the sand away with its tentacles and then POPPED out, and it was huge:
