Neatorama has made me aware of a wonderful sea creature; another addition to the long list that fascinate me.
Venus Flytrap Sea Anemone!
This amazing creature (a type of polyp related to coral and jellyfish) closes around its prey with those spiky jaws…
How did I not know about this thing until now?
Although I haven’t gotten around to posting this (awful quality) snapshot until now…a couple of weeks ago I woke up with the insatiable desire to make a plush Anglerfish.
Meet “Cuddles:”
Cuddles enjoys bioluminescence and distending his jaw to devour prey twice his size…whole.
I may put this little sweetheart up for adoption at some point. Don’t all line up at once.
I was inspired to seek out “fanged fish” when I saw the Dracula minnow featured in the Top Ten New Species of 2009:
A search revealed that there are indeed other kinds of fanged fish as well (most notably the African Tiger Fish)…
Anyone who has kept up with this site probably knows that I am a hoarder of images. So during this mini-break from actual posts (which will resume in a couple of days), I figured I’d just post a few of the random images saved on my desktop at the moment.
This type of image posting could actually be a fun experiment for the rest of the week. Welcome to my brain, folks. Enter at your own risk.
Here’s a way to make a lasting impression at your next classy party: fancy aquatic head accessories.
As a card-carrying introvert, perhaps I should begin wearing these because they are sure to spark conversation.
Uploaded by Mary Pattavina from Pretty Good Things on Flickr.
I want to thank everyone who forwarded this video to me when it started circulating (I’ve been meaning to post it for a while). You guys certainly know what I like!
I’m pretty fascinated with the Bubble Eye Goldfish.
Anything with massive “eye bladders” has my attention. In a cursory search, I couldn’t even find an adaptive explanation for these little sacks (they are easily punctured, but will heal and re-inflate). The eye bladders even create visual obstructions and get in the fish’s way quite often.
It’s like he has giant kidneys on his face…I love it…
This one is begging for a dramatic caption…
They are just so clumsy and adorably expressive. I co-owned one of these years ago, who was named “Champ.”
As you may know if you’ve been following since last year’s Halloween Music Megapost, I love The Blob (and the theme song by The Five Blobs).
It seems that a real life blob has been turning up, particularly in the depths the the Adriatic Sea. As water temperatures have risen in recent years, more of these gelatinous blobs are showing showing up:
Harmless conglomerations of organic sea matter? Not exactly. They harbor bacteria (including E. Coli) that can be dangerous for swimmers.
You can watch it in action on video here.
Coolest ten seconds I’ve seen in a while.
I can relate to this creature sometimes.
How could anyone wonder what I’m so fascinated by sea life when creatures like this exist?
Leafy Sea Dragons are close relatives of seahorses. The leaf-like protrusions that spring from their bodies allow perfect camouflage amidst surrounding seaweed.
I’m always impressed by nature’s masters of adaptation. For a slow moving creature, fragile enough to rupture from mere changes in water pressure, flawless camouflage was the least evolution could do for this gorgeous specimen.
The body of a sea dragon scarcely appears to move at all. Steering and turning is through movement of tiny, translucent fins along the sides of the head (pectoral fins, visible above) and propulsion derives from the dorsal fins (along the spine). Their movement is as though an invisible hand were helping, causing them to glide and tumble in peculiar but graceful patterns in slow-motion. This movement appears to mimic the swaying movements of the seaweed and kelp. Only close observation reveals movement of an eye or tiny fins. –Source
More pictures in this great post.
SheWalksSoftly 