Image: Ted C. Macrae, Beetles in the Bush Beautiful Tiger Beetle, Cicindela pulchra pulchra |
Sunday 29 January 2012
Tiger Beetle
Friday 27 January 2012
Immortal Jellyfish
Image: Alvaro E. Migotto |
Thursday 26 January 2012
California Horn Shark
Wednesday 25 January 2012
Angel Shark
Image: Philippe Guillaume via Flickr |
Sunday 22 January 2012
Blanket Octopus
The air around here is growing increasingly chilly and I think a nice, warm blanket to hide under is called for. All sorts of animals have lovely fur you can make one out of, but you have to do all the work yourself. Unacceptable! There is a very strange answer to this problem, so long as you can tolerate your blanket being soaking wet. The Blanket Octopus has come to tuck you in. I hope she's brought some hot chocolate along, too.
Friday 20 January 2012
Lighthouse of the Desert
Rising forth from the mud and stone of the sea floor, an edifice strikes out at the darkness. Appearing as nothing more than a community of snowflakes, standing strong against black waters and crushing pressure.
There is snow, but it's marine snow. Crumbs from the top table that fall from sunlit realms, dragged downward by the night. There are stars, but they are brittle stars. A squirming handful of arms, each with a thousand feet. There are flowers, too, but they are sea lilies. Feathers held high on long stalks, like carnivorous palm trees waving in the breeze.
This tower is a home. Sparkling, white walls permit entry to the tiny. One couple will stay and grow too big to escape. A wedding, but a shrimp wedding. A home, but a living one. A crystal prison and a fortress against the wet, desert wasteland.
I'm Venus Flower Basket and I approve this message.
Wednesday 18 January 2012
Land Planarian
Image: Wikimedia |
But then I saw one.
Sunday 15 January 2012
The Blues
Image: Blake Matheson via Flickr |
Labels:
amphibian,
arachnid,
bird,
echinoderm,
fungus,
gastropod,
insect,
multi monster,
other arthropod,
reptile
Friday 13 January 2012
Western Red Colobus
Image: Wikipedia |
Wednesday 11 January 2012
Grunt Sculpin
Sunday 8 January 2012
When Aliens Fall In Love - Jellyfish Lifecycle
From the pulsating bell to the shimmying tentacles, jellyfish have got to be some of the weirdest lifeforms our planet has to offer. Oral arms wave mindlessly around a central mouth while stinging cells puncture and poison without a thought. Not only does the jellyfish not even have to be alive for it to sting, but the stinging tentacles needn't be attached to the rest of the body at all. The futility of such endeavours is totally lost on them, as if they're more a force of nature than an animal. The sheer depth of their apparent mindlessness is quite amazing. It's like watching someone watching TV. Or, with all these reality shows, watching someone watching someone watching TV on the TV.
But no matter how strange a jellyfish may seem as it drifts in the ocean's currents, its life history is stranger still. Jellyfish really are weird from start to finish.
Saturday 7 January 2012
I am a MAJOR!
The lovely lady at shewalkssoftly.com has given me a MAJOR AWARD! Isn't it beautiful? I remember coming across her blog when I was looking up Vampire Squid. Oddly enough, I'd already written about that charismatic cutie so I guess I was just checking out what other people had to say. Little did I know that my travels would one day result in this most illustrious of events!
The Sun is right now rising and the very air at my window appears golden.
Friday 6 January 2012
Giant Club Sponge
Thursday 5 January 2012
Ping-pong Tree Sponge
Image: R Vrijenhoek, MBARI |
Wednesday 4 January 2012
Sally Lightfoot (Grapsus grapsus)
Image: ConstantineD via Flickr |
Sunday 1 January 2012
Sea Pig
Image: MBARI |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)