Sunday 29 June 2014

Oil Beetle

Image: Siga
Oh...

Turns out I don't like big butts at all!

Saturday 28 June 2014

Picasso Sponge 3


A crab, presumably a King Crab because of the six walking legs, hangs out on a Yellow Picasso Sponge.

This particular specimen depicts a man on one knee proffering an engagement ring to the statue of a woman.

.....

Friday 27 June 2014

Klunzinger's Wrasse

Image: Andreas Metz
Thalassoma rueppellii
Wow! Look at that amazing fish! We can all see the fish, right? Because it does also look like an amazing psychedelic experience.

This is the ludicrously brightly coloured Klunzinger's Wrasse, found only in the Red Sea.

Image: Razvan Marescu
They reach 20 cm (8 in) in length and every inch is covered in purple and neon bright stripes. They look like they had an accident with a barrel of radioactive ooze and now their skeleton glows in the dark.

This species lives in groups made up mostly of females, and they dash around the coral reefs seeking out algae, worms and crustaceans to feed on.

Image: Derek Keats
They're said to be inquisitive of divers and are also available for the aquarium, where they're noted for being aggressive and territorial.

Their name comes from Carl Benjamin Klunzinger, a German physician who collected them and many other marine specimens while he was working at a Red Sea port for a few years.

Image: Valerie Hukalo
He died in 1914, long before psychedelia got under way, and he doesn't sound the type to get on with that sort of thing, anyway.

We can only hope he was a fiend for excessively loud neckwear.

Thursday 26 June 2014

Broody Squid

Bathyteuthis berryi
A deep sea squid called Bathyteuthis berryi has been spotted sprinkling fairy dust!

Oh, wait. Those are her eggs.

Wednesday 25 June 2014

Sea Cucumber and Sea Anemone Crabs

Image: TANAKA Juuyoh (田中十洋)
The prettiest little annoyances in the world!

Sunday 22 June 2014

Box Jellyfish

Image: Moorea Biocode
We usually think of jellyfish as mysterious, ethereal entities that drift on the ocean currents with about as much purpose as a leaf in the wind. Their cascading trail of venomous tentacles may capture prey and sting the unwary, but it hardly seems like the jellyfish's intention. The jellyfish merely flexes what little muscle it has in rhythmic meditation, and what events may occur around them is a subject of profound indifference.

They're like phantoms and ghosts who exist in an invisible realm of darkness and void. They go about their repetitive business, completely unaware of the fact that we can see them or that their actions have consequences on the rest of us.

Box Jellyfish are different.

Saturday 21 June 2014

Picasso Sponge 2


A crab, presumably a King Crab because of the six walking legs, hangs out on a Yellow Picasso Sponge.

This particular specimen depicts a wizened, old man sitting at a small, candlelit desk. He watches with desperation and fury as a blot of ink spreads across his manuscript.

.....

Friday 20 June 2014

Worm Salamander

Image: Sean Michael Rovito
Never-ending salamanders!

Wednesday 18 June 2014

Giant African Land Snail

Image: Grzegorz Polak
Big snail - big appetite - big problem for your garden.

Sunday 15 June 2014

Bulbous, Bulging and Bloated Leaf Beeltes

Image: Malcolm Storey
Good Lord! Look at this thing!

What has happened? What nematode, trematode, parasite or poison could have caused this? What curse from the gods? What pesticide has gone wrong in an ironic way so as to teach us all a valuable lesson?

Saturday 14 June 2014

Picasso Sponge 1

Image: NOAA
A crab, presumably a King Crab because of the six walking legs, hangs out on a Yellow Picasso Sponge.

This particular specimen depicts a young woman staring wistfully through a window as a cup of hot tea cools, untouched, by her side.

.....

Friday 13 June 2014

The Pink Knight Rises


The Pink Knight's keen, chemosensory tube-feet are ablaze with the foul odour of a distant alarm response.

"A fellow being in distress!" he murmurs, body trembling in moral indignation. Due to the superheroically gelatinous consistency of his crime-fighting flesh, his body continues to tremble for a long time.


The Pink Knight rears up into the dark sea above, powered by his mighty tentacles and aesthetically pleasing fins.

He shall arrive at the scene of the crime within about 45 minutes to an hour.

He can only hope he's not too late.

Wednesday 11 June 2014

Cannonball Fungus

Image: Malcolm Storey, bioimages.org.uk
It's the KABOOM mushroom!

Sunday 8 June 2014

Rubber Boa

Image: Natalie McNear
Charina bottae
It's a boa that looks like it's made of rubber! Sort of acts like it, too.

Friday 6 June 2014

Passion Flower Feather Star

Image: Richard Ling
Ptilometra australis
Oooooh!

Wednesday 4 June 2014

Pom-pom Crab

Image: Eliot Ferguson
It's the Pom-pom Crab! Also known as the Boxer Crab.

But... who on earth boxes with pom-poms? Do you expect to get a knock out by tickling the other guy's nose?

Sunday 1 June 2014

Peanut Worm

Image: Kawauchi, Gisele Y
It's a worm that looks kinda like a peanut sometimes. They pretty much always look like internal organs, though. Which is odd because they don't actually have all that many internal organs of their own.