Monday 31 August 2015

File Shell

Image: Ria Tan
Tentacles. They are the crowning glory of Mollusca. Cephalopods like octopuses and squid are clearly the anointed kings and queens of this tentacle-blessed race. Just look into their large, intelligent eyes and you know they're asking one thing: where are your tentacles, peasant?

Friday 28 August 2015

Sea Sweep

Image: Saspotato
Scorpis aequipinnis
If a chimney sweep is someone who cleans chimneys...

Wednesday 26 August 2015

Gelatinous Spaceship



I just can't resist these Atolla jellyfish!

Monday 24 August 2015

Bongo Shrimp

Image: Rickard Zerpe
Phyllognathia ceratophthalma
It's the Bongo Shrimp! So named because it's a shrimp that... bongo.

Friday 21 August 2015

Gliding Spider

Image: Stephen Yanoviak
INCOMING! After falling out of a tree, this skydiving spider can swerve through the forest to make absolutely sure it lands squarely on your head! Or another tree. Whatever seems best at the time, I guess.

Thursday 20 August 2015

The Daisy Chain... of DEATH


Hailing from Cambodia, this undescribed species of ant is a disturbingly effective predator of millipedes. Watch as they encircle their trembling prey, waiting for the poor soul to uncurl itself from its defensive coil. Gaze in astonishment as a single sting from a single ant signals the commencement of a whole bunch of stings from a whole bunch of ants.

Gasp in horror as the merry murderers haul the enormous body home. They do so in a remarkable daisy chain, workers pulling on workers in a deadly caravan of communal carnage. Can't you hear them sing?

Hi ho. Hi ho. It's home from work we go.

It's scenes like this which make you realise that ants don't have to be that much bigger than they are to pose a serious threat to humanity. Shrink rays at the ready...

Monday 17 August 2015

Cuyaba Dwarf Frog

Image: Felipe Gomes
Eupemphix nattereri
It's a frog with eyes in the back of his... end.

Friday 14 August 2015

Chubby Spiders

Image: Robert Whyte
You know, you look around at some of the spiders out there...

Sunday 9 August 2015

Cockatoo Waspfish

Image: Daniel Kwok
Ablabys taenianotus
No, it's not the Flamingo Dogfrog or the Hummingbird Antelopewhale, those are obviously completely made up.

Friday 7 August 2015

Button Top

Image: Ria Tan
Umbonium vestiarium
It's the Cute-as-a-button Snail!

Wednesday 5 August 2015

Cigar Jelly

Olindias phosphorica
After a long day plotting the global downfall of the terrestrial world, there's nothing better than stuffing your face with tentaclefuls of seafood and curling up under a warm duvet.

Monday 3 August 2015

Worm in a Wig?


We all know how dark and drab it is in the abyssal depths of the sea. All is inky blackness, with the bottom composed primarily of deserts of mud decorated with drab stones.