The eerie Bloodybelly Comb Jellyfish
Brilliant and seemingly glowing, the bloodybelly comb jelly comes in different shades of red but always has a blood-red stomach. The sparkling display on the outside comes from light diffracting from tiny transparent, hair-like cilia. These beat continuously, propelling the jelly through the water. [X]
I legit thought that octopus was on the end of a big ole’ dick.
This is a real life, alive Giant Squid found off the coast of Japan. This video was recorded on December 24th, 2015.
This Giant Squid is 3.7 metres long (12 feet), but specimens have been found that are more than 12 metres long.
Watch the video and read more about this encounter below:
Aaaah!!! I always pictured them as being solid in color?! This one is so pretty !
I’ve assumed every time I see this on my dash that this is a sick and dying individual, and that the mottled skin is a symptom. Who’s good with megacephalopods?
Cephalopods all have color-changing skin, so they’re pretty much never a solid color for very long :) This squid does have stripes along its arms, but it looks to me like a lot of the “mottle” is scraped-off skin. I agree with @speciesofleastconcern that it seems sick. Deep-sea animals aren’t really built to survive at the surface, and this one was really sluggish and looks to be injured. Why it swam up instead of down, I don’t know. I wouldn’t have gotten in the water with it, though–six foot long Humboldt squid have been known to drown divers, and this one was twice that size!
This little guy is giving Harry Houdini a run for his money.
Amanda Rodriguez
Blue-ringed octopuses are among the deadliest animals in the sea. Although they are about the size of a golf ball, they can pose a deadly threat to humans. When the octopus is agitated, the brown patches darken dramatically, and iridescent blue rings appear and pulsate. In a bite or even skin to skin contacts, this octopus passes on a deadly venom. Within five to ten minutes, the victim begins to experience numbness, progressive muscular weakness and difficulty breathing and swallowing. Death may result because of cerebral anoxia. (Source)
Colossal squid tries to steal some Russians’ lunch money, gets poked with a stick, goes home.
Teacup Octopus by Fairchildart
This jelly harbored a few fish and a brittlestar by Klaus Stiefel
The paper nautiluses, Argonauta sp., are not nautiluses at all, they are octopuses! The paper thin white calcareous ‘shell’ is actually an egg case made by females.
The shell is made of a thin calcite the female secretes as she matures. It also functions as a swimming aid, females use the shell to ‘gulp’ a measured volume of air at the sea surface, seal off the captured gas using flanged arms and forcefully dive to a depth where the compressed gas buoyancy counteracts body weight. When scientists removed the air from the octopuses’ shells underwater, the octopuses tended to sink before swimming to the surface, taking in more air and then jetting back down to where they were weightless.
What’s really amazing is how the shell looks SO MUCH like that of a Nautilus, even though it doesn’t grow as a part of the body like a true shell. It’s produced an entirely different way and there wouldn’t actually be any point at which one derived from the other in their evolution.
The shape is similar either by convergence, which is likely, or according to some hypotheses, because these animals may have once borrowed the shells of nautiloids back when such animals dominated the oceans. The paper could have begun as a lining for the borrowed home and continued to be useful even after most of the shelled cephalopods died out.
Lybia tessellata is a species of small crab that is found in shallow parts of the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean. It is commonly known as the pom-pom crab or boxer crab because of its habit of carrying a sea anemone around in each of its claws, these resembling pom-poms or boxing gloves. They carry it around for defense.
We’re always thrilled to see more awesomely betentacled Octopus Chandeliers (and the occasional sconce or tentacle candlestick) by Philadelphia-based artist Adam Wallacavage (previously featured here). Wallacavage uses traditional ornamental plastering techniques to create his writhing chandeliers using a wide variety of materials such as exoxy resin, iridescent powders, plaster, spray paint, and even glitter. Each piece is one-of-a-kind, but they all confirm that the delightful octopus shape is naturally suitable for being a fantastically ornate chandelier. And even though they look like they might be more at home under the sea, radiant octopuses are fully functional light fixtures.
"Wallacavage’s childlike imagination turns a seemingly normal object into wonderfully gaudy and kitschy chandeliers full of shiny colors and tentacles. Each chandelier Wallacavage constructs is unique with their wide array of pastel, glittery colors and their endless ocean-life motifs. These include green seashells, purple tentacles, pink pearls, and even big, round eyes starring straight at you. Some of his chandeliers seem to be inspired by the pastel colors and ornate design of the Rococo period, while his other chandeliers have a louder palette with strange faces and eyes."
The latest addition to the Archie McPhee Library is Wallacavage’s new book Monster Size Monsters [Buy on Amazon], which features the artist’s photography.
Head over to Adam Wallacavage’s website to explore his photography and check out more of his wonderful octopus chandeliers. To keep up with his latest creations and exhibitions, follow his blog and/or his Instagram feed.
[Images via Beautiful Decay]
Blue-ringed octopuses are among the deadliest animals in the sea. Although they are about the size of a golf ball, they can pose a deadly threat to humans. When the octopus is agitated, the brown patches darken dramatically, and iridescent blue rings appear and pulsate. In a bite or even skin to skin contacts, this octopus passes on a deadly venom. Within five to ten minutes, the victim begins to experience numbness, progressive muscular weakness and difficulty breathing and swallowing. Death may result because of cerebral anoxia. (Source)
Although it does look like a strange, alien sea creature basket stars are a classified species. They have 5 arms which branch of to catch prey. They use these arms to move along and climb coral. They spread around their “branchlets” to create a large net and capture smaller sea creatures. (Article)
