How deep is the ocean, how high am I? Photos by Hengki Koentjoro How deep is the ocean, how high am I. via : Ghost Room External Stimuli : Hengki Koentjoro, Flickr Stream, Chet Baker Themes : Photography Nodes : cool jazz, gelatinous, Hengki Koentjoro, jellyfish, ocean, underwater A Seahorse Inspects a Diver’s Watch Jun 27, 2012 In this remarkable capture, a seahorse checks out a diver’s watch (and own reflection) underwater. Given the clarity of the clouds in the reflection, this was likely taken quite close to the surface. - Seahorse is the title given to forty-seven species of marine fish in the genus Hippocampus - They are mainly found in shallow tropical and temperate waters throughout the world, and prefer to live in sheltered areas such as seagrass beds, estuaries, coral reefs, or mangroves - Seahorses range in size from 0.6 to 14 inches (1.5 – 35.56 cm). [Source: Wikipedia]
Puffer Fish Creates Ocean Floor ‘Crop Circles’ Right around this time last year, news broke about the discovery of an amazing little puffer fish capable of creating elaborately designed ‘crop circles’ at the bottom of the ocean as part of an elaborate mating ritual. The behavior was first documented by a photographer named Yoji Ookata who later returned with a film crew from the Japanese nature show NHK which later aired an episode about the fish. Even as articles bounced around the web it was still difficult to imagine how a tiny fish could create such a large design in the sand, even when staring directly at photographic evidence. Finally, video has emerged that shows just how the little guy delicately traverses the sand in a rotating criss-cross pattern to create a sort of subaquatic spirograph. The textured sand sculpture not only attracts mates but also serves as protection when the fish pair and lays eggs.
Portuguese Man o' War "Gosh" you might say, "that's one weird looking jellyfish". Well, you'd be partly right. Certainly it looks rather odd but it isn't a jellyfish, it isn't even one animal. They are all either a kind of polyp, which are like really small sea anemones, or medusae, similar to tiny jellyfish, but here they are all connected to each other and are unable to survive on their own. It gets its name from the shape of its sail which resembles that of 16th century warships like man of wars and caravels. The body beneath the pneumatophore is dominated by the feeding polyps which each have a single tentacle dangling beneath them. They start to reel their load up toward our third organism, the gastrozooids. The final organism are the medusae used for reproduction, the gonozooids, which are hermaphrodite - each have both the male and female parts. Did I say groups? I don't want to get all 'existential crisis' on you but seriously, what do you see when you look in the mirror? Ha!
Pacific Leaping Blenny According to a new paper published in the journal Animal Behaviour, the Pacific leaping blenny (Alticus arnoldorum) – a unique fish that lives on land and can leap large distances – uses camouflage to avoid attacks by predators such as birds, lizards and crabs. A Pacific leaping blenny at Taga’chang, Guam. Image credit: © Georgina Cooke, via Australian Museum. The Pacific leaping blenny is a 4 to 8-cm-long tropical fish found in reefs in Samoa and the Marianas, Society, and Cook Islands, in the western and southern Pacific Ocean. Pacific leaping blennies move quickly over complex rocky surfaces using a unique tail-twisting behavior combined with expanded pectoral and tail fins that let them cling to almost any firm surface. Australian biologists from the University of New South Wales studied Pacific leaping blennies in their natural habitat on the tropical island of Guam. “They were virtually identical in each case. Bibliographic information: Courtney L.
Elysia chlorotica Distribution[edit] Elysia chlorotica can be found along the east coast of the United States, including the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida (east Florida and west Florida) and Texas. They can also be found as far north as Nova Scotia, Canada.[1] Ecology[edit] This species is most commonly found in salt marshes, tidal marshes, pools and shallow creeks, at depths of 0 m to 0.5 m.[1] Description[edit] Feeding[edit] The incorporation of chloroplasts within the cells of Elysia chlorotica allows the slug to capture energy directly from light, as most plants do, through the process known as photosynthesis. Life cycle[edit] Cleavage[edit] Gastrulation[edit] Elysia chlorotica gastrulation is by epiboly: the ectoderm spreads to envelope the mesoderm and endoderm.[3][broken citation] Larval stage[edit] See also[edit] References[edit] External links[edit]
Scientists accidentally kill world's oldest animal at age 507 The oldest animal ever known lived from 1499 until the day researchers cracked its shell open, killing it in the process. Ming, an ocean quahog from the species Arctica islandica, was initially thought to be a record-setting 402 years old. But the scientists who found it on a seabed near Iceland in 2006 now say further analysis has revealed that it was an incredible 507 years old, reports CBS. The researchers, who didn't realize how old Ming was when they first found it, opened the ancient clam up to judge its age by counting growth rings inside its hinge ligaments. But the rings were so close together that scientists ended up having to count the rings on the outside to be accurate, leading CBS to point out that Ming could have lived on, had scientists just started there. "We got it wrong the first time and maybe we were a bit [hasty] publishing our findings back then. The old, dead, mollusk still has a huge amount to offer science, reports the Herald-Sun.
Nemertea Nemertea is a phylum of invertebrate animals also known as "ribbon worms" or "proboscis worms".[2] Alternative names for the phylum have included Nemertini, Nemertinea and Rhynchocoela.[1] Although most are less than 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, one specimen has been estimated at 54 metres (177 ft). Most are very slim, usually only a few millimeters wide, although a few have relatively short but wide bodies. Many have patterns of yellow, orange, red and green coloration. In most species the sexes are separate, but all the freshwater species are hermaphroditic. History[edit] In 1555 Olaus Magnus wrote of a marine worm which was apparently 17.76 metres (58.3 ft) long ("40 cubits"), about the width of a child's arm, and whose touch made a hand swell. Description[edit] Body structure and major cavities[edit] Nemerteans are very unusual animals.[8] The mouth is ventral and a little behind the front of the body. Proboscis and feeding[edit] Respiration and circulatory system[edit] Excretion[edit]
The secret lives of sea lilies and feather stars Once thought to be extinct, these lesser-known cousins of sea stars and sea urchins are some of the prettiest creatures in the ocean. Prepare to be wowed, things are about to get weird (in a wonderful way). Beneath the surface of the sea is a world so vast that its mysteries are only slowly revealed to us … and when they are, they are often strange and beautiful beyond what we could previously imagine. Take the crinoids. These member of the echinoderm family are related to sea stars and sea urchins, but are far less famous. © RCB Shooter Tim Sheerman-Chase/flickr/CC BY 2.0 These creatures have some history. Crinoids have the same interior system of canals ending in tube feet as the other echinoderms, as well as the same unusual ligament tissue that can alter between rigid and flaccid states, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). But unlike the other echinoderms, crinoids fasten their beautiful selves to the sea floor by way of their handy-dandy stalk.
Evasive octopus who has been allowed to look for love Visitors to the Portobello Aquarium loved Sid the octopus but all Sid wanted was to find a mate. After several escape attempts worthy of Houdini, he finally tasted freedom yesterday, with his keepers returning him to the ocean just in time for Valentine's Day. The aquarium, near Dunedin, on New Zealand's South Island, was Sid's home for the past six months. At first, he seemed quite content there. Matthew Crane, Portobello's senior aquarist, came in one morning to find Sid gone. A few weeks later, Sid made a second dash for freedom. Yesterday afternoon, Mr Crane transferred Sid to a plastic bucket and carried him to the water's edge, 300 yards away. Octopuses live for about two years, and breed towards the end of their life cycle. Mr Crane said that Sid might have watched the door to his tank being opened often enough to figure out how to do it himself. A few years ago, he said, crayfish kept disappearing from the aquarium. The clever clogs of the ocean floor
SAR11 Bacteria: The Most Abundant Plankton in the Oceans SAR11 is a group of small, carbon-oxidizing bacteria that reach a global estimated population size of 2.4×1028 cells-approximately 25% of all plankton. They are found throughout the oceans but reach their largest numbers in stratified, oligotrophic gyres, which are an expanding habitat in the warming oceans. SAR11 likely had a Precambrian origin and, over geological time, evolved into the niche of harvesting labile, low-molecular-weight dissolved organic matter (DOM). SAR11 cells are minimal in size and complexity, a phenomenon known as streamlining that is thought to benefit them by lowering the material costs of replication and maximizing transport functions that are essential to competition at ultralow nutrient concentrations. One of the surprises in SAR11 metabolism is their ability to both oxidize and produce a variety of volatile organic compounds that can diffuse into the atmosphere.