Category: Ocean Critters
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Sea angels
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmBIDinJUr8&feature=related[/youtube] Sea angels. They sound kind of made up, don’t they? But they are real animals – a type of seashell that have lost their shells and spend their lives flitting about in the open ocean, propelled by a pair of little fairy wings. We chatted to Rob Jennings from the University of Massachusetts about…
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Walking shark
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvyXvZmRaW0[/youtube] This recently discovered species of epaulette shark can swim like most regular sharks but often spends its time mooching about on the seabed, ‘walking’ on its pectoral fins. More about their discovery at National Geographic News
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The tree octopus – a legend caught on camera?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfMeXel1gDw[/youtube] A short movie made in 1928 by pioneer underwater filmmaker, Jean Painleve. Painleve is barely remembered today (seems we only have room in our hearts for one French underwater filmmaker) but in his time was renowned for blending science and art in his series of remarkable movies – including this one, which was obviously…
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Top Ten Sea Monsters (OK, make it a dozen)
We couldn’t have done this better ourselves. Meet the “12 most bizarre and frightening sea creatures“, courtesy of Asylum UK. This is so good I had to reproduce it: The planet Earth is full of scary stuff. Not just like the threat of bird-flu and unemployment, but even scarier things like angry bears and bity…
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The Sea Hag: Ugliest creature on earth?
As marine biologists we consider it our solemn duty to celebrate and sing of the beautiful and charismatic animals that live beneath the waves (see for example here and here). But every now and then one has to face the fact that some animals are, well, just plain disgusting. Alas, not everyone can be a…
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Whale culture dispersed by traveling minstrels
New research shows that the legendary songs of humpback whales evolve rapidly as they’re spread throughout the world’s population by traveling males whose new songs are adopted by listeners along their migration routes. Male humpbacks have a highly stereotyped, repetitive, song that functions in sexual selection, either through mate attraction or male “social sorting”. Males…
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Diving with humback whales
I love this photo by Marco Queral from the south Pacific Ocean. From a ClimateShifts post by Jez where you can see other similar photos.
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CreatureCast – Antarctic Krill Love Dance
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/20754796[/vimeo]
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Sea monster sparks tsunami panic
Not this again . . . THIS deep sea monster sent people running for their lives when it was reeled in on a Taiwanese beach. The 12ft yellow ribbonfish reportedly sparked tsunami panic because of its size. The species is normally found only in deep waters, but was hooked on a line off the coast…
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The search for intelligent life
[Thoughts inspired by an hour spent with a wild dolphin in the Whale Rider country of North Island, New Zealand. The terrain is very beautiful – dramatic craggy coastlines, gorges through the mountains cloaked in Paleozoic vegetation, tree ferns everywhere, in the dim shade everything covered with mosses, liverworts, brilliant little coral-colored fungi, delicate creepers,…