Our world under the waves

Though more famous for studying the adaptations of different finch species on the Galapogos Islands, Charles Darwin also spent years studying barnacles whilst working on his theory of natural selection.
These samples were photographed whilst on display at the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen.

Nobrow Press - Worse Things Happen at Sea A thrilling adventure across the seven seas in which man confronts monstrous sea beasts, presented in the bestselling Leporello format. Inspired by tales of mythical sea creatures and the tall..

Media Monday #62 📘

Sailors confronting mythical sea monsters is a story almost as old as time. But in “Worse Things Happen at Sea” by Kellie Strøm, the carnage is depicted all at once in Leporello format, which is a sort of folded book with drawings and illustrations. Like a portable tapestry.

A gold turtle pendant constructed somewhere between the 11th and 16th century by the Veraguas culture (now a modern day province of Panama). This pre-Columbian civilisation is known for their goldwork and such pendants have been found in burial sites in the region.

"I Was So Surprised": Electric Rays Tell Sharks To Back Off By Zapping Them Rude, but effective.

Shocking!

Marine worms are not always as wriggly and ‘wormy’ as you might think. Some look like they’re using feather dusters, some look like Christmas trees and some secure themselves within a honeycomb network of cemented sand. The latter being the true masters of sand castles.

Aquarium of the Dead (2021) ⭐ 2.9 | Action, Comedy, Horror 1h 26m

Media Monday #61📽️

With Halloween fast approaching, now is as good a time as ever to delve into the crazy realms of marine-themed horror. Aquarium of the dead for instance features an aquarium where the animals turn into zombies.
Not exactly high art, but a fun departure from reality in my opinion.

Despite not being a flying bird, penguins still have their name attached to flying vehicles and projectiles. Such as an anti-ship missile (AGM-119 Penguin) developed in the 1960s and a light aircraft (EAA Penguin). The latter was originally designed in 1932, but not built until 2014.

Nine-spine sticklebacks: Britain’s tiny but mighty freshwater fish Hardy species with up to 12 spines can withstand oxygen-poor water and a variety of temperatures

The underwater world (freshwater in this case) is full of small, but mighty creatures. Sometimes making up for their lack of size and physical force with incredible endurance in the face of adversity.

And now for one of the strangest looking animal groups in the sea, the sea spiders.
Believe it or not, there is a central body there, but the arrangement is so dominated by their legs that there’s nowhere else to keep some of their internal organs, including those for digestion and reproduction.

Media Monday #60🦞

The “Giant Freshwater Lobster” is hard to miss for those visiting Burnie Park in Tasmania, Australia. Its namesake (actually a species of crayfish) is the world’s largest freshwater invertebrate and endemic to the rivers of northern Tasmania.

These sheets of “Gim”, the Korean word for a number of edible seaweeds that are roasted (sometimes oiled and salted as well), can be used to make kimbap, a dish that is similar to sushi. It can be served with a number of different meats and vegetables.

Whale scat shows rising ocean temperatures are linked to more algal bloom toxins entering the food chain Researchers have measured toxins in scat samples from 205 bowhead whales from the Beaufort Sea, collected over 19 years, and found that algal toxin concentrations changed with ocean temperatures, the ...

Collecting and analysing whale poo might not be the prettiest job in the world. But there’s a lot we can work out from their stool samples, including:
🐳The health of the whale populations
🐳The state of the ocean in which they swim
🐳The composition of the swarms of tiny creatures on which they feed

These beautiful nudibranchs (i.e. sea slugs) all belong to the same species, Phyllidia ocellata, and are often yellow with 4-10 black rings with white borders. "Often" seems to be the best word to use, since these images show how a pattern can vary even within a species.

Media Monday #59🧽

An artistic reconstruction of Eocyathispongia qiania, an ancient sea sponge dated back to 600 million years ago, and then hidden to mysteries of time until a fossilised specimen was discovered in China in 2015.

Happy World Migratory Bird Day 🐦

These Red Knots migrate thousands of kilometres between their breeding grounds on the Arctic tundra and the temperate/tropical mudflats where they live for the rest of the year. Along the way, they rely on the bounty of horseshoe crab eggs for a much needed pit stop

Bull sharks linger in warming Sydney waters Bull sharks are lingering off Sydney's beaches for longer periods each year as oceans warm, researchers said Friday, predicting they may one day stay all year.

The chances of an encounter are going to be higher, but the chances of an attack are still incredibly remote. Even lower still when you take proper precautions, such as avoiding swimming in murky water where mistakes are easier to make.

Happy World Octopus Day 🐙

There are few cephalopods as cute, but deadly as a blue ringed octopus. This particular individual is a greater blue ringed octopus and its venom glands are armed with tetrodotoxin, a potent neurotoxin (also used by pufferfish) that intereferes with the nervous system.

YouTube video by film scenes From russia with love 1963

Media Monday #58📽️

An early scene from the classic bond film “From Russia with Love” that uses Siamese fighting fish as a straightforward analogy to explain Spectre’s sinister plan to pit British and Russian spies against each other, kill Bond and then slip away with a decoding device.

Happy World Habitat Day 🏝️

And a pleasent reminder that even small, living spaces can provide valuable habitat for the even smaller ocean residents. Such as (left to right) a bryozoan colony on a mussel shell, barnacles on a whelk shell and a whole mass of life on the back of a spider crab.

Happy World Animal Day 🐋

It’s common knowledge these days that blue whales are the largest known animals on the planet. But Myxozoans (microscopic cousins of anemones and jellyfish) are the smallest. Going down to 8.5µm (0.0085mm), they survive as parasites of fish and other sea creatures.

'She turns her siphon into a gun': Watch coconut octopus firing stones at fish in world-1st footage Octopus filmed firing stones from her siphon from inside a clam shell like a sniper in never-before-seen behavior captured for the Netflix series Our Oceans.

Seems octopuses evolved their own kind of pea shooter long before we came up with the same idea.

Maerl- Living Labyrinths by Matthew Norton In the ocean, things are not always as they appear to be. For example, corals can easily be mistaken for some kind of hardened plant or seaweed, rather than the colony of polyps (…

***NEW ARTICLE OUT NOW***
Maerl, a suspiciously coral-like red seaweed with spaces in between the nodules, great for all kinds of creatures needing a place to hide and grow.

Media Monday #57 ✏️

The Kraken, a mythical creature usually depicted as a giant squid, was once feared by old-timey sailors.
And to protest against the practice of giant companies getting bigger by taking over smaller competitors (raising them up as part of their portfolio) or sinking them.

Antarctic worms’ antifreeze “superpowers” come from their microbiome Three species of Antarctic marine worm rely on bacteria to produce antifreeze proteins

Some bacteria live inside the guts of animals, helping them to digest unusual food stuffs. Others ensure that their hosts don’t freeze to death.

Happy World Maritime Day ⚓️

Originally named “Boaty McBoatface”, the RRS Sir David Attenborough is a polar research vessel with a range of onboard facilities and instruments. Including a moon pool, a vertical shaft through which equipment can be deployed and recovered through the centre of the hull.

***NEW ARTICLE COMING SOON***

Watch this space for an introduction to Maerl, a coralline red seaweed and possibly the best maze makers since David Bowie!

YouTube video by flamingbabygames Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES) - Water Dam

Media Monday #56🕹️

It’s often said that video games used to be harder than they are now, especially the water levels. But the dam level from this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game, with its tight time limit and unforgiving hazards, is hard enough for even the game’s co-creator to struggle.

Sawfish and sawsharks can be difficult to tell apart. But one telltale feature to look out for are the barbels on the saw (which only sawsharks have). There’s also the the position of the gill slits which, insharks generally, are always at the sides, but located underneath in rays and sawfish.

Dolphins May Not "See" With Echolocation, But Instead "Feel" With It So when a dolphin pings you with sound, it may be feeling you up (in a non-creepy way... we hope).

Good… Good… Let the hake flow through you!

A rather annoyed looking octopus made from ivory. Specifically called “Netsuke of Octopus”, it was made in Japan at some point during the 19th century.