Weird Underwater Creatures

[Assault]

Courtesy of NOVA





These guys live on the bottom of the ocean, 7,500 ft below the surface, at about 3,350 PSI.  I find that to be rather impressive.

xander

Those look like a pile of cigarettes.

[xander]

Those look like a pile of cigarettes.

Heh...  I hadn't thought of that, but they do, don't they?  And I suppose that living next to a hydrothermal vent doesn't help their case, either.

xander

[Derek]

Click here to experience a life-sized blue whale!  Holy, those things are big!

[Eosphoros]

This thread is wayy ahead of these losers from Oddweek

http://www.oddweek.com/item_79915.aspx

[xander]

Last night, Wendryn and I were watching a documentary on PBS about cuttlefish.  These guys are awesome!  They are closely related to octopuses, but have all kinds of weird behaviours.   They also have very large brains for invertebrates.  This one is made of plastic:


This one is pretending to be coral, or something.  They are very good at changing their color, and even the shapes of their bodies, so that they can blend in with their surroundings:


Cthulu?


This one is a flamboyant cuttlefish.  They have evolved to a point where they can't really swim, so they walk along the bottom of the ocean.  Unlike other cuttlefish, which try to hide from predators, this one is brightly colored.  It can be like that because it is very poisonous.  In fact, it is only of only three or four poisonous species in its branch of life (the blue ring octopus and the striped pajama squid being two of the others):


So, huzzah for cuttlefish!

xander

[Toom]

I love you, blind cave salamander. Let's run away together.


This is called a wobbegong. It is a type of shark. I used to be irrationally frightened of these things, despite never getting within a hemisphere of encountering one.


Geoducks are a kind of clam that has an average life expectancy of about a hundred and fifty years. They look kind of like dongs.


Nooooo!


Nooooooo!

[Toom]

SEA CUCUMBERRRRRRS



This one is just a baby! Adorable.


Dayum.


It's eating something.

Sea cucmbers will attempt to discourage potential predators by firing horrible sticky threads at them; if this doesn't work, they'll start puking their internal organs at the aggressor until they get freaked out and leave (I would). They also breathe through their anuses. Nature is awesome, also gross.

[Toom]

Guys I'm not trying to "artificially inflate my post count" but I think these deserve their own post.

Shark vs. octopus

Octopus escapes through 1" hole

[xander]

Guys I'm not trying to "artificially inflate my post count" but I think these deserve their own post.

Damn.  That is awesome.  0_o

xander

[Kal]

There's a reason why geoducks (pronounced "gooey ducks" for God knows what reason) look like dongs.  Take a wild guess what that...thing is.  =P
DISCOVERY CHANNEL FTW!

Sea Cucumbers disgust me for more than the just the "Hey, let me vomit my intestines at this guy and make him go away!"  They're...ew.

That octopus v. shark vid, though...awesome.

Wish I had my own contribution to this thread...

[Toom]

There's a reason why geoducks (pronounced "gooey ducks" for God knows what reason) look like dongs.  Take a wild guess what that...thing is.  =P
DISCOVERY CHANNEL FTW!

It's a feeding tube primarily; they suck seawater in, filter plankton out, and eject the waste water (and, presumably, whatever passes for poop for them) from another hole. It's not a penis. Geoducks don't really have shlongs, they're broadcast spawners. I think you've misunderstood whatever it was you saw on the Discovery Channel; those are not dudes in the business of telling lies!

The name's pronounced gooey-duck because "geoduck" is a now-entrenched misspelling of "gweduc," a Nisqaully word meaning "dig deep". The name makes sense, Whitey's just done messed up the spelling.

[Derek]

and more...

(btw, Toom, you are too informed for your own good. )

[shinygerbil]

That shark vs. octopus video is da bomb. Also, it looks just like the octopus from Ecco the Dolphin!

[Xiagan]

Nothing special but a nice pic.

[Kal]

Nice pictures, Derek.  And Toom...thank you for being smarter than me.  =D