congenitaldisease: “ Hoshizuna no Hama is a beach located on the remote island of Iriomote in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The name roughly translates to “star sand beach” and was named aptly, due to the star shaped sand which calls this beach home....
Zoom Info
congenitaldisease: “ Hoshizuna no Hama is a beach located on the remote island of Iriomote in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The name roughly translates to “star sand beach” and was named aptly, due to the star shaped sand which calls this beach home....
Zoom Info

congenitaldisease:

Hoshizuna no Hama is a beach located on the remote island of Iriomote in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The name roughly translates to “star sand beach” and was named aptly, due to the star shaped sand which calls this beach home. One-celled organisms called baclogypsina sphaerulata have pointed arms which are used to help them move. The other shell of these organisms is made from calcium carbonate and when they die, they leave their exoskeletons behind which make up this beach.

(via terrible-tentacle-theatre)

Source: congenitaldisease

randombiologystuff: “Some specimens from the genus Pareledone, which are found in the Antarctic. Clockwise from top left: Pareledone felix, Pareledone serperastrata, Pareledone aequipapillae, Pareledone aurata, Pareledone cornuta, Pareledone...
Pop-up View Separately

randombiologystuff:

Some specimens from the genus Pareledone, which are found in the Antarctic.

Clockwise from top left: Pareledone felix, Pareledone serperastrata, Pareledone aequipapillae, Pareledone aurata, Pareledone cornuta, Pareledone charcoti, Pareledone albimaculata, Pareledone panchroma.

[Images: Mike Vecchione, Uwe Piatkowski, Louise Allcock]

earthen-bestiary: “ Sea Angel (gymnosomata) Sea angels are a part of the gastropod (sea slug) clade. Instead of having a sticky foot they have winglike appendages, and the entire shell is lost. The small, gelatinous creatures get to be about 5cm long...
Zoom Info
earthen-bestiary: “ Sea Angel (gymnosomata) Sea angels are a part of the gastropod (sea slug) clade. Instead of having a sticky foot they have winglike appendages, and the entire shell is lost. The small, gelatinous creatures get to be about 5cm long...
Zoom Info
earthen-bestiary: “ Sea Angel (gymnosomata) Sea angels are a part of the gastropod (sea slug) clade. Instead of having a sticky foot they have winglike appendages, and the entire shell is lost. The small, gelatinous creatures get to be about 5cm long...
Zoom Info
earthen-bestiary: “ Sea Angel (gymnosomata) Sea angels are a part of the gastropod (sea slug) clade. Instead of having a sticky foot they have winglike appendages, and the entire shell is lost. The small, gelatinous creatures get to be about 5cm long...
Zoom Info
earthen-bestiary: “ Sea Angel (gymnosomata) Sea angels are a part of the gastropod (sea slug) clade. Instead of having a sticky foot they have winglike appendages, and the entire shell is lost. The small, gelatinous creatures get to be about 5cm long...
Zoom Info

earthen-bestiary:

Sea Angel (gymnosomata)

Sea angels are a part of the gastropod (sea slug) clade. Instead of having a sticky foot they have winglike appendages, and the entire shell is lost. The small, gelatinous creatures get to be about 5cm long on average. The larger, polar versions synthesize a defensive metabolite called pteroenone to ward off predators. Other creatures take advantage of this and bring sea angels with them to ward off other predators. Sea angels are hermaphroditic, fertilizing internally, and release egg masses to float in the open ocean until they hatch. The first three pictures are sea angels as they normally appear, the bottom two pictures are sea angels when feeding.

!!! @oceank1ng

(via moreanimalia)

Source: yeens-human

zsl-edge-of-existence: “ Hellbenders are normally solitary animals with a fixed home range. Once a hellbender has established a den, it will rarely leave it except to hunt or to find a mate. The territories of two animals may overlap, but the two...
Zoom Info
zsl-edge-of-existence: “ Hellbenders are normally solitary animals with a fixed home range. Once a hellbender has established a den, it will rarely leave it except to hunt or to find a mate. The territories of two animals may overlap, but the two...
Zoom Info
zsl-edge-of-existence: “ Hellbenders are normally solitary animals with a fixed home range. Once a hellbender has established a den, it will rarely leave it except to hunt or to find a mate. The territories of two animals may overlap, but the two...
Zoom Info

zsl-edge-of-existence:

Hellbenders are normally solitary animals with a fixed home range.   Once a hellbender has established a den, it will rarely leave it except to hunt or to find a mate.  The territories of two animals may overlap, but the two hellbenders are never found in the same place at the same time; should they meet by chance, they will challenge each other.  A larger animal will chase a smaller one away, but two equally matched hellbenders will engage in a vicious fight (see bottom image).  And should one hellbender kill the other, they are not above cannibalism.  

(via moreanimalia)

Source: zsl-edge-of-existence