The Nautilus captured a amazing footage off the coast of California earlier this week. The creature seems like a child toy, its disproportionately large eyes making it look like a Japanese manga hero.
But so you know, it is actually a Rossia Pacifica (stubby squid), which is pretty common in the northern Pacific Ocean
The stubby squid (Rossia pacifica) looks like a cross between an octopus and squid, but is more closely related to cuttlefish. This species spends life on the seafloor, activating a sticky mucus jacket and burrowing into the sediment to camouflage, leaving their eyes poking out to spot prey like shrimp and small fish. Rossia pacifica is found in the Northern Pacific from Japan to Southern California, most commonly seen up to 300m deep, but specimens have been collected at 1000m depth.
Photographed off the coast of Okayama, Japan, The Weeping Stones is a photo series by the creative duo Trevor Williams and Jonathan Galione of Tdub Photo that
captures the eerie blue light emitted by a native species of
bioluminescent shrimp. More commonly referred to as sea fireflies, these
rare creatures live in the sand in shallow sea water, floating
somewhere between the extremes of high and low tide. At just 3 mm in
length the shrimp are extremely small light sources, but when grouped
together they take on abstract patterns that light up the water around
them.
Due to powerful tides, this teeming reef has become a series of shallow tide pools. An Epaulette shark is caught on the reef in the deadly Australian sun. Not to fear, this little shark has evolved ways to survive out of water. By shutting down its organs one by one, it can cope without oxygen sixty times longer than a human. And, if necessary, it can switch to survival tactic number two; it can use its fins as a pair of rudimentary legs to make its way back to the nearest tide pool, and the cool ocean water. This is the only shark that can walk its way out of trouble.
