a rift

montereybayaquarium:

The Kraken

Lord Tennyson

Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous and secret cell
Unnumber’d and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the lumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

Happy Kraken Day everyone! We’re celebrating the fourth day of Cephalopod Awareness Days with some cirriously awesome footage of this miniature deep sea kraken from our colleagues at MBARI. While this cirrate octopus might not battle huge sea-worms in its sleep, it is pretty adept at sifting out small crustaceans and worms hidden in the soft sediment of the deep for snack time.