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...
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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

tmiscience: “Zombie worms were discovered in 2002 when extracted from the rotting skeleton of a grey whale almost 10,000 feet beneath the ocean. Also called “boneworms,” the mouth-and-anus-less Osedax worms use bone-melting acid to absorb nutrients...
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tmiscience:

Zombie worms were discovered in 2002 when extracted from the rotting skeleton of a grey whale almost 10,000 feet beneath the ocean. Also called “boneworms,” the mouth-and-anus-less Osedax worms use bone-melting acid to absorb nutrients directly. Also, they’re all female. The males are microscopic and live inside the females’ bodies.

[Science Daily, Scripps, Photo]

why-animals-do-the-thing:

zooophagous:

earthstory:

What on Earth is this?

The best

This appears to be some type of Pacific Sea Cucumber, but the follower who has been helping me can’t find a scientific name for it. It often shows up under the name ‘oh ikari’, but that doesn’t appear to be an official name. 

The weird frondy bits are oral tentacles, which are modified structures similar to the tube feet seen in other echinoderms like sea stars and sea urchins. The oral tentacles filter food particulates out of the water (algae, minute aquatic animals, or waste materials - yum) and are used to channel them into the animal’s mouth ones at a time. 

(via moreanimalia)

Source: earthstory