blue octopus by Marko_Heidrich
the blue-ringed octopus!!!
🌀 don’t delete caption 🌀
Today the Department of Awesome Camouflage is wondering if there’s any creature more impressive than the Lichen Katydid (Markia hystrix), an insect that looks like it’s actually made out of delicate lichen. It looks more like something out of a fairytale than a real-life insect, but that’s simply because the natural world is so freaking awesome!
Lichen Katydids are native to Central and South America. Wildlife photographer David Weller captured this mesmerizing footage of a Lichen Katydid somewhere in the Cartago Province of Costa Rica carefully making its way across some vegetation that looks like it might’ve grown from its own body :
Photos by David Weiller, RachelleSmith, Holguer Lopez, and Robert Oelman respectively.
[via Sploid]
(via nevertoomanyspiders)
Source: archiemcphee
Great shots of Cepahalotes clypeatus, the golden turtle ant, taken by Alex Wild. Turtle ants have a special subgroup of workers with broad flat heads which can be used to plug nest entrances. Some species of Cephalotes are also called glider ants and can use their flattened bodies to glide through the air and return to the trees they dwell in should they take a tumble.
@zuzu-and-fiends look at these sci-fi babs!!!
(via moreanimalia)
Source: alexwild.smugmug.com
Cuttlefriends
17.09.2016
This weekend past, I went to the Manly Sea Life Sanctuary (the aquarium!), and the first critters I came across were two very chill cuttlefish. I fell in love; they are precious and we must protect them.
(via ilovecephalopods)
Source: carringtonavenue
Vampire Squid turning itself out
Octopus Squid (Octopoteuthis deletron)-
O. deletron, is a deep sea dwelling cephalopod and is under multiple scientific studies due to its handful of strange traits.
It is unique to the O. deletron to be (one of the?) only squid to have only eight arms and no tentacles. Babies (bottom left) lose their two tentacles as they mature. Light flashing photophores at the tips of the arms attract prey, and possibly mates. O. deletron is able to drop parts of its arms at will. The sharp “teeth” on its arms hook onto predators and prey. If needed, the squid can detach any arm at any length (unlike an octopus that drops the entire tentacle). Like a lizard tail, the arms grow back.
Also unusual among squid, the O. deletron sports a large penis. In the photos, o. deletron displays small white dots on near its mantle. These are sperm packets deposited by passing males. Since they are solitary and live in the deep sea, finding a mate is difficult. Whenever a male o. deletron meets another member of its species, it will deposit its sperm packets regardless of the gender of its companion.
Photos: (top) (bottom left) (bottom right)
(via ilovecephalopods)
Source: animaltoday
In a never-before-seen phenomenon, a fish commandeered the body of a jellyfish for protection. Although it is common for fish to swim through jellyfish tentacles to avoid predators, this particular defense mechanism has never been seen before.
You can watch the full video here: [x]
(via unbadgr)
Source: coolthingoftheday
Source: lenscratch.com
