Source: nubbsgalore
Aren’t They Precious
These angelic images are of baby eels, also known as leptocephali. Figures A and F show moray eel leptocephali. Don’t they look just like mommy?
Leptocephali are almost totally see-through. They have colorless blood, and their bodies are composed mostly of a transparent, gelatinous material that serves as both energy storage and structural support (since they’re just so damn frail).
Despite their fragile appearance, leptocephali are actually pretty good swimmers. They exhibit the highly efficient anguilliform swimming style, suited for long-term, slow swimming.
Depending on the species, eels may remain in this larval stage for as long as 250 days, before undergoing metamorphosis.
After metamorphosis, they grow into juveniles, then into the fully-mature adult eels we know and love. *tear*
Image source: Miller. 2009.
Reference: Miller. 2009.
(via moreanimalia)
Source: popsealife
Source: volk-morya
Jacob’s Well
Jacob’s Well is one of the most significant natural geologic treasures in the Texas Hill Country. It is one of the longest underwater caves in Texas and an artesian spring. Jacob’s Well surges up thousands of gallons of water per minute and acts as headwaters to the Cypress Creek that flows through Wimberley, sustaining Blue Hole and the Blanco River, recharging the Edwards Aquifer, and finally replenishing estuaries in the Gulf of Mexico.
(via sixpenceee)
Source: trynottodrown
A jellyfish eating another jellyfish.
Alexander Semenov / Via Flickr: a_semenov
(via awrrrq)
Source: sixpenceee
Source: amosphotography.com
A summer park becomes a lake each spring complete with underwater trees —the Gruener See, or Green Lake as it is called in English is located in the southern Austrian province of Styria. Trees have adapted to being underwater for upwards of a month every year at a time, with the water typically around 40 feet deep through most of the spring.
Photo credit: Gerald Kapfer/Europics
(via unbadgr)
Gorges de Galamus, Aude, France.
Photo by Jacky Bachelet.
