Latest Posts by invertebabe - Page 2

Moved to Washington and re entering my tumblr phase

Ok y’all brace yourselves cuz I just learned about a new animal

Yes, that is an animal. Yes, scientists refer to it as the purple sock worm. No, that’s not it’s real name, silly, it’s real name is Xenoturbella!

When these deep-sea socks were first discovered, no one knew what the fuck they were looking at (and, really, can you blame them?). They have no eyes, brains, or digestive tracts. They are literally just a bag of wet slop. DNA analysis initially seemed to indicate that they were related to mollusks, until the scientists realized that DNA sample was from the clams they had recently eaten (yes, they can eat with no organs. We don’t know how.)

Scientists then analyzed the data again and tentatively placed them in the group that includes acorn worms, saying that their ancestors probably had eyes, brains, and organs, but simplified as a response to their deep sea ecosystems.

Later DNA testing has since shown that they are their own thing! Xenoturbella, along with another simple and problematic to place creature called acoelomorphs, belong to their own phylum called Xenacelomorpha! This places them as the sister group to all bilateral animals. So, they just never evolved brains, eyes, or organs. They are a glimpse at a very primitive form of animal that never bothered to change, because apparently what they do works. Rock on, purple sock worm.

Meet the glass squids 🦑

Glass squids live in the boundless waters of the twilight zone. With no protective shell and nowhere to hide, they have to get creative.

Glass squids use an invisibility cloak to stay safe in these dark waters. Like other cephalopods, they are covered in tiny pigment sacs called chromatophores. When their chromatophores are closed, their skin is basically see-through.

When their cover is blown, they expand their chromatophores to darken their appearance. Or they might simply ink and jet away!

Glass squids also have special light organs that mask the shadow of their more opaque body parts. This helps them maintain their cloak of invisibility and hide from both predators and prey.

But the future of all midwater animals is in jeopardy. The deep seafloor contains many precious minerals critical to modern technologies—like the batteries in your phone. Mining these metals will release plumes of wastewater that will cloud the ocean's twilight zone.

We urgently need to identify the impacts deep-sea mining will have across all ocean habitats, from the midwater to the seafloor.

Help protect the glass squid by sharing what you've learned. Together we can build a community of ocean champions!

Learn more about this and other fascinating animals of the deep on our website.

Daily fish fact #519

Handfish!

They're anglerfish which have adapted to using their pectoral fins as legs, using them to walk on the seafloor instead of swimming!

in my graduate school marine lab era

i love you gar.... my best friend gar

“the horrifying creatures of the deep ocean” to YOU. I’m holding their fins. I’m petting them on the head. we’re making seaweed crowns and watching the marine snow go by

The Bigfin Reef Squid, or Sepioteuthis lessoniana, otherwise known as the squid in animal crossing.

They’re widely distributed throughout the info-pacific. We know more about them than any other squid because they are so easy to observe! They live in shallow water, mate during the day, and eat more at night. Making them the perfect study species.

Plus they’re so angry and cute how can you not love them? Pulling up on a dozen of these cuties out in the wild is 100% a dream I’ve had since I was a child

It’s time for spoods.

12 spoods from my backyard and other places around my neighborhood.

Prints here

Greetings, chordate comrades.

I’m attempting to export yet another culture we’ve had for the past few years on the dying birdsite. Basically three times a year we’d use the hashtag #InverteFest to post unsolicited bug and slug pics and YELL ABOUT HOW MUCH WE LOVE THEM.

It could be pics from your garden, OCs, doodles, shitposts, crab memes, whatever. Just remember this is strictly a NO BONE ZONE.

But if you’re going out and feeling like contributing to community science, we have a project on iNaturalist for you to join.

See you in late December.

reblog to give your mutuals a BLÅHAJ

Loligo pealeii

go mentally deranged yeh. go brainless yeh. go wacky. go positively bonkers yeh. go mad bruv. lose ya marbles yeh. go foolish

Deep Sea Threadfin Snailfish 🖤

These beauties live in depths of 1,080 - 2,365 m or 3,543 - 7,759 ft, although there have been some viewings of them above and below these parameters.

They are found in the Arctic, northeastern Atlantic, and northern Pacific oceans and grow to be about 31 cm or 12 in!

I'm a squid biologist on a mission. To teach everyone about squid.

Even you.

Especially you.

Want squid facts? I have you covered. I have a squid facts hotline, 1-833-SCI-TEXT. Text SQUID to that number (1-833-724-8398), and it'll send you squid facts aplenty.

I have even created an advent calendar for you to learn squid facts throughout December. It's an 11 by 14 inch scratchy lottery, but instead of taking a chance at winning money, you are guaranteed to learn about squid.

I have a street art campaign to bring squid facts to the people. You might see wheatpastes (like the squid below) if you live in Philly, Boston, Austin, or New York, or stickers if you live in hundreds of other cities and towns across North America.

When you buy a calendar, you're supporting my undying mission to bring squid to everyone. Did you know that squid have donut shaped brains? That their class, cephalopods, have been on earth for longer than TREES? That scientists estimate that there are literally millions of giant squid living in the deep sea?

People deserve to know about squid. Help me spread the word.

I POSTED THE GIF AND SOMEBODY SAID IT NEEDS THE KOTH THEME OVER IT AND I'M FUCKING WHEEZING HOLY SHIT

Deep Sea Beauties

Hey look at this fucking bug

Oh! An African Woolly Chafer, I love how fluffy they are!

top 10 spooky and scary fish

happy fishy-ween everyone! these are 10 of the spookiest fish (in my opinion) although i love all fish equally so please dont take this too seriously!

10. Angler fish

A classic. Probably the first thing most people think of when you mention spooky fish. Wonderfully girlboss.

9. Gluper eel/pelican eel

look at this guy! he's so happy and smiley :))) It's lower jaw is roughly a quater of it's body length!

8. Barreleye fish

This guy is truly no thoughts head empty, my idol. Scientists speculate that it's fins are well adapted for avoiding the stinging tentacles of siphonophores.

7. the harp sponge

you might say, "eddie, why the fuck is a sponge on this list! its a sponge how the hell is it spooky?" WELL this guy is carnivorous! Sponges usually eat bacteria and other floaty things but this guy eats crustaceans of all things. Imagine you're a tiny crab and you get eaten by this!! i'd be terrified!

6. Goblin shark

this guy is also a classic spooky fish in my opinion. Love this guy! Its long nose has electrical receptors which detect the electric currents of its prey

5. Snail fish

i've included this one entirely out of pity. look at him and pretend to shake in terror so you dont upset him.

4. crown of thorns starfish

Crown of thorns starfish eat coral and phtoplankton. phytoplankton aren't common in coral reefs usually, however their numbers increase due to increasing pollutants and fertiliser run off. These starfish can cause devastation on coral reefs and this is only increasing. i'd say ecosystem destruction is pretty damn scary.

3. candiru

candiru or vampire fish are the fleas and mosquitos of the fish world. They bury themselves in the fishs' gills and use little barbs to stay in.

while i was researching this fish i found a singular story of this guy swimming up a man's ureathra in 1997 however this was subject to controversy.

2. cone snail

those who have watched the octonauts will be familiar with this guy. The cone snail is a predatory snail that use a harpoon-like projectile to subdue their prey. Should also point out that this is venomous as well. The octonauts episode that introduced this guy made baby eddie genuinely terrified. Also, some of the larger species of cone snail eat fish, and their venom can be fatal to humans.

1. Magnapinna squid

i saved this guy for first spot because i love him so much <3 i think he deserves top spot on this list. So far we have only discovered juvinille samples and there have been fewer than 15 sightings. We know basically nothing about them including what their funky tentacles are for (although it is suspected they are related to feeding)

Thank you for reading this far! hope you enjoyed learning about horrors beyond your comprehension, enjoy your spooky day

Tumblr should appreciate Two Crabs by Vincent Van Gogh more

It's two crabs, whats not to love

LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO

Designed these bad boys and they’re finally going out into the real world !!!

Presenting the latest in squid fact technology...

The Squid Facts Advent Calendar!

It's the scratchy lottery of holiday season squid facts

Enjoy 24 days of squid facts leading up to the birth of our lord. If he's not your lord, who cares. It's about the festive facts, people.

Get one here

It supports squid facts <コ:彡

beetles! ✨

Ocean Creatures Leftovers

x l x l x

x l x l x

x l x l x

Blanket octopus (Joseph Elayani)

Daily fish fact #278

Barreleyes!

They have barrel-shaped tubular eyes, which are enclosed inside their head under a layer of transparent soft tissue! They use their peculiar eyes to look for prey that might be floating directly above them; they live deep underwater just at the edge of where light penetration ends, but thanks to their eyes with a large number of rods (a type of photoreceptor) they can see very well into the waters above.

water creatures for your eyes

Shoutout to deep sea cephalopods

gotta be one of my favorite genders