lifeofafuturemarinebiologist:

nature-gifs:

Ted talks

Sea urchin! * A *

(via blamoscience)

rhamphotheca:

A cool new way climate change is killing bivalves

By Susie Cagle

We already know that carbon-dioxide-filled, acidic ocean water is no-good, very-bad news for mussels and other underwater shelled creatures, causing their shells to dissolve. But, as these things so often go, it turns out that climate change is even worse for bivalves than we thought: It’s unleashing an awkward kind of anti-puberty on them. They’re growing smaller and weaker, and now we find out that they’re basically losing their hair.

New research published in the journal Nature shows that mussels’ proteinaceuous byssal threads — the little stringy bits that allow them to stick their bodies on stuff — are particularly susceptible to ocean acidification. The researchers found mussels’ little stringy bits were 40 percent weaker when exposed to elevated CO2 levels, even when their shell strength and tissue growth weren’t affected…

(read more: Grist.org)                       (photo: Sapphire/Flutterby)

wnycradiolab:

More great illustrations from Die Cephalopoden by Carl Chun 

You can read the whole thing on archive.org (and if you don’t read German, you have our permission to skip to the pictures).

(via rhamphotheca)

rhamphotheca:

Giant Sea Cucumber Eats With Its Anus

by Carrie Arnold

Most kindergarteners can tell you that an animal eats with its mouth, not its butt.

One species of sea cucumber, however, didn’t appear to get the memo: Scientists have discovered that the giant California sea cucumber (Parastichopus californicus) actually uses its anus as a second mouth.

Scientists already knew that the marine invertebrate, which lives in the shallow ocean waters off the Pacific coast of North America, breathes with its butt. Because they don’t have lungs, sea cucumbers rely on respiratory trees, a set of long tubes running down either side of the body with a lot of different branches. P. californicus is shaped like a hollow tube, with a mouth at one end and its anus at the other.

The respiratory trees receive oxygen when water is pumped through their anus using the muscles of their cloaca, an opening at the end of the intestinal tract.The 20 in. long  (50-cm-long) animal is no slouch: It can pump 3.5 to 4 cups of water per hour through its anus, transferring the oxygen from the water into its respiratory trees, which then oxygenates its cells…

(read more: National Geographic) 

(photos: T - Gary Hughes, Your Shot; BL - Lois Booth, My Shot; BR - Gerald and Buff Corsi, Visuals Unlimited/Getty Images)

Painted Protoreaster (at Fish & Co.™)

astronomy-to-zoology:

A Gastropod using it’s Radula (A structure that some molluscs use to rake/scrape things into their mouth).

video source

(via mad-as-a-marine-biologist)

rhamphotheca:

prehistoric ocean scene  by bluest_girl | Flickr

(Source: adding)

rhamphotheca:

Echinus tylodes

is a species of sea urchin in the family Echinidae. It is white with rather sparse pink spines and is endemic to the eastern coast of North America including the Gulf of Mexico. E. tylodes has a sub-globular test that is about two thirds as high as it is wide and grows to a diameter of 10 cm (4 in).

It is often found around deep-water corals, sitting on the coral branches or around coral mounds among the remains of dead corals. Examination of the gut contents of this species showed small shells and the skeletons of hydroids…

(read more: Wikipedia)              (photo: Dr. Steve Ross, NOAA/UNC)

montereybayaquarium:

Brainy? Beautiful? What words would you use to describe the giant Pacific octopus? Thanks to ©Charlene Boarts for this great photo of a current resident!

Learn more about the giant Pacific octopus.

ody-ssea:

stellar-indulgence:

Beautiful Photography Featuring Sea Slugs and Flat Worms

1. Persian Carpet Flatworm - Tanya G. Burnett
2. Nudibranch - Richardo Araujo
3. Ardeadoris Nudibranch - i8ashark on Flickr
4. Lettuce Sea Slug - Stan Bysshe
5. Thuridilla Splendens - Linda Ianniello
6. Yellow Papillae Flatworm - Brian Mayes

obsessed