(submission from sbutterworth)
edit from ohscience: Nat Geo says: “Coral polyps can reproduce asexually, forming cloned buds that separate from the “parent.” They can also release sperm and eggs into the ocean. Fertilized eggs develop into larva, which float off to start a new colony.”
A new species of crab, called the yeti crab for the bristles covering its arms, was discovered off the coast of Costa Rica. The yeti crab cultivates gardens of bacteria on its claws as its main food source, occasionally waving its arms to stir up the water around the bacteria and therefore ensure its gardens always have fresh supplies of oxygen and sulphide.
(thanks, kathykit13, for the link to this article!)
This is the source, not my original picture. But this is a Barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma). His head is transparent and the eyes are inside the transparent part so he can look straight up.
submission from nuclear-noelle
Tube Anemone (Order: Ceriantharia) by mad-as-a-marine-biologist
Tube-dwelling anemones are not in fact ‘anemones’ but different subclass of anthozoans. They are solitary, living buried in soft sediments. Tube anemones construct their tubes out of a fibrous material that is secreted from mucus and threads of nematocyst-like organelles.
(submission from mad-as-a-marine-biologist)
Velella velella is a species of hydrozoans that lives on ocean surfaces. It is also known as the by-the-wind sailor or the purple sail for their small sails that catch the wind and move them across the water.
70% of the oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere comes from the algae that tint the surface of the ocean.
This is a Lined Chiton (Tonicella lineata). This picture was taken at about 50 feet depth on the west side of Whidbey Island, Washington.
Porites lobata (lobe coral), live specimen displaying tissue pigmentation response with red fluorescence (12X) (via Nikon Small World - 2011 - James H. Nicholson)
A big barrel sponge filters the crystalline water near a coral bridge in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea.
A school of juvenile marine catfish masses over the sandy bottom of Suruga Bay off Japan’s Izu Peninsula.
