somewhere beyond the sea

my silly lil side blog about some of my favorite things: our oceans, rivers, lakes, and all their critters!

[echinoderm-of-the-day]

Whilst this may appear to be some sort of art work composed solely of frisbees, it is in fact today’s echinoderm - Dendraster excentricus, commonly known as the eccentric sand dollar or the sea cake.

Image source: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/145839714

[bogleech]

Its just. So fucking wonderful that an animal can just be a hairy disk. I've known all about them all my life and they just don't ever get boring. I saw them alive in person for the first time just in august at monterey bay.

And that hairy disk is more a cousin to us backbone havers than the vast majority of animal life. Squids and insects and various worms have eyes and brains and limbs like we would recognize but they are all more distant to us than the little faceless crunchy biscuit that sits in the sand on its side and eats seawater.

[valtsv]

i like sailing myths and superstitions because most of them can be boiled down to "if the ocean doesn't like you it will chew you up and spit out your bones. and if it really loves you it will swallow you whole and keep you forever. good luck 👍"

[valtsv]

[notemily]

best use of the underwater filter on this app

[ltwilliammowett]

This video depicts a moment that is nearly impossible to observe: a sperm whale surfacing with a giant squid clenched between its teeth. These predators hunt at depths exceeding 800 meters, where light does not penetrate, and only biosonar directs the pursuit. Consequently, clear surface images are exceedingly rare.

🎬: @lud_adventure

[strawbeary-moonlight]

This is, factually, the first footage of this that we have ever gotten. This has never been observed by a human being before in recorded history. The only reason we knew these whales ate those squids before was the beaks of the squids found in the stomachs of dead whales, and the battle scars on whales consistent with fighting giant squids.

My favorite thing about this clip is that, in the original uncropped footage, you can see her calf is right beside her, ascending from the depths along with her. Whale calves don't dive until they're taught by their mothers. It is very likely that this footage is of a mother whale teaching her calf to hunt on one of its very first dives.

When I saw this footage for the first time, I cried a little tbh.

[isaacsapphire]

Arising from the inky depths with a delicious giant squid snack… with mama.

[fleshdyk3]

genuinely in tears over this fucking video

[animentality]

[teaboot]

These are Fire Type and Plant Type Pokémon

[loversbones]

^ for the unaware

[kushblazer666]

[escuerzoresucitado]

[liquidstar]

Thank god finally

[liquidstar]

Why is every single one of you tagging this saying "oh just like horseshoe crabs" why the hell do you all know how horseshoe crabs mate off the top of your heads?

[liquidstar]

What the fuck do you mean "because of the lesbian horseshoe crabs"

[ekayaiko]

"cuttlefish feeding" (source)

[weloveshortvideos]

when a baby is crying in the background and you use slow it down on snapchat

[shiz-ko-e-deactivated20181215]

FUCK

[shiz-ko-e-deactivated20181215]

why does this always make me hysterical oh my fucking god

[shopcat]

look at this wonderful gif of scallops getting scared and scattering like a flock pigeons

[elioftheasphodel]

whatever. go my scallops

[blbearslove]

[fatsexybitch]

Largest self portrait in the world

[dude-the-ancient-dragon]

Because you guys don't remember the classics

[atlastic-ocean]

the lettuce sea slug, elysia crispata

[selfundiagnosed]

[savahnahhallow]

Unrestrained summer fun

[nattousan]

* crazy tire-screeching noises*

[foil-flingza-roller-deactivated]

i think the world is ready to see this one :)

[headspace-hotel]

[headspace-hotel]

I checked the date on the original post and it's December 11, 2021. That was the day after I came home from college, immediately after the semester where I had a breakdown that collapsed my health into chaos and dissolved my identity and goals.

This post is me at rock bottom, and that makes it so much funnier