Ocean's Cry

Please enjoy these pictures of the amazing ocean world that cohabitates with ours. My dream is to become a Marine Biologist and I want to show people how important it is to protect this amazing marine life. I hope you like these pictures and gifs. I get most of my pictures from National Geographic and NRDC :)

[sciteachers]

Blue dragon nudibranch (Glaucus atlanticus)

In Asian mythology dragons are often associated with water, and there are many sea animals that are named accordingly.

The blue dragon nudibranch is a kind of sea slug. Specimens have been found washed up on the shores of Australia, Africa and the south-east US, and recently they have been appearing along the eastern coast of India.

Rather than flying, this marine dragon floats on its back wherever the wind takes it. It travels on the surface tension of the water, using a bubble of air in its stomach for buoyancy. It evades predators by appearing silver to fish below and blue to birds above.

Up to 84 finger-like ‘cerata’ grow out from the sea slug’s body in feathery, wing-like projections. They contain weapons taken from the sea slug’s prey – the infamous Portugese Man o'War. This creature’s tentacles contain stinging cells that paralyse fish and deliver searing pain to unwary swimmers. The blue dragon eats the tentacles, and transfers the stinging cells to specialised pouches for its own defence. 

(Source)

For teaching: Marine science

[futurismnews]

Blue Whales: Meet the Largest Creatures On Earth

Blue whales aren’t just the largest creatures living today. They are believed to be the largest animals in all of Earth’s history… http://bit.ly/1JKjqBe

EDIT: If anyone is wondering, The image is from an interactive feature. I just used it to show how big whales are compared to humans. On the interactive feature, you can select any one of those things from the bottom to see how they compare to whales. You can see the interactive feature here http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/blue-whale-interactive/

The image confused a great many people over at Facebook, so I thought I’d clarify. -Jolene

[tabletopwhale-deactivated201910]

I made a chart of some bioluminescent species! Full image on my blog Tabletop Whale.  You can also get the poster here if you like this :)

[nubbsgalore]

the bioluminescent noctiluca scintillans – an algae known otherwise as sea sparkle – of australia’s jervis bay. photos by (click pic) andy hutchinson, joanne paquette and naomi paquette. see also: more bioluminescence posts)

[trynottodrown]

Crustacean Types | David Parker

[trynottodrown]

Shaggy Mouse Nudibranch | Science Photo Library

[thewightknight]

Barnacles at low tide by dbvictoria

[breathinginbiology]

Phylum: Echinodermata

Class: Crinoidea

Feather stars are some of the most delicate and primitive Echinoderms. They are suspension feeders and they transport their food by their suckerless tube feet. They have a water vascular system and are free-swimming. 

[trynottodrown]

Nudibranch | Georgette Douwma

[castillophotography]

Phacellophora is becoming my favorite species :) - castillophotography

[breathinginbiology]

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Polyplacophora

Chitons are marine molluscs that typically live on tidal rocks. They have a shell with eight plates but no head. Like gastropods, they have a radula which they use to scrape algae off of rocks for food. 

[montereybayaquarium]

Big Foot of the Sea

It’s all about the foot for this marine snail. The abalone uses this muscular appendage to cling to a rock and wait for kelp to float by, or use it to slide across sand in search of seaweed. Once it finds its food, it uses its foot to clamp down on the kelp then munches on the seaweed with its radula – a rough tongue with many small teeth.

Have you ever seen an abalone eat kelp? You’d be surprised at how quickly they finish off fronds. Schoolchildren can feed abalone in the Discovery Labs at the Aquarium, and we love to see how the kids’ faces light up with surprise when they watch abalone polish off kelp like they were potato chips.

The abalone also uses its foot for a fast getaway. Yes, fast. If it’s touched by a sea star, it twists its shell violently to dislodge the intruder and then gallops off! (Abalone style.)

The Foot as Food

An abalone’s foot is also prized as human food. The red abalone (Haliotis refescens), pictured here, is the largest and most common abalone found off northern California (although its full range is from Baja California north to British Columbia). It is the only species of abalone still legally harvested here – on a highly restricted basis – and poachers are heavily fined.

The destruction of most wild populations has made abalone farming a booming business. Unlike some aquaculture practices, growing abalone has little environmental impact because they eat fast-growing kelp.  Abalone farmed in land- or sea-based enclosures (except from China and Japan) is a Seafood Watch “Best Choice.”

Learn more about this edible marine gastropod.

You can see and feel abalone in the touch pools in the Ocean’s Edge galleries. And keep a sharp eye out for abalone stuck to rocks in such other exhibits as the Kelp Forest and Monterey Bay Habitats.

Our thanks to National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore for the wonderful images of our animals that he created for his PhotoArk project.

[trynottodrown]

Anemone | Rico Besserdich

[cetacea]

Orca Breach (by chasedekker)

[finding-things-out-blog]

Cephea is a genus of true jellyfish in the family Cepheidae. They are found in the Indo-Pacific and East Atlantic. They are sometimes called crown jellyfish, but this can cause confusion with the closely related genus Netrostoma or the distantly related species in the order Coronatae.

[sparklysloth-blog]

a lovely ✿ jellyfish in a bottle tutorial by bhoomplay ✿ that is a truly stellar alternative/addition to the ✿ glitter jar ✿ that i’ve seen floating around tumblr. i’m sure you can combine both recipes to make your jellyfish float around a sleepy celestial dream as well ~ these are great for anti-anxiety; simply shake em around if you’re feeling anxious/manic/etc and just observe the sparklyness until the glitter begins to settle, sort of like a timer or something to simply distract you :)

[iamsolostatsea-deactivated20200]

So who wants to buy me him?? 😍 he’s SO PRETTY IF IT EVEN IS A HE IDK BUT I DON’T WANT TO LEAVE THE STORE WITHOUT HIM.