#annelids

[polychaete-of-the-day]

Today we have some absolutely incredible photos of a gossamer worm, Tomopteris sp.

Photo Fraser Higgins

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

The Sea Mouse: this marine worm's body is fringed by photonic crystals that emit colorful displays of light

The scientific name of this species is Aphrodita aculeata, which is a reference to the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. It's also known as a sea mouse, thanks to its fluffy, almost mammalian appearance, but it's actually a type of marine worm.

Above: the photonic crystals have a color-shifting effect that makes them look almost like fiber-optic threads

The sea mouse is equipped with tufts of hollow, glassy bristles that produce a vibrant iridescence; these structures are known as photonic crystals, and Aphrodita aculeata is one of the few living organisms that is known to produce them.

Above: Aphrodita aculeata

This article explains how the colorful effect is produced:

Each sea mouse is covered in a dense felt of bristles that keep silty sediments away from the gills. But these "hairs" aren't hairs at all. The structures, known as chaetae, are actually modified scales, made largely of chitin, the same material that gives insects like jewel beetles their iridescence. 

Each spine is essentially a hollow tube, and the wall of that tube contains 88 perfectly hexagonal chitin cylinders. Acting together, these cylinders form what is known as a "complete spectrum photonic crystal", the first-ever documented in a living organism. Photonic crystals are nanostructures that affect the motion of light travelling through them, and the sea mouse's crystalline spines are the most efficient in nature. 

Above: close-ups of the iridescent bristles

According to the same article:

As light hits the system of chitin tubes at different angles, it is spilt, scrambled and bounced back, producing the ever-changing rainbow you see. Light that comes in perpendicular to the spine reflects a deep red. Light coming in from off-axis angles, however, results in brilliant blues and greens.

Amazingly, the spines' ability to bend light surpasses even the most brilliant non-living photonic crystal we know of, the fire opal.

Above: the underbelly of a sea mouse, with a close-up of the "feet" (parapodia) along the sides of each body segment

The purpose of this colorful display is still unclear. Many researchers believe that it is used to deter predators, while others argue that it might help to obscure the sea mouse's silhouette as it moves along the bottom of the sea, making it harder for predators to pinpoint the exact location of its body.

Above: the photonic crystals shimmering as the sea mouse moves around

The genus Aphrodita contains several other species that are commonly known as sea mice, but Aphrodita aculeata is the only one that can produce this iridescence.

Above: the colorful effect is more vibrant when viewed underwater, but it's still visible even on land

Aphrodita aculeata has an average length of about 7-15cm, and it can be found in certain parts of the North Atlantic, the North Sea, the Baltic, the Arctic, and the Mediterranean.

Sources & More Info:

Marine Life Information Network: Aphrodita aculeata

BBC Wildlife: The Sea Mouse is a Psychedelic Fuzz of Fur and Spine, and a Master of Photonic Communications

Acta Zoologica: Hairy and Iridescent Chaetae of the Sea Mouse

The Wildlife Trusts: Sea Mouse

Earth Touch News Network: This Rainbow Wonder is One of the World's Weirdest Worms

The Quekett Microscopial Club: Sea Mouse Hairs

BBC: Sea Mouse Promises Bright Future

[snototter]

A fried eggs worm (Archipheretima middletoni) in Aurora, the Philippines

by Chien C. Lee

[misidentifying-animals-in-posts]

I'm living in a region with a high encephalitis risk so I'm worried a bit

European medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis) taking a blood sample. Don't worry, all individuals of this species are licensed doctors :)

[patheticmosasaur1]

today's invertebrate..........protodrilus

protodrilus is exactly the worm you want to hire if you ever want to start some kind of evil lab or unethical psychological experiment! they have experience with all flavours of pain and torment and have went through every known torture method!!

...except for the ones that cause physical and mental harm of course

glorpiness rating: beating up homunc

video by Maikon Di Domenico (CC BY-NC-SA)

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

Though there is quite a bit of debate about the largest species of leech, the Amazon giant leech is certainly at the top of the running! At up to 45 cm (17.7 in) in length, this species is of particular important to scientists, as it was declared extinct in 1893 and only rediscovered in 1970. Several specimens were caught for captive breeding, and one (dubbed Grandma Moses) managed to produce over 750 offspring!

(Image: An Amazon giant leech (Haementeria ghilianii) being held by Dr. Roy Sawyer; photo by Timothy Branning)

[dinoserious]

invertober 10, common earthworm. pattern funtimes \o/

[adragonsoulart-blog]

🪱 Pet & Punk Worms!🪱

Ohhhh man I have been DYING to share these online since I made them.

Can get these patches on my shop!

These are my first 2 block prints, I'll explain what that means and how it works below the cut! 🪱

Ok, So, as one would guess two block means the obvious, I have two block that I carved for each. One for the color and one for the line-art.

By now you probably have noticed the little squares on the block. These are what I use to line up the prints!

Originally I was planning on inking the squares and carefully placing tape onto the ink spots so that when it came for the second color I could just line up the blocks with the marks.

Well this was too tedious.

So my next idea was to cut out a peice of cardboard the exact size of the block and just place that as like a template.

That also didn't work well...

What I ultimately ended up settling on was using little thin bits of tape to mark out the edges of those squares and then using them to line up the squares for the next print.

This honestly worked really well.

I'd pre-cut a bunch of little strips and then just go to town printing these :)

Took all the tape off as I was hanging them up to try!

(one little note if you want to try how I did it, you don't need to make the squares so far away. That was originally for my template idea I think...)

In case you are curious about how I made the designs themselves, I just drew a bunch of worms with collars with a marker in my sketch book. Picked my favorites, brought them into Clip Studio Paint for some clean up AND more importantly to line things up. Printed those out. Traced them with a pencil onto tracing paper. Rubbed the graphite from the tracing paper onto the block, and retraced that again before carving it.

I originally wasn't going to make these multicolored blocks but after playing with it digitally my friends encouraged me to do so, thank you ❤️❤️🪱❤️❤️