Fauna Fabula: Unreal Animals in the Real World

oceanportal:

Sea butterflies, a group of swimming sea snails, are canaries in the coal mine for the ocean. Delicately beautiful and highly sensitive to the changing oceans, these tiny creatures—most smaller than a pinky nail!—present a unique way to gauge climate. One-quarter of the carbon dioxide we release into the atmosphere dissolves into the ocean, which makes the water more acidic and makes it more difficult for these animals to build their own shells.

Scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History are studying them to learn how ocean acidification will affect a wide array of ocean animals. Read our article at Smithsonian Magazine about the animals and scientists studying them—with stunning photos.

All photos © Karen Osborn (Smithsonian biologist)

tr1ple-sp1ral:

choonimal:

Peter Lipton

look at this excellent post

(via aspidelaps)

(Source: setsofnine, via tiny-forest)

Atretochoana eiselti

Atretochoana eiselti is a species of caecilian known only from two preserved specimens until its 2011 discovery in Brazil. 

Biologists discovered six of the unusual-looking creatures - each about a metre long - at the bottom of the river-bed on the Madeira river in Rondonia, in Brazil. It is actually more closely related to salamanders and frogs, but appearance-wise looks more like a snake.

Biologist Julian Tupan, who works for Santo Antonio Energy - the company which constructed the dam - said: ‘Of the six we collected, one died, three were released back into the wild and another two were kept for studies.

‘Despite looking like snakes, they aren’t reptiles and are more closely related to salamanders and frogs.

Mr Tupan added: ‘We think the animal breathes through its skin, and probably feeds on small fish and worms, but there is still nothing proven.

(Source: Daily Mail)

adrifts:

If you are terrified of snakes then I suppose this beautiful Serpents series by Paris based artist Guido Mocafico isn’t really your cup of tea. 

mad-as-a-marine-biologist:

natureofnature:

<3

 Ctenophore [Phyla] also known as comb jellies. Their most distinctive feature is the “combs”, groups of cilia they use for swimming, and they are the largest animals that swim by means of cilia – adults of various species range from a few millimeters to 1.5 meters (59 in) in size. Like cnidarians, their bodies consist of a mass of jelly, with one layer of cells on the outside and another lining the internal cavity.