Baby Squid
Credit: Celeste Nelson (faculty) Department of Chemical Engineering
Mosaic
Photo and caption by Andrey Narchuk
Patterns of sea stars as exquisite mosaics, attractive, and each time is differen
Glass frog
Germany
The see-through skin of an inch-long glass frog reveals her eggs. Native to Venezuela, the frogs lay eggs in bushes and trees overhanging streams. Tadpoles hatch, then tumble into the current to be swept away. (Heidi and Hans-Jurgen Koch)
Banded toadfish
Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia
A banded toadfish hides among the coral on 185-mile-long (298 kilometers) Ningaloo Reef. Branching skin growths help camouflage the foot-long (0.3 meter) fish from both predator and prey. (Takako Uno)
The Otherworldy Flora and Fauna of the Coral Triangle
1. Mantis Shrimp
Stretching from Indonesia to the Philippine Islands, the Coral Triangle is home to a vast array of coral species and fish life.
2. Coral Polyps
Roughly 1.5 billion acres in size, the region is home to more than 75% of the world’s coral global species.
3. Organ-Pipe Coral
Like several other biodiverse marine regions, the area is under threat from overfishing and higher water temperatures that interfere with the coral’s life cycles.
4. Denise’s Pygmy Seahorse
The reef also features the highest diversity of coral reef fishes in the world.
(Source: TIME)
Bull elephant
Zambia
A lone bull elephant breakfasts at first light near the precipice of Victoria Falls. With the Zambezi River near its seasonal ebb, once submerged walkways—and fresh foraging possibilities—present themselves. (Marsel van Oosten)
Dew-covered insects sparkle in stunning photos
Photographer Miroslaw Swietek captures amazing images of dew-covered insects using macro photography to reveal the dazzling life on Earth.
(Source: photo.net)
Larval Octopus
Addicted to Pollen
Photograph by Dino Martins
Among the most important and straightforward love affairs in nature are those between bees and flowers. Bees visit flowers and get dusted with pollen as they forage. They carry the pollen around, pollinating other flowers, and in the process make the world go round. Flowers vary from open and accessible to complex contraptions that bees have to learn to operate.
Here is a beautiful leaf-cutter bee (Gronocera) in Western Kenya visiting the flower of a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia).
In a New Vein
New Amphibians Without Arms or Legs Discovered
Photograph courtesy S.D. Biju
The embryo of a newly discovered caecilian species, Chikila fulleri, is revealed in microscopic detail inside its translucent egg.
Also visible is the embryo’s white yolk supply, which provides the legless amphibian enough nourishment to emerge from its egg as a miniature adult (most amphibians go through a tadpole-like, swimming stage in their early development).
Some young caecilians are known to feast on their mother’s skin after hatching. Such behavior has yet to be observed in the newfound Indian species, however.
Sand Trap
Photograph by Ramón Domínguez, DEEP Indonesia/Barcroft/Fame Pictures
Titled “Underwater Sadness,” a photograph of a sea turtle caught in a net in the Sea of Cortez (see map) won third place in the “Environment and Conservation” category.
Six of the seven known sea turtle species are listed as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. (See more sea turtle pictures.)
Fifteen percent of the Deep Indonesia contest’s proceeds will be donated to marine-conservation efforts.
He received a downvote *
Specimen: Nycteribia sp. (parasite of bat) (20x)
PHO.N.E Photo Agency - Paris, France, Technique: Darkfield
Maddie On Things: A Project About Dogs & Physics
Maddie the Coonhound is an ongoing daily photo project by Atlanta-based photographer Theron Humphrey who’s traveling to all 50 states, dog in tow, over the next year. See Maddie deftly balance atop nation park signs, tractor trailers, tires, mailboxes and other roadside attractions on the Maddie the Coonhound Tumblr. Prints available here. Despite my best efforts my dog would be found on exactly none of these things. (via swiss miss)
