Science Art: Cyamus boopis, Lütken, 1895.
Cyamis boopis is one of the cyamidae better known as a whale louse. This particular species is from Scandinavia, as illustrated in the book An […]
marine biology
Gigantic, ghostly crustaceans could live over half the ocean floor.
New Scientist plumbs the depths in search of foot-long white shrimp-like creatures that might be one of the most populous creatures on the bottom of […]
Science Art: Portuguese Man-Of-War, Tongued Sarsia, by Philip Henry Gosse
This image comes from Philip Henry Gosse’s A Year at the Shore, specifically, the month of October. (The year isn’t specified, but the book was […]
Science Art: Periophthalmus koelreuteri, 1942.
This is a mudskipper who is being drawn here solely for the qualities of its bulbous, beautiful eyes. The illustration is from page 453 of […]
Krill sniff penguin poop
And, says National Geographic, it makes them take evasive maneuvers, ready to dodge their Antarctic predators: In Antarctica’s Palmer Station lab, scientists put wild-caught krill […]
The pigbutt worm: a marine mystery.
National Geographic marvels at a recently discovered sea creature named, due to its bizarrely voluptuous curves and clefts, the pigbutt worm: Such was the case […]
Whalesong is structured like a language.
Astrobiology reports on a cross-disciplinary study that has found that the song of humpback whales has the same distinct mathematical structure as a human language: […]
Robot manta is faster than ever – and smooth.
NC State researchers have used the mighty manta ray as a moving inspiration to design their fastest-yet swimming soft robot: “Two years ago, we demonstrated […]
Cute crustacean named after a brewery (with a briny beer).
The Guardian has news from New Zealand, where marine biologists have just discovered a new species of isopod, and decided the publicize the little critter’s […]
Science Art: Ophiactis tricolor: a, arboral view; b, oral view of holotype.
These are brittle stars, photographed in the 1920s for the Records of the South Australia Museum. These specific ones are from “Dr. Verco’s collection in […]
A lonely dolphin keeps shouting into the Baltic
Popular Science shares the story of a solo 17-year-old bottlenose dolphin, dubbed “Delle,” who has been spotted off the coast of Denmark for five years, […]
Two creatures can become one.
Science Daily reports on simple organisms called “comb jellies” (a.k.a. “ctenophores”) that have a weird way to overcome physical trauma. If two or more of […]
Fish legs taste the sea floor.
Science Daily goes deep (well, a little deep) on sea robins, the fish known for having little legs they use to scurry across the ocean […]
Science Art: Sagitta atlantica and Sagitta equatoria, 1922.
These are illustrations from “Notes on Species of Sagitta Collected on a Voyage from England to Australia” by B.B. Gray, as published in The Proceedings […]
White whales talk with their foreheads.
Scientific American listens in on beluga conversations, thanks to a new dictionary that itemizes the “words” formed by their squishy, shape-able forehead “melons” to let […]