Antlion

Image: Larah McElroy

Grrrr! Snarl! It's the Antlion! An insect who's infamy is matched only by its own murderous ingenuity. Yet it's just a baby and, like some emotionally damaged child actor, no-one cares about them once they reach adulthood.

Hairy Octopus

You'll NEVER guess what a Hairy Octopus is! Go on, try!

Nope.

Nope.

No! Although Dr. Octopus: The Hippie Years sounds like a great idea to me.

Give up?

Hairy Sea Hare

Image: DuPont, Anne
Bursatella leachii

Hares are usually hairy. But slugs?

Four-eyed Fish

Image: petechar
Anableps sp.

FOUR-EYES!

That's what mean people used to call their bespectacled chums back before geeks and nerds took over the world. I doubt they'd say that if they came across a guy who really, ACTUALLY had four eyes. They'd probably say something like "look at that guy! He has four eyes!" And all his friends would think he meant someone was wearing glasses and they'd wonder what all the fuss was about.

Wandering Leg Sausauge

Crurifarcimen vagans

It's a MILLIPEDE! I know it sounds like an innuendo from Sex and the City or whatever they're watching these days, but it's a millipede.

I looked it up and it turns out Sex and the City finished almost 10 years ago, not including the films. I can't believe it! I'm so out of touch! Although that particular programme is just one degree of separation from both Star Trek and Columbo, so that's good enough for me.

Sponge Isopod

Image: liquidgurur

Sponge Isopods! Teeny, tiny, creepy, crawly Sponge Isopods!

Green Lacewing

Image: Stephen Ausmus

Ah! The ubiquitous and rather beautiful Green Lacewing! If you ever leave the light on at night, you will probably see this lovely sliver of green fluttering around. But did you think of the children? The beastly, beastly children?

Goiter Sponge

Image: NOAA
Heterochone calyx

What? Don't tell me they're still using gramophones in the deep sea?

Fish to Catch Worms

We all love/hate/stare-aghast-at-the-unnatural-horror-of-a-world-gone-wrong when something without bones eats something that has bones.

Sea Hare

Image: asbjorn.hansen

Bunnies of the sea!

They really shouldn't have bothered...

Whip Coral Goby

Image: Nick Hobgood

Really, if there's a thing to rest on, there's a goby resting there.

Sawblade Shrimp

Image: Noodlefish

It's the stick insect of the sea!

Xeno Crab

Image: prilfish
Xenocarcinus tuberculatus

There's something incredibly creepy about the Xeno Crab... just LOOK at it!

Gorgonian Horned Shrimp

Image: liquidguru
Miropandalus hardingi

Hey! I didn't know shrimp had their own Satan!

Whip Coral Shrimp

Image: PacificKlaus

You should know by now: you can't be the coral in a coral reef without getting completely covered in... things.

Black Coral

Image: JennyHuang

Weird how it's a Black Coral yet it's the only thing that isn't black.

The Blenny in His Den-ny

Image: Saspotato

A Blenny's hole in the ground is his castle. They just love a good hole! It's like if you were wondering what present to get someone who already has it all and, because you were incredibly wealthy, you bought him a golf course. And he loved that golf course. But he never played golf. He just wandered around admiring the holes.

The Ugly Sea Cucumber

Image: NOAA/MBARI
Abyssocucumis abyssorum

Would it surprise you to learn that Abyssocucumis abyssorum comes from the Abyss?

Or that this big, wriggly maggot is a Sea Cucumber spotted at a depth of 3,000 metres (9,800 ft)?

What happens next, I wonder?

Will it spin a cocoon and later emerge a beautiful swan?

A butterfly, maybe?

A fly?

No.

Sea Cucumber cares not for your "beauty" and your carefully constructed standards.

Sea Cucumber is Sea Cucumber.

And there's an end to it.