Oil Beetle

Image: Siga

Oh...

Turns out I don't like big butts at all!

Picasso Sponge 3

A crab, presumably a King Crab because of the six walking legs, hangs out on a Yellow Picasso Sponge.

This particular specimen depicts a man on one knee proffering an engagement ring to the statue of a woman.

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Klunzinger's Wrasse

Image: Andreas Metz
Thalassoma rueppellii

Wow! Look at that amazing fish! We can all see the fish, right? Because it does also look like an amazing psychedelic experience.

This is the ludicrously brightly coloured Klunzinger's Wrasse, found only in the Red Sea.

Image: Razvan Marescu

They reach 20 cm (8 in) in length and every inch is covered in purple and neon bright stripes. They look like they had an accident with a barrel of radioactive ooze and now their skeleton glows in the dark.

This species lives in groups made up mostly of females, and they dash around the coral reefs seeking out algae, worms and crustaceans to feed on.

Image: Derek Keats

They're said to be inquisitive of divers and are also available for the aquarium, where they're noted for being aggressive and territorial.

Their name comes from Carl Benjamin Klunzinger, a German physician who collected them and many other marine specimens while he was working at a Red Sea port for a few years.

Image: Valerie Hukalo

He died in 1914, long before psychedelia got under way, and he doesn't sound the type to get on with that sort of thing, anyway.

We can only hope he was a fiend for excessively loud neckwear.

Broody Squid

Bathyteuthis berryi

A deep sea squid called Bathyteuthis berryi has been spotted sprinkling fairy dust!

Oh, wait. Those are her eggs.

Sea Cucumber and Sea Anemone Crabs

Image: TANAKA Juuyoh (田中十洋)

The prettiest little annoyances in the world!

Box Jellyfish

Image: Moorea Biocode

We usually think of jellyfish as mysterious, ethereal entities that drift on the ocean currents with about as much purpose as a leaf in the wind. Their cascading trail of venomous tentacles may capture prey and sting the unwary, but it hardly seems like the jellyfish's intention. The jellyfish merely flexes what little muscle it has in rhythmic meditation, and what events may occur around them is a subject of profound indifference.

They're like phantoms and ghosts who exist in an invisible realm of darkness and void. They go about their repetitive business, completely unaware of the fact that we can see them or that their actions have consequences on the rest of us.

Box Jellyfish are different.

Picasso Sponge 2

A crab, presumably a King Crab because of the six walking legs, hangs out on a Yellow Picasso Sponge.

This particular specimen depicts a wizened, old man sitting at a small, candlelit desk. He watches with desperation and fury as a blot of ink spreads across his manuscript.

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Worm Salamander

Image: Sean Michael Rovito

Never-ending salamanders!

Giant African Land Snail

Image: Grzegorz Polak

Big snail - big appetite - big problem for your garden.

Bulbous, Bulging and Bloated Leaf Beeltes

Image: Malcolm Storey

Good Lord! Look at this thing!

What has happened? What nematode, trematode, parasite or poison could have caused this? What curse from the gods? What pesticide has gone wrong in an ironic way so as to teach us all a valuable lesson?

Picasso Sponge 1

Image: NOAA

A crab, presumably a King Crab because of the six walking legs, hangs out on a Yellow Picasso Sponge.

This particular specimen depicts a young woman staring wistfully through a window as a cup of hot tea cools, untouched, by her side.

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Next

The Pink Knight Rises

The Pink Knight's keen, chemosensory tube-feet are ablaze with the foul odour of a distant alarm response.

"A fellow being in distress!" he murmurs, body trembling in moral indignation. Due to the superheroically gelatinous consistency of his crime-fighting flesh, his body continues to tremble for a long time.

Video: oceanexplorergov

The Pink Knight rears up into the dark sea above, powered by his mighty tentacles and aesthetically pleasing fins.

He shall arrive at the scene of the crime within about 45 minutes to an hour.

He can only hope he's not too late.

Cannonball Fungus

Image: Malcolm Storey, bioimages.org.uk

It's the KABOOM mushroom!

Rubber Boa

Image: Natalie McNear
Charina bottae

It's a boa that looks like it's made of rubber! Sort of acts like it, too.

Passion Flower Feather Star

Image: Richard Ling
Ptilometra australis

Oooooh!

Pom-pom Crab

Image: Eliot Ferguson

It's the Pom-pom Crab! Also known as the Boxer Crab.

But... who on earth boxes with pom-poms? Do you expect to get a knock out by tickling the other guy's nose?

Peanut Worm

Image: Kawauchi, Gisele Y

It's a worm that looks kinda like a peanut sometimes. They pretty much always look like internal organs, though. Which is odd because they don't actually have all that many internal organs of their own.