Top Tweets for #WeirdOcean
With fragile, transparent bodies that can reach up to a foot (30 cm) long, alciopid worms live anywhere from the surface to hundreds of meters deep. #WHOI scientists found this specimen during a 2006 research expedition in Antarctic waters. #WeirdOcean
😲 Scientists found this glassy planktonic #worm– from the genus Tomopteris, meaning "cut wings"– in the #SouthernOcean. When threatened, they release yellow sparks, an unusual color in the sea, where #bioluminescence is normally blue. #WeirdOcean
📸 by Larry Madin © #WHOI
The ocean #hadalzone is known for extreme pressures + darkness– but it’s not completely void of life. #WHOI + @imochile researchers recently discovered a new crustacean at 25K feet in Chile's #AtacamaTrench!
📲Dive deeper with @PopSci: https://t.co/KhOQwbFMPL
#WeirdOcean
🏖️ Headed to the beach? These clear blobs have been causing a bit of a stir on beaches across the southeastern US... but what even are they?!
#WHOI deputy director emeritus Larry Madin explains in @Southern_Living: https://t.co/PW7l5AnWsu
#WeirdOcean #KeepItWeird
🤺 This Persian carpet flatworm has both female and male parts– including two penises. It uses one to fence (as in sword-fight) and the other to inject sperm anywhere in its opponent’s flesh!
Watch: https://t.co/kXPGppHDZp
📸 by Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser © #WHOI
#WeirdOcean
🐙 This juvenile Atlantic longarm #octopus was collected during a 2018 #OceanTwilightZone research cruise. Nicknamed “Boo” by researchers on board, it was later released back to the ocean.
📸 by Paul Caiger © #WHOI
#WeirdOcean #KeepItWeird
One way to test if pasta is done is to throw it at a wall and see if it sticks. The marine polychaete "spaghetti worm" uses a similar method with its sticky, spaghetti-like tentacles to collect food particles from its seafloor burrow. #WeirdOcean
📸 by Daniel Cojanu © WHOI
A marine isopod dines on a mantis shrimp in a collecting tank. A relative of land-based pill bugs or roly-polys, there are thousands of these crustacean scavengers in the ocean, and their diets help cycle carbon in the deep sea.
#WeirdOcean #KeepItWeird #NSFfunded
🦐 A mantis shrimp appears to bow to another – like sumo wrestlers before a match!
Known for their fighting prowess, mantis shrimp deploy their "spear" in >30 milliseconds to skewer or stun opponents larger than themselves.
#WeirdOcean #KeepItWeird
📸 by Daniel Cojanu © #WHOI
An Antarctic #salp carries the next generation, seen here as the white embryo on the lower left.
Salps alternate between asexual solitary forms, or form colonies via sexual reproduction. If there is enough food, salp populations can grow exponentially.
#WeirdOcean #KeepItWeird
These translucent bubbles are actually colonial radiolarians, made of 100s of single-celled animals. Drifting in the ocean's surface waters, they can create their own energy through photosynthesis & snack on smaller plankton.
#WeirdOcean #KeepItWeird
📸 by Larry Madin © #WHOI
The box jellyfish has 24 eyes to navigate the murky waters around its mangrove home. Unlike its harmless Caribbean cousin, the grape-sized Pacific box jelly you see here boasts a toxic sting.
No wonder the box jelly has survived for millions of years!
#WeirdOcean #KeepItWeird
Spot-winged #combjellies use their muscular lobes to grab prey– like the juvenile #octopus in this guy's transparent stomach! They confuse predators by secreting luminous mucus– similar to the “ink” that octopuses release.
📸 by Larry Madin © #WHOI
#WeirdOcean #KeepItWeird
🤔 Guess this #ctenophore's common name! (Hint: your grandmother might have worn one!)
#WeirdOcean #KeepItWeird
📸 by Larry Madin © #WHOI
😲 Scientists found this glassy planktonic #worm– from the genus Tomopteris, meaning "cut wings"– in the #SouthernOcean. When threatened, they release yellow sparks, an unusual color in the sea, where #bioluminescence is normally blue. #WeirdOcean
📸 by Larry Madin © #WHOI
This amazing #divephoto came from Nirupam Nigam, winner of the 2020 #WHOI Photo Contest, who shared:
Wolf eels live most of their adult lives with a single partner. Each #wolfie has a personality and we Pacific Northwestern divers get to know them quite well!
#WeirdOcean
With fragile, transparent bodies that can reach up to a foot (30 cm) long, alciopid worms live anywhere from the surface to hundreds of meters deep. #WHOI scientists found this specimen during a 2006 research expedition in Antarctic waters. #WeirdOcean
🐙 Did you know that more than 2/3 of an #octopus's #brains are in its tentacles? Clusters of neurons enable complex multi-tasking behaviors, making this #cephalopod one of the smartest creatures in the sea. #WeirdOcean
📸: Dumbo octopus seen from #HOVAlvin © #WHOI
#Bioluminescence is super cool, but how does it work? And why on Earth do animals do it? 🤔 Find the answers to your burning questions at https://t.co/zUg5BPJ8Hq!
📸 by Larry Madin © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
#WeirdOcean #KeepItWeird
It’s not an alien from outer space– it’s #Amphipod prominella, a common inhabitant of #innerspace, a/k/a the #ocean! #WHOI scientists found this salp predator off #Antarctica during a 2006 expedition to study #salp #ecology in the #SouthernOcean.
#WeirdWedneday #WeirdOcean
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