Shameless plug to beautiful art

The Distribution of the Denarii to the Poor in San Postcard

by bridgemanimages

Cardinal fish, eggs in mouth

The cardinal fish, according to the Daily Mail, is a mouth-breeder.  We also get in this footage a brief climpse of a cleaner wrasse working at the fish wash.

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Sea Slug Census

This video features some of the more interesting characters from the Sea Slug Census which took place in Nelson Bay, NSW. Some of the nudibranchs show off enough of their undersides around the head such that it’s plausible to see how they are actual respirating animals; some still look like throw pillows to me.

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Whelk! it’s a candy striper!

Here is even more of a survey of sea life in Ireland. I am particularly fascinated by the nudibranch, but this creature, as our diver friend tells us, is a candy striped flatworm, which isn’t even in the same phylum. It’s an interesting, relaxing watch.

But then comes a whelk. Scary little critter. Apparently they eat these in Britain.

Maybe you’ll feel safer in this shark buddy T-shirt:

Great white buddy T-Shirt

by Mangulica

Bait ball of Yellowtail Scad

Here is some interesting footage of nurse sharks around Broughton Island. The best part is how giant schools of Yellowtail Scad, Trachurus novaezelandiae negotiate safely to avoid the shark, but apparently not the dive cameraman.

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Relax with a mola mola

Time well spent with a mola mola. A wonderfully odd creature. I was thinking about how the early sailors had to deal with legends of all kinds of monsters. We today no there’s no such thing as monsters. But if you take one of the oddest real-life creatures from the sea, plop it on the dock next to a 14th century peasant, and they’d probably go into the same conniptions as anything actually demonic or extraterrestrial.

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by mike3488

Cuttlefish on the run

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d14Ryanzh9Q

This simple video shows a pair of cuttlefish expertly match their coloration to the mottled sea floor while they are trying to hide, then change color to that of the deep sea blue as they make their escape.  It’s almost like one of them was pretending to be sleeping at first.

Consider supporting this site by checking out a hardcover version of Cousteau’s book, “A World Without Sun,” from Amazon.

Lobsters, interviewed

Here’s some time up close and personal with clawed lobsters in Ireland. We get to see the mouth parts actively at work on one. Another is missing one claw, is apparently called a cull, whereas one missing both is called a bullet or dummie. They can apparently grow back claws gradually with each new molting.

Meanwhile, tempura crabs can be ordered over the internet!!

Whales, en espanol

Here’s a 25 minute video at the Marine Reserve in Damas Choros Island. It goes quite deep into the ecology of the sea in this area offshore of Chile. Fortunately for me, there are English subtitles. Straight to the “best of” tag for this blog.

also: fish! they can be snacks!!

Brief glimpse of active camo on cuttlefish

It just takes a minute to see a cuttlefish use active camouflage as it is stalked by a diver. It’s interesting that it keeps its body at a 90 degree angle to the diver, I guess to be ready to bolt.

When that minute is up, you could buy this book about one of Jacques Cousteau’s chief divers: