Infinityflesh00 - Ergoprox00

photography by nicolaslenatti

From: Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari e loro accidenti comprese in tre lettere scritte all'illvstrissimo signor Marco Velseri … dal signor Galileo Galilei … Si aggiungono nel fine le lettere, e disquisizioni del finto Apelle, Giacomo Mascardi, Roma, 1613 [Yale University Library, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, CT]

Comb jellies—also known as ctenophores—come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Many are transparent, but some deep-sea species, like the abyssal comb jelly, Beroe abyssicola, are ruby red or deep purple in color. So far, scientists have described approximately 200 ctenophore species.

Comb jellies swim by flicking hair-like ctenes back and forth. When the lights of our submersibles illuminate an abyssal comb jelly, the ctene rows diffract the light into the colors of the rainbow, creating those dazzling disco lights.

Most animals in the midnight zone produce bioluminescence. The abyssal comb jelly has a scarlet stomach that absorbs the light produced by meals digesting in its gut. The red pigment absorbs blue-green bioluminescence, keeping Beroe hidden from predators. Many other deep-sea jellies employ a similar strategy. Learn more about these dazzling denizens of the deep on our website.

New Year, New Creatures of the Deep 🌊

Stygiomedusa gigantea, the giant phantom jelly

Just look at her go, Stygiomedusa you gorgeous dramatic girl

Though spotting these ghostly giants is rare, they are known to live in the midnight (bathypelagic) zone. There is little to no shelter in this area and other fish have been observed taking refuge amid the jellies long voluminous ribbon like tentacles, that can get up to 33 feet long

Love to sea it 🌊

Koh Samui

smell of summer rain

Tomopterids, the ethereal glow worms of the deep 💡🐛

Tomopterids are marine planktonic polychaetes—commonly known as Gossamer Worms — that swim in the water column, never touching the seafloor. Growing anywhere between 1 cm and 30 cm long. They are also one of the very few marine creatures that can produce yellow light, spewing their bioluminescence to scare off predators

Love to sea it 🌊

via NASA Goddard Space Flight Center