Search results

When this was first posted I sent the pics to Gordon Hendler, curator of echinoderms here at NHMLAC and lead author of the book on caribbean echinoderms. He was away until now & just sent a reply. In his opinion it's Narcissia ahearnae Pawson which is not in his book. It was only described in...

That's an oarfish. They live world-wide but are usually seen at the surface only when dying. We have a couple of preserved ones at my museum. The pictures you have actually came from Baja California, Mexico. Here's the original account & more pictures Isla San Marcos Sea Story 09-01-07...

That certainly is something odd. Some more information would be useful. Where did it come from? How large is it? What is it on? Did you touch it - is it hard or soft? Did any part of it move at all? Were there any openings? My first impression is that it looks calcareous. In that case it...

Shape's wrong for either a cowry or a moon snail and cowries don't have an extended foot like that. The angle's wrong but guessing from the spire & the coloration of the foot I'd say the Atlantic Partridge Tun, Tonna maculosa.

There's a picture of a crab very similar to yours in the Humann & DeLoach book. Unfortunately, as they point out, it's extremely difficult to id these long-legged decorators because all the necessary characters are hidden by the decoration. Many of them are the so-called spider crabs in the...

That's the bubble coral Plerogyra sinuosa. It looks quite different when the polyps are retracted. If you had examined it closely you would have found some beautiful shrimp, crabs, & worms that live with it.

If only it were a worm! Instead it's the laziest crustacean of all - a barnacle. Basically they lay on their backs inside their homes & kick food into their mouths with their feet. There are many species which prefer to settle on corals & are soon overgrown except for the opening.

It's a tunicate Rick. Only one siphon is showing. Tunicates are filter feeders that pump water in through one siphon, through their branchial sacs where the organic particles are captured on fine mucus webs & carried to the mouth, and out through the other siphon.

There are some goods pics and even a couple of videos on the web. Do a search for "oarfish" or "oar fish". The last big one was found off southern California and it was filmed, as was one from Baja I believe. That southern California oarfish died shortly after and was given to us for display.

juvenile oarfish - first link shows adults, second has a drawing of a juvenile (halfway down the page) Oarfish MarineBio Newsletter :: Summer 2007 :: Marine Biology, Sea creatures, Marine life, Ocean biology... Research, News and more... MarineBio.org We have several at the museum.

I think decorators are the funniest crabs. Mark Thorpe (CamDiver) has a great video clip of one (maybe the same species as your #5 & 6) that deserves the name trash crab. it had cigarette butts, chewed betal nut waste, and other debris attached to it's body. Did you want names for your crabs...

Here's some majids covered with sponges or ascidians for that soft look - ƒAƒPƒEƒX Poppe Images - Marine Iconography in the Philippines http://www.manleylabs.com/galleria/DIVING/indonesia_dive_manado.html Diving The Gold Coast

It's a decorator crab probably in the family Majidae. Looks like it's covered with a sponge which produces the soft appearance. If you do a google search on Achaeus and Oncinopus you'll find images of similar crabs.

That one's pretty well known. It's Epitonium billeeanum, usually found on or searching for it's food, Tubastrea. Body color matches the coral and so do the eggs which are left on the coral so the juveniles can feed as soon as they hatch. It has a long proboscis which it sticks down in the center...

#13 - Family Leucosiidae, the pebble or stone crabs, maybe Nucia speciosa #9 - Lissocarcinus orbicularis, a commensal found on sea cucumbers #8 - porcelain crab, possibly Porcellanella picta #7 - were the hydroids & algae attached to 2 long spikes coming off the front of the body? Probably...

Yes. Nice photos too.

That would be "Venus's girdle", an unusual ctenophore that's up to 5 feet long and flattened. The latin name is Cestum veneris. You'll find images of it doing a search on either name.

"Dish" shots. I take most of mine with a camera hooked to a microscope; the other photographer at Guana used a couple of different macro set-ups. Depends on what it is and the level of id you want. I can tell if it's a sponge but not what kind on sponge; perhaps I can find a sponge expert if...

that is really interesting and definitely not the remains of a fish cocoon. A lot of invertebrates spin tubes and solidify burrow walls with mucus. Some hollow out sponges & live inside them. that said, I haven't seen this particular structure before. I'd love to see more images and if you...

Sure - here at Acoela: Definition and Much More from Answers.com and from the research lab of Matthew Hooge who specializes in them: Acoela - Acoel Systematics