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Portrait of Mary Anning, before 1842

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Portrait of Mary Anning, before 1842

March 2016

Rhabdosoma’s uncommon eye arrangement allows the animal to see 360 degrees.

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360-Degree Eyesight

March 2016

In this photo, the jellyfish Pandea rubra may have been surprised by a camera light or in a defensive state, causing it to contract its red mantle and reveal its complex muscle anatomy.

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Red Paper Lantern Jellyfish

March 2016

Hastigerinella digitata's many spines support sticky, hair-like “fishing lines” made from cytoplasm (the living part of a cell – mostly fluid, salts and proteins) that entangle prey.

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Tiny, but Deadly

March 2016

Like a typical jelly, the tentacles of Haliscera biglowi trail behind it as it moves, causing water flow to push small organisms into the path of the jelly’s deadly stinging grip.

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Stinging Grip

March 2016

This young Gonatus squid is still translucent, making it tricky for predators to spot it.

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Deep Sea Squid

March 2016

These shrimp-like crustaceans called Gnathophausia are incredibly hardy and only need to eat every few months.

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Intense Fasting

March 2016

This female hyperiid (Phronima sedentaria), a type of marine crustacean, is surrounded by her young inside the hollowed out barrel-shaped body cavity of a salp.

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Extreme Parenting

March 2016

Tomopteris's bristles produce yellow bioluminescence, a unusual color among midwater animals, nearly all of which make some sort of light.

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Glow Worms

May 2016

Chuniphyes are siphonophores—colonial organisms in the same phylum as jellyfish, working together to survive.

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Ultimate Teamwork

March 2016

Aegina citrea are stealth predators that push their tentacles ahead of their body or bell as they swim through the water.

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Ocean Lemon Drop

March 2016

Bathochordaeus stygius are filter feeders closely related to sea squirts in the phylum Chordata, the same phylum to which humans belong.

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Mucus Home

March 2016