Organism of the week #20 - Don't point that thing at me

Thu, 06 Mar 2014 08:56:50 +0000

It’s amazing how informative an anus can be.

Take this sea urchin. The orange pucker in the middle of the spines is its “around-the-bum”, although zoologists would insist on writing that in Greek as “periproct”. The bright orange ring-piece is characteristic of this species, and marks it out as Diadema setosum, rather than any of the less rectally blessed species of Diadema.

Organism of the week #8 - Brought to you by the number 5 and the letters L, S and D

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:52:15 +0000

If sea cumbers are an example of intelligent design, then God - sorry, an unspecified supernatural intelligence that somehow doesn’t infringe on the First Amendment - needs to lay off the acid. Echinoderms are what you get when you give evolution the number 5 and half a billion years to piss around.

A sea apple (Pseudocolochirus violaceus) at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

You’ve simply got to love any animal that can ~~vomit up its own bowels~~ crap out its own gills to annoy predators.

echinoderm on Polypompholyx

Organism of the week #20 - Don't point that thing at me

Organism of the week #8 - Brought to you by the number 5 and the letters L, S and D