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Lumpys Ocean Life

Free Reef Photos from Malaysia

Use these photos to jazz up your blog or email them to your friends.
Coral Reef Photobank "A picture is worth a thousand words." The Coral Reef Photobank helps educate the public about coral reefs and their amazing inhabitants, and raises awareness of the need for coral reef conservation. These images can be downloaded on a royalty-free basis at no cost for non-commercial use.

Pistol Shrimp Video

amazing underwater video of Pistol Shrimp.

New Species Found in Remote Asian Sea

A square jaw and edgy brow give a distinctive profile to this boxfish, one of many exotic marine creatures recently found by scientists exploring Southeast Asia's Celebes Sea. The international team of researchers recently returned from two weeks in the Celebes, a little-explored sea between Malaysia and the Philippines that is home to one of the world's deepest ocean basins. The Celebes's relative isolation and chilly depths make it one of the world's most richly diverse marine habitats, likely hosting species that have lived in seclusion for millions of years, expedition leader Larry Madin told the Associated Press.

"This is probably the center where many of the species evolved and spread to other parts of the ocean, so it's going back to the source in many ways," said Madin, who is director of research at the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

The team found several species that are likely new to science, Madin added, including a swimming sea cucumber, a black jellyfish, and a spiny orange worm with tentacles growing out its head. Experts will be studying the hundred specimens brought back from the expedition to determine which species are new discoveries.

The research was partly funded by WHOI, the National Geographic Society's Expeditions Council, the nonprofit Conservation International, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Philippine government.

—Photograph by Ocean Geographic Magazine through WHOI/ISSP/Michael Aw/HO/AP

Underwater Oddities, Photos

A crab crawls on the red tentacles of a sea fan in Fiji waters. Sea fans, also known as gorgonians, catch plankton in their polyps, which microscopic zooxanthellae then turn into gorgonian food. Sea fans also provide shelter and camouflage for reef life. Photograph by Tim Laman
Majestic in purple, a spotted cleaner shrimp in the waters off Bonaire Island in the Caribbean works hard for its customers. This cleaner shrimp (Periclimenes yucatanicus) associates with a sea anemone and attracts fish from which it cleans and eats detritus such as parasites and algae. Such a symbiotic relationship benefits both the shrimp and the fish. Photograph by Paul Sutherland
This close-up of a colony of white-spotted ascidians (Pycnoclavella diminuta) in Indonesian waters resembles aliens ready to feed. Instead, these ascidians, or sea squirts, are filter-feeding animals with one siphon to pull in water and another to discharge it. Adults remain rooted to the same spot their entire lives. Photograph by Tim Laman

The Worlds Largest Bony Fish, The Bizarre Mola(Sunfish)Photos

As gigantic as the ocean sunfish can be, it still seems like only half a fish.Sunfish, or mola, develop their truncated, bullet-like shape because the back fin which they are born with simply never grows. Instead, it folds into itself as the enormous creature matures, creating a rounded rudder called a clavus. Mola in Latin means "millstone" and describes the ocean sunfish’s somewhat circular shape. They are a silvery color and have a rough skin texture.The mola are the heaviest of all the bony fish, with large specimens reaching 14 feet (4.2 meters) vertically and 10 feet (3.1 meters) horizontally and weighing nearly 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms). Sharks and rays can be heavier, but they're cartilaginous fish.Mola are found in temperate and tropical oceans around the world. They are frequently seen basking in the sun near the surface and are often mistaken for sharks when their huge dorsal fins emerge above the water. Their teeth are fused into a beak-like structure, and they are unable to fully close their relatively small mouths.Ocean sunfish can become so infested with skin parasites, they will often invite small fish or even birds to feast on the pesky critters. They will even breach the surface up to 10 feet (3 meters) in the air and land with a splash in an attempt to shake the parasites.They are clumsy swimmers, waggling their large dorsal and anal fins to move and steering with their clavus. Their food of choice is jellyfish, though they will eat small fish and huge amounts of zooplankton and algae as well. They are harmless to people, but can be very curious and will often approach divers.Their population is considered stable, though they frequently get snagged in drift gill nets and can suffocate on sea trash, like plastic bags, which resemble jellyfish.

Fast Facts Type: Fish Diet: Omnivore Average lifespan in captivity: Up to 10 years Size: 11 ft (3.3 m) Weight: Up to 5,000 lbs (2,250 kg) Group name: School Did you know? Ocean sunfish can become so infested with skin parasites, they will often invite small fish or even birds to feast on the pesky critters.

Three-clawed 'mutant' crab caught

A"mutant" crab with three pincers has been picked up off the Cornish coast. Fisherman Jeff Brown caught the 20cm (7.8in) edible crab three miles off Portreath and realising its rarity, handed it into a Newquay aquarium. The crab, christened Claudette by the Blue Reef aquarium staff, will be quarantined for several days before going on show. Manager David Waines said additional fully formed pincers on crabs were "incredibly rare". 'Genetic mutation' Mr Waines said: "I have only seen this once before. It's obviously some sort of genetic mutation." He said crabs are capable of re-growing limbs and claws if they are lost or damaged in a fight. The aquarium believes Claudette's ability to re-generate lost limbs became confused and, rather than replacing a missing set of claws, she grew an extra pair instead. The edible crab is the largest of the crab species commonly found around England. It sports black-tipped claws for catching and eating prey.