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wtf_nature
Deeply Odd
It's practically a truism that creatures from the deep sea are inclined to the odd - it's an extreme environment, after all, and the necessary adaptations are enough to give HP Lovecraft nightmares, but this recent discovery is the strangest thing I've heard to come from the abyss yet. Thanks to the Real Monstrosities blog (worth reading), who described it as such:
"Isn't it lovely? Among all the gnashing teeth and wobbling flab of the deep sea is a beautiful harp! A beautiful, meat-eating harp."
This is Chondrocladia lyra, a carnivorous sponge discovered by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and their roving submersibles. It's related to the other flesh-eating sponges of the deep sea, like the Ping Pong Tree, and catches any passing prey with hooked spicules, then grow a membrane over the captured crustacean and digest it alive.
The little beads at the top of each column produce sperm packets.
"Isn't it lovely? Among all the gnashing teeth and wobbling flab of the deep sea is a beautiful harp! A beautiful, meat-eating harp."
This is Chondrocladia lyra, a carnivorous sponge discovered by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and their roving submersibles. It's related to the other flesh-eating sponges of the deep sea, like the Ping Pong Tree, and catches any passing prey with hooked spicules, then grow a membrane over the captured crustacean and digest it alive.
The little beads at the top of each column produce sperm packets.