Well, I’m posting during the day, but here’s a photo I took of a chambered nautilus at the New York Aquarium earlier this summer. They have them in a darkened tank with this red lighting, so photography was difficult for my feeble skills. What I came away with is like this nautilus’ indie synth pop album cover.
Now, for the links!
1. The big thing this week is definitely the Census of Marine Life. There’s a lot to dig into on their site, but I started with the incredible image gallery, and I loved the slide show in the Times. My favorite new-to-me creature is the Flamingo Tongue Snail.
(photo: Nick Hobgood)
2. This news blip cracked me up. I’m not sure why it’s newsworthy that a church blesses animals, but I do find the image of dogs, cats, and a snail “lining up” to be really funny. Here in NYC, the snail would have been totally cut in line by all the other animals for being too slow, and probably would gotten a lot of nasty insults slung its way.
3. Yucatan Octopus get its own origin seal. It’s like champagne, but for octopuses.
4. Expose a baby snail to platinum and it won’t grow an external shell (sometimes, under certain concentrations). This study has implications in how slugs may have evolved from their externally shelled ancestors.
5. Fossilized mollusk trafficking! Serious business.
6. I have a momentous birthday coming up next week. If you’re wondering what to get me, this porthole with pink tentacle is still in stock!
7. An octopus in captivity lays eggs! I sure hope they are successful in hatching them. What a treat for visitors at the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre!
The Shell and Mantle 
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