Kosmoceras

Box Jellyfish, also known as Sea Wasps, are members of the class Cubozoa who are distinct from all other jellyfish.

They’re much faster and more manoeuvrable than other jellyfish, so much so that some of them can actively chase their prey.

Their tentacles are situated on each corner of the four corners of their lower surface. Some species have one, solitary tentacle per corner, others have bundles of over a dozen tentacles per corner.

The weirdest thing about them has to be their eyes. They have 24 of them! 8 of their eyes even have retinas and lenses! These are the best eyes in cnidaria, and they STILL don’t have brain.

Flock of Ancient ‘Butterfly-Headed’ Flying Reptiles Discovered

by Tia Ghose

An ancient flying reptile with a bizarre, butterflylike head has been unearthed in Brazil.

The new-found pterosaur species, Caiuajara dobruskii, lived about 80 million years ago in an ancient desert oasis. The beast sported a strange bony crest on its head that looked like the wings of a butterfly, and had the wingspan needed to take flight at a very young age.

Hundreds of fossils from the reptile were unearthed in a single bone bed, providing the strongest evidence yet that the flying reptiles were social animals, said study co-author Alexander Kellner, a paleontologist at the Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil…

(read more: Live Science)

Paleontologists found this sweet whorl of teeth called a Helicoprion, but really didn’t know how it might have been situated in a fish’s mouth. 

There were many theories postulated about how the teeth fit in the animal’s mouth (fourth image). When another specimen was found, it was determined that the owner of this strange jaw (not a shark, but a ratfish) had no upper teeth at all.

Ladies and gentlemen, the most metal fish.

Bowmouth guitarfish (Rhina ancylostoma)

The bowmouth guitarfish is a species of ray. This rare species occurs widely in the tropical coastal waters of the western Indo-Pacific.

This large species can reach a length of 2.7 m (8.9 ft). The jaws are heavily ridged with crushing teeth arranged in wave-like rows. Usually found near the sea floor, the bowmouth guitarfish prefers sandy or muddy areas near underwater structures.

It is a strong-swimming predator of bony fishes, crustaceans, and molluscs. This species gives live birth to litters of two to eleven pups, which are nourished during gestation by yolk. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the bowmouth guitarfish as Vulnerable because it is widely caught by artisanal and commercial fisheries for its valuable fins and meat.

The bowmouth guitarfish, often described as prehistoric in appearance, is considered by some scientists to be the ‘missing link’ between sharks and rays based on the ray-like placement of the mouth and gill openings, and disc shape of the front part of the body and the shark-like streamlined appearance of the rest of the body and the powerful tail.

Week 34: CRISPR (mock editorial journal cover) | Cinema 4D, Photoshop

I had a hard time figuring out depth of field and getting the camera in C4D to do exactly what I wanted. I ended up using good ol’ Gaussian blur in Photoshop for the final bits. Because I have pretty simple geometry, my primary focus was colour palette and creating a combination of textures that would be convincing.  Ultimately, I wanted this to be not as ‘editorial’ but more cinematic: as though it could be a shot taken mid-sequence in some sort of scientific documentary.

SPRING CRITIQUE TODAY!