Strange and Unusual
Diving all over the world bring you in contact with some fascinating and exciting creatures. Some large, some small. In this particular case most of the creatures are tiny members of the ocean community known as jellyfish.
Drifting through the oceans on the tides, feeding on organisms to small for the human eye to see. Each one of these images are a different species of jellyfish and just show the diversity within this family.
Water Jelly, you can see in side this tiny jelly is a small anemone that lives on the jelly. These to creatures have a symbiotic relationship and survive together as they float through the water.
This is a Red-eye Medusa named for the circle of red dots around its bell. These are used to attract prey.
Tailed Jellies can go to immense lengths, some up to 20 meters but are only as thick as a pencil. They attract prey with their orange light like structures along their bodies.
This winged wonder is called a Sea Gooseberry. These jellies seem to fly through the water by flapping their wing like appendages.
You never know what you going to see under the water, never under estimate the opportunity to capture something magical. Even the most mundane dive may produce some amazing results.
Thanks for reading and happy Friday everyone.
Scott
For more stories and images - http://www.scottstevensonphotography.ca/
Those are so cool looking! They look so different yet in the same family. Pretty nuts. Appreciate your skill set, especially in the dark depths of the waters!
I've never seen a tailed jelly before. Nice work!
The ocean intrigues me. It terrifies me. It captivates me. And it fucking scares me. The vast magnitude of it and the amount of unknown is so excitingly frightening.
Yes, diving is so amazing and you have taken really great shots, Im looking forward for more of your nice diving content @scottdphoto!
Man I love the ocean. Jellyfish, Octopi, and Squids are fascinating creatures to me. I am super curious, have you ever had anything react strangely to you? Besides curiosity or fear?I am so curious to how these beings react. Especially Octopi.
I have mostly seen curiosity and fear, but the fear isn't so much a real tangiable fear that we as humans may feel if we encounter a wild animal. Fish and most marine life have a personal space bubble, similar to humans and if you enter their space they will move or swim away. My encounters with sea lions is very unique in that they can see their own refection in a diving mask and then will react accordingly, maybe blowing bubbles or moving their heads back and forth. They are not self aware so they react similarly to other animals like bears when they encounter a mirror in a forest that may be there for scientific purposes.
That is so awesome! Thanks for sharing..
I'm really enjoying your underwater photography! What equipment do you use when you go on these adventures?
I shoot with a Canon 5d in an Aquatica housing and duel Ikelite strobes for lights. Most of the time I'm using regular scuba equipment but on occasion I will dive with a rebreather.
I'm looking to move beyond mobile photography and invest in a camera/equipment within the next year, so thank you for sharing! I've never been scuba diving, let alone done any underwater photography, but you have certainly given me inspiration.
Cnidaria is a very interesting group, it's amazing how diverse it really is even though is an old lineage and hasn't changed that much since their appearance on planet Earth.
Those pictures are amazing, that water jelly and red-eyed medusa are gorgeous! But the one that caught my attention was the tailed jellies pic, it's the first time I see a colony like this one.
A very nice post :) I'd like to contribute with it: jellyfishes aren't a family, technically. Most of them are part of different classes inside Cnidaria, which is a phylum or major taxonomic group where jellyfishes, anemones and corals are placed. Each class is composed by lower taxa (like families, genera, species, sub-spicies...) and basically, it's a classification staircase :)
I hope it helps a little! Have a very nice weekend <3
Awesome! Thanks for the info and sharing your knowledge. I really appreciate it.
Very cool pictures. Definitely going to look up more about these jellyfish. I never knew some of them could grow up to 20 meters...
Trippy but fantastic too
Thank You @scottdphoto for the research on the aquatic life above. The shots of these creatures are indeed the best I have yet seen anywhere.
It has actually come to our attention through this Steemit platform that there is more to sea than actually meets the eye.