In today's volume of weird I am here to introduce you to a weird ass creature the existence of which I learned today:
It's really amazing how this weed like thing is actually an animal, much like us! Yeah, totally different but still an animal!
Scientifically it is known as Gorgonocephalus eucnemis, which etymologically makes absolute sense:
Gorgós meaning "dreadful" and cephalus meaning "head", and refers to the similarity between these basket stars and the Gorgon's head from Greek mythology with its writhing serpents for hair.
As you may have guessed, these creatures are cousins to star fish, and belong to a category of sea creatures known as basket stars.
Euryalida to be more specific, which features all kinds of weird and alien like creatures.
Like other basket stars, this one is a scavenger and feeds on a variety of small animals that it captures with its long arms that are used like a net. Fun fact, here's no anus, any undigested left over come out from the same hole they came in 😂
Here's another video showing one eating krill
And yeah, much like stars, they can also regrow their arms if they are lost due to predation, damage or whatever.
Ok I hoped you enjoyed discovering this creature with me!
Due to their deep sea nature it's not like there's much to know about them but you can head over the wiki article I linked above for some more info.
I will close this post with another great video, this time from one of my favorite YouTube channels (MBARI), showing some more of these creepy fuckers in action.
Enjoy:
Posted with STEMGeeks
thanks for the nightmares
This is super fascinating 😱. Nature is much more advanced then what we think, just look at this creature!
Yeah, especially ocean deeps are full of wondrous creatures!
There are really a lot of things that we don't learn in the classroom.
At first sight, I would think it's a plant. But animal?.... Science.
The deep blue is amazing!
The deep blue?
The deep blue sea!
Oh! The sea. I thought there was a deep blue basket star that I didn't see.
Crawled out of hell kind of shit 😂😂😂😂
Dammit, another youtube channel to subscribe to.
That is interesting though. I've never seen one. Looks like a bunch of tree roots . I love the etymology of the scientific name Gorgonocephalus
If you know Greek like me it makes even more sense!
Do you want to see real aliens? Go to deep sea!
Exactly!
This kinda looks like fungus from last of us.... animal no waaay... another interesting specie of sea.
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Its looks like a root walking under water.
That is a wild creature, especially how it eats. Better hope there aren’t any in the water near you that can cling onto your nuts…… just saying…🤣🤣🤣
I thought it as plant because it looks like it has a lot of branches. Never seen it before. It's really interesting.
Very cool! It looks like a starfish mixed with an octopus doesn't it?
If by octopus you mean spaghetti, yes
Maybe make some calamari? It almost looks like it can stand on those things!