wait when you say its safer to dive w sharks than to dive w cetaceans are you talking abt orcas as well? could you go further into that? sorry if this is a dumb question !!

why-animals-do-the-thing:

I want to clarify that the statement was about wild cetaceans and wild sharks. I was mostly thinking about wild bottlenose dolphins when I stated that, because they’re what everyone wants to swim with, but it can also apply to pretty much any marine mammal. (And yes, I know killer whales are dolphins).

I’m hesitant to say anything about if swimming with wild orcas is “safe” of “unsafe” because there’s actually a ton of weird history behind how western culture viewed / views them as a species. In the 1950′s we literally thought of them as monsters that would eat people alive and supported killing them en mass – it wasn’t until the first one was accidentally captured (instead of killed) and brought into an aquarium setting that the public mentality shifted to wild orcas being “sweet puppies that would never ever hurt a human being ~uwu~”. Reality is likely somewhere in between.

But, think about it this way: all cetaceans, including orcas, are large, powerful, highly intelligent mammals. Sharks are fairly prehistoric fish that – while they can be smart – exhibit less behaviors indicative of complex cognition. Sharks get a bad rap because they investigate everything with their unfortunately toothy mouth, but cetaceans are also really well known for fucking with people and things. Bottlenose dolphins get the worst reputation for like, having sex with literally everything, but some killer whale populations also tear apart baby whales and then play with their eyeballs.

If I had to pick one wild animal to be more comfortable sharing water with, it would be a shark over any cetacean, no matter the species.

Same. I don’t trust marine mammals at all. Sea lions are way bigger and faster than me, so even they make me a bit uneasy. Even male sea otters are nasty, nasty little creatures, worse than dolphins in the “having sex with everything” department. You don’t want to know.

Marine mammals make me nervous because they’re unpredictable and have no reason not to mess with me. Sharks, as potentially deadly as some are, are largely predictable and also largely uninterested in humans.

I’ve been snorkeling near wild sea lions, and I’ve encountered a leopard shark of roughly the same length, and I can tell you right now I would much rather meet the leopard shark again. It was fast, sure, but had absolutely no interest in me or anyone else. It just wanted to eat fish. The sea lions were checking out every single diver, and, though they were mostly focused on eating the squid (night dive, lights, lots of small squid), they were definitely interested.

That’s not all marine mammals, though. Baleen whales are chill and might not even notice you if you don’t get close. I’ve seen monk seals, and they also seem pretty calm. I wouldn’t try to get close to them, but I wouldn’t actively avoid any water containing them.

I’m not actively afraid of sharks. If I saw a large one while diving, I’d keep my eyes on it, but I wouldn’t try to leave unless it was getting way too close. Dolphins, on the other hand, I’d start trying to avoid as soon as they were within my vision. They make me uneasy.

I’m not saying you should be afraid of marine mammals like people are afraid of sharks. I’m saying they’re wild, unpredictable animals, stronger and faster than you, that like to mess with things. I’m also saying you should not go and pet them.

Biofluorescent Marine Animals

dynamicoceans:

Animals may use florescence for may different reasons.

This bream may use it’s fluorescence to camouflage itself among coral, as it is just as intense as the coral behind it.

The lined seahorse may use it for camouflage or for their elaborate mating rituals.

In sharks it may be used to distinguish between male and female sharks.

The video for this is pretty neat, if you have about 15 minutes of spare time, I highly recommend watching it.

video

turboferret:

terrible-tentacle-theatre:

sculptural-renaissance:

sex-obsessed-lesbian:

terrible-tentacle-theatre:

nooby-banana:

ironychan:

ilymorgannn:

I’m terrified of the ocean but I love what inhabits it

I don’t know what this thing is but it can probably kill you in at least six horrible ways.

It’s a Spanish Dancer!! 😀 It’s a type of sea slug that eats poisonous animals for breakfast and then absorbs their toxic power for itself. Their badass menu includes sea sponges and Portugese Man-O-Wars.

That is most definitely not a Spanish Dancer.

This is a Spanish Dancer:

What OP posted is actually a flatworm. Yes, the same phylum that has fuckkers who like to hang out in human intestines.

That is called a Hancock’s flatworm (Pseudobiceros hancockanus) and it’s indeed toxic as hell, which is exactly why it’s so colorful. They are all hermaphrodites and before each mating they engage in a duel where they try to stab each other with their pointy twin dongers to decide who’s going to give the sperm to who. It’s called penis fencing, and yes, scientists call it that too.

EN GARDE DICKHEAD

No no no.

THIS is a Spanish dancer:

I’m so glad we cleared that up.

Ah right. My taxonomy is rusty sometimes.

Just to be exact, since many people lump the diverse Spanish regions together, this is not a dancer that represents strictly Spain. It is a dancer typical to one region of Spain – Sevillia. But in no way it is the only dancer the Spaniards have. As such it cannot be called a Spanish dancer because that would overlook the dancers in all other regions of Spain.

Source: cineraria

maxvista:

sixpenceee:

Talk about a camouflage! "If fish could scream, the ocean would be loud as shit" -Mitch Hedberg (Source)

Both are camouflaged really well. I had no idea that was an octopus until it’s tenties started flailing

Source: sixpenceee

I must have missed it, and searching your “dolphin” and “dolphins” tag isn’t helping me out either, but what’s your beef on dolphins, friend? You’ve got me dreadfully curious now.

bogleech:

It’s not really a beef with dolphins, but with their image in our culture. They get typecast as these sweet, precious, flawless guardian angels of the sea, secretly smarter than humans and worthy of protection at absolutely all costs.

But they’re actually no smarter than any other average mammal, probably exceeded in intelligence by pigs, and they’re anything but innocent. They’re some of the most brutal predators in nature, and prone to killing other animals just for “play,” territorialism, or sheer aggression. Male dolphins will have sex with just about anything they can and will sometimes beat something to death so they can have sex with the corpse.

If a bottle-nosed dolphin gets hurt by human actions, there can be world-wide outrage. I was around for the panic over dolphins getting caught in fishing nets and every brand of tuna having to advertise that they were “DOLPHIN SAFE!”

…..But the bottle nose isn’t even slightly endangered. If anything, it’s probably over-populated because we’ve elevated it so high above other animals. While we tip-toe around even accidentally harming dolphins, we’re rapidly depleting countless other animals even as by-catch, and we’re driving sharks in particular to near extinction while still casting them as the mean, scary monsters next to angelic, heroic dolphins.

The worst part? The ABSOLUTE worst part????

We can never tip the balance back by eating dolphin for a while instead of shark’s fins or whatever, because their bodies concentrate more mercury than just about anything else in the ocean and can make you deathly ill. We made them POISONOUS and they’re still thriving.

I bet they’re delicious, too. They look like they’d taste like pure butter.

Pods of male dolphins are known to pursue and corner lone females in order to mate with them.

Seriously, a lot of marine mammals are actually really brutal.