Seasnails

[Wings]

My brother in law took these during a dive trip in the Phillippines. Here's a teaser and a link to more right here http://Wings.smugmug.com/gallery/90274/1/3162158

http://wings.smugmug.com/photos/3162158-M.jpg

[Seamaiden]

Ah, nudibranchs. Gorgeous and wondrous subject matter!

[wxwax]

Nudie what? To me it looks like a crab leg without the hassle of first removing the crab.

[wxwax]

Wings, those are some sharp shots. What camera was he using?

And what manner of wee beastie is this?

http://wings.smugmug.com/photos/3162177-M.jpg

[Seamaiden]

Nudie what? To me it looks like a crab leg without the hassle of first removing the crab.
Nudibranchs. "Nudi" = naked, "branch" = lung. So, they're a mollusk, a snail, with naked lungs. http://wetwebmedia.com/nudibran.htm

[Wings]

Wings, those are some sharp shots. What camera was he using?

And what manner of wee beastie is this?

http://wings.smugmug.com/photos/3162177-M.jpg
Uhmm...an underwater kinda camera? *blush Let me find out. Anyway, I was fascinated with some of his shots especially since underwater photography has all kinds of challenges. The snails are the only pics I have from him that are digitized, you should see some of his other stuff! Very cool.

[Seamaiden]

That appears to be a type of crab/arthropod in that shot, the ocean sports an amazing variety of cryptic animals. If you'd like something more definitive, you can size the shot so it's under 1Mb and send it in to the wetwebmedia crew. Bob and Anthony are serious ID whizzes! Know this, though - there are still a huge number of animals yet to be scientifically described, we see original descriptions of vertebrates on a daily basis. Pretty neat when you think about it.

[jimf]

Looks like some kind of crab, maybe a spider crab?

http://www.tokyo-u-fish.ac.jp:8000/Japanese/Attached-Institues/museum/05.crustacea/crab001-e.html

[Seamaiden]

That spider crab you have pictured can reach, IIRC, 3'-4' across (they defend themselves by literally stabbing anything that's fool enough to grab them). The shot above really looks like a macro to me, I'd wager that little thing is maybe an inch across?

As for the state of taxonomical descriptions, especially of creatures hailing from the Oceania and Red Sea regions (lord I'm sorry I can't make the trip to Egypt <sigh>), last night I was updating the WWM Daily FAQs page, and decided I'd feature a jawfish. HALF the shots in our gallery are only identified as Opistognathus sp.. So, we can be somewhat assured of genus, but species? Simply hasn't been described yet. Purty little things they are, too.

Take a look at the one up today..
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/JawfishPIX/Opistognathus_sp._U1KBR3.jpg

[jimf]

That spider crab you have pictured can reach, IIRC, 3'-4' across (they defend themselves by literally stabbing anything that's fool enough to grab them). The shot above really looks like a macro to me, I'd wager that little thing is maybe an inch across?

Ha-ha, I had no idea how big across either one was so I was just looking at form. And the coloration seems wrong too. Maybe the thing isn't an adult? (Nah, Google tells me that babies don't look anything like adults. Oh well.)

[Seamaiden]

When I worked at the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific one of the aquarists wanted me to do a little cleaning in that tank. My choice was clean out one of the large foam fractionators (don't ask me why, but I actually like the smell - especially if it's in the middle of a fishroom), or do a quick vacuum in the spider crab display. Guess which one I chose! (An aside, some of those skimmers are over 8' tall and would fit a human easily. Whatever you do, DON'T FALL IN!) :lol3

[SavannahMan]

Looks like some kind of crab, maybe a spider crab?

http://www.tokyo-u-fish.ac.jp:8000/Japanese/Attached-Institues/museum/05.crustacea/crab001-e.html
ate one of those once....got it from:
http://savannahman.smugmug.com/photos/3213928-M.jpg