WHEN STARFISH ATTACK!!!! TIME LAPSE VIDEO DAY!!!!

First...Go HERE and see this AWESOME video of Antarctic Starfish [Odontaster validus (99% of the ones in the pic) and some Lysasterias (the big white one) thrown in for good measure] feeding on the dead carcass of a dead seal pup!! Ha! take that mammals! And there's some big Antarctic nemertine worms (probably Parborlasia corrugatus) thrown in for good measure!!

What??? You want MORE time lapse???! Here's some Canadian Atlantic species thrown in for good measure! Looks like primarily Leptasterias polaris (big 6 rayed beast) and Solaster endeca (8-12 armed one with stripes)And to the music of Benny Hill no less!



And yet, EVEN MORE Time Lapse video?? here ya'go! A tiny aquarium asterinid extending its stomach out onto the glass to feed!



Finally, here's some Patiria miniata gliding over the bottom of the Pacific!

Video & Images from the Census of Marine Life Big Wrap Up!

So, the big Census of Marine Life is racing towards its final year in 2010 and a big end-of the year press release has hit the media, including the video below!

If ya' skip over all of the jellies and other non-echinoderm (but still pretty cool) animals, towards the end is a GREAT video of the swimming sea cucumber Enypniastes from the Gulf of Mexico!! (shown above):


There's been a flurry of "best of" type photos, including this cool shot of a bunch of brisingids (Novodinia spp.) and a goniasterid (looks like Evoplosoma) perched on a bunch of deep-sea corals in and around New Zealand (>1000 m based on the original captions).
Its a light Echinoblog week but here in the US, its Thanksgiving week, and everything is just a little bit slower! Especially with everything getting colder and darker!

There will continue to be sporadic, light posts this week..with next week back to "normal"...

Enjoy!

Echinoblog Holiday Life Lesson # 34

Do NOT mix up your holiday shortbread with cookie-shaped starfish!! (Ceramaster granularis)

(no actual starfish specimens were harmed in the production of this blog)