Marine Mollusk Megasite

I can’t stress enough how blessed I feel being able to spend so much time underwater, often with a camera. And, while I mostly film and photograph fishes, I won’t pass up the opportunity to shoot invertebrates. “Invertebrate” is an odd term anyway, encompassing most of the animal kingdom…. So, a sponge is an invertebrate, as well as a highly intelligent and behaviorally complex octopus. The octopus of course further belongs to the Phylum of the mollusks, together with clams and  slugs. And this page is meant to give you a good overview of the marine mollusks, in the form of my videos and images shot underwater in the Philippines, narrated with my biologically solid & insightful (I hope!) explanations. Here we go:

Cephalopods

Squid and octopi: Not “simple” invertebrates, but fast moving, highly cognitively complex animals. The video covers newer insights into their biology, including the unusual structure of their genomes, and the way their brains operate during sleep:

Bobtail Squid

The Bobtail squid, a small cephalopod with symbiotic bacteria in a specialized light organ, deserves its own video.

Mimic versus Wunderpus

Super Sea Slugs

Plus, I have some till photographs of nudibranchs and other sea slugs (not all sea slugs are nudibranchs!) for you to enjoy on Flickr:

Giants!

Giant clams: These are such unusual animals. Absolute giants, and it never gets old to swim over them and be almost knocked sideways by the force of the water jet which they expulse when they close. This video shows work at the University of the Philippines tasked with conserving these species:

 

Best Fishes,

Klaus