{"id":11525,"date":"2022-04-06T08:00:53","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T06:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=114235"},"modified":"2022-04-06T08:19:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T06:19:11","slug":"sea-life-up-close-and-personal-with-octopuses-seahorses-and-jellyfish","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/sea-life-up-close-and-personal-with-octopuses-seahorses-and-jellyfish\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea life: Up close and personal with octopuses, seahorses and jellyfish"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By James Cutmore\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 06 April 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Scientists estimate that 90 per cent of species in the ocean have yet to be classified. While researchers continue to explore the oceans, they are in a battle with time as the planet loses species to human activity such as oil spills, global warming, plastic waste and other pollution.<\/p>\n

In Octopus, Seahorse, Jellyfish<\/em>, acclaimed National Geographic photographer David Liittschwager has been able to capture three notoriously mysterious sea creatures in amazing detail.<\/p>\n

Liittschwager has spent 12 years working on this book. During this project he traveled to more than 28 locations around the world. The images in this book are edited from the 135,000 exposures of nearly 500 specimens he photographed, using a white background and a portable studio setup to capture the smallest of details, including small hairs and translucent tissues.<\/p>\n

Paired with Liittschwager\u2019s extraordinary photography are essays by bestselling science writers Elizabeth Kolbert, Jennifer Holland and Olivia Judson, which further explain the biology of these surprising creatures and how they navigate their world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world is an amazing place.\u201d Liittschwager tells Science Focus<\/em>. \u201cA pregnant male seahorse, a shape-shifting octopus, and a jellyfish that can cleave off a piece of itself to make another are all wondrous.\u201d But his project is by no means finished with the publication of this book. \u201cI am now 60 and I have been working on this since I was a teenager. I have always been interested in trying to see more. More resolution, more fidelity.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this book, he aims to highlight what we could lose if we fail to protect our oceans from pollution. Take a look at some of our favourite images from the book.<\/p>\n

Octopuses<\/h2>\n
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This pale octopus (Octopus pallidus<\/em>) was collected on a dive near Sorrento, Australia, and now resides at the Moonlight Bay Resort, Victoria, Australia. Photo by David Liittschwager\/National Geographic<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

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This undescribed species, found at the Pacific side of the Nicaraguan coast, was photographed at the University of California, USA.\u00a0Photo by David Liittschwager\/National Geographic<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n
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The wunderpus Octopus (Wunderpus photogenicus) <\/em>is a small-bodied\u00a0octopus with very distinctive brown and white striped colourings. This individual was photographed at UC Berkeley, California, USA. Photo by David Liittschwager\/National Geographic<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n\n
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The night octopus (Callistoctopus ornatus<\/em>), photographed at Kahala Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Given its name, it is perhaps unsurprising to know that this species is nocturnal. Photo by David Liittschwager\/National Geographic<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n\n

Seahorses<\/h2>\n
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A weedy seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus)<\/em> photographed at the aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, California. Despite its slender appearance, this species of sea dragon is actually relatively slow-moving. Photo by David Liittschwager\/National Geographic<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n
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A captive-bred male pot-bellied Seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis<\/em>)\u00a0with newly born juveniles. Once the juvenile seahorses are born, parental care ends, as the young are born fully self-sufficient. Photographed at\u00a0Seahorse World, Beauty Point, Tasmania, Australia. Photo by David Liittschwager\/National Geographic<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

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A male and female Pacific seahorse (Hippocampus ingens)<\/em>\u00a0snuggle together at the\u00a0Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, California, USA. Photo by David Liittschwager\/National Geographic\n<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

More image galleries from Science Focus<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n