Paris! Urchins in Abstract!

This week: more showy echinoderms from one of the greatest museums in the world! Paris! Here's another study in abstracts-focusing mainly on sea urchins!

Last week was all about starfish mouths & their spines, etc.

I've blogged before about sea urchins from Paris. Here's one...

and an older one..

And a similar type of blog from my visit to the natural history museum in Tokyo! 

Alien landscapes? Weird colors? Vs. Spines, mouth plates and sea urchin skeleton! Enjoy!

The duo colored spines of the urchin Salmacis! 

The "teeth" of a "pancake urchin"

Oral spines on this cidaroid urchin. Yikes!

The naturally orange colored spines of this cidaroid (Compsocidaris?)

Natural green and purple stripes on these urchin spines!

More green and purple colors on this cidaroid urchin!

The large crazy spines of Goniocidaris and what lies beneath! 

Paris 2015: The Starfish Mouth in Abstract

                          

Bonjour and Greetings! My apologies for missing a post last week! I am currently on a research visit at the world famous Museum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris! Between jet lag and getting my work set up, things got away from me!                                                                                     

This week, A collection of starfish mouths! Echinoderm anatomy often fascinates people. The symmetry is one reason, but also the very intricate architecture and unusual textures. 

 I've done a prior post similar to this with tropical shallow water starfish here. 

Here is a collection of close ups and abstracts from echinoderms in the Tokyo Museum.

Here's an assortment of mouths & mouthparts from the collections of sea stars in Paris! I see the adaptations for survival in these structures.

Spines serve a protective function in many species but are also part of how the animal feeds. The full range of how these structures function is not clear. In contrast, other mouths are surrounded by granules or plates presenting a somewhat different interpretation.

but certainly.. these might even evoke more artistic interpretations from others!

Euretaster, a tropical slime star. Spines galore!

From Luidia, a multi-rayed sand star

From the Antarctic Odontaster.. note the big "teeth" on each plate. These are thought to function in sponge predation.

Protective mouth plates on Lithosoma

On a tropical oreasterid

On the sand star, Astropecten

 On a "cushion star" Peltaster placenta

From the tropical cushion star Culcita novaeguineae

A deep-sea mud star, Plutonaster

 Deep sea goniasterid, Nymphaster

 A deep-water oreasterid! 

The Funky Octopuses of Paris Pt. 2!!

Bonjour! Greetings to everyone from Paris! My apologies for the brief silence. Trips do not always go as planned and my laptop decided it had other plans a couple of weeks ago. "Technical difficulties"..  Ah well.. C'est la vie!

As I am trying to get stuff done before my return to the United States, I thought I would offer a follow up to my artsy octopus post from last year (here)

As a bit of contrast, here was a hyper awesome (and realistic) brass octopus at the gates to the Institute d'Oceanographie....

But I think most of the rest of these are more reminiscent of "dumbo octopuses" which we saw recently on the Okeanos Explorer... 

These are placed all throughout Paris and its often a treat to go hunting for them in various corners of this wonderous city! 

They  are all the work of a street artist, GZUP Stretart (his facebook page is here) But many are goofy or otherwise "interpret" popular media icons.. 

Here for example.. ZOIDBERG!! 

Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow! 

Oprah? I believe?  (Reader Claire clarifies that this is in fact Rhianna! thanks!)

The Mouse! 

And just more....

An interesting one....

Meh...

!!!!!!!

TROLL! 

More sciency stuff next week...! after I've gotten more caught up! 

Treasures of Paris 2013: Brittle Stars @Le_Museum!

PARIS! I'm here continuing my research at the world famous and awesome Museum national d'Histoire naturelle! (Twitter: @Le_museum) in Paris, France!

Many of my new species were found in these collections. I enjoy my visits to Paris, one of the most delightful cities in the world, and of course, the opportunity to collaborate with my echinoderm colleagues (whom I've profiled in prior posts!)

My work involves sorting through hundreds of asteroid specimens collected from the most exotic places in the world.. New Caledonia, Madagascar, the Solomon Islands...

I never pass up an opportunity to share these awesome collections (many are likely undescribed!). In the past, I've shown exotic sea urchins  and crinoids (stalked and unstalked)!

This time around I thought I would share another group with exotic members from distant locales: The brittle stars and serpent stars (aka the Ophiuroidea)!

As I've mentioned in prior posts, ophiuroids (aka brittle stars) are tiny and often cryptic, so we often fail to appreciate their beauty without a little close up attention!  They can be striking and beautiful....

So here's an assortment...

From New Caledonia, 480 meter depth: Amphiophiura bakeri!  The central disk is pretty much a solid ball... The actual animal is small, only about two inches across..

Here's a nice shot of Amphiophiura liberata from Fiji, 488-500 m. Yes, those five primary plates kinda got nipples on 'em. 

One of my favorites..identified as Ophiomusium, possibly O. scalare (thanks to Rafael).. But its from New Caledonia (about 300 m depth)

Here we have Ophionotus hexactis from the Kerguelen Islands (subAntarctic region). Yes. A SIX rayed brittle star. Not too many of those...

SPINY! 

Some species of euryalid ophiuroids (aka serpent stars) live on deep-sea coral (gorgonian) hosts. These were collected while still tightly wrapped around the branches...

and here's a huge brittle star (Ophiothrix longipeda) in a handsome glass-wood display case!

Why?  Because this was one of the original specimens prepared by the great French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck!