The Abyss Also Looks into You

Will wonders never cease? Let's hope not. This incredible, beautiful, elegant Ping-Pong tree sponge is killing me.

Wow. Wow.

Review: The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss by Claire Nouvian - New Species From Underwater.

Today, the revolution in lights, cameras, electronics and digital photography is revealing a world that is even stranger than the one that Beebe struggled to describe.

The images arrayed here come from “The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss” (University of Chicago Press, 2007), by Claire Nouvian, a French journalist and film director. In its preface, Ms. Nouvian writes of an epiphany that began her undersea journey.

“It was as though a veil had been lifted,” she says, “revealing unexpected points of view, vaster and more promising.”

The photographs she has selected celebrate that sense of the unexpected. Bizarre species from as far down as four and half miles are shown in remarkable detail, their tentacles lashing, eyes bulging, lights flashing. The eerie translucence of many of the gelatinous creatures seems to defy common sense. They seem to be living water.

On page after page, it is as if aliens had descended from another world to amaze and delight. A small octopus looks like a child’s squeeze toy. A seadevil looks like something out of a bad dream. A Ping-Pong tree sponge rivals artwork that might be seen in an upscale gallery.

And I can't help it. I want this:

I'm sure this little (?) Dumbo octopus already has an anime contract in Japan. ;->

Comments

[Hugh Chisholm]

For certain the red one is a
Mick Jagger fish Check out the giant lips.!

[arse poetica]

Ha, Hugh! You should send your suggestion in -- as I recall, it was an unknown species and maybe it's as yet unnamed. What an amazing animal! (The fish, not Mick Jagger.) ;->

[Dean]

The University of Chicago Press has a website for the book that includes a Flash video, a gallery of photos, and information about the book and the author, including an author interview. See http://www.thedeepbook.org/

[arse poetica]

Thanks, Dean!

[Congogirl]

Someone else just posted about this. Amazing. I think I might actually invest in a coffee table book for once. I've always been fascinated by these types of creatures.

[arse poetica]

Me, too, Congogirl! I can't get over the diversity in form and color. The colors alone are mindboggling! If that ping pong sponge is really that color, it's even more incredible. And I love how the scary ones are really scary.

[ja]

Drools over book...

Want, need, gotta have. Isn't nature astounding?