I know that I give mother nature a lot of stick for creating weird shit like seahorses and the stonefish but sometimes natural selection works to create something that is so wonderful it can't help but catch the imagination. Here is one such example of natural beauty.
There are some saltwater lakes in Palau (an isolated island nation in the Pacific Ocean) that somehow became isloated from the rest of the sea. The inhabitants of these lakes then evolved independently from the rest of the underwater population. One lake resident of particular interest is the jellyfish. With no natural predators in their new home they gradually lost the ability to sting and instead of hunting for prey they actually became farmers by working in symbiosis with algae inside their bodies. During the day they swim to the surface of the lake, where they sun themselves to feed their algae. During the night they retreat to the depths of the pool, where the environment is rich in bacteria and they can absorb nutrients
Here is a picture of somebody diving in Jellyfish lake:
Sometimes nature is pretty mind boggling. Here are a couple more great images of jellyfish lake.
There are some saltwater lakes in Palau (an isolated island nation in the Pacific Ocean) that somehow became isloated from the rest of the sea. The inhabitants of these lakes then evolved independently from the rest of the underwater population. One lake resident of particular interest is the jellyfish. With no natural predators in their new home they gradually lost the ability to sting and instead of hunting for prey they actually became farmers by working in symbiosis with algae inside their bodies. During the day they swim to the surface of the lake, where they sun themselves to feed their algae. During the night they retreat to the depths of the pool, where the environment is rich in bacteria and they can absorb nutrients
Here is a picture of somebody diving in Jellyfish lake:
Sometimes nature is pretty mind boggling. Here are a couple more great images of jellyfish lake.
