Pandora on Earth

[Moco Loco]

This has probably been posted before (I've seen it many times elsewhere as well), but this is the most beautiful aurora picture I have ever seen.

Just the colors mostly remind me of Pandora

[Niri Te]

You ought to see what it looks like when its quickly dancing across the sky, changing colors as it does.

[apache_blanca]

This one is ... a wallpaper picture (can anybody help me to post Just the image - and not the link - please? I tried to do the Insert Image thingie - no chance. I tried to add it to My Albums - no chance either. I must be doing something wrong.

Is there any more experienced person out there? "I need your help."


Landscapes / US-wp6.jpg

[mikkowilson]

Just put the URL of the image (not the page with the image, just the image file) inside [ IMG] tags.

- Mikko

[apache_blanca]

I tried - it didn't work but thanks for sorting it out!

It's on my comp here at work, I am staring at it, imagining that it grows darker & Polyphemus & the moons come out, & the bioluminiscent grass & water glow more and more....

[Human No More]

Nice... you almost could imagine Polyphemus rising in the night sky there

[Nìmwey]

Here we're talking Pandora colors!

[redpaintednavi]

Originally Posted by Nìmwey

Here we're talking Pandora colors!

This is a mantis shrimp (or stomatopod) a very interesting crustacean. It can strike with its claws as fast as a bullet. It can smash the shells of clams and of other crustaceans or kill the animals trough the chock wave of the strike. It can even smash the glass of an aquarium.

It is indeed the Fastest claw in the west:

The Fastest Claw In the West (part 1 of 3) - YouTube

The Fastest Claw In the West (part 2 of 3) - YouTube

The Fastest Claw In the West (part 3 of 3) - YouTube

Mantis shrimps come in many colors and sizes. They are also among the animals that see most colors.

These tough crustaceans are also among the protagonists in a famous Sci-Fi story by Fred Saberhagen where they save people on a marine research station from crab-like aquatic robots:

Smashers
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/fiction/smasher.htm

[apache_blanca]

wow how cool! a psychodelic bug! is it a shrimp?

[txim_asawl]

Originally Posted by apache_blanca

wow how cool! a psychodelic bug! is it a shrimp?

Now, why do I have to think about that caterpillar on its toadstool in Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland? (Or, the Disney version, at least, singing out vowels, while exhaling puffs of smoke in letter shape...).



Seems like he's looking for a new place to sit and smoke...

But, all kidding aside: those colors are indeed magnificent. In another thread, it was asked what we might expect in Pandoran oceans... this would be a prime sample, indeed... "Oh, Grace...? Wanna bag this...?"


Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

[apache_blanca]

Originally Posted by txim_asawl

Now, why do I have to think about that caterpillar on its toadstool in Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland? (Or, the Disney version, at least, singing out vowels, while exhaling puffs of smoke in letter shape...).

Seems like he's looking for a new place to sit and smoke...

^^^txantsan! Alice in Wonderland, psychodelic caterpillars smoking on magic mushrooms...

But, all kidding aside: those colors are indeed magnificent. In another thread, it was asked what we might expect in Pandoran oceans... this would be a prime sample, indeed... "Oh, Grace...? Wanna bag this...?"

another
Nice to see you around txim_asawl!

[Ateyo leSyaksyuk]

LOBSTER! PSYCHEDELIC! See his tail fins? Looks like the vanes on a hammerhead or a yerik!

[Human No More]

Nice

Amazing what can be found in the sea.

[Raiden]

Oh, I was talking about those fellas in IRC a while back.

They actually make pretty great aquarium subjects, so long as the tank is acrylic and not glass, unless you want to clean up after that mess.

They also possess some of the most advanced eyes amongst athropods, and are probaby one of the more intelligent ones at that.

EDIT: I guess I'll play too. Here are some of my favorite animals that might remind people of Pandora:



Some flourescing zooanthids.



Harlequin shrimp. Hymenocera picta.



Blue Ram Cichlid; Geophagus mikros.



Leafy Sea Dragon; Phycodurus eques.



Mandarin Dragonet. Synchiropus splendidus.


Coincidence? Furcifer pardalis, the Panther Chameleon, with some...interesting coloration.



Uroplatus phantasticus; the Satanic Leaftail Gecko. Likely the inspiration for the fan lizards, minus the fan.

[GhostTiger]

I love the leafy sea dragons, and that little leaftail gecko I've never seen before. He's pretty cute. lol Probably pretty mean though?

I don't know if this is the right place to put this, but a little while ago I found this bug on my door that made me think of you Raiden. lol I had never seen this before, it's a moth masquerading as a wasp... (Not the best picture but tada.)