Today's Catch

Weedy seadragons (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) are found off the coast of south and east Australia. Just like seahorses, the male seadragon is tasked with caring for its eggs. The bright pink eggs are placed by the female on a brood patch on the underside of the male where they are incubated and then hatch after about six weeks.

This well-preserved fossil is the only intact partial skull ever found of a white shark that lived about 6.5 million years ago called Carcharodon hubbelli. The fossil jaw contains 222 teeth, some in rows up to six teeth deep, and may provide evidence that modern day great white sharks evolved from the ancestors of mako sharks, not the megalodon.

This foraminifer was collected as it floated about 3 meters below the surface off the coast of Puerto Rico. The central dark area is the shell surrounded by spines. The tiny yellow dots are symbiotic algae, which live in the protoplasm of the host organism. When the foraminifer dies, the spines fall off and only the shell is preserved in the fossil record. Shell building animals like forams will be affected by ocean acidification and warming sea temperatures. 

This sea potato (Echinocardium cordatum) looks similar to its root vegetable namesake, but it's a sea urchin! The spines on this urchin are more hair-like than the spikes seen on some more commonly known urchins, and they lay flat across the urchin's body. They can be found buried in the sediments of the sea floor.