Extreme Parenting

This female hyperiid (Phronima sedentaria), a type of marine crustacean, is surrounded by her young inside the hollowed out barrel-shaped body cavity of a salp. The mother Phronima presumably captures and kills the salp to build her nursery and paddles it around while caring for her young. Phronima eyes see blue light best and are well-suited to look for other animals horizontally out the front of their barrel. They use large, pincer-like appendages to hold onto the sides of the salp and to steer themselves through the water. See more images of mid-water creatures in our slideshow.