animal.press / Zu 4000 Tierstorys / Zauber der Ozeane / 01130 Meeresschnecken

sea angel and sea devi

#80822    Kein Model Release;
sea angel and sea devi
The battle between Good and Evil has never looked as stunning as this.   These amazing pictures by marine biologist Nataliya Chervyakova capture the underwater battle between the mysterious Sea Angel and Sea Devil.   But the shimmering Sea Angel - also known as Clione Limacina - is not as angelic as it first seems.   Despite its beautiful fins that create an angel-like appearance, the tiny glistening plankton mollusc is actually a predator of the arctic waters feeding on the devil - or Limacina Helicina.   It took keen snapper Nataliya, 31, from Moscow, Russia, three painstakingly long days in the freezing Karelia region of the White Sea to capture the incredibly rare movement of the creatures - including the moment the Angel prays on the Devil.   All of her photos were taken in May in the creatures' natural habitat - because in tanks or aquariums the Angel does not feed.   And that was made even more difficult because both creatures flee at the slightest hint of water movement.   She said: "I spent several hours every day to catch just three or four moments of the Sea Angel's jump - which is difficult as they feel nervous when water moves in a strange way.   "So no matter how careful you are it is almost impossible as you're holding big kit and they move so incredibly fast.   "Plus they are really small - just a few millimetres in length - so when they move quickly it creates a problem for focusing so you need to find more and more hungry Angels and wait for them to hunt again."   The Angel has no eyes, so it hunts the Devil using chemical senses. When the Angel senses the Devil, it darts towards it raising six oral tentacles from the top of it's head.   It chases the Devil for a couple of seconds, and if it catches it - it turns the shell of the Devil round so the soft side of the body is by the Angel's mouth.   It then pulls the body from the shell, and when the body of the Devil is in the Angel's stomach, the empty uninjured shell falls down to the bottom of the sea - as good defeats evil.   Nataliya, a freediving instructor at the Arctic Circle Dive Centre, revealed the Angel only feeds on the Devil, which has stumped scientists because the Devil is nowhere to be seen for most of the year.   She added: "Limacines spend a very short time in the plankton - from one week in the White Sea to two months in the high Arctic and Antarctic.   "After this period the Devil disappear and nobody knows where and how it spends almost whole year. This is the mystery - how do Sea Angels live this part of year without food?   "There are still a lot of questions to be answered over the behaviour of the Devil and the physiology of the Angel."   ENDS   CAMERA INFO: She uses a digital camera Nikon D80 with AF Nikkor 60mm/2.8 D inside underwater housing Nexus D80, with two strobes Inon Z-240. Close up photos were taken using special macro lenses.

Mehr von dieser Rubrik
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
Kampf der Meeresschnecken
sea angel and sea devi
Nataliya Chervyakova
Nataliya Chervyakova
Nataliya Chervyakova
>
<