Blackwater Photography
Ctenophores - The Rainbow Producers
2019
Ctenophores, commonly known as Comb Jellies, are one of the most mesmerizing marine animals. They possess cilia structures that move in undulating waves. In presence of light, the cilia refract white light in a way that produces iridescent light along their comb rows.
Pelagic Cephalopods
2020
Most people are probably familiar with cephalopods that live around the coral reef ecosystems, but this video features the ones that live in the open ocean. Some of them spend their entire life swimming around in the water column while others are just going through a development stage before they settle down to the ocean floor. They tend to have translucent bodies and are often found hitchhiking on other plankton species.
Pteropods - Winged Snails
2020
Pteropods are free-swimming marine snails. The snail foot has evolved into two wing-like structures that help them move through the water column. Against the transparent background of the open ocean, they look like flying. That's probably why the two major groups of pteropods got their poetic names - sea angels and sea butterflies.
Galaxy Express - The Salp Chain
2021
Salps are barrel-shaped pelagic tunicates. They move through the water column by jet propulsion. Very often they are found linked in a chain of genetically identical individuals. Other small zooplanktons such as the paper nautilus octopuse, sometimes hitchhike on the salp chain.