Super Eco

Photo credit: tarotastic at Flickr

Glowing in the darkness of the underwater deep, 770 meters down, lives a sea creature called Siphonophore. Though it is actually a colony of zooids, which are jellyfish-like invertebrates holding on to each other and functioning as one unit, it looks like one giant glowing monster of the deep. The Siphonophore zooids wave their flashy tentacles, which emit light and color, and attract fish. They sting the fish and consume them.

Imagine being on a deep sea dive and running into (okay, swimming into) this 40-foot long glowing phenomena. You'd think you were in a sci-fi movie and swim away, screaming into your scuba mask. Okay, that's what I would do.

They're quite graceful, though, as they move through the water. There's something to be said for a perfectly organized community that works in harmony for the survival of the group. Maybe we should take notice of their behavior; I know there's a lesson here for my kids. The next time they start to bicker, I'm going to show them the picture and tell them that I'll feed them to this guy if they don't stop it. But let's face it; the threat will have more impact than the community lesson will.