The Blanket Octopus isn't as cuddly as its name might suggest.
Instead of projecting ink into the face of a predator, the blanket octopus will unfurl its massive webbed tentacles and frighten off its pursuer!
Or if that doesn't work, the blanket octopus also likes to carry around the tentacles of the highly venomous Portuguese Man-of-War which it won't hesitate to throw into your face if you get too close!
Here's some beautiful, up-close-and-personal time-lapse photography of fungal growth! It's so freaking beautiful!
These fungi appear to be typical bread molds in the fungal phylum Zygomycota.
Those tall stalks that create the Dr. Seuss-like trees are fruiting bodies and the balls on the tops are the sporangia which house hundreds of tiny spores.
Those spores will eventually be released into the air and will find their way to a tomato or loaf of bread in your kitchen to start a new mold
You're probably breathing in some of those spores right now, actually...
Did you see the fungus mites?! They're like the cattle of the microscopic world of mycelium and hyphae!
Sabethes mosquito is actually from the planet Pandora...
These guys are found in the forests of Central and South America.
Apparently, the furry parts on their legs and their shimmery complexion are sexually selected traits and the males perform complex dances to win over the ladies.
Oh also, they made some major contributions to space science such as making the first landing in the outer solar system, developing the most complex interplanetary probe to date, and determining the composition of structure of Saturn's rings.
It's that time of year when millions of organisms begin exposing their sexual structures to the world, releasing trillions upon trillions of male gametes into the environment!
And yes, that means it's time for hay fever and terrible allergies!
Plants all around Washington are blooming like crazy!
And of course, I took plenty of photos!
Glacier Lilly (Erythronium grandiflorum)
Check out those dangling anthers! Scandalous!
Pacific Trillium (Trillium ovatum)
Ballhead Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum capitatum)
So many anthers!
That's why it's called a Ballhead...
Vanilla Leaf (Achyls triphylla)
Pacific Bleeding-Heart (Disentra formosa)
Calypso Orchid (Calypso bulbosa)
Common Vetch (Vicia sativa)
Tiny Vetch (Vicia hirsuta)
It's such a little vetch!
Bicolor Lupin (Lupinus bicolor)
Large-flowered Triteleia (Triteleia grandiflora)
They look like they're ready to explode!
Death Camas (Zigadenus venenosus)
Spotted Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata)
It's an orchid!
Three-leaf Foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata)
Herbal Speedwell (Veronica officinalis)
Another Calypso Orchid (Calypso bulbosa)
Also known as a Fairy Slipper
Here's some Seashore Lupin (Lupinus littoralis)
and blooming Common Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetocella)
Heart-leaf Twayblade (Listera cordata)
A very tiny orchid!
