io9: sea monster

The Tiny Sea Creatures That Want to Eat Your Bones

Lauren Davis — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:00:00 PST

Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium are currently studying a group of yet-unnamed boneworms of the genus Osedax. The worms' larvae infest the carcasses of dead animals found on the ocean floor and gradually chow down on the bones. [PhysOrg]

A First Look at the World's Largest Stingray

Lauren Davis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:00:00 PST

The giant smalleye stingray is a rare and elusive creature, winging quietly off the coast of Mozambique. Now, for the first time, this largest of the stingray species has been captured on film.

A BBC scuba diving crew grabbed a video of the smalleye, which is the largest and one of the rarest of the 70 species of stingray. The smalleye, which can grow to be more than two meters wide, was first discovered in 1908 and has been found alive only off the coast of Tofo, a small town in Southeastern Mozambique.

You can see the video at the BBC's website, and the footage will also be part of the BBC Two documentary Andrea: Queen of the Mantas this Wednesday.

First film of a 'giant' stingray [BBC]

When You're Not Really Sorry that Your Sea Monster Ate Your Date's Poodle

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:30:00 PDT

In this scene from sadly-cancelled show Surface, we learn a valuable lesson: Sometimes a poodle deserves to be eaten by a baby sea monster. After finding weird glowing egg in the ocean, fourteen-year-old Miles rears the baby sea monster that hatches from it — even though it's somewhat fierce and has the power to electrocute grown men. He names it Nimrod, and hiding it becomes the focus of his geeky existence. When his mean older sister discovers Nimrod, Miles blackmails her by saying he'll tell their parents about her boyfriend. But that doesn't stop his sister's friends from taunting Miles.

One of them suckers Miles into taking her to see Nimrod in his secret pool. She claims she loves animals and brings along her annoying poodle Kutcher to prove it. But she finds out that humiliating a boy and his sea monster has consequences. I love the part when Nimrod jumps out of the water and eats the poodle, while Miles' buddy smiles happily. Most of Surface wasn't this dorky, but enough of it was that it never really garnered a big audience and it was canceled after a half-season. Too bad, because the sea monster action was awesome. [Surface via IMDB]