Favoritos de spifferella

Observed and photographed by my colleague Mike Morrison. A rare find usually associated with deep water in the tropics. This specimen was 3 m in length, 300 mm from spine to belly and 75-100mm thick and was estimated to weigh around 50 kg.

Going with iNat’s suggestion. Identification help appreciated. I suspect that the globular white bodies and the stalked pinkish-tan hot dogs are different developmental stages of the same organism. On decaying coast live oak .

~800' elevation. 
Prolific bloom in 1998 of the Desert Lily (Hesperocallis undulata), south side of the Dumont Dunes, San Bernardino County, Mojave Desert, CA.  March 28 is a tentative date until I can get access to the film images.

These images were taken with an early generation Agfa? point and shoot digital camera, therefore the lack of quality! At least it's a record.... :-)
 
Amazing density which extended almost from the base of the dunes well into the flats. Heights of many of the plants were up to or maybe even more than 62" tall.

There used to be signs maybe along the base of the Dunes indicating that this was an ACEC but it may've been more to the east. I don't exactly remember now. Somehow I thought the base of south side of the dunes was not open to OHV's but maybe that was wishful thinking. :-)

This was prior to the advent of the current popularity of OHV's. Dumont Dunes was quiet back then, especially the south side since  access at that time was only via 4WD & there weren't all that many on or off the road.

The diversity and density of wildflowers in this area was breathtaking.  I'm not sure what the OHV impact might have done to this population and the other wildflowers which were prolific there as well, but the Desert Lily really seemed unique.

On host plant Microseris douglasii.

In the 3rd photo, the thumbnail is approx. 16.5 mm long. Using that as a reference scale and carefully measuring lengths in Photoshop (converting from pixels to mm) yields:

      gall dimensions: 9.6 mm long x 7.7 mm wide

For the fruit of the Microseris:

      cypsela length: 5 mm

      pappus scale body length: 3.5 mm

      pappus arista length: 4.6 mm

Passeando pela praia hoje vimos essa criatura/peixe, que aparentemente antes de morrer estava tentando comer outro peixe. A questão é que não conseguimos identificar a espécie, ainda mais pelo tamanho e características da face que são bem peculiares.

Lembra um peixe espada mas não temos certeza pois ele tem características marcantes na face

Please note that some of these pictures are a bit gruesome.

There is a 30cm ruler for scale in one photo.

Here's a link to an article published in the ODT about this rarely seen species: https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/video-unique-porpoise-washes-peninsula
Note that Tama's name is misspelled in the article - it's Taita, not Taiti!

And here's a link to a video about the autopsy, which indicated that it was dead before the shark bites occurred: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7401sghuU0c

"The Art of Mother Nature".

These images represent the brief but beautiful display we get on the first hard freeze of a winter--if we get such a morning at all at our latitude. We've had a few cold mornings just below freezing in Austin over the past few weeks, but this Arctic blast was enough to keep the temperature in the teens and 20's for several hours. The result for Frostweed is frozen sap which splits the base of the stem and comes curling out in fantasticly beautiful "shaved ice" forms. Botanical icicles. The shapes are as diverse as snowflakes.