Thursday, August 16, 2007

Seashell... violence or defense?

I'm amazed at how my brain works sometimes... I go off on tangents.

I was thinking of a snappy title for this post; then I got to thinking of how things in nature often have a violent, aggressive look to them. A snail grew this shell as a defensive shield. A hermit crab may have taken up residency at one time also for defense. Ancient humans may have found larger versions to use as jewelery or weapons. Getting hit by one of these would hurt! Heck... stepping on one would hurt.

I then thought about other creatures like lampreys and hotostomias guernei. I guess if you lived in the dark with intense cold and pressure you would look like that too.

Then you get into parasites. I won't post a nasty link for you, but do a google image serch if you dare. Nature can be demented at times.

Tangent again... anomalies. Extra limbs, abnormal growths, brundlefly... ok, that's pushing the science fiction envelope a bit. Which brings me to Tom Cruise... (joking)

On to the desktop image...

6 comments:

Paula said...

The shell is pretty, I haven't seen one like that. However, the lamprey and Tom Cruise are down right scary!

JunieRose2005 said...

OMG!!


What happened to Tom!!


;) interesting post! The picture is pretty!


Junie

Jamie Dawn said...

I enjoyed your zany observations.
My mind has a tendency to roam into strange places as well, also, in addition, too.
I saw a show on parasites once, and those images will last a lifetime - no need for me to google them!
Nature sure has produced some incredibly interesting creatures.
I used to collect shells whenever I went to the beach.
I still have some of them packed away in my stuff at my parents' house in CA. I have some sand dollars with them, and I wonder if they're all broken now.

Scarlet said...

The creatures you provided the links for looked like something from a sci-fi movie. Not only do you learn something new every day, sometimes you see something new. I have never seen anything those characters. Wow!

Loved your thoughts on the shell.

Rachel said...

Defense I'd say, mostly anyway! I like shells. There are so many different ones out there. Quite amazing nature is!

b13 said...

Yes there are Rachel. I have a few more pics for Saturday but first we have to get to this weeks "WIIF?" ;)