The strange creature appeared to be half walking half flying towards me through the water...

One of my better attempts at underwater photography whilst diving. The Queen Scallop is a beautiful creature whose colours really light up with the camera flash, making the opening between the two shells seem like diamond encrusted teeth. Any slight touch or sharp movement will send the teeth chattering, opening and shutting in an attempt to swim away; the first time I saw this I could not stop laughing as the movement really is like cartoon false teeth.

Artist unknown

Squid and octopuses have eight legs and both belong to the molluscan group Cephalopoda, which literally means "head footed”.

Photographer unknown. Image taken from the article text 'Envisat fishes up facts behind Chilean giant squid invasion' March 2004, by the European Space Agency and is for my own research purposes only.

The large deepsea squid shown above triggered its own photograph on a special undersea camera used by Antartic Division scientists during their last expedition to Heard Island, and mimics the movements of the true Giant Squid which was photographed for the first time recently by Japanese scientists. Hobart-based Liz Turner, Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the Tasmanian Museum in Hobart, Rosny Collections and Research Facility, says “For the world to be able to see the photographs of a live Giant Squid is a huge leap in the quest for knowledge about these gargantuans of the oceans”.

Photograph by Brian J Skerry. Sourced from National Geographic for my own research purposes only.

‘The red paper lantern medusa has a transparent, bell-shaped hood measuring about 10 centimeters in diameter and 17 centimeters from top to bottom, with between 14 and 30 tentacles that extend up to 6 times the length of its body. Inside the transparent hood is a deep red colored mantle that can crumple up or expand like a paper lantern, hence the name. JAMSTEC researcher Dr. Dhugal Lindsay is credited with coming up with the name.