The wonders of nature (for when you don't think about food)

Do share interesting photos of nature and wildlife you have come across.

They actually swim upright like most fish in the first 6 months of their lives. After that they turn sideways and one eye moves to the other side of the head.

Fisherman caught a transparent fish

A fish inside a transparent creature

Roe in a prawn

Transparent octopus

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Being in New England, the first thing I thought of is the rare colored lobsters. Here’s a split blue and orange lobster caught in Maine and displayed in Rye, NH, estimated to be a 1 in 50 million find.

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There are Halloween lobsters (half orange, half dark brown), albino/white lobsters, all blue lobsters, and cotton candy lobsters (estimated to be a 1 in 100 million find!)

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And an iridescent rainbow lobster from Nova Scotia!

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An article from 2017 explaining why they’re different colors, and showing other colors:

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The first lobster photo reminds me of a cat photo… did you use a black marker on my face?

It’s a real cat.

Big creatures

Humboldt squid. I ate it in Chile. Also bought the tinned version. Quite normal in Chilean Patagonia. Saw it in the supermarket, a biiiig white sheet on the fish counter.

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So many wonders!

I have this picture, from the decaying stump of a tree we cut down.



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Technically they are mushrooms, but I don’t think they are food.

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Probably turkey tail fungus and it’s kind of edible.

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That’s a great resource for me; thank you! I remember when they were growing looking up what they were, but they are gone now, and have done their job!

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Last fall a fox picked up a snack on the way through the yard.



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Hmmm…what is it?

:chipmunk:

:cry:

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Poor squirrel. It’s brutal out there in nature.

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Beautiful otherness! One in a million.

Partially

Someone I know is one and when we went out everyone gawked at her the whole time. She’s not only beautiful exactly the way she is, but also intensely intelligent and interesting.

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Wow! These are all “albino’s” ? I have to wonder if there’s not a more politically correct term or if “albino” is empowering. I happen to have vitiligo and find the role of pigment intriguing, for lack of a better word.

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They are different conditions. I don’t know what people with albinism prefer to be called, I see them as persons.

Don’t wish to bring PC (ruins everything) into this. There are places for this kind of things.

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Fair enough, and I guess this thread wasn’t really about people/persons, so I apologize for potentially ruining it.

I guess when you wrote "someone I know is one " I got distracted. I don’t know anyone who identifies as “albino” and I thought might ask.

Indeed the conditions are different, but I can’t help thinking about stories I seem to recall about how "nature " deals with “otherness” in birds. I don’t have a reference.

It’s late here, but tomorrow I will continue to look for better places for these kind of things.

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I didn’t know about the term piebald until recently.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/piebald-moose-on-newfoundland-s-west-coast-not-albino-1.3109078

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Interesting!

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We have a coffee shop called the White Squirrel.

https://www.whitesquirrelcoffee.com/

The white squirrels in Trinity Bellwoods Park get a fair amount of attention!

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All dressed up for a party?

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Beautiful bird. The “headdress” makes him look like a “royal/monarch”.
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Some fruits and vegetables have a mind of their own…

Is this “Buddha’s hand” citrus? The photos I’ve seen are quite different. This one looks a lot like a hand, literally.

Kernels at one end decide to change direction

Nice to look at. Wonder if the beautiful colours remain after cooking.

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I think @bogman might find those interesting as well.

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It sure looks like a young Buddah’s Hand fruit. They take a long time to mature and usually turn golden, sometimes with green tips. The “fingers” should flare out as it matures. Like other citrons, the peel/skin is usually candied or used in cooking; there’s not much pulp.

As for the corn pictured above: it looks like Glass Gem. I’ve not heard of it being cooked on the cob as the kernels are kind of tough. Generally, it’s dried on the plants, ground, used as popcorn or for decoration. If you cook it at the “milk” stage, I’d like to hear how it tastes. If you do this, it’s likely best cooked immediately after picking, as it’s a flint-type, quickly converting sugars to starch.

The yellow and white corn cob on the left is typical for cobs that had poor, incomplete pollination. Fewer, larger kernels result and the arrangement gets messed up. This happens most frequently at the edges of a “patch” or end of a row(s), where the wind direction may prevent complete pollination. Because corn is wind-pollinated, it should be planted in blocky, vs. linear groups. Rows work best when there are many rows; otherwise, go for squares, circles or rectangles.

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