In Your Face

An up-close view of this sea creature gives an impression of squirmy tentacles and bars of metallic light, like a monster from a summer movie. The tentacles are actually sensory organs, the bars are bristles used for swimming, and the creature—dubbed “squidworm” by scientists who discovered it during the Census of Marine Life—is a newly-described species of deep sea worm just a few inches long. Living at 2,500 meters depth in the Philippines’ Celebes Sea, it’s unlikely this fascinating animal will come face to face with many humans this summer.(Photo by Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)