I took this on my Iphone. I used the inkwell effect on instagram. I also, made the flower look clearer then the rest of the picture with IPhoto. This flower was on a tree in my backyard.

Top 5 Most Colorful Animals

A while ago, I did a couple top 5’s.  To bring them back for the next couple months, I will start with one about animals, just like the other top 5 blogs I did.  Today I will show you 5 of the most colorful animals.

To start us off, I will bring you back to a post from last Wednesday.  I wrote about snorkeling in the Caribbean, and one of the fish species that I saw is the 5^th place on this list.  The parrotfish is the most beautiful fish that I have ever seen.  It comes in blues and greens and has yellow markings.  The parrotfish can only be found in the Caribbean Sea’s shallow reefs.

Next in line is the peacock at 4^th place.  These multicolored birds live in the Congo and on the Indian subcontinent.  All peacocks are male.  They spread their huge colorful tail feathers into a fan shape to attract peahens, the females of the peafowl species.  When their tail feathers are spread out it makes it over half as wide as it is long.  The feathers have circular, eye-like markings on them of many colors, which is how they made it on this list.

lorikeet
photo credit: katoriki

In 3^rd place is the parrotfish’s namesake, the parrot.  More specifically the Scarlet Macaw.  This bird is mostly red but has blue and yellow wings with blue and red tail feathers.  These birds live mainly around Brazil, but can also be found in Mexico.  These bird mate for life, and even share their food with one another.

Our 2^nd most colorful animal is not only another bird, but also is another parrot.  It has many different colors on its feathers including blues, reds, and greens, yellows, and even purples.  In addition, an orange beak completes the set, hence the name rainbow lorikeet.  Though most male birds are more colorful than the females, it is almost impossible to see whether a lorikeet is male or female.  These colorful birds can be spotted in southern Australia.

The rainbow lorikeet is hard to beat, but there is one animal I have found to be even more colorful.  Finally, the most colorful animal in the world is the Panther Chameleon.  These animals have the ability to change colors, based on the surrounding temperature and the animal’s mood.  This chameleon’s habitat is the jungles of northern Madagascar.

Information found at http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/

Sunlit Twig

I took this photo with my Canon Rebel EOS T3.  Sometimes the perfect shot is in plain sight.  I took a normal twig and turned it into a beautiful photo!  No editing apps were used.

Mossy Branch

I took this picture this winter with my Canon Rebel EOS T3.  I used a manual focus while taking the picture to blur out the background.

Top 5 Spookiest Deep Sea Creatures

This week I have the word “deep” to write about.  Just like last month, I will start off March with a top five.  There are a wide variety of strange creatures that dwell deep below the surface of the ocean.  They are all adapted to finding food in the dark depths of the sea, and generally seem a bit spooky.  Without any more delay, let’s jump right into the top five spookiest creatures of the deep ocean.

5.) Fangtooth Anoplogaster Comuta

Its name says it all!  The fangtooth is definitely a creepy fish worthy of the top five.  Its teeth are long and slender, which it uses to help catch its prey when it wanders closer to the surface of the water during nighttime. They are the only creatures in this top five that do not use bioluminescence to catch prey.  Ironically, they are also some of the deepest dwelling fish in the world.  During the day, it stays in the shadows of a 16,000 foot depth to avoid its predators.  This is important seeing as it is only capable of growing just a bit over a half foot long.

4.) Gulper Eel Eurpharynx Pelecanoides

A gulper eel is classifiable by its pelican-like mouth that allows it to swallow food much larger than its size, which is a whopping 6 feet long.  The gulper eel lives as deep as 6,000 feet, where it attracts fish with bioluminescence.

3.) Viperfish Chauliodus Sloani

The top three fish are all very terrifying, and resemble how people might depict a sea monster.  However, I had to choose, and the viperfish came out on the bottom of the close round between the viperfish, and the second place creature.  Even though the viperfish is only 1 foot long, its ferocious appearance makes it look evil.  It has sharp teeth of varying length, which gives it a savage appearance.  The viperfish lives anywhere from 250 to 5000 feet below sea level, though some make it down to 9,000 feet.  Just like the gulper eel, the viperfish uses light to attract prey.

Viperfish
Photo Credit: estherase

2.) Deep Sea Anglerfish Melanocetus Johnsoni

In a close race with the viperfish, the anglerfish has more of the spooky aspect.  Many people out there know of the anglerfish from the children’s film, Finding Nemo, and I’m amazed that it has come up somehow in two blog posts within a month of each other.  A female anglerfish grows to be about 5 inches, which also happens to be about the size of a clownfish.  Though, in the movie, the anglerfish appeared much larger than Merlin.  The male anglerfish is black, opposed to the female coloring of brown and has a huge mouth, which earned him the title of “Black Devil,” though he is only half the size of the female.

1.) Deep Sea Dragonfish Grammatostomias Flagellibarba

These fish are truly terrifying.  The bizarre look about them really can throw you off.  Though they only grow 4 to 6 inches long, pictures of them could really make you jump.  They live as far down as 5,000 feet and are well adapted to this environment.  They have a controllable light that they can blink, wave, or do anything to attract smaller fish, which they then devour.  To hide themselves after eating a glowing meal, they have a lightproof stomach, to prevent themselves from attracting predators.

All of these fishes are very eerie, but well adapted to their environment.

Fun fact: The difference between plural fishes and plural fish is that fish refers to the same type of fish.

Top 5: Most Threatened Animals

In honor of February, for the word of the week challenge today I will do a top 5 related to the word: threatening.  Today we will count down the top 5 well known, animals that us humans are threatening.  It …