Invisible Oceans Founder's Collection: Invisible Oceans #45: Atlanta

Atlanta, a curious pin-head sized Heteropod Mollusc. A strange predatious creature that grabs any prey it can, but often distantly related Molluscan cousins like Pteropod flapping snails. Atlanta has an extensible proboscis that assits in grabbing and engulfing softer-bodied prey. It has eyes that contain curious plano parabolic lenses which must collect light and images in a way we do not understand. The ventral flapping, scull-type paddles on the right of this image also contains a type of foldable drogue parachute which can act as a break. The animal otherwise flaps around in crazy directions and does so very rapidly. The shell contains the animal's vital organs like stomach, liver, beating heart and reproductive organs. It belongs to a group of animals that seem to have been able to inhabit all depths of the oceans. The deeper ones seem even more bizarre than even Atlanta. Some of the larger species have virtually no shell, but this does not make them any less aggressive and a few species can give vicious bites to anything within striking distance.

Lizard Island, Australia (2000)

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