From PBS Digital Studios’s UnderH2O team, go on a Blackwater Drift Dive: 

The vast, unexplored ocean is filled with wonderful and mysterious creatures. This week, we journey far offshore for a midnight drift dive with over 1,000 feet of water between us and the seafloor. The animals here are bizarre and beautiful, and little is known about their biology. 

Related viewing: The Deep Sea, The Secret Life of Plankton, The Plankton Chronicles: Sea Urchin, and Green Bomber Worms.

Yay!! for clear underwater footage of unusual animals, (yes, even when they’re busy eating each other for lunch), via jtotheizzoe:

The Sea’s Strangest Square Mile

Sit back and let your eyes soak up this goggle-fogging journey to the Lembeh Strait near Indonesia by Shark Bay Films. It’s known as one of the richest homes of odd coral reef creatures on Earth.

Lightning-quick eels! Coral-colored, pregnant frogfish stuffing their bellies with wriggling prey! Baby cuttlefish!! BABY CUTTLEFISH!!!

(via kottke)

More animals with camouflage skills are hiding in the archives. Plus, cephalopods, because.

This is a flannel moth caterpillar, or Megalopyge opercularis, walking on a tree in the Ucayali Amazon basin, north of Pucallpa in Peru. The video, filmed by Ollie Boon, showcases the caterpillar’s cute and furry looking exterior, but be warned that there are venomous spines hiding within the fluff!

Watch more caterpillar videos.

h/t The Scientist.

Evolutionary Biologist and Ornithologist Kim Bostwick describes the dance moves and unique sounds of the forest-dwelling Red-capped Manakin. This Central and South America-based bird makes a snapping sound with its wings, and has a unique courtship move that has been compared to The Moonwalk. 

Kim launched the Manakin-focused Singingwings.org, and is the Curator of Birds and Mammals in the Museum of Vertebrates at Cornell University, from where we’ve seen some amazing must-watch bird videos.

h/t Next Draft, which got me googling after it linked to 6 animals that science has discovered can dance, which also features the dance of the peacock spider.

Watch more videos about dance and sound.

Entomologist Dr. Jürgen Otto films the Peacock Spiders of Australia, and they are super fun to watch. Though they are not well documented, there are 20 known species of these small jumping spiders. They have huge eyes, grow to about 5mm, and the males have colorful iridescent flaps that they use to attract females.  

GrrlScientist has written more about Dr. Otto and these unique little creatures, and you can see more photos (and an interview) on 1000 Natural Wonders.

via Bug Girl’s Blog.