Wild and Bizarre Inverts Seminar

The Wild and Bizarre Inverts project is an exercise that highlights adaptations that some invertebrates have that defy our conventional view on animal biology.
Many animals have morphological or behavioral adaptations that are very different from what most people are used to see in animals (vertebrates or invertebrates).  For such reason they tend to awe those who do not study the lesser known phyla or lesser known species in well known phyla.

Students in this course picked an example that appealed to them and prepared a paper and a presentation highlighting unusual anatomical, physiological, or behavioral adaptations in invertebrates.

Wild and bizarre cnidarian and lophotrochozoans
Clockwise from top: Siphonophore (Marrus orthocanna), Christmas Tree worm (Spirobranchus giganteus),
Mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus), and Vampire squid (Vampiroteuthis infernalis)

Wild and bizarre ecdysozoans (all panarthropods)
Left to right from top: Water Bear (Tardigrada), Velvet worm (Onychophora),
a Pistol Shrimp (Alpheus sp.), Goliath Bird-Eater tarantula (Theraposa blondi),
Japanese Spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi), and the Orchid mantis (Hymenopus coronatus)

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