THE DAYS FOLLOWING A MAJOR HOLIDAY... are often about stowing various ribbons and bows and gewgaws and tags and paper decorations in a box for next year (and the year after that, and so on, far into the festive future). But not every bow-looking or ribbon-resembling beauty belongs on the top of a Christmas package. Gaze out to the vast ocean, if you will, and ponder the red coco worm, or Protula bispiralis, if you prefer. This wonderful wormie is not a staple seen under the tree, but, rather under the waves. Still, though, the red coco does come with its own "packaging," should you want to stretch the yuletide comparisons just a tad further. It can tuck into "a self-constructed carbonate tube," which again, will not appear on the seasonal gift table, but is still beyond nifty. Want to enjoy an ornamental sight for the rest of the season, even as you stow the ribbons and bows? Gaze up the...
MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM, and the ocean institute's December wallpaper. Those "feather-like rays" that the red coco worm rocks are radioles, which possess cilia, which "catch marine debris which they then spiral down to the base, funneling food into the worm's mouth and unwanted particles back into the water current." If only our human day-to-days, especially around the holidays, were as efficient. It's a pretty wallpaper, the red coco worm, and you don't even need to wade out into the Pacific to find this cheerful sight. It's available for free download at the Monterey Bay Aquarium's online HQ, a wallpaper-y wonder that reminds us that not all frilly ornamentation to be found on this planet is found atop boxes and branches.
