The Chinese Giant Salamander



Like other salamanders, it's a half-aquatic half-mamalian lizardesque creature. The Salamander is the only verterbrate that can regenerate lost limbs, and they hunt by using radar nodes on their foreheads (because their eyes are crap). They have a bone-spear covered in sticky mucus they call a tongue, which is fired out like a harpoon,

"Muscles surrounding the hyoid bone contract to create pressure and actually "shoot" the hyoid bone out of the mouth along with the tongue." from Wiki.



This is the biggest species, and is currently endangered, but can be up to 180cm (6 feet) in length. Salamanders are already baffling in physiology, but to have one six feet long and bright pink-orange is pretty wonderful to me.

Also This Is Fun. Exploding Testicles, Eight Inch Peni on Eight Inch Slugs, and Autonamous Swimming Penises included.

That badger looks a lot like a stonefish to me.

Volvox


Each Volvox is composed of numerous flagellate cells, on the order of 1000?3000 in total, interconnected and arranged in a glycoprotein-filled sphere. The cells swim in a coordinated fashion, with a distinct anterior and posterior ? or since Volvox resembles a little planet, a 'north' pole and a 'south' pole. The cells have eyespots, more developed near the anterior, which enable the colony to swim towards light.

Gonidia near the posterior produce new colonies through repeated division. These daughter colonies are initially held within the parent and have their flagella directed inwards. Later, the parent disintegrates and the daughters invert. -

They look really beautiful under the microscope, and I find it kind of amazing to that they are 1000s of individuals all in synchonisly living to gether. And they live in most ponds!

Hydra

they are between 1-20mm long depending on the species and really amazing.
-the breath through their skin (difusion of gasses)
-they have not just the ability to regenerate if injured/severed, but their cells apparently do not under go sinesence (age) like the cells of basically everything else
-to feed they extend their tenticles up to 5x their original length to cath prey, then on contact nematocysts fire into the prey (like poison harpoons).
-they have no true brain, but a 'nerve net' containing specialised photo and touch receptors.
-when scared they contract into a ball

I'd like to mention that the Pistol shrimp, along with our good friend the Mantis shrimp are the only known organisms to produce Sonoluminescence, that is, a sound that creates light.

Speaking of mind-control parasites, there's Sacculina.  That's only a Wikipedia entry, sorry.

Sacculina is a parasite of crabs.  Once it gets in a crab through a joint, the crab - regardless of its gender - becomes sterile and a nanny for Sacculina's eggs.  If it's male its body actually changes shape to be more female-shaped and it starts acting like a female crab.  Sacculina's reproductive system emerges on the underside of the crab, right where its own eggs would be.

The crab will spend the rest of its life helping Sacculina reproduce.

The Emperor Tamarin (Saguinus imperator) is a tamarin allegedly named for its resemblance to the German emperor Wilhelm II. It lives in the southwest Amazon Basin, in east Peru, north Bolivia and in the west Brazilian states of Acre and Amazonas.




The Emperor Tamarin lives a polyandrous life, i.e. the mature female mates with all of the males of her harem.


That is too cute.

Actually, this is probably a better article.

Is it a flying horse? Or a horse that digs tunnels? That speaks German? Hums muzak all day?

So basically, they're the worlds closest thing to Pok?mon?

The King of Herrings, the longest fish in the world, and also the fish with the most awesome name.