August 4th, 2008 
Sometimes pictures are too cool to wait for Friday. My friend Tom K. sent these along for my enjoyment and now yours. The first is a close up of the bay scallop, Argopecten irradians, where you can clearly the ring of blue eyes that around the mantle. They are weak but sufficient to detect predators. The second is the red-footed or pygmy sea cucumber, Pentacta pygmaea, common along the Gulf of Mexico.
Broadcast Spawn!
That’s an awesome closeup of the scallop!
I’ll never forget walking through a pile of bay scallops in shallow waters off Beaufort, North Carolina. The scallops were leaping 2-3 feet in the air. They must have seen us coming!
Note to self, look for scallops tomorrow!
Note to KZ: Congrats on the job offer! Say hello to Drs. Crowder, Rittschoff, Read, Joe B, Mike Orbach. What a great place to be. Have fun!