My God, it's full of life

March 1, 2011 5:10 PM

Tropical Island Infinite Photo, at National Geographic.

Click on an image and dive into a mosaic of hundreds of pictures of marine and terrestrial species found on the South Pacific island of Mo‘orea.

posted by bwg (23 comments total)

If you click on the round, green goo ball, it's possible to get stuck in an endless loop of round, green goo balls.

Anyone know what that thing is?
posted by phunniemee at 5:22 PM on March 1, 2011

Lovely. Maybe I'm a little high, but it's a wonderfully suggestive of how all life is connected and every individual is dependent on all the life around it.
posted by Rinku at 5:29 PM on March 1, 2011

Previously
posted by tomswift at 5:34 PM on March 1, 2011

Duuuuuuuuuuuude.
posted by rusty at 5:46 PM on March 1, 2011

Very cool! Thanks for posting
posted by torisaur at 6:38 PM on March 1, 2011

Also, someone should totally go there to dig an immense underground system of tunnels, halls and mines. If only for the pun.
posted by Rinku at 6:40 PM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wow!
posted by Relay at 6:51 PM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you click on the round, green goo ball, it's possible to get stuck in an endless loop of round, green goo balls.

Anyone know what that thing is?

Are you talking about this one? No idea.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:00 PM on March 1, 2011

I zoomed straight to the green blob too. Weird.
I think it might be some sort of shark or ray egg case.
posted by Flashman at 7:07 PM on March 1, 2011

This is awesome.
posted by joannemerriam at 7:13 PM on March 1, 2011

I thoroughly enjoyed this.
[8]
posted by Taft at 7:30 PM on March 1, 2011

If you click on the round, green goo ball, it's possible to get stuck in an endless loop of round, green goo balls.

Anyone know what that thing is?

I'm pretty sure that's bubble kelp.

Thanks for getting me lost, national geographic. I don't think I'll ever get out of this maze you've planted in my mind.
posted by ashbury at 7:32 PM on March 1, 2011

Crisis on Infinite Tropical Islands
posted by naju at 7:40 PM on March 1, 2011

yow! i am having fun
posted by not_on_display at 7:41 PM on March 1, 2011

Wow. Love this.
posted by rtha at 8:43 PM on March 1, 2011

So, naturalists observe, a flea
Has smaller fleas that on him prey;
And these have smaller still to bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum.
- Jonathan Swift
posted by twoleftfeet at 9:51 PM on March 1, 2011

Maybe the green goo is an amoeboid, Gromia (Gromia Sphaerica...O). If that's what it is, it's about the size of a grape...
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 10:08 PM on March 1, 2011

It is common name; Bubble algae.
Ventricaria Ventricosa. Double click on an image once it is singled out to bring up an information page.
posted by infinite intimation at 10:27 PM on March 1, 2011

Is that using the microsoft Seadragon thing, like that presentation app prezi uses?
Very nifty implementation of whatever it is. Thanks for sharing. Bubble algae. And you could become a better person if you see this Emerald Crab eating Bubble algae.
posted by infinite intimation at 10:44 PM on March 1, 2011

And here I am with NO hallucinogenic mushrooms.
posted by zardoz at 10:52 PM on March 1, 2011

Nice, but for the record, the National Film Board of Canada went there decades ago.
posted by Mike D at 5:03 AM on March 2, 2011

Oh! Oh! I've been there, Mo'orea is absolutely stunning, though I can't say I was anywhere near as high then as I feel now looking at these pictures. Worms, man. Worms.
posted by lydhre at 6:54 AM on March 2, 2011

Love this. Thanks so much for posting it!!

The image is actually part of a special report on island biodiversity at Nat'l Geographic's website:

Special Report: Island Life Under the Microscope in Mo'orea

* A South Pacific Island, Under the Microscope: Barcoding an entire ecosystem

* Picture Gallery: Cutting-Edge Science Meets Centuries-Old Tradition

* A Culture Written in Stone and Soil. "Archaeologists and farmers tell the gritty story of French Polynesia"

* Bridging Western Science and Polynesian Tradition

* Mo'orea Terrestrial Cubic Foot (The photographer's Nat'l Geo Cubic Foot project, previously on MeFi)
posted by zarq at 8:17 AM on March 2, 2011 [1 favorite]