Nudibranchs are "the most colourful creatures on earth" according to National Geographic. Armed with a plume of sensory tentacles, they are essentially crawling chemical reactions. Hermaphrodites and occasional cannibals, they're the freaks of the coral reef. The colours and psychadelic textures work either as camoflage, or a statement of toxicity.
Can lifeforms on our own planet be described as alien? These are genetically primitive creatures, yet to us their forms appear wierdly complex; a bizarre test sample of the rich petridish that makes up maritime ecology. Their world is made up of entirely different fields and boundaries, a landscape of subtely fluctuating chemicals. They perceive not what we see. What to us is sensory overload is to them simply the norm, the everyday experiences that go unnoticed. How would we appear to them? Would our pale naked streamlined form go unnoticed in place of some overpowering chemical emission. Would their synapses recoil or delight in the same way ours might do when we stumbled across them? If only we could better interpret what we're telling each other, I'm sure we'd have a lot to learn. Two entirely different lifeforms who occupy two entirely different worlds, but happen to share the same planet.
With thanks to visualcomplexity.
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