Sea Walnut Paper craft (2014)

One of my students remarked he could see God’s hand in the Sea Walnut paper craft. I think he was referring to the original creature swimming about in the ocean rather than the craft it inspired.

The Sea Walnut, Mnemiopsis leidyi, is an exciting bioluminescent comb jelly whose natural habitat is the Atlantic Ocean just off the North American seaboard. However it has been hitching a ride in the ballast of ships as far as the Black Sea, wreaking havoc on the local ecosystems and fishing industries by overfeeding on the zooplankton that the fish also feed on. Who could have believed that such a cute tennis ball-sized creature could cause so much trouble?

To see more images and a delightful seascape, see Galleries, Papercraft, “Sea Walnut” and “Seascape”.