This flapjack octopus is so cute that it might officially be named “adorabilis.” Specimens of this unnamed octopus have been collected since 1990; now Stephanie Bush, a postdoctoral researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, said that she is considering the scientific name Opisthoteuthis Adorabilis.

The firefly squid (Watasenia scintillans) is a small species of deep-sea squid found in Endless Ocean and Endless Ocean 2. It gets its name from its combination of small size and bioluminescence. When it glows, cells all across its body light up bright-blue. "These animals have spindle-shaped bodies with eight arms and two tentacles that extend from beneath. The nearly white body is covered in hundreds of bioluminescent organs called photophores that emit a blue green light. They can be seen…

Sea Stars in the sand. Monterey Bay California U.S.A. Hopkins Point. Dive time 30 min max depth 60 Ft. Visibility ~ 20 ft. Nikonos V, U.W. Nikkor 20mm F 2.8 Fujichrome Velvia 50.

It's been 3.5 billion years since life kicked off on this planet, but the animal kingdom continues to amaze. This year we've been treated to tool making cockatoos, self-decapitating sea slugs and a chameleon not much bigger than a fingernail.