Red-Eye Medusa
Unlike most jellyfish, Polyorchis penicillatus spends most of its time on the ocean bottom during the day. It perches on its tentacles and feeds on animals crawling on the sand.
© Susan Middleton
Unlike most jellyfish, Polyorchis penicillatus spends most of its time on the ocean bottom during the day. It perches on its tentacles and feeds on animals crawling on the sand.
Opalescent Nudibranch
The orange-tipped tentacles of Hermissenda crassicornis are detachable, which helps the animal escape the grasping claws of hungry crabs.
© Susan Middleton
The orange-tipped tentacles of Hermissenda crassicornis are detachable, which helps the animal escape the grasping claws of hungry crabs.
Orange-Rimmed Flatworm
This hemaphroditic flatwork (perhaps Maiazoon orsaki) has two penises and three to five female openings. No one knows why.
© Susan Middleton
This hemaphroditic flatwork (perhaps Maiazoon orsaki) has two penises and three to five female openings. No one knows why.
Frilled Anemone
In nature, the stalk of this member of the Phymanthus genus would be buried in sediment. Only its tentacles would be exposed, and they blend in with the sand to fool unsuspecting prey.
© Susan Middleton
In nature, the stalk of this member of the Phymanthus genus would be buried in sediment. Only its tentacles would be exposed, and they blend in with the sand to fool unsuspecting prey.
Stubby Squid
Rossia pacifica is not a true squid. It buries itself in the sandy ocean bottom during the day and crawls out at night.
© Susan Middleton
Rossia pacifica is not a true squid. It buries itself in the sandy ocean bottom during the day and crawls out at night.
White Phantom Crab
Tanaoa distinctus is named after a Polynesian god who was banished to the depths of the ocean.
© Susan Middleton
Tanaoa distinctus is named after a Polynesian god who was banished to the depths of the ocean.
Pink Brittle Star
Brittle stars, like this Ophiomyxa australis move by designating one of their five arms as the front and "rowing" with the other four to propel itself forward.
© Susan Middleton
Brittle stars, like this Ophiomyxa australis move by designating one of their five arms as the front and "rowing" with the other four to propel itself forward.
Gold-Banded Hermit Crab
This crab's shell is also home to anemones, tubeworms, and barnacles.
© Susan Middleton
This crab's shell is also home to anemones, tubeworms, and barnacles.
Black-eyed squid
Gonatus onyx is the first squid species shown to take care of its young instead of releasing them en masse on the ocean floor. In 2000, biologists discovered black-eyed squid females holding large gelatinous masses of embryos in their arms. © Susan Middleton
Black-eyed squid
Gonatus onyx is the first squid species shown to take care of its young instead of releasing them en masse on the ocean floor. In 2000, biologists discovered black-eyed squid females holding large gelatinous masses of embryos in their arms.
Widehand Hermit Crab
Elassochirus tenuimanus inside the shell of a moon snail. Hermit crabs appropriate the shells of snails for protection, but at a price---they can never grow larger than their shell allows.
© Susan Middleton
Elassochirus tenuimanus inside the shell of a moon snail. Hermit crabs appropriate the shells of snails for protection, but at a price---they can never grow larger than their shell allows.
For a portrait photographer, Susan Middleton has an unusual studio. It’s mobile, for one thing, and it requires the subject to be confined in a small glass box. But the results are gorgeous.
In her new book, Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates, The Backbone of Life , Middleton gives jellyfish, nudibranchs, and anemones (among many others) the type of photographic treatment usually reserved for sports stars and heads of state. Shot against plain black or white backgrounds, the weird beauty of these creatures—many of them rare species seldom seen by human eyes—really stands out.
Fish and marine mammals get all the attention, but there are far more invertebrate species. Scientists divide the animal kingdom into 34 major divisions. Only one of these, the chordates, comprises animals with a backbone. Many of the rest live in the ocean.
Middleton shot most of her subjects for the book on the open seas, in a studio she set up in the wet lab of a research vessel. Diving scientists brought up specimens, and Middleton photographed them inside a small saltwater aquarium. “It’s very hard to shoot animals on a ship,” she said. “I had to tie everything down.”
These formal portraits reveal more of the animals than a more traditional approach to nature photography would, Middleton says. “You see more of the animals,” she said. “In their natural habitat they are masters of camouflage, or they’re submerged in the sand, or they’re moving around.”
Middleton hopes the book will give people a sense of how beautiful and bizarre these creatures are. But there’s also a troubling subtext: The oceans these animals inhabit are in peril. In the foreword, noted marine biologist Sylvia Earle writes that the planet is warming, the oceans are acidifying, and species are disappearing at a faster rate than at any time since the age of the dinosaurs.
Middleton hopes her work will help people realize what’s at stake. “I’m an artist first and foremost, but I’m also a conservationist because I love what I photograph,” she said.
The 10 images here are just a tiny sample of the more than 250 portraits in the book. View them in fullscreen mode for the best look at these amazing creatures.
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