“The ocean is a completely di erent place
at night,” says marine photographer Shane
Gross. “The water is black as ink and full of
unusual animals – it’s as if you’re flying
through space, meeting aliens.” One such
‘alien’ is the wonderpus octopus – shown
here in larval form, drifting on the current in
the Philippines. The youngster is part of the
vast exodus of plankton from deep to
shallow water at dusk, and back again at
dawn. “It’s the largest migration on Earth,
and it happens every day,” says Shane.
Once it has developed into the striking
brown-and-white adult form, wonderpus
lives in the shallows, hiding in sandy
burrows by day and emerging after sunset
to feed on small crustaceans and fish.
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