Pufferfish eye, originally uploaded by echeng.

Sometimes, the simplest things can be so beautiful. The eye of a
pufferfish. Lembeh Strait, Indonesia.

The stuff of nightmares, originally uploaded by echeng.

Bobbit worm (Eunice sp.) at Retak Larry, Lembeh Strait, Indonesia
(Photo: Eric Cheng | echeng.com)

Underwater Photography Collage, by Eric Cheng

Enjoy! You can also download some larger versions below, which might be suitable as desktop backgrounds.

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There is a Reuters article about Leptotyphlops carlae, a snake species that scientists are calling the world’s smallest snake. Two of the little guys were found in 2006 in a forest in Barbados.

In April, I saw what looked like a little worm wriggling around on the ground floor of our cottage in Kerala, India. We picked it up and took photos of it, and eventually concluded that it had to be a snake of some sort. Here’s a photo:

tiny snake in Dave Patchen’s palm

same photo, cropped closer

The snake was tiny — probably about the same size as the one the scientists in the article are talking about. I wonder if these snakes are related.

If this were an underwater photo, I would be strung up for having touched wildlife. But it’s not, so I guess I’m safe…

UPDATE: I sent this photo to Dr. Hedges, and he responded:

Thanks for your message! What you may have seen is a different species, the Flowerpot Blindsnake (Ramphotyphlops braminus)–also called the Brahminy Blindsnake–a species originally from Indonesia but introduced all over the world, including Florida, Hawaii, India, etc. It is very common. It is usually blackish like that and has very small young (<4 inches) that can fit on a coin but the adults are larger than the adults of the Barbados Threadsnake.