Field guide No. 404
The seabed mimics the cuttlefish
The sand is copying.
A striped cuttlefish swims over clear shallow water, and the sandy seabed below has rearranged itself into the same purple-and-white stripes. For once, the background is doing the work.
Field noteCuttlefish copy the seabed. A seabed copying back has picked up the animal’s trick.
Also possible, also breaking category
Ancient sandstone zipper reveals hidden jungleCliffs crack; they don’t fasten. A zip in rock is a fastening where a fault should be.
The sleeping hill’s closed eyeHills are landforms, not faces. One with an eyelid is a landscape doing an animal’s job.
Hot departureFuselages come in stranger shapes. Few are grown, and fewer are this hot.
Envelopes blooming in lavender twilightStationery that grows in rows is horticulture miscast. Unprecedented, but not a contradiction.