Avatar is arguably one of the most important movies in a decade and the absolutely magical world of Pandora is strongly inspired by some of the iconic marine creatures of our own planet. Spoiler Warning! I may discuss some nuances of the film that you may wish to discover in the movie yourself. The hammerhead titanothere pictured above is just one of many of the creatures and plants on Pandora which borrow features of familiar marine and reef creatures. As I watched this epic adventure in 3D last night, I felt like certain parts of the film were taking place in my own reef tank: tree seeds that float in the air like medusa jellyfish, giant spiral feather dusters that quickly retreat into a tube when startled and so much more. Many long stretches of scenery were covered with epiphytic growths that resembled familiar sponges, anemone trees and giant zoanthids, some of the “polyps” were even partially closed in the exact same manner that a zoanthid would do. Even the megafauna like the hammerhead titanothere and the mountain banshee both had heads and jaws that are very much inspired by the morphology of familiar fishes. Needless to say, as a reef life enthusiasts the movie struck a special cord with me and if you are reading this blog then you will likely see the movie in a similar light.

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