Two scuba divers exploring the Curacao reefs of the Caribbean found an amusing organism that looked strangely familiar.
Mauricio Handler and his wife Julia were on a trip to the Caribbean when they discovered a sea sponge that struck them as seriously humorous. Not only did its goofy, wide-mouthed appearance cause Julia to burst out laughing, the sponge also looked remarkably like the Cookie Monster Muppet from "Sesame Street."
Handler told Grind TV that he didn't notice the strange sponge at first, and actually swam right past it while marveling at the other organisms in the reef. But Julia spied what the Handlers are now calling "The Cookie Monster of the Sea," and completely lost it.
"It was Julia who went to get me, laughing through her mask about the unusual sponge," Handler recalled. "So I did an about-face and went straight to it, and worked the subject to light it perfectly to get as much personality out of the picture as possible."
Handler used a Nikon D3 DSLR with a Nikon 105 macro lens to snap the shot. Based on the image, Handler said that the Cookie Monster of the Sea was actually comprised of three tube sponges that had merged together over a number of years.
"I could not believe the fact that this was so unusual - so unique and humorous," Handler chuckled.
The Cookie Monster of the Sea can be found off of Westpunt in northwest Curacao, and stands around three feet tall.
Sea sponges are multicellular organisms that anchor themselves to the sea floor or reefs and feed by picking up small particles from the water.
