Echinoderms are TERRIFYING!

RekNepZ

GMC Historian
So, when I was 10, I went to Florida with my family. On one of the last days, we visited a beech on Sanibel Island (not to be confused with Pokemon's "Cinnabar Island") near Fort Myers. I was about waist-deep in the water when I felt something in the sand. Thinking it was a rock, I picked it up, only to find that it was a FREAKING ANIMAL! A sand dollar to be exact. I was shocked, but I threw the thing back in the water and kept swimming. A few minutes later, I screamed as I picked up another! Avoiding the ground, I rushed back to shore where I stayed for the remainder of our time there.

Note that this horror has MOVED!

My family, friends, and even myself found it hilarious how scared I was and wouldn't let me forget it for years. Over time, though, the fear faded and it was a while before I thought of those terrifying creatures from hell...


...until last night.


For some reason, I found myself curiously looking up images of large starfish. What I found still gives me shivers.

Which also reminded me of sea cucumbers

They can also turn their stomachs inside-out
sea lilies

no Google Chrome, I do NOT mean "sea lollies"
and sea urchins

Searching on Google Images also came up with this image:

Adding some space here so I don't have to look at this while typing the rest











There. That should do it

These things maybe seem primitive but, here's the scary part, they're not! Echinoderms are the closest relative to, and direct ancestors of, vertebrates. Our closest relatives aren't the intelligent mollusks or even pesky insects. They're these strange things that don't even seem living until you learn that they're VICIOUS PREDATORS!

BAD PATRICK!

So am I alone in being afraid of these, or am I just crazy? Does anyone else have strange fears like this? I want to know.
 
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AlphaChannel

Guest
Those sea lilies look kinda cool/non-threatening to me. As for the other pictures yea, pretty unsettling.
 

Gamer (ex-Cantavanda)

〜Flower Prince〜
Yes, those images are very unsettling. They give me the same feeling as Trypophobia images. I don't know if it's actually phobia, or just general unsettling. But you're not alone in finding these uncomfortable, but I think it's rare to be absolutely afraid of these.
I have a very big "afraid/unsettling/phobia" of blood veins in the arm/hand. I get extremely uncomfortable even seeing them on other people, but when I see them on myself I kinda start panicking. Also, when I just lay down, and rest on my arm, and feel any pressure on my blood veins in my arm, it drives me crazy too. Any little wound in the under-arm or hands is absolutely terrifying for me too. And lastly, I find the sound of a human heartbeat to be disgusting, and terrifying. And if I feel my own heart beat, due running or idk, I also have to fight against not panicking.

Which is kinda funny because I don't mind at all to have wounds on any other places, even deep, or open ones, and if I break a bone, I also am completely unsensitive for it. I can also see images of gore, and cut-open human bodies, or third degree burns, and it doesn't affect me at all (phobia-like, I do feel sympathy though), but say it has something to do with veins, the heartbeat, or a syringe, I freak out in my head.

Recently I had a deep open cut/wound on my left breast, and it had to be sewn in the hospital, but I didn't cringe, felt pain or any uncomfortable. But a small accidental cut in my finger makes me panick in my head.

So yeah, you can imagine biology lessons (blood-section), and going to the doctor is a nightmare. Even thinking about AIDS or diabetes I get really uncomfortable because I associate those two diseases with syringes, and blood.
 

Ninety

Member
Oh my god finally someone understands my deep fear of sea creatures. They're all so disgusting and creepy.

Actually, I'm mostly okay with the normal stuff, with the exception of octopuses. I used to think they were a bit creepy, but nothing to fret over... Until I saw a picture of a huge octopus straddling a poor diver crawling onto a pier. It had its tentacles wrapped around his legs... I'm cringing just thinking about it. Now every night before I go to sleep I check underneath my bed for any octopuses. You can never be too sure.
 
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seanm

Guest
PCPAAME

platyhelmenthes
cnidarian
polifera
arthropod
anneledia
molluscus
echinoderm


still remember that one acronym I memorized for a gr11 bio test lol
 
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seanm

Guest
ahaa I guess the type of guy to memorize an acronym is also the type of guy who is too lame to come up with a cool one ;P
 
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P

Pelican

Guest
PCPAAME

platyhelmenthes
cnidarian
polifera
arthropod
anneledia
molluscus
echinoderm


still remember that one acronym I memorized for a gr11 bio test lol
We learnt all of those ones except also Nematoda (roundworms, pretty much the round equivalent of Platyhelmenthes). Parasites have always freaked me out, so I stay far away from those.
 
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Law

Guest
These are the kind of topics I come to off topic for.

@Cantavanda I get grossed out by heartbeats too. Tbh I'm not comfortable with having organs at all. I've the benefit of never having had a major surgery, so no one's actually confirmed if I have them. I like to imagine that I don't. Just wool on the inside.
 
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