2023: Anything is possible.✨ #metamorphize The lifecycle of the rare banana seal is a complex form of clonal reproduction, in which the seal, who looks nearly identical to a harbor seal, undergoes multiple complete metamorphoses to reach its adult form. The banana seal begins life, improbably, as a larval eel, or leptocephalus, produced in the nostrils of a mature banana seal. There, it attaches to the nasal lining and feeds on bits from the seal's prey. (A seal may be host to multiple larval eels.) Once the eels mature, they leave the seal's nostril and find their way to shore, where they begin their first complete metamorphosis: into a banana slug. The banana slug phase lasts just a day or so and is followed by the second metamorphosis: into a banana. Over the following week, the banana morphs into a seal (another improbable phase but the resemblance is evident in the adult seal's "banana pose"), which eventually matures and begins to produce leptocephali, starting the cycle anew. All jokes aside, if you made it to the end, congrats! Seals will exhibit a banana pose when they’re feeling safe and content; and this pose also helps regulate their body temperature! If you could morph into an animal or object, what would it be and why? 🌈 🍌 🦭 Art by Peter Pearsall