plaguedocboi

[plaguedocboi]

https://squishable.com/products/mega-squishable-plague-doctor?_pos=1&_fid=e4848231c&_ss=c

He should only be $125 plus shipping and handling!

Ohohoho!!!! The Enormous Boy is even more affordable!

[plaguedocboi]

Stop saying “there are plenty of fish in the sea”. I’ve got my eye on one specific, emotionally distant salmon with commitment issues

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He’s only $250

Enormous

GOOD LIRD

[plaguedocboi]

One of my friends found this ornj little man and they said I could send it to you

Ouh��� a little wet cheeto…

[plaguedocboi]

HELLO fellow clownfish breeder! I saw your baby fish orb post and went Leo pointing meme and had to dig to see if we'd been at the same place. I interned at Sustainable Aquatics in college while I was doing my senior research project for my biology degree. I'd been breeding clowns myself as a hobby before and was doing undergrad research at a lab doing work on ocean acidification and sensory development in fish (before she got disgraced for a data faking scandal rip). Anyway hope you're having a good day, just wanted to say hi from one fish person to another!

HELLO FISH FRIEND!!! I’m glad you are also an appreciator of Baby Fish Orbs because it’s my favorite thing ever.

Sustainable Aquatics is actually my company’s competition but I think all aquaculture facilities basically look the same. There’s only so many ways to breed fish. I hope you also have a great day, and I will say hi to all my clowns for you!

[plaguedocboi]

Nature really went off with sperm whales. A 70-ton predator with teeth the size of a banana but it only eats squishy prey that it doesn’t even chew, it just schlorps them down whole like a vacuum cleaner. Big giant fat head full of goop. Tiniest fins in the world. Strong enough to smash a ship to pieces and smart enough to figure out how to do so but its first line of defense is just to shit everywhere. Possibly the most complex language in the animal kingdom and it creates sounds by blowing air through its internal right nostril (it uses the left one to breathe) into its giant fat head. It’s the loudest animal on the planet and might have the capability to create a beam of sound so loud it can shake your organs apart but they don’t seem to use that to hunt or fight. They’re highly flammable. We used them to make candles.

[plaguedocboi]

Ok

[plaguedocboi]

My renewed digging into murder/harm water has reminded me a not life threatening but very unpleasant (and extremely unlucky) experience I had as a young teen on a beach in Forster, NSW, Australia that I think further solidified my already felt unease at being in the ocean specifically.

You’d think not being in the water would mean you’re all good. Turned out hope.

Went for a walk with family late morning along the beach and nothing sus going on at all, there were people swimming in the water, kids playing on the sand, a pod of dolphins hanging out a couple meters off the shore and no danger in sight.

So I decide I’m gonna be brave and walk close enough to the water that the waves coming up just barely go over my feet.

All is good for ~5 minutes until suddenly completely out of nowhere I feel a blinding pain shoot up my whole right leg.

Now some context here is I have some weird genetic thing where I straight up cannot feel all but the worst of physical pain (as in I’ve literally had major chest and abdominal surgery and not once felt any pain or discomfort) and so for me to have felt that level of pain my brain immediately interpreted it as ‘oh fuck my leg has been taken clean off and I’m dying��

I still remember my physical response was to do that same little leap/hop manauver startled emus do which did get me well clear of the water and when I look down there’s the culprit.

Of all the places along this beach for it to wash up I had a man o war wrapped around my foot and ankle.

Now I know we have two sorts of jellyfish here that can and will kill you and I knew that one was very tiny (irukanji) and one was larger but in that moment I couldn’t recall whether that larger one was man o war or box jelly so there I am thinking I’m going to straight up die so I’m losing it as we head back up the beach and I remember as we’re heading back it’s almost like I’m losing muscle sensation in that leg so I’m half dragging the leg along the sand as we go.

Lucked out and happened to be near a lifeguard station and got some good advice and reassurance that man o war are the less deadly one and to just use running water to wash it and it’s stinging tentacles off then submerge the sting site in water as hot as I can handle and kee it submerged because heat breaks down marine creature venom so it’ll take the pain away.

After that I’ve always kept a close eye out for these things washed up on the beach and stay well clear of any. I definitely don’t go in water I can’t clearly see through (so basically any ocean water).

That said I saw in one of your posts mention about you’re tempted to dive again so thought I’d mention the Cook Islands is you have the resources to get there. As mentioned I won’t go in water I can’t see through but the water there is so crystal clear I’m happy to go in and there’s some amazing species there some of which you can encounter just ankle deep. (Parrotfish, triggerfish, morays, giant clams, threadfin butterflyfish, pipefish, general reef fish and I did see a spotted snake eel moving along the shallows once)

Also special mention of the glass bottom boat tours you can do there that take you to a deeper spot where you can get in with giant trevalley. (Sometimes you see turtles on the way over)

I would love to scuba dive in Australia someday (even with the jellyfish) but I had the opportunity once and chickened out so I worry the same would happen again. I did a study abroad trip in New Zealand and took a long weekend in Australia on an island off the coast of Cairns (prime Great Barrier Reef area) and I snorkeled a lot but didn’t have the courage to dive.

And yeah, those jellies sneak up on you sometimes. They’re very devious beasts.

[plaguedocboi]

hey girl are you my slerp schedule because i am fucking you up

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The Leech is a powerful and dangerous animal, not to be trusted

ID: 20 second video of a dark brown leech slowly sniffing my hand underwater, then gently swimming away and burrowing into the mud. "Mountain Village" from Pikuniku is playing. end ID.

[plaguedocboi]

compilation

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How do you know when the leeches are hungry? You say they need to be fed every 6 months to a year but how can you tell they’re ready to feed? I’ve always been so interested in leeches, it’s so cool seeing you talk about them!! :3

Most of the time, when you pick up a leech, it’s kind of roly-poly and awkward. It might be curious and snoofle around your hand a bit, but isn’t super interested in staying attached to you. When a leech is hungry, it will suction tightly onto you and begin to “sniff” (just. Rub its whole face all over you) to find a good spot to bite. When it finds a spot, it will flatten its front sucker all the way and arch its neck up, and then extend its jaws to bite.

This behavior and the distinct feeding pose are both very different than normal leech behavior, so it’s easy to recognize when they start doing it. It’s the difference between “active predator” and “lazy little sausage animal”

[plaguedocboi]

I’m always surprised by how Long my snails can get

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I’ve been super tempted lately to start an art sideblog themed around the ocean and what lives therein (and just. The facts and/or myths in general) wdyt

I think that sounds cool as hell

[plaguedocboi]

@plaguedocboi

Looked up a few more dangerous Aussie places both water, caves and other places so here’s a selection for perusal should you be interested.

Delta varient cave mount field national park Tasmania -Australia’s deepest cave. Yes it’s named after the covid varient.

Links to previous record holder Niggly Cave and Growling Swallet cave

Nullarbor caves - huge cave system under the desert

Tank cave - mount gambier. Massive underground network of flooded passages around 7010 metres long. At least 1 death

K’gari/fraser island - dingoes on land, feeding ground for young great white sharks, at least 2 species of dangerously toxic jellyfish and deadly riptides with no warning signs of lifeguards. I think it’s the largest sand island too.

Gunnamatta beach - dangerous riptides and large swells ~113 rescues a year

Mount Augustus Western Australia - warnings not to climb between November and February after a series of deaths where climbers literally cooked to death in the Aussie summer heat

Munga-thirri Simpson desert national park - takes on average 4 days to cross by vehicle. Extreme temperatures and winds kick up dust storms. Temperatures are so dangerous the whole area is off limits between 1st December and 15th March during which temps can reach 50+°C

Cahills crossing - a water crossing in the Northern Territory that is considered the most dangerous crossing in Australia due to its high water flow and the abundance of large saltwater crocodiles which have been known to attack people attempting to cross. Generally closed during the wet season as the water volume is far to dangerous the dry season allows for more opportunities to cross. Crossing at the wrong time can overturn vehicles and deaths have been recorded here.

Wittenoom Western Australia - a former mining town build to cater to a large Crocidolite mine. Crocidolite is what we know more commonly as Blue Asbestos and the fibres of this varient are very tiny making it widely considered the most dangerous asbestos varient and was found to be responsible for the most deaths and illnesses relating to asbestos exposure.

The contaminated zone is 50,000 hectares and is the largest contaminated zone in the southern hemisphere.

Mining for asbestos here began around the 1930’s and Wittenoom was established around 1950 to cater to the miners and their families.

The mine was later shut down in 1966 after rising awareness of the toxicity of asbestos though residents still remained.

In 2006 the official status of the town was removed and in 2007 it was removed from official maps and road signs. Again residents still remained. In 2013 the towns closure was finalised though again residents remained and refused to leave.

2015 had 6 residents remaining, 4 remained in 2017, 3 in 2018, 2 in 2021 and as of September 2022 nobody remained.

Even now a century after the closure this area is still massively contaminated and access is forbidden.

I….actually have a mineral specimen of Crocidolite with a bit of Tremolite (white asbestos) from this site but I keep it in a completely sealed display box well out of reach which I NEVER open. Short of finding someone selling off a piece from an old collection you can’t get specimens from this site anymore because nobody’s allowed anywhere near the place.

[plaguedocboi]

Been re-reading your scary water lists again for funsies and I finally remembered the name of a spot a couple hours drive from where I live to suggest.

The Figure Eight Pools in Sydney, Australia. This spot has taken a number of lives and is deceptively pretty which lures people (often tourists and Instagram photo op people) too close and drops their guard.

I feel like I’m always learning about new scary bodies of water in Australia. This and Babinda Boulders seem so interesting and creepy and they’ve never come up on any of my research for those lists. It makes me wonder what other places might still be hiding from me just because they’re not well-known in America.

Also when I looked this up, the website explicitly warns “Never turn your back on the ocean” and I feel like I need that tattooed on my body or on a t-shirt or something

[plaguedocboi]

Question- is fanged blenny venom harmful to humans? Just like, on its own. Could I grab one and just have it bite my arm for some quick pain relief? Because there's that thing about their venom being looked into as a pain relief thing, so...

Unfortunately that’s not quite how it works. The blenny’s venom isn’t a painkiller by itself, but some of the chemicals in the venom can be turned into painkillers that may have a similar effect but be less addictive than standard opioids.

We breed fang blennies at work, and although I haven’t been bitten by one (yet) most of my coworkers have and they say it hurts. It’s similar to a bee sting. The venom works by dropping your blood pressure, so if you have naturally low blood pressure it could make you lightheaded or sick. So it definitely wouldn’t be very helpful in pain treatment on its own and might make you feel worse.

They’re also surprisingly chill fish and avoid biting unless they have no choice, so I imagine you’d really have to piss one off to get them to attack you. And it’s not very nice to harass a little blenjamin, even if they did have medicinal venom.