#Eye Spots

[markscherz]

Hi! Love your blog and your work! What do you know about these guys? Are false eyes common in amphibians?

https://www.tumblr.com/vintagewildlife/734070740510507008/cuyaba-dwarf-frog-physalaemus-nattereri-showing?source=share

Yeah false eyes are really quite common in amphibians. We normally call them inguinal spots, which is a fancy way of saying hip spots. They show up in hundreds of species across numerous families. Few are quite as developed as Physalaemus nattereri, but e.g. Plethodontohyla ocellata is also pretty impressive.

[this fantastic figure from Noble's Biology of the Amphibia, 1931]

[nemfrog]

The Owl Butterfly, underside. American Insects. 2nd edition. 1908.

Internet Archive

[bethanythebogwitch]

It's been a long time coming, but we have reached the end of the series where I examine the real-life inspirations for every non-fish aquatic Pokémon. Today, I’ll be going over those introduced in gen IX. For previous entries in this series see gen I part 1, gen I part 2, gen II, gen III, gen IV, gen V, gen VI, gen VII, and gen VIII. To see my previous series where I covered the inspirations for all fish Pokémon see here. I’m saving starters and legendaries/mythicals for their own series. I will be including two paradox Pokémon even though we technically don’t know if they’re aquatic (we never see them in their natural habitats) to keep this post from being too short. Also if you’re looking for Clodsire, check the gen II entry.

Paldea gave us many things, one of them being the end of the tadpole trio. Like Poliwag and Tympole before it, Tadbulb is a tadpole, the larval form of a frog. It’s also a lightbulb.

(image: a tadpole)

Bellibolt is an adult frog that is also an avocado. Specifically, it is a halved avocado with its belly organ being the pit.

(image: a halved avacado)

Speaking of its belly organ, that is based off of a plasma globe, a common toy that looks like a ball filled with electricity arcing off of a smaller, inner ball.

(image: a plasma ball, the king of children's science museums)

Bellibolt’s eye-like organs are a form of defensive mimicry. Eyespots, fake eyes, are used by many species as ways of deterring predation, often by making it look as though it has already spotted a potential ambush predator or by making it seem like part of a much larger animal. Bellibolt’s eyespots are likely a reference to the Cuyaba dwarf frog, which has large eyespots on its rear. The frog’s eyespots can release poison while Bellibolt’s can release electricity.

(image: the behind of a Cuyaba dwarf frog with its eyespots visible. I will restrain myself from making any crude jokes)

Finizen and Palafin are dolphins and I’m honestly surprised it took 9 generations to get a dolphin Pokémon. They seem to be based primarily on the bottlenose dolphin as its pretty much the default dolphin in pop culture. Picture a dolphin in your head, that’s a bottlenose. It also draws inspiration from the striped dolphin, as both have a stripe going down their sides.

(image: a striped dolphin jumping from the water)

Finizen also drawn from dolphin behavior as they are very curious and playful. The bubble ring they play with is a direct reference to real dolphins blowing bubbles to amuse themselves. When it evolves into Palafin it adds superhero to the dolphin influence. Zero form Palafin looks almost identical to Finizen, but it is actually a hero hiding amongst the citizens, ready to put on its costume and save the day. It needing to switch out to become its hero form is reference to the trope of superheroes needing to get into a hiding spot to switch into their costume incognito. Think Clark Kent ducking into a phone booth to change into Superman.

(image: a comic panel of Clark Kent using a phone booth to get into his Superman costume)

The superhero gimmick may also be a reference to stories of wild dolphins saving people who are drowning or being threatened by sharks. It is primarily based on western superheroes, though some of its design elements are suggestive of sentai heroes. Its shiny form being black references orcas as well as the hero turning to a villain or getting a darker redesign. Think Spider-man’s black costume period. I’m not entirely sure how dolphin + superhero resulted in possibly the ugliest Pokémon design in the history of the franchise. It’s a shame because I really love the concept, I just wish it’s design didn’t suck Stunky ass. Besides superheroes, Palafin’s humanoid hero form draws from the boto encantado, a legend from around the amazon river of river dolphins who can take on the form of humans to come on shore and engage in partying and seducing humans.

(image: artwork of a bota encantado in human and dolphin forms. source)

I swear I once read a similar legend where the resulting human form only had one leg, but I couldn’t find any references to it so I may be mixing up completely different legends. The one leg would fit since Palafin stands on its tail.

The first of our paradox Pokémon is Iron Bundle and I don’t really have much to say about it. It’s just a robotic Delibird. I feel like the future paradox Pokémon in general and very uninspired designs, with Iron Valiant being the only one that’s not just a robot version of a present Pokémon. As a Delibird variant, it is based on a penguin. I may specifically be a rockhopper penguin due to the spikey ruffs of feathers on its head.

(image: a yassified rockhopper penguin)

The other big inspiration for Delibird is Santa Claus, being a red and white jolly fellow that carries around a sack full of presents. The bird with a bundle aspect might also reference the popular image of storks delivering babies. Iron bundle adds some more references to winter activities and toys. Its head can pop off like a jack-in-the-box and its tail seems to be a snow globe. The tail could also be an artificial snow maker machine. Its feet look like skis and could be either water skis or snow skis. If its tail is a snow maker, the snow skis probably fit better.

Walking Wake is an interesting one as it’s allegedly the ancestor of Suicune, a Pokémon that magically created by Ho-oh instead of being a natural creature. This confused me until I came across the fan theory that none of the paradox Pokémon are actually from the past/future. Rather the terastal crystals of area zero have the ability to warp reality based on people’s wishes. An example of this is the crystals allowing the AI professor to be created despite that kind of technology not existing in the Pokémon world. In this theory, the crystals created the paradox Pokémon in response to the professor’s expectations of what past/future Pokémon would look like. This would also explain why the Pokedex entries all describe the paradox Pokémon as being similar to creatures from rumors or a National Enquirer style conspiracy magazine. The professor being familiar with these accounts would shape their expectations of what past/future Pokémon would be like and therefore how the crystals created the paradox Pokémon. This explains why a unique, artificial being like Suicune (and with the new announcements, Raikou) could have an ancestor. It’s just someone’s idea of what a prehistoric Suicune would be like brought to life. Walking Wake looks like Suicune combined with a therapod dinosaur. Its ability to walk on water comes from the original Suicune, but also from a basilisk lizard. These lizards can run on the surface of the water for short time periods thanks to their speed and very broad feet, an ability that has granted then the nickname “Jesus lizard”. Basilisks also run on only their hind legs when running on water, fitting with Walking Wake being a biped.

(image: a basalisk lizard running on water)

Its twin tails both have a wave shape and come out from behind and at an angle. This makes them look a lot like the wake left behind by a boat.

(image: a boat wake as seen from above)

[drhoz]

#1971 - Caligo uranus - Gold-edged Owl-Butterfly

First photo by @purrdence​ , the second off Reddit

The owl butterflies are very large Nymphalids native to the rainforests and secondary forests of Central and South America, and known for their huge eyespots. They certainly have a resemblance to owl eyes, but the butterflies are most active around dusk and ‘caligo’ is Latin for darkness.

It’s also not sure exactly why eyespots deter predators - experiments suggest that any contrasting pattern will work, and in other butterflies the eyespots redirect attacks to the wings rather than to the actual body.

Foodplants for owl butterflies are diverse, but include bananas and heliconias.

In some species of Caligo, the males gather to compete in courtship displays.

[gr33nguys]

I was so very lucky to find an absolutely stunning polyphemus moth on my coffee maker one recent morning! He looked newly emerged from the cocoon (slightly wrinkly wings and constant tiny flaps) so I think he must've snuck inside as a caterpillar and decided to cocoon under the cabinet. I coaxed him onto my finger and he seemed glad to be released outdoors.

[frtools]

New Flash Sale: Secondary Gene: Eye Spots

A new flash sale has been discovered for Secondary Gene: Eye Spots

A scroll that will change the secondary gene of one dragon to Eye Spots. This item can only be used once and will disappear after it has been applied.

Game database: click here Marketplace link: click here

Treasure: 110000 88000

[msb-lair]

Clutch #3740 - Coa/Allhallows

Mated On: 2024-10-21 # of eggs: 2 Hatched On: 2024-10-26

Progeny:

Hatchling 9949 (Harkness) - Fae XYX Male, Obsidian Speckle/Bronze Eye Spot/Obsidian Crackle, Common - 15 gems on 2024-10-30

Hatchling 9950 - Fae XYX Male, Obsidian Speckle/Tangerine Eye Spots/Obsidian Crackle, Common - 15 on 2024-10-26 (GAH that was meant to be my usual 15,000)

Comments: A pair of Halloween eve fae from Allhallows' annual clutch.

[spectrogramforums]

entrusting u with my silly sona... have fun!!

another fun design!!!

[atlinmerrick]

Tumblr, I love you.

[eyecaregm89]

https://georgeandmatilda.com.au/eyecare/vision-therapy/

Hazy Vision

George & Matilda Eyecare, firmly believe that obtaining value for your money should never mean sacrificing style. Understanding that everyone is unique, their team take a personalized approach to eyewear. They curate a selection of eyewear brands meticulously tailored to reflect individual tastes.

[proteusolm]

I've been seeing a lot of crusty little dog positivity lately and I respect it. More people should get them, they're really the only genre of dog genuinely bred for companionship. But let's be real; they are hideous. I'm so sorry but shih-tzus look like a rug someone left bunched up soaking wet in a corner to grow mildew, but with bulging goopy eyeballs and a brachycephalic wheeze. I don't mean when they're elderly, they look wretched as soon as they leave puppyhood. Great personality, they're good little dogs and all, but it can't be denied that they're ugly as sin.

edit: Chill, "only companion breed" is hyperbole. You don't need to list every companion-bred dog to me. Peace and love.

[youreyecaregm48]

https://georgeandmatilda.com.au/eyecare/childrens-eye-tests/

Book Eye Test

At George & Matilda Eyecare, firmly believe that getting value for your money shouldn't come at the expense of style. they understand that everyone is unique, and that's why they take a personalized approach to eyewear. In each of the stores, they curate a selection of eyewear brands tailored to reflect individual tastes, ensuring we can get more of what we love.

[sonicman66]

DpxDc fic where Danny is just haunting the Bats and providing memes to the internet whilst being invisible

Because I read a fic ('the curious case of who lives in the walls' by RaccoonRobyn over on ao3) that has Danny chilling in the Wayne Manor's walls and commenting on the Wayne's habits and goings on and i just

Tl;dr danny has a twitter page where he invisibly follows the bats and documents their funny mistakes like a nature documentary.

One day a Gothamite spots a new twitter page on their feed. Its not got a lot of posts, but they're all pictures. And the first one is... Nightwing. Lying on the concrete, face-down, with another bat or bird very obviously laughing at him.

They think nothing of it. They compliment the photoshop for its realism, and move on. Except there's more pictures. All of them, every last one of them, has the Bats and Birds suffering from a trip, fall, a gaffe, a misstep, anything and everything.

And then they find a video

Its clearly a handheld or phone camera, pointed at Robin in an alleyway. Someone starts talking, in a very poor attempt at sounding like David Attenborough, narrating like a wildlife documentary. "Here we see the youngest of the Bat-brood partaking in one of its more private behaviors, unseen and unknown by its kin."

And Robin just. Steps further into the alleyway and gets swarmed by stray cats, all begging for food. He grins and starts feeding them, all whilst narration continues, talking about this like its an animal's behavior.

And they have more. So many more.

A video of Red Hood. He does a fancy gun twirl when nobody's around, bobbles it, and accidentally fires into the ground. He picks it up and acts like nothing happened. But the video sees all.

A video of Batman on a gargoyle on a skyscraper, with shaky footage from clearly around a corner, but on the same level. "Commentary on this specimen has been added in post, for reasons you will soon see. Batman, the patriarch of the Bat-Brood, is incredibly elusive to research, and for good reason." In the video, the camera jolts a little and Batman turns suddenly to the sound of rocks moving. The camera goes still, and Batman scans the area, seemingly seeing nothing. Then, his white eyes turn blue, and he looks directly into the camera. Footage ends.

The acc posts a screenshot of a dm that is very clearly an Oracle sockpuppet. She has sent something along the lines of 'how have you obtained this footage, this is dangerous,' etc etc. His response is 'i am in ur walls lol'

He is not aware of the level of Bat Paranoia this brings out.

[zytes]

look alive, sunshine

[frtools]

New Flash Sale: Secondary Undertide Gene: Eye Spots

A new flash sale has been discovered for Secondary Undertide Gene: Eye Spots

A scroll that will change the secondary gene of one Undertide dragon to Eye Spots. This item can only be used once and will disappear after it has been applied.

Game database: click here Marketplace link: click here

Treasure: 82500 66000

[gmatildaseo1189]

George & Matilda Eyecare for Optometrist Menai

Optometrist Menai offers comprehensive eye examinations by registered Optometrists as well as providing the best possible glasses and/or contact lens solutions for our patients.