#One-stripe spiny eel

[billionneuronscurious]

Something fishy. Our world is full of aliens.

The Macrognathus aral, One-stripe spiny eel has its mouth and anterior shaped like a bird's beak. People make artworks by combining different kinds of animals or their forms. People also wonder about aliens, how they would look, and we have had so many drawings, cartoons of aliens. But isn't our own earth, the very world where we live, comprised of creatures alien-like? We have thousands and lakhs of species, all different from one another. And if we were to pick any animal group from these, let's say, fish, even they have so much variety. This variety, again, is in their body shapes, colours, size. And they are found in different habitats - freshwater (rivers, streams, ponds, lakes), saltwater/ marine, estuary. Let's consider their looks and body features. There's this one, in this post itself - Macrognathus aral, One-stripe spiny eel - which has a bird's beak-like anterior. There're 'flying fish' that can fly or glide in air for some time (with help of their fins). There're 'frogfish'. From their name itself, one can understand that they must be appearing like frogs. Walking on the seafloor. 'Sole' are flat fish that can be observed, again, on the seafloor, and with both of their eyes on one side (facing upward), on contrary to the single eye on each side of the fish. There are anglerfish, which lure their prey with their luminescent part. And so many others, grouped together based on their 'usual' characteristics, but still 'unusual'. Our world itself is full of aliens!

- Dhairyasheel Dayal

[sleepyfan-blog]

I VERY DESPERATELY NEED/Want Baby Primarch Mers. So Badly. PLEASE!

Ok! I"ll go down the list

1 - Lion - So, the temptation to make him part lionfish is incredible here. There's also the fact that IRL Lionfish are a huge problem in certain parts of the world because they are an invasive species in those areas, as well as incredibly deadly because of their poisonous spines. And considering how deadly Lion and his sons can be... Yeah, I think he's part lionfish. Specifically he has a deep green tail with silver stripes. His spines are black and gold and hold incredibly potent poisons.

2- ??? [REDACTED BY THE ORDER OF THE EMPEROR]]

3- Fulgrim - He is part Coral Beauty Angelfish, and has a beautiful purple tail that fades into a vibrant yellow color. Coral beauties (at least according to the quick google search I did about them) are an incredibly hardy salt water fish, and known for their vibrant colorations.

4 - Perturabo - is part Cabezon - which are known for being Stubborn Bastard Fish who Refuse To Move until they get their next meal, willing to wait days and even weeks before they get their next meal. Which is often other fish, which I feel fits Peter turbo pretty well. He has a pleated tail and fins that are a mottled steel and black color, with the occasional yellow stripe.

5 - Jaghatai - is part Sailfish - which are allegedly one of the fastest fish in the world IRL. He has a bright white tail with red stripes. His fins are also white with red stripes.

6 - Leman - is part Piranha. Not only are Piranhas highly predatory, they also are species of fish that school together. Like how Space Wolves almost always stick together in packs. Also, he still has fangs in this AU. His tail and fins are a lovely slate grey color with an iridescent shine to them.

7 - Rogal - part greenland shark! Cold adapted predator of the sea. Doesn't look like much but is an apex predator in the seas it lives in. He has gorgeous golden fins and tails with black spots.

8 - Konrad - part goblin shark. I didn't pick it just because of the name, but because it is a deep water shark (lives in darkness, just like a certain edgy primarch) that is rarely seen by humans. And. Well. Most humans who saw Konrad didn't exactly live to tell about it, did they? He has a deep blue tail and fins that are surprisingly slender. But powerful and he has a hell of a bite and many, many pointy teeth.

9 - Sanguinius - He has a beautiful silver tail and fin-like wings, as his mer-half is flying fish! Although I was super tempted to make him part-lamprey because of the blood-sucking aspect of him.

10 -  Ferrus - as per the suggestions of @angronsjewelbeetle @c-u-c-koo-4-40k and @i-am-a-dragon34 Ferrus is now part Dunkleostous, with dark grey fins and tail on his dorsal side and a silvery ventral side.

11 - ?? [REDACTED BY THE ORDER OF THE EMPEROR]

12 - Angron - part betta fish. He has striking red and gold fins and tail and will square the fuck up if the mood strikes.

13 - Roboute - there is a big temptation to go for the Ultramarlin pun, but I won't give in. What I am going with is part Ribbon Eel, as they have this really lovely blue body with bright yellow dorsal and ventral stripes that go all the way down their bodies. That and G-Man having a long tail to thwap his brothers with makes me giggle.

14 - Mortarion - part pufferfish. Prickly, defensive and poisonous. Can and will puff up. Has grey fins and tail with dark green spots. Spiny.

15 - Magnus: I am torn between making him part carp - because of the Japanese (I think?) myth about a carp jumping up a waterfall in order to become a dragon - which hints at Magnus' incredibly powerful warp abilities or an Abtu, which is a mythical ancient Egyptian fish, because Space Egypt. Thoughts? Opinions?

16 - Horus: Is part dolphin. Known for being very charismatic and charming, but can and will bully other kinds of sea life. Baby-Horus has a deep green tail with gold markings.

17 - Lorgar - I love the Parrot Fish pun suggestion by @c-u-c-koo-4-40k so that is what I am going with. His fins and tail are a deep red color with a silver shimmer to them.

18 - Vulcan - another excellent suggestion by @c-u-c-koo-4-40k for making one of the primarchs part barracuda! I have decided on Vulcan, rather than Magnus. Vulcan’s dorsal fins and tail are a deep green color, the ventral side is black. Along the middle where the two colors meet, he had gold spots.

19 - Corvus: Part of me wants to make Corvus either some kind of shark, or angler fish bc of his whole "sworn vengeance and eternally hunting after Lorgar post-heresy" thing but. Big E is also a being who loves himself some aesthetics and I don't think a part-angler fish boy would fit that. Perhaps part black-tipped shark bc of their stealthiness. Thoughts?

20 - Alpharius and Omegon: are color-pallet changed blue-ring octopi. Instead of a yellow body with bright blue rings, they have vibrant teal tentacles with bright silver ring-patterns across their tentacles and up the fishy parts of their bodies.

@egrets-not-regrets @the-pure-angel

[mediumsizedpidegon]

I love me some beasts too :)))))

And the questions about how this interacts with trade and commerce!!! Considering that some very vibrant reds pigments in our world are literally ground up beetles (aka carmine) and that Victorian England had a fashion phase where they took beetle wings and used them in embroidery to the point of endangering the species involved (look it up. the embroidery is a lovely iridescent green for all that it was Not Great for the ecosystem) there is definitely a non-zero chance that some fun stuff is going on with insects!!

When I was talking about the glowing hives, I was imagining that some were beetles, some were ants and glowworms, and some are dragonflies. Of course there are other little critters (SPIDERS!!) but I'm just mentioning the ones that glow. Now I don't know how realistic this is, but considering that the setting is a shitty porn webnovel made real, I'm going to wing it and say that these glowing beetles have a similar symbiotic relationship to people in the sinkhole city like topsiders have with bees. This is because before bees existed, there were certain species of beetles that took on the role of pollinators, and some still do with flowers like magnolias. I don't think they make honey. Apparently beetles are attracted to spicy/fermented odors so consider: a spread with a similar consistency to honey but it's spicy, sour, or fermented (depending on the species or plants pollinated). People definitely use it as a flavoring, and it could probably be hardened into a sort of sour candy, but I'm debating on whether or not it would be suitable to be used in pickling veggies/fruits. Would it be a flavoring? Would it be used for "fast" pickling for when you don't have the time but still want pickled food?? I... don't know, but these are questions I know people in the city would love to figure out. There are probably actual bee hives in the decoy town up top too, since honey is a great and inexpensive alternative to sugar. Honestly, I don't know if the setting even has sugar– but that's a problem for later! (maybe it can be a demon realm product?)

In addition to all these talk about beetles, the ants are probably just a convenient light source in the beginning. I imagine that their glow has something special about it to attract predators: but they are extremely poisonous. Meaning that a hapless predator has a snack, drops dead, and then is broken down and carried back to the hive. Maybe some scientists want to try and copy/extract the poison. Maybe the ants, when ground up, make a rich green dye with shining finish. There are a lot of species of glowing ants, subspecies mostly and one or two different glowing ant species entirely (leaving out all the non-glowing ants), so that leaves some room for experimentation. I mean. You can definitely eat the non-poisonous ones.

AND THERE'S SOME TERRIFYING FISH!!!! There's underground lakes/rivers cutting across the city (where exactly they do is subject to change) and there's multiple types of strange looking shrimp! Fish with no eyes and teeth large enough to produce wonderful stocks for soups, sauces and stews! Sharks with spiny outsides like a pufferfish, known both for its medicinal/poison qualities (it all depends on the dosage!) and its tender meat. It's big enough that whatever can't be eaten is just used for bait or fertilizer. Lots of eels! Disturbing looking squids covered in carapace! Fish with wild stripes that you can't look at too long.

AND FARMING!!! Okay so sinkhole city is underground so crops that require sunlight are crossed right out, except in the decoy town or a few caves with cracks that let light in. For these spaces it's going to be dominated with things like grains, onions/herbs, soy beans, squashes, peppers, melons, maybe some citrus? I think the decoy town is near an above-ground source of water, so they might grow rice, or they could end up needing to cut it from their diets more/buy it elsewhere. I'm leaning more towards them having to buy it because complete self-sufficiency is damn near impossible. They can't have everything!

Since everything green needs sunlight to... you know,,,, live, I am going to have to shamelessly come up with some shit. But first, based on reality, sinkhole city is a wonderful environment for mushroom cultivation, and vegetables like asparagus can grow without light, though they become white instead of green. On to the made-up shit: there's a lot of water around, so some variants of seaweed, water chestnuts, mint, and watercress. I imagine there has to be flowers/a number of plants capable of producing pollen or something akin to it, or else the beetle pollinator thing would fall apart. Some of these plants are edible, some are medicinal, some are edible but make you extremely tired (sleep aid, anyone??), some curse you in a variety of ways, some are just pretty, some are good for livestock/the fish/your neighbor but not you, and a lot are sex plants. Some gum your mouth shut for a week and a day. Some allow you to tell truth from lie. Some of them just get you extremely high. One of them changes your biological sex for a month and is predictably, taken every month like clockwork by some. Back to plants that aren't flowers: sweet purple lettuces and bone-white bitter radishes. Vines which give off fruit with yellow shells and miles of blue s-shaped seeds. Luo Binghe likes cracking the shells between his teeth, especially when he was teething, and they're also used in carving or other types of art.

I don't know. All I want you to get from the sinkhole city is the sense that there's a highly disparate group of people who have nonetheless come together and formed something that is strange but theirs. That the made this, they cultivated it, and it is a blue-purple-white-unearthly wash of color and sound, but it's theirs, too. It's their home.

And yeah :)))) SQH is careful but even the most careful person can spawn some buck-wild cryptids if the people describing him don't know what the FUCK they were looking at.

I need you to know that the idea of a pigeon– a pigeon– being this odd spiritual cryptid bird to everyone in the svsss world just made me ugly laugh. that's our fucking feral trash critter!! Spiritual cousin to the raccoon! SQH would be SO flabbergasted, like, did he really not ever mention pigeons in PIDW?? Plenty of shit he didn't include in-text got brought in, why were pigeons, god's mistake and unifier between annoyed people everywhere, not??? God. I'm thinking about MBJ being so serious and solemn about how pigeons represent his beloved's great qualities and they must be his symbolic animal because he's never seen them before, and just. giggling hysterically, SQH would be torn between being offended and being like, 'that's actually... sweet?'

Also the idea of the birds/snakes biting you and you get a papercut is really cute. maybe that can be a sort of warning. I was thinking that since they're the physical embodiment of SQH's stories, touching one is a little like getting psychically beat over the head with Themes and Motifs, though they'll be more gentle if you're a friend.

And yeah you got me– I love cross-culture/safe haven stories as well. Like, maybe it's complicated, maybe it doesn't work out, but you try. You're all desperate and in need of a hand, and you have each other, hand in hand in strangerhood. Why not try? (what do you have to lose?) And I don't want to avoid that as time passes and the city grows larger, old problems and new problems arise, but I really want to write something where... a home that is not just one thing is possible. Where good can exist. Where wrongs can be righted, and words win battles. Where a bunch of imperfect people work together and manage to make it work.

Which is to say: no, demonkind isn't uniform at all. It might??? probably??? would be more accurate to say that before demon-human contact (if there was one, but since they're in difference realms....), different demon groups probably considered themselves different species/subspecies. With all the differences in demonkind, it wouldn't surprise me if the word demon was given to them by humans and they took it and sort of made it a unifying term– like "hey! We hate each other but at least we're both demons." There's nothing like an outside threat to create linguistic harmony, I guess?? And that the word 'demon' is therefore intrinsically tied to opposition to humans. And that similarly, the human realm is probably also large if not as large as the demon realm, and has other types/groups of humans in it, and the term 'human' is a unifier against those that aren't human: ie, demons, but probably malicious spirits/ghosts/beasts as well.

Speaking of demons, besides the whole "Luo Binghe has all three of his parents, a cousin, an uncle and a safe happy childhood" which will have massive ramifications, and the whole "Mobei-Jun has, for once in his life, a person that cares about him that he can trust" which already has consequences at the time of SQH becoming a ghost, and the whole "fixing his peak and thus the whole damn mountain," the other canon-shifting thing SQH has done is essentially. essentially opened up a city for everyone with a suitably tragic/horrible backstory (why else would they be moving to a hole in the ground they aren't even sure exists otherwise??). And you know who tends to have the the worst fucking backstories, besides LBH himself?? That's right! His wives! And the classic tragic backstory is "parents had a bad time, died, and left me alone etc." LBH is like. two when he moves to what will become the sinkhole city. SO these wives' parents are alive and presumably, if not currently having a horrible time, then they're going to. WHICH MEANS THAT A SHIT LOAD OF RANDOM FAMILIES SQH DOESN'T RECOGNIZE MOVE TO THE SINKHOLE CITY AND IT TAKES AT *LEAST* A DECADE BEFORE HE REALIZES THAT A LOT OF THEM ARE THE PARENTS OF LBH'S CANONICAL WIVES. DO YOU REALIZE HOW HYSTERICAL THIS IS. THESE ARE LBH'S CHILDHOOD FRIENDS. HIS NEIGHBORS. THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE SAME CITY, LISTEN TO THE SAME STORIES, AND GO TO HIS MOTHER'S RESTAURANT. IF THEY'RE SOME OF HIS OLDER WIVES, THEY'RE HIS BABYSITTERS OR COUSIN ZZL'S FRIENDS OR MEMBERS OF FATHER'S BOOK CLUB. IF THEY'RE YOUNGER WIVES, LBH COULD BE THE BABYSITTER OR THE TEENAGER ROLLING HIS EYES AT THEIR CHILD SHENANIGANS. SQH HIMSELF IS FRIENDS WITH SOME OF THESE PARENTS. HE'S A FAMILY FRIEND TO SOME OF THESE WOULD-BE-WIVES. SQH CANNOT ARTICULATE THE COCKTAIL OF SHEER WRONGNESS AND RELIEF HE'S FEELING WITHOUT LOOKING INSANE. MEANWHILE LBH IS HAVING A BABY CRUSH ON ONE OF THE MAD SCIENTISTS AND HAS NO IDEA THAT CHILDHOOD FRIEND #1 WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FORGETTABLE WIFE #15. AMAZING.

and yeah. ghosts do tend to resentful. they try to hold themselves together and fall apart worse. they arise with revenge and it twists them out shape. they forget themselves. To get to a point of stability, you need power, multiple reforgings of self, and a shit load of luck. But a place where ghosts are welcomed home.... I could see there being resentful ghosts that come home, not knowing what home is anymore, and being put to rest. I could see little fires and breezes-that-should-not-be settling in and either moving on, becoming resentful, or not. I could see some ghosts getting to that stable point. It's a melancholy truth: not everyone can make it. But it deserves to be heard anyway.

I.... don't think I can talk about the legal system. I've got basically nothing right now. I know it changes a lot as SXY finds out what works and that different styles of court cases would be used depending on the wishes of the people participating. I know that the lawyers are the sharp-toothed cousins to the storytellers: tellers of truth all. I know there are definitely a shit ton of rules, official and unofficial, "suggestions" and "advice" which really should be followed anyway if you're wise, unspoken things between two or four that exist because of devotion, oaths and loopholes and as many ways out as there are in.

yeah.... MBJ is not going to leave SQH alone after the death reveal. I mean, he will at first, to just think and put all the pieces together (He thinks he has connected all the dots, he HAS NOT). And then he's go through a guilt cycle or two where he's like 'maybe I should stay away' but MBJ is strong against pain and weak against those he cares for, so he returns. Honestly, I imagine that the death reveal isn't just a death reveal but also a reveal about how hitting isn't flirting and that SQH doesn't know why his foolish heart wants MBJ. That's right! Love confession time in the worst way possible. It's the sort of conversation that happens from years and years of built-up rage and frustration and pain and love left without light. It's a horrible conversation where SQH has ran out of fucks to give and lets everything out like foul riverwater, saying some things that later on he regret, and others that he will not. It's a horrible conversation where SQH is done and screaming and convinced that he will die because of it for all that he has no life left to give, where MBJ is pinned like a moth by the weight of SQH wild, hurt gaze. It's MBJ seeing the mask of what he though they had was shattering on the floor unceremoniously. It's the first SQH will let himself be heard by his king. It will be a conversation where SQH will shout that he hates MBJ and he loves MBJ, that even though his oath is fulfilled he cannot bring himself to leave. It's SQH shouting that MBJ is the cause for a considerable amount of resentment that brought him back. It's MBJ leaving with blood trailing from his ears and technicolor regret imprinted in the dark of his closed eyes.

MBJ will have to dig for some words to respond to... that. Which will take a while. He's realized that he fucked up massively and he can't let his actions speak without the chance of being misunderstood. So god's most uncommunicative favorite has to go on a journey to reflect, research, and get some character development. I kind of want to write that as well: perhaps not as in detail as SQH's point of view, but hints of MBJ is doing while SQH is see-sawing between angrily weeping and panic attacks.

It does take years, and I do mean years, both of them are cautious and want to do this right. But eventually there is this– MBJ steps through a shadow to a glowing, colorful cavern. He walks over lakes and past children (demon, ghost, and human) running through the streets, until he gets to a comfortable looking home, not far from a very popular restaurant and the house joined to it. He opens the door, takes off his shoes, and a ghost with partially metal wings and inkstained palms find him there and smiles. The ghost says, welcome home. MBJ says i'm glad to be back. And they each mean it.

YQY is lvl 100 at guilt-snatching. He just! Takes it upon his back! Just like that! Except he isn't even the author who created the world! SQH and YQY sharing a handshake that says 'I take on the world's guilt because of my position with it.' AND MQF IS AT THE END OF HIS ROPE ABOUT IT!!!!

..... LUO BINGHE AT QD??? THIS LBH AT QD??? I think I need this. Holy shit how did you find the one place LBH could go that is both hilarious and heartbreaking??? LBH's confusing everyone, but YQY most of all. He's so polite, he has mannerisms that are familiar to YQY but he can't tell from where they come from (it's SQH) and then he'll break into YQY's house and cry crocodile tears to get YQY to take a lunch break in the sun, and drive away everyone who comes to his office with such a no-nonsense tone that you have to believe him. It's incredible. Meanwhile LBH thinks YQY is a very sad man who needs to enjoy life a little more. It's like uncle-wrangling but sadder. No joke, for QD, you either love LBH or hate his guts. He's utterly shameless, extremely principled (though some of those principles are bad news for Huan Hua), a prodigious twister of truth, nothing fazes him except the most mundane shit possible, and he's so nice about it.

AND SQQ hates him so much. Because LBH drove him away from YQY's office the one time SQQ was going there of his own free will because it wasn't an emergency and SQQ hadn't made an appointment. SQQ hates making appointments with YQY. Gives him too much time to get even more pathetic. The hatred is mutual, which is hilarious looking: Shen Qingqiu, the meanest, most intimidating peak lord ever, versus a junior QD disciple that is comically small in comparison and refuses to back down from proper protocol and due process despite the fucking death glare being sent his way. The image I want to give you is that LBH is being respectful the whole time but his vibes are that of a teenager loudly popping bubblegum while hsajdkaslak i don't know, the police are lecturing them. And SQQ is definitely picking up on it.

SQH is alternatively choking on laughter or fearing for his nephew's life.

thinking about Shang Qinghua as a calamity again…

[eelpatrickharris]

The America COMPETES Act is putting fish and reptiles at risk

Hello, friends! I'm returning from my hiatus to let people know about something very important. As of today, 2/4/2022, HR 4521 along with the COMPETES Act has been passed (mostly along party lines) through the House of Representatives and is making its way to the senate.

This matters to the fish, herp, bird, and invert communities for one big reason: there's an amendment in Division H from the Committee of Natural Resources that modifies the Lacey Act. According to this amendment, all non-native species would be classified as injurious by default until later review. There would be an import ban on non-native fish, reptiles, amphibians, and the like unless they are reviewed by the Secretary of the Interior and found to not be an “imminent threat to human beings, to the interests of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, or to wildlife or the wildlife resources of the United States.” They must also be verifiably imported or transported between state lines in “more than minimal quantities” in a 1-year period before the COMPETES Act is passed. Those quantities have not been decided yet.

We’re talking a devastating blanket ban on any species that isn’t well-known and studied enough to be proven non-threatening.

Let’s take Parasphromenus, for instance! The licorice gourami. This is a genus of fish from the peat bogs of Indonesia and Malaysia. They will likely be extinct in the wild within our lifetime, because their habitats are being rapidly deforested and converted into palm oil plantations. The key to the licorice gourami’s survival is captive breeding by dedicated aquarists. (Learn more about the Parasphromenus Project here.) Because there are very few of them left in the wild, a very tiny amount of them are being imported or distributed within the US, and you might only see 1 or 2 of a given species being moved around. These would not meet minimal quantities and would be banned. Goodbye, licorice gouramis.

And here we have spiny eels, what got me into fishkeeping. These two, Charlie and Dennis Reyneelds, are my Macrognathus aral, or the striped peacock eel. There are a good 13 different eels classified as peacock eels, and they all get lumped into 4 (usually incorrect) species in the US pet trade. Even with those inflated numbers, not many are being brought into the USA. If you’re extremely lucky, you might find a couple skinny ones hiding in the gravel at Petsmart. Say goodbye to any spiny eel that isn’t the well-known fire eel. (Fire eels do terribly in captivity and need about a 1500+ gallon tank as fully grown adults, but anyways.)

This will affect many, many species that are infrequently imported. At best, they’ll just become in the USA and continuing to sustain populations in the wild. At worst, they will be driven to extinction in the wild and lose their base of conservationists within the USA. Not only is this a hideous overstep of the Lacey Act--we should not have a “whitelist” of non-native organisms that can legally exist in the USA--but it is absolutely disastrous to threatened species being held afloat by passionate individuals. Unless you want the only fish available to be what you could find in an old Walmart fish section, please reach out to your senators. This bill has already passed the House and is moving to a vote in the Senate.

Find out who your senator is (a quick google will do this), go to their Contact page, and send them an email, a message, dial their phone, send them a fax. Whatever you do, get into contact and ask them to please oppose HR 4521′s Presumptive Prohibition on Importation amendment to the Lacey Act. If you want to write a long plea on how it will affect conservation efforts, go for it! But if you aren’t sure what to write, here’s what I sent to mine:

Dear Senator _______,

In regards to the America COMPETES Act, HR 4521, Section 71102 (d): I'm a fishkeeping hobbyist dedicated to preserving species threatened by habitat loss. To do this, I rely on imported specimens of rare endangered fish to create stable populations within captivity. Because these fish have dwindling ranges in the wild, they are sparsely imported, and already near-impossible to find.

According to the amendments proposed to the Lacey Act by the Committee on Natural Resources, these species would be classified by default as injurious and illegal to import or transport across state lines. The exception would be those imported in a to-be-announced "minimum quantity" within 1-year before the passing of the bill. Covid-borne logistics slowdowns meant that importations of fish from 2020 onward have been at an all-time low, as you cannot risk livestock getting stuck in transport and dying. Especially with endangered fish, it defeats the purpose of importation with the intent of preservation.

A "whitelist" is dangerous lip service meant to soothe those worried about invasive species, at the cost of species extinction and ruined conservation efforts. One single entity should not be able to completely prohibit harmless species unless they are known to be a hazard to the US. There are thousands of fish species with no chance of survival outside of aquaria once their wild populations are wiped out by spreading agricultural and development threats. Please, for the sake of wildlife diversity and those of us who strive to preserve it, eliminate the Section 71102 (d) amendment on Presumptive Prohibition to the Lacey Act in HR 4521. The fate of thousands of threatened species depend on it.

[fouquesartcorner]

Species ref: Aikaya

Aikaya [p: Aikayan]

[An aquatic species whose known for their more elegant appearance, biofusion technology, and they share a common myth as those of the Immortal Jellyfish.]

Inspiration: Didn't want to go full Mermaid, but still wanted to play with an aquatic species. Naiads and Sirens became my inspirational source. Though later Mermaids’ lore and the Immortal Jellyfish came next. Background: The Aikaya were once a mammalian species and technologically advanced at the time. When their world began to flood due to a phenomenon which accelerated melting of glaciers, and as their land masses began to flood they began to invest in under water habitats. This led to their scientists tinkering with a way to accelerate and control their evolution by enabling them to inherit aquatic features to survive both on land and sea. Eventually it reached a point where they could survive in deep ocean environments and transition to the surface at will. They’ve also managed to evolve so that they experience extremely slow cell death that it would almost appear they don't experience it at all or degeneration that goes on as they get older--meaning that that they wouldn’t really show signs of aging(which is the slow desaturation of their coloration), they’d just reach their adult growth and then look that way for a very long time. Thus leading to the misconception that they are immortal. General Appearances: They're humanoid with digigrade legs and webbed feet. A pair of gills lining their ribs and the base of their necks, used for breathing since they do not have noses on their face. There is little dimorphism since females do not have breasts, where as the females have flowy fins while the males have spinal fins. Markings are typically naturally seen like spots and stripes. So if there were swirls or runes, it's typically tattoos and not natural markings. Typical fashion for Aikayan would be would appear like that of body suits, with cut outs to allow their gills to breath freely. They would add draping fabric as tail coats, cloaks, skirts, or shawls to accent their bodysuits.

Egkhili: [Common Aikayan/Ribbon Tails] Inspiration: Eels, tadpoles Notable traits for their appearances: They are generally the more commonly seen Aikayan. Known for their tails being flatten like those of eels with ribbon like fins, being as long or short, like those of tadpoles. Extra Notes: Egkhili (based on the Greek word egkhelys for Eel).

Flocarus/Flocarii:  [Floral Fins] Inspiration: Flowers, jellyfishes Notable traits for their appearances: Notably known more for their females, whose fins grow and form in such a way that appears floral in shape and that of jellyfishes. Males lack the floral formation, but their fins tend to be flowing just as their female counterparts due to having thinner spines in their fins. Extra Notes: Name derived from Flo (from flower), Car (from caritate, or splendor), and Us (from angelus).

Aequozoa: [Luminous Fins] Inspiration: Angler fish, Squid, Bio-luminescence fishes Notable traits for their appearances: These Aikayan are better known for their natural bioluminescence, appearing in their eyes, markings and barbs that grow along their fins. Extra Notes: Name derived from Aequo from Aequorea Victoria (Crystal Jellyfish) and Zoa from hydrozoa, which is the crystal jellyfish’s category of jellyfish. Also mild inspiration from squids for how the females' tail fans out.

Dermenos: [Spiny Armor] Inspiration: Seahorses, Succulents, Trilobites Notable traits for their appearances: These Aikayan are the biggest of their species, are known for the armor that lines their body, being plating or segmented armored plating. Due to the plating, they rarely have markings that their brethren carry, though it's not impossible for them to have them. Extra Notes: Name derived from Derm from derma, Greek word for skin and Enos from thorakismenos, Greek word for armored. Female fins can sometimes be seen similar to those of succulents versus the more elegant floral appearing fins that the Flocarii tend to sport.

Fomoar: [Ghosts/Spectre] Inspiration: See-thru fishes, ghosts, frosted Nudibranch, This Fish Notable traits for their appearances: They're rarer to see due to how they live in seclusion and in deeper waters. Due to that, their eyes are darker while their skin are very light, so light you don't normally see markings on them. However, what you would note is that their flesh is translucent to the point if you happen to show a light on them, you might be able to see a faint reflection of their skeletal structure under their flesh, which earned them the nickname "Ghosts." Their fins, unlike the others, are transparent. Extra Notes: Name derived from Fo from Foteinos (Greek word for luminous), Ma from Pnevmatikos (Greek word for ghostly), and Or from Omorfia (Greek word for beauty). Their appearance were inspired from the Frosted Nudibranch. Also doubt you can see their organs, due to the how quickly they'd swim off or how far off they are, just saying.

Other Misc Notes: - Singular name for Aikaya is Aikaya. Plural and species possessive name is Aikayan. Group of Aikayan is a cluster(not school lol) - While a lot aren’t religious, they can still be spiritual. They would believe in The Goddesses, Aikaya deities presiding over the idealization of life, death, nature, etc. Their key Goddess is The Mother, who’s equivalent to mother nature, a giver of life to all things. But due to the rise in technological advancement, they referred to the Goddess and less so by that point not mainly would reference their beliefs as much. - Aikaya young automatically know how to swim once entering the water, as it is a natural feeling to them. They spend most of their youth in the water, developing the muscles and skills to navigate through the water. They also start out bald and their tail fins do look like that of a tadpole, but is very small– nubby tailed– before it grows out to what it’d normally be as an adult. - Due to spending a lot of of time in the water, when it’s time for Aikaya youth decide it’s time to explore land, it takes them since they’re essentially toddlers learning how to balance on their digigrade legs and learning to walk. - They also have the extra sense to understand sound waves, since on their homeworld they coexisted with another species that spoke in soundwaves(like whales and such) that echoed through the water. They can understand and translate, even when all what others would hear is the ethereal moans and thrilling of said species/creature. (Des) And that would imply, if there were whales left on Earth, they would find communicating with them fairly easy.  - They can survive outside the water, but generally would rather keep hydrated as much as possible. When more dehydrated, it shows by how dull their skin is. - When they die, their skin essentially turns grey and their fins kind of dry out(think dried flowers) - While they do heal quickly, they cannot regrow limbs. So if their leg was cut off, the leg will not grow back at all. - I imagine like fishes there’s less fat on them and more muscle(since when holding even a small fish they’re difficult to hold due to their muscles) even if they’re still squishy to an extent.  - Also since less fat, they do not have sagging flesh-- like breasts on mammals. It'll drag in the water.  - (Des) As technologically advanced as they are, signs of Aikayan tech is very rare. If one finds some it’d be within an Aikayan cluster, where they have the means and numbers to collaborate to build something for themselves– IF they have an Aikaya engineer or scientist to even do that. Otherwise it’d be less likely. Their technological advancement is usually in bioengineering and dual purpose techs– almost transformative and adaptive techs with mult-purposes.

Aikayan, their concept, and art © me Names are thanks to RiskellionGamble on DA They are also a species that are not open for random people to make all willy nilly just because. They are also not a species I intend to make as one of those closed species peeps can buy rights to make either. Too much work to over see that and junk. The only peeps who are free to make characters off of these are friends of mine who I’ve drawn Aikayan for or those who talk to me enough to not need permission, or those who have characters of them within Cosmos Descended or Solar Winds– two stories by two friends of mine. Do not repost, edit, trace, or steal. Reblog is fine.

[aiweirdness]

The neural network meets its match: Fish biologists

(Drawing by Max Graenitz)

I train machine learning programs called neural networks - they work by looking at lists of data and then deducing their own rules about how to generate similar data. They’re used in everything from ad targeting to facial recognition to self-driving cars, but I use them for humor by giving them very silly datasets.

Usually in my experiment, I give the neural network an unfair dataset - like paint colors - and it tries its best, but ends up with something unintentionally weird, like a brownish color called Stanky Bean, or a bright blue color called Dad.

Fish biologist Colin Gross sent me a new dataset for the neural network, a list of the common names of 37,265 fish from fishbase.

I gave the list to an open-source neural network and let it start trying to generate more fish.

Here’s a snapshot of its early attempts, as it tried to spell common words like “butterflyfish” and “shark” and “snapper”

Blue-spotted erlerfish Seer batterfly Seelet guby Pit-hard fish Seate shurper Seelee murchlip Segfish Seare moatherfish Seale multerflyfish Seeled cudfish Seored barshont Seare sputterfish Spotfin spunterfly Spotfin sul shripper Sponted stripper Spotfin shurk Spotfin snarper Blue-spotted mrinnfish

But then, it got good at this. I mean, really really good at this. You may think these names are the neural network being weird? No. They are pretty much indistinguishable from actual fish common names because, let me tell you, fish biologists are the weird ones. 

The rest of this post is going to be the neural network’s ode to its new best friends, the fish biologists. And, I am very lucky to have excellent drawings by the talented Max Graenitz who wanted to get in on the weird-fest.

Black Sea sweetlips Eastern Dear eel Oastern nose sucker Vermillion assfin Cuban fork head sucker Gempofloise sand flaky Vumberfish Gerpike dwarf monocle bream Wrink clown-shark Bluebanded smooth-eet Bluebacked tube-spot skate Wallare pipe-eyed parrotfish Moon-lined wad Kascopcan tonguefish Highfin stonebasher

Dantuman ghost puffer Moo lanternfish Darfer butterflyfish Hornmack croaker Horny deepwater darter Horseshark Orangespotted smooth-hound Yellow-black yellowtail dragonet Small-dotted catshark Small-mouthed unicorn fish Orangespotted tilefish Horse-eye grunt Horse-snout fang-tailed dogfish Pacific squeaker Pacific headless lamprey Little weakfish

Mottonsfish Danubiec spring-striped lumpsucker Kaire-fin eartheater Sputtail Vague-lined sleeper-banded soapfish Dangle shark Daui's deepwater redhorse Khan's hound shark Rathead batfish Lanto sand tiger unicorn fish Bockon cubehead Bow spiny lumpsucker Boster weedfish Deep dogfish Binder's flathead parrotfish Hawaiian Stump ray Black Sea gardenfish Black Sea jobfish Horny humbug

Short-nose batfish Short-nosed leatherjacket Short-nosed jewelled-eyed rainbowfish Short-lined pigfish Short-toothed trumpeter Short-face shrampgoby Short-headed hogfish Bokinker's tubeshoulder Bottlenose wobbegong Bostriebann flute-tooth wolffish Boguu dragonet Pighead mullet

Moanygoby Mottled utterfish Kack's coral gropes Kalhal gardensean block ray Wurp fish Whitley assfish Sudderspot happy ghost-perch Sucking puller Sunsetnose spider shark Witcheefin squirrelfish Orangeside slickhead Hawaiian doctorfish Chornacher comb-tooth Black Sea lampeye Striped flying fang loach Striped hone-spine dottyback Greater butterfly tube-snouted ghost knifefish Cuban armoured cat

I’ve posted the original dataset so you can see I am NOT KIDDING about how weird fish names are.

Want to help with neural network experiments? For NaNoWriMo I’m crowdsourcing a dataset of novel first lines, after the neural network had trouble with a too-small dataset.

Go to this form (no email necessary) and enter the first line of your novel, or your favorite novel, or of every novel on your bookshelf. You can enter as many as you like. At the end of the month, I’ll hopefully have enough sentences to give this another try.

[seanimal]

all of the oceans asks,,,,,,,

 Nico I love you so much I’m gonna hug you someday ;_;;!!!

🌊 North Atlantic Ocean- Gender?

I’m nonbinary! The way I’d describe it is like physically trans-masc, but like in my head? genderless!

🌊 South Atlantic Ocean- Sexuality?

I’m bi/pan, or I’ll just use “gay” as a shorthand (esp since I’m nonbinary, here’s a fun fact, if I like women; it’s gay! if I like men; it’s gay! (I feel connection to both wlw and mlm identities, while not really fitting either.

🌊 Indian Ocean- Eye color?

UHH Idk like….. blue and yellow??? It’s weird lemme just… hold on…

UHH my sister took this pic a while ago. I guess mostly green-looking tho.

🌊 North Pacific Ocean- Hair color?

it’s blond 

🌊 South Pacific Ocean- Do you like the beach?

YEAH!!! It’s one of my fav places to be!

🌊 Striped Colonial Anemone- What’s your favorite sea creature?

I can’t pick just one??? Here are some of my current favs:

whale sharks

white sturgeons 

lingcod

giant isopods

ribbon eels

🌊 Acantharea- What do you like most about the beach?

I think the general sensory experience: the wind, the hot sands, the cool waters, the sound of the waves cresting, the rocky tide pools filled with all sorts of curious little creatures, and the feeling of being underwater 💙💙💙

🌊 Albacore- Do you collect shells?

Yes! But more so I collect rocks, sea-glass, and other flotsam that washes ashore!

🌊 Armored Snail- Have you ever made a successful sandcastle?

YEAH! Mostly when I was younger, but yes me and my sisters would build sand EMPIRES!

🌊 Arctic Char- What are you thinking about right now?

I want to finish this ask before the wifi shuts off for the night :^(

EDIT: I had to wait the night it took to long lmaoo! oops

🌊 Atlantic Cod- What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?

OH I HAVE A FEW! But my go-to faves are chocolate (if it’s soft-serve and comes with sprinkles) or (if it’s hard-serve) cookie monster Ice cream! And if it’s on a stick? a Balboa bar!

🌊 Atlantic Goliath Grouper- What’s your favorite thing to drink during the summer?

OHH I HAVE 3: lemonade, Arnold Palmers, and orange crush!

🌊 Brown Trumpetfish- Do you like slushies?

YES! My fav is Slush Puppies!

🌊 Atlantic Wolffish- What’s your favorite weather?

Either sunny and breezy, or summer storms!

🌊 Baleen Whale- How late do you prefer to stay up when you have a day off of work/school?

It’s uhh not that I prefer it, but I often stay up till 2 or 3 :^s

🌊 Barnacle- Do you like lemonade? What’s your favorite flavor?

HECK YEAH! My fav is either homemade original lemon, or Calypso Ocean Blue Lemonade!!!

🌊 Barracuda- Do you like ice in your drinks?

Yup, for the most part (not in milk, you heathens!!!)

🌊 Bass- What drink do you drink in the morning?

A chocolate protein shake or a chocolate milk!

🌊 Bluebanded Goby- What is your favorite book?

Tbh when is it not any of the Percy Jackson books…

🌊 Bluehead Wrasse- Do you have any pets?

Yup! I have my lovely cat, Alice Lollipop, and some freshwater fish!

🌊 Bluefish- What’s your star sign/zodiac?

Libra

🌊 Blue Marlin- When is your birthday?

October 17!

🌊 Spiny Lobster- What’s your favorite food?

BLUE CANDY, potato dishes, pizza, bagels, and anything chocolate!

🌊 Christmas Tree Worms- What’s your favorite holiday?

Halloween! I love the idea of dressing up as someone/something else, then going to party or get free candy because of that!

🌊 Clam- Choose your horror movie team (the people you would want with you in a horror movie).

I’M GONNA @ PPL HOLD ON: @antlor, @quitesorry, @hostiletoast, @urbinas​, and Jeff Goldblum heheh!

🌊 Cod- What character are you in the horror movie?

What’s with the horror movie talk?? But probably the one who does something foolish, yet somehow survives…

🌊 Fangtooth- What’s your favorite movie?

I can’t pick one!!! Here:

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

The Shape of Water

Finding Nemo & Finding Dory

Moana

Thor: Ragnarok

Baby Driver

The Incredibles (1 and 2)

The Prince of Egypt

How to Train Your Dragon (all of em)

The Croods

anything that features Jeff Goldblum

🌊 Fish- What’s your least favorite movie?

I don’t know, I try not to think about the negatives in life rn!

���� Shell- What’s your favorite tv show?

Another list of my current faves, here:

Gravity Falls

Lucifer

Archer

Bob’s Burgers

Ducktales (2017)

Key & Peele

Home: Adventures with Tip and Oh

Brooklyn 99

🌊 Seagull- Do you prefer to be hot/warm or cold?

Cold! Easier to bundle up than to try to get cold in my experience. But for swimming? hot!

🌊 Seafoam- What’s your favorite thing to do when you have free time?

Draw, doodle, sculpt, construct, basically anything with creating!

🌊 Saltwater- What’s your favorite season?

I think Autumn! It has such a wonderful look (so many colors!) and wonderful weather (sunny, windy, rainy, all sorts!) and it has my favorite holidays!!! (halloween, and turkey day, which for me is just a day to have a nice meal with my family)

🌊 Sand- If you had to pick one drink to drink for the rest of your life, what would it be?

OH WATER! Or if it can’t be water, then milk or lemonade!!!

🌊 Shark- Give a random fact about yourself.

HM! I don’t ever talk about it, but I can play violin (and viola) on about a professional level (I’ve been playing for over 12 years) I don’t practice as much anymore but I do pick it up every now and then to make sure I still got it! 🎻🎻🎻

🌊 Coral- What’s your favorite color?

Oh you all know by now, I hope ;^)

[omegaling]

Allez Cuisine! ~Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Twelve: Scallops and Turbot

“You have got to be kidding.”

Rey could practically hear Kylo roll his eyes on the other side of the line.    “Contrary to popular belief, a chef does need leave their kitchen every now and then, especially when it’s to learn something new.  Some lessons are best taught at the source, and when it comes to seafood and shellfish there’s no better place than New Fulton.”

“I get that, but why does it have to be at one in the morning?”

Kylo sighed into his phone, which sounded more like a growl than a standard exhale of air.  “Because all the best product is gone by two. Now, considering I know for a fact that no true chef complains at having to keep odd hours, why don’t you just tell me what’s bothering you rather than keep dancing around it?”

Rey frowned as she applied another coat of Clementine Sunset nail polish to her big toe nail.  She only ever painted her nails when she was on the phone, mostly because it kept her from pacing circles around the apartment - not only was it a habit Finn already teased her about, but she didn’t want to risk piquing his attention by overhearing her side of the conversation - but it also bought her some much-needed time to articulate her thoughts into words.

“The episode airs on Sunday.”

“I don’t see why you’re so worried over that.  It’s not as if you don’t know what happens.”

Now it was Rey’s turn to roll her eyes.   Asshole.  “That’s not what I meant and you know it.  It’s just that...well...sometimes you seem to forget that you’re like, kind of a big deal.”

Rey had started her lessons with Kylo just three weeks ago, and in that time Vader was featured in two different popular restaurant columns, a TV show highlighting the most successful restaurateurs in America, and collected yet another prestigious award. To top it off, Kylo himself was announced to be a guest of honor at the next IACP Conference, and was even rumored to be on the judging panel for their cookbook award next year. The notion that he was so used to his own fame that he needed to be reminded of it by someone from the outside was something she couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

The burning core of Rey’s anxiety, however, stemmed from the premiere of the new season of  Iron Chef America. The Food Network kicked it off with a Bobby Flay episode the first week, followed by Michael Symon’s first challenge the next.  Rey had desperately hoped that with all the hype already surrounding Poe’s episode the network would save it for closer to the finale before the mid-season break or as the opening episode when the show returned, so she was nothing short of horrified when she learned it would be aired a mere three weeks in.

“You’re still afraid of being seen with me?”

Rey paused in her task, the nail polish brush hovering over her second right toe.  There was something about the tone in Kylo’s voice that made Rey unsure of whether he was making a statement or asking a question. There was something else too, just beneath the surface; the barest infliction of an emotion she would have never expected from him. Was the great Kylo Ren, the darling of one of the largest and most influential companies in the entire northern hemisphere, feeling... hurt because of her reluctance to accept his invitation?

Kylo’s voice interrupted her train of thought before it got too far.  “If that is the case, then you don’t need to worry. The people at New Fulton will be far more interested in that night’s shipment of striped bass than spreading cheap tabloid rumors.  Besides, don’t you think it’s better to go now than after your face has been on national television?”

Though his logic did little to relieve her anxiety, she found that she could not argue with it.  Once they agreed on the time and place he’d pick her up (no matter how much she insisted she could look after herself, he absolutely refused to let her traverse the length of Manhattan in the middle of the night alone) Rey stared at the black screen of her phone for what felt like a very long time.  Then she huffed, tossing the device on to her pillow.

For fuck’s sake, Jakken, get a hold of yourself.  You’re going to look at a bunch of dead fish with him, not going on a ritzy date.  Any disappointment on his part doesn’t come from you turning down an invitation, but because you’re a student refusing something your teacher wants you to do.  There’s no need to read into it any more than that, because that’s all you’ll ever be to him.

But that left the question of, what would she be to him when he felt he had nothing left to teach her?  More importantly, what did she  want  to be?

“Whatever happened to the ‘no one in New York owns a car’ rule?” Rey asked as she slid into the passenger sea of Kylo’s sleek Audi R8, hiding her wince with the slam of the door.   Someday I’ll get to the point where I don’t say something idiotic every time I open my mouth whenever I’m around him.  “I have to admit, though, it’s definitely a step up from the subway,” she added, running her hands down the supple leather of her seat.

“I’d like to think so,” Kylo agreed as he put the car into gear.

A mere month ago Rey would have bristled at his curt response, but by now she recognized it as being just a part of his dry sense of humor.  It was not the only unsuspecting surprise that she unearthed about him during their lessons. She knew his taste in music knew no bounds, ranging from Jefferson Airplane to Icelandic black metal, to Lorde to traditional Peruvian folk.  He abhorred texting, and although he never said why Rey suspected it has a lot to do with his hand-to-phone size ratio, which she thought was rather endearing. What Rey found the most intriguing was the impression she got that Kylo’s passion for food did not reside in his own beautiful and sinful creations, but in the simple, almost comfort-like food her lessons seemed to revolve around.  Rey felt as though she was privy to something no one else deemed possible: an understanding of the man behind the legend...or the monster, depending on whom you asked.

Kylo pulled away from the curb, heading for the quickest route uptown to the Bronx.  What few people were on the street at this hour didn’t so much glance up as the Audi passed.  Rey felt the knot of tension she had been carrying between her shoulder blades uncoil. She knew her paranoia was uncalled for, so instead she made herself sit back and watch the city lights streak by, the growl of the Audi’s engine reverberating through her bones.

“Couldn’t resist that twin turbo charge?” Rey asked, though the question was more rhetorical than not.

“The what?” Kylo asked as he switched gears.  In a rare turn of events, Rey was the one who got to raise an eyebrow.  Could it be that she actually knew something he didn’t?

“The engine in your car?” she prompted.  “Most people usually notice when an extra forty grand is added to the sticker price.”

“Oh.  I never really noticed.  This was a gift. From...a potential sponsor.”

Did Rey’s ears deceive her, or did Kylo actually sound...embarrassed?  That receiving an expensive gift from someone hoping to get him to endorse their product or business was a source of shame?  She tried to think of something that would help alleviate the tense silence, but Kylo beat her to it.

“You can tell what kind of engine it is just from the sound?”

Rey gave a nonchalant half-shrug.  “There’s a little more that goes into it than that, but yeah.  I used to spend a lot of time around all kinds of engines.”

“That’s right.  You were an engineering major before you started cooking.”

Rey looked at Kylo out of the corner of her eye, glad that the darkness inside the car hid her look of surprise.  She honestly had not expected him to remember any details from her pre-culinary life; or, more accurately, that he wouldn’t care about them.

“It seems like such a long time ago now.  Back then I was thinking of opening a shop after I graduated that specialized in restoring classic American muscle cars - it’s my favorite era - but imports are where the money is.”

“And now you make food for a living.”

“That’s the long and short of it, yeah.  Funny how life works out like that sometimes.”

“Very much so,” Kylo agreed.

The rest of the trip was made in relative silence, but for once it was not awkward.

When Kylo first told Rey that he wanted to take her to the New Fulton Fish Market for a lesson in recognizing reputable wholesalers and how to buy the best product, she surmised that the trip would be educational and nothing else.

Ten minutes after their arrival in the cavernous, refrigerated warehouse, Rey was running from stall to stall like a hyperactive kid let loose in a candy store.  She only recognized about a third of the contents in the ice-packed crates and nearly overflowing tanks. There were all the usual staples Poe used in his menu: golden-speckled Spanish mackerel and ugly, gaped-mouth monkfish and sardines that gleamed like silver coins; fat littleneck clams and blush-pink langoustines attempting to escape over the side of their bins.  And then there was everything else: eels writhing in giant plastic tubs; saber-nosed swordfish and dome-headed mahi mahi; spiny sea urchins, pale abalone crawling slowly up the sides of glass tanks and bizarre, tube-shaped sea cucumbers that Rey couldn’t even fathom how to use in food. Two Japanese men argued passionately over a giant loin of bluefin tuna as red as rubies, the belly section so richly marbled with fat that Rey’s mouth watered at the sight.  She had to abstain from laughing when a tiny Japanese woman barreled between the men and slapped a wad of cash into the seller’s hand, and the loin was hauled away as the men gaped in bewilderment.

Eventually Kylo reined her in, reminding her of the reason why they were there to begin with.  Like the vast majority of high-end restaurants in New York, Vader had their ingredients and supplies delivered daily from meticulously selected vendors, but Kylo was a staunch believer that a chef who could not identify every mark of high quality on every single cut of meat, fish, and item of produce that came into their kitchen had no right to serve food to the public.  Thanks to Poe and his ridiculously high standards and prepping raw ingredients for the better part of two and a half years, Rey assumed that she had a pretty good eye for spotting imperfections until Kylo once again proved she still had a lot to learn.

They moved among the rows of stalls, Rey hanging onto his every word as they examined gills and the clarity of eyes and ran their fingers over fins and scales.  Whereas Poe was always a good teacher when it came to explaining  how   something was done, Kylo took time to explain the why in the technique and history of every subject they covered.  Rey learned not only how to identify oysters by their size and shape of their shells alone (to avoid getting ripped off by a dishonest fishmonger trying to subsidize an order of Kumamoto oysters with Pacific ones, Kylo explained) but also how the mollusks went from being eaten exclusively by starving street urchins to being served on a crushed bed of ice at restaurants for fifty bucks a dozen.  She also learned that there were two different ways to pack scallops, and how wet packing yielded meat that was off flavor and didn’t tend to cook as properly as dry packed scallops did. To emphasize his point, Kylo selected a large king scallop from a nearby stand and, taking a shucking knife provided by the seller, had the shell open in two swift slices. The mollusk’s inedible membranes were quickly discarded, leaving a perfect, fat coin of pink-tinged meat in the middle of the shell.  As soon as Kylo proffered the scallop to her Rey plucked it from the shell and popped it into her mouth. It practically melted on her tongue, cold and sweet and absolutely perfect.

Although Kylo had assured her that everyone at New Fulton would be entirely too engrossed in their business to pay them any mind, Rey quickly noticed that Kylo’s presence at the market did in fact attract a lot of attention, but not in the way she expected.  She constantly saw the flicker of recognition in the eyes of the sellers and the buyers over and over again, only to immediately be followed by a change of expression that ranged from caution to outright fear before averting their gaze, as if they were afraid of any repercussions for attracting his attention.  Some people even made a point of moving as far away as they possibly could from Kylo as he passed them in the aisles. The vendors and fishmongers couldn’t run of course, but they certainly looked ready to dive into their tanks if they were unfortunate enough to give Kylo an answer he didn’t like. For his part, Kylo did not seem to notice their less-than-subtle behavior towards him, but Rey felt annoyed almost instantaneously by it.

Two hours into their trip to New Fulton, she was positively livid.  Kylo had been nothing but courteous, albeit business-like, with the market vendors during the entire course of their visit.  Whenever he happened to find a fish with discolored gills or a bin that had more open clams that closed ones, he did not rant and rave at the fishmonger like some of the other buyers did, but rather pointed out the flaws to her before moving on.  It was not until Kylo made a purchase of forty pounds of turbot - medium-sized flatfish that sold at a whopping $75 a pound - and the seller expressed what an honor it was for his fish to be on Vader’s menu that Rey remembered her own misgiving she expressed to him only a few days ago: “Sometimes you forget you’re kind of a big deal. ”  And even before that, weren’t there all those times she’d snigger and roll her eyes at the gossip about him swapped in the kitchen and at the bars?

Now, walking beside him in that chilly, noisy warehouse at two in the morning, it was next to impossible for her to think of him as the tyrant everyone else she knew made him out to be.  True, he was more than a little intense at times, and she did not doubt that he ruled his kitchen with an iron fist, but all the best chefs did; a fall from the top of the food chain in this industry meant certain cannibalism from those waiting in the wings.  Rey couldn’t help but wonder how many of the rumors were started by chefs jealous of his talent, or if they stemmed from fear of his horrible boss. She was suddenly overcome by the urge to reach out and take Kylo’s hand, if for no other reason than to assure him he was not alone.  Her fingers nearly brushed his before she realized that she was doing and snatched her hand back, tucking it under the opposite armpit as if doing so would help prevent her from making a grave mistake. Though they continued to grow more comfortable around each other every time they met, there was still a line in whatever their relationship actually was.  Rey knew that she almost stepped over it that night, and she was certain that if she did, there wouldn’t be a way for her to go back.

It was close to three in the morning when Rey felt her energy begin to wane; she may have been a  night owl long long before she was hired to BB8, but even her energy was not infinite. As though he could feel her attention slipping, Kylo decided to call it a night.  “I’m not going to waste my time explaining something you’re not even going to remember,” he remarked drily, which earned him a quick jab in the ribs from her elbow.

At that point Rey was sure that they would just head back to his car so he could drive her home, which meant she was surprised when he asked if she wanted to get something to eat before they called it a night, and even more so when he suggested grabbing something at the small cafe located right there at the first market.  It was almost surreal seeing him in such a normal setting, complete with laminated menu in front of him and a glass of iced tea at his elbow. She supposed that even multi-million dollar celebrity chefs needed a break from shaved truffles and demi-glace reductions every now and then.

The expensive-looking watch on Kylo’s wrist beeped three AM, but the brightly lit cafe and the lively conversation of the other diners helped Rey perk up a bit.  As she tucked into her omelette - all fluffy eggs, gooey cheese and sweet chunks of ham - Kylo scribbled furiously in a notebook he produced from his coat pocket, his Reuben sandwich all but forgotten.

“New recipe?” she asked, unable to help herself.

“Nothing specific.  Just writing down some ideas on how to prepare the turbot I purchased.”

“How do you determine what other ingredients go best with certain kinds of food?”

“There are a lot of different factors to consider, but first and foremost you need to understand each ingredient’s flavor profile and which cooking technique is the best to use for it.  Turbot is very similar to halibut, in that it has a mild flavor and low oil content, so you don’t want to pair it with flavors that will overpower it, nor do you want to cook it under high heat and dry it out.  Learning how to best utilize each profile is normally taught in culinary school, an apprenticeship, or - most commonly - being reamed by the head chef for screwing up on something.”

Rey snorted; she had definitely found herself on the receiving end of the wrath of BB8’s sous on more than one occasion, and she always made sure to learn how not to make the same mistake again.

“Once you master the basics, it’s just like any form of artistic expression. You experiment, you take account of your successes and your failures, try out new techniques, take risks, and learn from your mistakes.  Like all art, success has the tendency to favor the bold.” He jotted down one more line of notes, closed the notebook, and put it back in his coat pocket.  Then he cocked his head slightly, considering her. “I take it you don’t do much cooking outside of work?”

“Oh no, it’s not that.  I cook at home all the time, but experimentation never works out well for me.”  She grimaced, thinking of all the sad, collapsed souffles at the bottom of her trash can.  Her superior palate didn’t do much to help her if she didn’t know what the end result was supposed to be.  “No, I was just never the artistic type. I do better learning by example and following blueprints created by someone else.”

“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.  You have the talent, there’s no mistaking that. Now you just need the experience. Dameron and I... As you know, we don’t always see eye to eye, even on mutual ground, but I’ve never found fault with his standards.  He saw your potential, and decided to take the risk. No one else would have dared to do that, especially with two stars to defend.”

Rey mumbled out her thanks, but instead of feeling pride at his praise she felt the return of a roil of conflicting emotions that brought the night to a bleak end.  When her lessons with him first began, she made it abundantly clear that her loyalties were to Poe and his restaurant, and the only thing she wanted from Kylo was whatever culinary knowledge he decided to bestow upon her.  Her conditions were as black and white as she could make them, a line in the sand that marked where her priorities lay. It was not until she found herself sitting in a warehouse cafe in the Bronx at three in the morning talking over comfort food that that she was forced to realize just how blurred she let that line become, and how wholly unprepared she was for dealing with this Kylo Ren compared to the one she conjured in her mind.  That Kylo Ren never cracked jokes, did not own the Cranberries’ complete discography, and he certainly never freely gave compliments about her boss.

She was not supposed to care for this Kylo the way she did.

It’s nothing, Rey told herself, repeating it over and over like a mantra.  It’s nothing, it all means nothing.

But she didn’t want it to be nothing.  Not anymore.

Poe closed BB8 early the following Sunday so the entire staff could watch their appearance on  Iron Chef America .  Snap opened up the bar, and Sharon and Tamara, two of their servers, were sent to Song’e Napule to pick up the dozen pizzas Poe ordered earlier.  Tio hooked up a large flat screen TV in the lounge, last minute bets were made, and the hostess and the rotisseur made the final touches on the rules of their ICA  drinking game.  It was shaping up to be one hell of a night.

Rey just wanted it to be over.

“Hey!  Why so glum?” Finn asked as he vaulted onto the bar stool next to her.

I’m hopelessly attracted to my boss’s arch nemesis and fast losing my grip on my priorities but I’m afraid I no longer have the self-discipline to stop myself and after tonight my two lives are bound to be set on a collision course and I have no idea when and where the crash will happen.

“Nothing.”

“C’mon, Rey: you’ve always been a lousy liar, and I say that with love.  It all turns out alright, you and I both know that.”

“I know.  I guess I’m just nervous.  It’s only just sinking in that we’re about to be on national television.”

“You’ve been on TV before.”

“Yeah, in the background of a segment for some kind of travel or food show, not as an active player.” Rey sighed and picked at her cuticles, a long-time habit of hers she never could quite shake, especially when she was anxious about something.  “I’m just thinking of what I would have done different, knowing what I do now. Not have called so much attention to myself, for one.”

But if I just kept my head down and did my job, would Kylo have noticed me at all?

“It’s not like you were doing it to keep the cameras on you; you were just being yourself, and Poe and I know it.”  Finn put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a half-hug. “Look, the most that will come out of tonight is we’ll make some waves on social media and see a spike in reservations for the next few months.  Nothing more that than. I promise.”

Rey smiled, her lungs decompressing a bit.  “Are we just going to take turns talking each other down from panic attacks for the rest of our lives?”

“Works for me,” Finn grinned.

Sharon and Tamara finally returned, their arms loaded with pizza boxes and various sized containers balanced precariously on top.  Everyone helped to arrange the food on the bar top and the vacant tables, and by the time they were situated with their plates and drinks the opening theme of  Iron Chef America  began to blare through the TV’s speakers.

For Rey, it was a more than a little uncomfortable seeing herself on TV, watching her own erratic behavior compared to the professionalism of the others while Alton Brown and Kevin Brauch continually commented on it, so she started watching her colleagues’ reactions instead.  Other than it being difficult to not react to their jeering and insults whenever Kylo was on screen, she soon started to relax and thoroughly enjoy herself. The drinking game was in full swing by the time they got to the first commercial break (take one drink whenever makes a sexual innuendo, two whenever Hux looks like he’s trying to pass a kidney stone), and they hailed her like a hero for conquering the ice cream machine which in turn resulted in Kylo nearly botching one of his dishes.  She even began to feel silly for being so worried in the first place.

Then came the presentation of Kylo’s pomegranate sorbet in its chocolate shell.  

The lounge gradually lapsed into silence as he recounted Persephone’s descent to the underworld to be with her dark lord, the power of his words capturing their attention without effort.  It was quite eerie, really; this group of people was almost never this quiet, and Rey felt her earlier dread return with renewed force. Kylo finished his soliloquy, his eyes darting away from the judges to cast their gaze beyond their table.

The camera cut away from him, and Rey suddenly found herself staring at her own bewildered face on the broadcasted on the screen in all its high-def glory.

Alton Brown announced that the verdict was to come after the final commercial break, but no one in BB8’s lounge was paying him any mind.  They were all too busy staring at her.

[origamidotme]

Dolphinitely Some of the Best Origami Sea Creatures I’ve Seen!

We've covered origami fish as well as crabs before and in this post we're going to be taking a look at all kinds of different sea creatures and animals found in the water. There's a lot of cool stuff here starting with these awesome eels. This is one of the coolest looking designs I've seen. I especially like how it looks when you use orange and white coloured paper like you see here. Not only do you get those awesome stripes but you get the eyes too.

Splendid Garden Eel, Designed and Folded by Gen Hagiwara Instructions not available Image source   This jellyfish uses a tessellation for the body which gives it a pretty cool look.

Jellyfish, Designed and Folded by Beth Johnson Instructions not available Image source   This puffer fish is a pretty popular model to fold and it always looks really great.

Puffer Fish, Designed by Jang Yong Ik and Folded by Michael Novio Diagrams available in Raison d’être 2014 Image source   Nguyen Ngoc Vu's sailfish is an awesome design and this one folded by P. Colman is absolutely beautiful.

Sailfish, Designed by Nguyen Ngoc Vu and Folded by P. Colman Diagrams available in VOG 2: Origami.vn Image source   Satoshi Kamiya probably designed the coolest looking paper octopus I've seen. The entire thing with all the legs is folded from a single sheet of paper.

Octopus, Designed by Satoshi Kamiya and Folded by Eyal Instructions not available Image source   This beautiful looking lobster is folded from a single sheet of paper!

Maine Lobster, Designed by Robert J. Lang and Folded by Alex Mironenko Crease Pattern available from Robert J. Lang's website Image source   Here we have one of the best looking seahorses I've seen.

Seahorse, Designed by Edwin C. Flores and Folded by Agnieska (Agne) Mackonyte Diagrams available in 4 Esquinas Magazine #10 Image source   This mantis shrimp is one of the most impressive models out there. The entire thing is folded from one single sheet of paper and there are 104 steps! It took Shuki Kato over 15 hours to fold this.

Mantis Shrimp, Designed by Andrey Ermakov and Folded by Shuki Kato Diagrams available in the 17th Origami Tanteidan Convention book Image source   Here's another awesome and quite complex model. There are 173 steps to fold this!

Nautilus, Designed by Manuel Sirgo and Folded by Adriano Davanzo Diagrams available in SirgOrigami Image source   This shrimp is another one of the most complex and mind blowing models that I've ever seen. The whole thing is folded from one sheet of paper!

Shrimp, Designed and Folded by Kota Imai Crease pattern available from Kota Ima's Flickr Image source   These manta rays aren't super complex but they look really great regardless. I really like how the curves on the wings make them look like they're swimming.

Manta Ray, Designed and Folded by Won Seon Seo Instructions not available Image source   Here's another fantastic little crab.

Crab, Designed by Komatsu Hideo and Folded by Alexander Krupnikov Diagrams available in the Tanteidan 2016 Special Issue Image source   After than pun in the title of this post I definitely had to include at least one dolphin.

Dolphin, Designed by Hideo Komatsu and Folded by Hiroaki Kobayashi Diagrams available in Origami Tanteidan Magazine #155 Image source   This giant squid is easily one of the most beautiful origami models I've seen, especially with that paper.

Giant Squid, Designed by Dai Lu and Folded by P. Colman Crease pattern available from 戴璐's Flickr Image source   We've covered seashells before and here's another whole collection of them Joe Aida folded after watching Finding Dory. He even included a little paper Dory.

Designed by Multiple Artists and Folded by Joe Aida Image source   Here's a very awesome imaginary creature that's a redesign of Finward's old Kraken model.

Mythic Cephalopod, Designed and Folded by Finward Crease pattern available from Finward's Flickr (in the comments) Image source   This is probably my favourite shark design. The individual teeth are really awesome and so is the colour change that makes the belly of the shark white.

Shark, Designed by Nguyen Ngoc Vu and Folded by CaptainMoon Diagrams available in VOG 2: Origami.vn Image source   Here are some more of Beth Johnson's fantastic tessellated jellyfish photographed at an exhibit.

Jellyfish, Designed and Folded by Beth Johnson (Photo by Evan Zodl) Instructions not available Image source   Here's another really awesome shark design from Nguyen Ngoc Vu.

Hammerhead Shark, Designed by Nguyen Ngoc Vu and Folded by Phillip Curl Diagrams available in the Tanteidan 20th Convention Book Image source   This is probably the cutest little octopus design out there.

Flapjack Octopus, Designed by Gen Hagiwara and Folded by Magali Diagrams available in Spirits of Origami Image source   Here's a very unique looking octopus that's folded from one rectangle of paper. It was created as part of a challenge to create an octopus that doesn't use the standard frog base. It's pretty easy to get eight legs out of that base.

Octopus, Designed and Folded by Beth Johnson Instructions not available Image source   Here's another absolutely fantastic crab. I love the joints in the legs, they look really real.

Blue Swimmer Crab, Designed by Kota Imai and Folded by P. Colman Crease pattern available from Kota Imai's Flickr Image source   Kei Watanabe is one of the most impressive designer's I've ever seen and his lobster design is incredible!

Japanese Spiny Lobster, Designed and Folded by Kei Watanabe Instructions not available Image source   That's it for this post. As usual be sure to visit all these amazing artists to send them some comments and favourites and let us know which one of these is your favourite in the comments. Click to Post

[petlover18-blog1]

Wildlife photos: This fox insists on a second-floor view in Virginia Beach

New Post has been published on https://www.petlovers.shovelnews.com/wildlife-photos-this-fox-insists-on-a-second-floor-view-in-virginia-beach/

Wildlife photos: This fox insists on a second-floor view in Virginia Beach

Jerry Bocrie in Cape Story by the Sea sent a sweet photo of a gray fox curled up on his lounge chair on, not the first-, but his second-floor deck!

After seeing my photo of a toad in a flowerpot in last week’s column, Denise Lawler sent one of a toad nestled in a pot of succulents. It, too, was a Fowler’s toad, or should I say flowerpot toad.

Laura Zeisberg photographed a Polyphemus moth with its two big eye spots on its wings under her azaleas in Hunt Club Point in Norfolk. And Barbara Brown sent a photo of a tiger moth with its black stripes at her home in Chesapeake.

“I was rapt by this beautiful raptor Wednesday morning from my Hilltop office,” wrote Jon Sedel. He sent a photo of a Cooper’s hawk perched outside on what looked like a utility pole. Lorinda Vincent near Stumpy Lake photographed a Cooper’s enjoying a meal in her yard near Stumpy Lake. Ray Haring wrote about seeing a Cooper’s hawk swoop over his deck, but it wasn’t the one doing the chasing, as usual for a Cooper’s. “I was absolutely amazed to see a hummingbird hot on the hawk’s tail as he went by,” Haring said. 

Allen Waters sent a photo of yet-another beautiful tri-colored heron, this one at Pleasure House Point. It was a juvenile with a rusty-brown neck and a fish dinner in its mouth.

+7 

A cormorant wrestles with an eel in Onancock Creek on the Eastern Shore. 

Courtesy of Chris Guvernator

Chris Guvernator sent a wonderful photo from Onancock Creek on the Eastern Shore of a cormorant wrestling an eel for dinner.

+7 

Diana Pengitore in Lake Shores sent really close close-up of a sewing spider on her front porch.

Courtesy of Diana Pengitore

Diana Pengitore in Lake Shores sent really close close-up of a sewing spider on her front porch. And Kate Melhuish photographed a sewing spider with a butterfly trapped in her web right outside the butterfly house at Norfolk Botanical Garden. That spider knew where to build its web!

Shore bird migration is under way, and Jonathan Snyder photographed a black-bellied plover at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge that was probably on its way south from its far northern breeding grounds in Canada.

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A rare marbled godwit feeds at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. 

Courtesy of Pam Monahan

A marbled godwit, a large shore bird with a very long slightly upturned bill, has been seen by several of you and reported to the Virginia Beach Rare Bird Alert sponsored by ebird-alert. Pam Monahan sent a photo of the godwit with its bill buried in the sand foraging for food along the shoreline at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Godwits breed in the upper Midwest and Canada and may show up rarely on the coast in winter.

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Adainty marsh pink at Pleasure House Point. 

Courtesy of Mack Barefield

Mack Barefield photographed a dainty marsh pink at Pleasure House Point. It’s hard to believe such a pretty little flower can thrive in such a dry harsh environment.

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A black snake makes its way up the drain pipe on a house in Aragona Village.

Courtesy of Jeff Hauck

Jeff Hauck sent a photo of a great big black snake making its way up the drain pipe on his house in Aragona Village.

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A gulf fritillary butterfly nectars on a zinnia in Kempsville. 

Courtesy of Jenny Houser

Tom Houser in Kempsville sent a photo taken by his daughter, Jenny Houser, of a beautiful gulf fritillary butterfly with wings that look like stained glass. The fritillary was nectaring on a zinnia in his yard.

“Triplets!” is how Nancy Gorry titled her email with a photo of three black swallowtail butterflies that all emerged at the same time from their chrysalises in Gorry’s black-eyed Susan bed. She had placed her parsley pots in front of the black-eyed Susans and realized the flowers gave the caterpillars a safe place to “crawl off to do their chrysalis thing.”

Linda Harrison sent a sweet photo of a young hummingbird visiting her feeder in Arrowhead in Kempsville. Ronald Skasko finally got his first hummingbirds of the year in his backyard in Kempsville. Lauren Norton in Back Bay reports a family of hummingbirds at her feeders throughout the day.

Maria Sullivan took a night photo of a cute little flying squirrel coming down a tree near where she hangs her bird feeder; but, she said, she brings her feeders in at night to deter “such nocturnal rascals!”

Mark Kucharczk sent photos of the pawpaws that are ripening on his tree in Gatewood Park. Pawpaws taste like creamy custard, Kucharzck said. Pawpaws are the host tree for beautiful zebra swallowtail caterpillars.

Questions that need answering: June Blakeney in Lakeview Park wonders why most of her monarchs have been going into chrysalis, then turning black and dying.

Paul Kotarides wonders if the barbershop hearsay is true that a coyote is hanging out in the Larchmont/Lambert’s Point area near the golf course and behind Old Dominion University.

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Joellyn Cohen sent a photo, taken by her husband Bob Seemueller, of what I think is a Gulf Coast spiny softshell turtle in the lake at Hunt Club Forest.

Courtesy of Bob Seemueller

Joellyn Cohen sent a photo, taken by her husband Bob Seemueller, of what I think is a Gulf Coast spiny softshell turtle in the lake at Hunt Club Forest. Take a gander at that snout and those web feet! There is an introduced population of these turtles in Lake Whitehurst. Could Cohen’s turtle also have been someone’s released pet turtle?

Source: https://pilotonline.com/life/wildlife-nature/close-encounters/article_cd2e30da-aadc-11e8-b099-6fb2ec092f33.html

[wayneooverton]

Ten Fantastic Dives in National Marine Sanctuaries

The National Marine Sanctuary System spans more than 600,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters. This sanctuary system stretches from Massachusetts to American Samoa. It also offers plentiful unique dive sites, including coral reefs, kelp forests, shipwrecks and more. So, whether you’re thinking about taking the plunge for the first time or have been diving for years, these 10 dives in national marine sanctuaries should be on your national marine sanctuaries diving bucket list.

Cathedrals of of Lānaʻi, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary

The Cathedrals of Lānaʻi are unlike anything most divers have ever seen. Here, a unique formation of cooled molten lava tubes, caverns, ridges, and passageways create a cathedral effect and an unforgettable experience. The collapsed portions of ceiling structures inside the caverns give the cathedrals their name. Swim through archways and lava structures and watch marine life play hide-and-seek in the caverns. You’re exploring some of the greatest biodiversity Hawaii has to offer. Located within the protective waters of Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, large animals like turtles, manta rays, and sharks, often appear in the area. During peak whale season, if you’re lucky, you may even get to hear a humpback whale serenade.

Middle Reef at Point Lobos, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Located within Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, this dive site boasts one of the most spectacular displays of ecosystem health and diversity. This shore dive begins at a boat launch in Whaler’s Cove, offering a short swim before your descent to a sandy channel. At the shallow start, divers often glimpse playful harbor seals or otters — make sure to give them plenty of space. Large schools of blue rockfish are common as well. As the dive continues, the waters gradually deepen and the habitat turns to kelp forest. Look carefully as you explore: bottom-dwelling creatures adorn rock faces and inhabit nearly every crevice. More-experienced divers can venture into even deeper waters where structures and formations get larger. However you plan your dive, make sure to reserve in advance. Daily access to these protected waters is limited to keep them pristine for years to come.

Hidden Reef, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

For the adventurous, a hidden treasure awaits in the waters of Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The excitement begins with an overnight charter across dark waters. As sunrise breaks, Santa Barbara Island appears, a tiny spit of land about 38 miles off the California coast. Here, year-round cold temperatures, as well as the current and swell can be problematic for beginner divers. It is best to dive Hidden Reef in the morning when conditions are usually calm.

Underwater near Arch Rock, divers can explore a 30-foot-wide sponge and Corynactis-encrusted archway that lies in about 35 feet (11 m) of water. A crevice near the top of the arch is full of California spiny lobster. Divers passing through the rock structure swim through a maze of kelp to reach Hidden Reef. A drop-off at 60 feet (18 m) reveals rock formations that provide sanctuary for lobsters, swell sharks, lingcod, rock scallops, and purple hydrocorals, adding to the wonder of the Hidden Reef.

Coral Spawn, Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Every year after the full moons of late summer, the reef-building corals of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary host a fantastic spawning display. Due to the high density of coral species, the sanctuary is the site of one of the most abundant coral spawning displays in the Caribbean. When the moment is right, coral colonies simultaneously release their gametes into the water to reproduce, creating an amazing experience for divers. This display occurs at roughly the same time each year and scientists are able to predict this ritual using the lunar cycles.

Dives are long and shallow and occur at night. A dive light beautifully highlights the spawning. Tiny, colorful spheres begin to rise from the center of each coral, making the reef look like an underwater snowstorm. As if this weren’t incredible enough, the spawning event attracts many fish and marine life who are in tune with this cycle too. 

Garden Eel Cove, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary

Garden Eel Cove off the Island of Hawaii has been dubbed Manta Heaven – and for good reason. Divers travel by boat to this location to watch a beautiful Hawaiian sunset. As darkness falls, divers descend to the sandy bottom at about 35 feet (11 m) to gather around a “campfire” of stationary lights placed in a circle. As the divers settle in and the sunlight dims, the campfire blazes to life to illuminate the waters above. Tiny plankton swarm to the light source, attracting the highlight of the show: manta rays. From the darkness glide massive rays with wing spans from five to 16 feet (1.5 to 5 m). Attracted by the light and the plankton snack, these gentle giants circle overhead in a glorious ballet.

The Valley of the Giants, National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa

With all the excitement of seeing giants and without the risk of getting trampled by enormous feet, the “Valley of the Giants” is a secret worth sharing. Located in National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa, the waters surrounding Ta’u Island boast some of the world’s oldest and largest coral colonies. The star attraction is the gigantic Porites coral head called “Big Momma,” or “Fale Bommie.”

Big Momma lies at a depth of 50 feet (15 m), stands two stories tall and four stories wide, and has a girth the equivalent of half a soccer field. More than 500 years old, Big Momma continues to grow each year and provides habitat for fish, invertebrates, and other marine creatures. A territory of the United States, American Samoa lies about 1,600 miles (2,575 km) northeast of New Zealand and 2,200 miles (3,540 km) southwest of Hawaii. Divers should bring their own gear and rent air tanks on the island. Because of its remoteness, divers must charter a vessel to get to this dive site, which is 70 miles away from Pago Pago. 

Snapper Ledge, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

Imagine a school of white fish with brilliant yellow stripes hanging suspended in the water. They’re so tightly packed together that it appears at first to be a single organism. Pulsing like a heart, it is connected electrically through the water, small movements causing a gentle animation as the mass jolts, stops, starts again, and flows like its own river through a maze of living coral reef. Countless yellowtail snapper in inhabit the shallow reef off Key Largo in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

At Snapper Ledge, the reef surrounds divers as it rises up into a mound resembling an underwater island surrounded by sand. Above the sandy bottom, red, orange, and pink sponges and macroalgae cover mounds of calcium carbonate. Waving brown and yellow plumes of gorgonians and the purple and brown lace of sea fans move with the ebb and flow of the tide and currents. The serene scene is so mesmerizing that if you could stay at this depth forever and observe the life as it moves around you — you would.

USS Monitor, Monitor National Marine Sanctuary

Complete with the world’s first rotating gun turret, low draft, and sleek profile, the ironclad USS Monitor heralded the end of the era of wooden warships. But on December 31, 1862, Monitor met its demise. Caught in a violent storm 16 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, Monitor sank as it was being towed. Of the 62 crew members, 46 were rescued, but 16 perished that fateful night. The wreck of Monitor was designated in 1975 as the first national marine sanctuary in the United States.

To dive Monitor today, you’ll need a free permit. You’ll also need the technical-diving experience to navigate strong currents and often adverse weather conditions in 230 feet (70 m) of water. Divers may encounter seasonal migrations of cetaceans, sea turtles, sharks, and manta rays near the wreck. Crabs, brittle stars, sea urchins, sea anemones, tube worms, oysters, and a host of other organisms blanket Monitor’s hull.

Mushroom Rock, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary

Marked by a mushroom-shaped rock along the Cape Flattery shoreline, this dive site in Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary offers advanced divers an interesting assortment of marine life and volcanic rock formations. Access is by boat and depths reach 70 to 80 feet (21 to 24 m). Boulders, walls, crevices and channels provide habitat for a variety of marine creatures. These include colonies of lightbulb ascidians, strawberry anemones, and red gorgonian corals. Divers report seeing numerous species of rockfish. Giant Pacific octopus, Puget Sound king crabs, and red-eyed jellyfish are also known to inhabit the area. With relatively mild currents for the area and good visibility, along with interesting scenery on the surface and below, Mushroom Rock rarely disappoints.

Middle Island Sinkhole, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary 

Divers from around the world travel to the Great Lakes for stellar wreck diving.  Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is a top destination. However, one dive site within the sanctuary offers divers a truly unique experience: the opportunity to travel billions of years back in time.

Situated off Middle Island, the so-called “Middle Island Sinkhole” is as unassuming as dive sites get. A sanctuary mooring buoy marks the site about 100 yards from the island’s shore. Descending this line, however, divers enter an otherworldly scene. At the base of the mooring is a giant crack in the lake’s limestone floor. Through this opening, cold, mineral-rich water gushes out and over a 20-foot-tall pile of enormous limestone boulders. As it crests this mound, it spills into a flat, circular depression in the lake bottom, 80 feet (24 m) from the surface. Light bends and shifts at the hazy interface between the swelling groundwater flow and the ambient lake water.

Coating the sinkhole’s bottom is a dense carpet of multicolored bacterial mats. Reminiscent of plush, velvet fabric, these microorganisms are woven into thick patches of red, white, and purple. They are the descendants of ancient species of cyanobacteria. More than 2 billion years ago, these tiny little cells were responsible for producing the oxygen that now makes up 21 percent of our atmosphere. Swimming through the haze of mixing water, across a vast field of ancient bacteria, divers are immersed in an ethereal realm where past and present intersect on the bottom of one of the world’s largest lakes.

By guest author Savanna Mahn, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries

Savanna Mahn is a certified scuba diver and volunteer communications intern at NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. Also contributing: John Bright, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Brenda Altmeier, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

The post Ten Fantastic Dives in National Marine Sanctuaries appeared first on Scuba Diver Life.

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[i-sold-my-soul-to-loki-blog]

Chapter 2: The Devil Is My Witness

Hell wasn’t normally a nice place. It was hot, cramped and open flames and lava rivers were everywhere. On the celestial safety scale, it ranked a solid 2 outta 10. That being said the main palace was a stunning and comfortable place. The walls floors and roof was made of either carved obsidian or marble. Colored polished crystals and stones adorned the lights and windows giving it a sacred feeling angels so loved.

The main throne was made from cast silver and ancient demon blades. Sitting in it was Morningstar himself and a little ember demon kit. He was stroking its back and feeding it some kind of meat. She really didn’t want to know what kind.

“Ah, you are here. No need to worry I know it wasn’t you who made the deal to enter heaven. I also know it wasn’t you who stole my brother’s sword. However, I do need your help getting it back.” He took off his sunglasses revealing a pair of ruby red eyes and deep abyssal black wings.

“Now time for proper introductions. I’ve wanted to do this since the first day we met but a fallen angel can’t be too careful. I’m Lucifer Morningstar, welcome to Hell.” His smile was warm and revealed a pair of long almost vampiric fangs. She could almost believe he fathered that race, almost.

“Now I know what you’re thinking. You can’t be the devil you’re too nice and way too handsome. Doesn’t he have goat legs and horns? I assure you I am Satan or Lucifer or the Devil whatever you want to call me I am in fact he.” He stood and gave a dramatic bow. He looked eager as he Awaited their response.

“Actually…” Loki started. “What she is thinking is dear fates why am I surrounded by these crazy drama club goths.” He gave her his best disapproving stare. “I resent that remark by the way. You see this is why I can’t take her places, such a disobedient wolf.” he smiled toward Lucifer as if it was a running joke between the two Gods.

“No.” She interjected. “This is why I can’t have nice things. I meet a lovely semi-normal person who isn’t trying to burn down the town, send me on crazy errands, seduce half the population or trying to start a war and have a decent camaraderie with and he turns out to be an angel. But not just any angel he’s the adorable non-uptight human acting fallen one. Honestly can’t I just meet a nice vampire or maybe a swamp mermaid hell I’ll settle for a dragon at this point.” Her rant lasted longer than she’d have liked but it was getting really annoying her lack of suitable suitors. In true male fashion however they missed the point.

“You think he’s adorable yet I’m just meh.” Loki sounded offended.

“You like having me as a friend?” She could’ve sworn she saw a tear. “I’ve never had friends before, can I please keep you as one.” Damn, he sounded so dang sincere.

“It’s not like you being the Devil changes anything. My best friends are Loki god of Mischief and Hades lord of the dead. Trust me Arch Angel Lucifer will fit right in with this crowd.” She gave him a pat on the shoulder. Yeah her friends were a weird group.

“When did you befriend Hades?” They asked in unison. Loki completely missing the God of Mischief is my best friend part.

“A few years ago during the whole Hammer of Thor incident. I had to retrieve water from the Phlegethon to appease the dragon Gajeel. Struck a deal with Hades so me, him, Hel and Xolotl occasionally get together for tea and trade stories about our respective pantheons. Yes Loki, since you don’t hang with the Norse deities you are considered mine by default.”

The two seemed fascinated by this little tidbit. Hades and Hel don’t talk to anyone yet this little wolf succeeded. Of course, it was no surprise, he was prone to sending her off to do random tasks he couldn’t which required a certain amount of finesse and trust building. Still, it was a bit disconcerting that she had these strong allies he had no clue about.

If she wanted it would be easy to wriggle out of her contract. Especially now that Lucifer was among those friends. He was considered the God of bargains and deals by most of the other Gods. Loki stared at her, silently praying that she wouldn’t choose to leave.

“I know what you are thinking trickster and I have no plans of breaking our little deal. It’s far too much fun being able to roam anywhere in the nine realms without bothering a dimensional sorcerer or sorceress. Besides as troublesome as these jobs of yours are they do past the time between bouts of boredom.” The words were thrown out rather absentmindedly as she studied the group of demons that wandered in.

He could never understand how she handled demokyn so easily. Most of them were either nauseating to look at or to smell, this group was the rare ones that were both. Of course like most celestial beings, if you could call them that, they could take human form. The thing was that unless it was necessary they refused to. He really wished that wasn’t the case right now.

The largest pair of demons were a sickly green color, covered with large bulky scales they had mostly serpentine bodies. They had the chest of a bodybuilder and where their feet should have been were two spiny clusters that seemed to drag the creatures across the floor. They had no hands and instead used their anglerfish like jaws to each hold an arm of their captive. They smelt like rotten desert carrion.

The other three were humanish in looks. Their skin, however, was marbled with shades of red orange and yellow. Their hands and feet were webbed and red fins protruded from their arms, legs and backs. In place of hair were red and orange banded spines that seemed to go well with their bright golden eyes. Like the others they had the jaws of deep sea fish. Their scent however was in a much more charming burnt leather range.

Their captive however seemed like your average human. Tan skin, black hair, brown eyes, two arms, two legs and a bit on the skinny side. He wore a red and orange camo catsuit. He looked a bit worse for the wear but if he had been running around Hell it could’ve been worse. No surprise Skye and Lucifer seemed to know him.

“Is that GREG? Mr. I’m going to kill all the vampires in Romania GREG. Mr. Let me wear your pelt as a trophy GREG.” By the way she said his name he could tell Greg was no a friend.

“Yes.” the Devil responded. “After you caught the guy trying to kill off my precious Nephilim son Asreal I had him brought down here and thrown in the rivers of fury. The five you see before you are lava nymphs. Well except for the guards those are hell born Naga, a gift from my middle eastern partner.”

He seemed so casual about it. Oh yeah don’t mind him I just had the guy drug down here to torture for eternity. It's no big deal really. Just gonna drown in him the fury bled from wronged men. Of course he couldn’t judge, he once turned a human who threatened Nami into a rabbit, gave him immortality and set him loose in a building full of hungry kitsune.

“Okay then.” That’s his lycan and her confused acceptance of the vengeful acts of scorned Gods. “why is he currently in here then?” Straight to the point, good girl.

“You see…” One of the Lava nymphs started.

“An angel came and said they needed his help tracking something or someone down.” The center one continued.

“Since he was cursed by the Dimensional Witch Eternity he can hop between worlds but will only land in the most guarded place in that world.” the third finished.

“The angel thought that if the sword was missing it’d be heavily guarded and they would send him in to scout the place. If he got killed the process he’d just return to us and report.” They said in unison. The naga nodded in agreement causing their teeth to dig into Greg’s arms. Blood started to run onto the marble floor in a steady stream. Hungry calls could be heard throughout the palace.

“What did the Angel look like?” Lucifer asked as he walked towards the human. His red eyes had turned a sickly yellow shade. Black scales replaced the feathers on his wings and a long dragon like tail flashed into view. The not so subtle reminder that when an angel falls it becomes a Demon King.

“It was tall but looked almost completely human. The eyes were like mercury and golden wings were blinding though they had black stripes. It chose a dark-skinned suit, like maybe a Jamaican but was built like a pro boxer. Unlike most it didn’t seem bothered by the air down here, in fact, it was smiling.” The nymphs shuddered.

“It seems my dear brother Michael paid us a visit. It is his sword after all. Still what he says goes even if this traitorous bastard doesn’t deserve to be let go.” He pulled the human from the Nagas jaws causing a fresh spray of blood to coat the walls and floor.

The sound he made couldn’t have been human but it came from one. His cries of pain only caused the distant howls of hunger to grow louder and move closer. Slithering and tapping could be heard on the windows outside. Something resembling a gulper eel with wings flashed into view outside.

Loki took a few steps closer to Skye for comfort. She moved them both a good two feet further from Greg. As did his escort party. A large growl rattled the building and several of the demons retreated from view outside.

“Loki, speaking one Celestial being to another, can I trust you to return this filth to me once the blade is found.” his voice was a low whisper that bounced of the walls and chilled him to his bones.

“Considering I don’t want him, to begin with, I’ll happily return him to you the moment he is no longer of use.” He forced himself to swallow as the urge to throw up became stronger.

He turned toward his lycan for comfort but found only seething hatred in her eyes. Usually, they were a light blue, the color of the fjords, sometimes like glaciers in the winter. Right now, however, they were a deep navy, like waves during a storm. She was fighting down the inner demon that made lycans, lycans. No doubt it had something to do with Lucifer’s current mood, the calls of the demokyn outside and Greg’s pleased smirk.

“Skye luna Starshadow do you swear that no matter what this soul will be returned to where it belongs?” He was full on Demon King now, Greg little more then a chew toy in the grasp of a Great White. Charcoal black skin was covered in red Enochian script in complex patterns. Black bat like wings with red stripes stretched behind him. A long black reptilian tail wrapped around the throne, blood red barbs carving grooves in the floor. Large elk like antlers graced his head, each branch ending in a barbed point.

“The devils as my witness I will drag him back here myself.” Her usual calm voice was little more than a snarl.

“Good now begone. We’ll catch up after.” with a puff of black sooty smoke they found themselves in the heart of Helheim.

[eelpatrickharris]

Don't macrognathus aral grow up to 25 inches?

actually, the taxonomy for peacock spiny eels is thoroughly fucked. there's two different fish known as peacocks—the yellow and black striped ones, and the cocoa brown with a very subtle snakey pattern and a single beige line down the side. the first one gets to 14 inches maximum, and the last, about 20 inches.now, going off of early reports, m. aral is the scientific name of the yellow striped fellows, and m. aculeatus is the scientific name for the big brown friends. and if i recall correctly, m. siamensis was the name given to an especially large and oddly patterned aculeatus.in the wild, animals are known to grow much bigger than they can in captivity, especially fish. 6 inch yoyo loaches are unheard of in the aquarium industry, but there have been 10+ inch specimens caught in asia. the same goes for spiny eels. somehow, someone got a 23 inch m. aral, and that became the "total length" that gets passed around official articles. in reality, you'd be lucky to find one over 10 inches.tl;dr: one stripe eel, peacock eel, lesser eel, and striped peacock eel are all names given to 2 different species, and they also share 3 scientific names at this point. the maximum lengths for them are absurd and a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

[djgblogger-blog]

Fish vs. forests? Madagascar’s marine conservation boom

http://bit.ly/2ilVVW7 BEHELOKE BAS, Madagascar — For a few days each year, fishermen here can travel back in time. When octopus season opens on a new part of the reef every three months, a single boat with three or four divers might catch as much as 200 pounds in a few hours. That, says Jean François, a fisherman who goes by the nickname Retsipa, is almost as good as the good old days. In the 1990s, wholesalers working with the French- and Malagasy-owned seafood company COPEFRITO regularly bought 3,000 pounds of octopus each time they came to the village. “Today, 400 pounds for the whole village is a good day,” said Retsipa, who serves as treasurer of Vezo Mitsinjo ny Ho Avy, or “Vezo, Look to the Future,” a fishermens’ association named for the local Vezo ethnic group. “It’s the same trend with lobsters, squid, fish: It’s not the same as before.” He shook his head. “Now, we have to choose the fish we eat — only the little ones, the fish we can’t sell…Before, the Vezo wouldn’t eat ‘fiandolo,’” Retsipa said, referring to the small, spiny striped eel catfish (Plotosus lineatus). “Now, we do.” Beheloke Bas is a village of a few hundred residents that sits on a stunning turquoise bay protected by a shallow reef about 40 miles south of the city of Toliara, in Madagascar’s arid southwest. The Vezo are fishermen through and through but they haven’t always lived here: Beheloke Bas served as a remote fishing camp until…

[trumpshitstweets]

Trump Shits, Tweets 4: The NFL

Alabama is already a distant memory. He’d shit out the last of that godforsaken State at 2000 feet, just before wheels down at Joint Base Andrews. He’s safely back at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He’s clean, fresh-suited, and now, mid-morning, is ready to get rid of his huge breakfast. He’s grateful he’s so regular. He walks gingerly across the floor of the newly remodelled Oval Office, his rectum still tender from the previous evening’s effusions. Fox and Friends plays on more than one of the televisions he’s had installed; reruns of his Alabama speech from the previous night. He could not be happier that the CONTAINS LANGUAGE SOME MAY FIND OFFENSIVE ticker running under his speech refers to him! About time! He thinks. And it’s time to throw some more fuel on the fire! The heavy door clicks softly closed behind him. The auto-aromatizer hisses its perfumed breath from a high corner of the pristine, marbled bathroom. With shrunken hands, he takes his phone from his jacket pocket and then throws the jacket across the gold and mirrored table beside the door. It slides heavily to the floor. No sooner has he sunk gratefully onto the heated seat of his personal lavatory than his angry sphincter opens and a stream foul smelling, burning shit falls darkly into the water below his scrubbed backside.

“Goddamnit!” He yells, thinking that he was free of Alabama’s culinary cornucopia.

His phone has spilled from his finely proportioned hands at the rectal rumpus. He retrieves it from the shag-pile by his slippered feet. Twitter is still open,

Ratings for NFL football are way down except before game starts, when people tune in to see whether or not our county will be disrespected!

There is no way that he can know that level of viewing detail but it doesn’t matter. It feels right! He follows quickly,

The booing at the NFL football game last night, when…

He stops typing at a pain like a fat, spiny eel corkscrewing through his guts. He gasps. His anus opens again and a deluge of hot, loose faeces cascades into the bowl.

“Jesus!”

…when the entire Dallas team dropped to its knees was the loudest I have ever heard. Great anger.

He’d had a feeling that this would be a bit of a hot button topic when he’d come up with it just before the speech, but even he is slightly in awe of his own prescience. I’m a goddamn magician! He thinks. Two days ago it had been all Healthcare this and Puerto Rico that, but now it was all about how right he, the goddamn President of the United States of America, was about disrespecting the flag! Admittedly, the only respecting of the flag he’s ever done is how he can use it to make money. He gazes lovingly at the boxer shorts wrinkled round his silk-socked ankles. Fine ankles! The shorts are ostensibly a star spangled banner but every star, picked out in gold thread, contains within it his face in regal profile. The red and white stripes are typed lists of his global properties. Beautiful he thinks! And he’d had some guy change the background again on his Twitter to a beautiful Stars and Stripes. He looks at his tweet. ‘Dropped to its knees’ makes him think involuntarily of Melania and her welcome home present. He pulls at himself for a moment, enjoying the memory.

“Still got it!” he blurts.

He lifts his phone from the side table with hands more akin to paws than human hands, so retarded are the fingers.

But while Dallas dropped to its knees as a team, they all stood up for our National Anthem. Big progress being made-we all love our country!

It’s so easy, he thinks, as something more normal moves inside his gut. He pushes gingerly and expels a small, normal turd followed by an enormous fart. The zephyr washes over him, fills the room, he gags slightly at the stench.

It’s too easy, he thinks, as he pushes the button to begin the cleaning process.

[salutethepig]

Eating sustainably, ethically, responsibly, humanely...

The food system is broken. Food is not a commodity. Cheap shouldn’t be king – cheap has a price; for humans, animals & the environment. @martharoberts

I keep banging on this same drum, sounding out that how the food we eat and the choices we make about what types of food we choose to consume, affects both us and the environment we all have to live in. This is how factory farmed pigs are housed. This is the pig equivalent of Guantanamo.

The way they’re caged & their waste treated has a huge impact on the water table, polluting rivers & waterways, damaging soil & the ecosystem around and causing health problem for people unfortunate enough to be living close by. The stench is unreal. It has to be experienced (once!) to realise just quite how eye-wateringly, throat clenching, breathing impacting it is. And that is aside from the very real pain, suffering and mental anguish caused to the poor animals constrained in these multi-story prisons or death factories.

This clip below is taken from videos shot by activists…

…from one of those huge death camps run by the US Smithfield Food Corporation, the largest pork producer in the country, who’ve also been caught SPRAYING THIS FUCKING SHIT INTO THE AIR.

Then there’s the huge question of what species can safely & sustainably be eaten without causing a possibly disastrous drop in population numbers. I don’t necessarily think all the dodos killed were eaten by humans; but it took less than a century for all of them to disappear totally from the face of the planet. We’re even better at mass-destruction nowadays…

I’m going to be writing a whole lot more on eating sustainably, ethically, responsibly, humanely. And with minimal waste. As a start, at the foot of this post, I’ve listed the various fish species divided very easily into two sections; one labelled “Eat Me”, the one other labelled “Don’t be a selfish dickhead”.

There are a number of organisations already effectively working in this area. In this piece I want to highlight three that I’ve not previously mentioned before.

Firstly, there’s the Real Junk Food Project; they divert surplus edible food destined for waste and make it accessible for human consumption. They say

“We believe it is a human right to have access to food and the scale and senselessness of food waste has to stop, and it needs to happen in our lifetime, to ensure the next generation do not suffer from our ignorance.”

There’s a video of one of the team talking about how they want to feed the world and save waste that’s well worth watching

Secondly, there’s FareShare, who similarly collect food that would otherwise be dumped and, via a nationwide network of volunteers, deliver it to partner charities who then in turn distribute meals to those most in need

  and then lastly there’s chef Massimo Bottura’ Refettorio Felix, in St Cuthbert’s, London that fights against food waste ‘in support of social inclusion and individual well-being’. It’s part of his Food For Soul project that he setup in Milan in 2015 with subsequent projects following in Brazil (Refettorio Gastromotiva) and then two more in Modena and Bologna. Each of these projects shares the common themes of using surplus food, working with local artists, to create engaging dining spaces and serving dishes to vulnerable local communities.

That we still need these initiatives in England, a country that claims to be the 5th richest in the world, in the year 2017, is, quite frankly an obscene, festering, national disgrace. That said, the amount of food wasted around the world is also a similar obscene disgrace, so, swallowing my bile and pure, simple, unalloyed hatred of the Tories and the neo-liberals and their “austerity” measures, I urge you all to support at least one of these.

And lastly? A reminder that WASTED! The Story of Food Waste, which stars Massimo alongside Mario Batali, Dan Barber and Danny Bowien — Anthony Bourdain is its executive producer — is an 85-minute film about the food waste crisis and those working to combat it, is showing in a special screening on 23rd June at the Curzon Chelsea in King’s Road. It’s followed by a panel including director Anna Chai, Justin Byam-Shaw, chairman of food waste project The Felix Project and food waste champion Patrick Drake.

Tickets for the screening cost £12 which includes a booking fee of £1. Profit from the ticket sales will be donated to The Felix Project. For information, go to londonfoodmonth.co.uk.  Go and see it!

And if you need anymore encouragement, here’s a final reminder from the resource efficiency group WRAP, of how much there’s still to do:

Figures from the United Nations indicate that 1.3 billion tonnes of food produced for human consumption is wasted around the world every year. Ten million tonnes goes to waste in the UK alone.

And finally? Finally, here’s that list of fish I promised you earlier. These in the first group you can eat with a clear conscience:

King Salmon

Sockeye Salmon

Pink Salmon

Chum Salmon

Wild Striped Bass

Soft Shell Crab

Pacific Rock Fish

Wild Yellowtail

Swordfish

Farm-Raised Abalone, Arctic Char & Barramundi

Catfish

Clams

Mussels

Oysters

Pacific Cod (Alaska only)

King Crab

Snow Crab

Tanner Crab

Dungeness Crab

Lionfish

Spiny Lobster (Mexico only)

Freshwater Prawns

Spotted Prawns

Rockfish

Sablefish/Black Cod

Sanddab

Farm-Raised Scallops (wild is an okay alternative)

Farm-Raised Shrimp (wild is an okay alternative)

Tilapia

Farm-Raised Rainbow Trout

Wild Albacore Tuna

Wild Skipjack Tuna

Wild Yellowfin Tuna

Branzino

Black & Red Grouper

Lobster

Monkfish

Octopus

Squid

But steer clear of these below. Change your buying habits, encourage your friends to do the same and, importantly, tell chefs & restaurants that you won’t eat fish from this group so won’t eat at their places until they’re on board with this idea and have stopped serving these species:

Bluefin Tuna

Farm-Raised Salmon (because it’s hugely polluting & screws up the other water inhabitants!)

Eel

Farm-Raised Yellowtail

Wild Abalone

Basa/Pangasius/Swai

Cod (Atlantic, Russia, Japan)

Crab (Asia and Russia)

Atlantic Halibut

Spiny Lobster (Belize, Brazil, Honduras, and Nicaragua)

Mahi Mahi

Orange Roughy

Pollock

Atlantic Sardines

Sharks

Imported Shrimp

Squid (China, India, and Thailand)

Eating sustainably, ethically, responsibly, humanely… was originally published on Salute The Pig