#Yellow Wrasse

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: parrotfish

Which fish hangs out on a mermaid pirate's shoulder and repeats what she says in a high-pitched voice? The parrotfish, of course. Or at least in fiction they should (certainly will in my D&D world). But even in real life, parrotfish are still pretty interesting.

(Image: a common parrotfish (Scarus psittacus) seen from the side in front of rocks and corals. It is a brightly-colored fish, mainly light blue but with patches and stripes of yellow and pink on the fins. Its mouth is open, revealing what appears to be a beak. End ID)

Parrotfish are fish famous for their mouths and eating habits. There are about 90 species known. While they were historically considered their own taxonomic family, they have since been reclassified a subset of the wrasse family and there is still some debate on how to classify them. Most species are on the smaller size, but a few can get very large. The largest species is the green humphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) at 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) and 75 kg (165 lbs) while the smallest species is the bluelip parrotfish (Cryptotomus roseus) reaching 13 cm (5 in). I could not find an average weight for the bluelips. What makes parrotfish really stand out visually is their colors and their mouths. Most species are very brightly colored, with distinct markings and males are usually more brightly colored than females. Their mouths are dominated by what appear to be beaks, which gave them their common name. These beaks are actually made of approximately 1,000 teeth arranged in 15 rows. As the teeth wear out, they drop off and are replaced by the row behind them. The teeth are made of fluorapatite, the second hardest biomineral int the world. To support their hardness, the fluorapatite crystals that make up the teeth are woven together in a structure very similar to chainmail, resulting in very hard teeth that measure in at a 5 on the Mohs scale of hardness. For reference, iron is a 4 and higher numbers are harder. The teeth can also handle 530 tons of pressure. You could put the weight of 200 black rhinos on a tooth and it would be fine. The beaks are powerful enough to bite through rock. Which is what they use it for, but more on that below. Another unusual feature of parrotfish is how they sleep. Some species make their own sleeping bags, which would be adorable if they weren't made of mucus. The mucus is produced using glands in the gills and looks like a transparent bubble. The fish sleeps in the mucus cocoon and when it wakes up, it eats the cocoon. There have been several proposed benefits of the cocoon. It contains chemicals that harm skin parasites while also providing a barrier that keeps new parasites from reaching the fish. It also likely blocks the fish's scent, helping it hide from predators.

(Image: a green humphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) swimming over yellow coral. It is large and mostly a uniform green color, except for the front of its head, which is pink. It has a large, fleshy lump on the top of its head. End ID)

(Image: a close-up of a parrotfish's beak. The top and bottom beaks are divided into two halves, left and right. The beak is bade of small, circular teeth that overlap each other. End ID)

(Image: another common parrotfish seen from the front. It is inside of a mucus cocoon, which appears as a transparent bubble around the fish. Bits of sand dot the cocoon's surface. End ID)

Parrotfish live worldwide, though the majority of species are found in the Indo-Pacific. They live in warm, shallow waters with lots of rocky reefs, especially coral reefs. They use those powerful teeth to eat and what they eat most is algae. There are three main types of feeding behavior: excavating, scraping, and browsing. Excavators bite into rocks to get their food, scrapers crape food off of the surface of the rocks, and browsers go after larger food sources like seagrass and sponges. Some of the larger parrotfish species also make coral a large part of their diet. When they eat, they naturally get rock in their mouths, moreso in excavators. Because their food clings to the rock, spitting the rocks out would deny them food. Instead, parrotfish use pharyngeal teeth set in their throats to grind the rock into sand, which then passes through the digestive tract. When it exists the digestive tract, it is in the form of fine grains of rock. Or to put it another way, parrotfish eat rock and poop sand. A single parrotfish can produce up to 40 kg (88lbs) of sand yearly, and bigger species can produce even more than that. The process of rock being broken down by living things is called bioerosion and parrotfish are one of the most famous sources of bioerosion. The sand they produce can serve as the basis for new growth of coral or other species and helps reinforce nearby islands. In places like Hawai'i, the Caribbean, and the Maldives, it's estimated that up to 80% of the famous white sand is produced by parrotfish and they serve as a major source of incoming earth to support the islands. This makes parrotfish ecosystem engineers. Their eating of algae is also majorly important to their ecosystems. Algae can overgrow and smother delicate ecosystems like coral reefs and seagrass beds and decaying algae draws oxygen out of the water. Parrotfish help the health of their environments by keeping the algae population at healthy levels. Parrotfish also eat seaweeds and sponges that grow much faster than coral and can smother coral reefs. Parrotfish are considered keystone species in many reefs, including the great barrier reef and their population dropping correlates with reduced health of reefs. Damaged reefs tent to have larger parrotfish populations and those populations drop as the reef recovers.

(Image: a group of many parrotfish feeding on coral. They are all the same species and are mostly blue, with yellow heads and stripes on the face. They appear to be biting the the coral. End ID)

Parrotfish are protogynous sequential hermaprodites. This means that all parrotfish are born female and can become male later in life. The transition is usually triggered when there are too many females or not enough males in a location, though in some species any fish that reaches a certain size will become male. Some parrotfish are solitary while others are social. In social species, the social groups consist of a large male and a harem of females that he protects and claims mating rights with. Other males will attempt to fight the male for dominance via headbutting and threat displays and occasionally one of his harem members will become male to challenge him. Males are usually more colorful than females, which they use to woo females, but also puts them at greater risk of predation. If the harem leader dies and is not replaces, one member of the harem will transition to male and replace him. Many species perform courtship dances during nights of the full moon. In non-social species, males will perform displays and fight with each other to attract females. In social species, the dominant male will mate with his harem while smaller males without harems will try to sneakily woo claimed females or sneak in and mate without being noticed. Parrotfish are broadcast spawners. The female releases her eggs into the water and the males releases sperm to fertilize them. The eggs will drift on the current until settling, after which the larvae will hatch. As with most fish species, only a very few of the larvae will reach adulthood.

(Image: a Mediterranean parrotfish (Sparisoma cretense). It is mostly bright red, but with a yellow patch above the tail and a yellow stripe around the eye that runs down to the belly. A large patch behind the eye is blue. End ID)

Thankfully, most parrotfish species are not particularly endangered. The largest threat to them comes from habitat loss as pollution and climate change harms coral reefs. Reintroducing parrotfish to damaged reefs helps them recover. All species are edible, though there is no commercial fishery for them. While parrotfish are capable of delivering powerful bites, there are few reports of humans getting bit. That being said, I found one case where someone had skin on his penis bitten off by a parrotfish. And yes, that link has pictures. Enjoy.

(Image: a blue parrotfish (Scarus coeruleus) looking at the camera. It is a blue fish with darker patches around the eye. Its snout is bulbous and the beak points downward. End ID).

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Once in a Blue Moon: The Bluehead Wrasse

The bluehead wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum) is a small species of wrasse found only in the western Atlantic Ocean; particularly around the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America. They inhabit coral reefs, and occasionally along sandy bottoms and sea grass meadows. Bluehead wrasse prefer shallow, warm, clear water and reefs with lots of hiding places that they can easily access.

T. bifasciatum is noted for its bright coloration. Females and small males are bright yellow with a white underbelly, while larger males have a greenish body and a blue head, seperated by thick black and white stripes. These large males are typically 7-8 cm (2.7-3.1 in) in length, while smaller males and females are around 6 cm (2.3 in).

Like many coral reef fish species, the bluehead wrasse engages in protogyny. All eggs hatch as females, and as they mature some change into males. These young males, known as initial phase (IP) males, continue to resemble females but are fully capable of reproduction. Eventually, the largest of them transition into a secondary phase, also known as the terminal phase (TP). TP males carry the characteristic blue and green markings of bluehead wrasse, and are significantly larger. The transition from female to IP, IP to TP, or even directly from female to TP can occur at any time, and is particularly triggered by removal of dominant (TP) males from a population.

Reproduction typically occurs from January to August, though it can continue sporadically throughout the year. Mature adults participate in group spawns, in which females and both male types converge at spawning sites. Males compete for proximity to females, and typically TP males will closely guard access to a harem of 30-50 females, while IP males will attempt to use their coloring to sneak in and mate surreptitiously. T. bifasciatum are broadcast spawners; both sexes release their gametes into the water column, where they are fertilized and carried away by the current.

Eggs spend 6-8 months free floating, sometimes drifting miles from their spawning grounds. After hatching into juveniles (larvae), they burrow into the sand and remain there for several months before emerging to seek out a coral reef in which to shelter. At this point, a year after hatching, they are typically mature and ready to mate themselves. Individuals can live up to 3 years in the wild, though juvenile mortality is high.

Bluehead wrasse are cleaner fish. The majority of their food are parasites picked off of larger fish, as well as shrimp, krill, crustaceans, and plankton gathered from the coral itself. However, they are also often food themselves for larger fish, moray eels, and stingrays.

Conservation status: The IUCN considers the bluehead wrasse to be Least Concern. Their primary threat is habitat loss due to coral reef bleaching.

If you like what I do, consider buying me a ko-fi!

Photos

Doug Perrine

Terence Zahner

Nick Hobgood

[squidthehuman]

Fishuary 3rd: Wrasse

Yellow Banded Possum Wrasse / Arrowhead Wrasse (wetmorella nigropinnata)

I don't know too many wrasses outside of the classic cleaners and humpheads, so I just looked up "Wrasse" on an aquarium site and found this delightful little fellow. I like the cool sawtooth shape of their fins, they really do look like an arrowhead!

@fish-daily

[echantedtoon]

Kny Mermaid Au Ramblings P4

I know more but I practically did every other well known demon slayer character in the series so I figured I'd do one last post explaining who the rest of the cast would be as mermaids. I've already done Akaza who's a Betta fish and Kaigaku who's a black electric eel. So now I'll be doing the rest of the demons and a lot of other characters. Lord have mercy for all the fish I looked up.

Remember all of the random lower moons in the ova series and Mugen train arc? Yeah. They're all minnow mers.

Now you're probably thinking Douma would be a rainbow fish right? Well I beg to differ and offer you my take. He'd definitely be a Fairy Wrasse mer.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://oceananimals.org/ocean-fish/wrasse-parrotfish/wrasse/fairy-wrasse/&ved=2ahUKEwjnq_PKusKGAxWMIEQIHR_jCskQr4kDegUI1AEQAA&usg=AOvVaw2YRDgIkmfKxDF7oBof4pf8

Nakime was a hard one but I think she'd be pretty as a black butterfly goldfish mer.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/black-butterfly-goldfish-25-35-length-%2528carassius-auratus%2529&ved=2ahUKEwiQ9s_8vsKGAxXBHUQIHVDdBtsQr4kDegQIFxAA&usg=AOvVaw3BpMo0ntw0sPot4YwstgfD

Kyogai is a Black Drum mer.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_drum&ved=2ahUKEwjs8fG2v8KGAxVkKEQIHZZEOY0Qr4kDegQIPRAA&usg=AOvVaw1Ip242VSs5Kmmf7IcyeJmp

Enmu is definitely an octopus mer. Specifically like the art by @cornfleaykes linked below.

https://www.tumblr.com/cornfleaykes/720378046334615552?source=share

Kokushibo and Yoriichi are the same thing being twins. Since Kokushibo is often associated with purple and Yoriichi orange, I found a fish that could match both of them. Both twins are Biota Orangetail Damselfish mers. Only Yoriichi has unusually more orange on his tail.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.algaebarn.com/shop/captive-bred/fish/biota-orangetail-damselfish-chrysiptera-cyanea/&ved=2ahUKEwiIgui4xMKGAxUzke4BHVgcABsQr4kDegQIZBAA&usg=AOvVaw30i-fXBi32NTynUJIaGegk

Daki and Gyutaro are vastly different to match their appearances. Gyutaro is a black Hagfish mer.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://glassvirtualzoo.wordpress.com/black-hagfish/&ved=2ahUKEwjYgdypxsKGAxXOEkQIHWhYF6kQr4kDegQIGBAA&usg=AOvVaw1uGruM_OsZQR1lXdwTSOYt

Meanwhile Daki/Ume is a Pink Dragon Siamese Fighting Fish mer because I liked how pretty and flowing the fins were and it seems to match her well.

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pink-dragon-siamese-fighting-fish-betta-384303799

Gyokko is a mutated Blue eel mer. That's it.

Hantengu was a tricky one. I know I already listed a WHOLE BUNCH of the Kny characters as Betta fishes but I'll go ahead and say that Hantengu and his clones would all be a pod of Betta fish mers related to each other because honestly Betta Fish can come in literally EVERY color. So Urami and Hantengu are black betta fish mers. Sekido is a red one. Urogi yellow. Karaku green but a lighter green than Tanjiro. Aizetsu blue. And Zohakutan is a dark purple color.

Urokodaki would be a common goldfish mer and Jigoro is like Zenitsu and Kaigaku an electric eel mer.

Hairou would be a blacktip reef shark mer.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.tetiaroasociety.org/island/fish/blacktip-reef-shark&ved=2ahUKEwjchKSFy8KGAxXz4ckDHX8GPDkQr4kDegUI6QEQAA&usg=AOvVaw36mXG9EcE-8peU273fAVTB

Muzan is a rare pitch black Bigeye Sand Tiger Shark mer like the one in the article.

https://www.newsweek.com/scientists-find-new-all-black-glowing-shark-species-ninja-lanternshark-409718

Rei and her daughter are both Brown Sweetlips mers.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.shutterstock.com/search/brown-sweetlips-fish&ved=2ahUKEwiS3POCzMKGAxWx7skDHaGFLogQr4kDegQIExAA&usg=AOvVaw3goHa1p3bOS5lBqxcq4ZAx

Haganezuka and the other sword smiths would be manta ray or sting ray mers mostly because I saw some art of Manta ray Mermaids and I think they'd look cool as them.

Rui and the rest of the spider demon are Albino Diving Bell Spider drows which turns out are a real species of spider that lives underwater.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.treehugger.com/nature-blows-my-mind-strange-scuba-diving-spider-4855467&ved=2ahUKEwjW68y8z8KGAxVKHUQIHRSQBwAQr4kDegQIExAA&usg=AOvVaw3T_2Bats74FtQgsKBBWGkX

Bonus mentions

Susamaru is an octopus mer too. Yahaba is a Cleaner fish mer. The swamp demon is just a trio of sea monsters. Tanjiro's ancestors in Yoriichi's flashbacks are Betta fish like the rest of Tanjiro's family. Tokito's father is a red herring mer. Sabito is a common orange Koi. Tengen's brother is a black butterfly koi mer. Monoko is a blue Glofish mer. And Giyuu's sister is the same species of mer as him.

Both Uta and Michikatsu's wife are both Rainbow Trout mers.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.wildtrout.org/content/rainbow-trout&ved=2ahUKEwjL2vXv0cKGAxU_GtAFHat1L9kQr4kDegQIGBAA&usg=AOvVaw1tXsb92zhaFmgDqHcmoWuo

And finally the Ubuyashikis. Amane and Their daughters are all white spotted jellyfish mers.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.crittersquad.com/fact-sheets/white-spotted-jelly-fact-sheet/&ved=2ahUKEwiY466vs8SGAxX748kDHfbqDk8Qr4kDegQIFhAA&usg=AOvVaw2_PbSrvezrdYdHFk1N7iKi

Meanwhile Kagaya and their son are water dragon hybrids.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.pinterest.com/pin/371406300502782906/&ved=2ahUKEwiyoqaDtMSGAxUJ5ckDHVROPSsQr4kDegUIygEQAA&usg=AOvVaw15b7fDD-PTuPL-qbgkndvL

Hoo boy. That was a lot. But I'm all done now explaining who everyone is in the mer au. Honestly it was fun coming up with these.

[virozero]

Primarch mermay ideas

[ there is a method to the madness just ask me and I'll explain lol]

Lion - Lion fish, Mahi

Fulgrim - giant phantom jellyfish, halfmoon beta fish

Perturabo - basking shark, north pacific giant octopus

Jahatai - black marlin, shirtfin mako

Leman - wolf eel, great barracuda

Dorn - Lemon pleco, spiny oyster

Konrad - Humboldt squid, orca

Sanguinius - red-toothed triggerfish, cookie cutter shark

Ferrus - decorator crab, horseshoe crab

Angron - Atlantic sturgeon, sperm whale

Guilliman - Yellow Fin Tuna, blue tang

Mortarion - Whale Fall, Greenland shark

Magnus - rainbow parrot fish, oarfish

Horus - lunar wrasse fish, manta ray

Lorgar - koi fish, spotted garden eel

Vulkan - hammerhead shark , zebra lionfish

Corax - trumpet fish, black sea bass

Alpharius & Omegon - mimic octopus, leafy sea dragon

[ouzel-time]

Happy pride month from this yellow-headed wrasse, who at the moment is transitioning from female to male! Wrasses are sequential hermaphrodites and change sex as they age.

[beautyunderthewaves]

Dusky Wrasse aka Splendid Rainbow Wrasse 💙

As juveniles, dusky wrasses begin as females, changing into a male upon maturation if it is necessary for breeding. They will have a small bit of color on their face while the majority of their body is a brown color with a yellow-ringed spot on the dorsal fin, great for camouflage!

As they mature, their pattern changes into a rainbow shimmer, showing through a dusky blue hue. As adults it is also easier to pick out males due to their larger size as well as them sporting much brighter colors!

[colourstreakgryffin]

Hello! Just wanted to say your Merfolk Hashira headcanons were amazing & I couldn't stop reading it. Rengoku gave me a bit of Little Mermaid vibes. 😂😂😂

But I wonder what the Upper Moons & the Kamaboko squad be like as Merfolk?

Kyojuro out there singing Part of Your World for real XD! Ima pick Kamaboko Squad for this since it’s easier!

KNY Kamaboko Squad Shitpost; Merfolk AU

Second Part of the Hashira Merfolk AU! This is actually very cute, I like it a lot so here it is~!

Overall

Basically. Almost everything stated in the Hashira post applies to both the Kamaboko Squad and the Upper Moons but these five have a different concept

Just like the top grade, Hashira. The Kamaboko Squad possess the same lunar energy-powered oceanic magic inside those moonstone pendants and can do the same feats the Hashira can

Their magic is just a lot weaker than compared to the Hashira. Depending on the rank of the solider for the Ubuyashiki Royal Family and their underwater kingdom, the magic grew alongside with the rank

They all possess a unique weapon to their own character, alongside their magic and default summon-able weapons, used to fight off threats

Kamado Tanjiro

Tanjiro is a red queen snapper merman

Tanjiro always prays for the poor life of the vicious sea predators he is forced to kill. He feels sorry for them

Spends a lot of time honing his magic, above of the water. He likes practicing in the world over the sea

Kamado Nezuko

Nezuko is a rosy scale fairy wrasse merwoman

She possesses the demon siren voice and demonic traits, but her merwoman anatomy has not changed

Nezuko loves playing with the many sea creatures around her; fishes, sea turtles, jellyfish, clams, just anything cute!

Agatsuma Zenitsu

Zenitsu is a yellow sailfin tang merman

Very much despises humans and gets annoyed each time he has to clean up a shipwreck

Zenitsu has very fast swimming speed in general, able to tap into a brief speed boost and surpass Sanemi’s speed

Hashibira Inosuke

Inosuke is a atlantic blue marlin merman

Inosuke has family-history with the rainbow loaded comb jellyfish monster, Douma

Please don’t give him a weapon. He’ll go find a swimming human, chase them and jab at them

Tsuyuri Kanao

Kanao is a pink flowerhorn cichlid merwoman

Her cooking skills for merfolk is immaculate as she can prepare such luxurious dishes easily

Kanao loves styling the hairs of her sisters/friends with the signature Kocho butterfly-styled hairclips

Shinazugawa Genya

Genya is a dark purple-black payara merman

Genya has sharp Dracula-like fangs and he is a prominent predator, able to tear apart beasts like sharks

Is quite susceptible to merwomen singing and siren songs, with his shyness towards girls. He can easily be swayed

I don’t know the artist name but credit, of the art above, goes to him/her/them!

[is-the-fish-tank-big-enough]

The Fish Tank from Grey's Anatomy is Big Enough

we have a single big eye squirrelfish which need anywhere from 60-100g depending on your source, a couple of blue damsels which need about 30g at least, a yellow tang or two which need 90g, and a kole yellow eye tang - 60g. The stocking does tend to get changed up slightly (or maybe we're just seeing more fish? Who's to say) between episodes or seasons, including having a variety of different surgeon fish, a bird wrasse, etc. Using the filing boxes as a reference that puts the tank at minimum 60g however with how comfortable the fish look inside the tank, and certain up close shots lead me to believe it's actually much bigger--at least 100g. Ultimately this is an accurate representation of what fish truly need--space, filtration, hiding spots.

[dougdimmadodo]

Bigbelly Seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis) 

Family: Pipefish Family (Syngnathidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Easily distinguished from other seahorse species thanks to their namesake large, rotund abdomens, Bigbelly Seahorses are found mainly in coastal waters surrounding New Zealand and southeastern Australia, where they typically remain in shallow-water habitats such as coral reefs (although they are highly adaptable, and may be found at depths of over 100 meters/328ft.) Like most seahorses they are slow-moving carnivores, spending much of their lives clinging to solid surfaces using their long prehensile (grasping) tails and ambushing small crustaceans (including shrimps, isopods, amphipods and small crabs) that pass by, generating suction to pull prey into their elongated tube-like snouts while their highly sensitive eyes (which, like the eyes of a chameleon, can move independently of one another) survey their surroundings for both prey and predators (such as skates, wrasses, cormorants and penguins.) Members of this species swim between perches by paddling slowly with their dorsal fins (which in most fish are on the dorsal/upper surface of the body, but which take the place of tail fins in seahorses) and while they are not typically social outside of mating they are not aggressive towards conspecifics, allowing for groups of Bigbelly Seahorses to gather together where prey is abundant. Bigbelly Seahorses reach maturity at around 1 year of age and will reproduce as many as 4 times in a single year; when ready to mate a male attempts to court females by inflating a pouch on his abdomen to appear larger, changing his colour to a brighter yellow and tucking his head downwards as he approaches - if the female accepts his advances she will similarly tuck in her head and change her colour, and the two will then solidify their bond by “dancing” together, swimming in circles around one another and often intertwining their tails as they do so. Once courtship is complete both partners will swim towards the surface where the male will position himself slightly below the female who will then deposit between 300 and 1000 unfertilized eggs in the inflated pouch on his belly, with the male fertilizing the eggs within his pouch and carrying them with him as they develop for around 30 days before he “gives birth” to a large number of small but completely independent young. Adult Bigbelly Seahorses can grow to be up to 30cm (11.8 inches) long from the tip of their tail to the top of their head, making them among the largest of all seahorse species.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/69837-Hippocampus-abdominalis

[guardianofthedawn]

Mermay!AU: Headcanon (Kameo edition)

(I just realised I haven’t done the kameos. Whoops 😅 I won’t be doing Kameo Kung Lao because he’ll be the same as his main game form.)

Scorpion: Yellow tang

Sub Zero: Pacific sleeper shark

Jax: Soldier crab

Sonya: Leopard wrasse

Darrius: Triggerfish

Goro: Potato cod

Sektor: Barracuda

Cyrax: Nile perch

Sareena: Lanternfish

Frost: Pacific herring

Kano: Mantis shrimp

Motaro: Seahorse (yeah, I had to 😂)

Shujinko: Minke whale

Stryker: Bluefin tuna

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Some ideas for the X-Men as Tiny Mer (in their colors, not necessarily based on reality) include:

The Adults-

Xavier: Blue/Green Chromis or Seahorse

Storm: Small Electric Ray

Wolverine: Swordtail or Orange/Black Betta

Beast: Blue Tang

The Teens/Guppies-

Scott/Cyclops: Six-line Wrasse

Jean/Phoenix: Angelfish or Goldfish

Kurt/Nightcrawler: Blue Betta, Blue Danio, or Comb Jelly

Kitty/Shadowcat: Black Phantom Tetra or Pink Betta

Evan/Spyke: Small Electric Ray or Pea Puffer

Anna-Marie/Rogue: Fire Jellyfish (green/black/red)

Some ideas for the Brotherhood/Acolytes as Tiny Mer (in their colors, not necessarily based on reality) include:

The Adults-

Magneto: Seahorse or Tetra (purple/red/gray)

Mystique: Blue/Red Betta or Irukandji Jellyfish

Sabretooth: Swordtail or Orange/Gold Betta

The Teens/Guppies-

Lance/Avalanche: Kuhlii Loach

Pietro/Quicksilver: Seahorse or Tetra (green/blue)

Wanda/Scarlet Witch: Seahorse or Tetra (red/black)

Fred/Blob: Pea Puffer

Todd/Toad: Goby (green/yellow)

John/Pyro: Goldfish or Butterflyfish

Piotr/Colossus: Discus or Pygmy Octopus (silver/gray)

Remy/Gambit: Pygmy Octopus (red/pink/tan)

I just think they'd be neat-

[erotetica]

Pan fish— yellow flanked fairy wrasse

[dirty-bosmer]

Tell me about the fish you saw snorkeling please :)

Oh my GOD I nearly burned my self with my coffee when I saw this. Thank you so much for asking, but also you've opened the flood gates because it just so happens I am about to dump so many fish on you. While I primarily study freshwater fishes, I am a lover off all things aquatic, so here we go (all these images are from the internet):

Parrot fish galore and HUGE ones at that. The biggest one I saw looked like this. I don't know my scarids very well, but I do know that I saw a bumphead parrotfish. So funny looking. I was honestly surprised by how all the fish out there are CONSTANTLY nipping at the corals, but the current was pretty strong so we all had to swim a lot. It makes sense that they always need to be eating. I had no idea life on the reef was so turbulent

A lot of acunthurids. No blue tangs but plenty of brown ones and some unicorn tang! The ones I saw had really small humps.

So the common name for acunthirds is surgeonfishes because they have these sharp, blade like spines on their caudal peduncle called a scalpel. You can see it a bit more clearly on the Clown Unicornfishes (which were my fave cause the colors were so bright). Here they're the bright orange processes near the tail.

Wrasses. SO many wrasses. We saw birdnose wrasses with their long snoots, moon wrasses that were as colorful as rainbow lorikeets. My favorite were the cleaner wrasses following all the big parrotfish around and eating their ectoparasites,

I saw a moray!! That was the most unexpected find for me. I was the only one in my group to see one, but it was so far out that the crew working the sailboat had to call me back in 😅 It was brown and spotted black and looked just like this guy. I didn't actually see his head, but I saw his long long body. He was huge!!

Some gobies hiding in their holes. Apparently some species of goby have a mutualistic relationship with shrimp. The shrimp digs a series of tunnels in the sand and the goby stands sentinel at the entrance. The shrimp then maintains contact with the goby with its long antennae so that it knows if the goby moves or startles when predators are nearby.

The goatfish was probably my second favorite find after the moray because I had no idea they were out there. Goatfish have two long chin barbels covered in tastebuds that they use to probe along the sand in search for prey. They are quite dextrous barbels too. They flick em around so fast!

I got stung by something! it whipped me across the face pretty much 20 minutes into the water and it felt long and filamentous so i thought maybe it was some stray strand of anemone or jellyfish with active nematocysts. The crew member said it was likely a small jelly so woohoo! I got stung by a jelly on the great barrier reef :D

Triggerfish. Iw as hoping to see more tetraodonotiforms like puffers or filefish or a cowfish maybe, but I'm glad I still got to see at least one representative of the order cause they are among the most bizarre groups of fishes

This Moorish Idol that looked exactly like Gill from finding nemo

Lemonpeel angelfish, bluegirdle angelfish, emperor angelfish, you name it.

a lot of chaetodontids too. As I said, I don't study marine fishes so all the butterfly fishes looked so similar to me XD most of them were some combination of white, yellow, and black with their characteristically tall bodies and narrow snouts.

Giant clam!!! THEY WERE SO BIG. And so colorful. The movement of their spiracle truly hypnotized me.

Alright. That's all I got time for at the moment, as I need to pack and head up to the rainforest for the last leg of my trip. I'm sure I have forgotten dozens of fish already XD Thank you for attending my show and tell and for expressing interesting. Truly, I'm living any biologists dream rn, and I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to visit such a beautiful part of the world 🥲

[noneuclideanwhimsy]

Ok so first off. This au started with BANTIM because my friend kept making Splatoon jokes and I was like hmmmm what if.

Just some like. Info on who is what first off (all colours listed are their original colours, now everyone except Henry and Joey has black ink)

Joey Drew: inkling (purple)

Henry Stein: inkling (yellow)

Sammy Lawrence: octoling (green)

Jack Fain: salmonid

Susie Campbell: inkling (light blue)

Norman Polk: eel (laser eyes) (red)

Daniel “Buddy” Lewick: atlantic wolffish

Bertrum Piedmont: spider crab

Lacey Benton: inkling (pink)

Wally Franks: cleaner wrasse

Allison Pendle: angelfish

Thomas Connors: octarian (brown)

(I don't talk about a lot of these guys much, but Wally is the janitor, Jack is the lyricist, Allison replaced Susie as Alice's voice actor, Thomas helped build the ink machine, and Lacey was Bertrum's assistant. In this au Allison and Tom voice Alice and Boris respectively for the news, which is animated after Joey takes over.)

Ok so the main plot is Joey still runs an animation studio, and it's still kind of falling through and losing money and Joey is mad about this. Also, Henry left the studio like four years prior which made him real mad. So he decided to start experimenting with stuff to bring his cartoons to life, and he actually succeeds after finding some remaining crystals that haven't dissolved and using them to bring Bendy, Alice and Boris to life (Bendy is a cat, Alice is a rabbit, and Boris is a wolf. For reasons.) but this wasn't enough for Joey so he got Tom to help him build the ink machine. He also stole the great Zapfish to power it but whatever that doesn't matter. Anyways Joey used the ink machine to slowly sap colour from the inky guys, turning their coloured parts black and pretty much mind controlling them. He has all the colours in a giant ball in his evil lair. Also, the Ink Demon is a manifestation of the lack of colour, it is the opposite of the colour ball. Yeah :3

So anyways. Henry hasn't left his house in four years nor has he watched the news in also four years. He has been really sad because he misses his friend and feels bad for leaving Joey Drew Studios. Anyways his wife tells him to go get milk and he says ok and pretty much as soon as he leaves Bendy jumps out at him and tells Henry he ran away from Joey because Joey was being evil and stealing colours and Henry needs to go stop him or everything will be bad. (Important to note: instead of black, Henry is still greyscale but his ink is white) So Henry is like ok and goes with Bendy to the studio where Joey seems him coming and promptly ejects him to Bendyland.

So the first area is the theme park! Here the enemies are mostly like. Squid tentacles. Kinda similar to octarians but not sentient they are just kinda there. Lacey is also there, and she's attacking Henry just to try and get him to leave because it's not safe here and Henry is just like yeah I wish I could leave. He tries to escape but his exit is blocked by Bertrum who is like. Actually just a giant crab right now he's also attached to the floor. So Henry fights him and Bertrum mostly just has cool spinny attacks. But yeah Henry wins and Lacey jumps down to tend to Bertrum's wounds and Henry leaves Bendyland.

The next stage is the City Square. You see this part introduces Buddy (who gives you weapons and tips) and also the greyscale Inklings, who are just like. Black instead of bright colours and wear goggles that make it look like their eyes are glowing. They also attack you. Henry fights his way to the news station and asks Allison and Tom what's going on and Allison is like oh yeah hi so Joey's kinda crazy. Anyways you really shouldn't be here if we don't attack you Joey will probably do something bad to us. So that boss fight takes place on set, and theres like. A ring of water that Henry has to jump over and Allison and Tom just send waves of enemies at Henry, starting with just regular ol' tentacles enemies and then tentacles that try and push you into the water then greyscale Inklings. So Henry wins and Allison is like cool good job, you are obviously the right guy for this job and you can go do this. So Henry keeps going.

Henry is just in a different part of Inktopolis now, heading towards the entertainment district which is where the studio is. This part is real similar to the last part, except the whole place is completely drowned in ink, and this time the boss is Norman Polk, who used to be either an inkling or octoling but is now a giant eel with glowing eyes that eats people. His fight mostly takes place on platforms that you can like. Jump to and shoot from since the whole this is surrounded by ink and Norman is like. Swimming in the ink. Norman starts by going under the ink and jumping out at Henry and trying to bite him, then spraying ink at him, then submerging the platforms and making Henry swim while he tries to bodyslam Henry. Henry gets out though,

The final area before the studio is the entertainment district. Here you are not only attacked by greyscale Inklings carrying guns, they also have musical instruments that spray ink at you. The music here also seems more personal. So Henry makes his way to the big ol' stage at the very end of the long, winding street, and has to fight the band that has made all the music he has been hearing up to this point (Sammy, Susie and Jack). They are all up high, sitting on fake clouds suspended from the ceiling. Sammy monologues a bit but Jack ends up jumping down first. His section is mostly him setting up turrets to attack Henry until Henry takes him out. Sammy then jumps down and plays a violin, doing this funky pied piper thing and summoning the greyscale band members to attack Henry until he takes Sammy out. Susie's part mostly takes place in the air as she'll drop down for about a minute to use a singing attack, then she'll jump up to the fake clouds and snipe at Henry. So yeah he defeats them and FINALLY he can get to the studio.

Henry goes into the studio and is faced with all the enemies he had faced before just more. There's also a mini boss, the Butcher Gang (technically there are three of them but they make one mini boss) but other then that it's the same. He makes his way to Joey's "lair", and confronts him. Joey monologues about how it's so much better now that he holds all this power and blah blah blah evil stuff and starts egging on the Ink Demon to attack Henry. The floor is actually mostly covered in rainbow ink. Also. You see the stages of this fight mirror the previous boss battles. The first stage has a lot of spinning and stabbing, the second stage is fighting through hordes of enemies, the third stage the Ink Demon tries to bodyslam Henry, and the fourth stage Joey snipes at you from above. Joey also has sprinklers that make certain areas untouchable. Anyways. Henry is getting overwhelmed and really regretting going in alone, but just when all hope seems lost...everyone he defeated and saved shows up! You see. Jack, Sammy and Susie are armed with The Old Song (this universe's version of the Calamari Inkantation) and help bolster Henry. The power of it also breaks Joey's gun somehow so he has to go down onto the floor (he was previously in a control booth) and use a roller to attack Henry. Joey also absorbs the giant or of colour he had so he can be more powerful. His ink is rainbow now. Anyways Henry ends up overpowering Joey and the Ink Demon ends up eating Joey, which causes it to explode because it technically destroyed the colour ball keeping it alive. So yeah! Colour and sentience is restored and everyone goes home!

But you see. There's also lore around this! You see in Joey Drew Studios you can see a lot of things branded Aperture. This is because Joey and Cave were buddies and had an alliance. Cave was actually spared from the greyscaleing because he was giving Joey power eggs so that's. Something. Anyways! Below is a list of all the canon companies we have thus far (Inkwell Studios is the rival company to Joey Drew Studios, and it's the company that "made" Cuphead so that's why no employees are listed)

Mann CO.

The Administrator: horrorboros

Miss Pauling: inkling (lavender)

Saxton Hale: cohock

Mister Bidwell: chum

Mister Reddy: chum

Jerry: inkling

Spy: inkling

Scout: inkling

Pyro: seahorse

Solider: octarian

Demoman: pistol shrimp

Heavy: cohock

Medic: cleaner shrimp

Sniper: octoling (raised by salmonids)

Engineer: hermit crab

Redmond Mann: inkling

Blutarch Mann: inkling

Grey’s Gravel CO.

Grey Mann: inkling (grey)

Olivia Mann: inkling (olive)

Aperture

Cave Johnson: inkling (orange)

Caroline: octoling (blue)

Doug Rattman: sea urchin

Black Mesa

Breen: octoling (ice blue)

Judith: octoling (green)

Colette: inkling (maroon)

Gina: octoling (ivory)

Gordon: clownfish

Barney: blue lobster

Kleiner: sea anemone

Eli: parrotfish

Azian: swordfish

Magnussen: flying fish

Russel: steel eel

Inkwell Studios

Joey Drew Studios

So yeah. Aperture does the salmon runs and it is actually even more messed up because a) there are just salmonids. Living among everyone. And b) Cave does hire salmonids for testing. But yeah you see he was friends with Saxton, but Saxton didn't like him anymore because he was preying on the weak and Saxton has an actual moral code so like. He stopped beings friends with Cave and Cave was like ok then! There's nothing stopping me from stealing eggs then! So he does that. Caroline hates this but she's terrified to be put of a job.

Nothing really happens at Black Mesa luckily, they just do funky science and come up with cool new stuff. Colette and Gina also have a band together because Decay Girls goes hard as a band name. Speaking of bands, Aperture has an orchestra that's entirely it's test subjects, both RED and BLU are bands in their own rights, and Saxton, Bidwell, Reddy, Jerry and Miss Pauling all play salmonid type music and are directed by The Administrator.

Also the story of the Team Fortress comics does still happen, Grey still attacks Mann CO. with robots, ends up killing his brothers, then steals Mann CO. from Saxton by exploiting Saxton's moral code that won't let him fight a child. So yeah that whole thing happens. It happens kind of far away though so it's not catastrophic.

So anyways salmonid territory is the Australia equivalent, and golden eggs are the australium equivalent (australium is gold that can extend your life, make you stronger, do all sorts of stuff.) Sniper was raised by salmonids, so he had believed for years he is one and was really devestated when he found out he wasn't. He was even more devestated when he found out his biological parents were using golden eggs to try and power their rockets (Sniper had previously developed a grudge towards Spy as he believes Spy has participated in salmon runs. So yeah. He doesn't like filthy child thieves). Heavy comforts him and tells him that even if he is an octoling on the outside, he is a salmonid on the inside. Then the Classic Mercs show up and shoot Sniper so like.

But yeah that's what's shaking.

OOOOOO THIS IS SO COOL HOLY SPARKLES

Does. Does your friend have a Tumblr by any chance? They seem like one of the coolest people ever and I’d like to meet them if possible.

[mizumi-kahago-art]

Chibi Mermay - Ruruka

Since making Artworks for all the side characters would take me another 2-3 years I decided to take a shortcut and release their designs as Chibis instead. This way I can finish up the Mermaid series this year and start a new series afterwards!

I hope that’s still fine with everyone.

Ruruka’s fins are based of a Yellow-Flanked-Fairy-Wrasse

I’m thinking about making these Stickers or Acrylic Charms in the future. I’d love to get some feedback from you guys, if anyone would be interested in that.