#benthic zone ocean

[moodyjazzyblues]

does it annoy anyone else to absolutely no end that in all these 'scary el gran maja spooky thalassophobia 4k' videos that pop up in my recommended after watching some Natural World Facts video essays about the midnight zone/benthic zone of the ocean the big scary thalassophobia monster, no matter how decently textured and rendered, ALWAYS looks uncanny just on the simple fact that it moves too fast or is way too close to the surface of the water to make biological sense. like i know its a 'suspend your disbelief' type situation, but like... immersion breaking when my insanely unrealistic big mouth leviathan monster moves too fast in shallow water tbh.

[coco-wheats]

posting it again for all the benthicheads out there

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Another Day, Another Pacific Sand Dollar

The eccentric sand dollar, aka the sea-cake, biscuit-urchin, western sand dollar, or Pacific sand dollar (Dendraster excentricus), are found in the intertidal zone and near-shore sandy bottoms from Alaska, US to Baja California, Mexico.They are the only sand dollars endemic to the Pacific Northwest, though they share the rest of their range with other species. Live individuals are seen either partially buried upright or lying flat on the ocean floor, depending on the strength of the current. To prevent themselves from being swept away, juveniles will also ingest sand to weigh themselves down. Although they are not social, they can form large colonies with as many as 6 sand dollars in a square m (1 sq yd).

Pacific sand dollars are named for their resemblance to silver dollars, especially the bleached exoskeletons that commonly wash up on beaches. Most adults average about 8 cm (3 in) across, though individuals as big as 10 cm (4 in) have been found. The body is a flat disc coated in small, purple tube-like feet and sensory organelles called cilia. The feet are used both for moving across the ocean floor and for pulling oxygen from the water. The mouth and anus-- a single opening-- are located on the sand dollar’s underside. Inside the mouth are five teeth and jaw plates known as doves; together they form a structure known as Aristotle’s lantern, which is unique to echinoderms like sand dollars and sea stars.

D. excentricus is a suspension feeder, using its feet and cilia to pull food from the water or direct it along special groves on the body’s underside. Their main prey are microscopic larvae, copepods, diatoms, algae, plankton, and detritus. The sea-cake is predated upon by a number of sea stars and fish, as well as crabs and sea gulls. To avoid being eaten, adults bury themselves in the sand and larvae will duplicate themselves via a process known as budding and fission, which creates smaller individuals that can distract potential predators.

Although western sand dollars have seperate sexes, they are broadcast spawners. In late spring or early summer, males and females congregate and release gametes into the water where they become fertilized. Larvae, also known as prisms, hatch just a day later. This larvae floats freely through the water, growing arms and metamorphosing into a echinopluteus larva. Once they reach 8 arms, the larva begins to develop an exoskeleton or echinus, and resembles a small adult. The final stage of growth is triggered by chemical cues released by other adults; after this, individuals become sexually mature and settle on the ocean with other sand dollars. In the wild, adults can live up to 13 years.

Conservation status: Although the IUCN has not evaluated the Pacific sand dollar, they are regularly threatened by ocean acidification, warming, and bottom trawling.

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Photos

Chan Siuman

Brian Starzomski

Alison J. Gong

[themesopelagiczone]

in the deep ocean there are things called brine pools, which are essentially lakes of water separate from the ocean water. they're formed when water seeping through the ocean floor mixes with salt deposits, so the actual brine pools themselves are too salty and too toxic for most things to live in. but because they're so mineral rich, there's a bunch of really cool things living around them!

some examples include mussels, crabs, echinoderms, and sea cucumbers.

oceanx | oceanexplorer (noaa) | la times

photos: nautilus live x | x

[likopinina]

Isopod video game.

Video game in which you are an isopod.

Isop0dyssey (Isopod Odyssey) is currently the only tongue-eating louse racing game available on the market. Do not miss this chance and wishlist on Steam (now) and take part in demo testing (coming soon)

Reblog

[definitelynotarabbit]

Screw getting covered by moss and forgotten by the world. Take me where the sun dare not venture. Let me rest among the eternally starving. Feed my body to the unland of the ancients. I want to be overtaken by the hunger of a thousand things that do not care to know what I was. I want my bones to rest in the snow that knows no frost, that falls to trenches rather than mountains. Bury me under the infinite weight of the sky that swallows all color. Leave me to vanish under the living constellations as they speak to one another in a language unknowable.

[plantpirating]

Best part of my day.

Church of Whale Fall

[maeumi-jng]

language of love

pairing: enhypen x gn!reader

synopsis: the language of love... so simple yet so profound. especially when you can't muster the courage to tell that special someone. or the subtle ways enha shows they like you.

warnings: fluff, skinship, swearing, mention of a nosebleed, unclear topic of insecurities about looks with riki, kinda cringe but everyone's so flirty (esp, hee, jay, and hoon 🤭), proof read-ish as usual

library: enhypen bookshelf

author's note: this was supposed to take one day but took four because i kept getting called into work shifts that i don't normally do 😭🤧 so i may or may not have gotten a bit lost on the way, bare with me please ♡︎

heeseung

heeseung is someone who likes to spend time with you, quality time if you will. but he's always in internal conflict about it. he loves being with you but when he's with you, he doesn't know how to act. you make him feel like jelly. as if he'd melt by being with you. and the amount of time he'd spend with you made the lines between friends and something more quite blurry.

but the time he likes to spent with you isn't on anything normal or something that occurs everyday like grocery shopping, having lunch together, or watching a movie with you. while of course, he enjoyed those things, heeseung like to make the smallest things that seemed insignificant and unimportant to life heart fluttering.

take for example, the one time you had decided to sit down at a bench in the park with your group of friends. heeseung was next to you when you found a newspaper that had been left behind with an unfinished crossword puzzle.

you weren't really a crossword puzzle type of person but you had a pen in your bag and you figured why not?

the puzzle was ocean themed which lost you even more. but you persevered only to become stuck on the very last word. it was across, intertwining with the 1st word, and seven letters long. the prompt? 'what is a community of organisms that live on or near a 'benthic zone'?'

yup. beyond you.

heeseung, who was talking to sunghoon, noticed your struggle by the pout of your lips, wondering eyes, occasional sighs and the tapping of your pen against your chin. a small smile crept onto his face when you turned to him and asked, "hee, i'm stuck. how do you do this? help me... please?"

who was he to deny such a cute request?

suddenly, he leaned towards you, taking your pen out of your hand. you blinked blankly at the close proximity between the two of you. you could feel the warmth radiate off of him. awkwardly, you rubbed the nape of your neck while heeseung glided the pen across the seven boxes. you couldn't tell what he was writing, eyes focused on the side of his face. he looked beautiful from the side too.

you chewed on your lip, watching him pull back and retract his hand. "you're done?" you asked, bewildered he had figured it out without searching it up.

heeseung hummed, eyes trailing over your face. "nope," he said, "i don't know the answer." he shrugged.

"huh?" you raised a brow, now peering over to the once empty row of squares. you're brows furrowed, trying to read the letters. but once you did, your eyes widened at the seven filled boxes.

URSOQT♡︎

"i–" you turned your head to heeseung to ask him what he meant as a wave of heat taking over your face. but he was already looking at you.

any voice you had had suddenly died down. you pressed your lips together, unable to form any words.

heeseung smiled softly, heart entirely overwhelmed by your reaction. he sighed, breathing in the fresh air before looking over to sunghoon. "don't you just love crosswords?"

sunghoon blinked. "what? hyung, i'm talking about basketball right now. crosswords? what are you on?"

heeseung pursed his lips, turning back to you. "i love crosswords."

see? crosswords... insignificant and not life changing. but ever since that day, you had never gone a second without your heart fluttering when you thought about it.

see? significant and life changing. 🤗

jongseong

jay hated having glasses.

or he hated having poor eyesight which made him have glasses.

whatever... it didn't matter. he just hated his glasses. they were a nuisance, always hurting the bridge of his nose and actually rendering him unable to see the face.

to make matters worse, riki and jake loved to tease him about how bad his eyesight actually was by trying them on. it was only a few seconds into wearing them that riki was complaining about sore eyes and the shock of his suddenly blurry vision had finally registered in jake's brain once he wore them. so jay avoided giving people his glasses to try on.

but when it came to you... it was hard to say no.

jay was in his local cafe, just reading his book, determined to get through it even though his brain was telling him to take an afternoon nap. also because he was meeting you soon and he was more determined to stay awake for that.

he had come early because he didn't want to keep you waiting, even for a second. but he had become so engrossed in his book, jay didn't even realise you had finally arrived.

"peekaboo. guess who? " suddenly, as jay was reading, your hands hovered over his glasses, covering his vision.

a smile automatically came to his face while jay rested his book down on the table. "is it the most prettiest girl in the universe?"

your eyes widened at his words, pulling your hands quickly back to you. your cheeks flushed while you cleared your throat, taking a seat next to him.

jay watched you try to dismiss his words but you didn't know what to say. and call it a bit odd, but jay loved it.

you blinked at his face, tilting your head, making jay raise a brow. suddenly it was his turn to be nervous when you leaned in and took his glasses gently off of his face. he could feel your hot breath from this close proximity. oh how he wished he could close in just a few more centimetres.

"can i try these on?" you queried.

jay slowly nodded, watching you first look through the lenses. you squinted at the wave of blurriness. "christ," you mumbled, trying to blink it away. "jay, you really can't see," you teased before gliding the frames onto your face.

jay needed to look away, taking anything as a distraction because he wasn't sure if he could handle seeing you wear his glasses.

you scrunched your nose at the heavy weight. you tapped jay's shoulder, trying to get his attention. "jay, look! i can't even see anything with these on."

jay internally cursed, slowly moving his head back to it's original position. he paused at the sight.

the thing was, jay already found you extremely adorable. there was just so much to like about you. the look on your face when you tried to be mad or when you needed to concentrate. or when you meet up and both realise you were wearing matching clothing. or whenever you saw stray kittens and puppies when it rained and you would sacrifice your umbrella just so they could have some shade and keep warm.

in the nicest way possible, you were terrible for his heart.

but watching you wear his glasses... it was so simple and stupid but it made his heart flip a million times more. you looked good in his things. a fact of the universe.

jay smiled softly, observing you take them off once your head started to throb.

"it's okay. they look better on you anyways," you told him, leaning in again to carefully put them back on his face.

jay's heart was now slamming against his chest. in his vision, he could see you use your index finger to nestle the glasses onto his nose bridge. "there," you said, "handsome as ever."

jay blinked, trying to calm his racing heart with subtle deep breaths.

he needed to confess... soon.

jaeyun

you know how quality time is a love language? well, it's a language that jake knows off by heart ever since he met you.

unlike heeseung, he wasn't entirely fixated on the small things. he liked doing the daily things with you like your morning hot chocolate run, going shopping with you, having a fixed lunch (date) everyday... it guaranteed him his daily dose of you and vice versa.

even if you were doing nothing, jake liked to hang out. just watching tiktoks on your phone or tv shows together, trying a new recipe you found, or even going on a picnic was enough for jake (and you).

take now for example. you were hanging out in the library for god's sake. you had an assignment to finish (mostly because you had pushed it so far that you had almost entirely forgotten it). despite you telling jake that it was literally going to take you hours because it took you thirty minutes to half-ass an introduction, he was all like, "it's fine. i have nothing to do any way."

like ??? what do you mean you have nothing to do? you could think of twenty things that were better than this. and that was just off the top of your head.

you'd like to think that you were getting a lot done, considering a few hours had passed and it seemed like there were a lot of words on your screen.

however, reality is not that kind.

instead, you had only written 600 words of your 2000 word essay and mostly focused on the fact that jake was spending him time... by staring at you.

"jake... i can't focus if you keep looking at me. i told you to go do something else more fun," you uttered, not peeling your eyes away from the screen.

"but this is fun. for your information, i find the fact that you find me more interesting than your essay really fun," jake smiled, leaning on his arm while he sat across you.

you blinked blankly at your screen. what were you writing again? "well now... now you're just twisting my words," you mumbled, feeling a wave of warmth scatter across the back of your neck.

suddenly a ding echoed from your phone making the both of you jump. you quickly ushered your phone to yourself, forgetting to silent your phone when you had entered. your eyes flickered over the notification and upon registering it, your face dropped.

jake raised a brow. "who is it?"

"it's my mum, shit i forgot," you sighed. "i have to go run errands for her. sorry, jake. at least you can find something fun to do now. see you!"

jake watched you quickly pack your stuff up, suddenly processing that you were leaving with out him.

you were just heading out of the library, standing up from your table when you felt a tug on your wrist. your eyes fell to your hand and then up to jake. you peered with a curious gaze.

"wait for me," jake told you, jacket half shrugged on. he sighed at your confused expression. "i'm coming with you, obviously."

"jake, seriously, it's fine," you laughed softly as he struggled to gather his things.

jake turned to you, sporting the uttermost serious expression you had ever seen on his face. "you don't get it... i cancel my other plans to spend time with you. sweetheart, there is literally nothing else i'd rather do than be with you."

oh.

your eyes widened. the endearment... the obviousness of it all...

you gave a small sigh, shaking your head slightly before letting a warm smile sprawl onto your face. "well come on then."

jake grinned, taking his bag off of the chair next to him. "this is gonna be great! especially because i haven't seen your mum in ages."

you raised a brow as you both walked together. "jake, you literally saw her three days ago."

"my point exactly."

sunghoon

to be honest, sunghoon doesn't necessarily exhibit the fact he likes you. because he doesn't really know how to. he preferred to keep his feelings at bay, more than content with being friends with you instead of ruining your relationship. and maybe... just maybe his feelings for you would go away.

but that preference was short lived when sunghoon realised he couldn't really control himself around you any longer. he'd find himself caring about all the small things.

every time he talked to you and he caught your smile when you were happily talking about the things you loved, sunghoon had to force himself to turn his head away and hide his own smile.

one time you hit your nose and dramatically made a big deal about it. it was amusing until sunghoon actually saw blood and the panic cross your eyes. now sunghoon naturally covered all the sharp and blunt corners and objects that you could possibly hurt yourself with when you were both walking together while making sure you walked on the inside of the road rather than near the cars or poles.

his friends even noticed. especially when he'd laugh at a tiktok you were showing him but they showed the exact one to him days before and sunghoon didn't even utter a word.

in summary: sunghoon liked you way too much.

and it was getting harder to contain his feelings.

"sunghoon-ah?" you called out, looking at your phone.

sunghoon, who was laying next to you on a picnic blanket, discreetly looking at you the entire time and revelling in the idyllic nature, hummed in response.

"what do you think about this guy for me?"

sunghoon squinted as you showed him your phone. a small huff of amusement fell from his lips. "why? does he have a crush on you or something?" he joked, briefly glancing at the phone, not even hiding his uninterest.

you rolled your eyes, taking your phone back. leave it up to sunghoon to take things so half-heartedly. "no... it's just that my friend is trying to set me up with someone–"

suddenly the phone was taken out of your hands. now fully attentive, sunghoon eyed the photo on your phone. he furrowed his brows, making you question him. "sunghoon?"

he sucked his teeth and tilted his head, pondering. "but don't i look better than this guy?"

you blinked rapidly, at a lost for words. sunghoon wasn't ever this straightforward with you. nor did he flirt subtly. in all the time you had known him, you had known him to be a sweet and caring person underneath all that evasiveness (all of which you'd come to really like, not that you'd ever tell him). but he'd never voice these things to you...

you broke out into a small smile with a quiet hum. "i guess you are better looking," you shrugged with feigned nonchalance, averting your eyes to anywhere else in the park.

sunghoon looked at your flushed state and smiled to himself. he nodded, mostly to himself, as he returned your phone. "yeah," he agreed with red ears, "i'm a lot better looking."

seonwoo

when seonwoo realised he liked you, at first he did nothing about it. what was he even going to do? tell you? ha! what a joke!

but after encountering several other people asking him for your number or socials, seonwoo realised he needed to up his game. make it more obvious. like really obvious.

so the first thing he did? he confessed.

you being you, you thought he was playing a joke on you. because why on earth would the kim seonwoo like you? this was the real world not la-la-la land.

seonwoo could barely register that fact that you thought he was joking. so he made it his mission to bring it up as often as he could. but not so much that you'd get fed up.

like you had just begun watching a drama that had finished a few weeks ago and seonwoo had decided to join you. you were so obsessed with it that you kept bringing it up when you could. one day, you were telling him about a part you saw when he briefly fell asleep and he says casually, “i know.”

and you’re like ??? “seonwoo, you fell asleep. what do you mean you know?”

he’d look at you and say, “i already watched all of it.”

you blinked blankly. “i– w-what? then why would you watch it again? isn’t that like a waste of time?”

“because you wanted to and because i like you. do i need any other reason?”

ohhhhhh

or on any random day, seonwoo would walk into your room and smile widely while holding up two matching items. "look what i got!”

you’d look up and press your lips together. “more matching keychains? not that i'm complaining but seonwoo.. i have like twenty of these because of you. the whole point of keychains is to actually use them not swap them out every other day.”

seonwoo would pout. “b-but each one shows how much i like you.”

you blankly look at him before slamming your head into your pillows, hiding your flushed cheeks. "ugh, seonwoo, why are you like this?" you grumbled, fighting between the urge to cringe or crumble.

seonwoo would be attaching the new keychains he brought to your already packed bag. "because i'm amazing," he'd say, "and because i like you."

your last straw was picked when you were trying to do something a simple as show him a video you found on your phone during your absentminded scrolling. "seonwoo, watch this."

seonwoo leaned in next to you, eyes momentarily on the phone before resting on you for most of the video.

you were grinning at the video of cute puppies before realising seonwoo was looking at you instead. "i– are you watching?" you queried, suddenly feeling self conscious all of a sudden

"hmm?" seonwoo blinked, moving his eyes back to the screen. "oh... yeah."

"seonwoo," you whined. "you need to stop that."

"stop what? looking at you. but that's like normal," seonwoo raised a brow.

"no, stop looking at me like that."

"like what?" seonwoo egged on. "like my entire world is in front of me?"

you sucked in a sharp breath, giving him a pointed look.

seonwoo held your gaze, responding earnestly. "does it make you feel uncomfortable? if it does... i'll stop. it'll be hard but i'll do it."

you chewed your bottom lip, spotting the dismay in his boba eyes. "no. it's okay. i like it."

a surge of relief wavered throughout you when a wide smile appeared back onto his face. "good," sunoo beamed, "i'm glad."

jungwon

jungwon was as direct as some get. if he had something to say, he'd say it. this persona, however, did not apply to two things: when someone asked him if he liked the food he was eating when he didn't or when it came to you.

jungwon didn't really know how it happened but he seemed to lose all senses and all the ability to speak when he was around you. that's when he realised he liked you.

every time you were with each other, a majority of it was in this comforting silence with the occasional side conversation. but if you minded, you didn't say anything. you seemed to enjoy the peace that always stemmed when you two were together.

that was one of those things that made jungwon find it difficult to communicate his feelings with you. with every passing day, he'd return home with something else he liked about you.

one day you were hanging out with your friend group. the sun was setting, it was warm out despite the slight breeze. jungwon was talking to his friend on his right when he realised he hadn't heard your voice in a while. he turned to you, only to find you resting your eyes, absorbing the peaceful atmosphere while your hair danced with the wind. that day, jungwon went home realising he really liked seeing you at peace.

another day, jungwon found out that you were really good at remembering the small things and how attached you got to them. he was in your room for the first time and you went to grab some water. his eyes skimmed the room, stopping on the shelf that was littered with some of the most random items: old movie tickets, beads, coins, and even a heart-shaped pebble.

you came back into the room, settling the cups of water down on your desk. "what are you looking at? ah, you found the shelf."

jungwon curiously turned to you, eyes still stuck on the shelf. "what is all of this?" his voice barely above a whisper.

"memories," you murmured softly. you walked next to him, gingerly picking the pebble off of the wood and showed it to jungwon. "you don't remember this one?"

jungwon raised a brow, trying to scavenge his brain for this pebble. after a lot of nothingness, it struck him! "oh my god, this is not the same rock we saw at beach last year, is it?" you had both found it hiding in the sand after you trailed away from the others.

"ding ding! a point for yang jungwon!" you confirmed, a small smile teetering on your face.

jungwon looked at you wordlessly. he didn't know what to say. if he thought about it, a lot of that shelf had him on it. the movie tickets, the coins he found on the road, the teddy bear he brought you for your birthday... you had kept everything.

after that day, jungwon knew he needed to make things a tad bit more obvious. at least in his perspective. so he showed you in a way that didn't have him talking too much: acts of service.

jungwon knew you ordered your coffee every morning so he'd bring it with him every time you met. he always kept a hoodie for you because you always got cold easily. always call you when you were on the bus or getting a ride to make sure you reached home safely. opening stubborn packs of food when you couldn't. always having medicine on hand when you felt unwell.

jungwon would basically drop everything for you. and he'd think he was doing it sooo discreetly but you noticed, embarrassing him when you pointed it out.

"you're just so thoughtful, so i wanted to show you that i also think about you too.. like a lot."

(future) boyfriend goals indeed. 🤭

riki

similar to seonwoo, in an strange way, riki was direct. strange because this only occurred when he had a point to prove. call it what you want... youth or the journey of maturity, but if he wanted to let you know something, he'd say it. in summary: for you, an attention seek.

while riki was competitive, he never really competed with a person one-on-one. it was rather a battle of what he could do rather than him by himself. like he'd rather find out he's better by acing them in a basketball match or something.

yet, when both of you were hanging out with your friends in a pet cafe to relieve some stress, riki found himself competing with the worker who had been staring at you ever since you took a step into the place.

how was riki going to resolve this you ask? (or win, in this case?)

by trying to get as many pets around him as he could. see, riki knew you cherished animals. any time you were near one, you'd always have to stop to look, talk, and ensure they were safe. riki found it endearing. so if all the animals in the cafe loved him and not the the guy who literally works there, then not only has he won over the animals and the worker, but most importantly, he's won your heart (vicariously through animals, of course).

the only problem? as mentioned, the guy worked there. and while the one shiba inu in the cafe seemed to adore riki, the rest were in the hands of the freaking worker! and right beside him was you.

riki whisper-yelled your name, capturing your attention. "look at this!"

you turned to find the same young shiba inu, the one you had been fawning over the moment you saw him, sleeping in riki's lap. your eyes softened at the sight of them together. cuteness with cuteness... just your luck. you reached for the phone in the pocket of your jacket.

riki paused briefly, realising you had snapped a sneaky photo of him and the puppy. discreetly, his eyes took a moment to savour the awkward realisation on the worker's face. a small smug grin made it's way onto his face. he was on your camera roll. he won.

but this type of stuff was tame in comparison to what riki pulled the other day.

you were at his house, waiting for him to get ready so you could watch a new movie in the cinema. riki was hopping out, trying to put his sock on when he saw you intently staring at your phone.

a sudden flick to your forehead got your attention.

"ow!" you exclaimed, rubbing your head. "riki, what the hell?"

riki bit back his smile when he saw you pout. "what are you looking at so much that you can't look at me?"

you rolled your eyes, removing your hand from your forehead. "first of all, you're the one taking forever. second of all... it's not really anything, it's just a pretty person. see? don't you think they're like really pretty?" you sucked in a sharp breath, waiting for an answer.

riki furrowed his brows, trying to put his shoes on at the door as you showed him your screen. he eyed the photo before looking back up at you and back at the phone. "you're prettier," he said nonchalantly.

you blinked blankly, slowly raising your phone back to your chest. you were suddenly desperately fighting a wave of fluster from drowning you. you pressed your lips, letting a small huff of amusement slip past your lips. "i don't think that's what other people would say."

riki finished tying his shoelaces, standing up straight. he sighed, taking the phone out of your hands, closing it and putting it into the pocket of your hoodies as he stepped closer to you. his hands moved to hold your cheeks while his brown eyes held yours intently. "it doesn't matter what they think. i think you're prettier. that's all that matters."

your mouth fell open, cheeks warm at his sudden touch. it was as if all the words you had ever learned or read had flown right from your brain and dispersed into the air.

removing his hands from your face, riki grasped your hand tightly. "now come on! we're really going to be late if you keep standing like a gaping fish!"

© maeumi-jng | do not copy, post (repost is fine!) or translate anywhere else! thank you ♡︎ requests here!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hello! It's me again. I'm probably pestering you, lol. I think a lotta people give flack for the Octavinelle trio being ruthless and "behaving like a Mafia." But I think considering where they live it makes sense? They live in the ocean. And the ocean is a kill or be killed environment, where you have to the strongest and toughest. If not? You at least have to be quick witted and unable to be seen, otherwise you'll be dead. If the trio become too soft they'll be fish meat.

I think the fandom is pretty divided when it comes to perceptions of what the Coral Sea is like. On one hand, you have the people who think of it as like living in Atlantica, which is basically just like living in a peaceful and pretty city (but underwater). Then you have the people who think the environment would be so different it would shape its inhabitants to behave differently as well. The second one tends to be a darker or grittier interpretation which aknowledges dangers such as other undersea creatures and treacherous living conditions.

Personally, I lean on and enjoy the latter, since TWST rarely ever designs purely for the aesthetic of it; one example of this is how the twins are confirmed to be bioluminescent in the Magical Archives. This is a decision that was not made “because it would look cool”, but because many deep sea creatures rely on this trait to intimidate potential predators. It would make more sense for the cold waters of the Coral Sea to change its people rather than merfolks’ cities simply being civilizations moved several leagues under, especially seeing TWST time and time again really consider the geography and history of each new location and how those inform the cultures that form there.

However, I want to state that the Coral Sea would be very different depending on which area you’re in, just like how there are nice parts and bad parts of a city. It’s not ALL nice or ALL bad. For example, the Atlantica Museum in book 3 appears to be in a more photic zone, so there’s more sunlight and it appears pleasant to be in. Even the merpeople there seem to be different than the Octatrio; they less so resemble specific sea creatures and are much more akin to being human-like. We have yet to really see how the benthic zones are—but we do know they must be harsher, since Floyd has mentioned exploring shipwrecks and various dangers there (like sharks).

I also want to point out that there are subtle signs in dialogue which could imply merpeople prefer traits that promote survivability and adaptability in the ocean. Azul’s bullies are noted to taunt him for his weight, but also for his bulky tentacles and inky tears. Now why those traits specifically??? Because these impede his ability to swim swiftly (making it harder to escape danger) and easily give away his location (if he’s in hiding or camoflauging).

I’ve seen others suggest that maybe these comments are because of racism against octopus merpeople, who are a rare kind of merfolk. This is entirely possible, yes! But thinking about it like that… Isn’t it also possible that there aren’t a lot of octopus merpeople at the moment because it’s more difficult for them to escape or to hide from predators? Which then informs and perpetuates preexisting prejudices. In this context (plus the bullying), it makes sense why Azul may have “hardened” as a defense and survival mechanism. The same goes for the twins, who were explicitly taught how to defend themselves (although this also goes into the Leech mob family theory, which is a whole separate matter) and have often made references to fighting others in the Coral Sea. Their upbringings also play a part in their personalities, but so does the environment they grew up in. Like Azul and the twins, you’d have to harden mentally or physically to some degree to ensure your survival through tough circumstances.

It’s hard to say for sure though! A lot of this is speculation based on current but infrequent lore, and the Octatrio themselves are a very small portion of all merfolk. They may not be representative of the behaviors of all other merpeople, and we should keep this in mind when referring to them as our exemplars. That’s why I’ve been hoping for a Coral Sea hometown event so we have a more concrete idea of what life under the sea is like 😭

[vestaignis]

Сабеллиды – семейство сидячих многощетинковых червей, распространенных в донных сообществах всех океанов. К сидячему образу жизни сабеллиды приходят не сразу. На стадии личинки червь безмятежно дрейфует в океанических водах. Взрослые особи живут в песке или в илистом грунте мелководной зоны. Сабеллиды - социальные животные, образующие большие колонии в тех местах, где достаточно пищи. На переднем конце тела сабеллид расположена пара перистых, покрытых ресничным эпителием пальп. С помощью этих перьеобразных щупальцев-жабр черви собирают из толщи воды и с поверхности грунта частицы, которые затем используют в пищу или для построения трубки. Кусочки грунта они смешивают со слизью и строят трубки из материала, напоминающего пергамент. Длина трубок в зависимости от вида колеблется от 2 до 10 см. Пальпы одновременно служат и органами дыхания, так как через их поверхность осуществляется интенсивный газообмен. Кроны этих щупальцев выступают из торчащих на дне трубок подобно лепесткам великолепных цветов. Однако при малейшем движении воды «цветы» мгновенно втягиваются, оставляя на поверхности лишь низкие серые «пеньки». Окраска щупальцев-жабр червей разнообразная, но чаще всего это бежевые, желтые, коричневые, черные, темно-красные, лиловые и белые цвета. Зоологи обнаружили более 10 тысяч видов этих животных.

Sabellidae are a family of sessile polychaete worms common in benthic communities of all oceans. Sabellids do not immediately adopt a sedentary lifestyle. At the larval stage, the worm drifts serenely in ocean waters. Adults live in sand or muddy soil in the shallow water zone. Sabellids are social animals, forming large colonies in places where there is enough food. At the anterior end of the sabellid body there is a pair of feathery palps covered with ciliated epithelium. With the help of these feather-like tentacles-gills, the worms collect particles from the water column and from the surface of the soil, which are then used for food or to build a tube.They mix pieces of soil with mucus and build tubes from a material resembling parchment. The length of the tubes, depending on the type, ranges from 2 to 10 cm. The palps also serve as respiratory organs, since intensive gas exchange occurs through their surface. The crowns of these tentacles protrude from tubes protruding from the bottom like the petals of magnificent flowers. However, at the slightest movement of water, the “flowers” ​​are instantly retracted, leaving only low gray “stumps” on the surface. The color of the tentacles-gills of worms is varied, but most often they are beige, yellow, brown, black, dark red, purple and white. Zoologists have discovered more than 10 thousand species of these animals.

Источник:https://m.vk.com/video-177833227_456240992?list=f6ce210ae901f2fd35&from=wall-3724862_1674, /ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сабеллиды, /vk.com/volgbioclub //www.gismeteo.ru/news/animals/raspushit-perya-kto-takie-sabellidy-i-zachem-im-nuzhny-pjoryshki/, /muzei-kholmsk.shl.muzkult.ru/Sabellids, //pofoto.club/32013-sabellidy.html, /zoogalaktika.ru/photos/invertebrata/annelida/polychaeta.

[todropscience]

SEXUAL PARASITISM DROVE THE SUCCESS OF ANGLERFISH IN THE DEEP OPEN OCEAN

A recent study shows that sexual parasitism helped anglerfish invade the deep sea during a period of global warming, an ancient climate crisis 50–35 million years ago.

Researchers investigated the evolution of anglerfishes, one of the most species-rich vertebrate clades in the bathypelagic, or "midnight," zone of the deep sea. These deep-sea anglerfishes, nown scientifically as Ceratioidea, are the only vertebrates that possess sexual parasitism, where males temporarily attach or permanently fuse to females for reproduction. The study found that the rapid transition of ancestrally benthic anglerfishes into pelagic habitats occurred during a period of major global warming. This transition coincided with the origins of sexual parasitism, which is thought to increase the probability of successful reproduction once a mate is found in the midnight zone, Earth’s largest habitat.

The reconstruction of the evolutionary history of anglerfishes, along with the loss of adaptive immune genes and the presence of sexual body size dimorphism, both variably present in anglerfishes outside the ceratioid radiation, likely promoted their transition into the bathypelagic zone.

Sexual parasitism in the deep sea works in synergy with other traits associated with anglerfish, driving their diversification and enabling them to thrive in the deep oceans.

Photo: Bufoceratias microcephalus by Hsuan-Ching HO

Reference (Open Access): Brownstein et al. 2024. Synergistic innovations enabled the radiation of anglerfishes in the deep open ocean. Current Biology.

[jomindraws]

Finished with Superphylum Near Bilateral, here we get an instant 3 for 1 on Superhylum Deep Bilateral !!!

Superphylum Deep Bilateral

A taxa of animals possessing a hollow dorsal tube and no notochord-analogous structure in the initial stage of development; occupying the lower stratification of the aquatic biosphere.

(AN1 A3) Clade: Hadalae

A clade of deep bilaterans that contain a hydrous, pressurized, and segmented skeletal structure for integrity at intense pressures.

PHYLUM EXTRAL BEASTAE

Phylum containing an explicitly dorsal spine column that are mobile and mostly pelagic post-embryonic.

Class Cartilage Mouthed Deepbeasts

Class of deepbeasts that contain a flexible cartilage gizzard and a foremouth.

Class Nonjawed Deepbeasts

Class of deepbeasts that do not have any jaw structure and feed via suction, a non-mobile gizzard, or a muscled tongue.

Class Jawed Deepbeasts

Class of deepbeasts that contain a fixed jaw structure and at least one set of jaw-inlaid teeth.

PHYLUM ROOTED BEASTAE

Phylum containing no specified spine column orientation that are typically non-mobile and explicitly benthic post-embryonic.

Class Floorvents

Class of rooted beast that have a ring of eyes around a central tagmatic disc, and eject waste from sets of vents on the dorsal side.

Class Pelagic Rooted Eels

Class of rooted beast that affix themselves to the ocean floor during adolescence and can only move via innard ejection and peristalsis, but never move from a nest once rooted.

(AN1 A4) Clade: Abstracta

A clade of deep bilaterans that contain a porous, gas-exchanging skeletal column for integrity at intense pressures.

PHYLUM DEEP ABSTRACTIDS

Phylum containing an internal support column and an external exoskeleton that are mobile and mostly benthic for all of their life cycle.

Class Abyssal Walkers

Class of abstractids that utilize arachnid locomotion, have multiple barbed leg ends, venomous dorsal defensive spikes, and are exclusively detritivores and scavengers.

Class Color Chromids

Class of abstractids that utilize a variety of rotating and pedal forms of locomotion, contain venomous toxic plasmodial fluid, have brightly colored bioluminescent dermal layers, and consume autotrophic seafloor organisms.

On Jom'Gol, the oceans are stratified between the upper and lower stratifications. Around 2000 meters down--near the edge of the midnight zone-- exists the Bramblesheath. The Bramblesheath is a nearly 500 million year old structure that is an amalgam of various deepwater flora, mycota, and an ensemble of ancient sessile fauna such as sponges, corals, and many others. This Bramblesheath wraps around almost the entire globe (from between 1 meter in thickness to 10 meters near the equator) and forms its own self-sustaining ecosystem, taking marine snow and low-falling plankton and recycling them before outputting its own form of marine snow beneath.

Because of this stratification, animal life branched off a long time ago-- near the formation of this structure-- and is so different phylogenetically that it is now its own superphylum. The Bramblesheath does allow some extremely small microorganisms and a FEW migrating species through occasionally, but for the most part everything below may as well be a different planet from everything above-- at least for the past 400 million years.

[snowflakeeel]

(Please use the tags to tell me about the Best Ocean Creature who lives in your Favorite Zone !!)

[a-really-big-cat]

Please reblog for sample size!

[niko-jpeg]

hi. merhog silver artist here and sorry for suddenly appearing in your asks but PLEASE feel free infodump about benthic areas in my tags. if you want. no pressure (⁠◕⁠ᴥ⁠◕⁠) (I think learning about the environment/planet is cool) (and i will use this knowledge to think about merhog silver in Situations™️)

MY TIME HAS COME :D!!!! Thank you so much, I would love to talk about the bottom of our oceans. I love mer aus because I have a special interest in the ocean and it’s biosphere, and I’m glad you’re open to my insanity fhskbslauslsj!!!!

So the ‘benthic zone’ is really an umbrella term for the sea floor, or the floor on any body of water. In this case in the Mariana’s Trench, the bottom layer would be below the “Abyss”/abyssopeleagic zone, in a zone called the Hadal Zone. That’s where Challenger deep is!

Deep sea zones are always very full of life, even if it doesn’t look it. Because of the extreme pressure, in a fictional setting Silver would have to spend a lot of time repressurizing and whatnot on the way back to the surface to not accidentally kill himself with the expansion of oxygen in his blood and also his tissue could turn to mush (I mean, take a look at the blowfish). Realistically, an animal that can go that deep probably can’t go to the surface, but since this is a fictional hedgehog mermaid, creative liberties can be taken out the wazoo. So feel free to pick and chose which details you keep and do away with for plot or situations ™ reasons!!

The ecosystem on the benthic areas of a body of water can vary, depending on how deep the water goes. In a No Light zone, as I like to call them, you begin to see animals with bioluminescence, and this luminescence can vary in color, as it serves a different purpose for each animal. Some may have red, which they have developed a special eye to see (as red is the first color to fade when you start to dive. I did a fun little activity showing this off in my marine science class, it turns almost a brownish), or the bioluminescence may be blue, which is the color that sticks around the longest. It depends on the animal and purpose, and for a character like Silver, maybe if he possesses bioluminescent traits (like in his hands, quills, where ever) it’s for warning off anything that may try to eat him. Though, in a real setting, a creature as big as him down there may be the apex.

Speaking of apex predators and whatnot, I’ll talk about the ecosystem! Most food is provided to the animals so deep through marine snow (excess nutrients that have fallen to the floor from the surface) and whale falls, which are when whales die and drift to the bottom. They will then be a source of food for months, and every creature, from the initial fish who get the muscle tissue to the bacteria that eat the bones, everyone benefits from the death! In a fictional setting, there is a chance you could have creatures in the deep terrorizing Silver, or he could be from an are with a lot of hydrothermal vents, which have their own ecosystems as well, though mostly of the krill and plankton variety. But they are EXTREMELY hot.

Silver, by the looks of it, may eat the flesh from the whale falls, other fish, crabs, and scavenge whatever corpses he may find. He also may be a slightly slower mer to begin with (which kind of matches his in game lack of speed in his levels in 06), as energy is a rare and valuable resource. If he continues to have psychokinesis, he may use it to speed boost and defend himself, or not understand the extent of his own abilities until in a photic (light) zone, like in a reef, which I’d imagine is what Green Hill would be. He might make himself sick hunting and eating whatever he can find in a safer environment, because wow! So much food, so much energy.

The deep isn’t quiet either! It has the echos of everything above it, and though the sand may cause a little dampening, it’s certainly not silent. I think he could probably be able to flare his quills too, as well as flatten them to streamline. But it is lonely down there. Animals don’t cross paths too often outside of hunting or going to a whale fall, and Silver may be on his own a lot of the time, which is sad :( hopefully he makes some friends closer to the photic zone. Maybe light may hurt his eyes a little? He’s spent his whole life in the dark with a limited color palette, so it’s a possibility! If you have any questions about anything ocean related, feel free to ask!! I’d love to share. The ocean is a wild and fun place, and mer aus make me so happy because it shows that people are willing to give it a chance, and by extension, spread knowledge and an adoration with the ocean.

Thank you for letting me ramble <3