#crustacean invasion

[xanderomeister]

"Fun" fact: pink salmon were introduced to the arctic by the USSR with the intent of starting fisheries.

Over the last few years their spread has been picking up immensely. In a number of rivers they have significantly outnumbered Atlantic salmon. How much they actually compete is not clear, and native salmonids have been found to feed on their eggs. Their success may be due to climate-related factors.

There are also Alaskan king crabs in the region, introduced around the same time. Their impacts are much better understood; besides humans, they lack predators entirely, and actively harm other fisheries by feeding on eggs or feeding on them directly as is the case with native shellfish.

What also pisses me off is that they are treated as gourmet food, which is contributing to their spread because keeping them is prioritised and so there isn't enough pressure to extirpate them. And I don't get to have any crab because it's going to Dubai or some other places for rich people, which pisses me off even further. With the salmon I'd at least be able to get it affordably.

Anyways both species are expanding southwards, and the king crabs are especially concerning. AND A REASON TO BE ANGRY AT RICH PEOPLE BESIDES THE OBVIOUS ISSUES THEY CAUSE SOCIETY.

[lake-lady]

Day in the life of a Guy. And not just any guy I think he's an invasive rusty red crayfish 🤨🦞

[typhlonectes]

Northern Crayfish (Faxonius virilis), found west of Nogales, Arizona, USA

This species is native to the NE United States and Southern Canada, but has been introduced and become invasive in other regions.

photo by Alan Schmirer | Flickr PD

[its-captain-sir]

doing research on the lake michigan ecosystem and ngl this stuff is depressing. the amount of invasive species across all ecological levels is Insane like there's not a single thing that hasn't been horribly impacted and worse is the fact that most of these invasions occurred in like the second half of the 1900s. like we did immense and irreparable damage to an incredibly unique subset of ecosystems that really doesn't show up anywhere else on earth in just 50 years? cool cool cool. cool.

[itstimeforstarwars]

Am looking at government jobs and one of them is like "requirements: extreme knowledge of invasive crustaceans, experience in warehouse operations, experience in type fast, experience in use computer" and I'm like...ok but how important exactly is knowledge of invasive crustaceans because the rest of that shit is my current job.

[reasonsforhope]

"The Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans has recently witnessed an incredible eco-renaissance following decades of damage and neglect.

Led by a local community development group, a 40-acre wetlands park has been restored to glories past with hundreds of local trees that attract over a hundred species of birds, plus joggers, picnickers, and nature lovers besides.

The story begins with Rashida Ferdinand, founder of Sankofa Community Development Corporation (CDC). Growing up in this historic part of New Orleans, where Black homeownership thrived, where Fats Domino was born, and where locals routinely went out into the wetlands to catch fish and crustaceans, she watched as it suffered from years of neglect.

Poor drainage, ruined roads, illegal trash dumping, and unmitigated damage from hurricanes slowly wasted the wetland away until it was a derelict eyesore.

In the name of restoring this wild heritage indicative of the culture in the Lower Ninth, and in order to protect her communities from flooding, Ferdinand founded the Sankofa CDC, and in 2014 entered into an agreement with the City of New Orleans for the restoration of Sankofa—a 40-acre section of neglected wetlands in the heart of the Lower Ninth.

The loss of Sankofa’s potential to dampen flooding from storms meant that over the years dozens of houses and properties were flooded and damaged beyond the ability of the inhabitants to recover. Forced out by a combination of nature’s fury and government failure, the cultural heritage of the community was receding along with the floodwaters.

Ferdinand knew that restoring natural flood barriers like Sankofa was key to protecting her community.

“Hurricane protection is a major concern in the community, but there’s a lack of trust in the infrastructure systems that are supposed to protect us,” Ferdinand told the Audubon Society. 

Today, Sankofa Wetlands Park is a sight to behold. Hiking trails snake through a smattering of ponds and creeks, where bald cypresses and water tupelo trees continue to grow and cling to the ground even during storms. Picnic benches have appeared, wheelchair-accessible trails connect sections of the park to parts of the Lower Ninth, and local businesses are seeing more visitors.

It needed a lot of work though. Thousands of invasive tallow trees had to be uprooted. 27,000 cubic meters of illegally dumped trash compacted into the dirt had to be removed. A 60-year-old canal dug by the US Army Corps of Engineers had to be disconnected, and all new native flora had to be planted by hand.

Audubon says that Ferdinand routinely can’t believe her eyes when she looks at the transformation of Sankofa into its current state.

“Seeing butterflies, birds, and other pollinators in the park is a sign of a healthy ecosystem,” she says. “All we had to do was create the right conditions.”

Slated for official completion in 2025 with an outdoor amphitheater, interpretive signage, and additional trails, Ferdinand and the CDC have their eyes set on an even larger area of wetlands to the north of Sankofa.

Along the way, Ferdinand and the CDC attracted many helping hands, and entered into many partnerships, But the catalyst for change arose from the spirit and determination of one woman in the right place at the right time, for the benefit of hundreds in this historic heart of a historic city."

-via Good News Network, September 17, 2024

[headspace-hotel]

Symbiosis isn't just mutualism. Parasitism is symbiosis. It's uncomfortable to confront parasitic relationships if you want to see your human ideas of good and bad reflected in Nature.

But gazing into something huge and utterly Other, being uncomfortable means you're engaging your mind with it. "Uncomfortable" is actually a whole spectrum of emotions that become a vivid and satisfying rainbow.

There was a post a while back with some artwork of Dendrogaster, a crustacean that parasitizes starfish, and its body is like this branching fractal of fleshy lobes made to fit inside the body of the starfish mirroring its structure, and I was absolutely horrified to look at this, and this horror was the same emotion as a strangely visceral wave of sympathy for this parasite.

Creative works about parasites often invoke the horror of bodily invasion, which is visceral and strong for me, but this artwork inverted that horror, instead showing the horror of being made so perfectly for fitting within someone else that you lose everything you are and become unrecognizable.

I also think of the post about the cowbird chick. It's awful that the bird pushes its siblings out of the nest as it grows, and the mama feeds it because she instinctively must feed her chick, but the cowbird is just a baby. Was it wrong for him to hatch, to be alive, to be hungry, to be a baby and to need love?

Symbiosis is intensely beautiful, and sometimes it's beautiful because it's grotesque and terrible. Of course, the symbiosis between two organisms isn't an allegory for a relationship, it just is a relationship, but looking at the way organisms become entwined feels like you're seeing things that, if words described them, would also be human experiences.

Being invaded by a parasite is a horror of powerlessness and loss of autonomy, but being a parasite is also defined by powerlessness. In many cases, the parasite will die without the host, but the host can live without the parasite. I wonder why it is expected to sympathize with one and not the other.

Your immune system fights against internal parasites like a tapeworm...Imagine being a tapeworm. The body of your host is your universe. Do you find your world to be kind? Benevolent? Does your god love you?

Sometimes people call disabled people "parasites." When I think about my future sometimes I'm uncertain and afraid.

But when a rare non-photosynthetic orchid blooms in the forest, this is not the forest's weakness and failure, but its crowning glory.

[wachinyeya]

Birds Sing Anew After Residents of New Orleans Ninth Ward Restore 40-Acre Wetland to Historic Glory https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/birds-sing-anew-from-within-40-acre-wetland-restored-by-residents-of-n-orleans-historic-lower-ninth/

The Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans has recently witnessed an incredible eco-renaissance following decades of damage and neglect.

Led by a local community development group, a 40-acre wetlands park has been restored to glories past with hundreds of local trees that attract over a hundred species of birds, plus joggers, picnickers, and nature lovers besides.

The story begins with Rashida Ferdinand, founder of Sankofa Community Development Corporation (CDC). Growing up in this historic part of New Orleans, where Black homeownership thrived, where Fats Domino was born, and where locals routinely went out into the wetlands to catch fish and crustaceans, she watched as it suffered from years of neglect.

Poor drainage, ruined roads, illegal trash dumping, and unmitigated damage from hurricanes slowly wasted the wetland away until it was a derelict eyesore.

In the name of restoring this wild heritage indicative of the culture in the Lower Ninth, and in order to protect her communities from flooding, Ferdinand founded the Sankofa CDC, and in 2014 entered into an agreement with the City of New Orleans for the restoration of Sankofa—a 40-acre section of neglected wetlands in the heart of the Lower Ninth.

The loss of Sankofa’s potential to dampen flooding from storms meant that over the years dozens of houses and properties were flooded and damaged beyond the ability of the inhabitants to recover. Forced out by a combination of nature’s fury and government failure, the cultural heritage of the community was receding along with the floodwaters.

Ferdinand knew that restoring natural flood barriers like Sankofa was key to protecting her community.

“Hurricane protection is a major concern in the community, but there’s a lack of trust in the infrastructure systems that are supposed to protect us,” Ferdinand told the Audubon Society.

Today, Sankofa Wetlands Park is a sight to behold. Hiking trails snake through a smattering of ponds and creeks, where bald cypresses and water tupelo trees continue to grow and cling to the ground even during storms. Picnic benches have appeared, wheelchair-accessible trails connect sections of the park to parts of the Lower Ninth, and local businesses are seeing more visitors.

Visiting birders have recorded sightings of over 100 species of songbirds, ducks, near-shore waders of all kinds, egrets, and herons, and the park also acts as a home and refuge for otters, beavers, and a variety of amphibians and reptiles.

It needed a lot of work though. Thousands of invasive tallow trees had to be uprooted. 27,000 cubic meters of illegally dumped trash compacted into the dirt had to be removed. A 60-year-old canal dug by the US Army Corps of Engineers had to be disconnected, and all new native flora had to be planted by hand.

Audubon says that Ferdinand routinely can’t believe her eyes when she looks at the transformation of Sankofa into its current state.

“Seeing butterflies, birds, and other pollinators in the park is a sign of a healthy ecosystem,” she says. “All we had to do was create the right conditions.”

Slated for official completion in 2025 with an outdoor amphitheater, interpretive signage, and additional trails, Ferdinand and the CDC have their eyes set on an even larger area of wetlands to the north of Sankofa.

Along the way, Ferdinand and the CDC attracted many helping hands, and entered into many partnerships, But the catalyst for change arose from the spirit and determination of one woman in the right place at the right time, for the benefit of hundreds in this historic heart of a historic city.

[ntls-24722]

Domesticated crops! (and secret not-plants)

This post is more for me and actually putting to paper the things that the Bolur species would eat. I had more fun than I thought I would've.

cw? tw? for unsanitary mentions sorta

Going from top-to-right,

Land Barnacles

Exactly what they sound like. Did you know that Earth barnacles are arthropods? That they're crustaceans? I got inspo from that. Juveniles, like Earth barnacles, are mobile and have very inefficient, blanket-y wings that they will use to one day cement themselves onto the ground, hopefully next to another one of their barnacle colleagues for reproductive purposes. Their abdomens are actually folded so that their anuses are right next to their mouths, because like an aphid, they have a very sugary, liquidy waste that (alongside their floral-looking heads) brings in a lot of bugs for them to eat! When bugs try to feed on their waste, they use the remnants of their tube feet to grab them and eat them.

Zebrapeople cultivate land barnacles in order to drill holes right into their abdomens and harvest their honeydew sewage. It's like a gross version of drilling holes in maple trees for maple syrup. I imagine they view it kind of like hot dogs, so tasty but so grossly made...

Floor Climbers

They're these kind of "flatworms" that eat underwater plant growths and store them in their skin to be able to photosynthesize for themselves. Their blankety backsides is the part of them with the most, so they evolved to completely have that part of them be a solar panel blanket and just walk with their front.... well, they never had legs, but they now have "legs." They're handstanding everywhere

They're invasive little shits that reproduce like rabbits. They're introduced to small, usually music man-made bodies of water in order for them to completely take over, and for the music men to harvest. They're really chewy and savory if you cook them right. Might be a little poisonous if you undercook them, so it's better to burn your climbers than have them medium rare.

Bucca

THATS TUBER, BABY

They evolved that Phat Root in order to anchor themselves in the water. They have flowers at the base of their main stem for bugs that walk on water to pollinate, and to make sure they don't move around too much, their stem and leaves became super aerodynamic to the point it looks like a big red feather coming out of the water.

Amber Tree

MISNOMER. NOT A TREE. LAND CORAL! Sometimes called "cow sails" from the way its topmost "branches" and leaves just hang down over everything like a debu's sail does. Since its branches are thin, its limestone outer layer is at risk of breaking a lot, so it evolved this really thick sap so bugs don't try and take advantage of its downfall.

Except, well, Debu took advantage of its sap. It's a cash crop! Badlands Debu harvest its super thick, fast drying sap to kind of make instant-amber, dipping various things in it to make jewlery. Things like...

Thansum

Imagine if a sunflower, when it got pollinated, became a giant dandelion. That's thansum, the complimentary Debu cash crop to amber trees, which is the most popular thing to dip in its amber. But it's not just a Debu cash crop, it's also used to make paper and cloth for zebrapeople, mostly zebraelves. They crush its seedlings up and add water to make a thansum-meal out of it - if they use more seedling and dry it, it becomes paper. If they use more fluff, then it becomes cloth! Or they can eat thansum-meal straight up if they're desperate. It's not poisonous, but it's a very sad meal, don't eat thansum-meal

Spittle Berries

So, i've been excited to talk about this, because lemme tell you the more popular way that Bolur plants reproduce. Spittle berries are fruits, they are Bolur fruits, but bolur fruits are special - they are the flower, the leaf, and the fruit all at once. The method is that fruits are made through leaves, leaves that're inflated full of gametes covered in a soft shell (think like a pomegranate seed) and fruit "meat", which in turn also colors them a striking (ususally cool) color. When something eats a Bolur fruit, the soft shell that their sperm and eggs were covered in gets dissolved and they meet up together in the stomach. The gametes themselves are made of some gross, hard-to-digest material so that they remain unharmed, and so that they can become embryos by the time whatever ate it passes them through their system, right into some fresh fertilizer that they can grow out of. Spittle berries are the least interesting fruit in that it's just a fruit, but they're a perfect introductory fruit for the weirder ones, like:

Seeing-Squash

The only fruit actively being selected for cuteness! It's also a debu specific - the squash evolved to be eaten specifically by mountain cows since the shell their gametes are covered in are too tough to be digested by most other animal. So if a zebraperson wants to eat, they might want to take those out lest those bigass "seed" gametes gives them blockage.

It's less cuteness, but more "liveliness," if that makes any sense? Looking more and more like a little animal, a little dude. The eyes are getting bigger and the originally modest striping is becoming more exaggerated to look like a spitting monkey.

And finally,

Bempo

The only plant here to have a skeleton. It's the "shrub" version of a land coral where its base will have a dense limestone skeleton for its photosynthetic parts to pop out of, and soft pith to be protected underneath. Bempo actually takes forever to grow, because it takes years for it to build up its "pyramid" base. But when it does, then you are set, because fruit-bearing coral-shrubs like bempo have the shortest growth times for its fruit to the point where you can watch and hear the growth of its giant fruit plates that adorn the top of its base.

Those fruit plates also have a skeleton of their own, but it's only a single "bone," like if a plant had a baculum for its fruit.

[sitting-on-me-bum]

A Chinese mitten crab. Scientists from the Natural History Museum have built traps to manage UK’s rising numbers of the furry crustaceans. The crabs, which can grow bigger than a 10in dinner plate, are an invasive species that prey on our native fauna – ‘eating us out of house and home’, as one researcher put it

Photograph: Frank Hecker/Alamy

[missedmilemarkers]

Beneath the shimmering blue, the lionfish glides gracefully through its aquatic world at the Denver Aquarium. With its delicate fins and bold stripes, this exotic beauty brings a piece of the ocean's vibrant tapestry to life, weaving between coral structures with effortless elegance. Capturing both the wonder and mystique of marine life, this photo invites us into the colorful depths, a world where every movement tells a story of adaptation and survival. The lionfish, both mesmerizing and dangerous, reminds us of the ocean's allure and its secrets yet to be uncovered.

The lionfish, belonging to the genus Pterois, is a striking marine species native to the Indo-Pacific region. Recognizable by their bold maroon and white stripes and elongated, venomous spines, lionfish are both captivating and hazardous. Their venomous dorsal spines can inflict painful stings, posing risks to divers and predators alike.

Encyclopedia Britannica (source)

In recent decades, lionfish have become invasive in the Atlantic Ocean, particularly along the southeastern United States coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. Their introduction is largely attributed to aquarium releases. Lacking natural predators in these new environments, lionfish populations have surged, threatening native marine life and disrupting local ecosystems.

NOAA Ocean Service (source)

Lionfish are voracious predators, feeding on over 70 species of fish and crustaceans, including ecologically and economically important species. Their feeding habits can significantly reduce native fish populations, leading to imbalances in reef ecosystems.

Wildlife Informer (source)

Efforts to manage the lionfish invasion include promoting them as a food source, encouraging fishing and consumption to help control their numbers. Despite their venomous spines, lionfish are safe to eat once properly prepared, and their white, flaky meat is considered a delicacy.

Ocean Conservancy (source)

Understanding the biology and ecological impact of lionfish is crucial for developing effective management strategies to mitigate their invasive spread and protect native marine ecosystems.

[elenauaurs]

TWISTED WONDERLAND OC

Name: Amin Adel Al-Farooq

Grade/Class: Freshmen/Class B (No. 11)

Birthday: October 24rd

Age: 16

Height: 165 cm

Dominant hand: Right

Homeland: Scalding Sands

Club: Magic Shift/Spell Drive

Best Subject: Astrology

Hobbies: Taking care of virtual pets

Pet Peeves: Invasion of personal/Having to repeat himself

Favorite food: Kibbeh

Least favorite food: Crustaceans

Likes: Cats, Stars, Good people

Dislike: Delinquents, ghosts, teasing

Talent: Combat

. . .

Amin is a student from Scarabia who is always accompanying Kalim and Jamil. His distant attitude makes him strange in the eyes of many.

The mysterious and distant boy actually hides a secret: He she's a woman and Amin isn't even her real name. (She isn't trans. In the universe of my ocs NRC remains a school just for boys, but the reason for adopting a male identity comes from her backstory)

Amin is a person who always has a closed or tired face. Most of the time, Amin is stuck in his thoughts instead of interacting with others.

When Amin tries to start a conversation with someone he doesn't know, 99% of the time the conversation can turn into something really awkward or quite edgy(depends on the mood lol)

Although he isn't very good at talking and is a little shy/embarrassed, Amin is not afraid to show his thoughts and fight for them. This attitude of his makes him get into several fights, which has earned him a reputation as a troublemaker.

Despite acting this way and having a short temper, Amin hates delinquents who break the rules. Whenever he can, Amin punishes anyone he considers a deliquent to 'save' them

With people close to him, Amin reveals himself to be a courageous, agitated, stubborn, playful, teasing and loyal person. But of course, that's not how he feels at all.

In fact, Amin is a pessimist and a person who has struggled with grief for a long time. He sees himself as an impostor who doesn't deserve happiness and has no reason to live other than to continue someone else's legacy. Amin constantly blames himself for the past and has a huge inferiority complex, but he refuses to demonstrate his weakness and the truth to others.

FACTS

Amin is twisted from the guards from Aladdin

He has incredible swordsmanship

Despite his small appearance, Amin is strong and agile

He knows parkour

Amin has combat magic that is far advanced compared to other freshmen, however his general magic (like levitating things, cleaning magic, coloring magic, etc.) IS REALLY BAD

By having such poor magic and almost failing many classes, Amin makes up for his lack of skill in written or physical activities (or combat)

Amin is banned from Mostro lounge

The headband he wears is a gift from Kalim

APPEARANCE

Amin has short, dark hair with bangs. His skin is dark and his eyes are dark brown

He always wears clothes much larger than his size and always wears a headband

Most of the time, he wears bandages around his hands that go up to his elbow.

. . .

Note: Since Aladdin is a racist film, I tried to do some research to avoid something that would be hurtful to people from the Middle East. If you know the Middle East well and noticed that there is something wrong with this post, please let me know and I will review it immediately, thank you!

Tag: @cyanide-latte @theleechyskrunkly @thehollowwriter @distant-velleity @tixdixl @rainesol @oya-oya-okay @boopshoops @br3adtoasty

[fishenjoyer1]

Fish of the Day

Today's fish of the day is the fathead minnow!

The fathead minnow, known also by the names: tuffy, fathead, and in the freshwater hobbyist industry a variant known as rosy red minnow. Scientific name Pimephales promelas, this fish is spread across North America, with a range stretching from the Southern borders of Canada, to the Northern borders of Mexico, stretching primarily along the great lakes and all connected rivers and streams down to the Rio Grande, and rivers in Chiwawa. This is their native region. However, outside of their native region they can be found introduced in the Atlantic and Pacific drainage areas, following rivers and creeks across the American South and the Colorado river. Invasive populations can also be found across Europe, where the fish has been listed as the main spreader of enteric redmouth disease, a bacterial infection that causes a hemorrhaging of mouth, fins, and eyes of salmonids. 

Inside of the listed areas, the fish live in all variation of freshwater: rivers, creeks, and muddy pools of headwater.Known for their resilience for high turbidity, temperatures, pH, low oxygen, salinities, these fish thrive in environments other freshwater fish and minnows can not. They live in schools of fish near the bed, primarily due to their diet primarily being made up of scavenged algaes. Other than aquatic algae, the diet of the fathead minnow includes scavenged animal matter, primarily their fallen compatriots, crustaceans, detritus, zooplankton, and insect larvae. The fathead minnow is often predated on by larger predatory fish, but they contain a simple warning  system that gives their schools a leg up. Communication in these fish is done almost exclusively in chemical signaling, from the release of alarm substances, to being used to identify familiar and unfamiliar fish to certain population schools, and use in breeding and courtship displays.

The alarm substance called Schreckstoff is believed to be secreted by all ostariophysan fish, one of the largest suborders of fish in the world, but research was first conducted on this substance in fathead minnows in the 1930's. Schreckstoff is a distinct club of cells on the epidermal that release when attacked. When schreckstoff is sensed in the water by other fish, it triggers anti predator behaviors, and recognition. Allowing for them to associate certain fish as predatory quicker in the future. Other than this, the fathead minnow can be used to indicate the toxicity of a certain aquatic environment. Due to their ability to live in such tough areas, they can be found in areas other fish can't be, like drainage sites. We can observe a lack in fertility and correct male development in areas containing certain oestrogens produced by humans, and certain plastics, allowing us an easy indicator to the toxicity of water sources.

The reproductive cycle of the fathead minnow is similar to other minnows. The spawning takes place from May-August, and the fathead minnows are polyamourus, picking different mates each season. They will produce anywhere from 1,000 to 12,000 offspring per season, and will create nesting sites close to the water surface in areas with horizontal surfaces. The placement of these nesting sites are intentionally placed in areas with low oxygen in the water, implying that this is an intentional choice made to avoid predation. The male will then chase away the female and watch over the fertilized eggs for the next 4-5 months until hatch. After this only a percentage of these fish will live past the fry stage, but if they can make it to a year of age, they can begin spawning themselves. Eventually, after a long and fruitful life of around 3 years, the fish will die of old age and slowing reflex.

That's the fathead minnow, everybody!

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Daily fish fact #677

Black buffalo!

This fish is a bottom feeder and tends to feed on crustaceans and algae, though it's been found that most of their edible diet consists of invasive clams in some areas! Besides food intake, the black buffalo also ingests large amounts of sand, which makes up nearly half of everything they consume.

[merakiione]

-invertebrates, crustaceans, and urchins-

it is mackerel day at the local aquarium and 

i am a moray eel so smooth to the touch

like aqueous manta ray mantles but 

did you know that sea turtles sing?

because they do they sing when the frigates 

seize them from their freckled eggshells and 

they leave behind the sun-warmed sand while 

i slip and creep through clownfish apartments 

perhaps the sun’s rays shall sprout fingers and 

fetch me inquisitively into the cloud’s breath though

for all the pickle green floundering in the world i am 

unable to do much other than smolder.

they call me unagi so i stand on rice beaches 

while smelling Goliath grouper frying 

ozone and gasoline and a fish-breath stench 

marbled orange and ultramarine water or 

is it a coruscant shimmer that proclaims 

i have become a horseshoe crab living in 

the skeleton of a lemon shark where citrus still lingers so

occasionally free divers feed me invasive species

a lamprey, lionfish, and sea walnut buffet yet 

when my claws touch their gummy black gloves 

they jump as if struck by something electric.

[artechoceneexplorer]

Salmonids of Artechocene Antarctica:

While thawing, the glaciers of Antarctica created an abundance of meltwater streams that now feed countless kilometres of freshwater ecosystems. At first nothing more than insect larvae and some crustaceans called these new environments home, but eventually fish entered the equation and quickly dominated.

One group of these fish were salmonids coming from South American coasts, descendants of invasive species such as the brown trout. They weren't the first, but they were much better at filling a lot of niches than the native Nothotenioids, which lacked hemoglobin and swim bladders.

And so they almost outcompeted these to extinction, and diversified into several genera classified roughly in three distinct groups: Helaks, Helerrets, and Valhallaks.

Most of the Helaks species are amongst the largest predators of the continent, and the Golden Helaks (Gjollsalmo fulgens) is the largest of them all, measuring up to 2 meters (7ft) long and more than 100kg (250lb) in weight. They're apex predators, using their size to block scape routes for prey fish of any size and swallowing them whole, preventing them from scaping thanks to its huge backwards facing teeth. They're also known to eat crustaceans and even birds that venture too deep into the water. They live in every waterway across Antarctica, with the adults being confined to the deeper canals and lakes.

Helerrets are the most common salmonids that can be found in the rivers, lakes and wetlands of the continent. These medium sized predators mainly feed on the abundance of mollusks and other hard shelled invertebrates, as well as smaller vertebrates occasionally. This diet is enabled by their strong jaws, combined with blunt teeth that can crack open the shells of most freshwater invertebrates in their habitats. They're also the only Antarctic salmonids that retain the anadromous habits of its ancestors, living in freshwater but migrating to coastal waters to reproduce and release their young into the rich waters of the Southern Ocean.

The Bullheart Helerret (Slidrsalmo oatensis) in particular is native to the drainage basins that flow into Oates bay, where members of this species comes to spawn.

Valhallaks are a group of salmonids with remarkable sexual dimorphism compared to their close relatives. They are typically found in shallow rivers all across the continent, where they feed on invertebrates and vegetation.

Although not as common as Helerrets, they are abundant, specially in alpine streams and lakes during the end of the summer, where they come to spawn, away from predators so their eggs are protected by ice during the winter.

The Bearded Valhallaks (Valholsalmo auratops) specifically is endemic to the Vostok river drainage basin, which originates in Vostok Lake where they reproduce.

Range of the species featured: