#giant oyster

[thatsbelievable]

Source: The New York Tattler, July 18, 1912.

[drhoz]

While confronting head-on the conflicting claims about the calamities that struck down the world's richest oyster grounds, this fresh perspective re-evaluates the roles of three groups that combined to kill off most of the oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. The roles of watermen who fish the oysters, oyster farmers who grow them, and scientists who study them, are illuminated by recent research in science labs, along the bottom of the Bay and deep in long-forgotten historical archives. Directed and produced by Michael W. Fincham, Maryland Sea Grant College. Presented by Maryland Public Television.

[theopalempress]

Life Japan VLOG - Arcade DINER DATE & GIANT OYSTER - The Opal Empress

[draxomoriatic]

Oyster Cookie when in contact with water, she seemed to have been lucky that the curse is affecting her slower than those that came before her, but she’s aware that her time is limited.

Which led her down her own research path which led her to that original pearl as well as a magically locked away egg that became Keshi Pearl Cookie

(Clotted Cream Cookie is kind of like a confidant for a lot of this stuff and is also kind of like a godfather to the little baby)

Oyster Cookie eventually was able to figure where the myths were and where the truth was, and tended to the pearl as she tried to figure a way to return it, hoping that doing so would ease the curse. It caused the pearl to go from dull to lustrous, and unknowingly affecting the mermaid in question.

Eventually, the two are going to cross paths in a more serious way, though that’s gonna be a lot.

Bonus lil dumb thingy:

[snekinnatenk]

Day 2!

Weird bivalves!

[rain-shoshana]

Do you have a favourite mushroom? if so, feel free to tell me about it :)

I had typed up a whole post replying and then closed the app like a dummy and it got vanished forever. So thank you for your patience and for your ask! Here is mushroom 2.0!

I have chosen a top three, because choosing a favorite child is impossible.

My favorite mushroom of all time is Inky Mane aka Shaggy Ink Cap aka Coprinus Comatus. It’s an oozey mushroom! To spread its spores, the cap disintegrates (deliquesces). It’s an edible mushroom, but you have to eat it fast before it melts away! I’ve never eaten one but I would like to. I don’t believe it grows where I live.

It’s just so pretty at all stages of life! So many cool textures and of course, the black gore is very pretty.

Honorable mention mushroom time!

I have been eating so much tamogitake, aka golden oyster mushroom, aka Pleurotus Citrinopileatus. It’s sooooo pretty! Yellow is my favorite color. My favorite shade of yellow is the yellow of this mushroom. It’s a very beautiful mushroom visually, and it’s very very tasty. I included a pic of a stir fry I made with it !

I have to also mention a fungus that is not technically a mushroom but is a FAVE! Bleeding Tooth, aka Devil’s Tooth, aka Hydnellum Peckii is another oozing fungus! I love the colors and textures of this fungus. I have drawn it many times and will definitely draw it again! It oozes spores and has little spines on the underside of its cap, and is overall just very weird and cool. Apparently it won’t hurt you to eat it, but it’s very yucky! Supposedly it grows in my area but I’ve never seen it in real life. I’m including some art I’ve made of this mushroom!

[wikipediadogdotnet]

one of the most underrated pieces of su lore is that some gems are just straight-up buildings. the sand dune castle, the teacup-style gem maze, the gem in the walls of the lighthouse- they dont have Humanoid Forms, theyre BUILDINGS!! LIVING BUILDINGS!!!!

they show up less as gems become more human-adjacent, BUT there are some spectacular very-non-human designs that show up later. just look at these

(from Homeworld Bound in su:f and Together Alone, s5 e27)

what i would give to have a significant character who was a humongous piece of furniture or wall decoration ....

[lockedtowers]

cassie, w a man who's 6'4": tree, giant, mountain, mammoth cassie, w any actual giant: idk he's tall ig

[darksouls2yuri]

oh thats so disappointing i thought the shuckers logo was also their mascot wtf

[leal-hound]

prince of death w/ a shell helm. maybe his giant cursed head opens up and he falls out like a pearl from an oyster. lets go boy you're gonna have fun i promist

[hellsitegenetics]

String identified: ' a act a: c c a t … ..? act: ca cg a

Closest match: Crassostrea gigas genome assembly, linkage group: LG7 Common name: Pacific Giant Oyster

(image source)

here's a fun fact for you all: mix pickle juice and sprite

[herpsandbirds]

Planktonic Larvae of Sessile Marine Animals

The ocean is in constant motion, but some of its inhabitants have found a niche by remaining anchored in place. Animals as diverse as corals, sea anemones, oysters, giant clams, and barnacles simply fix themselves in the drive-thru of ocean currents, snapping up tasty food particles and plankton as they flow past. While that’s fine for fast food, you might wonder how animals that can’t move manage to spread across the globe! The answer lies in their ingenious reproductive strategies. Many sessile animals release planktonic larvae into the water—like the sea anemone larvae you see here. In a fleeting moment of freedom before they settle permanently, larvae ride the ocean currents in search of new habitats where they can anchor, grow, and continue the cycle of life.

photographs by by Jialing Cai | Homoplankton

via: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) 

[syoddeye]

xylaria polymorpha

You pick him. He picks you back. cw: entomophobia, earachnophobia, vomit mention (not depicted), mild body horror, abduction, buried alive (sort of), nonconsensual kiss a/n: AO3

The woods, no matter where you roam, have always felt like a refuge. An escape from your day job and your cramped flat. Far from emails and bills.

The air is cool, laced with the scent of wildflowers and damp earth. As you walk, you name the flora around you, half-whispering, half-thinking. Dog's mercury. Lesser celandine. Bursts of foxglove.

The woods are loud in a quiet way. Alive. Wood pigeons cooing, squirrels chittering, a fox slipping through the brush in a blur. You take it all in, breathe it in deeply.

This peace is why you come here. Or part of it, anyway.

Your foraging bag swings at your side, weighted with what you've already found. Oyster mushrooms, chicken of the woods, a single giant puffball. Two dryad's saddles stacked atop one another. Your parents taught you how to hunt and how to identify your finds. You were barely knee-high the first time they took you, holding your hand as you nervously poked at leaves and logs. It's a valuable skill, one you're grateful to have honed. The shelves in your kitchen are full because of it, and on weekends, you sell the excess at the market.

The trees grow taller as you walk, their trunks thick and gnarled. It's darker and colder here, the light barely piercing the canopy. You don't mind, and merely zip your jacket to your chin. The good stuff's always further in.

A few hedgehogs and puffballs later, you see them.

They rise from around the body of a rotting log, black and knotted, their shape unmistakable. You kneel, your heart fluttering with the discovery. You've read about them in books, seen photos online: xylaria polymorpha. Dead man's fingers.

They're inedible, nor are they particularly pleasant to look at, but you reach for your notebook anyway. A sketch and then a picture on your phone. Something to send the parents. But your gaze catches on something else.

In the rear of the cluster, there are five paler growths, different from the others. They stand out, almost glowing against the dark soil. You've never seen anything like them. A mutation, perhaps. Or some kind of bacteria or mold. You edge closer, leaning in, fascinated, and without thinking, you reach out to touch one.

The moment your fingers brush the surface, it moves. And it doesn't just twitch or shift—it grabs.

A cold, wet pressure wraps around your hand. It knocks a violent gasp from your throat, and immediately, you try to pull back, but the grip tightens. Your bag falls, spilling as you twist and yank. The mushrooms clinging to your hands aren't mushrooms anymore. They're fingers—long, sinewy fingers. Pale and filthy, their nails cracked and dark with soil.

You freeze, a scream catching in your chest as the fingers pull harder, dragging your hand downward. Then you see it. The arm . Rising from the earth, covered in moss and mud, thick and muscular. Panic surges up from your belly, burning your throat with its acid. Stomach churning your breakfast as the rest of it emerges. Piece by piece as though being assembled by the woods themselves.

A man. 

And from your knees, he looks enormous.

The body is tall, broad-shouldered, with skin that appears almost translucent in places under the layers of muck and decay. The chest is scarred, torn up, and sewn back together with thin vines and stems. Pocked with keloids and other protrusions that look less natural. Dozens of insects crawl over his skin, falling to the ground or disappearing into the folds of moss that cling to bits of him. One of his ears is a swollen, misshapen thing, his hair shoddily cropped, bits of it stringy and wet, but his eyes lock onto yours—dark, intense, and unblinking.

You can't move. His hand wraps around yours like a root. He towers over you, filling your view, banishing whatever notion of peace you had.

"A woman." He rasps through cracked lips, hoarse. "Were you gonna pick me?"

You try to speak, to say anything, but the words won't come. You're not even sure this is actually happening.

He tilts his head, studying. He squeezes a little, hinting at how he could crush your hand without a thought. Crack you open like a walnut.

The image snaps you back to yourself, your mind clearing with a rush of instinct. You pull, but before you can make any progress, he yanks you forward, then up, like it's nothing. He holds your hand high above your head, and you watch, transfixed, as a spider squeezes itself through the mess of his ear.

You finally find your voice, though you swallow some sick to free it. "What…What are you?"

He doesn't answer right away. His gaze drifts down, then back up again, slow, deliberate. He looks at the overturned bag, his brow twitching just slightly, then returns to your eyes. His free hand lifts, and as it moves, a sludgy drip of mud falls, plopping softly onto the ground. You flinch as he drags two fingers over the curve of your cheek, smearing the mud over your skin.

"These woods belong to me. Everything you've stolen? Mine." His fingers graze you again, feeling the hammering pulse at your neck. "You followin'?"

"I didn't mean to—"

"But you did." His mouth curves slightly. "You touched me. You chose. You thought you were gonna carry me off."

The once-familiar sounds of the forest warp. The birdsong sounds wrong. Off-key and more frantic. The forest closes in. Shadows stretch longer in the periphery.

His hold is what keeps you from collapsing in shock when the ground starts to give way. Slowly, beneath your boots, the earth begins to eat you. Your toes, your ankles, your calves. You pull at his arm, desperate to break his grip, to push yourself free, but he's unmoving, rooted. Then you realize he's sinking with you.

His other hand touches your chin, rough fingers tilting your face toward him. You flinch as his thumb brushes your lower lip, leaving behind the tang of damp soil. The taste makes you gag, and you twist harder, but his hold is unrelenting.

"This is 'ow it works," There is no malice. He speaks as though this is fact. "You don't take without givin' back. Not 'ere, not from me."

The ground rises faster, the earth climbing your thighs. Your breath catches, panic surging. You try to wrest free, but no amount of struggling helps. You're sinking, and he's sinking with you.

"You picked me. This. Made your choice." He repeats, softer this time. 

It's up to your chest. Dozens of tiny legs move beneath the surface, exploring your skin, inspecting you. Welcoming you. Tears blur your vision and slip down your face.

He lets go of your arm now that you're trapped, immobile, and holds either side of your face. He tips your head back up, and just as the world swallows you whole, he plants his mouth over yours.

A week later, the authorities will find your foraging bag beside the log. Its treasures withered to black. They'll call your name and search until dusk, but they won't find you.

You'll be far below them by then, cradled in roots and arms as thick as tree branches, breathing in the forest in a different way. Far beyond their reach, but alive. Thriving. Growing.

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

AND HERE WE GO, result of yesterdays formation #paleostream. The early Miocene of the Austrian Paratethys, home of my many cool critters, but not Cetotherium, although we first expected it to be present here we discovered that during this time a small whales can't be confidently placed here. Despite that we stuck with this place and time of the Paratethys because it still offers a LOT of cool fauna, marine and terrestrial.

We choose three formations from Northern East Austria. The environment seems to be rather stable during this time.

here my quick and dirty size chart to figure out how the larger animals would relate in size to each other.

And now an earlier sketch of the composition, when we still thought we could have a Cetotherium in here. We afterwards also tried this with a local basking skark but that doesn't really fit this feeding style. Instead I settled eventually on Austromola being cleaned by seabirds.

One of my favorite parts in here was the giant oyster reef. Crassostrea gryphoides could grow up to 60 cm long and the town of Stetten has one of these preserved over several hundred square meter.

[merakiui]

More centaur heartslabyul crumbs pls (or maybe other dorms too if possible)

Riddle is probably a show pony! A small centaur who’s prized for his tournament capabilities. He has lots of wins under his belt and is quite proud of his achievements, but no award could possibly compare to the praise of his handler. He loves to receive your compliments the most, and he preens under your attention. Riddle isn’t a braggart by nature, but he fears he may become one the more he shows off for you during practice or training just to impress you.

Deuce is also a centaur who participates in various competitions. He’s the best at galloping and running, the fastest out of the five centaurs you’re looking after. When he isn’t training for his next competition, he’s helping you on the farm. Deuce is a sweetheart, a true gentle giant! >w< he loves being useful and helping out wherever he can. Whether it’s by carrying heavy loads for you or even giving you a lift when you’re too tired or lazy to walk the distance, he’ll do anything if it makes your life just a smidge easier. <3

Trey is also excellent help. He’s best at transporting heavy things, but his real strength is assisting you in the kitchen. He pokes his head in through the window to give you tips and advice when you’re baking something. If the treats for the centaurs taste better than they normally do, Trey’s the one to thank. You’re grateful for his advice. Of course you should also listen carefully to what he says because last time you blindly trusted him he managed to convince you to add oyster sauce into Riddle’s tart. T_T he’s got jokes, that mischievous centaur!!!! (Thankfully, Riddle is weak to you and was easily consoled.)

Ace isn’t exactly the best help. He shirks his duties more than he actually does them, but he’s very good when you need company or a good laugh. He’ll accompany you all over the farm grounds, chatting with you about anything and everything, while you go about your chores. There’s been talks of gathering his semen for breeding purposes, but Ace is huffy about that. You don’t know this, but he’s very particular about who he wants to give that to (it’s you). He’s only willing to bust one if it’s inside you or on you or for you��� but you don’t need to know that (yet). :)

Cater helps manage your social media presence! The farm offers a variety of fresh produce and canned goods, and you don’t have all the time in the world perfecting your website or scheduling posts. That’s where Cater comes in! He loves having access to your social media because he’s changed it for the better. It’s gone from boring to brilliant! So slay and trendy. <3 you get more site traffic and views after his hard work. You’re very thankful for his expertise, otherwise you wouldn’t have drawn in so much more business.

Your centaurs love you and would do anything for you. Sometimes they get into rivalries and quarrels over your attention, but it’s always Trey’s brilliant suggestion to share. Surely their dear handler wouldn’t be opposed to that, yes? :) until then, it’s lots of pining and concealed, one-sided sexual tension. ^^;;; do not be around them during the breeding season… or do. >:)