#hydrothermal zone

[drhoz]

#2214 - Campylopus capillaceus

Once the ground is too hot for even Geothermal Kānuka to grow, Geothermal Moss (C. holomitrium) dominates - although holomitrium is a synonym for capillaceus. The latter means 'hairy', whereas holomitrium refers to the cap on the spore capsule. Holomitrium is also its own genus of mosses, which doesn't help. Campylopus comes from the Greek campylos, meaning curved, and pous, meaning foot, referring to the stalks on the capsules, which curve downwards.

The taxonomic issues seem to be well known, at least in bryology circles - apparently some workers are notorious for naming new NZ species based on trivial differences. Campylopus capillaceus was originally described in 1844, in 'Musci Antarctici; being characters with brief descriptions of the new species of mosses discovered during the voyage of H.M. Discovery ships, Erebus and Terror, in the southern circumpolar regions, together with those of Tasmania and New Zealand. London Journal of Botany 3: 533–556. The type specimens came from the Bay of Islands.

Campylopus is a large genus containing an unknown number of species - taxonomic issues again - but they're found in all parts of the world except polar regions. Most species growing on acidic or nutrient-depleted soil, so the centre of the geothermal fields is ideal.

Various authors put them in the Dicranaceae or the Leucobryaceae.

Craters of the Moon, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand

[nyashykyunnie]

˗ˏˋ Jinwoo x Nerd! Fem! Reader: Drabbles ◛⑅·˚ ༘ ♡ ˎˊ˗

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕘 𝕁𝕚𝕟𝕨𝕠𝕠˚◦○�� ୧ .˚ₓ

・┆✦ Entry : 037 ✦ ┆・

╰┈➤ ❝ [ Moonstruck ] ¡! ❞

Jinwoo can be what you call a jock . Is he not? 6 feet tall, a finey built body fit for the demanding sport he chose, undeniably attractive to the ladies with his looks that of an idol— You get the point.

But to him, he wouldn't have it any other way. Not that he is narcissistic of course.

It's just... Well,...

This life is way better than what he had to go through when the gates were open. Sure, he hasn't completely sealed the gates away, but this peace is still uncomparable.

As he looks up at the grey skies, he finds himself tearing from the clouds and looking at your distant figure from the bleachers busily jotting down something in your little notebook.

He heard of you from his many friends, or should he remain with them with how snarky they are? They often described you in degrading means, openly mocking your appearance, and discussing well... Your interests.

From what he heard, you were quite the eccentric person back then. Almost everyone in this class came from the same elementary school after all. They said you used to be the loudest most obnoxious girl in class, which led you directly into being the figure of mockery for young kids.

It was obvious that history made you into the reclused person that you are today. He never really pays attention to anyone, but Jinwoo somewhat knew of your presence around him— After all, he sat behind you.

Other than that? He never knew anything else about you.

⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ଳ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅ ⋆ ౨ৎ ˚ ⟡ ˖ ࣪

Jinwoo sighs as he packs up his notebook after the subject has ended. He was feeling deathly bored despite the fact that he needs to think about the research project that the previous teacher had assigned.

"..." He feels two gentle taps on his shoulder.

"U-uhm..." Jinwoo looks back, looking back at your awkward demeanour. "...Erm... We're assigned together for this project?.."

"Ah right," Jinwoo hums, "Wanna talk about it now? It's a free period after all"

"Sure..." You fidget in your fingers, actively avoiding Jinwoo's eyes that he found intriguing but didn't point out.

"The teacher wants us to discuss something about geology something" Jinwoo says boredly. "Any ideas?"

"..."

He watches you shrink to yourself and he clears his throat.

I must have come off as cold, he thought.

"I'm fine with anything," He said. "I'm not too good with these stuff so..."

"Twilight..." Jinwoo hears your small voice.

"Pardon?"

"We can do... The twilight zone." You say.

"???" Jinwoo tilts his head. "What's that?"

"...!" He watches you perk up, a distinctive glimmer in your eyes as you start shaking your fists a little. "I-it's uhm... The twilight zone or the mesopalagic which is underneath the epipelagic and is beneath the ocean surface and erm... Well, it's 1000 meters deep and since it's so deep it's really really dark, the only light you can see are the occasional bioluminescense flickers which is like a small light made by the deepsea creatures. I-it's basically made by a chemical reaction between luciferin and luciferase which are respectively a light-emitting molecule and luciferase is an enzyme. S-since the mesopalagic zone is really dark compared to the epipalagic zone that can still has a bit of light and algae can still have photosynthesis. The mesopalagic zone instead uses chemosynthesis that happens around hydrothermal vents and uhm... Methane seeps. Bacterias on the uhm sea floor, the very very bottom or inside other animals use the energies in err... Energies that are stored in chemical bonds of some stuff. We can use that for our research."

"..." Jinwoo felt like he just died three seconds into your little rant trying to explain what the twilight zone. He can't even recall one or two words from all that talking you did which he in turn felt a little guilty for. "S-sure... Let's go with the mesopela....Thing."

And that was the start of your friendship with Jinwoo.

He didn't really think much of it, the two of you managed to get a perfect score in the research project because of your extensive knowledge of the deep sea.

Jinwoo thought that would be end of his interactions with you, and yet he slowly finds himself looking for your presence. At first, it was just simple goodmornings and hellos whenever you both pass by eachother by the hallways during lunch— To him starting some small talk with you.

It really started so simple, it really did. But slowly, Jinwoo found himself purposely triggering your nerdy side.

At first, it was just him making an excuse to prolong the conversations. But now? He was actively listening to whatever you tell him to. He still had trouble memorizing or processing the many names and chemical, biological stuff you yap on and on about but in the end— He finds himself wanting to know more about it.

He wanted to learn more about you.

The sea really seemed to make you the happiest seeing how you perk up as you start explaining the life cycle of a sperm whale, or how beautiful the cetaceans are in general.

Because of your non-stop obsession with the deep, Jinwoo finds himself listening to whale songs that somehow helped him relax more at night.

He'd always have multiple nightmares whenever he slept, sometimes he dreams of his father's death, most times it's him relieving the agony he had gone through leveling up and the phantom pain of dying multiple times— Despite his age they still haunt him.

And when Jinwoo finds himself in the torturous cycle of death and misery, he hears the distant hum of whales. In his nightmares, he would follow those songs and get pulled out of his hell.

And he swears, that in every nightmare you would be the one to reach your hand out and taking him into paradise. He would wake up with his outstretched palm towards the ceiling, a tear falling down his cheek.

He craved to touch your fingers at that very moment, he wanted to feel the gentle caress of your digits on his face, the warmth of your skin against his, the sound of your tender voice reverberating in his ears as you explained to him all about the things you love.

Jinwoo would never really realize that he himself is growing soft on you. He knows that his friends would never shut up about how gentle he is around you, but he never really believes their words.

What's so wrong about him wanting to bask in you anyway?

He just wants to bask in your presence, drown in the moment just as you are with your love for the ocean.

⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ଳ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅ ⋆ ౨ৎ ˚ ⟡ ˖ ࣪

"My king" Igris's small head appears, hovering over Jinwoo's shoulder. "The queen, she's"

"Out with it," He says immediately as he had just had just finished changing out of his track suit.

"...She's hyperventilating, a few unruly morons decided to mock her of her unfortunate past and she is unwell," Igris explains. "Your orders, my lo—"

"Shadow Exchange."

Instantly, Jinwoo had transported himself to where you were. He wasn't too worried about you catching him, since you were too distracted pacing back and forth nibbling at the edge of your fingertips.

He shakes his head, knocking on the desk to catch your attention.

To which it did but it startled you.

"A-ah, Jinwoo..." You sputter, not meeting his grey eyes again as you fumble on yourself. "I... Didn't see you there."

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you" Jinwoo smiles gently, "Wanna go somewhere cool for a bit?"

"But... We're in school?" You tilts your head, watching him offer up a hand, waiting for you to accept his offer.

"It's okay, just trust me in this" He said.

You were hesitant at first, but eventually, you place your palm on Jinwoo's. He pulls you a bit close, his towering figure in front of you. But somehow, you felt completely safe as long as he is here.

The ground beneath you both would shift, from the pristine while tiles of your school to blue water reflecting your images. You throw your head up above your head, and up in the sky you could see fluffy and full white clouds moving ever so slowly.

"H-how?" You asked, baffled, your knees trembling as you feared that you will fall into water since you don't know how to swim.

"It's okay, it's okay" Jinwoo cooes, gently lifting your chin up. "Look at me. Look at me."

His grey eyes were so gentle, full of tenderness as it gazes upon you.

"Don't be scared," Jinwoo smiles, "It's all mine, so there's nothing to be scared of"

He then brings another hand out and flicks his finger, where the lovely sound of whale songs would catch your attention.

Your gaze would befall to your right, where a giant and majestic humpback blue whale would gracefully swim on the air.

More would appear around the both of you, from giant cetaceans to different species of jellyfish as well as sharks would fill the sky— All of them swimming about.

You find yourself so utterly mesmerized, your heart almost drumming out of your chest as you reach your hand up in the air, to which a few fish would come to your direction and nuzzle your fingers.

"It's kissing my fingertips, tickling me..." You say, your gleaming eyes looking at Jinwoo who was just watching you the whole time.

In his mind, Jinwoo would recall the conversations he has with his friends. They would never shut up about how he cant stop himself from hovering around you. How Jinwoo can't stop himself from ghosting his fingers around you. How his eyes cant hide away the adoration in them whenever you are in his sight. It was like he's this lovesick puppy.

And they're right.

He is utterly and completely devoted to you. He wants to give you everything that he has in his person, he wants to give you his paradise. If he can, he would rip his heart out and offer it to you.

He wanted to give you the world.

Everytime he listens to your ramblings, he finds himself lost in your presence. It was as if you yourself was his very own version of a lullaby.

And he wanted nothing more than to protect and love you.

"It's okay," Jinwoo says, intertwining his fingers with yours before bringing the back of your hand up to his lips— Where he would lightly kiss your knuckles. "Everything here, so long as I'm around you— You'll be safe and sound."

"Nothing and no one can ever hurt you, alright? So please, just keep talking like you always did, I like hearing about your love of the ocean. I want to see the prettier things of this world, so won't you tell me more?"

⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ଳ ‧ ₊ ˚ ⋅ ⋆ ౨ৎ ˚ ⟡ ˖ ࣪

That was the day that Jinwoo became your boyfriend. Days spend with him are full of love and adoration... Minus the little anxiety you have in your heart as a lot of kids in your grade would disappear. The only similarity with them was that they all used to be your past bullies that you would tell Jinwoo and people who would mock you behind your back. But since you have Jinwoo, you'll be alright. The police will be in charge of that. That is,... If they are even smart enough to figure out who this little serial killer is.

꒰ 🪼A/N: I swear I will make the Jinwoo vs Sylus soon as well as the sequel to the Assassin au. But as of now I'm still stuck in writer's block with those and I am still figuring out what to do with everything else. ꒱

ʚ(੭´͈ ᐜ `͈)੭ .｡✧･ﾟ: ~♡ — All stories written by kyunnie; translations, reposts, plagiarism are strictly forbidden.

[typhlonectes]

Deep Sea Brotula

During a dive to the Galapagos Rift Zone in 1988, scientists in Alvin saw this strange purple fish hanging out in the super-hot water gushing from hydrothermal vents at about 8,200 feet (2500 meters) depth. Pilot Ralph Hollis quickly netted the fish and brought it back to the surface for further examination. Scientists determined that it was in the genus Bythites, of which there are three Atlantic species, and promptly named it after Hollis: Bythites hollisi. They also found that it produces live young (as opposed to eggs) and is a relative of the better-known cusk eel. By 2002, more of these fish had been caught, and scientists decided that this Equatorial Eastern Pacific specimen was so different from the three Atlantic species that it warranted a new genus, Gerhardia. But a few years later, scientists wishing to avoid confusion with a beetle with the same moniker proposed another name, Thermichthys hollisi, referring to the fish’s preferred hangout, the hydrothermal vents of the Galapagos Rift Zone. So far, no other fish of this genus have been found.

via: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)

[kathairoette]

My part for the @ygomerzine! Ocean researcher Yuugi gets some new friends while exploring the ocean floor...

Oh and if you want some Totally Necessary Lore about the Tentayamis (trademark pending), read below~!

All three Tentayamis live in different ocean zones. Mao/s0 Yami lives in the Epipelagic Zone, DM Yami lives in the upper border of the Mesopelagic Zone, and Atem lives in the Bathypelagic Zone.

The Tentayamis are all technically original designs, but each does have specific inspo as the base:

Mao/s0 Yami: Blue Ringed Octopus DM Yami: Argonaut Atem: Vent Octopus

Mao has thick, shorter tentacles that give him more strength and maneuverability. Yami has longer tentacles, but the 'shell' under his arms are paper-thin sacs filled with air, which helps him boost away from predators. Atem's tentacles are the thinnest and weakest of the bunch, but has webbing around them to help him stick onto the hydrothermal vents.

All three Tentayamis have some form of bioluminesence, typically from the spots on their tentacles or the third eye on their foreheads, if they have one. That, paired with their yellow 'fringes', helps them attract prey who mistake the fringe for seaweed.

Atem is somewhat blind as where he lives barely has any sunlight, but his third eye in particular is highly sensitive to certain rays of light. Yuugi eventually moves him to a separate tank when he notices the spotlights make him uncomfortable.

Thus, instead of moving with sight, he moves by touch! Atem recognizes the other Tentayamis or Yuugi himself by wrapping his own tentacles around them, and is often the first to play with any new toy Yuugi drops into their tank.

All three of them are curious about the two-legger that visits them, but Yami follows Yuugi more closely compared to the others. He's often being the first to greet him when Yuugi arrives and loves mimicking his movements.

The plastic thing floating behind Mao (who's eating a fish) is a baby bottle. It's based on an actual experiment where a scientist tested if an octopus could untwist the bottle to get the fish trapped inside. But instead, the octopus ripped off the rubber from the baby bottle and got the fish that way. So of course, Mao does that too XD (coincidentally, this also implies that Atem is more dextrous, as he was able to unscrew the cap in the photo next to him XD)

[memegetter]

Imagine you are standing with your feet in the deepest part of the ocean and with the top of your head at sea level. As the tide rises and falls, the difference in water level is roughly equivalent to the thickness of two, or perhaps three, strands of your hair. Now let’s travel down from the surface. We first enter the Epipelagic Zone, which takes its name from the Greek epi, meaning surface, and pelagos meaning sea. The Epipelagic Zone is also known as the Sunlit Zone because sunlight penetrates the water and brings life to photosynthetic plankton, which converts carbon dioxide into energy. The Earth’s rainforests are not, as some people have stated, the ‘lungs of the world’. The Epipelagic Zone is. It produces up to 80 percent of our oxygen. It is also home to 90 percent of ocean life, including the most recognizable forms such as whales, dolphins, fish, sharks and jellyfish. As we stand in our ocean and continue down, about halfway between the top of our skull and the top of our ears, we leave the Epipelagic Zone and enter the Mesopelagic Zone. This zone, like the others, takes its name from the Greek meso meaning middle. But we are a long way from the middle, or even the average depth of the ocean. The Mesopelagic Zone is sometimes called the Twilight Zone, because the last faint rays of light from a sun high in the sky, are fading by the time they reach the top of this zone. Vertebrates and invertebrates live here in darkness, with many of them swimming upwards at night to feed. Some plant life also survives here. On our submerged body, somewhere between the bottom of our nose and the top of our mouth, we leave the Mesopelagic Zone and enter the Bathypelagic Zone. Bathy means deep. This zone is in perpetual darkness. No plant life lives here. Some, water-borne organisms are luminescent to attract prey or a mate. Many species here are totally blind, and most live on the detritus that falls from the higher zones. Just below the bottom of our sternum, before we reach our navel, we enter the Abyssopelagic Zone. Abyss means seemingly bottomless. The water is high in oxygen, but low in nutrients. There is very little discernible life and the water is cold – about 37 °F or 3 °C. Chemosynthetic bacteria thrive near hydrothermal vents in the Abyssopelagic Zone. What fish and invertebrates do live here feed on these bacteria. This, in a sense, is ground zero in the food chain. To stand in the deepest part of the ocean we need to stand in one of the trenches between the tectonic plates. In our imaginary exercise, we are standing in the Mariana Trench, located off the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Trenches are extremely narrow. The one we are standing in, begins at our groin. In the 1950s, scientists began to notice distinct life in the trenches and started referring to them as the Hadal Zone. A Greek derivative again, but whereas the names of the zones above indicate where in the ocean they are located, the Hadal Zone was named to signify what. Welcome to hell. Let us begin our journey.

The introduction to The Frontier Below by Jeff Maynard is so hardcore!!

[bestanimal]

Round 1 - Phylum Annelida

(sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Annelida is a large phylum, whose animals are sometimes called the “segmented worms.” This is a large phylum containing over 22,000 living species. Annelids are made up of multiple segments, each with the same set of organs (except for the oddball Echiurans). Instead of cilia, they use fleshy protrusions called parapodium for locomotion.

Annelida is a diverse phylum with animals that have adapted to many different environments, including terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats from tidal zones to hydrothermal vents. It includes the earthworms, leeches, ragworms, feather duster worms, and others.

Many marine polychaete worms live in tubes they build themselves or burrow in the sand to ambush prey or filter feed, but some spend their whole lives swimming in the water column.

Propaganda under the cut:

Earthworms are important in farming and in ecology as they help aerate and enrich the soil.

The largest annelid is the endangered Giant Gippsland Earthworm (Megascolides australis), which is on average 1 m (3.3 ft) long and 2 cm (0.79 in) wide. They can reach up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) long, and they can stretch to seem much longer or contract to seem shorter.

Like earthworms, marine polychaetes also aerate the sea floor, enabling water and oxygen to reach the other creatures that live with them.

Annelids help scientists monitor the quality of water, as different species have different tolerances for water quality.

Medicinal leeches are still used for blood-letting, though not as frequently as they once were. In fact, some species of leech are threatened due to overharvesting for this purpose!

Annelids don’t fossilize well due to their soft bodies, so most fossils are simply jaws or tubes. The earliest annelid fossil that can be confidentially identified is dated to the early Cambrian, and most of our modern polychaete groups appeared by the end of the Carboniferous.

Okay so you’d still love your partner if they were a worm, but would they be your favorite animal?

[requinoesis]

The Abyssal Shark The Benthos Station is an underwater research facility, designed in collaboration with euphotic and aphotic sharks. Together, they seek to unravel the mysteries of the origin of their species by studying life in the hydrothermal vents of the abyssal zone.🌋✨ --- Finally, this is the latest late 2022 Sharktober theme... I hope you enjoyed everything I made! Soon I will adapt them to RedBubble products and I'm also preparing an artbook for these artworks!📘✨

[squartsquartson]

Squart here with more midnight zone critters.

-The dumbo octopus is the deepest living species of octopus found to date.

-The frilled shark is one of the oldest living species of sharks, it might even date back to the late Jurassic!

-The gulper eel, true to its name, can swallow prey 11 times its size.

-The yeti crab uses those long hairy arms to catch bacteria from hydrothermal vents as its main source of food.

Want merch? Check our shop!

[estavionpira]

What is at the bottom of the Mariana Trench?

You are on: The Ocean Surface

You see: The sun's light beaming directly onto you. The ocean continues as far as you can see in all directions. It appears slightly green from algae. The water is teeming with life.

DESCEND?

[Y] [N]

You are in: The Photic Zone

You see: A bright blue sky, just through the glimmering surface of the water. The sun's rays illuminate the ocean blue, and the water is teeming with life.

DESCEND?

[Y] [N]

You are in: The Bathypelagic Zone

You see: Almost nothing. Extremely little light penetrates this deep.

ACTIVATE LIGHTS?

[Y] [N]

You see: A dark ocean. Certain kinds of fish, krill and squid are common down here, although they're far less abundant. The water is teeming with life.

DESCEND?

[Y] [N]

You are in: The Abyssopelagic Zone

You see: The ocean floor. Numerous varieties of pigmentless fish crawl the depths. The corpse of a whale is being picked apart by thousands of species. The Mariana Trench is ahead of you. The water is teeming with life.

ENTER?

[Y] [N]

You are in: The Mariana Trench

You see: A cavity descending kilometers. A giant squid floats by. The water is teeming with life.

DESCEND?

[Y] [N]

You are in: The Hadopelagic Zone

You see: Mysida, snailfish and eelpout swim through the water. The bottom of the Mariana Trench is visible. The water is teeming with life.

DESCEND?

[Y] [N]

You are on: The Bottom of the Mariana Trench

You see: Certain species of crustacean, sea cucumber and isopod ponderously move across the bottom of the Mariana Trench, each clearly adapted for the harsh conditions. Sea anemones and bristle worms are attached to the sea floor. A hydrothermic vent is visible. The water is teeming with life.

EXPLORE THE HYDROTHERMAL VENT?

[Y] [N]

You see: Chemical soup. Microorganisms feed off the core building blocks of biology. A long time ago, this was where everything began. The water is life.

[cadmium-free]

top five ecosystems!!

Intertidal Zone: Ahhhh, everything that can live where the tides change so drastically are so cool. Thriving when they're deep under the water or exposed to the air! Leaving behind little tide pools! And when you get to explore one it is so stunning to be walking on the ocean floor.

Deep Ocean: I specifically am thinking about ares surrounding hydrothermal vents. These places of extreme temperature that are incredibly hard to study. That is is so amazing that things can live there at all. Things living in high pressure and/or at extreme temperature. The extreme darkness. I mean, it's like space in the deep ocean. Drifting in space you're far less likely to see something strange and unknown that you are in the deep ocean.

Tundra: Lichens!!!!!!! Little shrubs! The distances with which you can see the land itself. The beautiful exposed rocks. Animals with big thick coats! I also just like the cold and the colours.

Lotic: Ahhhh, I love how varied these can be, and I love that these will shift their location over time. The way a river carves through the land and slowly shifts its own location over time. It's got places of slow moving water and fast moving water allowing for different conditions of life.

Wetlands: Birds!!!!!!!!!!!! So many cool birds!!!!!!!!! Birds and bugs!!!!!! So many things live in them! Also, they're very important with regards to erosion and preventing damage during storms. They do so much to keep the things past them *safe*

[jomindraws]

Next up, our lovely lovely corals ! Well, they aren't corals, but they are functionally similar and have similar niches, so they might as well be ! Xenocorals !!!

(AN1 C1-b) Clade: Corodalia

A clade of Rigidae that is immobile during adulthood and only mobile for the first embryonic stage of its life cycle.

PHYLUM TIDOCORODALIA

Phylum that contain an internal tube for the growth and development of offspring from sexual reproduction, containing mobile external proboscises. 

(AN1 C1-bi) Clade: Flowcorodalia

A clade of tidocorodalia that only exist in saltwater tidal zones and respirate in open air.

Class Gurgocoroda

Class of xenocoral that grow in often bowl-shaped ways and contain a folding and refolding mesoglea matrix that retracts and re-extends depending on the tide.

(AN1 C1-bii) Clade: Crysocoroda

A clade of tidocorodalia that only exist in freshwater environments.

Class Crystallid Coral

Class of xenocoral that grow in ambiguous and geometric columnal patterns and consume microbial phototrophs.

(AN1 C1-biii) Clade: Edioanthozomae

A clade of tidocorodalia that function in sunlight-rich consistently warm saltwater.

Class Reef Shelves

Class of xenocoral that grow in horizontally circular patterns and consume detritus matter or phytoplankton.

Class Reef Brachi

Class of xenocoral that grow in vertical fractal patterns and consume zooplankton or other microfauna.

PHYLUM TUBOCORODALIA

Phylum containing external fans for the production of spores and budding pods, absorbing nutrients strictly from a non-mobile porous membrane.

Class Xenotalic Undertubing

Class of xenocoral that grow in venous seafloor-bound horizontally fractal patterns and exist in open sea benthic environments and consume detritus floral and fungal matter.

Class Ediacaran Tubing

Class of xenocoral that grow in a variety of tube-shaped vertical patterns and consume a variety of plankton within reef and seaforest environments.

Class Venting Tubes

Class of xenocoral that exist on seamounts and hydrothermal vent-rich regions that typically consume extremophile autotrophs.

[naffeclipse]

Question because I can't stop thinking about Mer style SJ au!

So, I'm terribly curious about how the final confrontation would go in this version! Since they are all organic, I imagine it wouldn't be possible to have an equivalent of the Celestial Wire, right?

It occurred to me that perhaps something with the poisonous spikes could happen, but I think you said their poison cannot harm those related to them, so that would likely not be it. Because in the main verse, in order for Sun to live, Eclipse would have to die so that he can get the celestial wire instead. But a mortal wound inflicted by his older brother would probably not be cured by Eclipse having (or being forced to) give up a crucial part of himself. So would Sun or Moon end up physically harmed by Eclipse in his blind rage? Or maybe something in their environment happens?

Oh, oh! That makes me think that while there is no way to set a building on fire, there certainly are hydrothermal vents that can reach dangerous temperatures! So maybe there could be some volcanic activity about to happen near where they are and Eclipse would be forced to realize that by dragging y/n down with him, and in consequence make his brothers chase after them, that they indeed are all now in danger because of his refusal to leave the darkness behind?

Ahhh, I don't know! Just rambling about possibilities at this point haha XD

Heya, babe!

That's right, no Celestial Wire to be given up here, but I do want to make use of the venomous spikes in one way or another, so I figured that the vigilante might get pricked by Eclipse and end up in dire need of an antidote. There was also a scene I had in mind of Eclipse finally stealing Y/N away and throwing them into a bowl-like rocky outcropping (coincidentally shaped in a manner of a clam) on land to dry them out for a while and see if they change their tune. That would spur Sun and Moon into a frenzy looking for them while they endure that torment.

As for a possible final confrontation, I love the thought of underwater hydrothermal vents being a destination for the final confrontation! Lowkey, I was messing around with ideas for an aquatic equivalent of a cigar for Eclipse and fiddling with him having some sort of magma stick that bubbled. But, I ended up scrapping it because Eclipes's hands were otherwise occupied with the vigilante alsdfjasld

Dragging Y/N down into the dark, only lit by the occasional bursts of boiling hot water and flashes of magma low on the ocean floor, would be an Eclipse move—and somewhere Sun and Moon would know to look. They see the twilight zone just as well as their brother. It would be pretty dramatic in the heated water.

As for the damage done, I see Eclipse giving into a moment of rage and incidentally spearing Sun with his trident. It's a moment of shock, of 'mom said I could never hurt my family but look at what I've just done' and both a flurry of panic for Y/N and total devastation for Moon.

Eclipse, in this AU, would have the chance to save his brother by quickly helping him back to the Reef alongside the vigilante and Moon. When they call for help, they're met with assistance and aquatic plants and special bindings to stop the blood flow and keep Sun stable. It's world-tilting for Eclipse and Moon is terrified for Sun while Y/N is desperately trying to see that Sun is taken care of and that Eclipse doesn't do any more harm.

Sun survives, but he was dangerously close to never waking up again, and Eclipse is shocked to his core. No matter what, he always did everything he could to make sure his brothers would survive, but he didn't. Not at that moment. Not right now. He hates being in the sunlight but he loathes not being near Sun. Moon refuses to let him close. Sun is still barely pushing through. The vigilante is ready to kill Eclipse if he so much as flicks a tentacle wrong, but can't risk upsetting Sun while he's healing.

It's a lot. It's confusing. Eclipse doesn't know what to do but watch Sun recover from the three teeth of his trident that almost stopped his little brother's heart.

[catboybiologist]

As noted in past kitten memes, the abyssal plain is the largest biome on earth. The abyssal plain is the true "bottom" of the ocean (beaten only by the hadal zone, the deep ocean trenches that cut beyond the depths of the plain), the areas where the water is so still, so dark, that erosion and shaping of sediment doesn't happen short term or long term. The plain is covered in a fine layer of silt, settling in an even, flat layer. The abyssal plain is also the most topologically flat and consistent surface on our planet.

Long ago, it was thought that the depths of the ocean beyond where light reached had sparse, incidental life. Islands exist- hydrothermal vents with chemotaxic bacteria, seamounts with deep reefs that collect particles from the rest of the ocean- but the abyssal plain, for the most part, lacks producers, anything that is able to make energy-containing biomolecules from non-biological components.

But surrounding them.... fine sediment. flat layers. A rain of detritus from the layers above. And most of all... blackness.

There are wanderers here. Animals scouring the sand and drifting through the deepest layers of the ocean, sifting through the rain of marine snow, never knowing the light.

They search, scouring the depths for something more than the usual scraps. Whether it is as small as one measly fish carcass, or as huge an event as whalefall, most dead animals that dies in the ocean will ultimately be lain out for these wanderers, providing the mass and energy that once composed them to the undercurrent of our planet.

The largest of these wanderers are the sleeper sharks, and similar sharks that occupy their same niche (such as sixgill sharks). Not only are they the largest wanderers of the abyssal plain (excluding some squid, depending on how you count their habitat and their size), they are among the largest sharks in the world. They rival great whites in size, and it is likely only a lack of sampling that means we haven't found a sleeper shark larger than the largest great whites. When death brings animals to the plains, the sharks greet them, and bring their bodies into this black, serene food web.

Scavengers, of course, are not unique. Vultures fight over carcasses, fungi grow on logs and carcasses, even starfish in shallower waters scour fish bones clean. Yet the abyssal plain stands out for several reasons. At first glance, it seems like a biome that is seemingly sustained by death occurring in other habitats, allowing the discarded dead matter of other ecosystems to creep back upwards through various organisms ever so slowly.

Yet that's not quite why the abyssal plain feels the way it does. Other instances of scavenging feel so... transient. Watching fungal fuzz grow and die, watching vultures circle and dissipate, watching a fruit decompose on the ground. And then that energy is immediately returned to the web it came from- vultures live and die quickly, insects scour the lichens and fuzzes, rotting flesh becomes soil and dead matter for all sorts of organisms.

The abyssal plain is often slower, and more permanent. Purely soft tissue scavenging of whalefalls can last over a year, tissue attached to the bone is scoured for up to several years after that, and the bones themselves are gradually digested over the course of decades after that. The sediments of the plain itself barely move, undisturbed by shallower currents or the comings and goings of fast moving fish. Geologic forces slowly consume the plain into trenches, and slowly form it at ridges, but this process operates on inconceivably long timescales.

The abyssal plain of today was the abyssal plain of yesterday, and will be the abyssal plain of tomorrow.

This same invariance is represented in the sleeper sharks themselves. Greenland sharks, one of the best studied sleeper sharks (although that isn't saying much) have been aged at at the very least 250 years old. Potentially, these individuals have actually been 500 years old. Genetically over generations, there is little incentive to change either- the invariance of the abyssal plain means that there is little evolutionary selection pressure. In fact, fossil species in the same genus as modern sleeper sharks have been found in rocks nearly 30 million years old, and many older species and individuals are likely undiscovered.

When mammoths walked the land, these sharks fed on their carcasses. When megalodon prowled the seas above them, they finished the scraps it left behind. And who knows? Maybe when mosasaurs patrolled the seas, they were there to recycle their bodies as well. And when our children live and die, when whatever creatures come next to patrol the seas, their bodies will be returned to the plain as well.

The seeming omnipresence and consistency of this slow rhythm makes this the undercurrent of life. The constant in our earth's ecosystems. More than anything else, this relation to death is what defines existence for so much of life on earth, when considered as a sum of earth's history.

I enjoy the ocean. A lot. I enjoy the open ocean- looking over the continental shelf, peering over the reef wall, pelagic diving (when I can), freediving beyond what's visible from the surface. For many people, thallasophobia is a major fear, and that's valid. For me, there's always been an odd comfort associated with the ocean. A comfort knowing that at the bottom of it all, there is a different world. A world that could use the matter that makes me to slowly integrate into their own web of life before scattering to wander the seafloor again.

And that world is ruled by the eldritch giants that are the sleeper sharks.

[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

[jfs-worldbuilding-and-art]

Cosmology of Aerrhea Part I

The cosmology of Aerrhea is very different from that of Earth, the world, the sun and the very laws of the universe are sometimes wildly different from that of our own universe.

The World

The world of Aerrhea is a cylindrical shaped one opposed to a globe like Earth. The cylinder is an oceanic world, it has no landmasses, only a deep ocean whith a bottom that is basically bedrock, which is very similar to the bottom of our own oceans by having hydrothermal vents spewing minerals into the water. The world spins around its own axis with no axial tilt, this movement makes the islands get arranged into island rings. Six of these island rings exist, each one with its endemic fauna and flora. The rotation of the world combined with the low pressure zone created by the sun also creates a central, unending storm. One notable fact is that if (somehow) something reaches the border of the cylinder it will not see it or fall out of the world, in fact it will not even realize that it has reached the border as it will wander into the exact opposite of that border, the other side of the world.

Diagram showing the main aspects of the world

Due to the Sun's size and luminosity being far lesser than that of our own Sun its light starts to fade away because of the gases in the atmosphere or the water, creating colder and darker regions in the world that are further away from the Sun.

In the ocean there is the Epipelagic Zone that is the highest layer of the ocean, it is highly productive because of the sunlight that reaches this area, making the process of photosyntesis possible by autotrophs.

The second layer is the Mesopelagic Zone where only 1% of the light given by the sun actually reaches this layer until it fades away, photosynthesis is already inpossible here but yet life is abundant as the animals here feed on the marine snow that falls from the epipelagic zone and from the sky.

The Bathypelagic Zone is completely devoid of light and very little life resides here, the ones that do eat marine snow too.

Finally, the deepest part of the ocean is called the Abyssopelagic Zone where surprisingly, there is an abundance of life due to the marine snow that is deposited in the bottom of the ocean who serves as food for "grazing" animals in the seafloor. Marine snow is not the only primary resource here though, hydrothermal vents are very common here and they are the base of the other 50% of the ecosystems in this oceanic layer. The hydrothermal vents spew tons of minerals in the water that are used by chemosynthetic bacteria to produce energy in a similar way to plants and other autotrophs, these bacteria are the primary producers of this ecosystem and so they serve as food for many other organisms.

Diagram showing the rings of the world and some of their characteristics.

A Similar thing happens in the surface.As mentioned above the sunlight gets dimmer the further away you get from it due to gases in the atmosphere that scatter the light, making the furthest archipelago very cold and dark. Here are some traits owned by each ring:

Archipelagos:

Bifröst is the first ring of the world, named after the Bifröst bridge from Norse mythology that is a burning rainbow that connects Midgard(earth) to Asgard(the realm of the gods). It was named in such way because of how this ring(technically a circle) is the brightest and wettest ring as it is the closest to the center of the world and thus closer to the sun. It is also home to the World's eyes.

The second ring is called Silat, named after the Silat bridge from Yazidi religion that simbolizes the connection and crossing over from the profane earthly world and the sacred, esoteric world. The ring is named like this because it is the second ring of the world and so it connects the hot, wet and luminous center to the colder, drier and darker rings.

The third ring is called Chinvat, named after the Chinvat bridge in Zoroastrianism that separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. Named so because as the third ring it is the midpoint between the lighter and darker rings of the world, similarly to the bridge's role.

The fourth ring is called Sirāt, named after the as-Sirāt bridge from Islamism that is the bridge where every person will pass trough during the judgement day, the damned falling from it onto the hellfire and the saved going to paradise. This ring's naming is similar in reason to the Chinvat ring.

The fifth ring is also named after a Nordic bridge, Gjallarbrú which is a bridge that leads to Hel, the underworld in Norse paganism. Such name is in reference to this ring's proximity with the last ring of the world that is cold and dark. Gjallarbrú is one of the coldest and darkest rings of the world, here photosyntesis is unviable and so the trophic chain is ignited not by plants but by bacteria.

Finally, the last ring of the world, Niflheim. Named after the world of primordial ice from Norse culture, which is fitting for this ring due to its intensely cold temperature as it is the furthest away from the sun. Just like Gjallarbrú it is too dark for photosyntesis and curiously, the native life is, actually native. The organisms that live here are not Earthen organisms but rather life originary from Aerrhea.

[dragonthunders01]

Spectember D11: Seed World

It has been 200 million years since mankind launched into the stars an colonized many of the worlds that were attainable on their reach, many populated by their native life, many others on their youth of development and many others that even though they reunited the right conditions for life to form, they were barren, so they filled them with their collection of fauna, many being turned to an earth like Eden world, but not many remained that way, some started to degrade fast for the long term conditions of the planet geology or position of their stars, some die out for extraordinary cosmic event and others just faded into oblivion for the circumstances of their own planetary development.

The world of Scelloc was a tropical oceanic planet splashed with dozens of small islands, many of them volcanic in nature, the settlement was populated by tropical marine fauna, mollusks, fishes, corals, arthropods, it remained like that even after their human colonizers disappeared, but just 50 million years something happened, a large cosmic event disrupted the orbit of the planets, including Scelloc, through it did not throw the planet out of the system, it left it at the edge of the habitable zone, and in a period of 10 million years this paradise was sealed into a tomb of ice, it was too fast that the majority of animals that lived depending of the warm climate perished with just a handful of established deep water forms that evolved to thrive in the dark managed to support the change, only small cnidarians and sea slugs survived the cataclysm, and for the next 140 million years they will claim up from the depths of the ocean to the roof of the giant ice caps.

The global trapped sea of Scelloc thankfully remained liquid thanks to the geological activity of the planet, the active tectonic activity underwater keeps these warm enough to host the trapped life.

Near the hydrothermal vents forms often large fields of large unique polyp towers that extend their tentacles to alongside smaller Shipworm-like derived slugs that remains sedentary feeding on the chemicals or in the polyps themselves, around them some slow feeding snail like forms gathering the material and forming rudimentary shells and even scallop like forms that abandoned their slug shape and adopted a bivalve like form with large starfish-like slow polyp that now have evolved free forms.

On the endless seabed there is a variety of filter and detritu feeders that eats the sea snow that cyclically keeps falling from the upper regions or the nutrients that accumulates in the sand, many still nudibranchs and snail like forms that are migrating to new vents, many jellyfish like polyps; upper the seabed are floating small and large nudibranchs that either developed their "cerata" as floating organs or active squid and even like forms that can extend ovr the vast abyss up to the roof of the icecaps, some even able to glimpse the light on the thinnest ice parts and even melted holes on the equator.

This world will likely unfreeze from its perpetual snowball state in the far future when its star increases its luminosity, but until then for the next hundreds of millions of years it will remain sealed within the ice.