#it's like a coelacanth now

[elkian]

But the real winners are everyone who gets to see new WNTV fanart and fic in this beautiful moment

[plesiosaurys]

getting emotional over footage of an amateur scuba diver interacting with a coelacanth. they are hunted by large deepwater predators, and here comes a large creature bearing the brightest lights it's ever seen, making strange noises, but it does not shy away. it hovers, calmly, as the diver reaches out and trails a hand down its back. im strongly against the anthropomorphizing of real life animals but the stupid emotional part of me loudly insists this is because it recognizes us, the alternating movements of its four paired limbs matching the diver's four paired limbs, & it is thinking, "hello, cousins, we missed you these 66 million years, it's so good to see you again. welcome back, welcome home."

[g0nefischin]

MERSKELES PART 3!

Definitely not mermay anymore but here's the last 3 sirens I wanted to do

and some explanation on why I choose what I did under the cut

(little warning for parasites on fresh's section)

So from left to right

Dream is a golden colored koi carp fish, I picked it because they are very pretty and they represent a lot of positive things like luck and fortune, some people even wish on them to make their dreams come true :> I also thought of the legend where a golden koi fish climbs a large waterfall to turn into a dragon, so they have some mythical legends as well. In terms of the actual fish, Koi are very sociable and sturdy, they also live for quite awhile.

Nightmare is a coelacanth, he should probably be an octopus considering he has tentacles, but I really wanted to make him a coelacanth because I think they are neat. Coelacanth's are very old with the latest fossils being over 400 million years old, they were thought to be extinct until one was found in 1938, grandpa nightmare. They are also nocturnal, sleeping in caves during the day, they live deep in the ocean as well. 

Fresh is actually a two in one, he is a rainbow parrotfish with a tongue-eating louse in his mouth. Out of alI the bright fish I did a parrotfish because I really like their gradients, and I think the magenta fins fit his jacket. He's a parasite inside of a Sans body, so I picked a fish parasite to go along with the fish half of his body. I chose the tongue-eating louse, a type of parasite that replaces a fish's tongue. It first severs the blood vessels to the tongue and once it falls off takes its place. feeding on nutrients and acting as a new tongue for the rest of the fish's life, very cool and terrifying.

[serpulalacrymans]

//Also. Fair warning before we proceed. I am trying to get a bit more serious about certain points of my education.

//So if Law just kind of really starts liking fish, do NOT @ me, I am projecting. He fucks with the Coelacanth. Have a good day.

[b-blushes]

Now with nice photos, my notebook cover arrived yesterday! (From UndercoverUK on Etsy in the colour 'still waters') (blåhaj coloured!)

Would recommend, does exactly what I wanted it to do 👍 You could say it’s a bit big for my books but it’s designed for spiral bound A4 notebooks so! Also did think the colour would be a bit different to this (more of a powdery blue) BUT you live and learn! I have begun to cover it with stickers (:

[akascow]

Megalodon is always portrayed as like a beefy giga chad version of the great white but it could totally look completely different bc sharks are cartlidge and prehistoric animals especially sea animals looked fuckin freaky

[brinelakes]

something u really like abt plastic death . every song on it is at the exact right spot in order

[yoshistory]

i know this is crazy thing to base my gender off of but whenever i see myself as a future version of myself i imagine this gay trans dude whos so cheerful and smiley and is looking at the now me and genuinely just wants me to do whatever i wanna do and talks to me like im a grandchild and is really into basketball.

[bethanythebogwitch]

I recently found out a show I liked is 10 years old now so to not be the oldest thing on this blog I'm talking coelacanths for Wet Beast Wednesday. Coelacanths are rare fish famed for being living fossils. While that term is highly misleading, it is true that coelacanths are among the only remaining lobe-fined fish and were thought to have gone extinct millions of years ago before being rediscovered in modern times.

(image id: a wild coelacanth. It is a large, mostly grey fish with splotches of yellowish scales. Its fins are attached to fleshy lobes. It is seen from the side, facing the top right corner of the picture)

Coelacanth fossils had been known since the 1800s and they were believed to have gone extinct in the late Cretaceous period. That was until December 1938, when a museum curator named Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer was informed of an unusual specimen that had been pulled in by local fishermen. After being unable to identify the fish, she contacted a friend, ichthyologist J. L. B. Smith, who told her to preserve the specimen until he could examine it. Upon examining it early next year, he realized it was indeed a coelacanth, confirming that they had survived, undetected, for 66 million years. Note that fishermen living in coelacanth territory were already aware of the fish before they were formally described by science. Coelacanths are among the most famous examples of a lazarus taxon. This term, in the context of ecology and conservation, means a species or population that is believed to have gone extinct but is later discovered to still be alive. While coelacanths are among the oldest living lazarus taxa, they aren't the oldest. They are beaten out by a genus of fly (100 million years old) and a type of mollusk (over 300 million years old).

(image: a coelacanth fossil. It is a dark brown imprint of a coelacanth on white rock. Its skeleton is visible in the imprint)

Coelacanths are one of only two surviving groups of lobe-finned fish along with the lungfishes. Lobe-finned fish are bony fish notable for their fins being attached to muscular lobes. By contrast, ray-finned fish (AKA pretty much every fish you've ever heard of that isn't a shark) have their fins attached directly to the body. That may not sound like a big difference, but it actually is. The lobes of lobe-finned fish eventually evolved into the first vertebrate limbs. That makes lobe-finned fish the ancestors of all reptiles, amphibians, and mammals, including you. In fact, you are more closely related to a coelacanth than a coelacanth is to a tuna. Coelacanths were thought to be the closest living link to tetrapods, but genetic testing has shown that lungfish are actually closer to the ancestor of tetrapods.

(image id: a scientific diagram depicting the taxonomic relationships of early lobe-finned fish showing their evolution to proto-tetrapods like Tiktaalik and Ichthyostega, to true tetrapods. Source)

There are two known living coelacanth species: the west Indian ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) and the Indonesian coelacanth (L. menadoensis). Both are very large fish, capable of exceeding 2 m (6.6 ft) in length and 90 kg (200 lbs). Their wikipedia page describes them as "plump", which seems a little judgmental to me. Their tails are unique, consisting of two lobes above and below the end of the tail, which has its own fin. Their scales are very hard and thick, acting like armor. The mouth is small, but a hinge in its skull, not found in any other animal, allows the mouth to open extremely wide for its size. In addition, they lack a maxilla (upper jawbone), instead using specialized tissue in its place. They lack backbones, instead having an oil-filled notochord that serve the same function. The presence of a notochord is the key characteristic of being a chordate, but most vertebrates only have one in embryo, after which it is replaced by a backbone. Instead of a swim bladder, coelacanths have a vestigial lung filled with fatty tissue that serves the same purpose. In addition to the lung, another fatty organ also helps control buoyancy. The fatty organ is large enough that it forced the kidneys to move backwards and fuse into one organ. Coelacanths have tiny brains. Only about 15% of the skull cavity is filled by the brain, the rest is filled with fat.

(image id: a coalacanth. It is similar to the one on the above image, but this one is blue in color and the head is seen more clearly, showing an open mouth and large eye)

One of the reasons it took so long for coelacanths to be rediscovered is their habitat. They prefer to live in deeper waters in the twilight zone, between 150 and 250 meters deep. They are also nocturnal and spend the day either in underwater caves or swimming down into deeper water. They typically stay in deeper water or caves during the day as colder water keeps their metabolism low and conserves energy. While they do not appear to be social animals, coelacanths are tolerant of each other's presence and the caves they stay in may be packed to the brim during the day. Coelacanths are all about conserving energy even when looking for food. They are drift feeders, moving slowly with the currents and eating whatever they come across. Their diet primarily consists of fish and squid. Not much is known about how they catch their prey, but they are capable of rapid bursts of speed that may be used to catch prey and is definitely used to escape predators. They are believed to be capable of electroreception, which is likely used to locate prey and avoid obstacles. Coelacanths swim differently than other fish. They use their lobe fins like limbs to stabilize their movements as they drift. This means that while coelacanths are slow, they are very maneuverable. Some have even been seen swimming upside-down or with their heads pointed down.

(image: an underwater cave wilt multiple coelacanths residing in it. 5 are clearly visible, with the fins of others showing from offscreen)

Coelacanths are a vary race example of bony fish that give live birth. They are ovoviviparous, meaning the egg is retained and hatches inside the mother. Gestation can take between 2 and 5 years (estimates differ) and multiple offspring are born at a time. It is possible that females may only mate with a single male at a time, though this is not confirmed. Coelacanths can live over 100 years and do not reach full maturity until age 55. This very slow reproduction and maturation rate likely contributes to the rarity of the fish.

(image: a juvenile coelacanth. Its body shape is the same as those of adults, but with proportionately larger fins. There are green laser beams shining on it. These are used by submersibles to calculate the size of animals and objects)

Coelacanths are often described as living fossils. This term refers to species that are still similar to their ancient ancestors. The term is losing favor amongst biologists due to how misleading it can be. The term os often understood to mean that modern species are exactly the same as ancient ones. This is not the case. Living coelacanth are now known to be different than those who existed during the Cretaceous, let alone the older fossil species. Living fossils often live in very stable environments that result in low selective pressure, but they are still evolving, just slower.

(image: a coelacanth swimming next to a SCUBA diver)

Because of the rarity of coelacanths, it's hard to figure out what conservation needs they have. The IUCN currently classifies the west Indian ocean coelacanth as critically endangered (with an estimated population of less than 500) and the Indonesian coelacanth as vulnerable. Their main threat is bycatch, when they are caught in nets intended for other species. They aren't fished commercially as their meat is very unappetizing, but getting caught in nets is still very dangerous and their slow reproduction and maturation means that it is long and difficult to replace population losses. There is an international organization, the Coelacanth Conservation Council, dedicated to coelacanth conservation and preservation.

(image: a coelacanth facing the camera. The shape of its mouth makes it look as though it is smiling)

[alphynix]

Allenypterus montanus was an unusual early coelacanth that lived during the late Carboniferous, around 324 million years ago, in a tropical bay covering what is now central Montana, USA.

Up to about 15cm long (~6"), its tapering tadpole-like body plan somewhat resembled that of modern knifefishes and featherbacks, with the top part of its tail fin highly elongated into a ribbon-like shape and the rest of its tail fins being vestigial. The distinctive humped shape of its back was also much more pronounced in larger, more mature individuals.

It was probably a fairly slow swimmer, and preserved gut contents suggest it mainly ate small soft-bodied prey.

Its closest known relative seems to have been the eel-like Holopterygius – but since around 60 million years and different continents separated them both, this suggests the existence of a whole ghost lineage of other tapering coelacanths yet to be discovered.

———

NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

References:

Friedman, Matt, and Michael I. Coates. "A newly recognized fossil coelacanth highlights the early morphological diversification of the clade." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 273.1583 (2006): 245-250. https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frspb.2005.3316

Lund, Richard, and Wendy Lund. "New genera and species of coelacanths from the Bear Gulch Limestone (Lower Carboniferous) of Montana (USA)." Geobios 17.2 (1984): 237-244. https://www.academia.edu/download/66985268/s0016-6995_2884_2980145-x20210504-8876-dzniic.pdf

Lund, Wendy L., Richard Lund, and G. Klein. "Coelacanth feeding mechanisms and ecology of the Bear Gulch coelacanths." Compte Rendus du Neuvième Congrès International sur la Stratigraphie et la Géologie du Carbonifère 5 (1985): 492-500. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285577607_Coelacanth_Feeding_Mechanisms_and_Ecolqgy_of_the_Bear_Gulch_Coelacanths

Toriño, Pablo, Matías Soto, and Daniel Perea. "A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of coelacanth fishes (Sarcopterygii, Actinistia) with comments on the composition of the Mawsoniidae and Latimeriidae: Evaluating old and new methodological challenges and constraints." Historical Biology 33.12 (2021): 3423-3443. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2020.1867982

[oomles]

Just like the coelacanth, I'm back and better than ever… the restock kickstarter campaign for my lgbt dinosaur pins is now live!

And what's this? Could it be? Are some new critters joining the crew? 👀

I've had a lot of folks ask when these are coming back, so here's your answer; it's RIGHT NOW! But only if we can get enough support to fund that steep upfront cost

Will you be the one to help resurrect these colorful critters? 🦖

Link to the campaign here!

[plesiosaurys]

this is such a niche issue but it annoys me so much when im reading a paper on coelacanths and the author says "they're not living fossils! fossils are dead, and the coelacanth is alive!" yeah dipshit thats what the "living" part is for

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Marine biology ask meme!

I didn't find any so I decided to make one myself! Can be applied to all aquatic animals or just a specific group if one desires (minding some animal group-specific questions, of course). Fish lovers come get your juice!!

What's your favourite aquatic animal?

What's your least favourite aquatic animal?

Do you have a favourite aquarium?

Any aquariums on your bucket list you’d like to visit?

What's your controversial marine biology take?

What’s your favourite semiaquatic animal?

What aquatic animal do you relate to the most? Why?

Favourite cartilaginous fish?

If you could keep any aquatic animal as a pet, with all the space they need and perfect care, what would it be?

Tell me what aquatic animal(s) you think is severely underrated.

Have you ever fished? Do you fish regularly, why or why not?

You are now a werebeast! What aquatic animal shall you choose to be your wereform?

What’s your earliest experience with fish/aquatic animals?

What was an important, defining moment you’ve had with fish/aquatic animals?

Favourite bony fish (ray-fins and lobe-fins alike)?

Who would you give the title of most sexual motherfucker in the ocean to?

Do you keep an aquarium or an outside pond? If so, what animals (or lack thereof) do you keep?

Share your most prized marine-themed possession!

Have you ever been to the ocean?

Gastropods or cephalopods?

Seals or whales?

Billfish or tunas?

Sea stars or sea urchins?

Goldfish or koi?

Coelacanths or lungfish?

Favourite aquatic mythological creature?

You can only invite three deep sea scavengers to your whalefall feast. Who?

What do you like most about aquatic life (e.g. their diversity, their colours, their importance)?

Best aquatic animal name?

Stupidest aquatic animal name?

Can you swim? Do you like swimming?

Do you partake in water sports? Which ones?

Favourite jawless fish?

Best extinct aquatic animal?

Most beautiful fish?

What’s the coolest aquatic animal fact you know?

What’s your favourite ocean- or aquatic animal-related movie (or do you have one in the first place)? Why?

Do you work or study to work in a field that deals with aquatic animals or bodies of water? If not, do you wish you could work in the field?

Favourite non-fish aquatic animal?

Share a pet peeve about something marine-related (e.g. a misconception, a portrayal or lack of portrayal of an animal, etc.) that drives you up the walls.

Dividers by @wateryourgender!! They are very pretty and nice indeed! :D

[simdertalia]

🔍🦎 ACNH Museum Fossils Set 4 🦖🔍

Sims 4, base game compatible. 26 items

I hope you enjoy!

Always suggested: bb.objects ON, it makes placing items much easier. For further placement tweaking, check out the TOOL mod.

Set Contains: Buy: -Acanthostega | 1 swatch | 924 poly -Amber (mosquito inside) | 2 swatches | 869 poly -Ammonoidea | 1 swatch | 610 poly -Anomalocaris | 1 swatch | 734 poly -Archaeopteryx | 1 swatch | 1622 poly -Australopithecus | 1 swatch | 418 poly -Coelacanth Display | 1 swatch | 1398 poly -Coprolite | 1 swatch | 654 poly -Dino Track | 1 swatch | 1044 poly -Display Cloche | 1 swatch | 964 poly -Display Info 1 & 2 | 4 swatches each | 370 poly each -Display Pedestal | 3 swatches | 38 poly -Display Table | 2 swatches | 782 poly -Doorway Sign | 2 swatches | 150 poly -Emergency Exit Sign (glows) | 4 swatches | 112 poly -Eusthenopteron | 1 swatch | 1368 poly -Juramaia | 1 swatch | 810 poly -Meteor Ceiling Decor | 1 swatch | 471 poly -Myllokunmingia | 1 swatch | 410 poly -Shark Display | 1 swatch | 2170 poly -Shark Tooth Pattern | 1 swatch | 800 poly -Trilobite | 1 swatch | 1011 poly -Wall Object (with red light) | 2 swatches (one for green light) | 508 poly -Wall Vents | 1 swatch | 262 poly

Build: Floor: Rubber | 6 swatches | Linoleum & Misc

📁 Download all or pick & choose (SFS, No Ads): https://simfileshare.net/folder/212575/

📁 Alt Mega Download (still no ads): https://mega.nz/folder/4hxFkQga#7L92mwjA25qUP_Qi7pMH5g

📁 Download On Patreon

Will be public on March 9th, 2024 💗

Happy Simming! ✨ Some of my sets will be early access from now on. If you like my work, please consider supporting me:

★ Patreon  🎉 ❤️ |★ Ko-Fi  ☕️  ❤️ ★ Instagram📷

Thank you for reblogging ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

@sssvitlanz  @maxismatchccworld @mmoutfitters  @coffee-cc-finds  @itsjessicaccfinds  @gamommypeach  @stargazer-sims-finds  @khelga68  @suricringe  @vaporwavesims  @mystictrance15 @moonglitchccfinds @xlost-in-wonderlandx @jbthedisabledvet @public-ccfinds

-Museum Fossils Set 1 (public from day of post) -Museum Fossils Set 2 (public from day of post) -Museum Fossils Set 3 (public at midnight tonight) -Pamphlet Holder from Reiki Set ☄️Don’t forget the meteor impact display!

The rest of my CC

[fuckyeahcoelacanths]

What are coelecanths for those of us who dont know and find it way more entertaing to ask a tumblr blog instead of googling it? Sorry if youve done this one already (you probably have)

OH SNAP TIME FOR AN INFODUMP

Coelacanths are a species of fish that live in two places: the West Indian Ocean, especially along South Africa, and Indonesia. And they live deep down in the water, but not deep enough, so trawler fishermen occasionally snag one.

And that's how we found out they existed, because a fisherman picked one up, and was like "goddamn this is a weird looking fish" and called up his museum curator buddy Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer. She was like "omg weird fish, I love it" and started trying to figure out what branch of fish it was from and that...

That's when it gets funky.

Because, see, these fish, they are OLD. They are OLD AS BALLS.

Not individually (although they could be, there are some debates on that), but evolutionarily. Like, we can trace human ancestors back pretty far, and we know where all our recent ones were and they're not that old.

A coelacanth? Its last ancestor was over 150 million years ago. As far as the fossil record goes, it has not evolved since then.

When Marjorie looked at the sample her fisherman buddy gave her, she was like "dude. This fish is a FOSSIL. I have only seen fish like this IN ROCKS."

Coelacanths spend so much time down in dark deep cold water that they just haven't bothered to evolve. They're like "we're good here, this is awesome, hey check it out, a cuttlefish, that's good eating."

And that's why they're so fucking cool. This ancient-ass fish have just been chilling out for literal millennia, letting the world pass them by, not evolving, just perfectly happy where they are. And now we get to see them and be like "y'all rock."

[the-lonelyshepherd]

opinion on coelacanths

AMAZING beasties oughhhhh ,,, living fossils that look SO FUCKING COOL they can get to like six and a half feet long which is insaneee

umm i remember reading about the reproduction which was interesting. coelacanths have the LONGEST gestation period of went vertebrate (three years!!) but they also give birth to LIVE YOUNG!! however they take like up to 20 yearsssss to reach maturity so reproduction is,,, scarce and adds to their critically endangered status.

they’re SO important because they’re an ANCIENT species of fish like i can’t stress this enough we thought this was like a dinosaur type fish and POOF it’s alive NOW??? crazyyyy shit also they’re just so prettyy constellation looking fellas