#live in highly oxygenated Rivers

[subbalakshmisastry]

Charming Pink Tailed Chalceus / pinktail characin

[bethanythebogwitch]

It's big, it's strong, its scaly, it's this week's Wet Beast Wednesday topic! An arapaima, also known as a pirarucu or paiche, is any of four species of fish in the genus Arapaima in the order of bony-tongued fish. There is som ongoing debate about the classification of the species, so to keep thing simple, I'm going to use the most common species names of Arapaima gigas (the type species and most well known, and the one with the most confusion about its classification), Arapaima agassizii, Arapaima leptosoma, and Arapaima mapae. Because A. gigas is the most well-studied of the species, unless I say otherwise you can assume everything I say in this post applies to it.

(image: an arapaima)

Arapaimas are bony fish that retain several primitive traits, causing them to sometimes be identified as "living fossils". They are most notable for their size, with A. gigas being a contender for the largest freshwater fish in the world. The maximum recorded size for one was 3.7 meters (10 ft) and 200 kg (400 lbs), but most get to around 2 meters (6.6 ft) long and 200 kg (440 lbs). That average length is decreasing as overfishing of the largest individuals is resulting in a selective pressure for smaller sizes. In addition to their size, they are extremely strong and can move fast if needed. Arapaima are fully capable of leaping out of the water if disturbed or they feel their current pond in unsuitable. Because of their strength, specimens in captivity must be handled with care as they can easy break bones if they slap someone. They live in rivers and lakes in South America, where they are often the top predators.

(image: several anglers with an arapaima)

Arapaimas are obligate air-breathers and will drown if they can't get to the surface to breathe. This is accomplished with a specialized swim bladder. The swim bladder is filled with highly vascularized tissue, letting it act like a lung. This pseudo-lung opens into the mouth using a modified gill arch known as the labyrinth organ. Arapaima gills are too small to sustain them, but they can supplement their oxygen intake with the gills. Juveniles are born exclusively using their gills and transition into air-breathers shortly after hatching. Arapaimas can survive up to a full day out of the water. They typically surface to gulp in air every 15-20 minutes. Breathing makes a loud gulping sound that anglers use to target them.

(image: an arapaima at the surface)

Because of their ability to breathe air, arapaimas are top predators in low-oxygen environments. Non-air breathing fish are forced to slow down in water with low levels of dissolved oxygen as they can't get enough oxygen through their gills. Since Arapaimas breathe air, they can easily chase down lethargic smaller fish. They are especially potent predators during the low season, when water levels lower. A combination of rotting vegetation reducing oxygen levels and ponds getting cut off from rivers and losing a supply of oxygen lets the arapaima reign supreme. Arapaimas are primarily predators that feed on smaller fish, though they will hunt other types of animals and eat fruits and seeds. Even land animals aren't safe as arapaimas have been known to launch themselves out of the water to catch animals near the shore. A combination of sharp teeth and their bony tongues are used to debilitate prey.

(image: an arapaima with its mouth open)

Not content with powerleveling their attack stat, arapaimas also have excellent defense. Their scales have been compared to bullet proof vests. Each has a hard, mineralized outer layer over multiple layers of collagen fibers. These layers are all oriented at an angle to each other to provide extra strength. This orientation of layers is called a Bouligand-type arrangement and is similar to how plywood is assembled. The harder outer layers and flexible inner layers work together to allow for both strength and flexibility. These scales help provide protection form large predators such as caiman and small threats like biting piranha. They also like provide protection from other arapaima, as the fish are aggressive and will fight each other.

(image: a diagram showing the composition of arapaima scales. source)

You probably wouldn't expect a swimming tank of an animal to be a good parent, but you'd be wrong. Arapaimas work together in mated pairs to build nests for their eggs, then cooperate to guard the nest. Once the eggs hatch, the male will practice mouth brooding, keeping his young safe in his mouth. The female will also help by patrolling the area around the male to ward off predators. They secrete pheromones from their heads to ensure the young don't swim too far away. Eggs are laid either in in the low season or as water levels are starting to rise, ensuring that the young become independent during the high season.

(Image: baby arapaimas)

Arapaima are classified as "data deficient" by the IUCN. This means there isn't enough data to properly assess their conservation needs. They are known to be threatened by overfishing. Arapaima make up a large part of the diet of many South American populations. Habitat loss and pollution are also believed to threaten them. They have been introduced to many areas out of their native range and are an invasive species in placed like Florida, Malaysia, and India.

Does anyone else remember these cards? (image: the arapaima card from Weird n' Wild Creatures)

[kojitheopossum]

Bunch of biology related questions!!

1. Are their fin patterns always the same (basically, are they based off fishes that live in the environment the siren is in)? Are there regional subspecies?

2. Do they come from eggs, like sharks?

3. Roughly how big are the pups?

4. How long is the average lifespan of a siren?

5. Would they live in all parts of the ocean, and maybe evolve traits to help them live there? (For this one I’m imagining a siren in the midnight zone, for example. I think they’d evolve to not have their oxygen intake organ, and maybe bioluminescence. I also think they’d be smaller, because the lack of food down there.)

Sorry for the buttload of questions this AU has been living rent-free in my brain :D

ohhh ho ho rubbing my hands together I'm so excited to answers thesee

1) Siren are a highly diverse species but the only two subspecies are the open ocean siren and the smaller sea based siren that populate places like the mediterranean. Siren tend to be very isolated due to aggression, so regions don’t really develop. They don’t tend to resemble any particular fish, but their body shape, color patterns, and “human” features can vary, for example this siren that appears while gems describing them looks very different from etho .

2) Yes! eggs are laid by a female in warm, shallower waters, usually reefs, siren grow up by themselves so the reefs allow them to learn how to hunt the abundant smaller fish. Also, the first born siren will then proceed to eat all the other eggs 💔

3) Pups reach a few feet before hatching, once they hatch they experience rapid growth for the next few years.

4) Technically they don’t die of old age, however the average life span tends to be around 100 years from a combination of interspecies fighting and human hunting (most boats are required to be armed with anti-siren measures). This average is a bit misleading however, most siren either die young (<50) or live much longer than 100.

5) They do in fact live in all parts of the ocean!! The example you give is actually very close to etho, with his small bioluminescent flecks, pale sickly redish coloring, and weak oxygen organ (though it’s still there). However with the size, he’s much larger due to deep sea gigantism. Siren closer to the poles tend to have much more fat storage to keep warm and are mostly black and white while siren in warmer waters tend to be smaller and more nimble to weave between coral. The only body of water they don’t populate is freshwater lakes or rivers, though some have gotten used to the brackish waters of coasts and gulfs.

Don’t apologize, answering questions is one of my favorite parts of the au!!!

[craftingcreatures]

Today I want to talk about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus (Octopus paxarbolis).

OK, so for those who don't know, the PNW Tree Octopus was an internet hoax created in 1998 consisting of a website detailing the animal's life history and conservation efforts. It's completely fake - saying that up front. This animal never existed.

But if you look at this from a speculative biology standpoint? It's genius.

There is one, and only one, thing preventing Octopus from colonizing and being hugely successful in terrestrial environments in the PNW, and that's the fact that no cephalopod has ever been able to overcome the osmotic stress of inhabiting freshwater. We don't know why this is; other mollusks evolved freshwater forms just fine. But if you hand-wave away that one, single limiting factor, the PNW is just primed for a terrestrial octopus invasion.

The Pacific coast of North America is an active tectonic boundary, meaning the coast transitions pretty much immediately into the Cascade and Coastal mountain ranges (contrast with the east coast and its broad Atlantic plain). It's also a lush temperate rainforest, with very high precipitation. This means lots and lots of high-gradient mountain streams with lots of waterfalls and rapids and cold, highly oxygenated water, and not as many large, meandering rivers.

This has important consequences on the freshwater fauna. For one, there are not many freshwater fish in the Pacific Northwest - the rapids and waterfalls are extremely hard to traverse, so many mountain streams are fish-free. There also just isn't much fish diversity in the first place - there's sturgeon in the big rivers, salmonids, a few sculpin and cyprinids and... that's pretty much it. These cold northern rivers are positively impoverished compared to the thriving fish communities of the Mississippi or Rio Grande.

Few fish means few predators, and depending on the size of the first freshwater octopus, salmon and trout just wouldn't be much of a threat. And while these rivers don't have much in the way of fish diversity, there's lots of prey available - crayfish, leeches, mosquito larvae, frogs and tadpoles, water striders, and other aquatic insects, just to name a few. So the first Octopus pioneers to invade the rivers would be entering what essentially amounts to a predator-free environment with lots and lots of food and no competition. Great for colonization.

These ideal conditions get even better once you get up past the rapids and waterfalls, since there's no fish whatsoever in those streams. Octopus, with their sucker-lined arms, are perfectly equipped to navigate fast-moving, rocky-bedded streams and climb up cliffs. They'd also be well able to traverse short stretches of dry ground to access even more isolated pools and ponds. In fact, once Octopus overcome the osmoregulation problem there's nothing at all preventing them from colonizing land in earnest, since the PNW rainforests are so wet; there's no danger of drying out.

Finally there's the question of reproduction. Octopus are famously attentive mothers, because they need to keep the water around their eggs moving and well-oxygenated. In a mountain stream, this wouldn't be an issue, because the cold, turbulent water holds lots and lots of oxygen. Breeding in high mountain streams would be ideal, and the mothers might not even need to attend to their eggs, freeing them up to evolve away from semelparity and allowing them to reproduce more than once in their lives; their populations would thus increase rapidly and dramatically.

I think, if octopus managed to invade freshwater ecosystems in the PNW, it would dramatically change the ecology much like an invasive species. They'd be unstoppable predators of frogs, bugs, slugs, maybe even larger animals like snakes, birds, and small mammals. Nothing would eat them except maybe herons, and things like bears and raccoons would give them a wide berth due to their venom. They would rule that landscape.

The tl;dr is that the PNW is primed for invasion by cephalopods, if only they could manage to overcome the osmoregulation problem and live in freshwater. If the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus really did exist, it wouldn't be a shy and reclusive species on the brink of extinction; it would be a pest, an invasive, overpopulated menace you couldn't get rid of if you wanted to. I can just imagine them crawling up onto people's bird feeders and either stealing the nuts or luring in unsuspecting sparrows and starlings. They would sit in the trees and throw pinecones at hikers for fun. They would be some unholy mixture of snake and slug with the personality of a magpie and I am incensed that they only exist in fiction.

[katakaluptastrophy]

Stele raise really interesting questions about how necromancy *works*.

We hear a lot of talk about theorems, and the idea that necromancers are seeing the way a particular bit of magic works written out - one has to assume - like maths or scientific notation. But generally speaking, the necromancy we see is being done is in a moment, by a person, to an organic substance.

The exception is spirit magic, which seems to be very diverse. We have ghosts and siphoning, which seem more straightforward, but also psychometry, and also conjuring fire?! And then there's stele. The glossary in GTN says that spirit magic

"is diverse, and can range widely from creation of anti-thalergy and anti-thanergy spaces (impregnation of spirit energy into non-River spaces) to...forming conduits to the River..."

It makes the distinction that all of this is different to the living physically accessing the River, which can only be done by Jod and the Lyctors.

We don't know how stele travel works, but we have to assume it's through one of these mechanisms. Which is apparently done by constantly bathing a monolith in oxygenated blood. And what's been carved on the monolith, by highly specialised adepts, seems to also be key. Which is the only instance we see of a non-organic object apparently being used for necromancy. Perhaps the carvings are lined with bone or impregnated with blood, or perhaps it's the shaping of the blood that's important, but I'm intrigued by the mechanism by which an adept can carve something, causing an interaction with blood that can then allow a non-specialist such as Judith (who is technically a spirit magician as a siphoner, sure, but is definitely not doing ghostly interdimensional physics on the regular) to pilot a craft.

Shaping blood to make wards or symbols of some kind would make sense with what we know about necromancy. But when Mercymorn describes a stele, she says: “A stele is eight feet tall, covered in the dead languages by special Fifth adepts, and continually bathed in oxygenated blood”. Which makes it sound like the langagues, and therefore what's written in them, are significant.

But I think that what the glossary definition is getting at is that what unifies spirit magic is energy manipulation: you're drawing energy from someone or using it to manipulate a spirit, to harness raw spirit energy like Isaac's fireballs, or using it to make a conduit between our plain of existence and the River. In the latter case, that's either to call ghosts from the River into a contained space in our world (perhaps warding is creating anti-thalergy or anti-thanergy spaces?), to control those spirits once they're in our world, or to otherwise manipulate those conduits. The latter bit is probably what's relevant here.

I suspect that stele travel is literally doing some kind of necromantic warp bubbling. If Jod and the Lyctors can literally just tether their spirits into their bodies and physically traverse the River with just a ghost ward, is stele travel the creation of some kind of anti-thanergy bubble or conduit - bending spacetime via the River but being protected from physically entering it?

[serpentface]

So how does magic, gods, and other supernatural nonsense work in the new blightseed?

The biggest material difference between this world and our own is an objectively existing parallel plane that leaks into the material plane at certain points and makes the 'laws' of the material plane more malleable where they cross (rift zones). It has many names but 'the Ether' and 'the Dreamlands' is what's used most commonly in my writing.

The Ether has both sentient and non-sentient 'fauna' that frequently cross into the material plane. Most come and go unnoticed, but those that are noticed are highly susceptible to influence by an observer- frequent observation will shape Etheric fauna into fixed forms and ascribe qualities to the fauna that the witness believes it to have. It's sort of an unknowing dream-dreamer relationship.

An Etheric lifeform that is repeatedly observed and becomes culturally established may gradually be shaped into what we would describe as a spirit, supernatural entity, or even a god, and develop some of the reality-altering abilities ascribed to them. (note that this relationship is not even CLOSE to well-known or understood, and tends to be only theorized by devoted scholarly groups or the knowledge of peoples historically living close to rifts).

THAT BEING SAID.....

GODS/RELIGION/THE SUPERNATURAL:

Assume it functions basically the same as real life (with some additional nuances). There is no more of what most would consider 'definitive'/'material' proof of creator deities/the afterlife/etc than there is in real life. Cultural/religious groups see evidence of their gods and other religious elements in the world, but it's nothing ''''solid'''' per-se. (IE you could be an atheist in this setting without anything directly contradicting your beliefs)

However there is the aforementioned etheric fauna that are have functionally been shaped into gods/supernatural entities via observation and belief. Some folkloric entities are material Etheric fauna, but just as many legendary monsters are in the realm of mythology and belief. I'll mostly call deified Etheric fauna 'living gods' which is an in-universe scholarly term in the Great Gate region.

FOR EXAMPLE: the Nekh demigod Hai-Taihe materially exists as an unkillable talking dog with a sword that is physically encountered by travellers, she was once Etheric fauna who has been shaped into a living god through over a thousand years of belief and veneration. The Nekh 'river queen' spirits said to haunt fishermen, (depicted as gigantic river kings with female elowey attributes) are widely believed in and encounters are claimed, but there is not necessarily a physical entity running around with those characteristics (who knows, though?).

Magic:

Magic DOES materially exist, but it's incredibly subtle and there is no clear and objective line between folk belief/witchcraft and 'actual magic', no single in-universe word to describe the phenomena, and no one in-universe can make definitive factual statements on how exactly it works, what powers it, where it comes from, etc.

Observations made through rigorous magical scholarship tends to connect magic with the Ether (as its effects are strengthened in rift zones) and identify magic as will made material, influencing possible physical outcomes by concentrated willpower. A person can influence a moving ball to roll off a table more easily than to influence a motionless ball into rolling. It's effects can be strengthened through practices affecting consciousness such as psychoactive substance usage, meditation, oxygen deprivation, heightened emotional states, dreaming, etc.

Any sophont is capable of magic, but the degree of practice and mental control required to generate practical results makes its usage relatively insignificant in the grand cultural schema, and has had fairly minimal impact on the technologies of this setting. And as in real life, forms of magic/witchcraft/rituals etc are practiced without necessarily generating any unambiguous material effects (while still being believed effective).

There is absolutely nothing inherent to sophonts that allows for their magic usage, it's just that animals who do not have abstract cognitive abilities typically cannot work magic by the nature of it needing abstract cognition to work. (there are a few exceptions with non-sentient animals who have, via natural selection, developed highly specific forms of magic (usually used for predator evasion))

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Some friends and I are planning to play a superhero-themed RPG and I'm planning a girl who has limited shapeshifting to give herself features and abilities of aquatic life. Things like octopus camouflage and tentacles, bioluminescence, electric pulses, venomous stingers, etc. And I was curious if you could recommend some really strange and obscure adaptations that could be fun to use, or a source to find information on said strange adaptations :)

Oh you’re in luck, the ocean is full of crazy and cool adaptations of animals! I’m just going to be naming any and all that come to mind in a random order because upon hearing this question I got like a million ideas at once. Stargazer fishes have both electricity impulse-generation ability and venomous spines. Hagfish are a classic, they can secrete tons of super sticky slime. Boxfish can excrete poisons from their skin into the water, and their relatives pufferfishes and porcupinefishes can have several toxins in the skin and organs. Many coldwater deep sea fishes like wolf eels have antifreeze proteins in their blood to survive in the freezing water. Some fishes that sometimes live in low-oxygen environments can respire anaerobically by producing ethanol, for example crucian carps and other carps too I think (goldfish for example). Others have specially evolved swim bladders or highly vascularised tissues in the mouth or have a special derived organ of the gills that can also take in oxygen from the atmosphere to supplement low oxygen, but likely your RPG will take place on land anyway so. Parrotfish have 15 rows of teeth that form a hard beak, the beak is formed from the second strongest biomineral in the world and the parrotfish can scrape rocks and even chew coral with it. The strongest biomineral in the world belongs to chitons, a fellow aquatic mollusk that also scrapes things off of rocks. Cone snails have a venomous harpoon-like radula tooth which they can shoot (their radula “tongue” still attached) at prey and predators alike, paralysing small prey instantly and even killing humans. They even have a radula sac where they store the rest of their radulas, ready for use! Moray eels have a second, tiny pair of jaws that help with grabbing onto prey. Tunas and billfish (and some sharks) can heat up their eyes and brain to gain superior vision while hunting. Also both can change colour — many fishes do in fact. Salmonids can smell their home river while migrating back from the ocean, which requires a phenomenal smelling ability. Besides smell many fish have taste buds all over their bodies, usually focused on any barbels and their faces, like in catfish or sturgeon. Many fishes can sense electricity via ampullae of Lorenzini, famously sharks and paddlefish. Elephantfish sense and communicate with fellow elephantfishes via low frequency electricity. Many fishes have extendable mouths, lips, or jaws, like the goblin shark, slingjaw wrasse and john dory to name a few. Seahorses are ridiculously good predators — though granted, their prey is copepods — that vacuum in their prey through their tubular mouth by jerking back their head. Cuttlefish can cause seizures in their prey by rapidly changing colour. Some squids have teeth in their suckers. Zebrafish can regenerate up to 20% of its heart. Sea stars can regenerate a whole new sea star from a severed arm. Electric eels have their powerful shock, and it is even proposed that they could be able to force their prey out of hiding by generating electricity that moves their muscles.

That’s some that came to mind! And you already mentioned bioluminescence, haha! I named so many things that it’s probably best that you go see more information about each on your own, I think sources are pretty simple to find if you just look up these things with important keywords. Hope this helps!

[endangered-aquarium-fish]

Zebra pleco (Hypancistrus zebra)

Critically endangered

Stripy guy!!! 

Zebra plecos are a really funky fish :3 Partly just because they’re in the loricariid or suckermouth catfish family, along with those massive common plecos and the tiny little ottos, so they have a mouth like a suction cup and huge spiked bony scales like some kind of wicked looking fantasy armor growing just under their skin. Partly also because they look like tiny zebras, and partly because they’re kinda odd even for a suckermouth catfish.

They’re probably the smallest pleco at around 3 inches long, but somehow they manage to live even longer and slower than the gigantic ones - they can easily take four or five years to grow to maturity and stay alive for a couple decades. 

Also, other plecos and ottos are known for eating a lot of algae - enough that people call them a “cleanup crew” for their aquarium, as if these little creatures were always destined for a career as janitors. Zebra plecos sure weren’t though - they’re the only member of their family that’s a predator. 

Their ancestral home is the crystal clear water of the Rio Xingú in Brazil, a fast and powerful river, highly oxygenated and energetic, and full of huge volcanic boulders that the plecos cling to for their lives. Each pleco claims its own boulder and defends it fiercely, so it can use the holes in the rock to hide from pike cichlids and spend the night munching on crustaceans, worms, and other invertebrates that cling onto stones just like the fish does - the whole ecosystem is constantly battered by the crashing water. 

…it was at least. The Brazilian government, with its boundless contempt for biodiversity, decided to construct the Belo Monte dam directly on the Rio Xingú. The whole river is now either permanently flooded or permanently dry, depending which side of the dam it's on. Multiple endemic species are now likely to go extinct very soon. Living in the middle of such a powerful river seems harsh to us, but it’s what they need to survive. Stagnant lakes and trickling streams just aren’t enough.

People have tried rescuing some zebra plecos and moving them to similar rivers nearby, but for some reason it hasn’t worked. The only thing that has worked, and luckily pretty well, is caring for them in our own aquariums. And they’re sweeties so let’s learn how :3

The only problem with keeping zebra plecos is that they’re new to the fish trade and they don’t breed fast, so they’re really expensive, but thank goodness they’re getting more accessible as we speak and they should be a lot cheaper soon so keep an eye out for when they are. 

Other than that their care isn’t super duper simple but it’s definitely doable. The tank should be at least 30 gallons for a small group, they don’t need anything huge since they’re tiny and they all pick their own little spots to stay in. They LOVE rocks, give them lots of rocks- in big piles full of little caves where they can all find their own spot to chill during the day (they’re mostly nocturnal and shy but they come out for food). They’re very territorial, so a zebra pleco tank should look a lot like an African cichlid tank - lots of different rock piles and at least a couple different caves for each fish, and sightbreaks so they don’t have to look at each other all the time… its pretty awkward (and upsetting) for them to stare at their neighbors all day…..

Like I said earlier they need fast water flow, so make sure you have some kind of pump or powerhead or large filter to give them that. Try not to blast water directly into the caves or they won’t use them. They also need really warm water, like 79-86 degrees F, and lots of dissolved oxygen, so make sure you have a good bubbler. The bubbler is especially important since warmer water can’t hold as much oxygen. They need rlly clean water too so do regular water changes. They’re okay in a pH of 6.5 to 7.5 but they prefer less than 7, and they’re generally adaptable to different levels of water hardness but if it’s too hard the shells of their eggs can thicken and make it impossible to hatch, so be aware of that if they lay eggs. 

Zebra plecos are perfectly fine on their own, but it’s best to have a small group since you really should try to breed them. They usually breed a lot more at around 85 degrees F. Try to have at least two females for every male to spread out the aggression, since males are usually a lot more aggressive. When they’re ready to breed, a male will try to entice a female to swim into his cave, where she’ll stay for 1-5 days laying eggs while the male guards the entrance. Then the male fertilizes the eggs and takes care of them until they hatch a week later and the fry leave in search of food after using up their yolk sacs three days after that. He stays constantly vigilant for predators and fans the eggs with his tail the whole time to keep them clean and oxygenated. Plecos are very good parents :3

They’re pretty chill with their own babies and they never really bother them about anything. Same for other fish species; plecos are fine with anyone except a rival pleco intruding on their territory, but even then their little squabbles never really cause any serious injuries. Make sure whatever you put in the tank with them is small, slow, and calm, or it’ll snatch up all the food before the plecos can get any. Also, they love eating snails, so I’d suggest ottos instead as an algae eater.

They need a meat-based diet like what they’d get in the wild, but it’s good to give them some veggies like zucchini as a supplement. Some of their fav meats are bloodworms and brine shrimp (the babies will eat the same stuff as their parents if you crush it into tiny bite-sized bits), but the most important thing is that the food can sink - otherwise they just won’t eat it since they love slurping worms off the ground like little dogs eating the spaghetti you dropped at dinner… they usually wait for food to naturally drift to their own rocks so make sure you spread it around the tank for them. 

Zebra plecos are a little weird and shy and I love them for it. Hopefully it won't be too long before we can all take care of some :3

[tribbetherium]

You mentioned something in one of the asks about aquatic shroomors/meatmoss and daggoths being capable of limited underwater respiration? What are those species like?

Many underground rivers and lakes pass through the Sub-Arcuterran cavern system, running for miles through its tunnels and chambers for great distance, their waterways slowly but surely eroding through rock, and expanding the subterranean network that for millennia has become a strange and alien world.

In this lightless realm, plants cannot survive, and thus the biosphere has rooted itself on the existence of chemosynthetic bacteria: a plentiful organism able to thrive without sun. Forming bacterial mats on walls and floors and on the water's surface, the bacteria have struck up a symbiosis with fungi, forming the mocklichens, but more recently with a far more unusual partner--meatmoss, a free-living, free-growing harmster tumor that has long since outlived its host and begun to grow much as a slime mold would.

Requiring moist environments to grow, some have taken to the water entirely: where both the meatmoss and its symbiont bacteria absorb necessary compounds from the water and from the surface it anchors to. As meatmoss respires through direct absorption of oxygen, aquatic meatmoss, such as cavern fleshfern (Oncophyton spinatus) have developed long, branching frond-like shapes to maximize the surface area for gas exchange, running along rock as webbed filaments but producing clusters of long tendrils that in essence serve as the whole organism's "gills". Cavern fleshfern also uses these fronds to reproduce, forming singular cells encased in capsules containing their symbiotic bacteria and releasing them into the water to settle and grow elsewhere where the currents of the water take them.

The abundance of fleshfern has not gone unnoticed by a group of aquatic daggoths: the tubesnouts. While most are filter-feeders that subsist of the floating mats of chemosynthetic bacteria and the micro-invertebrates that thrive on them, one species, the feathery tubesnout (Linguibranchiae pennadactylus), has taken up grazing on fleshfern that grows in large masses at the water's bottom. Like all mammals, feathery tubesnouts are air-breathers: their nostrils elongating into flexible built-in snorkels, their central nose tendril being greatly reduced to more easily reach the surface.

But the feathery tubesnout has a secret trick up its sleeve: its tongue, equipped with fringes that allowed its kin to filter-feed, has become highly vascularized, allowing it to absorb oxygen from the water. This is not a particularly efficient way to respire, even when aided by its slow metabolism and small size that greatly reduce its oxygen needs, but it can prolong its dives for up to three hours before needing to surface for air again. As such, propelled by undulations of its eight pairs of fin-like fingers and navigating with a combination of touch, hearing, and a strong sense of taste that functions much like smell when underwater, the feathery tubesnout grazes for hours on end at the bottoms of the subterranean ponds, chewing away at fleshfern fronds with the aid of its incisors--still unmistakably rodent-like ones that seem almost out of place on something so un-rodentlike.

This frequent grazing over millennia has incited a response from the fleshfern: to protect its reproductive and respiratory fronds, it has begun growing defensive measures on them to ward off attackers. These come in the form of thorn-like spikes, growing along the stems and branches of the fronds, much like the thorns of the stems of a plant. Yet it is almost easy to forget that the meatmoss is in fact an animal: made entirely of masses of undifferentiated cells, a new semblance of anatomical order has begun to arise from the chaos of a mass of free-living cancer cells from millions of years in their new lifestyle. Modified clumps of cells lining the fronds have developed the ability to produce keratinous sheaths from a long-hidden, latent ability to form specialized tissues akin to those of a more-organized animal: to defend itself, in the dawn of a strange new arms-race, a false plant has struck back with an analogue of botanical thorns--but are, in a structural sense, claws.

[zarvasace]

So, um. Hi, it's me again. Happy new years and I hope you like badly planned posters because I sure have one for you.

I have more thoughts, now, and I'm going to try to put most of it into a post. I tried writing a scene but it was just info dumping and not very interesting, so here's me info dumping right to you! I'm including the full character illustrations too. Hop on in and let's go cruisin

The Setting

A galaxy with wormhole pockets that allow for quick interplanetary travel. Might be magic. There's a lot of technology and a little bit of magic. Despite all the technology, no sophisticated AI has actually worked out, so there aren't androids or anything, and robots aren't super common.

The Hyrule system has one star, called Hylia after the goddess. The star has three smaller star satellites, called Din, Farore, and Nayru. Several livable planets dwell in the system:

The Plains has native Hylians and Minish. It used to be called Hyrule until the name was expanded to cover the whole system. It's mostly towns and rivered forests, with one large continent and one enormous sea dotted with islands.

Ordon is a twin planet system with native Twili on one and humans on the other. Humans came to settle after the solar system united, and are still brand new to the area

Domain is a water planet where Zora live, high in seafood exports. Shallow Zora are generally even-tempered and are the ones that interact with others most often. Deep Zora are hostile and have designed their own ships to maraud abroad, though the Shallow Zora have a tentative peace treaty with them

Other planets I haven't named yet with Rito, Gerudo, Gorons, and forest fey

Long ago, when space travel through the Hyrule system just began, an impending apocalyptic war caused the Hylians to leave their native planet on a massive ship called Skyloft. Those on the planet were subject to wars and diseases and cataclysms until only one godlike lich remained. Those on Skyloft embraced peace and established relations with other governments throughout the galaxy (and intermarried. That's important.)

Eventually, a hero appeared, and the Skyloft Hylians returned home to rebuild.

Our Characters' Stories

Okay honestly I'm not sure yet about all this, so I'll mostly keep quiet. The broad strokes are as follows—an unsuspecting Link is employed as some kind of security by a large company, tentatively named Sorcerer Enterprises. The same company directs Shadow to kidnap him. They artificially activate Link's long-dormant non-Hylian genes to induce the split, turning him into four highly malnourished people with strong elemental associations.

Conditions aren't great, but our heroes (plus Shadow, eventually, and Zelda) manage to escape and topple Sorcerer Enterprises in the process. Unfortunately, there's a bigger fish. They escape with files and information, enough to know that Ganon is out there, intending to take over the system and the galaxy. They know how to stop him, they think.

Characters!

I talked a bit about them in my earlier post, so I'll just go through the illustrations and point out the details! Please forgive the iffy quality, I was trying to be fast and not perfect, and I think it turned out all right.

Green is associated with air. He's the pilot, and also wears a lil air purifier/compressor thing because he's generally in need of more oxygen than his lungs can normally get (thus the tube thingy.) He also has rocket shoes and a cool cape. :) The thing on his arm is a portable computer, most others have them, too. The bright cyan indicates cool technology, usually.

Red is, of course, fire, and gets cold easily. He has heat-resistant work gloves and here is shown lighting an explosive. Whoops. He also has a heated sweater but I decided to not draw it this time. His boots have steel-capped toes because he bangs into things on accident a lot.

Blue is water and gets warm fast, so his clothes are lighter materials. He usually has cans of compressed water on him, along with medical supplies and rations and flashlights and spare batteries and— anyway he has some cool armor stuff and an undercut (because that feels so right.)

Vio is earth and the tech boy. His weapon is his backpack, which can pop out with a tiny little artillery post. His hair is longer but not too much longer, he hasn't had a lot of time to grow it out. That jumpsuit thingy he's wearing was designed for an alien race that has an oozelike form, it squeezes and exerts pressure evenly across the entire body. As the earth-element-aligned, he doesn't like feeling as if he'll explode.

Ngl I love Zelda's design here. She's not exactly a princess here, but she does have traces of light magic. She's also good with a gun. Her elbow and knee pads can give her a full-body shield if she needs it.

Shadow is a genetically modified clone of the original Link. They made him to be a replacement, or a nemesis, he's not sure, but he's on his way to find his own identity now. (he might go a little too far sometimes. He painted purple flames on his boots.) Is his hair fluffy enough?

Their ship isn't new, but it's not garbage, either. It's a bit small, with six of them. They have a quest!!

And those are most of the thoughts that are solid enough to share XD mostly I just drew silly art.

[girlwarlock]

Looking for a tunglr poast

Okay so i'm looking for a specific tumblr post that was like... examining what a "breadbasket world" would look like in a typical space capitalist dystopia setting, and the ways it would suck to live there and the ways using a world that way would wreck the biosphere of that world.

Some details I remember:

A description of a massive grow structure perched over a highly contaminated river; water flows in one side, noxious and glowing. it flows out the other, no longer glowing, but no less toxic

all the plant growth jacks up the oxygen content of the air, making the people who live there more productive while shortening their lives as they burn out faster than their bodies can repair

extracting and burning coal, not for power but explicitly to put CO2 in the atmosphere for greenhouse effect and to make carbon available for plant growth

large inefficient outdoor fields (as opposed to the efficient controlled growth in the grow arcologies) where functionally-identical "natural" crops are grown for sale at a premium

So yes--i'd love to lay eyes on this post and read it again, but tumblr search sucks and i'd love help finding it. Thanks in advance~~~

(if you don't know about this post or do but don't know where to find it, i'd super-appreciate a reblog--it'll help more people see it and increase my chances of someone finding it)

edit: Found it

[love-studying58]

Breakdown of Masters of the Air trailer Part 3

The last and final conclusion of my highly anticipated Masters of the Air trailer post.

Sorry this took a little while longer. [I had family members over today as well as work in the evening, but here we are]. Hopefully this one is just as interesting. I’d love to know your thoughts.

Let’s talk about Lieutenant Colonel Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal. During the course of the war, he flew 52 missions as an American bomber pilot and survived being shot down twice. He was known as the most decorated pilot of the 100th. He later became commanding officer of the 350th and 418th Bombardment Squadrons.

On an October 10, 1943 mission over Münster, the Royal Flush B-17, which Rosenthal’s crew was flying that day, was the only plane which returned. Two engines were shot, the intercom and the oxygen system was not working, and a large, ragged hole was found in the right wing.

We have what seems like a medic and a few men hauling an injured crew member of theirs out of a badly damaged plane.

Above, beside Rosie is Sgt. Michael V. Boccuzzi. I couldn’t find anything about him in the book, but there’s a link to who he was here: https://100thbg.com/personnel/?personnel_id=413

Next, we have a scene with Cleven fighting a german officer on the ground in enemy territory. This seems likely that it could have happened after Cleven escaped Stalag Luft lll, as below, or when he crashes his plane in enemy territory and gets captured by the germans.

In another clip, we see Major John Egan in a river or a marshland of some sort. Seems like he could have been shot down and is also in enemy territory.

In the final shot I can make out from the trailer, there seems to be a lot of bombing happening in places where people are living. Most had to clear rubble and debris away.

This likely is a scene from Masters of the Air where civilians are faced with opposing threat of death due to the bombing, as shown below:

FYI concerning every one of my three posts, I am in no way a historian or have a major in history. I have simply enjoyed compiling information and everything related to the trailers. I also want to add that my interpretation could COMPLETELY be wrong.

I cannot wait to watch the series with you all. I’ve had a marvellous time completing this fun little project and hope you gained something from my posting. I know this post wasn’t as action packed or had every little detail. This was one of the harder posts to try and compile. ❤️

As always, if you happen to have questions or concerns related to my posts, please message me. I’d love to discuss.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: spiny softshell turtle

It may be neither Flat Fuck Friday nor Turtle Tuesday, but because this is my series and I can do what I want, I'm talking about a very flat turtle. The spiny softshell turtle (Apalone spinifera) is the most widely distributed and possibly the most common softshell turtle in North America. Its range covers most of the Eastern half of the USA and stretched into Canada and Mexico. There are 6 subspecies separated by geography and hybridization can happen in places where their ranges cross. Hybridization has also been known to happen with the Florida softshell (Apalone ferox). The subspecies are the northern (A. s. spinifera), gulf coast (A. s. aspera), Texas (A. s. emoryi), pallid (A. s. pallida), Guadalupe (A. s. guadalupensis), and black (A. s. atra) spiny softshells.

(Image: a spiny softshell turtle seen from above and to the side. It is a turtle with a wide, flat shell. Its head and one foot are visible. The head is skinny and has an elongated nose. The foot is wide and flat, with webbed toes. The turtle is an olive green with black dots on the skin, yellow stripes on the face, and dark spots on the shell. End ID)

The thing that makes a softshell a softshell is the lack of keratinized scutes on their shells. This makes the shells smooth and leathery. The center of the shell has a layer of solid bone user it, but this does not extend to the edges of the shell, making it less rigid. Softshells are the fragile speedsters of the turtle world. Their shells are a lot lighter and often more streamlined, allowing for faster movement both on land and in water, but they provide less defense. Spiny softshells have spiny projections along the front edge of the carapace (upper shell), with males having more than females. They are some of the largest North American freshwater turtles. Females can reach a carapace length of 54 cm (21 in) and 11 kg (25 lbs) while the smaller males max out at about 25 cm (10 in).

(Image: a spiny softshell being held by a person, seen from the front. The leading edge of the carapace is visible, showing off the small spines. End ID)

Spiny softshells have wide, flat, paddle-like feet with three claws and an elongated nose that acts like a snorkel. The turtles are born a bright olive color with striped faces and dark spots on the shell. Males keep their juvenile coloration for their entire lives while females grow darker ad lose many of their markings. It can be very difficult to tell females of different subspecies apart, while males and juveniles can be distinguished by their markings. Smooth skin and highly vascularized membranes in the cloaca, mouth, and throat allow the turtles to breathe by diffusing dissolved oxygen from the water into their blood.

(Image: a male and female spiny softshell facing each other. The male is less than half the size of the female and has an olive colored shell and skin, with dark spots on the shell. The female is a uniform muddy brown color. End ID)

Spiny softshells are generalists able to live in a wide range of habitats. They prefer streams, rivers, and ponds with muddy or sandy bottoms and high visibility, but can live in most freshwater habitats. Softshells are diurnal, spending their days basking and feeding. Being turtles, they are ectothermic, meaning their body temperature matches the surrounding temperature. To warm themselves up, the turtles bask in the sunlight. They can often be found resting on exposed rocks, logs, sandbars, or shorelines. While not particularly social animals, the turtles will bask in groups. When threatened, softshells will attempt to swim away and/or bury themselves. In the right sediment, a softshell can bury itself in under a second. Because their shells are less rigid, softshells have to actively defend themselves when cornered and will bite and scratch. People have to be careful when handling them. They brumate (that's hibernation for reptiles) during winter. While brumating, they bury themselves underwater and slow their metabolism and oxygen requirements. In this state they can fully sustain themselves on oxygen absorbed through their skin or special membranes.

(Image: a spiny softshell turtle buried in its hunting strategy. Only the head is visible above the sand. End ID)

They are primarily carnivores and will eat anything that can fit in their mouths. Aquatic insects, crayfish, worms, amphibians, mussels, snails, fish, and more are on their plate. While capable of fast swimming, they are not pursuit predators. They employ two primary hunting strategies. The first is to bury themselves in the sediment and wait for prey to come by. The second is digging in the sediment to find worms and other animals. Fish have been known to follow digging turtles around to feed on animals unearthed by them.

(Image: a spiny softshell in captivity. It is swimming at the surface of the water in a tank, amongst artificial leaves. End ID)

Spiny softshells mate in spring. Males attempt to woo females by swimming over to them and bumping heads together. The male then sits on top of the female to mate. Unlike most species of turtles, the males do not grab onto the female's shells during mating. Eggs are laid between summer and early fall and will hatch next spring. The female will dig a nest in sandy or gravelly banks and bury the eggs once they have been laid. She provides no further care. Females will typically mate multiple times each year, with each mating having a different nest. The juveniles take 8 to 10 years to reach sexual maturity and they can live up to 50 years in the wild. Many turtles determine sex by the temperature the eggs are incubated in. This is not the case with spiny softshells, who have genetics based sex determination.

(Image: a group of 5 juveniles. The photo focuses on two who are sitting next to each other. One has its front right leg on the shell of the other. They have similar coloration to an adult male. End ID)

(Image: a newborn emerging from its egg. The egg is round and white, looking like a ping-pong ball. Only the head of the turtle has emerged. End ID)

Most subspecies of spiny softshell are classified as least concern or near threatened by the IUCN, meaning they are not in danger of extinction. The exception is the black spiny softshell, also known as the Cuatro Ciénegas softshell, which is critically endangered. The primary threats to the turtles is habitat loss due to human activity. Adults have no natural predators outside of the Florida and adjacent state populations, which are prey to alligators. Juveniles are eaten by a variety of animals including fish, snakes, raccoons, and herons. People will also eat the adults. Because it can take a whole decade for juveniles to become reproductive, losses in population take a long time to replace. They have been introduced to areas outside of their native range, most notably the western USA. Most of these introductions are due to people releasing pet turtles into the wild.

(Image: someone holding a juvenile. The shell is 2-3 times the size of the human's thumb. End ID)

[tutoroot]

What is the Importance of Flora? 

Flora encompasses all the plant species inhabiting a specific geographic area or ecosystem. It includes a diverse range of plants, such as trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses, algae, mosses, ferns, and more. These plants vary in terms of their characteristics, such as size, shape, color, and lifespan. Flora not only beautifies our surroundings but also plays a crucial role in various ecological processes. 

Features of Flora

Flora consists of vegetation found both on land and in bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, and oceans. 

It helps in the process of photosynthesis, converting sunlight into energy and releasing oxygen. 

Flora provides habitats and food sources for many animal species. 

It contributes to climate regulation by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. 

Importance of Flora

Flora serves various essential functions and the importance of flora are described below, 

Oxygen Production: Plants, through photosynthesis, produce oxygen, which is vital for all living organisms, including humans. 

Food Source: Many animals, including herbivores and omnivores, rely on plants for their food. Without flora, these animals would have no sustenance. 

Habitat: Flora provides shelter and nesting sites for countless creatures, creating a suitable habitat for fauna. 

Erosion Control: Plant roots help anchor soil, preventing erosion and maintaining soil quality. 

Climate Regulation: Trees and other vegetation play a role in regulating local climates by providing shade and releasing moisture into the air. 

Medicinal Plants: Several plants have medicinal properties and are used in traditional medicine worldwide. 

Aesthetic and Recreational Value: Beautiful gardens, parks, and natural landscapes enrich our lives and provide recreational opportunities. 

Biodiversity: A diverse flora supports a diverse fauna, leading to a healthier ecosystem. 

Flora and fauna are integral components of our natural world, each playing a unique role in maintaining biodiversity and ecological harmony. While flora refers to plants, fauna encompasses animals, and both contribute to the overall functioning and resilience of ecosystems. Understanding the definitions, importance, and differences between flora and fauna allows us to appreciate and conserve the remarkable diversity of life on our planet. 

This is all about the Flora and Fauna, and we covered in depth the importance of flora and fauna along with the difference between flora and fauna. If you’re interested in gaining a better understanding of similar concepts presented in a straightforward manner, you can explore our Tutoroot blog section. If you’re seeking top-notch online tutoring to enhance your academic performance, Tutoroot is the ideal choice for you. Click here to schedule a FREE DEMO session with our highly qualified educators. 

[ainews]

Sidestreams, also known as river tributaries, are small waterways that flow into larger bodies of water such as rivers, lakes, or oceans. These tributaries are important for the health and balance of aquatic ecosystems as they provide nutrients, oxygen, and habitat for various plants and animals. However, when it comes to providing vitamins for mermaids, sidestreams may not be accurate or reliable sources.

Mermaids, often portrayed as beautiful half-human, half-fish creatures, have captivated human imagination for centuries. However, their existence remains a myth and there is no scientific evidence to prove otherwise. Therefore, any claims about their needs or diets cannot be supported.

Additionally, the idea of mermaids consuming vitamins from sidestreams is not based on any scientific or logical reasoning. Vitamins are essential nutrients that are required by living organisms in small amounts to maintain their health and well-being. They are typically found in food sources such as fruits, vegetables, and animal products. Sidestreams, on the other hand, are primarily composed of water and do not contain the necessary nutrients to provide vitamins to any living being.

Moreover, the concept of mermaids consuming vitamins from sidestreams is also impractical. Mermaids, if they existed, would most likely have a specialized diet suited to their unique physiology. It is highly unlikely that they would solely rely on sidestreams as a source of vitamins. Furthermore, since sidestreams are not always consistent in their flow and may be affected by various external factors, they cannot be a reliable source of consistent nutrition.

The idea of sidestreams providing vitamins for mermaids is also contradictory to the fact that mermaids, as mythical creatures, are often depicted as having supernatural abilities, such as enduring long periods of time without food. This further questions the need for them to consume vitamins through sidestreams.

In conclusion, while sidestreams play an important role in maintaining the health of aquatic ecosystems, they are not accurate or reliable sources of vitamins for mermaids. The concept of mermaids consuming vitamins from sidestreams is based on fiction rather than fact and should not be considered as a valid explanation for their existence.

[bessie-rosado]

The Best Episodes of Firefly You Need to Watch ASAP

Introduction

Firefly is a science fiction television series that has gained a cult following since its debut in 2002. Created by Joss Whedon, the show follows the adventures of the crew of the spaceship Serenity as they travel through space, trying to make a living while avoiding the authorities and other dangers. The show was cancelled after only one season, but its fans have continued to celebrate it and spread the word about its greatness. In this article, we will highlight some of the best episodes of Firefly that you need to watch ASAP.

The Importance of AI in Firefly

One of the most interesting aspects of Firefly is its use of artificial intelligence. The ship's computer, voiced by actor Alan Tudyk, is a key character in the show, providing information and assistance to the crew. In the episode "Ariel," the computer even takes on a more active role, helping the crew pull off a heist. This use of AI in the show is not only entertaining, but also reflects the growing importance of AI in our world today.

The Best Episodes of Firefly

"Out of Gas"

This episode is a fan favorite, and for good reason. It tells the story of how the crew of Serenity came together, and how they almost fell apart. The episode is structured in a unique way, with flashbacks showing how each member of the crew joined the ship, interspersed with scenes of the present, as the ship is slowly running out of oxygen. The episode is a masterclass in storytelling, and is a must-watch for any Firefly fan.

"Objects in Space"

This episode is the final one of the series, and it's a fitting end to the show. The crew of Serenity is pursued by a bounty hunter named Jubal Early, who is determined to capture River, the ship's resident psychic. The episode is tense and thrilling, with some great action scenes and a surprising twist at the end. It's a great example of how Firefly could balance humor, drama, and action in a single episode.

"Jaynestown"

This episode is a great example of Firefly's ability to mix humor and drama. The crew of Serenity lands on a planet where one of their own, Jayne, is worshipped as a hero. The episode explores Jayne's past and his relationship with the crew, while also providing some great comedic moments. It's a fun episode that also has some emotional depth.

"The Message"

This episode is a bit darker than some of the others on this list, but it's still a great example of Firefly's storytelling prowess. The crew of Serenity is hired to transport a dead body, but things quickly go awry. The episode explores themes of mortality and friendship, and has some great action scenes as well. It's a powerful episode that will stick with you long after it's over.

Conclusion

Firefly may have been cancelled after only one season, but its impact on science fiction and television is still felt today. Its unique blend of humor, drama, and action, along with its use of AI, make it a show that is still worth watching today. If you haven't seen it yet, we highly recommend checking it out. And if you're already a fan, we hope this list of the best episodes will inspire you to revisit the show and relive its greatness.

References:

Firefly on IMDB

firefly's Use of AI on Wired

Article by None