#sawfish bones

[royalty-nobility]

Duke Franz Stephan I of Lorraine (1708-1765)

Artist: Johann Zoffany (German, 1733–1810)

Genre: Portrait

Date: 1766-1767

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

Description

Emperor Franz I Stephan, husband of Maria Theresa, appears here surrounded by objects that demonstrate his scientific and artistic interests: a telescope, an armillary sphere, shells, fossils and sawfish bones; a violin lies on open sheet music on an open coin cabinet; he holds a coin in his hands. The portrait was created after the death of Franz I Stephan and is based on portraits by the court painter Martin van Meytens. Nevertheless, Zoffani completely reshaped the late Baroque decorative models in the spirit of a new early classicist portrait ideal.

[mouserrouser]

Day 19 of MaySozoic brings... Atlanticopristis.

A young Anazha flapling takes it upon herself to hunt down her parent's killers, but to do that, she must ally with a being... most unfamiliar to the lands.

Here's some references of her without the ghost, since it takes up a bit of her design.

[thechromebucket]

Marvelous Mermay: Nebula

This is actually an oldie I did for "Endgame," but never posted. I thought of re-doing mer-Nebula, but I have no new ideas, and life is short. 

[pleistocene-pride]

The tiger shark is a species of ground shark, and the only extant member of the genus Galeocerdo and family Galeocerdonidae. It is a highly nomadic species which inhabits tropical and subtropical waters world wide up to 3,000ft (900m) in depth, and is often found in coastal waters with particular abundance in the gulf of mexico, Caribbean sea, Indian ocean, and western pacific. Tiger sharks are often call the garbage cans of the sea and have reputation for eating almost anything. As such there diet is wide and heavily varied an is known to regularly include: small fish, jellyfish, crustaceans, cephalopods and other mollusks, rays, skates, sawfish, sea birds, sea snakes, sea turtles, other sharks, dolphins, seals, sea lions, dugongs, manatees, crocodilians, porpoises, and sick or injured whales. When near islands or coastlines they have been known to eat sheep, goats, dogs, pigs, rats, horses, deer, cattle, cats, camels, monkeys, inland birds, bats, lizards and  inedible objects, such as license plates, cans, tires, books, boat oars, soccerballs and baseball bats. Tiger sharks are themselves occasionally preyed upon by orcas, great whites, and saltwater crocodiles. The tiger shark commonly reaches 10.5-14ft (3.2 -4.26m) in length and 385- 1400lbs (175 – 635kg) in weight, with the largest recorded reaching 18ft (5.5m) long and 3360lbs (1525kg). This ranks the tiger shark amongst the largest extant sharks on earth only being surpassed by the whale, basking, great white, pacific sleeper, Greenland, and blunt nosed sixgill sharks. They have a broad snout and stocky body with proportionally large fins and a long upper tail. Tiger shark teeth are unique with very sharp, pronounced serrations and an unmistakable sideways-pointing tip. Such dentition has developed to slice through flesh, bone, and other tough substances such as turtle shells. In the northern hemisphere the mating season takes place from march to may and the southern hemisphere from November to January, with males breeding every year while females breed once every 3 years. After a year long pregnancy mother tiger sharks give birth to 10 to 80 pups. Under ideal conditions a tiger shark may live upwards of 12 years.

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Daily fish fact #542

Elasmobranch fish!

This subclass includes sharks, rays, skates, and sawfish! These fish share several features, like their dermal tenticles, male claspers, or lack of a swim bladder or opercular series — a group of bones that protect the gills and help with respiration. Elasmobranch fishes instead have several individual gill clefts!

[infodumpingaboutnature]

This year has gone by fast! There are only 44 more days left of 2023 so to celebrate I’m gonna make a post about five extinct animals that were described this year!

1. Bos primigenius thrinacius n. ssp.

(Bos primigenius thrinacius n. ssp. Size estimate of a bull, cow, and calf compared to a human and an adult Palaeoloxodon falconeri. Art by Joschua Knüppe)

This new sub species of Aurochs lived on the Greek island of Kythera during the Late Pleistocene. The sub species was probably present on Kythera while it was still part of the mainland, but became trapped when it was separated sometime during the Middle to Late Pleistocene and their small size was a result of insular dwarfism. Insular dwarfism is a common phenomenon in evolution where a population of large animals becomes trapped on an island and slowly evolve to become smaller over time to better adapt to the reduced space and resources. The opposite, insular gigantism, where an island-bound population of small animals grows larger than their mainland counterparts also occurs regularly. During the Pleistocene, the various islands of Greece were full of giant swans and miniature elephants but now we know they had tiny cattle roaming about as well.

2. Garumbatitan morellensis

(Size comparison between Garumbatitan morellensis and a human. Art by cisiopurple on Deviantart)

Meaning “Garumba Giant”, Garumbatitan morellensis was a species of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous period in what is now Spain. Its remains were first discovered in 1998 at the Arcillas de Morella Formation near the city of Morella, however, they would not be excavated until an expedition in 2005. More material would later be discovered in a 2008 expedition and a paper would be published on the findings in 2016, but it wasn’t until this year that the species was officially named and described. Its genus named is a mix of the name for the tallest mountain in the region it was discovered in, Mola de la Garumba, and the Greek word “Titan”.

3. Nihohae matakoi

(A pair of Nihohae matakoi hunting some squid. Art by Daniel Verhelst)

Nihohae matakoi was a species of dolphin that belonged to the now extinct Waipatiid family and lived during the Oligocene in the waters surrounding what is now New Zealand. It possessed a bizarre set of tusk-like teeth that protruded from its beak. It is thought that this dolphin used it’s strange teeth much like a sawfish to stun their prey before consuming them. The holotype specimen was discovered all the way back in 1998 in Awamoko Valley on New Zealand’s South Island. The specimen consisted of a nearly complete skull, a single atlas and axis, eight vertebrae, and seven ribs. However, Nihohae matakoi would not be officially described until 2023. Its genus name combines the Māori words “Niho”, meaning “teeth”, and “Hae”, meaning “slashing”. The species name is also derived from Māori and comes from the words “Mata”, meaning “face” or “point”, and “Koi”, meaning “sharp”.

4. Perucetus colossus

(A pair of Perucetus swim together in the shallows. Art by Gabuded on Deviantart)

Another cetacean, Perucetus colossus was a species of early whale that lived during the Bartonian age of the Middle Eocene and was found in Peru (obviously). The remains we have or Perucetus are pretty fragmentary, but it has an estimated length of around 55.8-65.9 ft and was probably just as, if not heavier, than the modern Blue Whale. Due to the density of its bones and its absolute chonkiness, Perucetus likely was not a fast swimmer and likely lived in shallow waters and fed on crustaceans and mollusks. However, this is just speculation as very little about its ecology is known.

5. Vectipelta barretti

(A pair of Vectipelta barretti graze near a stream. Art by Stuart Pond)

Vectipelta barretti was an ankylosaurian dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous in what is now England. It was discovered in the Wessex Formation and it’s genus name means “Isle of Wight shield”. The holotype specimen of Vectipelta was originally discovered in November of 1993, however, at the time it was believed that the specimen belonged to the genus Polacanthus. In May of 2021 it was discovered that the specimen was in fact a new genus and in June of 2023 it was officially named and described. Funnily enough, fossil evidence suggests that Vectipelta might be millions of years older than Polacanthus, the genus it was originally thought to be a member of.

I hope you all enjoyed reading about these recently described prehistoric species! I LOVE dinosaurs and other extinct animals and can’t wait to see what new discoveries 2024 has to offer!

[daily-fun-animal-facts]

Hello! What's up with saw fish and saw sharks? Are they related? And what do they use that silly saw nose for?

Sawfish and Saw sharks could be considered cousins of sorts due to them both being chondrichthyans, which means their skeleton is made out of cartilage rather than bone.

Sawfish are actually a type of ray or batoid when saw sharks are considered a true shark. Batoids are more flattish in shape and are usually bottom feeders, they are also sometimes referred to as "flat sharks"

Now what do their saws do? Well, its not too hard to guess that they use their saw-like noses to catch and kill prey along with using them as a tool to dig or a weapon to fight. their saws have small pores that can detect electric fields produced by prey and is shared by both sharks and rays alike. This may also be the reason a lot of sharks come to investigate peoples underwater film equipment or chew the electrical cords that run along the ocean floor, sometimes even cutting off internet.

Sharks are just silly little guys

[viktorsdeadlemonlemonade]

Sharks do not have bones.

Sharks use their gills to filter oxygen from the water. They are a special type of fish known as "elasmobranchs", which translates into fish made of cartilaginous tissues—the clear gristly stuff that your ears and nose tip are made of. This category also includes rays, sawfish, and skates. Their cartilaginous skeletons are much lighter than true bone and their large livers are full of low-density oils, both helping them to be buoyant.

Even though sharks don't have bones, they still can fossilize. As most sharks age, they deposit calcium salts in their skeletal cartilage to strengthen it. The dried jaws of a shark appear and feel heavy and solid; much like bone. These same minerals allow most shark skeletal systems to fossilize quite nicely. The teeth have enamel so they show up in the fossil record too.

[thetorturedbolter]

ask me my "TOP 5" anything!

your top 5 sea creatures! <3

ANON I LOVE YOU YOU ARE MY FAVOURITE PERSON MWAH MWAH MWAH

also just a side note, i did my top five favourite sea creatures found along and around the south african (and occasionally australian) coastline because that’s where i’m from and picking from the entire ocean would be way too hard

1. Four-tone nudibranch ( Godiva quadricolor )

a nudibranch (kind of sea slug) which feeds on anemones and other nudibranchs. i will admit, it’s on here simply because it’s pretty, i don’t have any fun facts about this one. but it’s okay, because i enjoy looking at it and sometimes that’s all that matters!!

here’s a photo:

2. green sawfish ( Pristis zijsron )

characterised by its saw-like snout with between 23-34 pairs of teeth, which it uses to dig up crustaceans and molluscs or to strike fish. it is the largest species of sawfish, reaching up to 7.3 m in length, with its snout accounting for almost one third of its size. it plays an important mythological, spiritual, and cultural role in many societies around the world (here’s an article about it ). they are critically endangered globally, but can still be found along the australian and south african coastlines

photo:

3. honeycomb moray eel ( Gymnothorax favagineus )

i love eels because they’re such shady looking dudes, we know next to nothing about how they reproduce (but it’s highly likely that they’re poly which is so cool), and because most people don’t like them and i think they deserve some more love. i like this one in particular because they have very prominent canines, they live in caves and holes in coral reefs (same) (also this technically applies to all moray eels but with this one is very important ig) , and they can seriously fuck you up if threatened ( see prominent canines mentioned above ). they’re nocturnal (same!!) and they feed on small fish and octopuses. they’re solitary animals, and very territorial, and fights between these long boys are something to behold. they also have a habit of rearranging the rocks in their aquarium exhibits (my friend who works at the aquarium can confirm), and they are the second largest of all moray species!! also they look really funky

photo:

4. flower urchin ( Toxopneustes pileolus )

she’s big. she’s pink. she should not be touched with bare hands. she’s everything i want in a woman. but, all jokes aside, this sea urchin has very large pedicellaria (pointy pokey stuff) equipped with potentially lethal poison glands and you shouldn’t touch it without gloves. it could literally kill you. that being said, it’s a tropical reef species, so it often carries seaweed or shells to shield itself from the sun which is probably the most adorable thing ever (this is common in most sea urchins, it’s so cute go google it). obviously taylor was onto something when she listed sea urchins as one of her top fears in that one ellen interview

here’s a photo:

5. st. joseph shark ( Callorhinchus capenis )

this shark is so ugly, which is part of the reason i chose it. their bodies are soft, their heads are big, and they only have a single gill slit on each side. poor dudes. they also have very long noses which they (obviously) use to detect their prey. they also have a venomous spine protruding from their dorsal fin that is used for self defence. they are known as “real life chimaeras” . in case you don’t know, in greek mythology, chimaeras consisted of the parts of a bunch of different animals. st joseph sharks have a combination of traits commonly associated with sharks, and traits commonly associated with bony, ray-finned fish (sharks have cartilage, not bones, so yes there is a difference), hence the chimaera comparison. i could list a bunch of differences and similarities between these sharks and the fish mentioned above but that could take a while. they are sometimes referred to as ghost sharks, ratfish, spookfish, or rabbitfish. i just think they’re so neat!!!

feast your eyes:

and that’s that!! this was so difficult, i had to eliminate like twenty critters from the original list, but there’s one that i think deserves an honourable mention, and that’s this guy:

look at his little face, i love him.

[oh-sturg]

Okay but I gotta put this in text because it’ll be too long for my normal tags bullshit

Every time. Every fucking time. This happens in 80% of my dreams and it’s just. HOUGE and I’m so happy it does

In my dream, it’s a place called Duluth. Now I’ve been to actual Duluth. This is not actually Duluth

Dream Duluth has a giant bridge that’s so big that it scares me to drive across. The bridge is so big and the route right into the city has a little section where people will check your passport or vehicle or IDs or something? I’m not sure why. The bridge gives me so much anxiety, and there’s another highway around one of the skyscrapers in that city that also gives me anxiety. For some reason, I think I work in that building. There’s even a dream inside

The city itself is beautiful. Sunny. There’s a big statue by the lake it’s built on, just like the real Duluth. There’s monuments that look like mirrors, even one that looks like the WWII monument in Washington DC. Or is it a Vietnam or Korea monument? Idk. There are hills in the city. It’s not too warm. Much like the real Duluth as well, there’s a restaurant along one of the boardwalks and piers. Unlike it, though, it’s built out onto the water. You can look into the lake from the restaurant and see the guitarfish and sawfish in the water

The beaches are something I always think about. One beach is covered in dark sand. Shark teeth always wash up there. Shark teeth and fish bones. Sometimes it’s small, nestled between that restaurant and a boardwalk. Other times, the beach is longer and pale. Sand tiger sharks and white sturgeon wash up on the shore. There are shovelnose sturgeon in the water. I try and save whatever I can, but sometimes they’re too big for me to carry on my own. Sometimes, when I wade into the water, I get close enough to touch them, but I always stop myself because I’m afraid I’ll bother the animals

There’s another beach as well, one where people always go. Umbrellas and kids and chairs. In the tideline, you can find trinkets and toys that were left a long time ago. They’re not new, rather old and rusted, but sometimes I find interesting keys and metal baubles and gemstones in the sand. I keep them for myself

There’s a white building with a blue haze inside. I don’t know why. It’s homely, but I don’t want to go inside. There was a bloody handprint on the doorframe once. I don’t know why. I think I relaxed after that

There’s a city skyscraper made completely out of glass on the outside. The ground around the statue is made of concrete. I don’t know who that statue is of, but it’s someone important. The statue is bronze

There’s a red brick church in the city. It’s old, and there’s a mosaic courtyard. In the courtyard, there’s a gazebo made of brick. Inside that gazebo is a bell, and the ceiling is made of mosaic tiles that look like an ornate sky. Inside the church there are suits of armour, and the cathedral is impossibly large compared to the outside. The windows are tall, and the light that flits in is always white

I like when my dreams reuse locations from past dreams. like oh cool we doin a bottle episode

[ramblelive]

Fun fact: Sharks do not have bones

Info: Sharks use their gills to filter oxygen from the water. They are a special type of fish known as "elasmobranchs", which translates into fish made of cartilaginous tissues—the clear gristly stuff that your ears and nose tip are made of. This category also includes rays, sawfish, and skates. Their cartilaginous skeletons are much lighter than true bone and their large livers are full of low-density oils, both helping them to be buoyant.

Even though sharks don't have bones, they still can fossilize. As most sharks age, they deposit calcium salts in their skeletal cartilage to strengthen it. The dried jaws of a shark appear and feel heavy and solid; much like bone. These same minerals allow most shark skeletal systems to fossilize quite nicely. The teeth have enamel so they show up in the fossil record too.

[antiloreolympus]

14 Anti LO Asks

1. It’s just so wild how LO fans in their “good intentions” says LO is “pro-trans” because of Athena?? Like first off, she’s not trans, but more so they’re only basing that off the fact she doesn’t look like every one hyper feminine woman on cast so they automatically assume she must be AMAB?? Like you guys know that’s more transphobic than Rachel’s lack of a diverse cast, right? Holy shit. 

2. I think a true test of proper representation is if the character was taken away and nothing in the story changed, then it’s not good representation. Case in point in LO:

- almost all the plus sized characters are unnamed background characters, so their removal changes nothing.

- Hestia and Athena’s relationship has no impact on the story, so if it was removed and nothing changes that’s not representation.

- psyche being black has no input in the story, and it’s purely aesthetics that was only added with braids. Remove that and it changes nothing. That’s not representation.

I could go on, but I think you get what I’m getting at here. 

3. The big difference between The twins act of wrath and Persphones is intent. They meant to kill those kids, and Apollo is probs Zeus fav or second fav kid (that’s a whole other topic and idk if the twins even know if Zeus is their dad since they’ve never called him dad). But because the twins intended to kill those royals in the name of their mom, it wasn’t hidden from Zeus and they were rewarded (is it right no, but remember Zeus is the judge apperently)

Persephone, lost control, killed a bunch of mortals out of her control, (at most it was suppose to be the ones that were destroying the flower grove but it grew to a whole river of souls) then with her mother and Hermès worked together to not only hide this from Zeus but also hades (sorry Fish king this isn’t your domain) so I would say Persephone act of wrath was worse. But even going more into it was her reaction to finding out someone uncovered her truth was turning them into a plant (oh sorry they also insulted the king of the underworld) and still lost control on them.

What Persephone AOW is, is Persephone being out of control contrstantly. She does deserve a real not community service punishment because she is a danger to others and has harmed many. 

4. there's a big difference between a prominent nose and whatever the hell is on lo hades' face. he looks like papa smurf and a sawfish combined and were put into a tumblr sexy man machine but the machine was out fo sexy so now we're just left with that thing. persephone has the most boring design ive ever seen but at least she looks kinda normal.

5. the only good fanart of lo was by that one shitpost artist who was making fun of the series by having spongebob as persephone and squidward as hades in that "do i look like a scoundrel" or w/e scene but Rachel retweeted it thinking it was a compliment. we will NEVER top that.

6. deadass its so stupid how rachel is like why do you guys keep bringing up the age gap its not a big deal!! like ok why did you spend so much of s1 saying it was weird he was dying to bone a 19 year old then? she seriously could have just made her like 300 to avoid that mess all together, or if she insisted she be 19 then just be like "oh thats just what immortals do" or w/e so it can be excused fantasy logic. you cant make a point its bad in universe then be shocked readers see it as bad too??

7. A lot of RS’s style of writing an drawing are the same for characters. Women are busty short with maybe a bad relationship or sexual history (Hera Persephone Minthe  Daphne even Hestia maybe) the men are tall with some form of mommy issues. Hades-oepedius complex, Ares mommy and daddy issues, Hephaestus mommy and daddy issues, Apollo mommy boy with issues, Eros mommas boy with issues, Hermès mommy’s boy, Thanatos mommy issues. It’s like there’s only a few type of characters who can exist 

8. What I don't get is you know if LO was set in Paris, she would make sure to be accurate to Paris. If it was set in London, she would make sure it's accurate to London. Tokyo? It would look like Tokyo. But for some reason, the comic being set in Greece in a time period with some of the most iconic architecture in the world is asking too much? She can't even be bothered to download basic pillar brushes, but we're supposed to buy she cares so deeply about the culture and mythology? Give me a break.

9. are we sure rachel isn't a harry potter fan? bc i remember when the movies were coming out it turned out draco's dad (lucius) was originally supposed to look like a cold business man in an all black suit, sleeked back white hair, and have really sharp features including a long nose. are we sure rachel didnt just lift that design and slap it on her hades. lo hades kid would probably be a little shit like draco too if we're being honest here 💀

10. i think the issue with how LO handles HxP[ is it removed only two-ish problems (inc/st and her actually wanting him now) but on top of that also added more toxic elements like the age and power imbalance, cranked it up to 100, then acts like its the most perfect relationship ever. if it was just honest from the start it was more of a twisted romance or "brutally realistic" that would excuse it, but instead it frames as the best thing ever & what its young audience should want. that's my issue.

11. how can i send in the whole webtoon /j

12. That submission also brings up the point of like … they don’t know about the tree or that it woke up Kronos. We know Persephone won’t be punished, so are we to believe it she’ll wake off free from the trial only to whoops, have to admit her lack of control over her powers is totally ok despite it waking up the biggest threat to EVERYONE? Like murdering a village is bad enough, but she can’t get away with reawakening a threat they so desperately tried to lock away. Hell, what if p’s powers made him stronger? What then? The whole thing is so stupid. 

13. LO fans are hardly the first or last ones to do this but they always go “it’s just fiction!! It has no effect on reality!!” And it’s ok? Then are did you make critique of it a personal affront to you? Why do you insist critique never happen of it? Why do you get into real fights, threaten, and dox others if it’s not real? Why do you refuse to acknowledge actual problems in your face works, it’s creator, and it’s fandom? That sounds like it effects real life to me!

14. Not a critique, just wanted to point out how pissed LO stans are by your blog. They throwing a fit over it and call you out lol. Keep doing what you do queen, it's nice having a place to actually critique LO. 💜

From OP: Tysm! <3

[mymanymerrymuses]

Success! Vox beams with pride at having caught Alastor's interest.

"Elasmobranch, it's a subclass of fish. Sharks, rays, sawfish, all those. They do have skeletons, but they're made up of cartilage rather than bone. It's one of the main features of the subclass, along with the number of gills, and the lack of swim bladders."

Huh. Look at that. Something Alastor doesn't know. Here come the questions that are sure to tickle Vox's fancy. "Wait—they don't? What's an elasmobranch?"

[fun-facts-with-ghost]

21st October 2022:

Friday Fun Fact Faction: 3 shark facts!

• Sharks don't have bones! Their skeletons are made up of cartilage, this helps them float easier and swim faster as they are much lighter. Despite not being bone these skeletons can still be fossilised much like human teeth can be (teeth are not made of cartilage though). Other sea creatures share this feature with sharks, for example rays and sawfish.

• The two biggest species of shark in the world (the basking shark and the whale shark) are both filter feeders! Despite their massive size (up to 8 meters and 10 meters long respectively) they do not hunt, instead they swim slowly with their mouths agape capturing microplankton or "inhale" a large cloud of plankton at once. The water in their mouths is then filtered past large gill rakers (which prevent food from escaping) and through their large gills.

• Most sharks have eight fins but some may have less! These consist of two pectoral fins, two pelvic fins, two dorsal fins, a caudal fin, and an anal fin. Though an order of sharks exists known as "hexanchiformes", they are primitive sharks and therefore have some undeveloped features such as having only one dorsal fin resulting in a total of seven fins. There are only seven extant (currently existing) species of hexanchiformes because of this, in this list are the frilled shark and the cow shark.

[helpimhyperfixating]

How would mers fight? Imagine part 3 enemy stand user of your choice as a hostile mer who threatens diver y/n and Joot rushes to her defense. I bet we oughta expect a lot of painful tail slaps

Well in the original fic that started all of this, Captive Together, I already put up some pretty detailed ways Mer fight. But! To be fair, a lot of those were on land and those that weren’t were mostly not intended to cause harm.

So, how do they fight? Teeth and claws are the main aggressors. If they can, come in from behind or from an ambush. Lacerations, chunks of flesh ripped out, all of it. Their jaw strength can go through bones in a moment.

Also, you know how swordfish or sawfish hunt? Ever seen a whale use it’s tail in defense? Yeah that. Water resistance seems completely gone when Mer wallop their tails around. Get hit by even the tail fin and you may be done for(does depend on the fin though, Betta mer aren’t gonna do much with their tail fins. With the base though?).

Mer are the top predators of the sea, and it shows

[teaminterval]

Sharks do not have bones They are a special type of fish known as "elasmobranchs", which translates into fish made of cartilaginous tissues—the clear gristly stuff that your ears and nose tip are made of. This category also includes rays, sawfish, and skates.

Team INTERVAL