#specs and the sea

[mossymandibles]

Festive Hellmouth Viper

Another giant spectral resident of Hellmouth, Depth Charge 7 🎊

[styllwaters]

Rejoice! Qhuavan arthropods (sea crawler bugs) be upon you

[yellydany]

WHITE VEILED BEARFROG 🐻‍❄️ 🐠 (Ambystoma Axoqui) Also known as Iztacueyatl Tecuani (white frog beast)

"A majestic white scaled and bear-like creature from the seas. Its now dangerous habitat forced it to seek water ponds and swamps. But make no mistake, this beast in spite of its elegant appearance can tear its prey and foes to shreds- especially during nesting seasons. Its movement can be deceivingly slow but once in a rush of adrenaline they lunge and attack at a swift speed. To further improve its survivability it will often release slimy bubbles (likely mucus) from its body which slow down its enemies through contact or by walking on surfaces in which they bursted, but amongst other abilities they can absorb and release high-pressured water through their mouths (and gills) to blast intruders with. Some of them have even learned to propel themselves like a jet by expelling water, becoming a deadly giant projectile.

They prefer to live surrounded by corals and colorful rocks to blend in and only display aggression when threatened, as they prefer stealth. A bearfrog will create a semi-aquatic nest so that the females then carry a clutch of orange eggs under their bodies until they hatch. The newborn larvae will spend their youth underwater until they develop to venture into land.

This species has become rather scarce because of the water conditions in the land .."

[psalidodont]

[dragonclaudecreatures]

Thinking about what if whales evolved back into land creatures.

If you like what I do, feel free to leave a tip on Ko-Fi! :]

[ranticore]

you wouldn't know it but the original lineart of the painting from yesterday was my attempt at a water scene with sipho nymphs and scalefish, two of the main animal groups found in high abundance around the spire

but my strength. my energy. i can't hold it for inventing wildlife i can't do it

[dragonfelling]

Charger Drakes A highly varied family of Drakes that have characteristics and mannerism similar to crocodilians. They are mostly non-venomous animals and they all possess derived quills that have been turned into sensory organs. While they can no longer inject venom with these quills like most other drakes, they can use these quills to sense changes in pressure around their environment. For example, the Sea Drake uses its to feel for the movement of prey in its surrounding waters. The Ditch Drake will bury theirs into the soil of their holes to feel for movement in the ground around them. The Delta Charger however uses its quills mainly as a display structure but it maintains the ability to feel movement in the air and mud they wallow in.

Chelat are one of the only venomous Charger Drakes. Their venom is used to make medicine that removes heavy metals from the body. They are often taken as hatchlings and trained as service animals because they can sense peoples heart rates through the air.

The Gero is a domestic Charger Drake. They are kept in Anemoi as cart animals and have a mainly herbivorous diet versus their sister species who are hyper carnivores.

All Charger Drakes besides the Gero and Chelat are known for their aggressive nature and status in Ishidan and Anemoian culture as pests. They have very high prey drives, and do not eat for long stretches of time; so when food is available they will spend great effort towards hunting. All Charger Drakes like long rests, routine, and are food motivated.

[katiefromcabin7]

Having to go to school at 9 am means I can’t stay up writing till 3 am anymore 😭 😭 that’s when im at my most creative lmao

[sleepysaurus4]

Life on 4546b is in many ways convergent to life on Earth. While many animals we encounter seem to share the most features with fish and various invertebrates, some appear to be more reptilian. It's even possible that their ancestors were once land dwellers, returning to the water as planet's geography changed making it mostly oceanic.

I present a speculative evolutionary tree of Subnautica's parareptiles!

[jomindraws]

Finished with Superphylum Near Bilateral, here we get an instant 3 for 1 on Superhylum Deep Bilateral !!!

Superphylum Deep Bilateral

A taxa of animals possessing a hollow dorsal tube and no notochord-analogous structure in the initial stage of development; occupying the lower stratification of the aquatic biosphere.

(AN1 A3) Clade: Hadalae

A clade of deep bilaterans that contain a hydrous, pressurized, and segmented skeletal structure for integrity at intense pressures.

PHYLUM EXTRAL BEASTAE

Phylum containing an explicitly dorsal spine column that are mobile and mostly pelagic post-embryonic.

Class Cartilage Mouthed Deepbeasts

Class of deepbeasts that contain a flexible cartilage gizzard and a foremouth.

Class Nonjawed Deepbeasts

Class of deepbeasts that do not have any jaw structure and feed via suction, a non-mobile gizzard, or a muscled tongue.

Class Jawed Deepbeasts

Class of deepbeasts that contain a fixed jaw structure and at least one set of jaw-inlaid teeth.

PHYLUM ROOTED BEASTAE

Phylum containing no specified spine column orientation that are typically non-mobile and explicitly benthic post-embryonic.

Class Floorvents

Class of rooted beast that have a ring of eyes around a central tagmatic disc, and eject waste from sets of vents on the dorsal side.

Class Pelagic Rooted Eels

Class of rooted beast that affix themselves to the ocean floor during adolescence and can only move via innard ejection and peristalsis, but never move from a nest once rooted.

(AN1 A4) Clade: Abstracta

A clade of deep bilaterans that contain a porous, gas-exchanging skeletal column for integrity at intense pressures.

PHYLUM DEEP ABSTRACTIDS

Phylum containing an internal support column and an external exoskeleton that are mobile and mostly benthic for all of their life cycle.

Class Abyssal Walkers

Class of abstractids that utilize arachnid locomotion, have multiple barbed leg ends, venomous dorsal defensive spikes, and are exclusively detritivores and scavengers.

Class Color Chromids

Class of abstractids that utilize a variety of rotating and pedal forms of locomotion, contain venomous toxic plasmodial fluid, have brightly colored bioluminescent dermal layers, and consume autotrophic seafloor organisms.

On Jom'Gol, the oceans are stratified between the upper and lower stratifications. Around 2000 meters down--near the edge of the midnight zone-- exists the Bramblesheath. The Bramblesheath is a nearly 500 million year old structure that is an amalgam of various deepwater flora, mycota, and an ensemble of ancient sessile fauna such as sponges, corals, and many others. This Bramblesheath wraps around almost the entire globe (from between 1 meter in thickness to 10 meters near the equator) and forms its own self-sustaining ecosystem, taking marine snow and low-falling plankton and recycling them before outputting its own form of marine snow beneath.

Because of this stratification, animal life branched off a long time ago-- near the formation of this structure-- and is so different phylogenetically that it is now its own superphylum. The Bramblesheath does allow some extremely small microorganisms and a FEW migrating species through occasionally, but for the most part everything below may as well be a different planet from everything above-- at least for the past 400 million years.

[mossymandibles]

Wanted to make another one of my ‘hydrozoan city’ leviathans (after fighting the divine beast in elden ring).

I imagine this one is much older and therefore has more conjoining colonies piloted by several ‘crowns’ (a term I made up for the piloting creatures in the head section) as well as far more complicated mimicry. Him big.

I feel like I should make a little info post showing its individual crown critters when they aren’t fused together? Idk

[styllwaters]

Long time no Vreaz. Here's a fancy shrimp for your troubles

[yellydany]

VAMPIRE KILLER FROG 🐸 🩸 (Nosferas Venari) Also known as Eztlicueyatl (Blood frog) or Tzinacamiztli (Bat death)

"A voracious amphibian-like species that adapted to hunt vampires. Its origins are vague and shrouded in mystery but an hypothesis suggests it could have been the result of selective breeding or nature’s “way” of dealing with the ecological imbalance vampires caused through centuries. Whichever the reason, one thing is clear: these hunters evolved in such fashion they became the night creatures’ bane.

Every bodily function feels almost engineered in eerie accuracy to strike at their very weaknesses- such as the tip of the tail (bone) they sharpen to resemble a stake, the muscle reflexes and athletic composition to catch up with their supernatural agility and a blackened coat which absorbs the bouncing light of nocturnal eyes paired with drastically lowering their body temperature (essentially becoming ‘invisible’ in the dark). Although they may prefer a stealthy approach they show no fear if they must engage in direct confrontation. There’s no sexual dimorphism albeit females are more common in nature compared to the rare male sights and not much is known about the behavior with others of their kind as they are solitary. But such is their intelligence that it would be safe to assume they study- and learn from both their prey’s movement and environments given the observations on this beast.

Worse yet- for vampires- they have more cunning ways of hunting for a meal.

The Nosferas frog is able to produce a unique secretion mix of blood, mucus and gastric fluids which is all over their bodies- from the inside and out. More interestingly they have a way to regulate its acidic components to either use as a melting gag weapon, dissolving and trapping pathogens or simply increasing its PH. Essentially, the body is extremely moldable thanks to this odd slimy substance that makes it almost feel like liquid and comes in handy in various situations such as protecting their brood eggs by swallowing them. It is also the most crucial function in the capturing of their vampiric prey as the scent of this bloody secretion lures them and other carnivores in. Once they come in sight they eject their multiple stomachs through gastric eversion to latch onto the victim and begin the digestion early. The vampire skulls are then proudly kept and displayed given the very transparent look of the lower side of the body.

Despite it being a terrifying organism by all means, they have shown vague signs of affection toward humans- some of whom have tamed and kept them as exotic guardian pets against the supernatural plague. In most areas of the land however they underwent a ban given their dangerous and unsettling nature."

[harrowharkwife]

reminder that Natalia literally means "birthday/birth," specifically in reference to the birth of Christ. you know, a figure best known for his death and resurrection.

Natalia, a character whose chief symbolic narrative significance seems to be helping Buck realize he needs to choose/prioritize/embrace life (as symbolized by his friend Kameron and the birth of her baby, a baby he helped bring into this world, a baby who is so very loved and wanted in its own right, with no ulterior motivation or purpose) over death- his fixation on his own (very Jesus-coded) death and resurrection, his lifetime of passive suicidal ideation and risk taking, the spectre of Daniel's death that has hung over him since his own birth.

Marisol, a character introduced for Eddie- the man who's spent the back half of this season reckoning with his own loneliness, solitude, and desire for a partner in life?

yeah, her name means "loneliness/solitude."

just fyi.

i'm not worried about her in the slightest.

[he-who-needs-to-be-silenced]

Third Euramerica submission

Wizards, crushers, submarines and pancakes

[snekwithhat]

Terrestrial sea pigs, feeding and thriving in a hoarder house