#the same algae the shrimp eat

[heytherecentaurs]

You know how Flamingos are pink because of the shrimp they eat. That's also why Fig's skin is pink. It's not her fiendish heritage. It's her sheer shrimp intake. Yeah, she's a fiend. A fiend for shrimp.

[sinfullyrosey]

Shrimpmer!Reader

Floyd Leech X GN!Shrimpmer!Reader X Jade Leech

Warnings: Mild Violence, Brief Mentions of Accurate Shrimp Cleaning Methods (kind of gross)

I literally had written up a mini fic showcasing the tweels first meeting Shrimper!Reader… and lost it. Have no idea where it is. Searched through my drafts and got pissed, so just started over from scratch.

Can be read as platonic but with a lot of sus behavior ngl

The Basics (aka an Introduction to Shrimpmer!Reader)

Shrimpmer!Reader is a cleaner shrimp, a type of shrimp known for cleaning off parasites, algae, insects, and other bad stuff from fish. They’ve even been known to eat the mucus and infectious material around a fish’s wound to reduce infection and aid in healing. There are different species of cleaner shrimp, ‘scarlet skunk’ or ‘white-striped’ cleaner shrimps being known for cleaning the mouths of moral eels specifically.

Shrimpmer!Reader specifically comes from a family of cleaner shrimps that have a long-standing business partnership with the Leeches. Their family provides their cleaning and patch-up services to better the mereels’ health and heal any injuries, and in turn, the Leeches provide protection. It’s a mutualistic relationship where both benefit. And congrats, they were assigned to the tweels when they were but a mere fry and twins were still little elvers.

But what is it that Shrimpmer!Reader does exactly? Well, they have a cleaning station set up (i.e. a flat rock for the tweels to lay on while they work) and they go over the twins’ body, ridding it of any parasites and other debris. Picking at their scales and skin like a fine-tooth comb. They’ll even clean their sharp teeth using specialized brushes and tools to make sure nothing is stuck and strengthen the dentin (real shrimp physically go inside eel’s mouths, but shrimpmers are too big for that). Whenever the twins come to them with an injury after one of their scuffles, Shrimpmer!Reader will clean and disinfect the wound, being sure to remove any parasites, then wrap up the wound to heal faster.

In terms of anatomy and size difference, Shrimpmer!Reader is much smaller compared to the twins, but not on the same scale difference as real shrimps and moray eels. They’re not tiny enough to fit in their mouths but are small enough to be carried with ease. The best comparison I can give is like with the dwarves and Neige, but the tweels’ eel forms are much bigger compared to regular humans, so Shrimpmer!Reader would be shorter compared to a human as well. Floyd would joke about them being “child-sized.” Just like the Octatrio, their bottom half is that of a white-striped cleaner shrimp while the rest of their body has the matching miscolored skin, fin ears, and a pair of long, white antenna on the top of their head. No, their hands aren’t claws/pincers, but they do have sharp nails that aid in cleaning.

The Shrimp and the Eels Headcanons

Like mentioned above, Shrimpmer!Reader was assigned to Floyd and Jade back when they were all still children. Each new generation of Leech ends up being assigned a cleaner shrimp who are around the same age so that they can grow together and build a proper symbiotic bond. You just ended up unlucky ‘cause Mr. and Mrs. Leech had twins and you were the only available one in your family at the time. A two for one deal, as it were.

Rough first meet (the twins are asses even back then), but you eventually adjusted and they learned how much they actually enjoy getting all those nasties off of them. You were gentle and efficient, it was very soothing, almost therapeutic to them. But it was only after one particular cleaning where Floyd came to you, a week after he got into a fight, wound infected and riddled with parasites, that they fully realized just how much they needed you. Neither twin skipped a cleaning or wound treatment after that.

You are tiny and not built for fighting, so the twins are more than happy to do so for you!~ Some predator is stalking you, trying to get a taste? Floyd is already grabbing them by the tail, pulling them away from you and towards his own dangerously sharp jaws. Another merperson is bulling you, picking on your smaller size? Jade’s looming right behind, tail at the ready to squeeze the life out of them. Most of your patch-up work was from attending to their wounds sustained in fights defending you.

Floyd and Jade both have their tails wrapped around some poor, unfortunate soul who was pulling on your antenna. Jade is taunting the crying fry while Floyd is “playfully” biting their tail fins.

“Jade, Floyd, let them go already. You’re going to get in trouble…”

You do meet Azul later on, though never quite befriend him per say. His contracts made you uncomfortable and untrusting of his intentions. In turn, Azul was stiff and reserved around you on the account of the overly protective eels threatening to chew his tentacles off if he tried anything.

You’re not a student at NRC nor a student of RSA. Magic isn’t your forte (or your concern really), the tweels are. Which is why you do visit the schoolgrounds frequently, especially after the two (mainly Floyd) start complaining about “needing their shrimp.” They’re not even in their eel forms most of the time, but they do still get into fights and the nurse on staff isn’t good enough.

Congrats, you’re now the Leech’s designated Health Support Cleaner Shrimp, or whatever bullshit the twins pulled out of their tails when forcing requesting to Crowley that you be allowed to stay at Octavinelle! Double congrats, because you also work at Mostro Lounge as a janitor because you literally clean for a living!

In your human form, you are much shorter than most of the other students and you have two long cowlicks that resemble your antenna. You aren’t the biggest fan of this form, finding two legs to be difficult to navigate, especially since you kind of skipped the prep class. Floyd was impatient and claimed him and Jade would just teach you themselves. An unwise decision really.

I mean, you could also just request to have the potion adjusted so you can be taller too, I guess idk the twins aren’t going to tell you that.

You sometimes turn back into your merform with the tweels and swim together because you miss it. Floyd definitely missed curling his tail around his little shrimp and pinning you down with his much bigger size. He especially loves to flip you on your back and watch your little feetsies wiggle around in a panic.

Jade misses the cleanings more than anything else. Being a vice dormleader while also working at a lounge and doing schoolwork is stressful for one eel. So, being able to just relax and have you attend to him while he prattles on about mushrooms is absolute heaven. That’s not to say he doesn’t mess with you either. Jade will gladly use your height against you by putting your cleaning supplies on a higher shelf, so you’re forced to ask him for help, teasing you all the while.

No, you can’t clean anybody else, merfolk or otherwise. Only them. Azul almost lost a tentacle after suggesting such a thing when he noticed business was running slower.

You’re their cleaner shrimp, and they’re your eels. Anybody aware of the Leech’s influence know to back off lest they end up missing under mysterious circumstances.

Oh yeah, and the tweels, at some point, made it a habit to kiss you after you finished cleaning them under the guise of you “cleaning their teeth.” It’s become something so casual between you three now that when Azul caught sight of the twins and you locking lips, he nearly fell over at not realizing the three of you were (supposedly) an item.

[senshiscookbook]

Giant Scorpion and Walking Mushroom Hotpot

So a few weeks before I decided I was going to attempt this recipe, I actually obtained a hotpot from my local Asian grocery for entirely separate hotpot reasons (hence the hotpot you see in the photo). It works! It’s great!

For ingredient replacements, I made the following substitutions:

Giant scorpion — Lobster tail, which I got from my local supermarket. I realised halfway through cooking them that cutting them in half with a knife was going to be really hard, so I actually used kitchen scissors to slice the shell open before using the knife to crack them lengthwise. If lobster is inaccessible for you, use shrimp.

Invertatoes — Small potatoes (babyish), if you’re going to attempt this i recommend peeling them before putting them in the hotpot because it makes them melt into the stock in a way that’s really nice. These will be cooked when you can poke a fork through without resistance.

Walking Mushroom — King Oyster Mushrooms, cut up the stem and slice it vertically so you end up with these 1-2 inch mushroom slices in squareish shapes. You can keep the caps whole for the look but honestly if you’re not taking photos, the texture is nicer when sliced through lol.

Dried Slime — Konnyaku/Konjac noodles, I also found these at my local Asian grocery. I like the texture of them a lot and they’re really yummy because they’re basically made for hotpot.

Algae — I rehydrated a bunch of wakame seaweed before placing it inside the hotpot. IF YOU ARE GOING TO DO THIS I recommend NOT using a hotpot stock with a lot of particles. There are also other types of Japanese seaweeds which are meant for soup that look closer to the real deal, but they are not as easily available to me.

Hotpot stock — I know it says water and salt in the manga but frankly I wanted spicy food, so I used HaiDiLao mala hotpot stock. You can use whatever stock you want to be honest, the downside of the stock I used is that while it was extremely tasty, the peppercorns and chillis did get lost in the seaweed so I kept biting into peppercorns by accident. Honestly, that’s my bad for being way too eager to eat spicy food. Anyway use something you won’t regret as much, like mushroom stock or chicken stock or something.

It’s possible to make this meal fully pescatarian and gluten-free (the konnyaku noodles AFAIK do not have any gluten in them). I added a little bit of noncanonical chicken to my hotpot because I was trying to eat up ingredients in my fridge before travelling, but you are of course not obligated to do this.

You can also see from the photos that I laid out the ingredients in the pot before I poured the stock in, which is generally counterintuitive for hotpot, but I did it to get the layout. So whatever. Bring everything to a rolling boil. If you’ve put everything in at the same time, everything cooks fairly quickly except the potatoes which will finish cooking last (see above for the sign that they’re done). Since this is hotpot, feel free to begin picking at it in order of doneness, beginning with the seaweed and noodles (neither needs much cooking) and then heading over to the proteins.

Yay, cooking!

[pigeon-behavior]

Did you know the gold standard for pet pigeons is pigeons raised by their own parents?

That's right! Unlike the common practice of hand-raising that is performed for parrots (we won't get into those ethics here), hand-raising is the LAST thing you want to do with pigeons.

But what is so bad about it? What problems arise? What's the alternative?

Behold, I will tell you.

The most immediate issue that arises with hand-raising over parent-raising is the success rate of making it to adulthood. Pigeons have several biological traits that makes this process extremely difficult for us to adequately copy.

Most birds feed their young the same way. You know exactly what I'm talking about, because even if you haven't seen it in person, you've seen pictures, or even cartoons! Most baby birds open their beaks up as wide as they can go, and mom and dad reach in there to supply food. Hand-raising baby birds with this trait is easier.

Pigeons do not do this. The parent takes the child's beak in their own before barfing up the goods. Pigeon babies (squabs) seek food with a closed beak as a result. And they really, really do not like you trying to pry it open to get food in there.

Most emergency hand-raising or supplementing of columbids is done through specially engineered methods that help mimic this style of eating, but even that isn't perfect.

Columbids (pigeons and doves) are one of three groups of birds that produce this really amazing thing called 'crop milk.' The other two are penguins and flamingoes. Weird combo, isn't it. Maybe not!

It's thought that crop milk originated to feed the young of these species due to their heavily specialized diets and circumstances. Flamingoes are extremophiles who ingest things like brine shrimp and algae. Penguins live on a varying diet of seafood, often in very inconvenient locales. Pigeons (ours at least) are granivores, and grain is typically hard for young animals to make use of. But even the fruit eating pigeons are like this. So what is the huge advantage of crop milk?

With crop milk, you don't have to change your diet or find unusual food items to feed your offspring. With crop milk, your offspring gets an enormously nutritious meal right out the gates, with all the fats and proteins and carbs they could want, pre-made and ready to go. With crop milk, both parents can produce this super meal and extend their chances with this investment cost. All of these groups have very small numbers in their clutches at a time. Some species of penguin only raise one chick a year. To my knowledge, flamingoes also go one at a time. Columbids like rock doves (our pigeons) and mourning doves are capped at 2 per clutch, unless an accident happens. We will get to that.

Here's the rub.

Baby pigeons are one of the fastest growing birds on the planet. The crop milk is a big, big factor in that.

What happens if a 3rd baby is born in those nests, by the way? Usually nothing good. 2 babies are perfectly balanced to receive their parents efforts. 3 is enormously taxing on them and draining on them physically. Responsible breeders do not let their birds have 3 babies on accident. It can lead to deaths.

We don't have an adequate crop milk replacement yet. Even things marketed for this purpose fail. I know breeders who have desperately worked on improving their methods when a baby pigeon NEEDS intervention, and they've made improvement, but it still isn't perfect.

There's a scientific paper that details the gut microbiome transfer between parents and child in pigeon crop milk. It's hard to know how vital that bacteria is. Even if a crop milk substitute could be made with enough protein and fat and less sugar, would there still be a probiotic gap in it?

It is not unusual for a baby pigeon who misses out on parental crop milk to die. Sometimes two weeks later, when you thought maybe they would make it. They get this odd, dried, purple tint to them and most don't pull through past that. We call it FTT, or failure to thrive. There's no other reason they pass - it's not disease. They just stop.

No breeder worth their salt will take a baby to be hand-raised. It's dangerous for the baby. And, it impacts their mental development.

Pigeons that are raised by humans successfully become what we call human imprints. This means they don't really know they are a pigeon. They think they are like their parent - the big ape!

Imprints are NOT desirable among domestic species, or arguably at all, but pigeons are domestic so we'll stick there.

Pigeons who think they're people don't understand why we won't listen to them. So they ramp up their social signaling to 11. They bite as hard as they are capable of, which you can find out is pretty hard actually. They can't be housed with other pigeons. Not only do they have the tendency to be violent, but other pigeons don't like imprints. They tend to sense something is 'off' about them. This can lead to grouping up on one bird. And there's no fixing this. The bird can't be taught otherwise past a certain age. Their owners can find them extremely frustrating.

Don't make this mistake if you don't have to.

So what's the alternative, then?

Parent-raised babies who are socialized by humans, but left to grow up in the nest the majority of the time. Companion-bred birds from ethical breeders will be this. And it works.

Allowing the pigeon to maintain its social identity while introducing them to the fact that people can be great too is the best of both worlds. I personally used my parents as part of the socialization process - feeding the whole family in my lap to help show the babies that there was nothing to be afraid of.

And socialization can get very thorough. Everyone has their own method. But its the best chance you have of an out-of-box friendly bird. Especially from people who actually know their lines and have cultivated good stock.

Long story short, don't try creating imprints for no reason. They'll be messed up, you will be frustrated, and you could end up killing the bird.

I hope that was informative!

If you enjoy my posts, please consider tipping me on ko-fi!

[linddzz]

Tell me about corals magic man

oh man this ask keeps sitting here and I keep starting to write stuff out, forgetting it, then never finishing. So since I am still processing tons of coral pics from a recent field work excursion about coral (and have a day off to just CHILL at home before regular work again) this is as good a time as any. CORAL. IT'S IMPORTANT I GUESS BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? PLANT?? ANIMAL??? OVERAMBITIOUS ROCK??? Yes. kind of. Technically just an animal is correct. Corals are animals, but they are fucking weird animals. Weird in the way that only marine invertebrates can get. I love them because they're freaks. Let me show you.

Corals are a cnidarian, which puts them in the same category as anemones and jellyfish, and when you look at an individual coral polyp you can instantly see the relationship. They are colonial animals with massive structures formed out of polyps that are all clones of each other, and all building a support structure to form the whole, called the colony. An especially cute metaphor I've heard is that each coral polyp has it's own little nook like a room in the massive home they all work to build. A layer of tissue connects polyps to each other over the colony, allowing them to share nutrients and such over the entire structure like little marine communists. These polyps can range widely in size, and they can either be distinctly separate or all fused together, only distinguished by separate mouths. Numbers can also range from millions to a couple species that will have one or polyp mouths max. Polyps can extend out or retract into their little nook, called the calyx, and extend more when the coral is capturing prey from the water.

Lookit those cute little polyps, these guys make their own cubby for themselves!

Don't worry about what I just said about capturing prey and feeding, look at those cute little guys. Some of them are out and some are retracted, showing the little bump where they live.

Fused polyps like on brain corals don't extend exactly, but feeder tentacles will come out from that delineation between the ridge and oral groove. It's actually called an oral groove! Those tentacles are full of the same stinging cells jellyfish and anemones have! One biologist referred to brain corals as a wall of mouths! Ive seen them using those tentacles to slowly drag struggling little shrimps and larval fish towards a slowly opening mouth amongst that wall of mouths! It's like living in a place where at night, the walls open mouths and drag you into them with unthinking stinging strings! Sometimes they just spit out digestive strings to digest stuff outside of their body, like other coral that got too close and needs to check itself! Isn't that great!

A lot of people are surprised to hear "mouths" and "feeding" with corals and yup, corals are animals and therefore they eat! Each polyp has a mouth and tentacles and will extend them to capture prey, mostly zooplankton but also some plant material. Because they're fucking weird though, many species also gain energy via photosynthesis with the help of a symbiotic dinoflagellate called the zooxanthellae or symbiodinium. It's this algae like symbiont that actually gives coral most of their colors. These colors can range from psychadelic to just brown, with regular old browns and greens and yellows being the most common colors (especially in the Caribbean). A bleached coral is still alive, but due to stress has lost their zooxanthellae. They can survive and recover, but in this state they are highly stressed, prone to disease, and can starve slowly without the symbionts helping with their nutritional needs. They appear white or faded because the loss of their symbionts reveals the white calcium skeleton beneath the tissue.

Bleached portion of coral beside unbleached. A dead coral is one that has lost all of it's tissue, and every individual polyp has died, leaving nothing but the skeleton which can no longer grow without the living polyps. Bleached coral is very, very vulnerable to becoming a dead coral.

Unusually high heat is the most common trigger for a bleaching event. And this is where, in my education talks I sometimes do, I pause with a strained grimace of a smile as we all contemplate ocean temperatures hiking up every summer. SO WHY ARE THESE WEIRDASS ROCK ANIMALS IMPORTANT BESIDES BEING COOL TO LOOK AT? Coral structure can be colloquially described as stony or soft. Stony corals are what I work with more, and these guys are the ones that build a hard, calcium based structure as their support building, and these powerhouses are the ones that build the coral reef. Soft corals are what it says on the tin, they may have a sort of support structure that varies amongst families, but it's flexible (you'll see them waving very beautifully and gracefully in the currents) and they (for the most part) do not build the reef. If they do add to reef building it, it's with a very slow process of depositing fine layers. (Soft corals of course have their role in the overall reef health, but reefs are bonkers complicated ecosystems and I'm trying to keep on track here.) When you're looking at the reef, you are looking on centuries, if not millennia, of stony corals building on top of each other. Sometimes this building has been going on for so long that islands are made of fossilized reefs from millions of years ago, with corals that still resemble modern species in the rock. (This is the case of BonAire and blew my goddamn mind seeing the fossil reef it's so fuckin cool.)

Sometimes just a single colony will keep building on itself into massive structures. Polyp clones adding on and on to their predecessors, giving the colony overall a lifespan in centuries. It's thought that some huge colonies may be thousands of years old, because the fastest growing stony corals have a growth rate that may equal centimeters per year.

It's those reef structures of calcium carbonate building up and up that provide the homes to so many other creatures that coral reefs are some of the most biologically diverse, and biologically dense ecosystems out there, like rainforests of the ocean. Even marine life that doesn't live directly in the reefs have a connection to them, using them as feeding grounds, breeding areas, a place to hide while young and vulnerable, ect. They even protect coastlines, acting as a literal barrier that reduces wave damage from storms or just wave action in general. The reef takes the brunt of the physical damage, colonies get knocked around, but the still living polyps keep on building and rebuilding so the reef can go on and not get smashed into rubble every year. That is, if there are still stony corals alive to do the rebuilding. :))))))

So you have these weird animals who build stone structures like cathedrals, have algae in their tissue, live as massive ancient colonies of clones that can eat, photosynthesize, and also reproduce both asexually and sexually. They're able to branch out and do all of that because they are adapted to insanely stable environments. Temperatures don't fluctuate by more than a couple degrees seasonally, tides are consistent, storm seasons are consistent, the water is consistently clear due to lack of algae, which allows sunlight to penetrate and feed the symbionts that feed the coral. Mineral levels in the water are stable so they can take the calcium and carbonate from the sea water to build their skeletons. Without having to be able to adjust to changes in the environment they just went hog fucking wild on all the ways an animal can be an animal.

And here I once again pause with a strained grimace smile as we all take in how they need to be alive to keep building those reefs that support the ocean and the coasts, and how not stable their environment is becoming with new pollutants clouding waters, storms becoming more unpredictable, and waters having bigger temperature swings with hot summer spikes. :)))))))))))

[ofsunnydays-and-moonlitnights]

Another great day of saving the sharks.

Into (mer-creatures explained) Chapter 1 Chapter 2 <- You are Here.

Chapter 2: Lights out ~

You Dwell on the assignment at hand as you lean on the desk. 

If this shark doesn't survive the night all your hopes will be dashed. And you're still worried about the fact he's all alone. He must have been separated from his Daycare during the storm. That must have been so scary.

You sigh.

He's still asleep so you can't even check his stress levels or anything. You'd decided a while ago that you were definitely taking this next night shift to look after Ray but you still had to do the rest of your shiftly duties so as he sleeps you decide it's time to check up and feed the rest of the Celestials.

You're thankful for the fact each team only has one species each to look after. That meant you could focus on the Celestials while other Mer-creatures would be looked after by other people. But Mer-creatures aren't the only sea life at Cove Aquariums. Imagine looking after all the hundreds of fish by yourself.

Thankfully the night shifts were quiet, with no guests and only one or two from each team staying and all keeping to their sections. It was refreshing, especially from the hustle and bustle of today.

Before checking on the mini-mers you head to the break room to grab a quick coffee. Most others on night shift would probably be getting their cup of Joe later they've probably only just arrived. It's not usual for someone to take a day and night shift at the same time. But this was a special case.

The break room was empty. As you grabbed a coffee you remembered you should probably eat… you grab a handful of snacks as you head off to the mini tanks. 

It wasn't quite time for the lights to shut off for the night cycle so the Solars are still active just in time for their last meal of the day. As you look over the tank you see no one has scraped the algae from the edge of the glass, it's usually a day shift job but with how busy you all were with the rescue mission it makes sense it was forgotten. It'll add to their meal anyway. You quickly scrape the algae away with the mini squeegee. You notice Sunny, your Solar clownfish quickly snatching up flakes of algae to munch on, while Clips your eclipse mer barely notices the free meal. 

You then head to the cupboard, unlocking it and grabbing a feeding tray. There are two betta and three clowns to feed. You open up the mini freezer in said cupboard and take out a few portions of frozen brine shrimp and a pinch of pellets. Not forgetting a net for the feeder fish and a cup and pipette for the brine shrimp. 

You place your equipment by the tanks and start prep. You defrost the brine shrimp in some tank water and pipette them into the clownfish tank, just a little. Clips is immediately swimming around catching them all.

Variety is key to a mer clown's diet so next you drop in a few pellets. These are Sunny's favourite for sure and he grabs one to start chewing on. 

Sun your betta isn't so fussed on brine shrimp so you drop a frozen portion into the betta tank, it'll defrost in time for Moon to enjoy overnight, you instead opt for feeding Sun some pellets. As a final step, you open up the cupboard underneath your tanks to reveal a little tank full of feeder fish, a common practice among merkeepers. You scoop a few minnows up, dropping a couple in each tank, the Lunas and Clips will enjoy hunting those later. 

You can't forget to rinse your cup of brine shrimp in the feeder fish tank, allowing the dregs of the premium meal to be eaten by them before sprinkling some flakes in, healthy feeder fish make healthy meals. It was a routine you were all too familiar with. You watch the merfish swim around for a moment, Clips is busy chasing his food around the tank. As both Solars tuck into some pellets. You also spot a little hand emerge from one of the caves just in time to snag a fish. It's good to know Moonmoon got his breakfast. You smile at their fishy antics. “And people call you guys sea monsters.” You whisper to well no one, the fish? They can’t really hear or understand anyway.

 Ray should be waking up soon so you finish cleaning up and say good night to the Solars. Normally you'd stay long enough to say good morning to the Lunas but you have more pressing matters to attend to. 

As you re-enter the Aqua clinic you notice a twitch from Ray's fins. You have at least an hour before lights out so hopefully he wakes in time to check his health. Thankfully the clinic tank had a little hidey space so he can hide away and sleep at night. 

You would try to keep the lights on but that's just as dangerous. You wonder if some company would help. You first head to yet another freezer, yes where there is a fish that needs feeding there will be a fridge and or freezer nearby for your convenience. You open the fridge and take out a few defrosted mackerel, placing them in a bucket, it's not ideal a crab or catfish would be better but this is what you have at hand, you weren't expecting to be feeding a lemon shark when you put this week's order in. You then suit up in your wetsuit, your black one since the blue one is still wet from this morning. And not forgetting the fish aid kit. 

You climb the steps up to the top of the large tank and set everything down not too close to the edge of course. You watch as his fins twitch some more… Now you could wait until he wakes up all by himself or you could use a little trick you've learnt over the years. This job is definitely not for the squeamish. You take a pair of scissors and stab one of the mackerel before you waft its blood into the tank. 

You can see his shark instincts stirring him awake. His face scrunches and his little nose twitches as he sniffs the water. He finally opens his eyes, follows the scent and pokes his head out of the water in search of where the fish might have gone. He tilts his head as he looks at you. 

“Here for you.” You chuck the fish in his direction. It's so odd to be speaking to him, that's usually not allowed.

He catches the fish and starts to munch it happily. 

You've never actually gotten the privilege to work with a Solar in a tank before, it's usually just tagging them and releasing them back to the wild, and even then you don't get to join those trips often. Seeing him so close is fascinating, this will be this aquarium's first bigger variety of Solar, no of a Celestial. 

You quit marvelling at him and set up the equipment. This part is usually a lot harder but you think he's gonna be pretty cooperative. 

He finishes his fish and you stretch your hand out to him hoping he'll understand. He inches closer curiously. 

“Can I have your hand?” You ask. 

He comes as close as he can and sniffs at your hand. You're glad now you didn't extend the one you'd held the fish with. He then slowly places his hand in yours. You can't help but smile. And he mimics smiling back at you, his glowy eyes sparkle. 

You then strap a health monitor around his arm. It then starts sending data to the monitor tablet. You give it a check to see how he is. Everything seems normal and at pretty good levels. You let go of his hand to scroll through his results and immediately his stress level peaks, not too dangerously but enough to be noticeable. You take his hand again and it evens out, you let go and it peaks again. Interesting. You note that down. 

“Here, have some more for being so good.” You throw him another fish. 

You start to wonder… Could you start your research with some tricks? How about come here? That could be handy.

You wait until he's finished his fish and then stretch your hand out before opening and closing it. “Come, come here, Ray.” 

He looks at you puzzled for a second and then slowly approaches again. 

“Well done.” You throw a fish in the middle of the tank. 

You continue a few times and he gets faster at recognising your call. You run out of fish so you stop. That was so cool. You note down a couple things about the whole experience. 

“Ah, that was fun.” You sigh, sitting down at the edge of the pool dipping your feet into the water. A small chime echoes through the whole Aquarium, which means lights out. You quickly check the monitor tablet, this might freak him out. 

All tank lights slowly shut off, and all the other lights dim to keep the tanks from having too much light pollution. You see his stress levels spike to dangerous levels. He swims over to you almost leaping out of the water as he wraps his arms around you. 

“Woah there.” You pat his head. Checking the monitor it shows his stress lowering into the safe range, still high but safe. 

You sigh…  “I'm going to have to be your Luna for tonight, aren't I. You sigh again, slipping into the water. The fish meds are going to irritate your skin beyond belief but at least they weren't toxic… right? 

Thankfully you had thought to bring a pair of goggles in case you had to get in the water because you'd dropped something. You don't, though, have a rebreather or a snorkel. You hang onto the edge of the tank. He slowly lets you go and the stress alert hasn't gone off. Good.

 You need to make him feel safe. What would a Luna do… you think back to watching the little fish. They always do a perimeter check. You sigh and adjust your goggles before taking a deep breath. You dip under the water and make a show of swimming around before coming back up for air. 

“Feeling safer yet.” 

He tilts his head looking at you. 

“You need to go to sleep or you'll never get better.” 

He just stares. 

You sigh… you then take his hand and with a deep breath you take him down into the water and show him the little hidey space with the kelp and a little cave. You grab another gulp of air at the surface before swimming around in his tank hopefully communicating to him that you'll protect him. You resurface before looking down under the water. He looks up at you before back to the hiding spot. Back at you. You have to take another breath before you lower your face into the water to watch him again. A few bubbles leave his mouth reminding you of a sigh. He then swims over to the kelp and curls up in it. Still staring up at you. You get some more air checking on him again. He lays his head down and closes his eyes. You resurface. Taking a moment to breathe. You’re going to have to wait a while, to make sure he’s asleep. This is an odd scenario you’ve gotten yourself into but if it keeps his stress levels down and keeps him safe and alive you’re going to do it. 

You can’t help but yawn. It’s been a long day. If the lights have just gone off it’s probably about 12am, day shift will come about 6… you sigh. That's a lot of hours to stay awake for. You had to make sure Ray would last the night, He might not have lasted even this long without you. 

You lie on your back floating on the water. 

“This is gonna be awesome,” you reassure yourself. You close your eyes. “Just don’t fall asleep…” You feel yourself drift. 

Your head gently bumps into the glass of the tank. “I’m awake.” you gasp. You have no idea what time it is but the lights are still off so it can’t be too late. If someone found you like that, you don’t know what would have happened, they’d probably think you’d died or something. 

You need to get out and check the time. You first check on Ray… he’s still sleeping, so you should be able to sneak out. You swim over to the ledge and hoist yourself up that weightless feeling leaving you. 

You just lay there for a moment before you gain the strength to move. You dry your hands on your towel and check the tablet you abandoned earlier for the time. You sigh in relief it’s only 1:30. You then groan it’s only 1:30. Maybe the night shift wasn’t a good idea after a rescue mission. 

You drag yourself back to the changing rooms. You rinse off and get back into your uniform. Before grabbing a coffee and fetching some work from your desk, bringing it to the clinic so you can keep an eye on him. 

You have a handful of paperwork to get done and a few reports to write up. You’ll get some of that done. You get a couple hours of work done, take an impromptu nap, check on all the fish, and they’re all fine. Then get to work again. You can’t help but notice how itchy your skin is.

 As the hours tick by you decide to do some more research you were pretty well versed in Celestials of course but looking at the latest studies never hurt. Oh… an MRI of a Lunas brain has shown they have very similar brains to humans, you knew they had similar IQs but the resemblances are striking. Another article about their ‘secret language’, it’s no secret it’s just sonar. Ok, this study has more evidence to support the theory that Solars do most of the Star rearing in their daycares interesting. Aw… do they always have to go into the terminology? If you’re reading an article like this you’re no noob and probably know that daycares are the celestial version of schools, stars are the baby celestials who haven’t yet developed into a solar, a luna or an eclipse yet, and we all know a village is where a big daycare lives. We know all this, they’re the first things you learn. You sigh, scrolling through more articles.

Nice, a new Celestial village has been discovered in the Great Barrier Reef. Oh goodie… another theory on how they reproduce, until someone finds some actual hard evidence you’re not going to believe them, what do they have this time? Oh… interesting they believe there might be another type of Mer-creature, a female one, not the most outlandish theory. 

Your mind then wanders back to the first article with the MRI. If it’s that similar maybe you could look into how humans learn communication. You do a little googling… it says… ‘There is no innate system for humans creating knowledge and language.’ Oh fun, you keep reading, ‘Instead, we learn from the “inputs” that we're given;’ ok… ‘in other words, we are able to mimic the language spoken around us and slowly build our grammar and vocabulary.’ well Celestials are pretty good at mimicking, usually fish but it could work… You keep searching, maybe looking at how people teach children languages can help. ‘You can support language development by talking with your child and responding when your child communicates. Reading books and sharing stories is good for language development.’ you note that down, talking, responding and stories. 

Reading a story to a fish sounds kinda funny, sure they’re not just fish but still. You might try it. You know the only other study to teach mer-creatures to speak used training methods similar to teaching parrots. You’re not sure you’ll go in that direction. You keep looking into different articles but in time you start getting bored of the repetitive answers. You lean on your elbow sinking lower your head almost reaching the table. 

The alarm chimes as all the lights slowly brighten. 

“Morning already?” you sigh. The next shift will feed the miniatures but Ray is your sole responsibility. You know everyone is scared of him now that he’s imprinted? No befriended you! You decide that's better. You’ll coin that term. You chuckle, your all-nighter is getting to you. You grab some fish, you’ll feed him before you leave. Not bothering to change since both your wetsuits are probably still wet anyway, you make your way to the top of the tank. You wait this time sitting there yawning. It doesn’t take long, the light system in this area of the Aquarium is set to the average Celestials internal clock after all. He pokes his head up out of the water. And smiles at you. 

You smile back. “I brought breakfast.” you throw a fish his way.

He catches and enjoys it. “I bet that's good huh? Want more.” 

You feed him about two small mackerel and head back to clean up. 

Once you're done you sigh and clock out. You make sure to reassure Ray you’ll be back soon.

The next shift is arriving as you head out, you say a quick good luck and head home. Once home you grab a snack and get to bed, as soon as your head hits the pillow you’re out like a light.

Your ringtone stirs you from your sleep. 

You check your phone.

It's Kai, your boss.

[crevicedwelling]

Hi, do you know what that black line down the center of an isopod is (like the line down the albinos you posted)? I recently had some isopods hatch (do you say hatch for isopods?) and some of them have that but some don't and I don't know why

in that post I mentioned it is their digestive tract, same as the “vein” in shrimp. isopods that have eaten will have it be full, isopods that have just molted or just been born and haven’t eaten yet will not have a full stomach.

if some light colored isopods eat colorful food, you can often see it within their guts through their exoskeleton!

[endangered-aquarium-fish]

guys

theoretically how to make a self sustaining fish ecosystem (that i would trust more than trying to grow all the fish food in the tank with the fish. even tho that can work)

have an established planted tank and two separate clear containers, both at least a gallon

set the containers by a bright window and fill both with water from the tank (not newly dechlorinated, it has to be established)

in one container, add some gravel or lava rock to house beneficial bacteria to stabilize the water parameters, a bunch of dried plant trimmings from the main tank, azolla to absorb heavy metals, and a bunch of scuds, "pest" snails, ostracods, amano shrimp, etc. just anything thats rlly hardy and eats algae and rotting debris

in the other container, add gravel/lava rock, some kinda live plant to keep the water clean, some snails or smth to eat algae, and some daphnia

optionally add a bubbler to both, it might help

the one with the azolla and dead plants is gonna grow a bunch of greenwater (phytoplankton) since theres a lot of sunlight and nutrients and nothing else to consume them- all those creatures will release the nutrients from the dead plants into the water and also eat any other algae that tries to grow, and azolla is a nitrogen fixer so it won't consume much from the water it just keeps it from being toxic to daphnia (azolla is especially good at doing that)

every day, use a turkey baster to add a bit of greenwater to the daphnia, some daphnia to the main tank, and some water from the tank to the greenwater. so the daphnia feed the fish, the waste from the fish feeds the plants, the plants feed the critters in the greenwater, the critters feed the greenwater, the greenwater feeds the daphnia, and then the daphnia feed the fish again. and the plants in the main tank keep it clean so you have a source of good aged water for like constant water changes on the daphnia and greenwater to keep them going indefinitely

depending on what critters you put in with the greenwater you can use them as fish food too

if you dont wanna spread the azolla outside of the greenwater tank you can use one of those little floating hoops to make a clear spot where you can put the turkey baster

you can also use the dead plants to grow infusoria which is simpler and the same vibe but only feeds newly hatched fry

have not tried this but it should work im like halfway there i just need to find daphnia. lmk if you have any thoughts

[telnaga]

Hey it's Finger-Toe Swap Anon. Have you ever considered what it might be like to become a bug. Like when we think about bugs we probably subconsciously consider the fact that they don't have the brain capacity to understand much. However what if you woke up tomorrow and you were a bug, but like; you still had all your same mental understanding of the world, yourself, and the knowledge you had before becoming a bug. You think that would be like, really weird? Or do you think it would be rad because now you don't have to pay taxes or go to work, and you might be able to fly and stuff. I don't know, sometimes I think about this stuff. I don't think I'd be cool with it though because I have a lot of weird bug phobias and I think the only thing worse than encountering a bug I have a phobia of would be to become one, like what am I supposed to do in that situation, ya know? Everyone is always talking about animals and stuff and I think that's cool and all but it's not as odd to me as considering if it were a bug. Like I don't think I'd have any problem if I woke up tomorrow and could see shrimp colors or something. Sure I might freak out after I stop being amazed by the fact I can see shrimp colors, but whatever ya know? I'd be a shrimp so like, what am I really gonna do? I don't know probably find something to eat. What do shrimp even eat? I looked it up, shrimp will eat anything apparently, the list that google provided was:

Algae.

Dead and living plants.

Worms (even decaying worms)

Fish.

Snails.

Other dead shrimp.

Is shrimp considered a bug?

Okay so I looked it up, shrimp are considered crustaceans, not insects; so while they might have a lot of bug-like properties they are unfortunately not bugs. Would you rather wake up tomorrow as a shrimp or as any kind of bug you want? I think personally I'd like to be able to see shrimp colors.

well immediately i think of kafka's metamorphosis, where he turns into a bug and is like fuuuuuck how am i gonna go to work!!!! and its a metaphor for disability. but more realistically it would be like this sticker i have on my bike

i really like bugs and i think it would be cool to be one. but also someone might squish you! and they dont usually live very long. but it might be a full and fulfilling life

a lot of people consider crustaceans bugs, especially since pill bugs are crustaceans! (theyre isopods!) but hmmmmm .... seeing shrimp colors would be cool but id rather be able to fly. i dont think there are any flying shrimp but god damn that would be awesome. but yeah make me a little beetle that can fly pretty well. im ready

[recentadultburnout]

Info for writer in Thai series fandom: Lullabies

Some well know song used for lullabies, games, ect.

Notes:

I notice that using lullabies or nursery rhymes in writing is a common occurrence, so in this chapter I will give you something in case you want some Thai songs for that. Oh, but if you are more comfortable using an English song, then I would like to assure you that many of them are well known in Thai. Don't worry.

I added all song links on AO3, but just some here due to the post limit.

lullabies and Children's song

I added some song links on AO3, but not here, sorry.

นกกาเหว่า : nok-ka-wao (Cuckoo song)

กาเหว่าเอย ไข่ไว้ให้แม่กาฟัก    kawao oei khai wai hai mae ka fak   The cuckoo lays an egg for the mother crow to hatch. 

แม่กาก็หลงรัก คิดว่าลูกในอุทร    mae ka ko long rak khit wa luk nai uthon   The crow fell in love and thought that the egg was her own, 

คาบเอาข้าวมาเผื่อ ไปคาบเอาเหยื่อมาป้อน    khap ao khao ma phuea pai khap ao yuea ma pon   carrying food and prey back to feed it, 

ถนอมไว้ในรังนอน ซ่อนเหยื่อมาให้กิน    thanom wai nai rang non son yuea ma hai kin   cherish it in the nest, and hide the prey for it to eat. 

ปีกเจ้ายังอ่อนคลอแคล ท้อแท้จะสอนบิน    pik chao yang on khlokhlae thothae cha son bin   Your wings are still too weak to teach to fly. 

แม่กาพาไปกิน ที่ปากน้ำพระคงคา    mae ka pha pai kin thi paknam phra khongkha   The mother crow took it to eat at the estuary of the Ganges river. 

ตีนเจ้าเหยียบสาหร่าย ปากก็ไซ้หาปลา    tin chao yiap sarai pak ko sai ha pla   Feet are stepping on algae, and the mouth is searching for fish. 

กินกุ้งแลกินกั้ง กินหอยกระพังแมงดา    kin kung lae kin kang kin hoi kra phang maengda   Eat shrimp and crayfish. Eat mussels and horseshoe crabs.

กินแล้วก็โผมา จับที่ต้นหว้าโพธิ์ทอง    kin laeoko pho ma chap thi ton wa pho thong   Then dart to the Wa Pho Thong tree. 

ยังมีนายพราน เที่ยวเยี่ยมเยี่ยมมองมอง    yang mi naiphran thiao yiam yiam mong mong   There is also a hunter sneaking a peek at them. 

ยกเอาปืนขึ้นส่อง จ้องเอาแม่กาดำ    yok ao puen khuen song chong ao mae ka dam   Raising the gun and staring at the black crow, 

ตัวหนึ่งว่าจะต้ม อีกตัวว่าจะยำ    tua nueng wa cha tom ik tua wa cha yam   one is to boil, another one will be made into yum. 

กินนางแม่กาดำ ค่ำวันนี้อุแม่นา    kin nang mae ka dam kham wanni u mae na   This evening we will eat the mother black crow.

*These two clips word some lyrics a little different, but overall, it's the same.

นกขมิ้น : nok-kha-min (Canary song)

เจ้านกขมิ้นเหลืองอ่อนเอ๋ย  chao nokkhaminlueang-on oei  O light yellow canary

ค่ำแล้วจะนอนที่ตรงไหน  kham laeo cha non thi trong nai  Where will you sleep at night?

จะนอนไหนก็นอนได้ cha non nai ko non dai  You can sleep anywhere.

สุมทุมพุ่มไม้ก็เคยนอน  sumthum phummai ko khoei non  The bushes used to sleep

ลมพระพายชายพัดมาอ่อนๆ  lom phra phai chai phat ma on on  The gentle wind blows

เจ้าเคยจรมานอนรังเอย  chao khoei chon ma non rang oei  You used to wander and come to sleep in the nest.

วัดโบถส์ (Bot temple)

1

วัดเอ๋ย วัดโบสถ์  wat oei watbot  Temple Oey, Bot temple

*Bot means a place for monks to use for rites but is sometimes used as a temple name. Watbot means Bot temple.

ปลูกข้าวโพด สาลี  pluk khaophot sali  planting wheat

ลูกเขยตกยาก  lukkhoei tokyak  son-in-law become impoverished

แม่ยายก็พรากลูกสาวหนี maeyai ko phrak luksao ni  The mother-in-law took her daughter away.

โอ้ข้าวโพด สาลี  o khaophot sali  oh wheat

ป่านฉะนี้ จะโรยราเอย panchani cha roira oei  Thus far, it will wither

**Normally, khaophot means corn and sali means wheat, but according to La Loubere, khaophot sali here should mean wheat.

-------------------

2

วัดเอ๋ย วัดโบสถ์  wat oei watbot  Wat Oey, Wat Bot

มีต้นตะโหนด อยู่ 7 ต้น  mi ton ta not yu chet ton  There are 7 tanote trees.

เจ้าขุนทองจะไปปล้น chao khunthong cha pai plon  Chao Khun Thong is went out to rob

ตะโหนด 7 ต้น ของคนดง  ta not chet ton khong khon dong  7 tanodes of the barbarian people

เจ้าขุนทองตายแล้ว  chao khunthong tai laeo  Chao Khun Thong is dead.

เหลือแต่กระดูกแก้ว ให้คนปอง  luea tae kraduk kaeo hai khon pong  Only bones left for people to get

มือขวาถือฉัตร  muekhwa thue chat  right hand holding a tier

มือซ้ายสะบัดขึ้นถือธง muesai sabat khuen thue thong  left hand flutters up to hold the flag.

ตั้งใจจะไปปลง tangchai cha pai plong  intend to cremate

ศพเจ้าขุนทอง sop chao khunthong  The corpse of Chao Khun Thong

-------------------

3

วัดเอ๋ยวัดโบสถ์ wat oei watbot  Wat Oey, Wat Bot

มีตาลโตนดอยู่7ต้น mi tantanot yu chet ton  There are 7 palm tanot trees.

พ่อขุนทองก็ไปปล้น phokhun thong ko pai plon  por Khun Thong went to rob *Usually พ่อ(por) means father, but here it is a term use for a younger man with intimacy or affection.

ป่านฉะนี้ไม่เห็นมา panchani mai hen ma  even now he still can't be seen came back.

เมียคดข้าวใส่ห่อ mia khotkhao sai ho  Wife dip out rice and wrapped it

ถ่อเรือไปตามหา thoruea pai tamha  punt out to find him

เขาก็เล่าลือมา khao ko laolue ma  people are rumored

ว่าพ่อขุนทองตายแล้ว wa phokhun thong tai laeo  that por Khun Thong is dead

เหลืออยู่แต่กระดูกแก้ว luea yu tae kraduk kaeo  Only the bone remains

เมียรักจะไปปลง mia rak cha pai plong  dear wife will go to cremate

เจ้าขุนศรีจะถือฉัตร chao khun si cha thue chat  Chao Khun Sri will hold a tier.

ยกกระบัตรถือธง yokkrabat thue thong  raising the flag

ถือท้ายพายเรือหงส์ thuethai phairuea hong  steer a swan boat *a state barge with a swan as a figurehead

จะไปปลงศพเจ้าพ่อนา cha pai plongsop chaopho na  to go to the funeral of him Na

---------------------

4

วัดเอ๋ย วัดโบสถ์  wat oei watbot  Wat Oey, Wat Bot

มีตาลตะโหนด อยู่7ต้น mi tan ta not yu chet ton  There are 7 palm tanodes.

เจ้าขุนทอง ไปปล้น chao khunthong pai plon  Chao Khun Thong went to rob

ป่านฉะนี้ ไม่เห็นมา  panchani mai hen ma  its been a long time but he still not came back

คดข้าว ใส่ห่อ khotkhao sai ho  dip out rice, wrapped

ถ่อเรือ ไปหา thoruea pai ha  punt out to find

เขา ก ร่ำฦๅมา khao kram lue ma  people are rumored

ว่าเจ้าขุนทอง ตายแล้ว  wa chao khunthong tai laeo  that Chao Khun Thong is dead

เหลือแต่ โกศแก้ว luea tae kot kaeo  Leave only the glass urn

เมียรัก จักมาปลง mia rak chak ma plong  dear wife will come

จักถ่อพาย ท้ายเรือหงส์ chak tho phai thairuea hong  Will paddle at the back of the swan boat

ไปปลงศพ อุแม่นา  pai plongsop u mae na  Go to the funeral u mae na  * u mae na is a kind of suffix used in some old songs.

This is the first one.  

This is the third one.

Originally I knew only 2 versions of this song, but since I found 4 when I searched, I put all 4 here.

The version of this song that mentions Khun Thong actually has political implications. First, is that Khun Thong died fighting for our country and we should honor his action; and then, afterward, Khun Thong kind of became a symbol of the act of a revolutionary, as that name got used in literature about the uprising on October 14th, 1973, and the massacre on October 6th, 1976.

จันทร์เจ้าขา (Moon song)

"Chaokha" is a word used by women to politely call or beg the elderly. It's quite old-fashioned and is rarely used nowadays.

จันทร์เจ้าขา ขอข้าวขอแกง ขอแหวนทองแดง ผูกมือน้องข้า chan chaokha kho khao kho kaeng kho waen thongdaeng phuk mue nong kha  Moon Chao Kha, I ask for rice, for curry (soup/stew), and for a copper ring to bind my Nong's hand.

ขอช้าง ขอม้า ให้น้องข้าขี่ ขอเก้าอี้ ให้น้องข้านั่ง khochang kho ma hai nong kha khi kho kao-i hai nong kha nang  Asking for an elephant,  for a horse, for my Nong to ride, for a chair, for my Nong to sit on.

ขอเตียงตั่ง ให้น้องข้านอน ขอละคร ให้น้องข้าดู kho tiang tang hai nong kha non kho lakhon hai nong kha du  Ask for a bed for my Nong to sleep in. Ask for a play for my Nong to watch.

ขอยายชู เลี้ยงน้องข้าเถิด ขอยายเกิด เลี้ยงตัวข้าเอง  kho yai chu liang nong kha thoet kho yai koet liangtua kha eng  ask for granny Chu, take care of my Nong. Ask for Grandma koet, take care of me.

เดือนหงาย (Waxing moon song)

เดือนเอ๋ยเดือนหงายดาวกระจายทรงกลด duean oei dueanngai daokrachai songklot  Moon eoi, moonlit night. Star scatter and the moon have halo

อุ้มเจ้าขึ้นใส่รถว่าจะพาไปชมเดือน um chao khuen sai rot wa cha pha pai chom duean  carry you in the car to take you to see the moon

พิศแลดูดาวไปดาวก็ไม่งามเหมือน phit lae du dao pai dao ko mai ngam muean  Looking at the stars, the stars are not as beautiful.

พิศแลดูเดือนเหมือนนวลอุแม่นา phit lae du duean muean nuan u mae na  Look at the moon, its beautiful like you u mae na 

น้ำท่วมเมฆ (Flood clouds)

โยกเยกเอย  yokyek oei  swaying oei  *eoi is an apostrophe after a name, or an introductory noun. , or at the end of the poem

น้ำท่วมเมฆ  namthuam mek  flood of clouds

กระต่ายลอยคอ  kratai loikho  floating rabbit

หมาหางงอ  ma hang ngo  bent-tailed dog

กอดคอโยกเยก kot kho yokyek  hugging each other neck swaying 

ค้างคาว (Bat song)

ค้างคาวเอ๋ย  khangkhao oei  bat oei 

บินมายืด ๆ  bin ma yuet yuet  slowly fly over

ค่ำ ๆ มืด ๆ  kham kham muet muet  late at  night

จะไปสวนไหน cha pai suan nai  which garden will you go

จะไปสวนนอก  cha pai suan nok  if going to the garden outside

เอาลูกมะกอกมาฝากบ้างนะ ao luk makok ma fak bang na  Do bring some olives back for us.

จิงโจ้ Chingcho

*Chingcho have many meaning such as  

Pond Skaters

a type of crib mobile nursery décor.

Female soldiers in the reign of King Rama V

kangaroo

mythical creatures

a type of bird.

I grew up thinking the word Chingcho here meant the bird, but after doing some searching I found a more convincing explanation, which is that the word Chingcho in this song did not refer to anything above but the swaying movement that all things above have in common, and this song is about Chinese people who sailed to Thailand to trade and do the swaying movement in order to sail the ship.    จิงเอย จิงโจ้    ching oei chingcho    ching oei chingcho       มาโล้สำเภา    ma lo samphao    making the junk sailing along the waves      หมาไนไล่เห่า    manai lai hao    The dog barks      จิงโจ้ตกน้ำ    chingcho tok nam    chingcho falls into water      หมาไนไล่ซ้ำ    manai lai sam    dog repeatedly chasing      จิงโจ้ดำหนี    chingcho dam ni    chingcho dives away, fleeing      ได้กล้วยสองหวี    dai kluai song wi    get two hand of bananas       ทำขวัญจิงโจ้    thamkhwan chingcho    thamkhwan chingcho    *Tham khwan refers to the practice of performing a ceremony to encourage or resurrect spirits after experiencing a loss of khwan.

It can also mean to pay damages or compensation, to give something for consolation (of the people of north Thailand), to perform rites of welcome or to compensate, or to recompense.

กาพย์เห่เรือ  ตอน  เห่ชมเรือ

เกริ่นโคลง introductory poem

ปางเสด็จประเวศด้าว     ชลาลัย pang sadet prawet dao  chalalai    ทรงรัตนพิมานชัย                 กิ่งแก้ว song rattana phiman chai  king kaeo    พรั่งพร้อมพวกพลไกร             แหนแห่ phrangphrom phuak phon krai  haen hae    เรือกระบวนต้นแพร้ว              เพริศพริ้งพรายทอง ruea krabuan ton phraeo  phroetphring phrai thong 

กาพย์ poem ช้าละวะเห่ cha la wa he

พระเสด็จโดยแดนชล       ทรงเรือต้นงามเฉิดฉาย phra sadet doi daen chon  song ruea ton ngam choetchai    กิ่งเเก้วแพร้วพรรณราย            พายอ่อนหยับจับงามงอน king kaeo phraeo phanrai  phai on yap chap ngamngon    นาวาแน่นเป็นขนัด          ล้วนรูปสัตว์แสนยากร nawa naen pen khanat  luan rup sat saenyakon    เรือริ้วทิวธงสลอน                   สาครลั่นครั่นครื้นฟอง ruea rio thio thong salon  sakhon lan khran khruen fong    เรือครุฑยุดนาคหิ้ว           ลิ่วลอยมาพาผันผยอง ruea khrut yut nak hio  lio loi ma pha phanphayong    พลพายกรายพายทอง              ร้องโห่เห่โอ้เห่มา phon phai krai phai thong  rong ho he o he ma    สรมุขมุขสี่ด้าน             เพียงพิมานผ่านเมฆา son muk muk si dan  phiang phiman phan mekha    ม่านกรองทองรจนา                หลังคาแดงแย่งมังกร man krongthong rotna  langkha daeng yaeng mangkon    สมรรถชัยไกรกาบแก้ว    แสงแวววับจับสาคร samat chai krai kap kaeo  saeng waeowap chap sakhon    เรียบเรียงเคียงคู่จร                 ดั่งร่อนฟ้ามาแดนดิน riapriang khiangkhu chon  dang ron fa ma daen din    สุวรรณหงส์ทรงพู่ห้อย     งามชดช้อยลอยหลังสินธุ์ suwan hong song phu hoi  ngam chotchoi loi lang sin    เพียงหงส์ทรงพรมมินทร์            ลินลาศเลื่อนเตือนตาชม phiang hong song phrom min  lin lat luean tueanta chom    เรือชัยไวว่องวิ่ง            รวดเร็วจริงยิ่งอย่างลม ruea chai wai wong wing  ruatreo ching ying yang lom    เสียงเส้าเร้าระดม                    ห่มท้ายเยิ่นเดินคู่กัน siang sao rao radom  hom thai yoen doen khu kan   

This one is a part of a type of poem used for sing while paddling a boat so it isn't excetly a lullaby but some people do used as one including my family. The content of this poem is to admire the beauty of the parade of royal ships. I decided that translating it would be too difficult for me. So I will just leave it at that.

ช้าง (Elephant song)\

ช้างช้างช้าง chang chang chang  elephant elephant elephant

น้องเคยเห็นช้างหรือเปล่า nong khoei hen chang rueplao  Have Nong ever seen an elephant?

ช้างมันตัวโตไม่เบา จมูกยาวๆ เรียกว่างวง chang man tua to maibao chamuk yao yao riakwa nguang  The elephant is very big and has a long nose called a proboscis.

มีเขี้ยวใต้งวงเรียกว่างา mi khiao tai nguang riakwa nga  It has fangs under its trunk called tusks.

มีหู มีตา หางยาว mihu mita hangyao  have ears, eyes, long tail

กบเอยทำไมจึงร้อง(Why is the frog crying?)

กบเอยทำไมจึงร้อง กบเอยทำไมจึงร้อง kop oei thammai chueng rong kop oei thammai chueng rong  Why is the frog crying? Why is the frog crying?

จำเป็นต้องร้องก็เพราะว่าท้องมันปวด champen tong rong ko phrowa thong man puat  The frog groaned because his stomach ached.

ท้องเอยทำไมจึงปวด ท้องเอยทำไมจึงปวด thong oei thammai chueng puatthong oei thammai chueng puat  Why does the frog stomach hurt? Why does the frog stomach hurt?

ท้องมันปวดก็เพราะว่าข้าวมันดิบ thong man puat ko phrowa khaoman dip  The frog stomach hurts because the rice is raw.

ข้าวเอยทำไมจึงดิบ ข้าวเอยทำไมจึงดิบ khao oei thammai chueng dip khao oei thammai chueng dip  Why is the rice so raw? Why is the rice so raw?

ข้าวมันดิบก็เพราะว่าไฟมันดับ khaoman dip ko phrowa fai man dap  The rice was raw because the fire was extinguished.

ไฟเอยทำไมจึงดับ ไฟเอยทำไมจึงดับ fai oei thammai chueng dapfai oei thammai chueng dap  Why did the fire go out? Why did the fire go out?

ไฟมันดับก็เพราะว่าฟืนมันเปียก fai man dap ko phrowa fuen man piak  The fire was extinguished because the firewood was wet.

ฟืนเอยทำไมจึงเปียก ฟืนเอยทำไมจึงเปียก fuen oei thammai chueng piak fuen oei thammai chueng piak  Why is the firewood wet? Why is the firewood wet?

ฟืนมันเปียกก็เพราะว่าฝนมันตก fuen man piak ko phrowa fon man tok  The firewood is wet because it rains.

ฝนเอยทำไมจึงตก ฝนเอยทำไมจึงตก fon oei thammai chueng tok fon oei thammai chueng tok  Why does it rain? Why does it rain?

ฝนมันตกก็เพราะว่ากบมันร้อง fon man tok ko phrowa kop man rong  It's raining because the frogs sing.

กบเอยทำไมจึงร้อง กบเอยทำไมจึงร้อง kop oei thammai chueng rong kop oei thammai chueng rong  Why is the frog crying? Why is the frog crying?

กบมันร้องก็เพราะว่าท้องมันปวด kop man rong ko phrowa thong man puat  The frog groaned because his stomach ached.

หนูมาลี nu mali

หนูมาลีมีลูกแมวเหมียวลูกแมวเหมียวลูกแมวเหมียว nu mali mi lukmaeo miao lukmaeo miao lukmaeo miao  Malee has a kitty cat, a kitty cat, a kitty cat

หนูมาลีมีลูกแมวเหมียวขนมันคล้ายสำลี nu mali mi lukmaeo miao khon man khlai samli  Malee has a kitty cat. Its fur is like cotton wool.

หนูมาลีจะไปที่ใดไปที่ใดไปที่ใด nu mali cha pai thidai pai thidai pai thidai  No matter where Malee goes

หนูมาลีจะไปที่ใดมันตามไปทุกที่ nu mali cha pai thidai man tam pai thuk thi  No matter where Malee goes. it follows everywhere.

เป็ดอาบน้ำ bath duck

ก้าบ ก้าบ ก้าบ เป็ดอาบน้ำในคลอง  kap kap kap pet apnam nai khlong  Kab Kab Kab Duck bathing in the canal

ตาก็จ้องแลมองเพราะในคลองมีหอย ปู ปลา ta ko chong lae mong phro nai khlong mi hoi pu pla  It eyes staring because there were shells, crabs and fish in the canal.

กำมือ fist your hand

กำมือขึ้นแล้วหมุนๆ kammue khuen laeo mun mun  ชูมือขึ้นโบกไปมา chu muekhuen bok paima  fist your hand, raise it and turn around, raise your hand and wave it back and forth.*2

กางแขนขึ้นแหละลง kangkhaen khuen lae long  arms up and down 

พับแขนมือแตะไหล่ phap khaen mue tae lai  folded arms touching shoulders

กางแขนขึ้นแหละลง kangkhaen khuen lae long  arms up and down 

ชูมือขึ้นหมุนไปรอบตัว chu muekhuen mun pai roptua  Put your hands up and spin around.

โรงเรียนของเราน่าอยู่ Our school is nice

โรงเรียนของเราน่าอยู่ rongrian khong rao na yu  Our school is nice

คุณครูใจดีทุกคน khunkhru chaidi thuk khon  All teachers are kind.

เด็ก ๆ ก็ไม่ซุกซน dek dek ko mai sukson  Children are not naughty.

พวกเราทุกคนชอบมาโรงเรียน phuakrao thuk khon chop ma rongrian  We all like to come to school.

ชอบมา ชอบมาโรงเรียน chop ma chop ma rongrian  like to, like to come to school

For my entire life, I had never seen anyone sing this song sincerely.

แมงมุมลายตัวนั้น That striped spider

แมงมุมลายตัวนั้น maengmum lai tua nan  that striped spider

ฉันเห็นมันซมซานเหลือทน chan hen man somsan lueathon  I saw that it looked unbearable.

วันหนึ่งมันเปียกฝนไหลหล่นจากบนหลังคา wan nueng man piak fon lai lon chak bon langkha  one day it was wet with rain flowing from the roof

พระอาทิตย์ส่องแสงน้ำแห้งเหือดไปลับตา phra-athit songsaeng nam haenghueat pai lapta  the sun shines The dry water ran out of sight.

มันรีบไต่ขึ้นฟ้าหันหลังมาทำตาลุกวาว man rip tai khuen fa hanlang ma thamta lukwao  It hurriedly climbed into the sky. Turning around, eyes sparkling.

After some searching, I found out that this one is actually an English song, Itsy Bitsy Spider, translated into Thai, but it is not that match between the two versions, so I am not using the original lyrics here.

songs in children's games

รีรีข้าวสาร Reree Khaosan

รีรีข้าวสาร  ri ri khaosan  Reree Khaosan

สองทะนานข้าวเปลือก  song thanan khaoplueak  two pans of paddy

เลือกท้องใบลาน  lueak thong bailan  choose palm leaves

เก็บเบี้ยใต้ถุนร้าน  kepbiataithunran  collect the allowance under the store.

คดข้าวใส่จาน  khotkhao sai chan  crooked rice on a plate

พานเอาคนข้างหลังไว้ให้ดี phan ao khon khanglang wai hai di  Take the person behind you.

ไอ้เข้ไอ้โขง ai khe ai khon

อ้ายเข้อ้ายโขง   aikhe ai khong  Ai crocodile

อยู่ในโพรงไม้สัก   yu nai phrong maisak  live in the hollow of teak

อ้ายเข้ฟันหัก  aikhe fan hak  Ai crocodile tooth are broken

กัดคนไม่เข้า kat khon mai khao  can't biting people

The lyrics in this clip and the lyrics I write are a little different, but the meaning is still the same.

งูกินหาง tail-eating snake

Father Snake :

แม่งูเอ๋ยกินน้ำบ่อไหน mae ngu oei kin nambo nai  Where does mother snake drink water?    Mother Snake :  

กินน้ำบ่อโสกโยกไปโยกมา  kin nambo sok yok pai yok ma  drinking water from the well, rocking and swaying    Father Snake :

แม่งูเอ๋ยกินน้ำบ่อไหน mae ngu oei kin nambo nai  Where does mother snake drink water?    Mother Snake :

กินน้ำบ่อหินบินไปบินมา  kin nambo hin bin pai bin ma  Drink water at stone pond, flying back and forth.    Father Snake :

แม่งูเอ๋ยกินน้ำบ่อไหน mae ngu oei kin nambo nai  Where does mother snake drink water?    Mother Snake :

กินน้ำบ่อทรายย้ายไปย้ายมา  kin nambo sai yai pai yai ma  Drink water at sand wells, move back and forth.    Father Snake :

กินหัวกินหางกินกลางตลอดตัว kin hua kinhang kin klang talot tua  Eat head, eat tail, eat in the middle to the whole body.

มอญซ่อนผ้า Mon hides the cloth

มอญซ่อนผ้า  mon son pha  Mon hides the cloth

ตุ๊กตาอยู่ข้างหลัง  tukta yu khanglang  doll on the back

ไว้นู่นไว้นี่  wai non wai ni  keep it right there. Keep it right here

ฉันจะตีก้นเธอ chan cha ti kon thoe  I will spank you

จ้ำจี้มะเขือเปราะ chamchi makhuea pro

จ้ำจี้มะเขือเปราะ กระเทาะหน้าแว่น chamchi makhuea pro kratho nawaen  chamchi eggplant kratho nawaen 

พายเรืออกแอ่น กระแท่นต้นกุ่ม phairuea ok aen krathaen ton kum  Rowing until the chest bent. Almost stuck to the kum tree.

สาวๆ หนุ่ม��� อาบน้ำท่าไหน sao sao num num apnam tha nai  Where do young people take a bath?

อาบน้ำท่าวัด เอาแป้งที่ไหนผัด apnam tha wat ao paeng thinai phat  Take a bath at the temple's waterside. Where do they get the face powder from?

เอากระจกที่ไหนส่อง เยี่ยมๆ มองๆ นกขุนทองร้องฮู้  ao krachok thinai song yiam yiam mong mong nokkhunthong rong hu  Where will they get a mirror to use? Sneak a peek secretly. Khun Thong birds sing hoo.

โพงพาง phongphang

โพงพางเอ๋ย ปลาเข้าลอด  phongphang oei pla khao lot  fish trap oei, the fish enters through.

ปลาตาบอด เข้าลอดโพงพาง pla tabot khao lot phongphang  A blind fish enters the fish trap.

*When I was a kid, I actually didn't know this game's name or that it had a song. We call it "live fish, dead fish" and just shout that at the beginning of the game, lol.

เป่ายิ้งฉุ��

ยันยินเยาปั๊กกะเป่ายิ้งฉุบ yan yin yao pak ka pao ying chup 

There are actually a lot of songs to sing before Rock Paper Scissors, but the one you saw above is the one almost every version has and also the only thing most people actually use because the other verses are too long. Many times, it gets shortened to the point of using only the last word.

Songs for university activities or camp.

แจว Paddle

แจวมาแจวจ้ำจึก  chaeo ma chaeo cham chuek  Paddle, come paddle.

น้ำนิ่งไหลลึกนึกถึงคนแจว *2 namninglailuek nuekthueng khon chaeo  Still, water flows deep. Thinking of a rower.

แจวเรือจะไปซื้อ “word”  chaeoruea cha pai sue “word”  Sailing boats will go buy a "word".

ขอเชิญ “name” ลุกขึ้นมาแจว kho choen “name” luk khuen ma chaeo Invite "name" to come up.

*“word” and “name” must be rhyming words.

ไก่ย่าง grilled chicken

ไก่ย่างถูกเผา*2 kaiyang thuk phao *2 The grilled chicken got burnt *2

มันจะถูกไม้เสียบ*2 man cha thuk mai siap *2 It will be skewed *2

เสียบตูดซ้ายเสียบตูดขวา siap tut sai siap tut khwa  Plug in the left ass, plug in the right ass

เสียบตูดซ้ายเสียบตูดขวาเอ๊า!! siap tut sai siap tut khwa ao!! Plug in the left ass, plug in the right ass, ah!!

ร้อนจริงๆร้อนจริงๆร้อนจริงๆ ron ching ching *3 extremely hot *3 

ตาแดงๆ Red, red eyes

ตาแดง ๆ อย่ามายะน้องแรง น้องเจ็บหัวเข่า *2 tadaeng tadaeng ya ma ya nong raeng nong chep huakhao *2 Red red eyes, don't come fxxk me hard. My knee hurt. *2

น้องบอกอย่ามายะ อย่ามายะ!! *2 nong bok ya ma ya ya ma ya *2 I said, "don't come, don't come !! *2

อย่ามายะน้องแรง น้องเจ็บหัวเข่า  ya ma ya nong raeng nong chep huakhao  Don't come fxxk me hard. My knee hurt.

ปีหน้าจะมีรำวง *2 pi na cha mi ramwong *2 Next year there will be a dance. *2

น้องกลั��ท้องป่อง อย่ามายะ อย่ามายะ nong klua thong pong ya ma ya ya ma ya  I'm scared of a big belly. Don't come, don't come.

This one is filthy, but due to its popularity, I chose to put it in. I'm a modest person, I swear.(ﾉ∀＼*)

ฮิปโป Hippo

ฮิป! ฮิป! ฮิป! ฮิปโป  Hip! Hip! Hip! hippo  Hip! Hip! Hip! hippo

โอ้โห ตัวมันใหญ่มัน  o ho tua man yai man  Oh, it's big.

เดินอุ้ยอ้าย มันเดินอุ้ย  doen ui-ai man doen ui  Walks slowly, it walks slowly.

ลัลล้า ลัลลัลลา ลัลล้ลลา lan la lan lan la lan lon la  lalala lalala lalala

ตุ่ม Jar

ตุ่มใส่น้ำใส่น้ำให้เต็มตุ่ม  tum sai nam sai nam hai tem tum *2 Water jar, fill the jar with water *2

แล้วเราจะชื่นใจ laeo rao cha chuenchai *2 Then we will rejoice *2

รถตุ๊กๆ Tuk tuk car

รถตุ๊กๆ บรรทุกถ่าน  rot tuk tuk banthuk than  tuk tuk car, carry charcoal

รถขึ้นสะพาน  rot khuen saphan  car up the bridge

รถลงสะพาน  rot long saphan  car down the bridge

รถเลี้ยวซ้าย  rot liaosai  car turn left

รถเลี้ยวขวา  rot liao khwa  car turn right

ชักกระตุกๆๆๆ chakkratuk kratuk kratuk kratuk  twitch*4

สับปะรด Pineapple  

มีตารอบตัว รอบตัว รอบตัว  mita roptua roptua roptua  have eyes everywhere

มีตัวลายตา ลายตา ลายตา  mi tua laita laita laita  have dazzling body. Dazzling, dazzling, dazzling.

ฮูลาฮูลา สับปะรด ๆ  hu la hu la sapparot sapparot  Hula Hula Pineapple.

(เปรี้ยวไหม ๆ? เปรี้ยว!) เปรี้ยวทำยังไง? (priao mai priao mai? Priao!) priao tham yangngai? (Is it sour? Yes!) What if it's sour?

เปรี้ยวก็จิ้มเกลือ  priao ko chim kluea  sour, then dipped in salt.

หวานก็จิ้มเกลือ  wan ko chim kluea  sweet, then dipped in salt.

เปรี้ยวก็จิ้มเกลือ  priao ko chim kluea  sour, then dipped in salt.

หวานก็จิ้มเกลือ  wan ko chim kluea  sweet, then dipped in salt.

ถ้าไม่มีเกลือ ก็ไม่ต้องจิ้ม  tha mai mi kluea ko mai tong chim  If there is no salt, no need to dip.

หม่ำไปเลย ๆ mam pai loei mam pai loei  Eat it up*2

กิ่งก้านใบ Branches, stems, and leaves      

กิ่งก้านใบ ชะ ชะ ใบก้านกิ่ง  kingkan bai chacha bai kan king  Branches, stems, and leaves. Water wash leaves, stems, and branches.

กิ่งก้านใบ ชะ ชะ ใบก้านกิ่ง  kingkan bai chacha bai kan king  Branches, stems, and leaves. Water wash leaves, stems, and branches.

ฝนตกลงมาจริง ๆ  fontok long ma ching ching  It's really raining.

ฝนตกลงมาจริง ๆ  fontok long ma ching ching  It's really raining.

ชะ ชะ กิ่งก้านใบ chacha kingkan bai  Branches, stems, and leaves get wash by water

Index

[aquariuminfobureau]

Sewellia lineolata is one of the ballitorid hillstream fishes, that are endemic to Asia. They are not "plecos" or loricarids, nor suckers or catostomids, as they are often confusingly labelled in aquarium retail. Loricarids and catostomids are found in other parts of the world. Often they are called a loach, which is fair, because they nest deeply within the traditional, pre-cladistic assemblage, called Cobitidae. Historically, they were regarded as distinct from the loaches.

S. lineolata are collected from Southeast Asian upland waters, which must always be well oxygenated, though not neccessarily as fast moving assume sources indicate, because these fish are found in pools beside riffles, as, well as in the actual rapids. In the wild, they live on gravel, bedrock, and sand substrates, with few submerged plants. Sewellia make an excellent focus for a biotope setup.

This species grows to about 6 centimeters, or 2 and a 1/4 inches. The trade names for S. sewellia, are the reticulated, tiger, and gold ring hillstream fish. For all I know, other species may be traded under these names. Care for all the imported species and morphs of Sewellia sp , is believed to be the same.

S. lineolata have small mouths for fishes their size, and feed on algae, biofilm, and very small invertebrates. In the aquarium this species will eat algae wafers, micro pellets of the sort offered to shrimp, and defrosted invertebrate based foods. These are not considered difficult fishes to feed, and they have no ability nor inclination, to prey on ornamental tank cohabitants.

I don't know the water parameters where they are collected from the wilds, but in the aquarium, their proper care is well established. Their water ought to be moderately hard, and its pH should be about neutral, with the temperture a bit lower than is usual for a tropical tank, with somewhere between 20 to 23 degrees centigrade being a good temperture to maintain.

In the wild they are diurnal, and spend time grazing and foraging, in unshaded water, so I imagine some daytime temperture tolerance greater than that - but its important to know, they experience cooler tempertures by night, and should not be confused with tropical fishes. Permanent exposure to tempertures over 24 degrees, has been noted to lead to emaciation.

They also experience seasonality in the wild, not only of temperture but of rainfall, with run off depositing organics into the water during the rainy season, surely affecting the water chemistry they experience. My point is, these are hardy loaches that tolerate a range of tempertures and water chemistries, only if the needs of oxygenation are met.

But the ability of fish like Sewellia sp. to temporarily tolerate high tempertures, on a daily or seasonal basis, should not be willfully misunderstood and abused, by people who want yo treat them as though they were tropical fishes. These are "coldwater tropicals".

[deepeststrawberrymoon]

tori :3 orrr mitsuri kny

:3

Tori:

Sexuality:

Homosexual.

/j, I have absolutely no idea!

Probably homosexual though.....

Gender:

Maybe like bigender or genderfluid........ definitely not cis

He's still deciding on it himself, you know!

Ship:

Oohh I have absolutely no idea once again 😭

I saw some art of him and Tsukasa, and that was pretty cute <3

BROTP:

Aahhh tbh I don't really know too much about his relationships, but he seems to get along well with the other members of fine? Probably Yuzuru in particular? So maybe him I guess?

NOTP:

No clue 😭

Random headcanon:

Uhh my headcanon is that his hair is pink because he eats a lot of algae and brine shrimp (just like a flamingo) <3

General opinion:

Love love love him so so much <33 Any time I see a picture of him crying, I want to cry too </3 If I ever met him in real life I would give him a hug and start crying <3

Mitsuri:

Sexuality:

Pan icon <3 But also maybe demi(sexual or romantic, I'm not sure)? 🤔

Gender:

She is so girl to me <3 Literally the girl ever <3

Ship:

Obamitsu!!!!!!!!!!!! I do love shinomitsu as well, but obamitsu is like <33333 I love 'em <3

BROTP:

Platonic shinomitsu is so <333333 Oh I also love her relationship with Rengoku of course!!!!!!!! And platonic obamitsu slays as well ofc <3

NOTP:

Hmm..... Not a huge fan of romantic uhh (idk what it's called.....) kyomitsu? renmitsu? Like, Rengoku and Mitsuri? But I don't absolutely hate it at the same time

I don't like when people ship her with like Tanjiro or Genya or any of the kids, ykyk

Random headcanon:

Oughh I probably had so many when I was first into kny in 2020, but I can't think of any rn!! Let's see..... I can't say her hair is pink from eating brine shrimp because it's canonically pink from eating too much sakura mochi lol

My Mitsuri headcanon is that her eyes are green from eating too much broccoli as a child <33

General opinion:

I love her with all my heart, as I do all kny characters <333 I honestly don't know where I'd be today without kny lol, it really kept me going throughout the first lockdown, and the second, and even to this day whenever anything slightly relating to it is brought up I feel so so happy, because I just love it so much aghhshdhs 😭😭😭

I got a Mitsuri pop figure and a Sabito plush the other day actually:

They are my pride and joy <33

[vvatchword]

Look at this little idiot.

Her name is Skinny Minnie. She is one of four African dwarf frogs (BB Betty, Whoah Mabel, and Bill). For months, she refused to come out and accept food from me because I am a sky giant and cannot be trusted. She finally got hungry enough to trust me, so if I saw her, I'd stop everything to feed her. She has since become a shameless beggar.

Pictured: shamelessness. None of the other frogs will straight-up leave the water for me. No, they know what's important, and it's not me. It is SHRAMP

So ideally, most aquatic creatures should have bellies that are the same widths as their jaws. In ADFs, females tend to be pear-shaped, so a little belly is expected. In males, they tend to be straight up and down.

Now it's possible Skinny Minnie is actually Bill. I have one other frog who may be my mysterious singer. Regardless, you can tell Skinny Minnie is not great from this bad photo. You can see the ridge of her spine when she twists and her legs are too thin. (Current Bill waits below patiently.)

So obviously I make sure she gets first dibs.

But you know what this complete idiot does. You know what she does?

She refuses to eat the food I give her and just follows me around. She's the equivalent of no-throw-only-hold. She wants me to put food in her mouth, which she then spits up. Then she turns to follow me. No! Wrong! Eat the shrimp! How do you suck at eating?

My solution has been to spend less time hand-feeding. Just dump the shrimp as fast as possible and run. Hunt for it, you tiny blind dumbass.

She is definitely gaining weight, so she's getting better and better at this, but I can't get over how dumb this approach is. Who turns down a meal to chase the person who's feeding them? This is some bizarro world positive-reinforcement bullshit.

I love her.

And my green hair algae. Shut up I hear your thoughts

[thebrackishtank]

Do you know any brackish shrimps? I need them to clean some algaes. Will my green scats attack them? If yes, I will give up on this thought.

There are lots of brackish tolerant shrimps - from Ghost to Cherry to Amano to Snowballs and Rednose, there are many options. And while it depends on the size of your Scats, I think it likely that they might eat any an inch or less in length. That said I've kept my Scats in a 125 with peppermint shrimps before and they worked out fine, but they are a bit bigger than the species i listed. Amanos may work okay for you if you are willing to try them.

All the same, I find Nerites to be the best algae eaters on the market, and both the Clithon and Puperita genera should work for you depending on salinity.

[ilearnedthistodaysblog]

#1115 Why do some fish create their own light?

Why do some fish create their own light? Some fish create their own light to attract prey or, surprisingly, to hide from predators, and many other reasons as well. Being able to create light is called bioluminescence and it is not limited to just fish. The most common organism that creates light on land is probably the firefly. They produce light to attract a mate. There are some fungi that can create light, as can some types of algae. However, there are far more creatures in the sea that can do this than there are on land. Scientists believe that over 80% of all the fish in the oceans are bioluminescent. Nearly all of the fish in the sea that have bioluminescence tend to be very deep down. This is because light doesn’t travel very far down into the ocean. Sunlight can travel all through the atmosphere and reach the ground because air is not that dense. Once the sunlight hits the water and starts to travel into the ocean, it has a lot more trouble because water is very dense. The light molecules get scattered and light can only travel about 1,000 m into the water. Once you get below 1,000 m, the ocean is pretty dark. The only way fish can see or be seen is to create their own light. There are generally five reasons why fish are bioluminescent. The first reason is to attract prey. A good example of this is the angler fish. The angler fish has a part of its dorsal fin that sticks out in front of its head and looks like a fishing rod (hence the fish’s name). At the end of the rod is a small bioluminescent organ called an esca. When the angler fish swims, this glowing organ bobs up and down, looking very much like food. Other fish and shrimp are attracted to the light and when they get close enough, the angler fish eats them. The second reason is to hide from predators. This might sound slightly counterintuitive. Why would giving off light help a fish hide from a predator? Well, it all comes down to what color light they are giving off. Deep in the sea, there is no light, but looking up, there is a very dim light. It would be too dim for us to see, but the fish that live in the sea have better night vision than we do and they can detect much smaller amounts of light. Any dark fish swimming above a predator would stand out against this lighter background. To avoid that, a lot of fish use bioluminescence on their underside to give off a faint light that matches that coming down from the surface, thereby hiding.                 The third reason is as a way to distract a predator. Some fish use their bioluminescence to hide, but some use it to be startling. When they are being attacked, or when they spot a predator, some fish can produce bright flashes that appear to move around their body. These lights and movements will startle a predator, as well as making the fish seem bigger than it actually is. Jellyfish do this. There is a sea worm called swima bombiviridis that can drop glowing bombs to distract the predator while it swims away. They are made of modified gill parts and they start to glow as soon as the worm has ejected them. The fourth reason is to be able to see prey. There is no light from the sun at that depth, so some fish have to create their own light so they can see what they are hunting. Some fish at that depth have evolved to be able to see red and they create a red light to find their prey. This is very cunning. When sunlight hits the sea, the lower energy longer wavelengths, such as red, get absorbed much more quickly than the shorter more powerful wavelengths, such as blue. This means that there is no red light deep in the sea and most fish have evolved not to be able to see red because they don’t need it. Many fish have also evolved to be red so that they can’t be seen. The sneaky fish that have evolved to produce red light and be able to see red can catch these other fish. The fifth reason is to find a mate. In the same way that birds use their colors and song to attract a mate, many fish in the sea use their bioluminescence  to signal to a mate where they are and that they are ready. This is a tactic that is fraught with danger because the brighter animals have more chance of finding a mate, but they have a greater chance of being eaten as well. There are generally two ways that fish create this bioluminescence. The first way is by using bacteria that produce light. The angler fish uses this method. The lure at the end of its fishing rod is covered with light producing bacteria. The second way is through chemical reactions within the fish. By using chemical reactions, the fish can switch the light on and off and they can make it move. And this is what I learned today. Photo by Timo Volz: https://www.pexels.com/photo/blue-jellyfish-1771338/ Sources https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/way-more-fish-can-make-their-own-light-we-thought-180959346 https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/features/z1304_00230.html https://www.reddit.com/r/evolution/comments/1aups4a/why_did_evolution_give_deep_sea_creaturesfish/ https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/marine-biology/they-glow2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bioluminescent_organisms https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/what-to-know-about-bioluminescent-algae https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/light-distributed.html https://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/curriculum-collections/deep-sea-vents/light-and-dark-in-the-sea https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/fish/bioluminescence https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna32495109#.UlbcxoZnHT4 Read the full article

[macaroniandcheese]

your dog sees in dog colors my dog sees in shrimp colors

your dog eats dog food my dog eats algae

your dog has four legs my dog has ten legs

your dog has bones my dog has an exoskeleton

we are not the same