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MCC art dump, mostly Zozy redesign and some of his lore

Zozy Zosimus is a devil reef crab(Zosimus aeneus) and what is known as a befouled in crustacean society, which means toxins accumulate in his muscle tissues. While not dangerous to himself, much of the reef associates venom/poison as evil and forces befouled crabs to be under endocrinal suppression. He is in charge of scientific development for the reef rangers, which mostly involves producing antivenom against hydra and antidote for several other toxic reef creatures the rangers would encounter. A toxicologist who himself is toxic, perhaps his endeavor is to redeem his image, or that he took empathy on the hydras who too are feared upon for their toxins.

Exploration on befouled crabs and suppression suits. The condition only happen to a handful of crab individuals in specific lineages. Toxins like tetradontoxin and saxitoxin accumulate as they grow and pose no threat to themselves and the only exposure is through open wound. Befouled crabs sometimes exhibit traits like unique facial patterns or odd eye colors. Befouled individuals under coralition authority are to be installed artificial suppression systems, which extract the toxins to dispose manually.

The whole thing is mostly based off of several species of real life poisonous crabs like Zosimus aenues, Atergatis floridus and Carpilius maculatus, the latter two are the heads above. They don't really pose much threat unless you eat them.

This post is NOT about him but here's Carcini, another character I updated the design recently. He's based off of a species of decorator crab, Cyclocoeloma tuberculata, and he's the owner of West Pacific Carcinate Companie. He's rich(ew I know) and dresses with anemone. He is the "ringmaster" of the circus mob characters I made a while ago.

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New fish alert! Another creature planned to appear in book 1 got its proper design! The blackspotted tuskfish(Choerodon schoenleinii), a wrasse that uses tools. C. schoenleinii and its relative C. anchorago have both been documented to bash clams into rocks repeatedly to open them. At this point I wouldn't even be suprised if we find a wrasse that can recognise itself in mirrors(huh what's that we already did??)

Above is the old sketch back in september last year. I had the idea for them to show their tusks like geladas. I kept the primate element with the new design since it's a quick and easy way to communicate that this is an animal of significant intelligence compared to other fish.

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Zzynrath Pauldronpelt(that's right 2 Zs) is the reigning tide brawler champion of the Jetty. Her marine familiar is a cluster of gooseneck barnacles(Pollicipes polymerus)...bar...bar knuckles....bar- This is a continuation(sorta) of a character series I made last year where everyone has a marine familiar.

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I can't fix them but I can join their long list of victims!

I just finished Sorry We're Closed and HUUUUAAAAAHHHH!!!!! It's so good??? I love the designs for everything, all of it, the scrumptious.

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Some exploration on Piki's raptorials and their gloves

With Piki being a peacock mantis shrimp(Odontodactylus scyllarus) their signature move is the cavitation punch with their raptorial clubs. Here I did a little study with the real life O. scyllarus, simplified and translated the structure to fit into Piki's arm. The hands are extensions from the dactyl clubs and have high density of hydroxyapatite, making it great for dealing impact, but also means Piki's hands are a lot less sensitive than others'.

And do not let the power punch fool you, they're dogfish terrible at fighting, can't even dodge a hit to save their life(that's what the other two of the trio are here for.)

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Finding comfort(drawing silly art of them) in a time of hardship(arcane seaon 2)

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All of inktober 2024! With my MCC silly sea creatures

Actually finished a monthly art challenge this time wow I'm spitting up blood

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Inktober day 31: landmark

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Inktober day 30: violin

The traditional courtship dance of fiddler crabs involve wielding a claw carved from the skull of needlefish while adorned in round plates made from the operculum of gastropods. I'm not drawing an actual violin.

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Inktober day 29: navigator

A lot of marine organisms in real life can navigate through sensing magnetic fields, eels, salmon and turtles are some of the more studied examples. So here I had the idea of just having a messed up homunculus in your nautical compass pointing where you need to go like a tamagotchi pet(???

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Inktober day 28: jumbo

Cavi-claws are the mechanical enlarged claws the pistol shrimps developed to substitute their organic counterparts. And with them the limit is no longer bound by flesh, as seen with the "sea splitter" here.

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Inktober day 27: road

I don't care who the IRS sends I'm not drawing background. The fish is a moontail bullseye(Priacanthus hamrur)

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Inktober day 26: camera

This is meant to be a flashlight fish(Anomalops katoptron) but I went a little overboard with the design and now it's barely recognisable.

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Inktober day 25: scarecrow

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Inktober day 24: expedition

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Inktober day 23: rust

Mining workers around hydrothermal vents have to wear sponge hydraulic suits to adjust temperature, salinity and acidity. The living sponges wedged around the joints keep the water pumping and prevent the workers from going into toxic shock. As time wears on(get it, wear?) the suit accumilates sulfate crystals.

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Inktober day 22: camp

A lot of crustaceans form commensal relationships with sea cucumbers and use them as shelter(e.g. Zenopontonia rex) so here's a sea cucumber camp. I sort of combined traits from a lot of different sea cucumber species.