fishenjoyer1 - Tumblr blog

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overstimulated and anxious at the zoo until I looked up and saw an angel dancing in a beam of light

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Breathe - Jeanne Rosier Smith

American , b. 1966  -

Pastel , 24  x  24 in.

[fishenjoyer1]

I mustache you a question

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here's my wonderful isopod child, handcrafted in leather

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I love tumblr because half the people on here just have a random fish they’re obsessed with, they don’t necessarily know anything about them, they just go “yeah, fish :)” and reblog any post with them.

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Wet beasts take on a modeling job

version without the water

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Hot take:

There are only two kinds of sturgeon.

Big roundish binklybeasts

And the scrimply scrungleboys

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Largest animal genome sequenced — and just 1 chromosome is the size of the entire human genome

Scientists sequenced the largest known animal genome in a species of lungfish — ancient fish that breathe air.

Scientists have sequenced the largest known animal genome — and it's 30 times bigger than the human genome. The genome belongs to the South American lungfish (Lepidosiren paradoxa), a primeval, air-breathing fish that "hops" onto land from the water using weird, limb-like fins. The fish's DNA code expanded dramatically over the past 100 million years of evolutionary history, racking up the equivalent of one human genome every 10 million years, researchers found. The findings could shed light on how genomes expand across the tree of life...

Read more: Largest animal genome sequenced — and just 1 chromosome is the size of the entire human genome | Live Science

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Fish of the Day

Today's fish of the day is the flower hat jelly!

The flower hat jelly, scientific name Olindias formosus, is a small and rare jelly known for the multicolored tentacles and luminescent display. Belonging to the hydrozoa family, the flower hat jelly is not actually a true jellyfish. The main difference between them being that true jellyfish belong to the Scyphozoa class, and have a life cycle defined by a longer period as a medusa (their adult form) whereas hydrozoans have a lifecycle primarily defined by their polyp or juvenile stages, sometimes even lacking medusa forms, a pattern that can once again be found in the flower hat jelly's life cycle. Their distribution is off the coastline of Japan, Korea, and countries within Oceania. Although some believe that these jelly's can also be found outside of Argentina, and Brazil, it is thought this may be a close relative, Olindias sambaquiensis. With a depth range from sea level down to 55m of depth, these jellyfish tend to live near the ocean floor where they can hide among kelps, sea grasses, and loose rocky bottoms.

Living a nocturnal life, the flower hat jelly spends its days hiding on the ocean floor. But, once dusk arrives this jelly rises from its hiding places to capture small fishes within its tentacles, paralyzing and or killing the fish, before drawing the corpse up into the bell to be consumed. The stings from this jelly are painful, and at least one fatality has been recorded from them in Japan.  These tentacles hold most of the intrigue of the flower hat jelly.  The length of the tentacles may appear to be random, but has been found to be arranged mathematically in an optimization hashing algorithm known as fibonacci hashing. Length aside however, these jelly's, and especially their tentacles contain fluorescent proteins, which are used to attract prey when hunting, and are particularly bright under blacklight. This protein is uniquely interesting due to its use in helping treat some COVID cases, as it can be used as an inhibitor, stopping the replication of the disease, and slowing or halting its spread.

The reproduction and younger stages of the flower hat jellyfish were a mystery for many years, but in 2012 the Monterey Bay Aquarium managed to be the first to breed them in captivity, capturing a full lifecycle from larvae to polyp to medusa. Beginning as polyps attached to a hard surface along the seabed, where they are completely stationary, surviving off of a single active tentacle, which is waved back and forth to gather nutrients, forming a medusae and releasing them only once a size of 1mm was achieved. Then they will mature into juvenile medusa, which are identical to adult medusa in appearance and behavior, only being identifiable by their smaller size and less tentacles. Juvenile medusa only being around 2-20mm, and adults getting only as large as 6inches total throughout their lifespan. Adult flower hat jellies are only observed in the months of December-July with peaks in the months of May and April. However, we understand very little about how these jelly's sexually breed in the wild, but fertilization occurs externally, as gametes are released into the water to create small, non-cooperative colonies along similar areas. These animals live only 4-6 months as adults, and only around a year total before slowly losing their fluorescence and passing away.

That's the flower hat jelly, everybody, have a wonderful Tuesday!

[fishenjoyer1]

Can you pretty please add alt text pretty please

yeah! I can start adding alt text!

[fishenjoyer1]

hello sabrina!! may i request the flower hat jellyfish for the queue? :D

^ look at this cool dude!

Hi Pasta!!!! yes you can ! Expect it tomorrow at 1pm!! :D

[fishenjoyer1]

Fish of the Day

Today's fish of the day is the Giant isopod! 

The giant isopod, describes around 20 species in the Bathynomus genus, but most information is based on the Bathynomus giganteus, which is known for being the first giant isopod discovered, and the largest. Giant isopods, as an arthropod, have seven pairs of legs, four jaws, and compound eyes that have over 4,000 facets. The first set of legs is modified into an appendage for grabbing food and bringing it into the mouth, along with attacking prey, and all species with the  Bathynomus genus are similar, showing a lack of evolution between populations The full range of this family is unknown, but they can be found around the Indo-Pacific and the Eastern Atlantic ocean. The first time a giant isopod was found and recorded was in 1879 in the Gulf of Mexico, where the largest populations of giant isopods live, with a depth range of 310-2140 meters of depth. Outside of the Gulf of Mexico the other populations have a near identical depth range, and due to their similarity to their close land dwelling cousins, rolly pollies or woodlouse as you might know them, they are one of the textbook examples of deep sea gigantism.

Deep sea gigantism is an observed phenomena where deep sea animals have a habit of getting far larger than their more shallow relatives. Examples of this would be the giant squid, giant sea spider, deepwater stingrays, the bigfin squid,oarfish,  and many more. There is currently no encompassing explanation for why this phenomena is so prevalent, but there are multiple theories that have been proven partially correct by different genus. Food scarcity is often referenced, and often thought to be the reason for the giant isopods' large size. as without much food in the deep ocean organisms with the ability to store more food can live for longer periods without prey. Another explanation is the increase in dissolved oxygen, which is often a limiting factor in how large animals can become in their environments. A study of amphipod crustaceans in 1999 discovered their increase in size as the populations found in deeper waters directly increased with the amount of dissolved oxygen. The last and often most damning explanation for deep sea gigantism is the lowered temperature in deeper waters. This one can increase the size in animals by increasing cell size and lifespan, something that can also be found at the world's poles. Deep sea gigantism allows for the giant isopod to get anywhere between 19-36cm (7.5-14.3 inches) in length, with the largest recorded being 20 inches, about the size of a small dog. As compared to their close land relatives, which come in at less than an inch of length.

The diet of the deep sea isopod is remarkably similar to that of the land dwelling isopods, as the land dwelling isopods live off of dead or decomposing animals or plant materials. Which is similar to the diet of the giant isopod, which is an essential scavenger and carnivore in the deep. Once believed to be only scavengers, it is now known that giant isopods also actively pursue prey, usually fish, squid, shrimp, crabs, and other deep sea animals they can catch, as shown by a video of an isopod grabbing a dogfish shark and eating its face. These isopods can take down prey several times larger than them, but this may be only when in a confined space, as they don't swim fast and can only attack prey they can catch. But, as scavengers in the deep the giant isopod is primarily known for eating from whalefalls. A whalefall being when the carcass of a dead whale drifts to the deep seafloor, creating huge ecosystem hotspots and specialized animals in deep waters that feed almost exclusively on them. After eating from these whalefalls, giant isopods have been shown to go as long as 5 years in captivity without eating again, and for this reason when in the presence of food they eat far more than their body weight or size, willing to sacrifice locomotion in favor of excess, an easy trade considering they have no natural predators. Despite having no predators, they still have several behaviors similar to land pill bugs, as they can still roll into a ball shape, using their chitin armor to protect themselves, and burrow into the sediment to semi-hibernate.

The reproduction of the giant deep sea isopod is like that of many other arthropods, relying on eggs. In the spring and winter months the isopod females will begin brooding eggs, this is done in a pouch above the stomach and it will store anywhere between 20-30 eggs. During the brooding the female will burrow down into the sediment and refuses to leave until all eggs are hatched, at which point the juveniles are left. Captive isopods eggs measure 13mm in diameter and are thought to possibly be the largest marine invertebrate egg. Once born, these juvenile giant isopods will be as large as 4 inches in length ,and set off on their own in a stage called manca. At this stage, these are almost fully developed giant isopods, lacking only the last pair of legs. These will grow over time, and these animals gain size through molts. Their full lifespan is unknown, but estimated to be decades long, with the age of sexual maturity being unknown but estimated anywhere from 15-18 months.

Have a good day, everybody!

[fishenjoyer1]

garage? no, gar rage. the fish is angry.

[fishenjoyer1]

Afternoon - Julie Kluh

American , b. 1984-

Oil on canvas , 30 x 24 in.

[fishenjoyer1]

do you have anything about my favourite favourite deep sea creature, the frilled shark? i think they're super super cute and they remind me of toothless bc they always look like they're smiling :)

just finished it !

[fishenjoyer1]

Fish of the day

Today's fish of the day is the Frilled shark!

The frilled shark, scientific name Chlamydoselachus anguineus, is known for its irregular teeth. This animal is often referred to as serpent-esc due to the unique swimming motions, and living in the darkened sea floor, where they can camouflage. Found at depths of 120-1,280 meters of depth (394-4,200 feet) the distribution of these animals is referred to as "spotty" and despite knowing of them since the 1870's, we are unsure of their full range. However, we have found all current populations in the Indo-Pacific, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. 

Notable populations can be found along the Pacific coastline along California, Chile, Japan, and Southern Australia and New Zealand. Notable Atlantic populations are along the coast of Brazil, outside Southern Canada, Florida, the Western Sahara, and The West coast of Europe. They live along the edges of the continental shelf, spacing itself from both coastlines and the surface. Like other deep sea sharks, the frilled shark takes place in diel migration, which is a migration that takes place nightly when deep sea animals travel toward the surface when it is dark to prey on surface animals.

Considered as one of the older and more primitive sharks, this 6 gilled wonder has fossils that were found dating as far back as 95 million years ago, making them living fossils. Related to the Greenland sharks, scaffold sharks, and silk sharks they are a member of the Hexanchiformes order, what was once thought to be the basal group for sharks, but it actually just a particularly old order within the Squalomoprpha subdivision. The Hexanchiformes order is known for having no nictating membranes, a further back spiracle than most sharks, and notable to our focus today, lacking the multi layer enameloid layer on the tops of teeth.  

Before we had found many of the specimen that named them living fossils, the frilled shark specifically was thought of as old due to their only partial cartilaginous notochord, which is a kind of elastic rod-like structure found in bilateral animals. Notochord can be found is all embryonic vertebrates, but is replaced by the bony vertebral column, with the original notochord being found in the intervertebral discs. The mouth of the frilled shark contains 300 needle-teeth which has a cusp and two cusplets (a raised surface, and then two divots outside of it, making smaller raised surfaces) which have anywhere from 19-29 rows on the top and bottom. The mouth is known for being able to open wide and eat foods that are larger then their entire body, similar to other deep sea fish, but being the only shark to do so.

The diet of the shark is primarily made up of cephalopods, but will eat gastropods, fish, and small sharks when available. It hunts for these with mechanoreceptor hair cells, which sense movement and vibration, and pressure in the water nearby them. The frilled shark is a ambush predator, often preying on tired or dying prey that have finished spawning, hiding along the sea floor, waiting to strike by biting. These teeth are used for snagging animals and hooking into the flesh so regardless of struggle, and the frilled sharks relatively weak bite, they cannot be freed.

Frilled sharks have defined breeding season, but they do have a size at which they reach sexual maturity. At around 1-1.2 meters male frilled sharks will mature, and at around 1.3-1.5 the female sharks will do the same. The shark is ovoviviparous, meaning that they are an egg, but that this egg will hatch within the mother and the pup will then sustain off of this yolk until live birth, and the shark will have as many as 2-15 pups after their gestation of 3-3.5 years. The pups are then left to fend for themselves, and will reach a full adult size of 2 meters, and pass away anywhere from 20-25 years after birth.

Have a wonderful day, everybody!

[fishenjoyer1]

Fish of the Day

Today's fish of the day is the longnose gar!

The longnose gar, known well within North America by anglers, and for their distinctive snout. Scientific name Lepisosteus osseus, meaning bony or armor-scaled bony fish. Gars, as a particularly old species are often referred to as living fossils, in that many of them are exactly the same as the fossils of them we have been finding from millions of years earlier, and the longnose gars are no different. Gars first start appearing within the fossil record around 240 million years ago, and are the only remaining decedents of the Ginglymodi clade, a particularly successful fish group in the Mesozoic era. The reason for their low amount if speciation is because gars are the slowest rate of molecular evolution among jawed vertebrates.

These gar fossils can be found worldwide, but the longnose gar can first be found in the fossil records around 1.8 million years ago, fossils found in Cuba, Kansas, Central America, and area in-between. In the modern day the longnose gar lives along mainly the Mississippi River and the Eastern United States freshwater rivers, although they can handle relatively high salinity, giving them the ability to live in estuaries that other gars can not. In these environments they spend their times living in the shadow of vegetation, usually near fallen trees that they can hide within, or near rocky outcroppings that they can camouflage near, or sea grasses.

Referred to as a primitive fish sometimes, this is because their lack of change over the years. The longnose gar in particular is known for having their intestines in a shape referred to as a spiral valve. A spiral valve is a section of lower intestine that is shaped in a stack of potato chips on top of one another, with a spiral going between them, similar to the look of fish gills when opened, found only within animals that are particularly old and living fossils (sharks, sturgeons, lungfish, paddlefish, and gars). Shaped this way for excess absorption. other than this they also have some old trait such as the bony scaling referred to as ganoid scales, which can also be found in some variation on sturgeon.

Their diet consists of mainly insects and crustaceans, and occasionally small gamefish that they can catch, although this is a rare occasion and mostly made up of fry. Other than humans, they not predated upon, and are apex predators in their environments. Their lifehistory is rather long compared to the fish they live around, but shorter than most gar, living 15-20 years, although in captivity there have been longnose gars that live as long as 40 years. These animals spawn in the summertime from April-July, having as many as 30,000 eggs at a time which are spawned in areas of smooth stones, where the eggs will stick. These animals usually reach sexual maturity around 6 years but some males will reach maturity at 2 years of age. Once they reach their full size they can get as long as 4-5 feet and can weigh more than 50 pounds.

Have a wonderful day!