#arthopods

[mckitterick]

Look at this cute Cambrian critter!

Balhuticaris belongs to a group of 500 million-year-old carapace-bearing arthropods known as hymenocarines. hymenocarines are probably early mandibulates, the group that contains crustaceans, myriapods, and insects. its eyes are bilobate, allowing Balhuticaris to calculate distances better than its kin

scale:

they even think it swam upside-down:

source tweet thread with link to published article:

[blueyinthebush]

deep dive - the beach

requested by anonymous

"the beach" is the 26th episode of season one, and introduces a lovely new location for the heelers to explore. it's never specified where along the gold coast this beach is, but probably somewhere like warana beach, which is about an hour's drive from brisbane and the perfect distance for a day trip. this one is a bit long, so i'll put the rest of the post underneath a read more.

a couple years ago a coastal pathway project began, in order to promote walking and biking through the scrub and wetlands along the beach. the project also addresses the prevalence of invasive species and aims to restore native vegetation. but enough about that, let's get into the bush!

an establishing shot gives a nice overview of the beach, which sits between a residential wooded area and the edge of the coral sea. what looks like a tuckeroo is visible in the foreground, a native australian tree that doesn't mind coastal conditions.

after the heelers spend some time enjoying the sand, we get a shot of an osprey, a common sight anywhere by water in australia and across the americas. these raptors are incredible anglers, with a recorded success rate of 70 percent! there are four subspecies of osprey, and the eastern osprey, the only one found in australia, is the smallest.

on the beach, bluey finds the shell of a tiger cowrie, a beautiful variety of marine snail that is prevalent across the indo-pacific region. the striking appearance of their shells has made them popular among shell collectors, although their numbers have suffered as a result.

bluey also encounters a flock of silver gulls. like other sea gulls, these birds are very successful scavengers, and often have no issues going up to humans for handouts. you can find these guys pretty much anywhere near water in australia and new zealand.

here's an interesting one! this is a pipi, a type of saltwater clam. they've been a source of protein by the native ngarriindjeri people for thousands of years, but are mostly used as bait for commercial fishing. they use their strong "foot" muscle to burrow into the sand. as filter feeders, they take in large amounts of water to suck up plankton. afterwards, the water needs to expelled, like the one bluey found is doing.

bluey also runs away from a consortium of light-blue solider crabs. unlike how they're animated in the show, this species is one of the few crabs that has evolved to walk forwards, not sideways. the males form large "armies" during low tide, similar to the group in the episode.

next, bluey encounters a moon jelly, a type of jellyfish identifiable by its large translucent bell and short tentacles. these jellies do have a sting (bluey does the right thing by approaching it with caution, as you should with any wild animal!), but it only causes very mild irritation in humans. moon jellies are the favorite food of many turtle species. since they look similar, moon jelly-loving turtles will often swallow plastic bags.

last but not least, a bird that's even bigger than bluey! this is an australian pelican, which hold the record for the longest bill of any bird. they use their beaks to scoop up fish and other animals like a fishing net. you can find them in every state of australia.

that's it! hope you enjoyed this first foray going into a whole episode. many thanks to the bluey wiki for this one, who have catalogued quite a lot of the animals in the show already.

[waffled-iron]

buggies from the other day

bottom two are from a different place than the rest

[eddieintheocean]

i had a 2hr 15 lecture on arthropods

conclusion: bug :thuimbsup:

[intrinsically-disordered-proxein]

a little known fact is that some millipedes have :3 face and i think that’s beautiful (my pic)

[jpanimador]

This is gonna be my most controversial post

[dasunpleasantblog]

💕Desmoxytes purpurosea/Dragon Millipede🌺

There were barely any gifs and videos of this guy So I had to use slime and unrelated desmoxytes gifs. :[

[thatkinkyautistic]

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[isocorp-official]

Good times at the office! Here are IsoCorp we are dedicated to making your experience as IsoPremium as possible, and we couldn’t do it without our hardworking IsoTeamMembers! On the #IsoGrind !

[magemelondew]

i love jumping spiders so much

[aideshou]

Why were there so many ! 

[wombocombo4x3]

Check them out.

[bedupolker]

Real Isopod Facts

[sorrcha]

scolopendra sp. "malaysian jewel"

[cuttledreams-creatures]

Invertober Days 5 through 8!

-Citrus Root Weevil ~

-Coconut Octopus ~

-Common Banded Hover Fly ~

-Calico Crab ~

Invertober is put together by fossilforager! Prompt List

[mote-of-ash]

wooly chaffer beetle