#dracula fish

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Daily fish fact #721

Dracula fish!

This tiny fish with the length of only 17 mm (0.7 inches) is extraordinary indeed: it has seemingly re-evolved teeth that its ancestors lost 50 million years ago! Granted, these "teeth" are not true teeth, with enamel or a pulp cavity. They are merely sharp protrusions in the jawbone that partly pierce through the skin of the mouth, but they bear resemblance to toothed teleosts' dentition quite a bit.

The fishes have several "teeth" on both the upper and lower jaws. The first pair of "teeth" of the males have developed into longer "fangs", which are most visible of all the "teeth" and where the species gets its name. Males will use their "fangs" to seemingly assert dominance, displaying to one another with their jaws wide open, and even "sparring" by nudging their opponent with their "teeth".

[snowflakeeel]

[dathen]

“What if Dracula WASNT evil and he and Jonathan had a tense gay romance…until Jonathan realized he didn’t want to go home” pals may I introduce you to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

[immediatebreakfast]

The topics of Lucy's honesty, and how she presents her wellbeing in this letter are, but between these themes I just couldn't ignore Lucy's choice of bird, and what could mean despite only being a passing phrase in the entry.

"I have an appetite like a cormorant, am full of life, and sleep well."

One would think that Lucy, being someone who presents herself as the perfect arquetype of the young victorian lady would choose a more "delicate" bird to say how well she is. Yet, not only Lucy chooses to emphasize her eating habits (telling Mina that she is stout and healthy again), but also chooses a sea bird, the cormorant.

A seabird that mostly lives on shores, the "raven of the sea", one that works really hard to get their food as they plunge into the sea and dive every time the pangs of hunger start. A valued companion to fishermen for centuries. It is also a bird deemed "unclean" and therefore not good nor eating. So why does Lucy tells Mina that she has an appetite like a cormorant?

In england, and europe in general the cormorant has been associated with greed, and gluttony. A bird so greedy that steals the fish without looking behind from human fishermen before they could even throw their nets. Even in Jane Eyre this common bird is described as a greedy and rapacious creature. An all around symbol of bad omens, storms, and even death.

And Lucy takes all of this symbolism, turns it around, and tells to Mina that all of those qualities are good for her.

Yes, Lucy says it is good that she has an appetite like a cormorant. Yes she is being greedy with her food, and even indulging a little bit in gluttony. As the cormorant feeds itself with dozens of fish while their black plumage gets healthier and shinier; Lucy feeds without thinking of conduct while her cheeks return to their rosy state, and her body gets healthier and stout.

This bird may be associated with gluttony, but for Lucy this gluttony is a good thing. Cheers for her, and this small moment of selfishness!

[adaptationsdaily]

BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (1992)

[ifwebefriends]

Conspiracy theory that Dracula Daily was subconscious advertising for Renfield (2023) the same way Disney channel did Fishy Facts to promote Finding Nemo

[just-a-hot-mess]

i think we can now unequivocally say that taz vs dracula has gone off the fucking rails. it took 13 episodes.

[goosewizard]

I think if I, too, tried to do a body shot off the horse that bit me and failed miserably three times in a row, I would also just start doing shit before they dragged me out of the werebeast nightclub

[mantisgodiveblog]

In this very specific liveblog universe we've created, Siffrin is being haunted by two entire cosmic beings, and one of them knows everything about him, and the other knows fucking nothing about him, and they're both insufferable, and they both keep passive aggressively sniping at each other through the venue of His Own Head, and also he's in a time loop but he's being kinda sorta possessed by an entity that's making him check pillars until Isabeau spontaneously gains knowledge of the future to give him a Memory Of Pillars and that kind of takes priority over most other things in his life right now just because of how one of them keeps commandeering his teammate for unknown means at unknown and potentially random intervals which is very concerning and also not great

[clearcloudlesssky]

desk moment (i totally did not spend 15 minutes arranging this)

a) headphones

b) nail polish which i use for both painting my nails and my sketchbooks

c) 1 book i've read, one book i've started, and one book i have yet to begin reading

d) a doodle, stickers, and a few pens from my tiny collection (god i love the fish pen so much i wanna AUHF) and a jar of cute sugar candy that tastes reprehensible

can you spot the cats ?

[spongebob-connoisseur]

VOTE FOR SLAPPY‼

[aspiringhorrorauthor]

Anyway my favourite part of Dracula so far is that it really exemplifies all my favourite northern stereotypes in Whitby

-Old man who will talk the ear off anyone who will give him any chance to

-We Will Give This Captain A Heroes Burial, For We Are A Sailing Town And This Man Is A Sailor

-We WILL Love This Dog

[shmothman]

was really excited when griffin said “maybe a sexy shape of water type in his youth” and then he opened his mouth

[immediatebreakfast]

"Knowledge is power" you say and I believe it's becoming a big theme. Jonathan is sinking his nails into his sanity, vehemently refusing to lose it because losing himself (to insanity, to vampirism) is a horror greater than death to him. And his main weapon in this is to refuse to be in the dark. He must know the truth, instead of flee from it or deny it, gortesque even if it proves to be. The Castle is claiming his mind and his response is to explore every nook and cranny until he knows the enemy like he knows himself.

It's really a very noticeable theme, and it's one of the key parts that will help our characters against Dracula in the long run.

I have to make the comparison with another genre of book across the literary globe that have knowledge as a central theme.

The Lovecraft myths with their eldritch abominations also have the central theme of knowledge, but instead of presenting said knowledge as something hopeful to have (even if in the grand scheme of the universe is empty) knowledge is a curse. It's something that once the characters have, they wish to go back to their ignorance, all of the undescribed horrors that tell of incomprensible beings from beyond our stars open a new horrifying reality for these characters, one that they do not wish to understand.

Instead, here in Dracula, this novel regards knowledge as a precious weapon.

Jonathan understands that as a lawyer, and as a human being. Knowledge can help him understand, the written truth assures him that he is not imagining things. The broken door tells Jonathan, "Yes what happened was real, and you survived." And it gives him mental strenght to go another day.

Jonathan is feeling how his sanity is slipping from his fingers thanks to the castle, thanks to Dracula himself, so he must grab every piece of truth that he can find. Jonathan must know the Count's truth so he can act accordingly, he must know Dracula as if Dracula was him because it's the only way for him to know that he is still sane. That this knowledge can help whoever comes after him.

A really neat quote that I stumbled upon while searching for this really captured Jonathan's future, even if he might not be alive at the end of his journey.

"She will reenter the world carrying a heaviness she might never lay down, but also with something warm and steady burning in her, the knowledge of what she has survived, what she has become." - Chakraborty, A. (2021). Ode to the Gothic Heroine (A Selection).

Jonathan now carries the burden of knowledge regarding every oddity, and danger that Dracula presents from an outside perspective. Different, but not really from the ancient knowledge of the kind locals who tried to protect him from his fate, yet Jonathan doesn't shy away from that burden.

Knowledge is power, and power transforms the person into something not anticipated. It's the proof, and the reassurance of having something that can help, a little light in the middle of an endless cave. Jonathan is taking all of the information he can find, so that maybe he can transform the idea of escaping into something plausible.

Is Jonathan risking his own life by doing this? Of course he is! He is terrified of the outcome, of what the uncertain future holds for him! But, Jonathan is also gaining time. Moreover, with Dracula's new assigned "span of life", the Count has given Jonathan one of the most powerful weapons in the hands of a human, hope.

Now with the certain date of his possible, Jonathan can stop giving enough of a fuck about any pretenses of leaving the castle by the mercy of Dracula. Now Jonathan can hope to carve his escape with his own hands.

[guillotineman]

Francis Ford Coppola