#i fucking live epaulette sharks

[onejellyfishplease]

I wanted to do something for mermay, so here are my designs for some merturtles!

Leo is a Leafy seadragon,

Donnie is a Vampire squid

Mikey is a Epaulette shark

And Raph is a Scorpionfish!

Also heres a bonus drawing of a young April holding her little aquatic friends (dont worry they can breathe air just fine)

[beenbaanbuun]

ateez as sharks pt.2

too many sharks to choose from, to few members to assign them to. oh well! guess it just means i get to make a part two 👀

park seonghwa - epaulette shark

epaulette sharks are STUNNING!!! they are the epitome of sleek and genderless in shark form and i know seonghwa would adore them

epaulette sharks are incredibly unique (they can walk on land!!) and use that to their survival advantage. obviously seonghwa doesn’t use his beautiful uniqueness for survival, but it makes him stand out so beautifully just like the epaulette shark

kim hongjoong - portjackson shark

another cunty little shark for our cunty little guy. these guys are so gorgeous and cool and honestly remind me of hongjoong more than i care to admit

they’re known for being rather small, most of them not even growing to be one metre, and while they’re not particularly ferocious, they do have a generous spine protruding from their secondary dorsal fin. it’s like how hongjoong doesn’t look necessarily intimidating at first glance, but get him on stage and holy moly…

jeong yunho - bonnethead shark

i cant stop assigning silly looking sharks to jeong yunho and i will NOT apologise for that!! mr silly himself deserves to be represented by an animal just as silly as he is!!

they’re known to be pretty social sharks, often swimming in groups rather than by themselves. they’re not selfish or individualistic like a lot of other shark species and i think that represents yunho perfectly. he loves his team to death and you can clearly see that

kang yeosang - leopard shark

another cute little guy that i think represents yeosang so perfectly. whilst not as silly looking or as colourful as zebra sharks, they’re still sweet little guys with not a single bad bone in their body (well… cartilage i suppose)

they’re actually seen to display little to no fear of humans and are often viewed as being docile in nature. this doesn’t apply to their prey though since they’re pretty good hunters! it just reminds me of how yeosang is also seen as being ‘docile’ but behind it all there is an amazingly talented performer who isn’t afraid to be a little aggressive on stage when he needs to be

choi san - basking shark

now personally i hate basking sharks (which does NOT reflect on my views of choi san, i love that man so much!!) but i do have to say they’re the perfect choice for san…

they’re another species of shark that are viewed as being ‘gentle giants’, growing up to 8 metres in length yet only being filter feeders. i personally am afraid of them because of how scary they look despite just being big slow guys living their life peacefully; a sentiment i see reflected with san a lot (despite the fact that i don’t know how anyone can be scared of that big ball of fluff)

song mingi - hammerhead shark

listen guys, in the same way that saw sharks are just silly little men that are absolutely adorable, hammerhead sharks are also just fucked up little guys that most people agree are very sweet

these guys are literally physically incapable of hurting people, partly because of their sweet nature but also partly because of their tiny mouths. now i’m not saying mingi has a small mouth because that would be a lie, but i am saying that i don’t think that man could every intentionally hurt someone without feeling terrible for 4-5 business days

jung wooyoung - lemon shark

THIS IS THE COMPARISON IM MOST ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT GUYS!!! lemon sharks are so sweet and also very pretty (just like wooyoung)

due to their large brains, lemon sharks are incredibly social animals and often crave the attention of divers, swimming up to them and letting the divers touch and interact with them. they’re also known to express negative emotions (similar to jealousy) when divers are giving other sharks more attention. i just think with how sociable and sweet wooyoung is, this is the perfect shark

choi jongho - blue shark

am i sorry for continuing to give jongho the sharks that look like they’ve never had a thought in their life? absolutely not! he has those big beautiful boba eyes, he has to face the consequences

these little guys are incredibly versatile. they’ll live almost anywhere in temperate or tropical water, they’ll eat pretty much anything (even krill, despite them not being filter feeders), and whilst not necessarily being dangerous to people, have been known to take a nibble every now and then. maybe it’s just me but whenever i think versatile i think of jongho, and this shark looking a little silly just makes it even better

[gofishygo]

i had a thought about marine life cod something something sighhhh and now i wanna draw them. all of them.

the first thing i thought of was vampire squid!konig.... you get what i see right, or like, he could be some other (massive) squid

gaz reminds me of a nurse shark.. number one, they're cute and look sweet, number two they look awfully boopable🎀🎀 there's no number three but just look at pictures of them that's literally gaz

soap would be a ray maybe?? specifically a spotted eagle ray. he could be a narwhal too because they're silly <3

phantom jellyfish!ghost obviously!!!

i'm thinking price could be a whale, but i'm not sure what yet? i;m so indecisive... beluga!price or humpback whale!price, perhaps?

and nikolai is a pilot whale like are you joking

i have no ideas for the others yet sadly because i have a little pea brain, but ill probably come up with some things soon...

fellow anon, DRAW THEM . I LOVE MARINE LIFE COD AUS SO MUCH RRHHRHRHRHRHRHRHHRHRHRHRHHRHRHRHHRHRHRHRHRHHRHRHRHHRHRHRHH !!!!!!!!! please pleasep lease dra them if u have time ....... they give me brain juices... .. . .. .

yayaya !!!! konig could definetly be a vampire squid !! tbh ive always seen him as maybe under the octopoda order (mostly due to the insane amounts of cthulu nd octo konig in this fandom) but i can certainly see him as a vampire squid !!! he gives the vibes- generally trying to contain the power he has and not get unnecessary blood on his hands (vampire squids are detritivore) nd a lot less menacing than it seems . more of an avoidant personality as well !!

and YAYAYYYAYAYYA gas is definitely some type of less aggressive shark !!! honestly nurse shark matches him the best but i occasionally believe he is a catshark or epaulette , they're easygoing and docile (IF UNPROVOKED) and so so cutie patootie i project my fav sharks on him bc he is my fav character

and soap does give ray vibes, but hear me out : eel soap >!?!! especially variants that hunt via electricity (like him !! but he uses bombs that arent necessarily IEDs but SAME THING) and r super duper energetic a lot , but oh em gee,,,,,,, he would make such a good spotted eagle ray .....

ok we all agree on phantom jelly ghost its cannon guys he is literally the big mysterious jelly

and price , although i like to think of him as a great white (better dynamics w/ other characters), he honestly would match a lot of species of whale much better . i forgot the name of this species specifically , but i do believe it was some type of bleaked whale ?? they scar white from injuries over time, and have a long lifespan . most of them will turn white over their lifespan due to the injuries that they get, and i think that does go after price's military career and how his scars the events he's lived through have sort of become part of him (ghost could definitely be this species too now i think about it), and how he's lived past points where his allies have fallen .

OK NIK AS A PILOT WHALE . YEYSYYEYS THATS FUNNY AS FUCK HAIJASHFKFH

i would like to think that laswell would be some form of species of whale , maybe one that is intelligent and capable of many forms of mutalism relationships due to her being ... yknow .... insanely based ....

makarov would be an orca. highly intelligent, only realised to be extremely dangerous once studied. ganging up on every fucking fish in the world. capable of competing with other apex predators like great whites.

graves.... unpopular opinion, but he is a stonefish . sneaky bastard and incredibly fucking dangerous . but stupid looking and a silly skrumkle very much so .

nyways i am too tired to think but i will go to sleep dreaming of the 141 eating salmon tonight ......... thank u very mysterious but very lovely fishy anon ...........

[dreamsb0u]

making sans aus and some of my characters as sharks just bc i can

SANS AUS: Cross - Thresher/Foxtail. Look at that tail. Beautiful. I love him and I love threshers. Fight me. They're also not commonly seen and considered vulnerable. They're shy around humans and I like beating Cross to a pulp so go figure. He would use his tail as a sword also. Just saying.

Horror: Silky Shark. I don't know I just,,,,,,,, just take him. Please. Love him,,,,,

Dust: Oceanic White Tip. I don't know why I just feel like it suits him. ALSO. The white tips kinda look like dust geddit.

Nightmare: Frilled Shark. They're known for their eel like and ancient traits and living in the deeper sea which I feel like Nightmare would definitely be like. Bro wants nothing to do with those OTHER sharks (He gets roped into their shenanigans anyways)

Killer: Fuck. He'd be a Shortfin Mako for sure. They're super fast (The fastest shark and one of the fastest fish listed!) and live in the open ocean! They're endangered though which is sad :( But !! They're pretty and strong!

this image just gives off 'i know what you are' vibes

Dream: Lemon Shark. I like them you can also fight me on this one fucking do it. They're a very social type of shark and generally known for interacting with divers in friendly ways! Also they're yellow (I think)

Swap: Blue shark. Self explanatory and! They live in deep waters, are near threatened and rarely bite humans! They're very cool and I like them.

Ink: Epaulette Shark, they're colourful and live in reefs! Also that mf (/aff) WOULD evolve to walk on land. The spots? Ink fr.

Error: Bitch would be a greenland shark. They live in very deep water and have very slow metabolism, they look kinda gnarly and live for a long time (at least 250 years!!!). They often have eye parasites that make their vision shit and Error's glasses,,,,, yeah ok ill leave

MY CHARACTERS

Cur: Dogfish lol jk. Sand Tiger Shark, like most sharks- they only attack when they're bothered first (DON'T FUCKING PULL THE SHARK'S TAILS WTF....) and show protective behaviour. They have big teeth that stick out of their mouth and a big appetite but they're sadly critically endangered. They're the most widely kept large shark due to their tolerance of captivity.

Flesh: Angel shark. He's pretty, they're pretty. Next Question.

Cinder: Tiger Shark. They have a reputation for being 'trash eaters' because of the things scientists find in their stomachs. They swim wherever but are guided by warmer currents and stay closer to the equator when it's cold. They're an apex predator with their only known predator being the orca.

Extra image of a Greenland shark I found funny

LOOK AT IT DNJHSNDAJN

[tauforged]

fish related rants that i’ve got locked and loaded easy to go at a moments notice whenever a visitor approaches me:

- piranhas aren’t mean and are actually usually scavengers, more like vultures, with a convenient segue into how scavengers and decomposers are like the garbage disposal of the natural world and how crucially important they are for the environment

- cichlids are characterized as vicious and aggressive because they’re very territorial, but they’re territorial for a good reason - they’re protective of their young! they’re actually some of the best parents you’ll see in fish. this one opens the door for some dialogue on common misconceptions about wildlife and fish intelligence :)

- anemones are actually animals! so are corals! so are barnacles! so much of what people take for granted as static ocean scenery is actually alive, and they’re all fascinating when you look closer at them! especially fun with curious kids

- tunicates, despite looking like hollow translucent bags of nothing, are actually chordates (have a primitive spinal chord as larvae) and therefore in the same order of life as us :) people tend to either be fascinated by or just not like this one very much. cant imagine why.

- “did you know that of all the species of shark in the world, 80% of them are four feet long or smaller?? did you know that pelagic sharks, the ones that live in the open ocean, need to be constantly moving to help push water over their gills? they cover a lot of ground every day!” this one i usually whip out whenever someone complains about our shark exhibit “not having any real sharks” because we’ve got smaller benthic species instead of badass movie monsters. do you have any idea how much space we’d need to have to properly house a fucking great white, brad? do you???? didn’t think so. stop whining and appreciate the grace and beauty of our epaulette sharks or get out.

[zebrashork]

I'm asking you about sharks

FUCK YEAH MY FIRST ASK

Ok there is so much for me to talk about so I'm gonna start with the one as my header

THIS LOVABLE CREECHUR IS AN EPAULETTE SHARK

It's specially adapted to live in tide pools and can survive hypoxic environments and walk to another pocket of water if the oxygen is too low in the one they're currently in

That's right baby, these guys fucking walk

They're called Epaulette sharks because of the large dark spot behind their head, and they are total sweethearts, they're very nice to pet

I wouldn't reccomend touching a wild shark, but you can probably find one of these babies at an aquarium in a touch pool, since they are able to perform buccal pumping, where they manually pump water through their gills to breathe instead of needing to move constantly to do so

13/10, very beautiful, very powerful

[silks-up-my-sleeve]

bestie you know i’m gonna go with top 5/10 sharks 🦈

I'm giving you top 10 because you know my top 3 <3

1. Lemon sharks!! They live with their little friends in mangroves and I love that

2. Epaulettes

3. Bonnetheads my beloved <3

4. Black tip reefs

5. Whale sharks, idk the fact that each of their spot patterns is unique to each shark is so badass

6. Threshers

7. Scalloped hammerheads

8. Nurse sharks, I love their lil feelers

9. Wobbegongs

10. Greenland shark, like I fucking love these seemingly immortal beasts

Send me top 5/top 10 things!!!

[wincestisasincest]

I'M SORRY YOU'RE HAVING A ROUGH NIGHT

if you want to go on a fun little internet adventure, look up bichir (fish). they’re basically living fossils that are super cool and super cute. wikipedia says something like "sometimes called a dinosaur eel, which is a misnomer, as it is neither a dinosaur nor an eel" which i think is fun. they look awesome and are super old as a species (the last living bone fish i think???? might be wrong though. but there was some weird evolution stuff where they’re like, the only animal like this left when everything else kept evolving in different directions)

their scales are so efficienct that people have been studying them in order to make better armor.

also they are super cute and weird and wonderful. my favorite ancient relic stubborn fake dinosaur fish.

alternatively, you could also look up epaulette shark. they can walk on land and survive basically as long as they’re moist. my weird little friends.

anyways i hope your night gets progressively better, and i hope you enjoyed this little infodump i also hope you find some joy in these fish facts

okay first of all, fucking superb you funky little friends. we should all have a tea party together. also i want you to know that even tho i didn't respond to this ask that night i did absolutely read it and i had a fucking blast looking at these guys

(bichir, for anyone curious. he looks like tiles on a bathroom floor i love himb)

(my favorite part about the epaulette shark is that the giant spots on its back lowkey look like the eyes of the autism creacher. very fitting)

[coelacat]

top five fish GO!

number one is the coelacanth. really hard to tell with the username isnt it. sorry i just cant deny the appeal of the coelacanth. every interaction we've ever had with them has been so peaceful and watching them move is elegant and godly. they certainly feel like living fossils, its an apt title for them. theyre blue. they have stars in their scales. theyre gorgeous. such a charming fish

number 2 is the epaulette shark!!! this little guy is learning to WALK. they can crawl out of the water into shallower pools on their fins!! they waddle around like if seals only used their flippers to move, instead of throwing their whole bodies around. not to mention theyre cute as HELL. i find them comparable to the dachshunds of the sea i mean look at this widdol guy

number 3 is the ocean sunfish / mola mola!! holy shit getta load of these guys. while theyre insanely goofy looking, and while st first, many people may mistake them for brainless, lazy fish, mola mola are actually quite active! we as humans mostly just see them when they come to the surface to warm themselves back up after hunting in the deep ocean. these guys are also filled to the brim with a shit ton of parasites, and allow a lt of parasitic animals to thrive. mola mola r really cool. and very big.

the next is tricky.. its a total tossup, but i think hagfish take the spot. insanely charming animals to me. their little moustaches really endear me to them!! not to mention they have one of the coolest non lethal methods to shake predators off them! they secrete a disgusting slime from their skin when distressed. whenever a predator may go to bite down or get a mouthful of hagfish, the hagfish will release a bunch of slime, completely filling the predators mouth, and wiggle free. they also tie themselves into knots to position their own digestive tract better!! literally instead of just forming their intestines better they opted to evolve their bodies to be able to tie into a knot to be more efficient at eating. they fucking rule. 10/10 would eat next to at the whale fall

and last isssss....

YOU AND ME BABY!!! yeahh!! we're all fish!!!!! every animal that isnt a bug is a fish. isnt that neat :) we did all come from them after all!

im lying though. final answer is the beluga sturgeon

i mean. look at these guys. theyre absolutely massive! and these arent even the largest theyve gone on record to get!!

sturgeons are best described as the freshwater whales of the great lakes. they are absolutely huge, theyre armored, and theyve even got the cutest little noses to top it all off!! beluga sturgeons specifically, though, are just absolutely humongous fish. they can grow to absolutely insane sizes, as you can probably see. gosh i love em though. unfortunately, they dont get as big due to our affinity for fishing them. they just dont get old enough to get that big.

honorable mentions go to most plecos, those catfish are pretty high up there, and most gourami species. sheepshead wrasse are also really cool, theyve got teeth and can change sexes. and i also like groupers. and electric eels (not eels. theyre fish.), and wobbegongs, and seashorses and ough god there are too many fish to pick 5. i gotta podt this now or else im gonna be arguing with myself over ranking fish for hours

the real honorable mention goes to the giant isopod though. not a fish but literally my fav sea creature

[spearxwind]

I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but didn't know how to put it into words because I'm dumb and don't know how to explain things.

Anyway- so I know Talas has gills and doesn't have lungs, but how does he breath on land? Does he have to be constantly moist (haha funny word) or can he only be on land for a certain amount of time?

Does he work like the northern snake head or Epaulette sharks?

I apologize for rambling- I'm just really curious as to how the whole breathing situation works

OH!!! Honestly I have been thinking about this lately!! I didnt know about the northern snakehead though, thats so fucking cool. It's definitely something like that where he can use his gills to breathe both underwater and above water :] He usually doesnt stray too far from the ocean/water in general, so I'm not sure how long he'd be able to go completely forfeiting water. Even on land where he lives with risk he sometimes just fills up the bathtub and climbs inside just to chill x)

Also two things to note, 1. talas is also an abyssal creature despite staying near the surface a lot, which means he was originally meant to be able to maintain himself on very measly amounts of oxygen, so his walking around on the surface has the same effect on him as dolphins and whales having access to the unlimited power of surface oxygen that basically make them be able to gain and expend stupid amounts of energy at a time (especially dolphins)

and 2. ofc take this with a grain of salt, creatures like him (wyrms/dragons) in my headworld are EXTREMELY adaptive and shapeshifting cosmic horrors. Which is also a very coward way for me to go "sometimes things just dont apply 1:1 to them as in the real world" (pretty much in reference to him being able to breathe above and below the water w the same set of presumably specialized gills)

[laurelnose]

I've got a witcher-ish!biology question!!

Your many posts about how drowners would hypothetically breathe was so interesting and I just wanted to ask the same about sirens/merfolk (if they existed in canon..)

Like..are their very human looking noses just for aesthetics or would they functionally breathe/smell? If they have gills would they need a secondary way to breathe air when they're out of water or are they more likely to be holding their breath like reverse whales? And if they do have 2 functioning breathing methods would it be a conscious decision to use whichever is suitable for where they are or does that happen automatically?

FRIEND I AM THRILLED TO BE THE ONE TO TELL YOU THAT SIRENS/EKHIDNAE AND MERPEOPLE ARE CANON. Though canon sirens bear aggressively little resemblance to the fandom’s preferred usage for them. there are also the vodyanoy but what the fuck even are the vodyanoy. I’m not going to talk about the vodyanoy.

Sirens are canonically faking the human form to lure in prey and do not have noses or resemble humans in their true forms. So sirens can be doing whatever they want with their lungs/gills, freed from all variety of nasal misery.

Merpeople... have regular human faces. people have spent SO MANY WORDS on how and why mermaids would look like people, and frankly I do not have the energy to recount all of the mermaid thoughts I have ever been exposed to, esp. because my investment in drowners comes from my real-life fondness for horrible snappy little toad-faced amphibious creatures like cottids and batrachoidids, and this is not really at all what a mermaid is like. why would a mermaid look like a human? idk. you might as well ask why do elves look like humans? witcher mermaids aren’t trying to lure people in like the sirens (Sh’eenaz is having a bit of a problem with a human who is attracted to her) so that’s just... what they look like.

however, here are some more thoughts about being amphibious & respiration because respiration is sexy and interesting.

merpeople could be using their noses for breathing; lungfish do this, with their nasal openings connected to their throats like ours leading to their lungs, with a functioning set of gills as well. although despite their gills, most lungfish are actually obligate airbreathers and cannot be deprived of access to the surface of the water. congrats on ditching the ability to respirate where you live, idiots. it’s been working for them for about 420 million years, though.

or merpeople could be only using the noses for smell/chemoreception like most fishes, and primarily respiring through mouth/gills. either is fine!

> if they have gills would they need a secondary way to breathe out of water or would they be more likely to be holding their breath

man, the term ‘more likely’ actually does so much work in these discussions. like I say ‘more likely’ myself a lot, but respiratory adaptations are hugely varied and wild and the likelihood of any one coming about rather than any other is actually kind of impossible to quantify!

Geralt says Sh’eenaz can breathe air, and I am usually inclined to believe him. We could also consider him to be oversimplifying, in which case—both! either! it depends on how long they regularly stay out of water (which to my knowledge, aquatic airbreathers are actually much more limited by things like sun damage, skin dryness, dehydration, and temperature regulation and whether they have adaptations to deal with these things. many anabantoids like gourami are obligate air-breathers and will drown if denied access to the surface but you had still better put a gourami back in the water right quick before it shrivels up into a prune. lungfish do not have this problem because they are weirdos who roll themselves up into mud cocoons whenever the water goes away. on the other hand, humans soaked in water for too long start having issues like skin maceration (don’t image search that, it’s the breakdown of skin) so, basically, hanging out in the wrong environment is more complicated than whether or not you can breathe. this is canonical for witcher mermaids; Sh’eenaz is extremely cross about wasting her time above water because it chaps her skin).

they could be holding their breath like whales (because mermaids could be airbreathers first and waterbreathers second) or reverse whales (i.e. they store oxygen for periods of time whenever they leave the medium they can breathe). or they could be like epaulette sharks, which have an absolutely crazy anaerobic metabolism and just... deal with hypoxia. two hours at 5% of normal oxygen levels? they’re fine. that’s fine. what the fuck, epaulette sharks. also here’s a video of one doing the walking thing, because they got lil feety fins and it’s cute. fucking superb, you hypoxic little fake tetrapods. the main issue is still actually that the sun will bake an epaulette shark!

but yes, if merpeople want to be above-water for more than two or three hours at a time (provided they have adaptations to deal with other stuff), they will need a secondary respiration method of some sort. though they don’t generally seem to give that much of a fuck about humans or other things going on above-water. (Since sirens seem to split their time relatively evenly between air/water, I would guess they have two methods.)

re: the consciousness of the decision: you would have to ask a lungfish or one of the facultative air-breathing anabantoids if they think about it when they switch respiratory methods, probably. my best guess for sapients like merpeople is it’s instinctual (oxygen access is so fundamental, these things tend to be baked in) but they can also do it consciously to some extent, like when you suddenly become aware of your own breathing. my apologies. for non-sapients it’s likely 100% instinctual. oxygen is really important.

[heliopauseentertainments]

Top 5 sharks?

I like how everyone thinks I like sharks and I do and you're all incredibly correct. I love them to bits.

Now, it's the ranking of them that's tricky.

This is long so it's gonna go under a cut to save everyone's brain.

1. Bull Sharks (link to Wikipedia page with references)

Look at this fucking dopey looking fella. I was never able to locate the photographer's information unfortunately, which sucks because it's a great photo that I love dearly.

If you don't think a large shark that's stocky and can handle brackish and fresh water in addition to salt water isn't the coolest damn thing you've ever seen, then I think we have different opinion on sharks and I respect that.

They're also rumored to jump rapids like salmon but I can't find sources atm to back that up nor can I find video.

I also use stock images of bull sharks as icons a lot.

2. Sleeper Sharks (link to Wikipedia page on Somniosidae, the family of sleeper sharks)

[Image ID: a photograph of a light gray speckled shark in the dark under an ice shelf. End ID]

This photo is from Wikipedia and wasn't posted with any identifying information on the photographer unfortunately.

Okay, this one is cheating because there's at least three well-known (and several lesser known) species of sleeper shark, but they're fairly similar. They're huge, they live in cold-ass water, they move slowly, they all sorts of things, and they live a crazy long time. Larger sleeper sharks like the Greenland Shark are theorized to live over at least 300+ (maybe 500 but the math was wonky) years. They're some of the longest lived vertebrates.

Also Greenland Sharks are often nearly/completely blind because of a parasite that eats their eyes. They're such cool animals. They're thought to be scavengers primarily but there have been some reports of them actively hunting.

3. Whale Sharks (link to Wikipedia page for Whale Sharks)

[Image ID: large brown shark with white stripes and spots with some smaller unidentified fish swimming underneath in the blue open ocean. End ID]

Big. Spotted. Filter-feeder. 'Nuff said. I love them. Despite being huge, they're oddly hard to track.

4. Epaulette Shark (link to Wikipedia page on Epaulette Sharks)

[Image ID: a small tan shark with black/dark brown spots hiding in a coral reef. End ID]

Tiny. Cute. Able to hold their breath and walk around in the air with their little fins if the reef dries out. Dope little bastards.

5. Great White Shark (link to Wikipedia page on Great Whites)

[Image ID: a photograph of a large, rotund shark with a light gray top and a white underside swimming amongst a school of fish in the blue open ocean. End ID]

Yeah, yeah, I know. But look, they're big and they out-competed Megalodon because, among other reasons, they were less limited in prey/water temperature options.

Look at them. Big, toothy fish.

[jzixuans]

alright hello everyone this is lia and Damn do i need some sleep

Good happy things!

-the moment right before i woke up i was filled with... such calm bliss it was lovely even if my alarm ruined it -donut for breakfast Nom Nom -basically just knocking out chemistry for the week in one morning -feeling Productive even if it was short lived -epaulette sharks,,, -(ds) remy is,,,, such a big happy thing gods i adore her so much -and her reaction when i told her one of the more Extreme things id do for her,,,,,, i just,,,, i literally cant put this to words fuck it’s just a feeling in my chest that makes it hard to breathe in somehow the most perfect way and i love her so much holy fucking shit -blink snipe: she is the one who sent me the epaulette shark pubbys she is a True Best Friend and i have much lovme in my me for her as well

[cirrates]

MONSTER HIGH OC IDEAS I HAVE SO FAR:

starla cirrus and vampyra beaks (<- working name I know all monster high names are stupid (affectionate) but I feel like I could do better with this one.), 2 cephalopod monster best friends that attend abyssal academy in the depths of the atlantic ocean. starla is half vampire and spends her winters on land with her mother and her summers in the sea with her father (theyr divorced). vampyra is a vampire squid (neither a vampire nor a squid.) and has spent xir whole life in the sea but decides to join starla on the surface for a few months. naturally xe is having a much harder time adjusting to the surface than starla is but xe ends up enjoying it a lot :) also I dont have a specific voice in mind for vampyra but starla has a baltimore accent you have to read everything she says with one.

mariana trent, a deep-sea monster based on a bunch of different animals (mainly giant oarfish, anglerfish, and snailfish). she deeply cares for the community she lives in but shes always been curious about what lies above and wanted to study the surface firsthand. I'll be honest I dont have a fully planned out story for her yet I just like her and have been having a lot of fun with her design.

MALLIE, a computer program that gained sentience and subsequently decided to become a virus. she hates being restricted to living behind a screen and thinks if she collects enough information from others' computers she might finally become "real". she uses the information she gathers to imitate the people whose devices she infects as accurately as possible in order to spread as effectively as she can. I think if she was a real monster high character she'd be a villain initially for like a movie or something and then later she'd calm down and become a vtuber or something. maybe frankie/ghoulia/robecca make her a robot body or something so she can finally interact with the physical world or maybe she becomes at peace with living on computers. who can say. well I can say I made her but you fucking know what I mean.

I dont have a name for this one yet but hes a haunted automaton. hes ballet-themed. he can walk, write, dance, and play music, but he struggles to do things that his body wasnt made for and he has to keep a strict schedule to keep from getting wound down (literally) too fast. he becomes friends with mallie later on and shes like a little sister to him :)

jacquelantern, a pumpkin-headed girl. she just kind of appeared one day and doesn't remember anything before that point but slowly and with the help of others starts to uncover her memories and find out who she is. kind of like shadow the hedgehog if you think about it TBH.

these were already existing old ocs but I thought itd be fun/appropriate to put them in this world with all the others their names are shelly and grim and theyr a shellycoat and a nixie respectively. theyr in a band together (grim as a violinist and shelly as a dancer/living tambourine) and theyr like siblings. shelly is mischievous and loves scaring people.

other character ideas I have that I havent developed as much are donella glass, a glass octopus monster who dresses in bright colors in bold patterns, sealia ronan, a selkie who wears her sealskin tied around her waist like a jacket, blobbie sculpin (<- also wip name), a fathead sculpin girl who wears a pressurized suit so she can go to the surface without exploding & fellow aspiring surface scientist/friend of mariana, paulette, an epaulette shark mermaid who loves fencing, and lura leftvent & lily, an illuminated netdevil and a crinoid who go by "netdevil" and "cringeoid" respectively online and get into internet drama you cannot even imagine.

thank you verymuch if you read all of this or even a little of this I hope you all enjoy

[deinocheirus]

what other kinds of land sharks are there? also i just found out epaulette sharks survive on land by just say "fuck breathing" and use anaerobic respiration instead.

Honestly I think mudsharks are as far as “land sharks” get in The Aviary (in terms of present/”canon” time at least), which are more or less small Carpet Sharks filling the niche of giant salamanders/mudskippers

In the *completely hypothetical shark future timeline* the “sharks” adapted for land are all descendant from mudsharks and look as much like “sharks” as humans and birds and dogs resemble “fish”.

Carpet sharks as a group seem like a good candidate for a hypothetical terrestrial shark to me seeing that some already know how to walk, as well as other types of sharks that are less active swimmers and are still capable of buccal pumping. There seems to be many setbacks anatomically for sharks in terms of evolving to terrestrial living compared to bony fish, to be point that I’m not creative enough to pull one off that seems feasible.

ANYWAYS Epaulette sharks are simply a gift to this world.