#mouthbrooding

[amnhnyc]

On the hunt for eggs today? The banded jawfish (Opistognathus macrognathus) has a mouthful! Banded jawfish dads-to-be carry eggs in their mouth. This behavior—which helps protect offspring from predators—is known as mouthbrooding. To attract females, males do a “dance” that involves a series of sweeping movements and fin-flashing. They even open their mouths as wide as possible to boast their mouthbrooding potential!

Photo: coralreefdreams, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist

[thatswhatsushesaid]

consider: di "you have no right to ask me" feisheng 🤝 lan "you are not qualified to talk to me" wangji

[keeskiwi]

Trick or treat!! 👻

I have a special little trick (or is it a treat) for you!

Cuckoo catfish, by Tylwyth Eldar, shared under CC BY-SA

[miraphoenix]

I love this tweet because those fish are trying to beat the ever-loving shit out of each other, or at the very least trying to determine which one of them is the more dominant fish.

(ID in alt: A screenshot of a tweet reading “this is how I would kiss my fish wife if I was a fish and married”. This is posted above a photograph of two white fish pressing their mouths together on a blue background. End ID.)

The fish in the image are leucistic Helostoma temminckii, the kissing gourami. This 'kissing' behavior is generally understood to be an aggressive or agonistic behavior, depending on the analysis; basically, either a legitimate fight or a ritualized fight.

Mouth-to-mouth contact is not usually a sweet/kind/fluffy behavioral signal in fish.

Many cichlids also have a known behavioral pattern that looks like kissing; the two fish lock mouths and bite each other with flared fins, before the fight breaks off with the loser fleeing. (Sometimes the fight escalates, but a jawlock or mouth battle is usually only seen in the most pitched of cichlid combat.)

Sarcastic fringeheads (Neoclinus blanchardi) are another fish worth mentioning in a page on mouth-to-mouth combat or agonistic display in fish. A blenny that lives in various tubes, the sarcastic fringehead displays its frankly enormous mouth during territorial disputes with other fringeheads, with the pair first displaying mouth sizes. If that doesn't settle the dispute, the fish escalate to pressing the upper jaw against the other fish's mouth and pushing at each other; whoever has the bigger mouth and the greater endurance tends to win, and chases off the loser.

(ID in alt: A picture of two sarcastic fringehead fish fighting; they are long fish with large, triangular mouths in blue and green. Photo by Richard Herrmann. End ID.)

But yeah, if there is a picture or video of two fish in mouth-to-mouth contact? Especially if they're pushing back and forth at each other. It's probably not because they're displaying a pair bond, and they're probably not showing what a mammal would recognize as affection; they're almost certainly trying to determine who's the bigger/more dominant animal.

[aquariuminfobureau]

Mighty maws from down under

Although the cardinalfishes, clade Apogonidae, are popular in marine aquaria, it is less often appreciated that there are freshwater members of this family. The species Glossamia aprion reaches Europe infrequently, from the island of New Guinea. G. aprion is larger than the commonly kept cardinalfishes, that are so popular in saltwater aquaria. It supposedly can grow up to 18 centimeters, or 7 inches long, but not all populations of this fish share the same maximum or average sizes.

There is genetic evidence that G. aprion is in fact a soecies complex, and not a single species of cardinalfish. These populations also vary in morphological and reproductive traits, perhaps explaining the different size estimates in the literature, with some reputable sources stating G. aprion grows only to 10 centimeters, or 4 inches. But all are indigenous to a region of tropical Australia, from the River Fitzroy, in the north of Western Australia, to the River Burnett in Queensland, and it is also endemic to nearby New Guinea.

G. aprion may rarely be traded as the Papuan freshwater cardinalfish, although there is more than one such species in Australasia, and the species is indeed present on nearby Australia, where it is a well known freshwater fish. Australian people are well aware of this species, and know it by the vernacular name of mouth almighty.

Shpuld that sound too humorous, then it can also be called Gill's cardinalfish, Blanchard's perchlet, or the Queensland mouthbrooder, the latter a reference to the male parental care practiced by this pair bonding species, as in its saltwater relatives. After mating, the G. aprion males also use their huge, oral cavities, to store and protect fertilised eggs. Such reproduction occurs only when the ambient water temperture, is at least 22 degrees centigrade

All populations of G. aprion are strictly freshwater, inhabiting still or slowly flowing environments, that are necessarily rich in vegetation, where this cardinalfish can lurk. Itself a slow moving ambush predator, G. option has evolved to spend little energy when hunting. Vegetation provides cover under which to slowly approach prey, such as smaller fish, or arthropods, that can fit into its cavernous mouth. But it also hides this fish from its own predators, and gives them a sense of security. In the aquarium, these fishes have a reputation for nervous dispiosition.

Wild G. aprion are found in waters with a pH from 4.5 to around 8, but they surely do better towards the middle of that range, perhaps 7 to 7.5. The tempertures they can tolerate are similarly high, up to 38 degrees centigrade, but on a purely temporary basis. Normal, tropical aquarium tempertures should do G. aprion much better. On no accounts should G. aprion be exposed to brackish or marine salinities. Their tank should be planted, which not only provides them with a naturalistic home, but diffuses the light. These nocturnal fishes are expected to prefer dim or diffuse lighting, or to be active at night.

Feeding this large cardinalfish is easy, for these fish readily consume suitably sized meaty items, be they either defrosted or fresh, when they are maintained in the squarium. Some individuals will also consume pellet preperations, as long as their nutritional compositions are suitable for carnivores. G. aprion is by no means a difficult fish to feed or care for, but it will be a danger to those tankmates, that might fit into that titular maw.I

Luckily, aquarists have reported success keeping G. aprion with bulky bodied fishes, if they are as large as G. aprion, or larger. Like many fish that are slow ambush predators, they seek to minimise their energy costs, so are unaggressive to non-prey cohabitants sharing their aquarium. G. aprion are suction feeders with large mouths, so the gape of these fishes determines what is potentially their prey.

[hollow-head]

imagine mouthbrooding mermaids.

[mc-speculation]

Mobs that have babies (in game):

Armadillos

Axolotls

Bees

Camels

Cats

Chickens

Cows

Dolphins

Donkeys

Drowned 1

(The) Ender Dragon 3

Foxes

Frogs

Glow Squid

Goats

Hoglins

Horses

Husks 1

Llamas

Magma Cubes 4

Mooshrooms

Mules

Ocelots

Pandas

Pigs

Piglins

Polar Bears

Rabbits

Salmon (?) 5

Sheep

Skeleton Horses 2

Slimes 4

Sniffers

Squid

Striders

Turtles

Villagers

Wolves

Ziglins (Zombie Piglins) 1

Zoglins (Zombie Hoglins) 1

Zombies 1

Zombie Horses 1

Zombie Villagers 1

Mobs that do not have babies (in game):

Allays 6

Bats 7

Blazes 8

Bogged 2

Breezes 8

Cave Spiders 9

Cod 9

Creakings 8a

Creepers 10

Elder Guardians/Guardians 8b

Endermen 7a

Endermites 9

Ghasts 7b

Iron Golems 8

Parrots 7

Phantoms 11

Pillagers 12

Pufferfish 9

Ravagers 7

Shulkers 9

Silverfish 9

Skeletons 2

Snow Golems 8

Spiders 9

Strays 2

Tropical Fish 9

Vex 8

Wardens 13

Witches 12

(The) Wither 8

Wither Skeletons 2a

Whatever manner reanimates different kinds of zombies seems to reanimate the young as well as adults, regardless of their species or the type of zombie (ie. husks, drowned).

Conversely, whatever reanimates skeletons does not reanimate the young, and thus they are likely reanimated in a completely different fashion to zombies. The only exception is the skeleton horse, which must in turn be reanimated in a different manner than other skeletons. Perhaps it has more in common with zombies than other types of skeletons.

2a. Whether or not wither skeletons are reanimated in the same or a similar way to other skeletons is questionable. They share the trait of lacking young with other skeletons, but are otherwise quite different.

3. The Ender Dragon does not have young, but it does produce an “egg”. Assuming it is in fact an egg, and not some strange byproduct of the beast’s biology or death, this counts - regardless of if it can be hatched by a player or not.

4. Both magma cubes and slimes are capable of asexual reproduction.

5. Salmon can be found in three different sizes. Whether these different sizes are genetic, a product of the environment, or an indicator of age is not entirely clear. 6. Allays are capable of asexual reproduction (in this case it is a magical process rather than a biological one), but they are created as fully-formed adults, and thus technically do not have any subadult phases.

7. These animals do, in fact, have young. Their young are altricial (meaning they are born unable to move or eat independently, and are dependent on the parent(s)), so it is more that they are very unlikely to be seen due to the way that they are reared.

7a. Endermen are also altricial, and hide their young in burrows to protect them from predators, competitors, and their dangerous environment. 7b. Ghasts are another altricial species. They protect their larvae within their largely hollow gas-filled bodies, in a somewhat similar manner to the mouthbrooding of certain fish and other animals.

8. These creatures are created (or suspected to be created), not born, and thus don’t have any subadult phases. These creatures are called constructs.

8a. In the case of Creakings, little is known about their nature in general. At this present time, they seem to be created by the Pale Oak, rather than having their own reproductive abilities.

8b. Guardians are constructs. but are also capable of reproducing. They typically have a eusocial colony structure similar to that of bees - the Elder Guardians being the queens, or reproductive females. Should the Elder Guardians die, however, the smaller drones can reproduce amongst themselves to produce more drones. Notably, drones cannot metamorphose into Elder Guardians like some other eusocial animals. This suggests that the different castes within their species were manufactured by their creators.

9. Similar to altricial species, these creatures do have young, they’re just unlikely to be encountered or noticed by players. In these species, it is because the young are born as very small larval stages, and are often hidden from view of potential predators - like players.

10. Creepers have consistently thwarted any attempts of study or classification. Whether they are a plant, an animal, a construct, or something else entirely, is up in the air. How, or even if, they reproduce is not fully understood.

11. The nature of phantoms is strange and little is known about them. They are undead, but do not resemble any living counterparts that could have died and been reanimated to create them. It is possible they are not animated by an external force, like how zombies and skeletons are, and instead are their own unique organism animated by other means. This makes their method of reproduction a real mystery, one yet to be studied and solved.

12. Pillagers and witches seem to be the product of environmental change in villagers. Thus, the reason their are no baby witches or pillagers is likely not because they cannot reproduce (though granted, it’s not been proven that they can reproduce), but is more likely because the young would just be villagers, and would only become pillagers or witches as they grow.

13. Wardens are bizarre and seldom studied organisms. Much of their life history is unknown, including how/if they reproduce and how/if they develop. This may be difficult to study - for a number of reasons, really, but chiefly because they are seemingly not from this realm at all, and the conditions they now live in may not allow them to reproduce or rear their young.

[marinebiologyshitposts]

FISH KIN:

Mom, my real life mother, your fish kin is...

THE PEARL GOURAMI!!! Gourami are notable for a few different reasons- such as the fact that they're considered Labyrinth Fish! This is because their lungs are labyrinthine in construction, allowing them to gulp air from the surface and process its oxygen! However, I chose this for you because gourami are known to be mouthbrooding fish- these doting mothers hold their eggs (and, when need be, their young) in their mouths to protect them from predators!!! Thank you so much for your donation!!!

[fatherrubedo]

Some doodles of my mudskipper/mouthbrooder pandemonium + the adopted deep sea bunny

[spiderden]

tagged by @ackersam 💜 to post 4 photos from my camera roll that aren't selfies. 3 of these are pretty old and i already posted here most of my cool photos :v so enjoy these i guess 🕸️

now i'm tagging: @gertold, @howandwhyy, @mouthbrood, @lispelldt, @energylearns, @barlowbarlowbarlowbarlow + all of my mutuals cause idk if all of you are comfortable getting tagged <3 i really want to see the world through y'all own lenses so i'm excited <3

[mouthbrood]

user mouthbrood threatens to post new poetry

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results -- Hreksong

Slightly awkward timing on this one: the animal in question happened to come up on a recent episode of our podcast (We literally quoted a line from the Bodley MS 764 entry, because it was relevant to the story we were reading). So any of the artists who listen may have gotten spoilers. (I say "may", but I've already seen one art post that references the episode.) Sorry about that, artists. Kind of a bizarre coincidence, actually -- it's pretty rare that we happen across bestiary material in a narrative text, and the fact that we did so shortly before the relevant entry came up in the rotation... well, the odds are against it.

Anyway, anyone who doesn't know what this is about should check out https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. You can also check the "maniculum bestiaryposting" tag to see what beast is the current prompt. The entry for this week's drawings can be found here:

Art below the cut, roughly chronological, as always.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) decided that the best interpretation of the information given was that this was a sort of arboreal mongoose that practiced mouthbrooding. If you want to know what the reasoning was there, you should read the linked post -- it all makes sense there. I absolutely love that the one in the picture is opening its mouth to show the baby riding inside. Silverhart indicates that this is a quicker sketch than usual, but frankly their animal-drawing skills are so good that even a quick sketch is impressive from my perspective.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) did separate drawings for the large outdoor version (upper image, carrying its young) and the small indoor version (lower image, stealing someone's food). The linked post, which explains the design in some detail, indicates that CheapSweets was thinking along similar lines as Silverhart -- i.e., what kind of animal is known for hunting snakes? I like the pose in the first image, and I really like the scene depicted in the second one. On one hand, I'm sure having little creatures live in your roof and steal food literally out of your hands is quite frustrating, but on the other hand, it's very funny. Look at that little guy just brazenly stealing some chicken (or whatever type of bird). The idea of them using their back legs to grip rafters for exactly this purpose is excellent.

@strixcattus (link to post here) decided these could be birds, and has drawn these owl-like creatures for us. They look a bit surly, but that could just be the feather pattern on their faces. As always, I strongly recommend checking out that linked post, as Strixcattus writes brilliant interpretations of these entries in the register of a modern naturalist to accompany the illustrations.

@pomrania (link to post here) has noted that cats live in houses and eat mice, and given us this charming domestic scene. They also note the issues with this interpretation in the linked post, which of course you should read. I think the poses of the cats are very well done here; one of those kittens looks like it wants to paw at the monk's belt but can very much not reach.

And now for the Aberdeen Bestiary:

I'm not sure about the head proportions -- I'd suggest that the flattened snout is because the artist ran out of space, if it weren't for the fact that they were fine letting the back foot extend into the border -- but that is recognizably a weasel.

A few things to note from this:

1. Medieval people apparently had not only mice in their homes, but weasels, which I'd never really thought about. I'm not sure what the distinction they're drawing between the type you find in your home and the type you find in the woods is about, though.

2. The weasel's healing magic crops up in multiple texts, including the Lais of Marie de France and Volsungasaga. It's less common than you might think to find overlap between bestiary-weirdness and narrative-weirdness, so that's pretty notable.

3. I have no friggin' idea why anyone thought they gave birth through their ears. Baffling.

[ozgog]

stop!!! important!!!! ozgog would carry her babies in her mouth like mouthbrooding fish do

[endangered-aquarium-fish]

the list!!!

every creature that's endangered or critically endangered or extinct in the wild that you can keep and breed in your own (freshwater) aquarium to stop it from dying out completely.

ive been working on this for a while and its still very not done bc oh my god theres so many-

some of these are super duper rare and expensive but others are widely beloved fish, some of them are rlly surprising to see here

pls lmk if theres anything i should add that i havent yet :3 theres a lot of undescribed species that you dont find in databases and stuff so i need all the obsessed nerds i can find to finish this!!!

not bolded = endangered

bolded = critically endangered

red = extinct in the wild (THESE LITERALLY ONLY EXIST WHERE WE KEEP THEM 0.0)

okay here it is :3

Allodontichthys polylepis - Finescale splitfin

Allotoca catarinae - Catarina allotoca

Allotoca dugesii - Bumblebee goodeid, Opal allotoca

Allotoca goslinei - Banded allotoca

Allotoca maculata - Blackspot goodeid, Blackspot allotoca

Allotoca meeki - Zirahuen allotoca

Allotoca zacapuensis - Zacapu allotoca

Amatitlania kanna - Panama convict cichlid

Amatitlania myrnae - Topaz cichlid

Ambystoma mexicanum - Axolotl

Ameca splendens - Butterfly goodeid

Amphilophus chancho

Amphilophus flaveolus

Amphilophus lyonsi

Amphilophus zaliosus - Arrow cichlid

Apistogramma lineata  

Apistogramma psammophila - two banded dwarf cichlid 

Aponogeton capuronii 

Aponogeton longiplumulosus

Astatotilapia desfontainii

Ataeniobius toweri - Striped goodeid

Aulonocara baenschi - Nkhomo-benga peacock, yellow benga, sunshine peacock

Aulonocara kandeense - Blue orchid peacock

Aulonocara maylandi - Sulfurhead peacock

Bedotia geayi - Madagascar rainbowfish, red-tailed silverside, zona

Bedotia madagascariensis - Madagascar rainbow, Madagascan rainbowfish

Benitochromis conjunctus

Benitochromis finleyi

Benitochromis nigrodorsalis

Benitochromis riomuniensis

Betta albimarginata - Whiteseam fighter

Betta antoni

Betta sp. “api api” - Api api betta

Betta burdigala

Betta channoides - Snakehead betta

Betta chloropharynx - Green throat mouthbrooder

Betta compuncta

Betta cracens

Betta foerschi

Betta hendra

Betta hipposideros

Betta sp. “jade” - Jade betta

Betta livida

Betta mahachaiensis - Mahachai betta

Betta mandor

Betta miniopinna

Betta omega

Betta pardalotos

Betta patoti - Tiger betta

Betta persephone

Betta pi

Betta rubra - Toba betta

Betta rutilans - Fire betta

Betta schalleri 

Betta simplex - Krabi mouthbrooding betta

Betta smaragdina “guitar”

Betta spilotogena

Betta stiktos 

Betta tussyae - Chukai betta

Betta waseri

Brevibora dorsiocellata - Emerald eye rasbora, eyespot rasbora

Cambarellus patzcuarensis - Mexican dwarf crayfish

Caridina dennerli - Cardinal Sulawesi shrimp

Caridina glaubrechti - Red orchid Sulawesi shrimp, red orchid shrimp

Caridina holthuisi - Six banded Sulawesi shrimp

Caridina loehae - Mini blue bee shrimp, orange delight shrimp

Caridina masapi - Towuti tiger shrimp

Caridina profundicola - Sunstripe shrimp

Caridina spinata - Yellow goldflake shrimp, yellow nose shrimp, yellow cheek shrimp

Caridina spongicola

Caridina striata - Red line shrimp

Caridina tenuirostris 

Caridina tigri - Tigris sulawesi shrimp

Caridina woltereckae - Sulawesi harlequin shrimp

Chapalichthys pardalis - Polkadot splitfin

Characodon audax - Bold characodon

Characodon lateralis - Rainbow goodeid, Rainbow characodon

Chilatherina bleheri - Blehers rainbowfish

Chilatherina sentaniensis - Sentani rainbowfish

Chindongo saulosi

Coelotilapia joka

Coptodon bythobates

Coptodon deckerti

Coptodon gutturosus

Coptodon kottae

Coptodon snyderae

Cyprinodon alvarezi - Potosi pupfish

Crenichthys baileyi - White River springfish

Cribroheros bussingi

Cribroheros rhytisma

Danio/Celestichthys erythromicron - Emerald dwarf rasbora

Devario auropurpureus/Inlecypris auropurpurea - Lake Inle danio

Devario pathirana - Barred danio

Dicrossus gladicauda

Epalzeorhynchos bicolor - Redtail shark/red tailed shark

Etroplus canarensis - Canara pearlspot

Gambusia hurtadoi - Crescent gambusia

Girardinichthys multiradiatus - Dark-edged splitfin

Girardinichthys viviparus - Chapultepec splitfin

Glossolepis dorityi - Doritys rainbowfish, Grime rainbowfish

Glossolepis incisus - Red rainbowfish

Glossolepis maculosus - Spotted rainbowfish

Glossolepis wanamensis - Lake Wanam rainbowfish, emerald rainbowfish, green dragon rainbowfish

Gymnogeophagus caaguazuensis

Halocaridina rubra - ‘Opae‘ula

Haplochromis brownae

Haplochromis ishmaeli

Haplochromis latifasciatus - Zebra obliquidens

Haplochromis perrieri

Hemichromis cerasogaster

Herichthys bartoni - Bartons cichlid

Herichthys labridens - Curve-bar cichlid

Herichthys minckleyi - Minckleys cichlid

Herichthys steindachneri - Steindachners cichlid

Hubbsina turneri - Highland splitfin

Hypancistrus zebra - Zebra pleco

Hyphessobrycon flammeus - Flame tetra 

Kiunga ballochi - Glass blue eye

Konia eisentrauti - Konye

Lamprologus kungweensis - Ocellated shell dweller

Limbochromis robertsi 

Limia islai - Tiger limia

Limia nigrofasciata - Humpbacked limia, Black-barred limia

Limia sulphurophila - Sulphur limia

Lipochromis/Cleptochromis/Haplochromis parvidens

Luciocephalus aura - Peppermint pikehead

Malpulutta kretseri - Ornate paradisefish

Mchenga conophoros

Melanochromis chipokae

Melanochromis lepidiadaptes

Melanotaenia ajamaruensis - Ajamaru rainbowfish, Ajamaru lakes rainbowfish

Melanotaenia boesemani - Boesemani rainbowfish

Melanotaenia bowmani - Bowmans rainbowfish

Melanotaenia fasinensis

Melanotaenia gracilis - Slender rainbowfish

Melanotaenia klasioensis - Klasio Creek rainbowfish, Klasio rainbowfish

Melanotaenia lacustris - Turquoise rainbowfish, Lake Kutubu rainbowfish

Melanotaenia mairasi - Lake Furnusu rainbowfish

Melanotaenia parva - Lake Kurumoi rainbowfish, sunset dwarf rainbowfish

Melanotaenia sp. “Running River” - Running River rainbowfish

Melanotaenia sembrae

Melanotaenia sexlineata - Fly River rainbowfish

Melanotaenia susii - Susi Creek rainbowfish

Melanotaenia utcheensis - Utchee rainbowfish, Utchee Creek rainbowfish

Melanotaenia sp. “Williams Creek” - Malanda gold rainbowfish, Williams Creek rainbowfish

Mesoheros gephyrus

Metriaclima koningsi

Metriaclima usisyae

Microrasbora rubescens - Red dwarf rasbora

Myaka myaka - Myaka

Nandopsis ramsdeni

Nannostomus mortenthaleri - Coral red pencilfish

Nanochromis transvestitus

Neoophorus regalis

Neotoca bilineata - Twoline skiffia

Nyassachromis boadzulu

Oreochromis alcalicus - Soda cichlid, common natron tilapia

Osphronemus laticlavius - Giant red tail gourami

Parananochromis ornatus

Paretroplus dambabe

Paretroplus maculatus - Damba mipentina

Paretroplus menarambo - Pinstripe damba

Paretroplus nourissati

Parosphromenus alfredi 

Parosphromenus anjunganensis

Parosphromenus filamentosus

Parosphromenus gunawani

Parosphromenus harveyi

Parosphromenus linkei

Parosphromenus opallios

Parosphromenus ornaticauda

Parosphromenus pahuensis

Parosphromenus paludicola

Parosphromenus phoenicurus

Parosphromenus quindecim

Parosphromenus rubrimontis

Parosphromenus tweediei

Phallichthys quadripunctatus - Four spotted toothcarp, four spotted merry widow

Placidochromis phenochilus

Poropanchax/Congopanchax myersi - Hummingbird lampeye

Pseudomugil connieae - Popondetta blue eye

Pseudomugil furcatus - Forktail blue eye

Pseudomugil ivantsoffi - Ivantsoffs blue eye

Pseudomugil luminatus - Red neon blue eye

Pseudomugil mellis - Honey blue eye

Pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos - Maingano cichlid

Ptychochromis insolitus - Mangarahara cichlid

Ptychochromis oligacanthus

Pungu maclareni - Pungu

Priapella olmecae - Olmec priapella

Quintana atrizona - Barred topminnow

Rocio spinosissima

Sahyadria/Dawkinsonia denisonii - Denison barb, red line torpedo barb, roseline shark

Sarotherodon caroli - Fissi

Sarotherodon knauerae

Sarotherodon linnellii - Blackfin tilapia

Sarotherodon lamprechti

Sarotherodon logbergeri - Keppe, keppi

Sarotherodon steinbachi - Kululu

Scleropages formosus - Asian arowana

Sewellia marmorata

Skiffia francesae - Golden skiffia

Skiffia lermae - Olive skiffia

Skiffia multipunctata - Spotted skiffia

Skiffia sp. “Sayula” - Sayula skiffia

Sphaerichthys vaillanti - Samurai gourami, vaillants chocolate gourami

Stomatepia mariae - Nsess

Stomatepia mongo - Mongo

Stomatepia pindu - Pindu

Tanichthys albiventris 

Tanichthys albonubes - White cloud mountain minnow, white cloud minnow

Tanichthys micagemmae - Vietnamese cardinal minnow, Vietnamese white cloud

Teleogramma brichardi

Tilapia guinasana - Otjikoto tilapia 

Trigonostigma somphongsi

Vieja hartwegi - Tailbar cichlid 

Xenoophorus captivus - Relict splitfin

Xenotoca doadrioi - San Marcos redtail splitfin, San Marcos redtail goodeid

Xenotoca eiseni - Redtail splitfin, Redtail goodeid

Xenotoca lyonsi - Tamazula redtail splitfin

Xenotoca melanosoma - Black splitfin

Xenotoca cf. melanosoma 

Xiphophorus andersi - Spiketail platyfish

Xiphophorus couchianus - Monterrey platyfish

Xiphophorus meyeri - Marbled swordtail

Zoogoneticus tequila - Tequila splitfin

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Daily fish fact #800

WOWZA! 800 FISH FACTS!!!???

WHAT A MILESTONE!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST AND SUPPORT!

IN UNDER A YEAR, I'LL BE AT ONE THOUSAND FISH FACTS.

LET'S GET THERE TOGETHER!

OKAY, HERE'S THE ACTUAL FACT....

Bettas!

While the common Betta splendens is a bubblenester, as in, a male betta builds a floating nest of bubbles to put his eggs in, the large majority of bettas are in fact mouthbrooders, males holding their eggs inside their mouths! Mouthbrooding as a behaviour is theorised to have evolved from bubblenesting, as it is a more convenient alternative in moving water where a bubble nest may float away or break apart. Several betta species can also switch between mouthbrooding and bubblenesting depending on the conditions!

[smorgasvoid]

The Sky's the Limit: Wyverns of Chortis

On Chortis, there are six groups of what we would call wyverns, which are a polyphyletic assemblage of various sarcopterygians.

Due to the high energy demands of flight, most wyverns are carnivorous (when they do eat plants, it is usually fruit). The exception is the elephant wyverns, which are flightless herbivores.

The following groups are listed in the order they were drawn:

• The first group of wyverns are the elephant wyverns (Clade Pachydermoptera), named due to their prehensile trunks and generally large size. This group includes the heaviest wyvern that ever lived, containing herbivorous and omnivorous taxa. They are also the smallest group of wyverns. When they were first discovered by European settlers that entered the magic portals, they were thought to be a type of monotreme. Then, analysis of their morphology showed that they were an aberrant clade of trionychian turtles (yes, you read that correctly).

The ancestral shell has atrophied, being reduced to rib-like components. Despite their forelimbs resembling wings, they did not evolve from flying animals, rather their ancestor possessed wing-like flippers. They physically can't fly due to their wings being too dense and the fact that they lack the adaptations seen in flying vertebrates. Nowadays, extant taxa use them for balance, intimidation, display, swimming, or quadrupedal locomotion.

• The second are the more common saurian wyverns (Clade Vernosauria), a group of primarily carnivorous winged saurischian dinosaurs that can be divided into quadrupedal and bipedal taxa. They were formerly thought to be closely related to the ichthyosaur-like dyptosaurs but they are now believed to be descended from a Pampadromaeus-like taxon, making them a bit closer to true sauropods. This group includes the highest number of wyvern species. Interestingly, most saurian wyverns are venomous. They may or may not have proto-feathers, depending on the vernosaur family.

• Then there are the bird wyverns (Clade Coccatraciformes (And yes I'm using Monster Hunter terminology) which aren't birds in the strict sense but an offshoot of the scansoriopterygids. Like the Yi+Ambopteryx clade and unlike the majority of maniraptorans, they have bat-like membranous wings supported by 3 digits and a styliform wristbone. Unlike their predecessors, many bird wyverns can fly. They are split into two groups, the Aviteratosauria (bird monster lizards), which are more reptilian in their physiology and then there are the Paratornithes, which are more bird-like in their physiology.

•Vintage wyverns (Clade Opisthoptera), named such due to their resemblance to Terran heraldic wyverns, are a clade of winged archosauromorphs descended from a member of the Sharovipteryx+Ozimek clade. Most vintage wyverns are raptorial predators, though waders, skimmers, scavengers, ovivores, and granivores are present. Unlike most wyverns, they possess wings derives from their hindlimbs, being sharovipterygians.

• The frog wyverns, also known as elf wyverns (Clade Elfinoptera) are a clade of volant temnospondyls nested in the Dissorophoidea, making them a sister group to Lissamphibia, which includes actual frogs. They are heterothermic, with their metabolism changing depending on factors such as their environment and the availability of food and water. The "elf" part is in part due to the ear-like protrusions of the lower jaw.

Many but not all taxa have a ballistic tongue, which aids in feeding.

• The last and oldest group, the piscine wyverns (clade Volanichthyes, more MH terminology for you). Strangely, unlike most wyverns, piscine wyverns are not tetrapods, let alone tetrapodomorphs. Instead, they are closely related to lungfish (being dipnomorphs, specifically porolepiforms) yet have converged with early tetrapods. While adults are terrestrial or semiaquatic, all volanichthyans (with the exception of mouthbrooders) must return to water to lay their eggs.

Based on an interpretation of the ocean flish by Fabio Alejandro/Dragonthunders as a different clade of lobe-finned fish. Subsequent piscine wyvern designs will be more "fishy", since this is just a generic example and not representative of any species native to Chortis (also too similar to tetrapods design-wise).

Extra notes: Saurian wyverns were the first type planned (since 2021), going through many phases, they were originally going to be an offshoot of varanoid lizards, then a clade of archosaurs endemic to an alternate Earth (before the idea for an exoplanet was thought of), then basal diapsids descended from araeoscelidids, then compsognathiforms (Compsognathidae is probably polyphyletic so it was changed to stem-tetrapods). Now, they are sauropodomorphs.