#sea bird………….?

[crow-n-tell]

I had a lot of trouble with this lil guy. Weird lil music men aren't easy to shift over when their body's are so... Weird. Still, here! Hermit Crab Music Men!

If you wanna see what went on in my mind for this come right this way...

So a lil info about these boys! These lil music men have adapted to live in the safe shallows, as well as some undersea areas if need be - having two different palettes which match... you've probably guessed by the additions of orange in the music mans usual pastels

Acid mushrooms! I realized as I was trying to get it all sorted that they are a nearly identical color scheme so it worked out that their colors are a little wacky. Not that real life crabs aren't a bit audacious in their colorings too. Actually the deep sea version of this guy is based off a purple crab called the Palawan Purple Crab who comes from the Philippines.

Their colors are more so for other crabs of their species to recognize them, or so I've read, but in this particular scenario it suits our lil music man as a sort of camouflage too.

Aside from it being a sort of camouflage, it also gives you insight into these lil guys diet. Most of what (I really need to come up with a name for these guys, but all I keep thinking of is crab rangboom. like crab rangoon? but a sound pun.) they eat are poisonous, which has directly affected how predators view them. Yea see, there are certain families of crabs which are toxic only because they are eating things that should not be eaten.

So music men don't have a lot of predators, other than those who have natural immunities to things like that... ahem, moon.

I imagine that the crabs closer to the surface tend to a little smaller than knee high for an average height human, where as deeper sea versions of them are a lot bigger... Like... I DONT KNOW, Leviathan big? After all these are just lil guys, lets not forget about the big music man!

Next topic is... oh yeah!

Seismic communication is basically communication through vibrations. Not just through the water, actually it's used by spiders which we can all sort of agree is what the OG music boys are. Spiders use seismic communication when it comes to their webs in particular, able to sense through vibrations in their web if they've captured prey.

Similarly a lot of sea creatures use vibrations as means of communication. Not only in the way spiders do, but sensing out prey; but by avoiding predators or talking to each other. Crabs in particular use all three, but in terms of communication to one another its been noted they will rub their legs together like crickets to talk to other crabs.

For our lil crabby boys, their claws are fashioned sort of like the the original music man has. Hollowed out in the center, they are able to click their lil crab claws together to make sounds and vibrations which distress and confuse their prey long enough to snatch em up and eat em.

Of course they also have the very on brand to SB behavior of just being a literal face hugger if they come out of the shell.

m...mmmmm..... no... noo....ooo.......

I guess the only thing left to mention is his lil

Barnacles!

I struggled with how i'd give this lil guy a top hat. Then. I remember how WEIRD barnacles are. You see a lot of barnacles that look a lil something like this:

But they come in many variations!

And I hate all of them! they are great for designs, helpful in this case, but I get nauseous when looking at them and I can't even begin to understand why.

Sorry if my adhd really popped out on this one, I am actually holding back some of the mostly irrelevant information about colors and uh, other stuff.

[frippp]

I made a poster with a random selection of seabird courtship rituals!

how the heck did this post do so well?!? anyways as i said if it got popular i would slap it on redbubble i did that, thank you all for all the notes and comments! https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/154720777?asc=u

[marissasketch]

“The waves formed a magnificent pompadour atop the little duckling’s head, granting him the power of water…”

Inspired by Quaxly 💙🦆

Prints

[bird-everyday]

326

[gemsofgreece]

Monemvasiá at Peloponnese, Greece. Valantis M. Photography

[jadafitch]

A late summer boat ride, after the puffins and terns had left, was the inspiration for my second wintery seamless illustration, featuring Maine animals. Far fewer species in the off season, but we've got some good ones. Harbor seals and herring gulls are pretty reliable, and always adorable .

[ebaybears]

We need more flatfish plushies. I just saw one and it was so scary. I love him

[herpsandbirds]

Horned Puffin (Fratercula corniculata), family Alcidae, order Charadriiformes, Alaska

photographs by john l crawley - BIRDS (@jc_wings)

[theyshapedlikefriends]

Sunlemon - LOST ANIMALS

[blairesnaps]

blaire snaps

[vintagewildlife]

A young herring gull named Ernest By: Unknown photographer From: Natural History Magazine 1936

[bird-everyday]

331 viva Palestina libre

[dragonskulls]

made this for oomf but you can have it too. a little breakdown of my process with bird wings if anyone finds it useful

[gemsofgreece]

📍Galaxidi, Greece by Christos Kapoulas.

[marinememes]