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UndeadLife--Starstruck (••)

If you were an alien disintegrating in space, you might look a bit like one of these.

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If you like scientific inquiries, Sea Stars are actually from the class Asteroidea and can be called Asteroids. ~1500 sea stars range from tropical to frozen waters, from reef to abyss. They date back to 450 million years ago in fossil records though they leave little but their spines behind. Sea stars are predatorial and many eat by extruding their stomachs - is this rad alien behavior to anyone else besides me? Nom nom. They walk around on tubules or via jet propulsion, and they can lose or regenerate pieces for survival. Several species of starfish are critical to the health of oceanic ecosystems and are called “keystone species”. Info from www.wikipedia.org/starfish.

And if they don’t look like aliens, maybe they’ll look a bit like fireworks 🤔😬. Happy New Year, everyone!!

-Elm

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Some choices just come down to a matter of personal preference.

(Art by @splashdragon.)

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Happy New Years, everyone! May your oysters be fresh and your champagne octopus-free. 

(Art by @splashdragon.)

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Merry Christmas from the reef. :)

(Art by @splashdragon.)

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‘Twas the night before Christmas

And all through the reef

Not a creature was stirring-

They dreamt with belief.

(Art by @splashdragon.)

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Christmas comes with an unearthly glow, and angel-like jellyfish light the scene. 

(Art by @splashdragon.)

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Cheerful caroling from a crustacean choir. They might not win any awards, but they make up for it with festive enthusiasm.

(Art by @splashdragon.)

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Someone once said “Love thine enemy.” Even if these anemones aren’t enemies, you can still love them, too.

(Art by @splashdragon.)

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Twinkle twinkle little star

How I wonder how you are

Crossing reef without your arms

Missing pieces, parts and charm

Yet you come so merrily

To light up our Christmas tree. (••)

(Art by @splashdragon.) 

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An old Christmas tree, abandoned in the reef. Luckily, the ocean has ways of making things beautiful.

To be continued. . . Watch this space for further holiday cheer!❄️🎄🎁

Art by Kira Christensen (@splashdragon).

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Seahorse Disintegration (••)

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There are 46 known species of seahorse. Their genus word “Hippocampus” is Greek for “horse” and “monster”. Imagine if this little guy were blown up into monster dimensions and came round to pummel your ship or take over the Earth 👾. In another universe, maybe - in this one, they range from 1.5 cm to 35 cm aka 5/8 in to 14 in. They are a type of fish but they don’t have scales, they have skin that stretches over rings of bony plates that act as armor. They are also masters of camo - check out pics by @/projectseahorse and @/seahorse_savvy on Instagram to squint and see what you can see 😳. Thanks for the info, Wikipedia! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seahorse)

-Elm

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My store is open!!! UndeadLife graphic art pieces aren’t just about the black and white, you can color them into life. Find archival quality coloring prints on my store on Society6. They look amazing - they are printed on heavy, natural white, smooth, acid and lignin free 100% cotton rag. Graphics are uploaded 300+ dpi on a transparent background, so the ink is beautiful while the paper remains colorable. Color or paint your print and create an art piece you will feel a connection to. You can also find true black and white frameable art prints on the store. These are labeled as a Print as opposed to a Coloring Page (for example, "Life with An-Enemy - White Print” versus “Life with An-Enemy - Coloring Page"). Some art prints also come in color. I’ll continue to update the prints on the store as I post new ones here. You’ll also find some extras there that aren’t posted here yet, I hope you like them! One of my dreams has always been to help care for our ocean life and wildlife. I’m super excited to draw to help make a difference. With this Undead Ocean series, I am donating 10% of proceeds from each purchase to Oceana, a conservancy that recovers our overfished ocean life, cleans and protects ocean environments, and seeks to sustainably feed the hungry via balanced and thoughtful fishing strategies. Right now Society6 is having a 40% off site-wide sale on prints. If you order by December 14th, they will arrive before Christmas. Click here to check out the store and browse through. These are a few examples of what the prints look like when they come and what you can expect. Thank you so much for your support! - Elm

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Horseshoe Crabby (••)

Some cheerful horseshoe crabbies :D. They look like Christmas ornaments and holly. Disintegrating a bit, but it’s always good to celebrate your woes away.

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I grew up with these on the East Coast, they are some of my favorite ancient creatures.

Some cool facts about horseshoe crabs: they are literally living fossils - the earliest date back to 450 million years ago. They're not actually crabs, they’re arthropods and closely related to arachnids and scorpions. They have nine eyes plus photoreceptors that can see ultraviolet and visible light, but terrible eyesight. That said, their night vision is a million times more powerful than a human’s. They also glow under a blacklight! They are in high demand for use in medications and vaccines, and the population has declined 60% in the last 25 years.

Info from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_crab @wikipedia, @nationalaquarium and @hscrabrecovery (on IG). Thanks for your great educational posts! 

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UnLife - Life Paths (••)

Life in the big ocean can make you think, sometimes. Little does mini minnow know, the tides are turning. . . but are they turning for the better? Or for the worse? 🌊👀👻

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UnLife--Smart Questions (••)

Meanwhile, the minnows were still trying to make sense of why they were near the bottom of the food chain. They do say that those who study hardest go farthest...📚🐟 

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Unlife--Octopus Lessons (••)

A day in the life before plague. You can see that octopi are considered very smart for a reason, deep in the reef. 🐙🐙

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UndeadLife--The Breathtaking Sea Slug (••)

See slug crawl. See slug dissolve. See slug regenerate.

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The Sea Slug - or Nudibranch - is a type of snail that has evolved to have either no shell or a smaller internal shell. They come in an incredible variety of forms and can regenerate if they lose part of their body. Their antennae are used primarily for smelling. Their feathers or cerata can sting, in some species absorb light (like the Lettuce Sea Slug), and are used as gills. They use miniscule teeth called radula to attach to their prey. Sea slugs specialize to eat one type of prey, either jellyfish, plankton, sea anemones, or yes, other types of sea slugs. Way to be a zombie. 💪