Aquatic Life Appreciation Thread 🐳 🐠 🐙

[Sproingle]

This is the 兜蟹 - かぶとがに - Horseshoe crab.
Apart from being living fossils, they play an incredible role in medical applications that I did not know about. These creatures are so valuable, hopefully soon we won’t need to rely on their precious blood anymore.

Horseshoe crab

(Section 4 of the Wiki article)

Harvest for blood

Horseshoe crabs use hemocyanin to carry oxygen through their blood. Because of the copper present in hemocyanin, their blood is blue.[37] Their blood contains amebocytes, which play a similar role to the white blood cells of vertebrates in defending the organism against pathogens. Amebocytes from the blood of L. polyphemus are used to make Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL), which is used for the detection of bacterial endotoxins in medical applications

[MondayJR]

I think this one is self explanatory! ^^

[ekg]

@Sproingle

Because of the copper present in hemocyanin, their blood is blue

So that’s why noble’s blood is blue as well?

Super interesting. I knew about these guys from Endless Ocean, but not that we used their blood for medical science. Poor guys! I’m sure they didn’t expect to be used like that!

As for eating them…I’m still not convinced. (even if I like crabs, shrimp and crayfish…but living fossils…>_> )

[ekg]

@MondayJR

I think this one is self explanatory! ^^

[AdalwinAmillion]

魚魚魚、魚を食べると、
頭頭頭、頭がよくなる

[ekg]

I’ve been neglecting my thread a bit, but time for some lovely pics of this café owner inhabitant of the Arctic: 白熊 (しろくま) polar bear! <3

[Belthazar]

Fun fact: the Arctic is named after the bears - “arktos” is Ancient Greek for “bear”.

[AdalwinAmillion]

And Antarctica is literally “Place where there are no bears”. That translation sounds much smoother if translated to Japanese imo:
クマがない所

[DIO-Berry]

Gotta add more shark facts

USING MY JAPANESE SHARK CARDS

The Ace of Spades is the lovely Great White ホホジロザメ
The info reads:
温暖な外海の表層に生息。全長約５～６ｍ。
獰猛で攻撃的。人を襲うときもあるが通常アザラシ、
トド、魚類などを捕食。

[ekg]

For those curious about how lake fishies survive winter.

https://www.ausableriver.org/blog/look-under-ice-winter-lake-ecology

[ekg]

Inspired by the Gliawards current otter-theme I wanted to make a post about Giant River Otters (オオカワウソ).

These otters are different from both the otters found in Europe and the ones in the Arctic. To begin with they are huge (up to 1,7 meters). They are also much more social than other species. They like to hang out in family groups of 3-8 individuals and also hunt in packs!

For more info about this endangered species, see Otterly Fascinating | Science | Smithsonian Magazine

The whole family out for a swim!

Eating a catfish (ナマズ目)

Giant river otter pups!

[Shinobusagi]

You forgot to mention they’ll take over the Earth one day.

[DIO-Berry]

The King of Spades- ヒラシュモクザメ Hammerhead Shark

全世界(ぜんせかい)の熱帯沿岸(ねったいえんがん)に生息(せいそく)。最大約(さいだいやく)６ｍ。ハンマー型(がた)の頭部(とうぶ)の前縁(ぜんねん)が直線(ちょくせん)になることが特徴(とくちょう)。他(た)のシュモクザメ類(るい)と違(ちが)い群(む)れをつくらないといわれる。

[ekg]

Well, that’s obviously an otter from the Arctic so I get their frustration with humankind!

(I guess, the giant river otters should be plenty frustrate as well, but they do have that splotshy breast as their signature look. )

[ekg]

Where I live there’s an abundance of water birds (鸊鷉 or かいつぶり) due to the large number of freshwater lakes, rivers and creeks. I have special fondness for these cute birbs. Not just the big graceful Swans (白鳥), but also the smaller varieties of birds living on water. Several are quite beautiful! ^>^

Common Goldeneye (頬白鴨 or ほおじろがも)

Great Crested Grebe (冠鳰 or かんむりかいつぶり)

Loon (アビ科) or Common Loon (嘴黒阿比 or はしぐろあび)

Common Eider ( ホンケワタガモ)

Mallard (真鴨 or まがも )

Stiff-tailed Duck/ Ruddy Duck (アカオタテガモ)

[Rowena]

An interesting article from Australia with some lovely photos

'Spectacular', showy sea slugs are helping scientists monitor our...

[ekg]

Pygme Angelfish or Cherubfish as they are also called are colorful reef fish, belonging to the species of ray-finned fishies. They are really cute!

Some fishie pics! ^>^

Flame Angelfish

Japanese Pygme Angelfish

Eibl’s Pygme Angelfish

Cocos Islands Pygme Angelfish / Yellowhead Pygme Angelfish

Potter’s Angelfish

Regal Angelfish

Bicolor Angelfish

[ekg]

One of the cool places to go snorkeling is Hawaii (布哇 or ハワイ) with it’s unique fauna of sea creatures. Some can be found only here!

More info can be found here: https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/hawaii/articles/these-are-the-sea-creatures-you-can-only-find-in-hawaii/

Hawaiian monk seal (endangered species) ハワイモンク海豹 or ハワイモンクアザラシ

Sexy bod seal!

Pebbled butterflyfish 黄金蝶々魚 or こがねちょうちょううお or ペブルドバタフライフィッシュ

Hawaiian dascyllus ホワイトスポットダムゼルフィッシュ

Hawaiian cleaner wrasse ハワイアンクリーナーラス so pretty!

Working hard on those gills (ジル)!

Hawaiian spiny lobster

Painted hermit crab

Hawaiian octopus

[Sproingle]

This, is somewhat disturbing, but incredibly fascinating as well

Sea slugs can remove their heads and regrow their bodies, scientists discover

[Lema]

I didn’t know this thread existed, it’s a very nice surprise

Last week I was able to finally leave my city for a while (after a year or so partially locked down) and I went to the beach. I took some pictures of some of the things that I could spot in the water (I don´t know all of them, but I still find them fascinating).