For those curious about how lake fishies survive winter. 
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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! 
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You forgot to mention they’ll take over the Earth one day. 
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The King of Spades- ヒラシュモクザメ Hammerhead Shark 
全世界の熱帯沿岸に生息。最大約６ｍ。ハンマー型の頭部の前縁が直線になることが特徴。他のシュモクザメ類と違い群れをつくらないといわれる。
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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. 
)
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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)
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An interesting article from Australia with some lovely photos
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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
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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
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This, is somewhat disturbing, but incredibly fascinating as well 
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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).
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Lovely photos! The sea by night is always mysterious and magical.
I love how much life you managed to find. I wonder what that bug-like creature is called? 
I’m no expert in any way, but I think I can spot sea anemone (磯巾着 いそぎんちゃく ), sea sponges? (海綿動物 かいめんどうぶつ), mussels (ムール)? and whelks? (螺 or つぶ // ばい貝 or ばいがい).
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Thank you 
! I didn’t know the name of most of them, neither in English or Japanese, only in Spanish. I agree that sea by night is quite an amazing (and sometimes a little scary) place jeje.
If by the bug-like creature you mean the one in the sixth picture (and some in the fifth as well), I think they are called Chiton (膝皿貝 ひざらがい) (Chiton - Wikipedia).
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One thing I love about playing Endless Ocean 2 is that you get to design your own coral reef (サンゴ礁 or さんごしょう) to attract various fish that thrive on them.
It has also taught me the names of some corals (珊瑚 or さんご or コーラル), which I felt like looking up in Japanese. Soft coral is just ソフトコーラル or ウミトサカ目.
Turns out this was harder than I thought! 
If you happen to know any of these coral in Japanese I’d love to learn their names.
Sunset cup coral
Elkhorn coral
Sea fan
Purple sea fan
Sea pen 海鰓 or ウミエラ
Staghorn coral
Fire coral
Cabbage coral
Brain coral 脳珊瑚 or のうさんご with Christmas tree worms イバラカンザシ living in it.
More イバラカンザシ because they’re so pretty! ^>^
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For a long time, scientists thought that only birds and mammals had sleep cycles, moving between active and quiet states - called REM (rapid eye movement) and non-REM sleep. REM sleep was only documented in reptiles for the first time five years ago.
[…]
“It is not possible to affirm that they are dreaming because they cannot tell us that, but our results suggest that during ‘active sleep’ the octopus might experience a state analogous to REM sleep, which is the state during which humans dream the most,” Medeiros said.
"If octopuses indeed dream, it is unlikely that they experience complex symbolic plots like we do. ‘Active sleep’ in the octopus has a very short duration - typically from a few seconds to one minute. If during this state there is any dreaming going on, it should be more like small videoclips, or even gifs." [my emphasis]
I guess, what better way to celebrate this scientific discovery than to share some octopus (鮹 たこ) GIFs! ^>^
Coconuts are great for protection 
Blanket Octopus
Amazing camoflauge! 
Dumbo Octopus ( ジュウモンジダコ) is always cute! :3
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Such an interesting article on an intriguing creature! It’s like watching a cat or dog in REM sleep (minus the colour changes of course) with full body twitching and whiskers going mad 
I’ve never heard of a blanket octopus before, very elegant looking! Learned some awesome stuff today - ありがとう！
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found a fun thing to scroll through!
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I love it. Even if it’s a bit scary! 
Here’s some pics of those deep sea creatures! ^>^
Squidworm
Hydromedusae
Deep red jellyfish
Anglerfish アンコウ目
Helmet Jellyfish
Fangtooth オニキンメ
Eva sophie cringle jellyfish
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Saw this on a FB feed today, beautiful and mesmerizing!
School of juvenile striped eel catfish - Plotosus lineatus
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It’s an underwater demon god!
jk. They seem to be taking turns to look for food in the sand, then moving to the back of the school and using their numbers to confuse predators by sticking together. Smart! ^>^
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