Naturally, the underwater theme for inktober today was an important one for me but I decided to do something simple and just find a nice cuttlefish picture to draw. Nothing fancy. #inktoberunderwater #inktober #inktober2017 #drawing #artbysarada #cuttlefish #cephalopod
Here is my completed “Amazing, Beautiful Creatures” project as an A2 wall chart!
There may be as many as nine million different species of animal on Earth, and yet many of the most interesting and beautiful creatures get overlooked in favour of those more familiar too us. This is my attempt to introduce some of the less well known ones, although there were many more that I would have liked to have included. I hope that most people will learn a fact or two!
Sadly, many of the creatures I’ve covered, such as the Dugong, Gharial,and the Leatherback Turtle are all threatened with extinction. Hopefully by learning more about these creatures we can help prevent this from happening.
Cuttlefish are amazing creatures that can instantly vary their color and shape either for camouflage or to communicate with each other. They use jet propulsion to move backward in quick bursts through the water.
The ink that Cuttlefish use to distract and escape from predators has long been used by artists, writers and later, photographers. Its characteristic dark reddish-brown color is where the term “sepia” comes from; Sepia literally means Cuttlefish in ancient Greek, so just think of these amazing cephalopods next time you use a sepia filter on one of your pictures - photo taken in seagrass beds off of North Sulawesi, Celebes Sea
The Stubby Squid (rossia pacifica), pictured here with a mustache, can be found in waters of the northern Pacific Ocean from Russia and Japan across to the West Coast of North America - photo taken during a night dive at Redondo Beach, WA
The Crinoid Cuttlefish, like it’s cousin the octopus, can instantaneously control the color and texture of its skin. They do this for many reasons, some being camoflage; communication between individuals; as a threat display to ward off predators or would-be rivals - photo taken at Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi
Common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) and European squid (Loligo vulgaris) for #CephalopodAwarenessDays! #Cuttlefish have excellent camouflage. They can change their coloring rapidly to match their environment. European #Squid live from sea level to depths of 500 m. They migrate to inshore waters to spawn, where females can lay up to 20,000 eggs. #SciArt from Tintenfische; mit besonderer Berücksichtigung von Sepia und Octopus (1913) by Werner Meyer. Contributed for digitization by Smithsonian Libraries (@silibraries) to #BiodiversityHeritageLibrary. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12668599 _________________________________________________ #Cephalopods #MarineLife #Oceans #Seas #BHLib #Biodiversity #NaturalHistory #NatHist #ScientificIllustration #ScientificArt #OpenAccess #Libraries #Archives #SpecialCollections #LibrariesofInstagram #IGLibraries #IG_Libraries #SmithsonianLibraries
Again, thanks y’all for the support in my previous Mermay batches! Part 1 Part 2
This week, I wanted to explore the various forms of sexual dimorphism in Merfolk, ALSO inspired by real life Biology! From the massive size of differences between male and female Blanket octopus and Angler fish to the almost non existent size difference in Oarfish and Beaked Whales!
It was also neat to explore various cultures from outside of Kara’s (The Great White from Part 1) town, for example the Narwhal and Salmon folk are northern adjacent nomadic tribes.
And unlike their IRL animals, even after pairing up or having kids, these Merfolk still get to live their lives (so the Salmon and Octopus folk get to live long lives here!)
I got a few of these to see if there was any interest in them. They are $3 a piece (free shipping to the US). DM me if you’re interested! I can take paypal or you can order them on etsy.
