One for Cali.

[Calilasseia]

Oh, by the way, in the case of the pufferfish Genus Takifugu, several of the species in that Genus contain no tetraodotoxin, and are therefore safe to eat even without specialist preparation. Trouble is, identifying which species you have isn't always easy, and it''s possible to mistake one of the harmless, toxin free ones for a species that is loaded with enough tetraodotoxin to kill 50 people. Not a mistake you want to make.

[Seth]

In effect, it steals the defences of the Portuguese Man'O'War and uses them for its own defence.

I think we should register all nudibranches and make it illegal to carry a nudibranch concealed...

[Calilasseia]

Try concealing things that look like this:

















You might be able to in Hawaii if you're wearing one of those floral shirts, but otherwise ...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Okay, call this one:

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

[Calilasseia]

Amalgamator photoshopensis.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Amalgamator photoshopensis.

Ha! Amalgamator photoshopensis zebrafuckingbutterflyus

[Calilasseia]

Did you get that one from the Russian website with all those photoshopped chimaeras?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Did you get that one from the Russian website with all those photoshopped chimaeras?

Nope, fakebook. Link?

[Calilasseia]

Oh right. Only there's a Russian website with lots of Photoshop chimaeras, some of them pretty good. Look up "Wolf Bird". This should home in on the website, if it's still up and running.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

http://joecharley.deviantart.com/art/ps ... -271607972

[Calilasseia]

Meanwhile, I think it's time to show off some real fish that look as if they've been cooked up using a child's imagination and a lot of acrylic paint ...

[1] Fundulopanchax nigerianum ...



[2] Pseudepiplatys annulatus, known as the Rocket Panchax in aquarium ciricles ...



[3] Aphyosemoin bualanum (mislabelled in the photo) ...



[4] Aphyosemion bitaeniatum ...



[5] Epiplatys olbrechtsi ...



[6] Nothobranchius rachovii ...



[7] Pterolebias zonatus ...



[8] Terranotus dolichopterus (formerly Austrofundulus dolichopterus ...

[Kristie]

Those do look like something my daughter would draw!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Lucy in the Aquarium with Diamonds.

[Calilasseia]

Those do look like something my daughter would draw!

And they all belong to one taxonomic grouping too. Originally, they were all lumped together in one Family, the Cyprinodontidae. But taxonomic revision has split that Family into about six. So now you have the Cyprinodontidae proper, which is now limited to the desert Pupfishes of the USA and a couple of relations (including, strangely enough, the Middle Eastern Aphanius), the Aplocheilidae, which includes the Asian fishes known as "Panchaxes" in old aquarium textbooks, the Fundulidae, which includes the North American Topminnows (among which is the strikingly beautiful Lucania goodei), the Nothobranchiidae, which includes the West African Aphyosemion type fishes, the Rocket Panchax featured above, the other African Epiplatys type fishes, the Fundulopanchax group and the Nothobranchius annual fishes whose eggs can survive 7 months of dessication before the return of the rains, the Profundulidae, a small Family of Central American fishes, the Rivulidae, which contains the South American Rivulus and Cynolebias annual fishes, and the Valenciidae, which contains two oddball European fishes.

Fishes that used to be in the original Cyprinodontidae, but which appear to have been moved into an entirely different Order, include the Rice Fishes of the Genus Oryzias (now in a Family called the Adrianichthyidae, part of the Order Beloniformes).

The colloquial term for all the fishes originally included in the Cyprinodontidae, before all this splitting took place, is "Killifishes", a term that derives from the Dutch meaning "creek fish", referring to the fact that many of these fishes are inhabitants of small streams and creeks, rather than larger bodies of water.

In the case of the African Fundulopanchaxes, the Nothobranchius, and the South American Cynolebias and relations, these are annual fishes, living in pools of water subject to periodic dessication. These fishes, once hatched from the egg, grow and reach sexual maturity in under 12 weeks, then expend a lot of energy engaging in mad spawning while the going is good, burying their eggs in the substrate of the pools. Then, when the dry season hits, the pools dry out, the adult fishes all die, and the eggs remain in the hardened mud, waiting for the rains of the next wet season. In the case of Cynolebias, the eggs can remain dormant for up to 3 months before the rains reappear, while in in the case of Nothobranchius, the eggs can spend as long as 7 months waiting for the reappearance of the rains, and the refilling of the pools. Whereupon, the hatching cycle begins all over again.

[Blind groper]

If we are talking fish, how about this one? This is a New Zealand Red Scorpionfish - Scorpaena cardinalis. It is found at the Poor Knights Islands, near where I live, and it grows to about 350 mm long. It has toxic spines along its back, and it is not a good idea to put your hand down on top of it. Like about 20 bee stings all at once, although not lethal to humans.