#i will include an id eventually

[l3onart]

still thinking about ep 106

#sailor moon #harumichi #haruka tenoh #michiru kaioh #sm #femslash february #i will include an id eventually #i promiseeeeee #they are oh so dear #ALSO A BACKGROUND ITS BEEN SO LONG

[rexscanonwife]

Wow I can't believe how lovingly Brea and Rex look at each other whenever they're on screen together!! You can really feel how much they care for one another... 🥺💖💖

alternately I decided to have some fun and paint over a screenshot of Rafa bcs I'm sick and tired of Brea not being canon, FILONI!!!

Taglist♡: @me-myself-and-my-fos @tiny-cloud-of-flowers @sunstar-of-the-north @dearly-beeloved @sosoftandsweet @changeling-selfship @little-miss-selfships @drjohndisco @bob-in-tekken-8

#artfarts #self insert #self ship #self ship art #self shipping community #star wars #star wars the clone wars #star wars oc #star wars self insert #💙 oh captain my captain 💙 #captain rex #i mean?? brea is kinda the focus but hes there....lazily #dont..point out how lazy his inclusion is ok im just having fun here 😂😂 but yeah have this!! im actually rly pleased with this??? #i was worried id need to do SOME linework bcs i wasnt confident in my painting skills but it turned out i didnt!! 🥺👉👈 #and this is as canon as brea is gonna get...unless i learn to 3D model. no i shant #but SERIOUSLY im not usually one to harp on canon but this is one instance where itd GREATLY improve the story abffjjgmg #include my self insert!! rex gets to be happy #eventually. with some ups and downs lmao

[c-kiddo]

her name is eerie (right now)

#in my girl ocs era #got all my lads and nonbinaries its girl time #including hatzegopteryx adjacent thing #kiddo say #will post coloured version eventually but i lost th hyperfixate on th thing with it -_ - vry tired : ' ) #i jus realise theres a cat hair stuck on th drawing #id in alt text btw

[liquidstar]

a friend who'd wait :)

#im posting this very late because i was sort of weary of how it came out and ended up messing w it until it was like 4am oops. #and i have plans tmrw so... oh well! i did my best and ill put it out while i can! #and i tried to make the scene match barnard's colors lol #finn's ocs #finn's art #i know i said id do more sillay stuff with the simpler screentone only style but i had a couple more of these in me #and this is the first piece im making thats like an actual part of the story too rather than just setting stuff for fun #i wanna write something to go with it too but for now ill just sort of briefly explain the context in the tags here: #barnard has a pretty bad case of OCD and his compulsions have made it difficult to make friends in the past #he was never outright bullied or anything but people just didnt really have the patience to deal with it #he has compulsions that include stuff like walking through doors until it feels right and needing things to be perfectly aligned #which in group settings has lead to people having to wait for him to finish his rituals and join them #they might find it tolerable at first but eventually they grow impatient and hes just... not invited to stuff anymore #but juno is a newer member of the guild who ends up frequenting the same library. hes also kinda a little weird #and they dont become fast friends or anything but just sort of naturally spend time in the same place #though they never plan meetups they eventually fall into a routine. around the same time theyd just both be at the library #and read next to each other. and maybe talk a bit. and eventually they end up walking back to the guildhall together #since theyre going to the same place after all. and juno always waits for barnard outside the door #eventually barnard asks if this bothers him. juno kinda just tells him 'of course it does' without any malice or anything. just a statement #barnard is surprised and apologizes and juno says not to. but the next day juno doesnt show up at the usual time. #barnard assumes hes committed somekinda more by bringing it up. he ends up staying there late reading to get his mind off it & not ruminate #but when he leaves juno is in fact still waiting for him down the hall (see pic) having collected a bunch of books literally abt ocd #he fell asleep bc barnard stayed later than expected. and hes an eepy guy generally. and also one very bad at expressing himself #but now barnard gets that juno's 'of course it [bothers me]' had the implication of 'but its worth it' which no friend has previously done. #and from the interaction juno was also able to understand that this isn't something barnard just does for the hell of it so. he studies. #and checks a bunch of stuff out because he thinks it could help his friend too (theres ocd workbooks and such- i remember working w them) #and thats the point where they became more ''friends'' than ''pleasant library acquaintances'' #from there on they also do get into juno's problems. whole other bag of worms. but this specific scene is more about bernard from his pov #sorry about when i said briefly explain. i lied </3 #but compared to the whole sequence im picturing its brief so shhh

[sonknuxadow]

my sonic cds btw . i ❤️ physical media

#just posting a bunch of the random sonic stuff i have today i guess #also the crush 40 cd isnt exclusively sonic it has some of their other stuff too but . included it anyway. for obvious reasons #also also i have two copies of true colors i just only included one in the picture #the seller i got it from gave me a bonus copy for some reason #frontiers was my first full game soundtrack i really want more .. especially want unleashed but that one is usually ridiculously expensive #so . probably never getting it lmao #but id also like to have sa2 or shth eventually . those are two of my favorite soundtracks #also love that its all normal sized single disc albums and then theres the giant 6 disc monster thats the frontiers ost

[orcelito]

FANTASTIC NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i finished & posted the ITNL 14 re-edits, WHICH MEANS!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm officially done with my re-edits project!!!!!!!!!! :D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ive been thinking a lot today about my plans for ITNL 15, AND i have tomorrow off, so if all goes well i'll be able to start writing again. TOMORROW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and if the chapter grips me like i expect it will then... hehehehehe

could be an update in as little as a few days, depending. i'll keep u guys updated

#speculation nation #itnl shit #im SO fucking ecstatic man ive been looking forward to this for a month and a half #that took SO much longer than i was expecting it to. but i guess editing 75k words while working full time is kind of a lot #it has been a journey. and it is now complete. #and now i can move on to the NEW THINGS!!!!!!!!! INCLUDING a chapter id been looking forward to for So Long #it's for the best that i went thru the whole fic again. itnl 14 was so hard to write bc i was just Not that mentally there with it #and also uh. The Everything. #i think 15 will be easier. MUCH easier. and im really looking forward to having proper writing motivation again. #AND......... IF ALL GOES WELL.............. i'll hopefully be able to ride that motivation train through the next few chapters #Which Means we could be seeing wolfwood in as little as a few weeks!!! maybe!!!!!!!! #i hope so !!!!!!!!!!! i wanna write him SO fucking bad #and like itnl IS a vw fic. it IS. i SWEAR. it's just mostly been grieving and pining from vash so far lksdjflsdjkfsdlkf #but it will have actual vw. eventually. #im like practically vibrating now but i need to go to sleep. so i can have the brain strength to write tomorrow hehehe #i took a melatonin to hopefully knock myself out soon. i GOTTA get some good rest tonight. for the Writing Brain. #and if i daydream about the start of next chapter.... hehehehe #more power to me then :]

[cinnabarts]

turn up the bassoon i can’t hear the bassoon

#cant believe the first fanart im posting for this thang is of a minor character no one else cares about oh wait of course thats what id do #the first one is from uhh a year ago btw i never posted it sowwy. but ya i love this bitch i want their gender #mairimashita! iruma kun #amduscias poro #sad the anime is on my least favorite and also longest arc but happy bc right after i get two of my favorite characters poro included. #well good bye for now maybe eventually ill post the dozens of purson drawings from my sketchbook #don does art

[good-beanswrites]

Hello, I've been thinking about your actors au. Are you doing anything about Rei and Mikio being the only side characters with faces in the first trial? Because I do have a theory about that which I haven't posted but I always thought that was really interesting. Even Yamanaka pointed it out in the first anniversary stream.

Ah, I definitely want to!! Mikio is the man in Harrow, right? (There's also maybe-Rumerie in Bring it On who drives me crazy to this day asdfsd) I'm hoping once the project ends and we get the bigger picture, I can really highlight their relationships more. I'll touch on some of my ideas real quick, but I'd love to hear your theory if you ever end up posting it 👀

My problem is, I originally thought the faces show the prisoners' love towards them, and not necessarily mutual relationship -- which causes some hiccups with including them as characters in the au... (Including t2 faces), Haruka hungers for his mother's love, but given her abuse, they couldn't in good conscience have her on set with him. Rumerie may have been some sort of friend, but he didn't seem so close that he'd be okay seeing Fuuta again and being implicated in his crime. Muu cares very deeply for Rei, but even if the murders never occurred, I can't picture a young girl would feel safe filming her own death at the hands of her bully... I ran into a similar issue with Mahiru and Kazui's partners, but as adults I felt like it was easier and safer for them to consent to the situation.

However! The fact that Kotoko's victim has a clear face really interests me, because that's the only one that (seemingly) has no established relationship or love between them. What could Muu's realtionship with her classmate have in common with Kotoko's and the victim she hunted down from a distance? So I'd love to compare with your thoughts and reevaluate my theory as the new mvs come out...

#milgram #rei #mikio #rumerie #ah thank you for the question -- im glad youre enjoying the au :)) #(i know you didnt really ask for all my thoughts asdfdsf but ah well) #as a big fuuta fan that those arcade guys have been driving me insane and i still have nothing to show for it lmao #but yeah -- i do want to include something eventually that their connection was the most important #because even though hinako hsa a face now theres something to be said about her appearance in half #kazui really wasnt thinking as deeply about her as muu was thinking of rei and so on #itd be sweet in the au if - after everything settles down - rei can see muus videos somehow and realize she did deeply care about her #resulting in them smoothing things over and becoming good friends #i do love the reimuu theory so ill see how much room i have for interpretation when everything ends hehe... #(i dont want to promise writing years ahead of time but i want to add an epilogue chapter once we actually know who es is and get #the full story on the prisoners) #id love to hear your theory about them! #especially mikio! its shameful how little ive analyzed meme/harrow compared to some of the others -_- itd be cool to hear more about him #later ill make an official tag for this au #i think its time #ask #lights camera sing your sins

[forcemelt]

every once in a while i get sad that i can’t really play deception/infiltration anymore, both because it changed compared to 6.X and also just not playing it at all made me rusty even on the things I knew and it’s not like I was exactly the greatest at playing it in 6.X either. initially i really wanted to look into it with launch of 7.0, but i’m kinda meh on the way it works now, though I wonder how much of it is me just needing to get comfortable with the changed up priority.

so my current mood is basically; do i tell people smth along the lines of  “hmm I should relearn deception” every other week? yes, i do. but am I going to actually go out of my way to relearn it someday? who fucking know.

#gamer tag #sometimes i just remember how fun it is for bursty target swapping and those kinda thigns #theres also this small to do list in my brain that includes all the specs id like to look into eventually #and deception is there but its on the bottom of that list lol

[endusviolence]

Rowling isn't denying holocaust. She just pointed out that burning of transgender health books is a lie as that form of cosmetic surgery didn't exist. But of course you knew that already, didn't you?

I was thinking I'd probably see one of you! You're wrong :) Let's review the history a bit, shall we?

In this case, what we're talking about is the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or in English, The Institute of Sexology. This Institute was founded and headed by a gay Jewish sexologist named Magnus Hirschfeld. It was founded in July of 1919 as the first sexology research clinic in the world, and was run as a private, non-profit clinic. Hirschfeld and the researchers who worked there would give out consultations, medical advice, and even treatments for free to their poorer clientele, as well as give thousands of lectures and build a unique library full of books on gender, sexuality, and eroticism. Of course, being a gay man, Hirschfeld focused a lot on the gay community and proving that homosexuality was natural and could not be "cured".

Hirschfeld was unique in his time because he believed that nobody's gender was either one or the other. Rather, he contended that everyone is a mixture of both male and female, with every individual having their own unique mix of traits.

This leads into the Institute's work with transgender patients. Hirschfeld was actually the one to coin the term "transsexual" in 1923, though this word didn't become popular phrasing until 30 years later when Harry Benjamin began expanding his research (I'll just be shortening it to trans for this brief overview.) For the Institute, their revolutionary work with gay men eventually began to attract other members of the LGBTA+, including of course trans people.

Contrary to what Anon says, sex reassignment surgery was first tested in 1912. It'd already being used on humans throughout Europe during the 1920's by the time a doctor at the Institute named Ludwig Levy-Lenz began performing it on patients in 1931. Hirschfeld was at first opposed, but he came around quickly because it lowered the rate of suicide among their trans patients. Not only was reassignment performed at the Institute, but both facial feminization and facial masculization surgery were also done.

The Institute employed some of these patients, gave them therapy to help with other issues, even gave some of the mentioned surgeries for free to this who could not afford it! They spoke out on their behalf to the public, even getting Berlin police to help them create "transvestite passes" to allow people to dress however they wanted without the threat of being arrested. They worked together to fight the law, including trying to strike down Paragraph 175, which made it illegal to be homosexual. The picture below is from their holiday party, Magnus Hirschfeld being the gentleman on the right with the fabulous mustache. Many of the other people in this photo are transgender.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of a group of people. Some are smiling at the camera, others have serious expressions. Either way, they all seem to be happy. On the right side, an older gentleman in glasses- Magnus Hirschfeld- is sitting. He has short hair and a bushy mustache. He is resting one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of him. His other hand is being held by a person to his left. Another person to his right is holding his shoulder.]

There was always push back against the Institute, especially from conservatives who saw all of this as a bad thing. But conservatism can't stop progress without destroying it. They weren't willing to go that far for a good while. It all ended in March of 1933, when a new Chancellor was elected. The Nazis did not like homosexuals for several reasons. Chief among them, we break the boundaries of "normal" society. Shortly after the election, on May 6th, the book burnings began. The Jewish, gay, and obviously liberal Magnus Hirschfeld and his library of boundary-breaking literature was one of the very first targets. Thankfully, Hirschfeld was spared by virtue of being in Paris at the time (he would die in 1935, before the Nazis were able to invade France). His library wasn't so lucky.

This famous picture of the book burnings was taken after the Institute of Sexology had been raided. That's their books. Literature on so much about sexuality, eroticism, and gender, yes including their new work on trans people. This is the trans community's Alexandria. We're incredibly lucky that enough of it survived for Harry Benjamin and everyone who came after him was able to build on the Institute's work.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of the May Nazi book burning of the Institute of Sexology's library. A soldier, back facing the camera, is throwing a stack of books into the fire. In the background of the right side, a crowd is watching.]

As the Holocaust went on, the homosexuals of Germany became a targeted group. This did include transgender people, no matter what you say. To deny this reality is Holocaust denial. JK Rowling and everyone else who tries to pretend like this isn't reality is participating in that evil. You're agreeing with the Nazis.

But of course, you knew that already, didn't you?

Edit: Added image IDs. I apologize to those using screen readers for forgetting them. Please reblog this version instead.

#transgender #trans history #transsexual #transphobia #Magnus Hirschfeld #holocaust #holocaust denial #book burning #j.k. rowling #jk rowling #just in case you missed what i mean by all this: go fuck yourself anon :) #trans people have always existed #and we will always exist #if you really wanna pick a fight with me over well-documented history then you better bring in some sources to back your shit #queer history #queer #lgbt+ #lgbta+ #lgbt #lgbt history #edit: i finally got around to those damn image IDs. i am so very sorry for totally forgetting that's my bimbo moment of the month #also real quick i thought about adding an image of the actual building but the only one i can find has a Nazi parade in front of it #it was taken the day of the book burning raid and honestly if i were to include it then i'd add it to the first few paragraphs #and i think the story's better told when you uphold the hope Magnus Hirschfeld and all the researchers he worked with had #also keeps being brought up: yes Hirschfeld was a eugenicist. it was a popular belief set that was only discredited after WW2 #Hirschfeld died in 1935. he literally didn't live long enough to see science turn against those beliefs and practices #considering how he changed his mind on transitions i like to think he would've changed his mind on eugenics too if he'd lived

[nomaishuttle]

i think my solution 4 the streak system issue btw is to cap it at 3 and if im able to keep it up for 4 weeks then itll go up to the easier difficulty ykwim.. so its worth less. so like if im able to meet the goal for my Single red task (which is outside time) 4 weeks in a row itd move down to a yellow task.. and the streak would reset and once i get it 2 4 again it goes to a green then to blue and etc.

#but im also hrmmmmm... bc ideally some of these things will judt become second nature thats the whole point #but where theyre also to determine my free spending money.. do u guys see the predicament here #ideally id just be able to come up eith new goals to add as i complete all of these and they become second nature... so ill have 2 #keep that in mind.. ive been considering once ummmm ummm once my umm. oh i could add laundry thatd be a rly good one since i need 2 make #ure 2 be doing my laundry consistently. okie #bc i think ill do my laundry sundays... since saturday is my day out yk. #and the weekdays where i work until 3 theres no time to dry clothes in the evening #oh but anyways. i was thinking once i finish school Which i will . fucking eventually fuck you physics i hate you i hate you i hate you. #i might replace the school task with reading since thats somrthing i want 2 get into... ive also thought abt maybe just adding likeeee #just a hobby task... thats kind of general but itd be like. when i finally get into sewing and whenever i draw etc. and if i cook more... #see cookings a hard one bc ig its kind of included eith eating well but also eating well is so vague i kinda just need 2 likee. change that #i ALSO want 2 start working on drinking more water.. and exercising Eventually. rn exercising is semi included in outside time since #outside time is just Leave the house and not for worm #aork #not even like fr leave the house bc if i sit on the porch that counts.. just gotta get out sometimes yk. #but yas and of course another way i can keep it in check is t judt up the weekly goal..

[beaniebitch69]

i have unresolved issues that make me attracted to italians

#actually theyre unrelated but related to that i love coincidences #anyway i need to marry an italian cop who moves back to his hometown bc of his family and im dragged along and eventually after maybe decade #s of abuse (idk how long but he has to be obsessed over me i forgot to say that) he kills me and then idk burns down a building with my #corpse and burns alive or gets crushed or whatever idk but its gotta be Dramatic 😇 #AND ALSO we have killer sex every day every hour every minute and hes my dream man and very funny (including when hes mean) 😋 #i guess i wouldnt care if hes an alcoholic but ill probably be the one to kill him at that point (i am a Massive hypocrite) and then ill go #to jail and deal with the consequences maybe idk maybe id get self defense but who knows especially with cops 🤢 #what the actaul fuck was all that? #i shoukd delete this but actually i also kinda think its a lil funny so hmmm 🤔

[letsfluxshitup]

rewriting part of a fic in a different doc while also editing the original doc to get the peak inconvenience <3

#this is why i dont write anymore my brain goes too fast LKDJFSLDFJDSLKF #i wrote this one thing so long ago and i think id like to finish it up and eventually post it #theres less and more pressure from it equally #i am a bit stressed and vexed bc i included a character i dont want to write anymore but idk who to replace them with sob #flux posts

[tomorrowillbeyou]

it's really hard to word this in a way that doesn't make me sound like a smug redditor or a "gifted kid burnout" type but it can actually be really isolating to have intelligence be the main trait people associate with you

#thats never what i want to be the first thing people think about me id rather be known for like an actual personality trait or something #like something that to me actually matters a lot more #+ in any case i really dont feel that smart at all i think i just have an autistic vibe that tricks people #but in reality i dont have a huge amount of things like creativity or problem solving skills #and when i think about how i would describe myself 'smart'has never ever been at the forefront of that #idk it just feels like people will wilfully misrepresent/reduce you to certain qualities to avoid actually getting to know who you are as a #person!! #and i think my best friend used to shield me from this a little by being like objectively probably the smartest person in the school #and literally everyone including me would do this to her like i cant even imagine how that must have felt #those of us who became close friends with her kind of learned eventually not to do it so much bc it made her uncomfortable #but anyway i was shielded from that bc obviously next to her nobody really noticed me as much #and i was Sooooo jealous and for what that shit sucks . just be normal you dont ever want to be the no1 best at anything #not saying that i am obvs but itll mainly happen in like . specific small group situations where its clear what everyones skill level is

[bethanythebogwitch]

I recently found out a show I liked is 10 years old now so to not be the oldest thing on this blog I'm talking coelacanths for Wet Beast Wednesday. Coelacanths are rare fish famed for being living fossils. While that term is highly misleading, it is true that coelacanths are among the only remaining lobe-fined fish and were thought to have gone extinct millions of years ago before being rediscovered in modern times.

(image id: a wild coelacanth. It is a large, mostly grey fish with splotches of yellowish scales. Its fins are attached to fleshy lobes. It is seen from the side, facing the top right corner of the picture)

Coelacanth fossils had been known since the 1800s and they were believed to have gone extinct in the late Cretaceous period. That was until December 1938, when a museum curator named Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer was informed of an unusual specimen that had been pulled in by local fishermen. After being unable to identify the fish, she contacted a friend, ichthyologist J. L. B. Smith, who told her to preserve the specimen until he could examine it. Upon examining it early next year, he realized it was indeed a coelacanth, confirming that they had survived, undetected, for 66 million years. Note that fishermen living in coelacanth territory were already aware of the fish before they were formally described by science. Coelacanths are among the most famous examples of a lazarus taxon. This term, in the context of ecology and conservation, means a species or population that is believed to have gone extinct but is later discovered to still be alive. While coelacanths are among the oldest living lazarus taxa, they aren't the oldest. They are beaten out by a genus of fly (100 million years old) and a type of mollusk (over 300 million years old).

(image: a coelacanth fossil. It is a dark brown imprint of a coelacanth on white rock. Its skeleton is visible in the imprint)

Coelacanths are one of only two surviving groups of lobe-finned fish along with the lungfishes. Lobe-finned fish are bony fish notable for their fins being attached to muscular lobes. By contrast, ray-finned fish (AKA pretty much every fish you've ever heard of that isn't a shark) have their fins attached directly to the body. That may not sound like a big difference, but it actually is. The lobes of lobe-finned fish eventually evolved into the first vertebrate limbs. That makes lobe-finned fish the ancestors of all reptiles, amphibians, and mammals, including you. In fact, you are more closely related to a coelacanth than a coelacanth is to a tuna. Coelacanths were thought to be the closest living link to tetrapods, but genetic testing has shown that lungfish are actually closer to the ancestor of tetrapods.

(image id: a scientific diagram depicting the taxonomic relationships of early lobe-finned fish showing their evolution to proto-tetrapods like Tiktaalik and Ichthyostega, to true tetrapods. Source)

There are two known living coelacanth species: the west Indian ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) and the Indonesian coelacanth (L. menadoensis). Both are very large fish, capable of exceeding 2 m (6.6 ft) in length and 90 kg (200 lbs). Their wikipedia page describes them as "plump", which seems a little judgmental to me. Their tails are unique, consisting of two lobes above and below the end of the tail, which has its own fin. Their scales are very hard and thick, acting like armor. The mouth is small, but a hinge in its skull, not found in any other animal, allows the mouth to open extremely wide for its size. In addition, they lack a maxilla (upper jawbone), instead using specialized tissue in its place. They lack backbones, instead having an oil-filled notochord that serve the same function. The presence of a notochord is the key characteristic of being a chordate, but most vertebrates only have one in embryo, after which it is replaced by a backbone. Instead of a swim bladder, coelacanths have a vestigial lung filled with fatty tissue that serves the same purpose. In addition to the lung, another fatty organ also helps control buoyancy. The fatty organ is large enough that it forced the kidneys to move backwards and fuse into one organ. Coelacanths have tiny brains. Only about 15% of the skull cavity is filled by the brain, the rest is filled with fat.

(image id: a coalacanth. It is similar to the one on the above image, but this one is blue in color and the head is seen more clearly, showing an open mouth and large eye)

One of the reasons it took so long for coelacanths to be rediscovered is their habitat. They prefer to live in deeper waters in the twilight zone, between 150 and 250 meters deep. They are also nocturnal and spend the day either in underwater caves or swimming down into deeper water. They typically stay in deeper water or caves during the day as colder water keeps their metabolism low and conserves energy. While they do not appear to be social animals, coelacanths are tolerant of each other's presence and the caves they stay in may be packed to the brim during the day. Coelacanths are all about conserving energy even when looking for food. They are drift feeders, moving slowly with the currents and eating whatever they come across. Their diet primarily consists of fish and squid. Not much is known about how they catch their prey, but they are capable of rapid bursts of speed that may be used to catch prey and is definitely used to escape predators. They are believed to be capable of electroreception, which is likely used to locate prey and avoid obstacles. Coelacanths swim differently than other fish. They use their lobe fins like limbs to stabilize their movements as they drift. This means that while coelacanths are slow, they are very maneuverable. Some have even been seen swimming upside-down or with their heads pointed down.

(image: an underwater cave wilt multiple coelacanths residing in it. 5 are clearly visible, with the fins of others showing from offscreen)

Coelacanths are a vary race example of bony fish that give live birth. They are ovoviviparous, meaning the egg is retained and hatches inside the mother. Gestation can take between 2 and 5 years (estimates differ) and multiple offspring are born at a time. It is possible that females may only mate with a single male at a time, though this is not confirmed. Coelacanths can live over 100 years and do not reach full maturity until age 55. This very slow reproduction and maturation rate likely contributes to the rarity of the fish.

(image: a juvenile coelacanth. Its body shape is the same as those of adults, but with proportionately larger fins. There are green laser beams shining on it. These are used by submersibles to calculate the size of animals and objects)

Coelacanths are often described as living fossils. This term refers to species that are still similar to their ancient ancestors. The term is losing favor amongst biologists due to how misleading it can be. The term os often understood to mean that modern species are exactly the same as ancient ones. This is not the case. Living coelacanth are now known to be different than those who existed during the Cretaceous, let alone the older fossil species. Living fossils often live in very stable environments that result in low selective pressure, but they are still evolving, just slower.

(image: a coelacanth swimming next to a SCUBA diver)

Because of the rarity of coelacanths, it's hard to figure out what conservation needs they have. The IUCN currently classifies the west Indian ocean coelacanth as critically endangered (with an estimated population of less than 500) and the Indonesian coelacanth as vulnerable. Their main threat is bycatch, when they are caught in nets intended for other species. They aren't fished commercially as their meat is very unappetizing, but getting caught in nets is still very dangerous and their slow reproduction and maturation means that it is long and difficult to replace population losses. There is an international organization, the Coelacanth Conservation Council, dedicated to coelacanth conservation and preservation.

(image: a coelacanth facing the camera. The shape of its mouth makes it look as though it is smiling)

#wet beast wednesday #coelacanth #marine biology #biology #zoology #ecology #animal facts #fish #fishblr #old man fish #lobe-finned fish #sarcopterygii