Ascarosepion mestus is not red

destroying biophobia one portable microscope photo at a time 19 she/her

[ascarosepion-mestus]

Sepia aureomaculata

[ascarosepion-mestus]

My Doratosepion is kind of aureomaculatum…

[ascarosepion-mestus]

Sepia aureomaculata

[polychaete-of-the-day]

Okay worm fans, I trust you all to be nerdy or weird or both...

I'm making a collection of fun, strange, obscure biology facts. Can be animal, plant, protists, molecular, whatever. Comment your best ones

[ascarosepion-mestus]

Cephalopod-centric addition:

There is an entire phylum of parasitic wormlike animals that are specialized to live in the kidneys of cephalopods, mostly octopuses. There is evidence this could be a mutualistic relationship.

Octopus tetricus, as we currently know, seems to only partially fulfill the requirements for having a personality. While their behavior is consistent across a day, their behavior the next day can be drastically different. It is possible this is only a behavior in juveniles, as the study did not involve confirmedly mature octopuses.

Many oegopsid squids have scale-like cushions on their skin that contain ammonia, for buoyancy. This trait has evolved at least 9 separate times in the entire order.

The first record of deep sea octopuses mating was between two males of different species.

I would keep writing facts, but I’ve spent hours IDing octopuses and now I’m seeing a particular species’ skin texture everywhere I look and it’s freaking me out.

[ascarosepion-mestus]

I smiled

[ascarosepion-mestus]

Please don’t make the snout shorter no!

[giftofgabber]

There is one squid at underwater’s surface

— and he wants to be your friend!

[ascarosepion-mestus]

If you have frequent intrusive thoughts or delusions about whether you’re actually experiencing reality or not, like I do; be careful on iNaturalist.

Normally it’s a truly wonderful website. However, there will be alarmingly confident people, people who haven’t given any necessary details their close examination, who will adamantly tell you, you’re not only wrong but you’re seeing things that aren’t there and you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Of course, people can act like this in any discussion, but really hard to adjust to when it’s on a scientific website where accuracy is expected. It gets really upsetting really fast…

[hoshidensha-art]

Here's my art for the 2026 edition of the @seaunseenzine! 💙🦑 I chose to illustrate a meeting between a flamboyant cuttlefish (Ascarosepion pfefferi) and a striped pyjama squid (Sepioloidea lineolata), as both species are found in the Indo-Pacific waters near Australia. I was also inspired by photos I saw of these lil guys sitting atop of coins, which really shows off how small they are~ (Adults of both species can get to about 3 inches long, but the babies are much much smaller!) I'm really glad I finally got to draw these lil bebes! If you want to check out more gorgeous ocean art and support a good cause, the zine is still available for purchase here! It's only $1 minimum and all proceeds will go to Australian Marine Conservation Society, which helps with protecting marine habitats around Australia.

Thank you @circlejourneyart for hosting again, and thank you for having me! ^^

[ascarosepion-mestus]

I miss Octopus superciliosus

[ascarosepion-mestus]

Look at this sweet darling. This beautiful mystery

[ascarosepion-mestus]

I miss Octopus superciliosus

[gobstoppr]

NOT TO BE A BITCH ABOUT SPLATOON RAIDERS AGAIN BUT!

i was watching streams of it i was trying to give it a fair shot to try to take in everything. How can I be so loudly opposed to it if I don't even know whats in the game? however the streamer mentioned there were interviews so I took a look. I am here now to show you a passage that made my jaw fucking drop.

im honestly fucking speechless. players felt too bad about the colonialism in this context so they revamped it aesthetically to justify the colonialism by making it more 'wild' and 'dirty' and ''undeveloped'' Jesus fucking christ

doesnt help that the interview also says both about the concept art and the final game that the islands are 'uninhabited' and 'Infested with salmonids'. be so fucking for real right now.

YOU DIDNT HAVE TO MAKE THEM SALMONIDS. IN SIDE ORDER THEY WERE FINE MAKING BASICALLY COPYCATS OF SALMONIDS MECHANICALLY!! OR GET THIS: YOU DIDNT HAVE TO USE NATIVE CULTURES TO CODE THEM AS "LESS HUMAN" IN THE FIRST PLACE!!

if you like this game its ok. Like it IS just a game. but for the love of god Think about the themes and motivations and biases that exist in art ok. OK. repeat after me . 'Treasure hunting' is not a neutral concept. 'Untamed wilderness' is not a neutral concept. 'Savages' are NOT a neutral concept.

here is the full interview . https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/News/2026/July/Ask-the-Developer-Vol-22-Splatoon-Raiders-Chapter-2-3143587.html

[gobstoppr]

splatoon raiders seems neat and all mechanically (it seems like if ideas from side order were actually developed at all) i Like the salmonids ok i Like them i Like deep cut. But holy fuck it literally cannot be ignored how fucking racist this shit is. The explicitily colonial action of going to another people's home and literally stealing their fucking 'relics' and 'treasure' is such a fucking deeply insidious, historically loaded thing to put in your 2026 video game without any hint of selfawareness. What the fuck are we doing. The series went out of its way to state the sentience and personhood of the salmonids in the first place (they have art they have culture they have TRADE with octarians they have the fucking appropriated formline art (🫥)) only to at every fucking turn unthinkingly turn you back to murdering them and now Literally plundering their homes for fucking 'Treasure.' One would have hoped that at the very least in Splatoon 4 or whatever they would revamp Salmon Run after at least their cartoon villain leader is kicked but instead before that can even happen we have to reaffirm that Yes we HAVE to kill natives for no fucking reason.

Look anyone who is going to play it like whatever its not the end of the world but at least be like, aware of what you are looking at. the concept of 'Treasure Hunting' is not a neutral concept.

[ascarosepion-mestus]

Next person to post cephalopod misinformation and/or uncredited photos will become a little more acidic.

[contextfreepatentart]

[ketrinadrawsalot]

Octopus in the mirror 🐙🪞

Octopuses can use mirrors as tools to see prey around corners!

[greatwyrmgold]

For a while, I've seen ugly-ass AI-generated "art" of octopi, allegedly. One of the (myriad) tells that an octopus image is AI-generated is that it has suckers on the wrong side of its tentacles. A mistake so obvious and bizarre that no human would make it, I thought.

Well, I just saw a sketch of an octopus with suckers on the wrong side of its tentacles. So I'm worried that the AI slop octopi are corrupting people's mental image of what octopi actually look like.

[razehider]

is it ever gonna be legal to grab people who go "erm that's not a ladybug, it's an 🙄 Asian Lady Beetle 🙄" and ask them exactly what they mean by that and when they're about to answer we ignore them and flip them over and piledrive them