Levanlanse

Lev | Biology nerd and artist | Currently working on improving my art, posting my studies here! | twitter/bluesky: @levanlanse

[levanlanse]

cloyster my beloved

[levanlanse]

♪ It's time for Fish Fact Friday ♪

This week's fish is the red-lipped batfish! Unlike most other fish, red-lipped batfish are poor swimmers, and usually "walk" along the seafloor using their modified fins.

These fish are actually a type of anglerfish - they can extend a bioluminescent lure from under their horn to attract prey, which they then suck up whole!

Their most distinctive feature, however, are their bright red lips! This is thought to help them recognise potential mates, though more research is needed to figure out their purpose.

[levanlanse]

♪ It's time for Fish Fact Friday ♪

The Amazon leaffish is a freshwater fish that can be found within the Amazon River basin!

These fish mimic the appearance of dead leaves in the water, floating slowly along water currents. An elongated skin flap on their lower lip acts as the "stem" of the leaf, and they can even change their colors to better camouflage with their surroundings!

This clever camouflage allows them to both avoid predators and ambush their prey, making them very efficient predators!

[levanlanse]

♪ It's time for Fish Fact Friday ♪ (Valentines edition!)

The white-spotted pufferfish (not to be confused with the white-spotted puffer) is a species of pufferfish known for its intricate courtship displays!

Males construct complex nests in the sand to attract females to mate, often spending a week or more to create a single nest measuring ~2m (6.5ft) in diameter. This process takes significant effort, given that male puffers only grow to ~10cm (~4in) long!

These circular nests are sculpted using their bodies, and are decorated/stabilised using bits of seashells and coral. If a female approves of the courtship display, she will mate with the male and lay her eggs in the centre of the nest!

The nest is not just decorative, however - the grooves in the sand channel fresh water towards the eggs, keeping them healthy while they develop!

[levanlanse]

oop here they come

[BATTLE START!]

[levanlanse]

💫space wives💫

holo charms available this weekend at ACE 2025!

[levanlanse]

Catalog for Asia Comics Expo 2025!

Most of the stock has managed to come in on time, so I'm glad to finally share these with ya'll :D

(Senshi charms are currently stuck in shipment limbo - fingers crossed that they'll arrive in time for the con!)

[levanlanse]

Good news everyone!

I'm going to be tabling for the first time at the the Asia Comics Expo artist alley this upcoming weekend, 15-16 Feb 2025! Come stop by and say hi :D

The goods catalog will be put up in a separate post soon, so please keep an eye out for it!

I'll be sharing Table F7 (6fingers) with the lovely artists below, check out their socials for more awesome works!:

• cheesearchive (instagram)

• mad_hatter_micycle (instagram)

• primmoth (tumblr) (instagram)

• takokunnn (instagram)

• xiaolanarts (twitter)

Also if you like ducks and hazbin hotel, visit my friend @sobertycrafts (instagram) at table C21 - there will lots to see there too!

[levanlanse]

♪ It's time for Fish Mollusc Fact Friday♪

The common blanket octopus is so named for the large, blanket-like iridescent webbing found between their arms - this webbing can be stretched out to give the octopus a larger silhouette, which can be used to scare away predators. However, only female blanket octopuses possess this webbing!

Male and female blanket octopuses are drastically different in appearance; females can grow to around 2m (6 ft) in size, while males only grow to around 2.5cm (1 in) long. (Imagine a fridge vs a paperclip for scale!)

Most interestingly, blanket octopuses are immune to the venom of the Portugese man o' war! Males and immature females use this to their advantage - they rip out the stinging tentacles of the man o' war, which they can then use against prey and predators!

[levanlanse]

Gundam Calibarn watch!

Been hit hard by the Witch from Mercury brainworms lately, so when I first saw this junker watch for sale I thought it could make for a fun gundam project!

The watch looked fine in the sale listing, but its actual condition wasn't great- the spring bars holding the straps had rusted and gotten stuck, and the straps had to be cut away to access and dislodge the bars.

The gasket had also melted, and the inside of the casing was covered with some sort of fishy-smelling residue. Thankfully though, the main watch module was still functional.

It took a good while to clean everything up and buff out the scratches, but once that was done I could get started on the customisation!

First off, the old yellowed straps were replaced with a fresh white silicone strap to match the calibarn. I also designed a custom sticker for the watch face based on some gundam decals. It took many attempts to apply the sticker without air bubbles forming, but the final result was worth it!

For the permet effects, I cut up some rainbow holographic film and applied it the lcd screen. The effect is subtle most of the time, so the watch is still easy to read. However, it shines beautifully when it catches the light!

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how this project turned out! The total cost of the watch + materials was much cheaper than if I had gotten the same watch brand-new, and it's always a great feeling to clean up something old for use again.

If you want to try making your own, I recommend using a junk/secondhand watch for this - I nearly broke my watch fiddling around with it, so please don't do this with anything expensive! There are plenty of tutorials on youtube for any customisations you want to make, so explore around and see what works for you!

[levanlanse]

♪ It's time for Fish Fact Friday ♪

The opah, also known as moonfish, is a large marine fish, with certain species growing up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) in length!

It is the only known fully warm-blooded fish; some other fish such as tuna and billfishes are able to warm a few parts of their bodies, however the opah is the only fish known to circulate warm blood (heated by their muscle movements) throughout its whole body. This adaptation, in addition to the fatty tissue insulating their bodies, allows them to better swim and hunt in colder waters.

The opah is not truly warm-blooded, however - they are not able to maintain a stable body temperature, and instead keep their bodies a few degrees warmer than the surrounding waters. Still, this is enough to improve its movement in cold waters, helping them to catch prey such as squids and small fish!

[levanlanse]

any interesting words associated with fish or freshwater stuff that you know of that might make for a cool username? I assume as a biology nerd you’d know of the really cool not well known ones

Hmm personally I think the latin/scientific names of most species are pretty cool! The names are always split into two parts - the genus name which comes first, and the species name which comes after. You can probably use one or both for a nice username!

E.g. Homo (genus) sapiens (species)

In terms of more obscure names, you might want to consider looking at algae! There are tons of them to choose from, and they all have pretty cool shapes. Something like Synura or Cosmarium would be pretty cool as a username :)

[levanlanse]

Fish Fact Friday will be on break today! Been quite busy preparing for the upcoming lunar new year and another event, so there wasn't much time to work on Fish Fact Friday this week!

I still wanted to put something up for today though, so here's a little doodle of a banded sea krait for the year of the snake!

[levanlanse]

♪ It's time for Fish Fact Friday ♪

The blobfish is a deep-sea fish unfortunately nicknamed for its appearance after being dragged to the surface - the rapid depressurisation causes extensive tissue damage, resulting in the fish losing its shape and turning into a gel-like blob :(

The gelatinous body of these fish are slightly less dense than water, which allows them to maintain buoyancy in deep waters without a swim bladder!

Blobfish can live for up to 130 years, and it is believed that females can lay up to 100,000 eggs at a time, though their growth and reproduction rate is slow.

The blobfish was also voted the world's ugliest animal in 2013 and made the mascot of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society! They became quite well-known and popular as a result of this title, which ultimately helped to draw attention to the conservation of 'unattractive' animals!

[levanlanse]

♪ It's time for Fish Mollusc Fact Friday♪

Nautiluses are living fossils which have remained relatively unchanged for over 500 million years! They have multiple tentacles and unique chambered shells which they can completely withdraw into - the opening of the shells can even be covered with their hood, which is made up of two modified tentacles!

There are currently 9 living species of nautilus, and the species depicted here is the Palau Nautilus! (On a side note, there is also a species of octopus called the Paper Nautilus, despite not actually being a nautilus🐙)

[levanlanse]

just wanted to tell you that one of my dream jobs is to be a marine biologist so your fish facts bring me copious amounts of joy

thank you for the fish :)

:0 That's great to hear!!! I studied environmental/marine biology in university myself and really recommend it, there's always something new to learn and it's super fun!

Thank you too for the lovely comment!

[levanlanse]

Spotted some millipedes at the pool while swimming the other day