This week, I start my master's studying abalone. In honor of that, here is 5sos as abalone.
What are abalone, you may ask? Large herbivorous marine snails in the subclass Vetigastropoda, of course. They eat kelp and other algae. They look like Muppets with fun colorful shells. They are the best. Okay here we go!
Michael Clifford is a red abalone.
Red and spiky looking, just like him. Reds are the most common species off the west coast of the US because they are the only ones that were not severely overfished, which is punk as fuck.
Ashton Irwin is a black abalone.
Look like they would play the drums. Have almost perfectly round respiratory pores remind me of his moon tattoos. Sort of cryptic. Smooth black shells.
Luke Hemmings is a white abalone.
Strikingly light eyes. Brightly colored. White abalone were nearly fished to extinction, but comprehensive captive breeding programs are working diligently to bring them back. We've solved a few problems, but there is still work to do. Learn more here!
Calum Hood is a blackfoot abalone.
Native to New Zealand, these baddies are important to the Māori culturally, economically, and ecologically. They have the coolest rainbow kaleidoscope shells, which gives them their species name iris.
you fucker. you motherfucker. i cant believe the one person i would maybe do this for happened to ask me.
please be warned that this is not the usual lighthearted fish!sos content. worms are nasty motherfuckers and not even i can sugarcoat this. so sorry
TW so many worms that im hiding them below the cut do not click unless you can handle lots of little legs god i hate it here
Michael Clifford is a Pseudobiceros species.
I refuse to learn enough about these things to pick a species. I must admit that they are kind of pretty in a distinctly wormy way. However. This entire genus is hermaphroditic, and famous for fencing with their dicks; the loser gets impregnated and has to bear the children. Yeah. Next!
Ashton Irwin is a scale worm.
I thought this would be funny but it just fucking backfired because all of the pictures were of this horrific Arctic scale worm that's like the size of my hand. I wanted one of the teeny ones we found in tide pools all the time. God I fuckign hate worms god dammit jesus christ okay. I've provided this tolerable picture of a scale worm on a sea star. ive never seen one this cute irl this is totally false advertising. Scale worms were funny before this Google search because when you pick them up, they hate you so much that they will split in half to escape your clutches. And then regenerate. Kachow, you've just created two worms. How does it feel to be a God
Luke Hemmings is Phragmatopoma californica because if I have to look at another ugly worm I'm gonna fucking pass out
Sandcastle worms build tubes and live in them. They are cool because when I poke them, they hide. Sometimes, their feathery looking feeding appendages come in cool colors and patterns. They also have epic regeneration powers; they can regrow their entire bodies from their heads, but more impressively, then can regrow their heads if they get bitten off. Baller. I gotta hand it to filter feeding worms they're built like tanks and pretty, again in a distinctly worm-like way but still. Pretty. I guess.
Calum Hood is Ophiodromus pugettensis.
This is the only worm I can stand to look at for extended periods of time because I was forcibly given Ophi Stockholm Syndrome this summer. Sadly, this is a screenshot of a video I took myself under a microscope (they're only a couple centimeters long irl don't worry you can sleep tonight). I spent so many hours with these motherfuckers that I almost find them cute how fucking sick is that
this was a horrible journey that i hated very much there are many detriments to being a marine biologist
please bless us with 5sos as anemones thank you - murspouse 😌
SURPRISE!! I bet you fucking forgot about this!! Pardon the scientific names, the common names sound stupid. And I'm a nerd.
Michael Clifford is Anthopleura elegantissima.
Look at these fine lads. I love the way they're green AND purple, two supremely excellent colors. Sometimes they have stripes! These guys can be found in clusters on rocks in tide pools all huddled together, but don't be fooled: each cluster is made of genetically identical individuals, and the different clusters fight each other for space. Ever seen anemones duel? They smack each other with their tentacles in slow motion. It's the funniest shit I've ever seen.
Ashton Irwin is Epiactis prolifera.
Epiactis might be one of my favorite animals ever, and here is why: they brood their young. All those tiny anemones at the base of the big one are babies birthed from the parent's gastrovascular cavity (singular hole that functions as a mouth and anus. Look, anemones are very very old animals that have been around a long time. Sometimes simpler is better). Once the children grow large enough, they detach from their parent's base and float off to inhabit a different spot of rock. So fucking cute!!!!
Luke Hemmings is Anthopleura xanthogrammica.
I know I said I hate common names, but this one is The Giant Green Anemone, and I mean. Yeah. They're not wrong. These fellas Stand Out in a tide pool. They tend to live alone. I have seen ones twice the size of my head while diving. The green comes from little photosynthetic dudes that hang out in the tissues of the anemone and produce sugars for them to share. Xanthogrammica are highly adaptable; they are fully capable of surviving without their little photosynthetic symbionts. In low light environments, they're bright white, which I personally find equally pretty and cool. Good for them.
Calum Hood is Corynactis californica.
Fucking LOOK at those tiny BOYS!!!!! God every time I see them at the aquarium I lose my damn shit. Every time. They are called STRAWBERRY ANEMONES!!! LIKE ARE YOU KIDDING sorry I really don't need to yell you can hear me just fine from here. Anyways, as I was saying, these anemones are incredible: they're only a few centimeters across each, but they live in giant groups that can sometimes carpet entire sections of seafloor. I have a little secret to tell: these guys are actually more related to soft corals than the other true anemones. But here is the thing: cnidarians are all so fucking similar that really, who is going to fight me? They look like anemones to me <<33
Holy FUCK is it my fuckin birthday and no one told me?!?!?! This is the best day of my life okay okay deep breaths I'm lightheaded.
Disclaimer: I am a pacific northwest lover. The fish I love are not very flashy. Most of them are brown. So. Lower your expectations <3
My favorite fish are rockfish, genus Sebastes. They come in so many different colors and patterns and they have grumpy little faces and they can live for like eighty years and they are so cute and let me hold them and I just love them so much here are some of my favorite species
quillback, tiger, yelloweye
flag, China, olive
Copper gets a spot of honor because they are my very favorite. And they are my very favorite because I've caught babies in Alaska. Technically speaking, we cannot tell if they are quillbacks or coppers because we catch them when they are literally like two inches long. Here are a couple I've seen the past few summers:
They are teenie guys and I love them so much. They help with science when they let me measure them and put them back safely in the ocean. I would die for them.
Thank you so much for this ask I never get sick of talking about this which is why I am trying to make it my life's work.
just found out there is such a thing as a warm-blooded fish and had to tell someone (altho i'm sure you already know lol) nature really is wack huh 💙
YEAHAAHHHH BABY OHOHOHOHO THERE ARE WARM BLOODED FISH!!!
Quick lil bio low-down: most fish are ectothermic, meaning that their temperature is determined by their environment, like lizards, who have to sun themselves and such to warm up. Fish stay warm by just Swimming All The Time.
Endotherms, however, are capable of regulating their body temperature internally, like us.
There is only one fish who is fully warm blooded, circulating blood at a significantly higher temperature than water through their whole body. And that is the open.
Apparently, he tastes like beef.
A other few fish fall into the endothermic category at least a little: great white sharks and their relatives, shortfin mako sharks, and a few species of tuna. They circulate slightly warm blood through a few vital organs.
These guys are big voracious predators that have to eat a lot of food to keep up with their fast metabolism that keeps them warm and lets them swim really fast to catch a lot of food to keep up with their metabolism are you seeing the cycle here because I am. Funny little evolutionary catch-22.
That shark in the middle is actually a little guy called a porbeagle. They've been mistaken for juvenile great whites because they are Tiny boys. I love them.
