#fish taxonomy

[tgirl-tamag0tchi]

I was worse at being a boy than fish are at being a valid taxonomic category.

[ascotcos]

i am a marine scientist but not the kind that knows fish species and crab species that aren't seashore commoners to my area, so i'd like to see if the internet can help ID a couple of oddities in the local bay today.

1. this fish! Seek (ID app that uses iNaturalist database and NatGeo database) suggested it was a Pacific Sand Lance, but given this is on the coast of Scotland I have some doubts about this (I'd love to be proven wrong though!). Oddly enough, no external perforations besides whatever the hell is going on near its head: unsure what killed this thing. seems to have lost a portion of its exterior fin as well.

2. I found a couple of odd looking crustacean claws: I usually find molts from shore crabs, edible crabs, and Nephrops species: but these are a lot thinner with those odd hair-like structures within the pincer and I'm curious as to what they could come from!

i will also be asking around my fellow researchers, though i don't know anyone who specialises in crustaceans or native fish species so it may be a struggle. if you happen to know your stuff, i'd be very interested to know your opinion. both specimens found at low tide on west coast of scotland :)

[reinelefey]

Can we like... Force the science side of Tumblr into a debate, d'you think, if we asked them to taxonomically define Fish?

I desperately wish to see this argument firsthand. Because. Fucking fish. They're so shaped. That FISH.