#irrlich

[blacklegged-prince]

If your hands were incapacitated for a week or more, who would you trust with cooking for the crew?

Eugh.... Chopper. Making medicine and cooking are close enough to the same thing. Dear sweet Robin-chwan is also very skilled with her hands ❤️

[obaewankenope]

Tell me about the Shark with the coolest camouflage

Ah. Okay. Well. You see... the thing is...

All sharks have camouflage. Sort of.

Sharks, like a lot of other species, have something called Counter-shading, which is where part of the animal is one colour and the other part of the animal is another colour. In the case of sharks, it's easiest to use the Great White Shark as an example.

[image source: The Ethogram]

Here you can see the Great White has grey or dark shading on the top of its body and white on the bottom. This is because, from above, it's harder to see the shark with its darker tone in the water, while from below looking up, the white of its belly blends with the light from the surface.

So, all sharks have natural camouflage like this, but some sharks do take it one step further.

Example #1: The Velvet Belly Lantern Shark aka the Velvet Belly

The Velvet Belly shark is a species of dogfish (yeah, that's a shark) and is one of the most common deep-water sharks in the North-Eastern Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and Norway, and Gabon and South Africa. It's usually no bigger than 18 inches and has a black belly rather than a white one. The shark also happens to be bioluminescent; photophores on its body form a species-specific pattern on its stomach and flanks, which is believed to act as a counter-illumination to protect it from predators and prey alike.

Example #2: The Wobbegong Shark

These are bottom-dwelling sharks that spend most of the time on the sea floor. To protect them from predators, they have a symmetrical pattern of markings that kinda looks like a carpet; a really trashy one. This comparison is why they're called Carpet Sharks btw. Wobbegongs have weed-like whisker lobes around its jaw that help camouflage it better and act as sensory sources (kinda look like anemones). They hide among rocks and ambush their prey, usually smaller fish that swim too close. They usually grow to around 1.25 metres, but some species of Wobbegongs can grow to 3 metres.

[image source: Wikipedia]

Example #3: The Angelshark

These babies are seabed fans and are critically endangered. They have a strong resemblance to rays because of the size of their pectoral fins and flattened bodies. They're a worldwide species/family found in temperate and tropical seas. They're ambush predators that wait around on sandy seafloors for unsuspecting fish to eat. They don't grow that large either, with an average size of 2 metres.

[image source: Wikipedia]

[obaewankenope]

Fish are often devided into surface feeders, middle feeders and bottom feeders.

I honestly can't think of any surface feeding shark? Are there any?

Also, which is cooler? Bottom feeders, middle feeders or surface feeders?

Well, there's the whale shark and the basking shark. Both feed on plankton so are somewhat surface feeding. I suppose they're not completely though so... hmm...

Bottom feeding sharks tend to have mouths on the bottom of their face, middle feeders just under or in front, and surface feeders in front of their eyes. I'm not sure which of those I find the coolest tbqh. But catsharks have mouths on the bottom so I guess it's bottom feeders lol lol.

[obaewankenope]

Some animals, and many of them fish, have different colors as juveniles vs adults.

Any sharks that do this?

There is indeed a shark that changes colour as it grows from juvenile to adult. That shark is... the Zebra Shark.

When they're young, the pattern is dark brown on top, light yellow on bottom, with yellow stripes and spots. The older they get, the more the dark areas break up, affecting the pattern from light-on-dark stripes to dark-on-light spots.

The first image below is a juvenile, the second an adult. You can clearly see the change in patterning and colour.

[image sources: Wikipedia]

A variation in colour of the Zebra Shark, called the Sandy Zebra Shark makes it a sandy-brown colour with little dark brown spots on its top, so it doesn't have the dark-spots and band patterns of the species.

This shows the colouring of a Sandy Zebra Shark. It's very different to the typical pattern of the species.

[image source: bioone.org]

So yeah, the Zebra Shark is a shark that can change colour as it grows up. I didn't actually know that about them, which now makes me even more determined to go back to the Blue Planet because I'll be able to tell that the baby Zebra Sharks are actually baby Zebra Sharks!

[obaewankenope]

If one would dine lobster with a nurse shark, what wouldthe shark tell you about itself over dinner?

..... Probably about their kids and what it was like carrying them and dealing with the various things a single parent has to deal with before the kids drop.

Or, ya know, how many claspers it has if it's a guy.

[obaewankenope]

Do seacucumbers derive pleasure from letting pearlfish live in it's anus?

Also, how many pearlfish can a seacucumber fit before it prolapses?

Still not cursed enough to win you fic. Seriously weird, I won't lie, but not disturbing enough to outstrip the original dolphin ask.

They don't have brains so I highly doubt they can experience pleasure. It's just sensation to them. Also, without the necessary 'orgasmic' nerves/evolved sexual organ, "pleasure" isn't going to be what they're experiencing.

Pearlfish live inside sea cucumbers and consume them from the inside. Sea cucumbers generally host one pearlfish at a time but up to five can be hosted by larger cucumbers. They don't prolapse, they get eaten alive. How romantic.

[obaewankenope]

Do we know which seapancake can leap the highest out of the water?

I assume you mean rays because honestly, sea pancake is accurate. If you don't, well... Shit

Anyway. More under cut.

The Mobula Ray is one of the ray families that jumps out of the water. There's nine different Mobila Ray species and all of them jump. They can jump around two metres and, sort of, fly a little before they belly flop back into the ocean.

[image source: nhm.ac]

Mobula Rays aren't Manta Rays but they are related to sharks and to two species of Manta Ray in the family Mobulaidae. The reason for their jumping isn't quite known but there's some suggestion that it is for communication purposes.

Personally, I imagine it's just fun for them to do. Maybe it feels cleansing to dive out the water into the air and then crash land back into it? Like when we cannonball in the pool because why the fuck not lol.

[image source: nhm.ac]

I mean, honestly, that just looks like they're all having a good time out.

[obaewankenope]

Shark locomotion! And yes I mean walking.

They.... they don't have feet...

It's not possible...

They could... flop about I guess....