#midshipman

[ganymedian]

Commission for @1ventipls YAY THANK YOUUUUUU

[tyger-land]

𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 Naval Academy Oarsman. 1921. Oil on canvas: 51 × 41 cm (20 × 16 in).

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Daily fish fact #629

Plainfin midshipman!

While the plainfin midshipman can live up to several hundred meters deep, this fish breeds in the intertidal zone! A (type I) male will claim a nest site, typically under a rock or in a crevice, and woo females to lay their eggs in his nest. Once he has enough eggs to his liking, he fertilises them and cares for the eggs and young larvae until they grow to a juvenile age! The midshipman father is very attentive to his babies, as he keeps their nest as clean as possible and fans them out to give them better access to oxygenated water, he’ll even go and get more water to the nest if the eggs are in danger of drying out during low tide.

[marryat92]

The circumstance of my going to sea affected my father in no other way than it interfered with his domestic comforts by the immoderate grief of my poor mother. In any other point of view my choice of profession was a source of no regret to him.

— Frederick Marryat, Frank Mildmay (The Naval Officer).

"Fitting Out": an 1820 drawing and watercolour picture by Captain Marryat (British Museum). The mother of the young midshipman destined for H M Ship Hellfire weeps at left.

[newmosbiusdesigns]

230312_HX510_0009 by Jarrod Schad Via Flickr: USNA Midshipman Action Group Spring Break 2023.

[jamesfitzjamesdotcom]

Midshipman James Clark Ross

from the 1994 Polar Pioneers book by his great-grandson Rear Admiral Maurice James Ross. I suppose descendants still have this painting, as I can't find it anywhere.

Not Fitzjames related, but came across this portrait and thought many people probably have not seen it before.

Also in colour, from artnet.com:

[ganymedian]

I adore Iain 😭 AAAAAAHHH @1ventipls

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Midshipmen and menhaden are fish I've heard of, but want to know more about.

In that case allow me to shed some light on the former!

Daily fish fact #576

Plainfin midshipman!

There are two types of males, Type I and Type II! Type I males build nests where females will lay eggs. After this the Type I males will protect and care for the eggs, fanning them out and supplying them with water if low tide strikes and leaves them under threat. Type II males are much smaller than Type I males (Type I males can be nine times as large), but they have a different tactic: they sneak into the nesting sites of Type I males and attempt to fertilise the eggs there. They're so dedicated to the strategy that Type II males have gonads so large they can appear like egg-carrying females!