#underwater creature

[tine5]

Under the zee

[valerievidalmedia]

[rielzero]

Close your heart, embrace the sea.

[verixart]

Day 3 of challenge - Prompt: "From the darkness of deepness, creature loom up. It's body glow like living lanterns"

[orbtii]

Artfight revenge number 1 for @THEREELcashm0neh

[fiovske]

something underwater,

[critter-of-the-day]

22nd of October 2024: Eastern Grass Shrimp

On this fine October day, may I introduce you to the Eastern Grass Shrimp (Palaemonetes paludosus), also known as the Ghost Shrimp, which I feel justifies them in this Halloween Critter line-up. They are thusly named because of their translucent skin, allowing you to see their bright green intestines and the female’s eggs, if she’s carrying them [1].

They only live for around a year at a time, having an annual breeding cycle and dying after reproduction [1]. Hatching happens around April, with the vast majority of juveniles having matured by the time autumn rolls around. They’re omnivorous, mostly feeding on algae, but also eating insects, other plants, and various detritus (dead organic particles) floating around [2].

They are usually 2-3 cm long, 5 at the very most [2]. They are found in freshwaters, most often lakes around the Eastern Central United States. They have also been introduced to bodies of water as far West as Arizona, California and Baja California [3], but appear not to be doing much ecological damage or anything [1].

Despite being a freshwater species, they can tolerate a bit of saltiness in their water, though it gets increasingly hard for them to reproduce and go about their regular life cycle [4]. Similarly, they can also endure the heavy metals associated with coal combustion, but their oxygen consumption goes up significantly by 51%, suggesting survival becomes a lot more strenuous [5]. Overall as a species they are considered to be of Least Concern though, just in case you were worried [3].

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [Image]

[mythicalartistx]

Scary Hand Reaching

Probably one of my first favorite hand drawings, but still artwork of a hand from some underwater creature lamenting and reaching for the moon.

More art on instagram: mythicalartistx