Wimple Piranha (Catoprion mento)

Family: Serrasalmid Family (Serrasalmidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

A tiny (15cm/5.9 inches in length) relative of the more famous Red-Bellied Piranha, the Wimple Piranha is found in the Amazon, Orinoco, Paraguay and Essequibo river basins, and is notable for its unusual diet; adults of this species feed almost exclusively on fish scales, feeding by ramming into larger fish at high speeds with their mouths wide open, biting and generating suction to dislodge their target’s scales and pull them into their mouths. The practice of eating scales, known as lepidophagy, is rare in animals as scales are difficult to digest and require considerable amounts of energy to obtain, and it is likely that it developed in response to the intense competition between fish species in the biodiverse rivers to which Wimple Piranhas are native - although their nutrients-poor diet limits their size, feeding exclusively on scales (occasionally supplemented by small insects or small amounts of the meat of their otherwise unharmed targets where possible) allows Wimple Piranhas to find food while largely avoiding competing with larger and less specialised carnivores. Besides their unusual feeding habits little is known about the biology of wild Wimple Piranhas, although through the observation of captive individuals it has been found that unlike many piranha species they are solitary (possibly avoiding living in groups to avoid competing with other members of their species,) and that like other members of their family females of this species lay eggs.

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Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/342485-Catoprion-mento

Taipei-based photographer Wu Yung-sen has been deep sea diving and photographing marine life for four years.

On a blackwater dive in 2020 — unable to see the bottom and surrounded by impenetrable space — he chanced upon a rare larval Wunderpus octopus, totally transparent. 🐙⚪

Bringing this back because I still really like it. Crucian carp :)

The Indian flapshell turtle (Lissemys punctata).

Conservation Status: VULNERABLE.

a favourite place

my favourites have become so many lately. the longer I live, the more gems I find

Celebrating World Aquatic Animal Day

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Fellow autistics who like aquatic things; how're we feeling about my aquatic glass figures?

(ft: my fox figure :3)

Explore the world of lesser-known species and endangered wildlife through the eyes of dedicated Wildlife Conservation Organizations. Join The Habitats Trust in its mission to conserve and protect these unique animals, contributing to the rich tapestry of India's biodiversity.

sunlight illuminates undulating kelp forests by Douglas Klug

There's been a recent increase in the removal of old dams and other barriers on salmon streams on the west coast of the U.S. While last year's removal of part a weir from McKay Creek wasn't as dramatic as the removal of dams on the Klamath River, the results of the removal are very promising.

The weir was installed about thirty years ago due to the creek being drained by a nearby reservoir. Unfortunately, its design meant that salmon could no longer go higher up the creek to their historic breeding grounds.

The power of nature's resiliency--if we give it the chance to recover--was evident in the fact that this past February saw the return of the salmon to the creek for the first time in three decades. What's even more exciting is that scientists found not just a few redds (salmon egg nests), but seventy-two of them in a six mile stretch of the creek above the weir! That's incredibly impressive, considering how long salmon were blocked from that area.

Here's to more projects like these giving our salmon a fighting chance for survival in spite of everything we've thrown at them over the years.

Fat Duckweed (Lemna gibba)

Family: Arum Family (Araceae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

A tiny aquatic plant found in slow-moving or stagnant freshwater habitats across much of Africa, Europe and the Americas, Fat Duckweed floats freely on the surface of the water, respiring and carrying out photosynthesis through a buoyant leaf-like “main body” called a thallus while its single submerged root hangs down and absorbs inorganic nutrients such as nitrogen (which plants need to produce chlorophyll) from the water around it. Although they do occasionally produce flowers (particularly when exposed to intense sunlight and low water levels,) members of this species primarily reproduce asexually, with the thallus developing bud-like offshoots that split of into new but genetically identical offspring, and through this method of reproduction (which can occur every few days) Fat Duckweeds can quickly spread over vast areas, potentially near-totally covering the surface of the body of water they inhabit under ideal conditions. The root of an adult Fat Duckweed is sticky, allowing members of this species to compensate for their limited ability to spread their rarely-produced seeds by adhering to semiaquatic animals such as ducks, allowing them to be carried between bodies of water and colonise new areas (hence the name, “duckweed.”) If an individual should fall from the animal that was carrying it before reaching a suitable body of water, it may also be able to survive in sufficiently damp soil.

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Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/63913-Lemna-gibba

Basket Star.

Fishing cormorant

Photo by Alex Mustard

Clownfish at Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan

birds