The “Polyodon” part of paddlefish’s scientific name is Greek for "many teeth" which is kind of silly since they have *zero* teeth - the name actually refers to the paddlefish's many gill rakers they use to filter plankton from the water. #25DaysofFishmas

I always thought the term “billfish” implied toothlessness, and while that’s true for swordfish, all the other billfishes are exactly the opposite: their mouthes and bills are COVERED in tiny teeth. They also have these awful tooth filled pockets all along their bills. Awful.

Two years later and I still need to finish part 2 on dibamids. They're weird and fascinating, look... tetzoo.com/blog/2024/5/13… #reptiles #herpetology #lizards #squamates

Currently on the paint desk- the dinosaur equivalent of a pincushion. The BotM Spicomellus is now in progress!

オオミットサラマンダー　1匹入荷しました！

今日撮影したのはたぶんトガリネズミ。生きてるのは初めて見た。印象としては「メチャクチャ小さい！」だけど「脚はデカイ！」そして「モグラみたい！」。実際ネズミではなくモグラの仲間らしいです。何トガリネズミなんだろう。

今日のトガリネズミ？雪原をずっと移動してたけど一体何をやってたんだろう。知りたい。木にも登ってたし。

今日のトガリネズミ？木を登っていったのには驚いた。モグラの仲間じゃないの？🤣（もう訳分からないけどこういうのが楽しいんだよね）

Sketch of Oligokyphus; a ferret-sized tritylodontid cynodont. Like other members of it's family, Oligokyphus had a rodent-like arrangement of the jaws and teeth and would have been herbivorous/omnivorous. O. triserialis is known from Early Jurassic Europe.

Beyond looking awesome, the stripes of marlin species are also used for communication. Rapid flashing of the stripes acts as a visual signal that a particular individual plans to make an attack. Basically The Future is Wild Sharkopaths irl

CFD modelling of the thermo- and hydrodynamic capabilities of long-necked plesiosaurs (Sauropterygia, Elasmosauridae) journals.ub.ovgu.de/index.php/tech…

skeletaldrawing.com/home/i-did-it-…

New study - Biomechanics, muscle modelling, & the elevated bite force and tooth stress of piranha - "some piranhas have mass-specific bite forces that exceed 1200 N/kg, which greatly surpass large crocodilian, dinosaurian, & mammalian bite capacities". 🔓 link.springer.com/article/10.100…

何とも言えない顔をしているモエリテリウム

Billfish are some of the only fishes known to have a vesicular swim bladder, i.e. a swim bladder composed of small, bubble-like compartments. The significance of this is mostly a mystery, but probably has something to do with them being open ocean specialists CW: organs, blood

Weirdest swim bladder award!

オオサンショウウオ 浅い場所を移動していたので、マクロレンズで撮影してみた。 他のサンショウウオのようなまぶたが無いね。両生類の成体ってまぶた閉じて眼球で押し込んで餌を飲み込むけど、オオサンショウウオはどうしてるんだろう？ 眼の中に写っている血管も不思議な通い方をしている。

Full article: The first Early Pleistocene (ca 1 Ma) fossil terrestrial vertebrate fauna from a cave in New Zealand reveals substantial avifaunal turnover in the last million years tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…