E is for Equus Bipes - Alphabeast!

Every Monday I am fascinated by the creatures being drawn for Alpahbeasts, a weekly roundup of fictional critters from A to Z. This week is "E", so I decided to jump in and draw equus bipes, the "horse of two feet". This creature was said to be half horse, half fish... But was probably just a walrus, sea lion, or other marine mammal half-glimpsed by some tired ancient Greek sailor. 

Anyway, the rules explicitly state that "no one cares weather you 'can't draw' or you're Gustave Dore". So I suppose drawing like a preteen girl is okay. As a bonus, everyone reading this now knows why I stick to writing and needlecraft.

But seriously, check out the rest of the Alphabeasts. After seeing mine the cool beasties there will look even better.

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Fish No More

Wordless Wednesday featuring Another Fish (which I am again too ignorant to name)

My Manta Ray is All Right

Only 2 feet of acrylic between us!

You may have noticed that I've been on a fish kick ever since returning from the Georgia Aquarium. What can I say? There are a hell of a lot of impressive fish there.  Whale sharks! Jaw fish! Piranhas! And... Manta rays!

I confess, I love rays. Growing up in Florida my grandfather used to tell me about seeing them when he went night fishing. He said they were attracted by the lights, and that they were bigger than his boat. He didn't tell me about the fish he actually caught, only the ones he saw, so I ended up with an image of him sitting silently in his boat communing with giants. Grandpa was an animal lover too, in his way.

This is not how you should treat a manta ray

It turns out that the Georgia Aquarium is one of only four places in the world that keep mantas in captivity. It's easy to see why: they're huge! At birth they already have a "wing span" of 5 feet. And I do mean birth. These rays are ovoviviparous, which means that they develop in eggs which are retained inside the mother's uterus. This results in Mama Ray giving birth to one or two live young once they've fully developed. From there they just get bigger, topping out at around 13 feet wide. Some get much larger though, and have been know to stretch more than 25 feet across.

Nandi, courtesy of the Georgia Aquarium

I think all mantas are pretty great, but one at the Georgia Aquarium is extra special. Her name is Nandi, and she was rescued from shark nets off the coast of South Africa. She was still a baby of only 8 feet when she was taken to Ushaka Marine World in Africa. She was wounded and at first refused to eat, but careful attention from resident vets and caretakers soon brought her around. She stayed there until she outgrew her 580,000 gallon tank and plans were made for her to travel to the Georgia, where she became the first manta ray to inhabit a United States aquarium. Now she resides in a 6.3 million gallon tank, surrounded by other mantas, whale sharks, and lots of other lovely sea-going fish.

It's probably a good thing that I don't live in Atlanta. I'd be at the aquarium all the time, which would not be conducive to getting work done. Maybe I'll just have to learn how to crochet, and make myself my very own manta ray, like the one below from WeBeeUniquesbyJulie.

A rather soulful manta

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Fish (which I am too ignorant to name)

Wordless Wednesday featuring a Whole Lot of Lion Fish

Meet the Basking Shark

What could be more frightening than a giant 35 foot shark? A whole lot of things, it turns out, if the shark in question is a basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus).

Photo Credit: NOAA

I was surprised to stumble across this report and video from Panama City, Florida, showing a kayaker's encounter with one these prodigious creatures. Surprised, and also envious. I grew up in Florida, right on the gulf, and never saw anything half that spectacular. Well, aside from the sea turtles I watched nesting one night. And the dolphins we used to watch from the grounds of the Ringling Museum. Oh, and the time a couple of roseate spoonbills flew over our house... Okay, so Florida was a good place to watch wildlife way back when. But the point is, I never got to see a basking shark!

There's a good reason for that: despite the fact that their habitat spans the globe, they are very rare visitors to the waters around Florida. That's because they're usually found in more temperate waters. Which makes sense for an animal that large. Imagine the heat one must generate, even at rest. And while you're at it, try to imagine an animal this huge. Thirty-five feet of living flesh. That's a whole lot of fish!

Photo Credit: Daily Mail

But, unlike some extinct giant sharks, basking sharks are not flesh eaters. They survive instead by filtering plankton from seawater. That's the purpose of that enormous mouth: the more water they can suck in the more plankton they can filter out. Just how wide can they open that mouth? Wide enough for a fair-sized human child to stand up in: nearly four feet!

These peculiar animals, like many denizens of the deep, have been shrouded in mystery until quite recently. But tracking studies have now revealed that they can travel up to 1,500 miles in one day and remain at depths of 3,300 feet for five months at a time. Oh, and they give birth to cute little live sharks, not eggs.

So, a 35 foot shark... That must be the largest fish out there, right? Nope, that honor goes to the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), measured at up to 41 feet long. Sadly, I've never seen one of those either.