Headlines-

-Octopus ravages local optometrist office.

-Eight tentacles of terror run amok on city unprepared for 'Act of God'. Unless that god happens to be Cthulhu.

-Titans of Pain invade Yaletown. Small dogs in sweaters and dog-carriages disappear. Supposedly eaten.

-Woman puts 'jelly' back in jellyfish.

Okay, I'm done.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Not just my favourite holiday, but my anniversary with my favourite husband (unlike my least favourite husband. He's a jerk.).
Today is ten years after getting married in Vegas. And while as awesome as a $25.00 pawn shop wedding ring is (with the previous owners' initials still inscribed), my gift from Steve this year is even cooler!

Give a shark a hand

Sharks make me happy. They're such a prehistoric animal, move like poetry, and are an incredible predator. Modern sharks have been around for about 100 million years and the design is so perfect, it hasn't really changed that much since then! They are stunningly gorgeous and sadly very misunderstood and vilified. Thanks, Spielberg. You big Jerk.

So today I am glorifying the fabulous Hammerhead.
Let's get the "Oh, but Adelle, you're so mean! Sharks BITE people. I won't go in the ocean because there are SHARKS there and I'll get eaten!" nonsense aside first.

Stop flattering yourself, sissy-pants! Sure, you may think you look delicious and maybe you are, but the actual chance of you getting bitten is insultingly small. You're more likely to do die from an attack from the LHHL (the Lightning Hates Humans League), than a shark attack. While numbers vary per year, on average there are about 100 shark attacks worldwide per year, and up to 10 of those are fatal. Cunning and malicious destroy-all-humans lightning strikes, however, cause almost 100 deaths per year in the USA ALONE.

I'll take my chances with the sharks, thank you very much. Now that you've been de-sissified and are ready to head back to the water, we'll get back to Hammerheads.

Of the 9 species of Hammerhead Sharks, there are 3 that have been known to nibble on the unwary albeit possibly delicious human once in a while. The Scalloped, Great, and Smooth hammerheads can be dangerous, but not even in the same ball-park as how dangerous humans are to sharks. The Great and Scalloped are on the World Conservation Union's endangered list, and the Smalleye is listed as vulnerable. Now, if you are saying in a whiny voice, "But Adelle! You're so mean! Why should I care if the ocean's largest predators and integral part of the ecosystem is being systematically destroyed by overfishing, finning, and by-catch?", I'm going to slap you and not dignify that with a response. Scientists have been giving the reasons for exactly that for years and nothing I can say can help save the human race if you haven't been paying attention.

Hammerhead Sharks are so named for the flattened hammer shape of their heads that scientists postulate has developed for sensory reception, maneuverability, and/or prey manipulation. And before you say, "But Adelle! They don't even know what it's for?!", shut-up. You wouldn't even get in the water five minutes ago, and now you expect biologists to know everything about sharks? Sheesh. YOU get in there and study them, smarty-pants.

A couple things that make these fish so special is the fact they use internal fertilization (no, I am NOT explaining that to you) unlike other sharks. The female will have a litter of 20-40 live pups after a gestation period of 10-12 months. And what is crazy is, there are rare but documented cases (backed up with DNA evidence) of female sharks reproducing asexually (parthenogenesis). Yes, I will explain that to you- a male isn't required to fertilize the eggs in order for young to develop. Very handy when stuck in an aquarium by yourself.

Hammerheads have the same range of hearing as us, with special emphasis on low-range frequencies, such that a wounded fish might make. They can detect electrical currents in the water that are one-half BILLIONTH of a volt. That's rather small. Kind of like a AA battery with its terminals almost a mile away. Very handy when hunting for stingrays, shrimp, crabs, snails, fish and smaller sharks.

There are so many other cool things about Hammerheads that I could blab on all day, but I need to clean my kitchen. So do a shark a favour and give them your helping hand. Don't eat shark fin soup, shark meat, wear shark leather, or take vitamins with shark liver oil in them. Or if you really have to partake of those things, try to limit your consumption a bit. The oceans would really appreciate it.

Happy Hallowe'en! Oh, and watch out for lightning.

Goblin Sharks

And speaking of bizarre fish, here's one of my favourites- the Goblin Shark. Described by people lucky enough to have seen one as almost "bubblegum pink", these deep sea sharks are identifiable by their extendable jaws and sharp bristling teeth. They sport a blade shaped snout that is much longer than most sharks, and very obvious when the jaws are protruding. They can reach a size of over 10 feet long and live about 200 metres deep. They live on deep sea squid, crabs and fish.

This is one of the first fish I made, but also one of the most handsome. One day he'll make a lucky crazy-person very happy.

Deep Sea Hatchet Fish

Named for their shape, these little beauties range from 1-6 inches, are very thin, and have large upward facing eyes that are thought to be used to locate prey above them. They are vertical migrators, meaning that they swim from the depths to upper waters to hunt. Possibly on plankton and small fish.

And what makes these guys so neat? They sport very fashionable ventral (belly) photophores (bioluminescence. ....They glow. I understand they are very hip with the Raver crowd. If anyone even does that anymore.).

It is thought these fish use their bioluminescence to disrupt their silhuettes from predators below them. And considering Deep Sea Hatchet Fish live at depths from 600-4500 ft, whatever lives beneath them would be worth hiding from. Ersh.

So here are a few pics of some of the Hatchets I've done. They have glow-in-the-dark photophores, and are silvery and glittery. I sometimes make the eyes glow and add an extra bunch of photophores along the side. Why? Because it's spooky. And I felt like it. Argue with that, Cousteau.

I think after puffers, hatchets are the fish I make most often. And after every one I swear I'll never make another.

Gulper Eels...

are just plain cool.

Not much is known about these deep sea dwellers (it's thought the adults typically live at depths 6500 ft and deeper), aside from the obvious- what a crazy design!
They range from around 2-6 feet in length, with most of that being tail. They have a fairly flabby body, which may mean they not great swimmers, and a glowing red spot on the tail which may be used as a lure. I guess when your mouth is that big, the fish, shrimp, and plankton these guys eat comes to them.

Due to popular demand...

More pics of the mighty squid hat! Shame she grew out of it so quickly.

For Will & Heidi

From the Dias De Los Muertos show at Boomerang a couple years ago.
Does your house still smell like coffee? I soaked that bad boy.

For Julie.

Yes. That's YOU, Julie.
Julie Lundman. The Julie who is kicking my butt and telling me not to be lazy and start posting. Have I mentioned her name? Julie. Jul-ie Lund-man. Who has fabulous taste in handbags. Yes, THAT Julie.

Not remotely fishy

But funny!
http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/

What do you know.

Here I have the Big Ugly Fishies blog and none of my fish on it.

The top is a picture of the only puffer I've ever kept for myself- Crackhead Bill. I initially intended for him to be a happy guy with not much going on in his head, a little circus music perhaps, but not much more. As his personality evolved, he just sort of turned a little more miserable. I think the circus music is still playing, but he'll swallow your soul if you're not watching.

Second is a picture of Clarence. My all-time favourite puffer who got sold before I realized I'd regret it all my days. There have been a couple other versions of Clarence since, but none seem to capture the menace of my dearest buddy. I often wonder who bought him and just how much havoc has he spread since leaving the safe confines of my locked art cabinet.
The last is a pic of Clarence and Zombie being jerks. Nuff said.

Finally!

Okay, so I've learned a few things in the last couple months-
-Laser eye surgery is hell on earth
-If there's a statistic involved, I'm going to be it.
-Santa gives not only lovely gifts and coal for Christmas, but has been known to deliver the Norwalk Virus as well.

So apologies to everyone who has missed me. And by that, I mean Ricky The Magic Pixie, the only person who reads this.

Still chugging away on Gregangelo's 'Pandora's lunchbox'. Admittedly I haven't had much time to work on it with being out for a month with the eye stuff, Maddie getting sick and my Grandfather passing away. But I'm back on it which feels great. No pics yet, but I do have the sketch I did for my Grandpa's memorial card.

Turns out that aside from being a bugger to the grandchildren, he once was a funny adventurous monkey himself. I drew him as I imagined him as a kid with one of his great horned owls (he had two) and his 'hunting cat' (the dog hated him, but the cat accompanied him wherever he went), thinking about snacking on his favourite fruit (apricot) and goin' fishin'. Not overly happy with how it turned out, but hey.