Scientific Illustration

Practicing cavefish in India ink to prepare myself for my new Ichthyology illustration job.

Congratulations on the new job and thanks for the submission!

Posted on February 14, 2013 via To the Sea with 191 notes

Black Piranha - Serrasalmus rhombus

The black piranha (also known as the redeye or rhombeus piranha) has recently been discovered to have a bite force as strong as the estimated force of the extinct Megapiranha.

Though the negative stigma towards piranhas is largely undeserved, the mature black piranha is one of the most aggressive fish. This is especially true recently, with the over-fishing of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, depleting the food sources of the adult fish.

Most species of juvenile piranhas feed on the scales and fins of others fish. Yes, they will swim up to, and rip the fins off of big fish, especially as they near maturity, but are not yet large enough to reliably hunt down other fish.

Despite their huge size (up to 1 m long, four times longer than adult black piranhas) and extremely strong bite force, the Megapiranha of the Pleistocene era (8-10 mya) wasn’t believed to have a solely carnivorous diet. Their saw-shaped teeth bear similarities to the Serrasalmus genus, but also to the teeth of the Pacu, or “vegetarian piranha”.

Expédition dans les parties centrales de l’Amérique du Sud, de Rio de Janeiro à Lima et de Lima au Para. Under direction of Le Comte Francis de Castelnau, 1856.

Tagged: natural history piranha fish freshwater fish ichthyology black piranha teeth bite 1850s 1856 1800s redeye piranha amazon orinoco

Posted on January 23, 2013 via Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils with 190 notes

biomedicalephemera:

Thornback ray (Raja clavata) and thornback ray skeleton

Like sharks, rays and skates have fully cartilaginous skeletons, which provide a stable structure but more flexibility than bone. You can see that, much like fish, rays have defined, er, rays, in their fins. The difference is that while fish tend to have a few unconnected rays and a taught tissue between them, the Rajiforms (skates and rays) have many, many rays, which are all connected perpendicularly by collagen. The body is then formed around these rays, which propel the Rajiforms forward in an undulating (wave-like) motion.

A history of the fishes of the British Islands. Jonathan Couch, 1863.

(via mudwerks)

Tagged: skeleton comparative anatomy fish ichthyology natural history sea life rays skates thornback ray 1860s 1867 Jonathan Couch

Posted on November 20, 2012 via Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils with 677 notes

Source: openlibrary.org

Tagged: Heniochus fish scientific illustration ichthyology

Posted on November 11, 2012 via chasing Linnaeus with 85 notes

biomedicalephemera:

Chironectes bifurcatus [now Rhycherus filamentosus] - The Two-pronged Toad-fish [now the Tasseled Anglerfish]

Despite its accepted current name as the “tasseled anglerfish”, this species is a true frogfish, from the family Antennariidae. While frogfish are members of the same order as all anglerfish (Lophiiformes), they are fairly specialized dwellers on the continental shelf, relying on camouflage to capture their prey, while the deep-sea (benthic) anglerfish rely much more upon stealth and the allure of their, er, lure.

In figure 1a, you can see the structure of the teeth of the tasseled anglerfish. While it doesn’t have the big, stabbing, pointy teeth of some of its cousins, the small, sharp, closely-linked teeth function like tiny hooks in its prey, preventing them from escaping while they’re being eaten. This gives us the additional fun fact that most frogfish (including this one) end up eating their prey while it’s still fully alive and conscious (or at least as conscious as a fish can be) - without any gnashing or tearing of the body, the only thing that kills the prey is suffocation and acid within the stomach.

Natural History of Victoria: Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria. Decade VI. Frederick McCoy, 1881.