I've always wished drawing or painting was a talent I had. I can't get my hands to create what my mind sees. If I'm following a step by step tutorial I can (sometimes) copy but on my own I just stare at the blank paper. Your work is fantastic! Bonus points for showing marine animals love!

That one took a while but someone on IG knew what it was: Zalanthias

🫶

Nice, a new name for me to write down. I knew it wasn't Enypniastes (the 1 I'm most familiar being in the water colum aside from Pelagothuria), but it still didn't fit Benthodytes to me. Cool!

This is amazing 👏

Using this cute footage to push my little Chaunacops ;) 🐡

Ha I was automatically thinking of the O2. You said temp & salinity. Those measurements stay pretty stable worldwide once you get past 1500m

Ya that temp and salinity are typical for these depths. It's lower in the OMZ but gets slightly higher as they go deeper.

bites taken out of them. My guess is that structure in some way helps them get the most nutrients out if the stuff in the current since they're filter feeders. Such as more surface area being paddle shaped. I'm not a taxonomist so I could be way off the mark.

I wouldn't think so because of how deep down it is. The animals living down there wouldn't have plants on their menu. Not saying they won't take advantage of a fallen log b/c they def do but seeking them out, nah. I'm also not entirely sure what eats sponges. I see them knocked down but haven't seen

It does. Some of us were discussing how it reminds us of kelp. It was almost paper thin as well. A little peice broke off very easily but it wasn't what I'd call crumbly.

I was wondering about those little spots. I see them on some but not on others. Thank you!