Dragon’s Dogma Online: Tarasque, War-Ready enemies, Infected enemies, Alchemised enemies

Renato Nicolodi, Forum II, 2017

Today we have some absolutely incredible photos of a gossamer worm, Tomopteris sp.

Photo Fraser Higgins

Prionosuchus

Prionosuchus is a genus from the early Permian period of Brazil and is a very large temnospondyl with estimates of it growing 6-9 meters long!

These estimates are based on skull length, with one skull measuring over a meter in length alone

Art by Thomas Hutton

Not all Rotapods are becoming more complex. In fact, some of the most successful and numerous keep their ancestral biradial plan.

(art by Illeusea Studio)

Cave Hortul

The Cave Hortul is a sedentary predator located in deep caverns. In their larval  state they are fully mobile and spend their time seeking food and locating a hole  to eventually rest their adult body into for the rest of their life. Often young Hortul's clutter a single hole until one grows large enough to eject or eat the others. Hortuls often grow as large as their hole allows, and usually inherit the hole of deceased adult. The hole's expand with each generation, so successive Hortuls have grown larger. How the Hortul feeds in it's sedentary adult life is by attracting it's prey. Hortul's carry dormant bacterial colonies that, when excreted, grow into glowing colonial masses. The glow attracts creatures such as SquiddyPigs who feed on the colony, and the Hortul picks off any it can reach. With each feeding, the Hortul produces waste which feeds the bacteria below. This symbiosis has become a significant part to some catacomb ecosystems, with the bacterial colony being a consistent food source, though protected by a pale gardener.

Body of the sea urchin Stereocidaris nascaensis from Occasional papers of the California Academy of Sciences no. 62 (1967). Full text here.

Thorny Devil (Moloch horridus), family Agamidae, Kalbarri, Western Australia

photograph by Artur Tomaszek

Photos of Kowloon Walled City by Greg Girard. From his book City of Darkness Revisited.

i am losing my mind over discovering that there's a species of jumping spider (Pellenes nigrociliatus) that builds nests in empty snail shells and makes little silk webbing curtains to close off the entrance

look at her!! she is so cute!!! i want to cry!!!!

Dorados and Beanfish of Dracovita

The Dolphinfish of Dracovita are a group of fish usually found in coastal tropical waters, an incredibly fast lifecycle for animals of their size, combined with new habitats, environments and pressures of Dracovita, along with a bit of help from Blue Portals, has made them extremely widespread and diverse.

They are both predator and prey in the tropical oceans they inhabit, with the most notable species being the King Dorado. Bull King Dorado are often seen with the patterns on their head and body in full flush, usually accompanied by a shoal of cows and less dominant bulls, these fish are culturally important to many of the reef dwelling Ikhthus communities, as when spring is in season King Dorado approach reefs to spawn, a school of adult King Dorado being a sign of good tides and forage for the Ikhthus of the reefs.

A much smaller member of this group that is a permanent reef resident would be the Variable Pygmy Beanfish, often forming large schools that dart in and out of corals and rock caves, their small size and activity making them popular with collectors and with some Ikhthus communities are one of their biggest exports. In some areas Variable Pygmy Beanfish are so successful that they end up outcompeting and limiting the populations of other small fish, becoming the main forage fish in some regions for many animals and communities.

The Common Beanfish is another very common member of this group, and a highly sought after fish in the culinary scene with land dwelling communities as its meat has been described as "perfect", but being very flighty agile fish makes them difficult to catch for most aquatic denizens, and fisherfolk often have trouble catching them on hooks as other fish like the Rocket Mackerels often take the bait.

Danish axe pistol from the mid-17th century.

STEEL BALL RUN TOMORROW