Landlocked Mermaid

Guess what! Guess what! This is my 100th post. How awesome is that?! Here's to the next 100. I've been mulling over what to do for this post for a while now. Not because it was specifically the 100th post but because of the way the end of April and start of May fell. My four week schedule did not fit it very nicely! But then my partner reminded me of the camera I received for my Birthday and how I had yet to test it. We have diving trips coming up soon and I would very much like to be able to post my own diving photos, so it is about time I learned how to use my shiny new camera. (Thank you, mum and sisters!) But what could I test it in? We have pool sessions every Thursday, but are currently still receiving training for the Sport Diver course. So I cannot guarantee that I would have the time to have a play. Plus, it's a pool, there's nothing to take pictures of except abandoned plasters by the drain. We do, however, have an aquarium. Of the non-inflatable ...

Final Friday Top Five Fish I'd Like To See When Diving 5. Nudibranch Photo from Natural History Museum I almost feel like this answer is cheating, because I have seen nudibranchs while diving. I think. But I saw one type. A little brown blob which in the coming tide could have been flora or fauna, we didn't stay still long enough to really tell. There are over 3,000 types of nudibranch, so I would like to see more than just one "maybe" brown one.  4. Basking Sharks Photo from The Times Originally, I wasn't going to include sharks or big things on this list because we all know I want to see all the sharks. Even the terrifying goblin shark. But basking sharks swim in my waters which means I have an increased chance of seeing them - especially in comparison to goblin sharks which live in all the deep trenches. Basking sharks have a migration path which runs along the Welsh coast and these gentle giants are beautiful. They are a ...

Ancient Seas Pteraspis Photo from Encyclopeadia Britannica Kingdom: Animalia  Class: Pteraspidomorphi Conservation Status: Extinct (EX) Era: Pragian epoch of Devonian Era, 398 - 416 million years ago WHAT WAS IT? The pteraspis was a heterostracan fish. This means it was a jawless vertebrate. It was a common during this era for fish to be jawless. The pteraspis was also a placoderm, which meant it was armoured. To summarise, this fish has a spine but no jaw, and is half armoured. Fish were weird 400 million years ago! However, it was one of the last species of both heterostracan and placoderm fish suggesting there was no longer a need for these evolutionary advantages. Both types of fish were extinct by the end of the Devonian Era. WHAT DID IT LOOK LIKE? Well, it wasn't the prettiest fish. Its front half was armour plated, which would have been used for protection against predation. It was streamlined and finless, but did have protrusions fro...

Dunkleosteus Dunkleosteus skull. Photo from Earth Touch Kingdom: Animalia Class: Placodermi Conservation Status: Extinct (EX) Found: Northern Hemisphere (based on fossil locations) Era: Late Devonian Lived: 358-382 million years ago Diet: Carnivorous, most likely other armoured fish Weight: 1 tonne* Size: 6m (19.7ft)* Habitat: Deep water *Based on the largest of the ten known species. Dunkleosteus were ancient, armoured fish which inhabited the Earth over 350 million years ago, first discovered in 1873. They belong to the Placoderm family, which derives its meaning from "plate" in Greek (plax-) and "derm" in reference to skin. They were fish with articulated armour plates around their heads and thorax. The ocean used to be full of these types of fish and the Dunkleosteus were among the biggest. Well, some of them were. There are ten known species of Dunkleosteus, the largest being D.terrelli . This was the one tonne...