Agatha Writes

Convergence of form in groundwater wildlife from different regions of the world.

A quick definition... characters that are considered a result of permanent life in subterranean habitats are referred to as "troglomorphisms."

Dr. Ron Brandon wrote of the suite of characteristics that tended to be observed in North America's diverse, obligate subterranean, groundwater-inhabiting salamanders: An elongation of the head, a flattening of the head, a general trend toward a "shovel shaped" head, an increase in the number of teeth, a reduction of pigmentation and of eyes, and an elongation and attenuation of the body and limbs. These are common troglomorphisms observed in said salamanders. The same trend is also observed in Europe's "Olms." The "duck-biled" mouth is a characteristic observed in various groundwater fishes as well - see the image here comparing the face and mouth shape of obligate groundwater fishes from opposite sides of the planet (China and North America). Why? Dr. Brandon's hypothesis (H₁): The flattening of the head and the increased teeth (relative to surface-inhabiting related species) leads to more efficient prey capture and handling. This confers an evolutionary advantage in a habitat where feeding opportunities might be scarce, even rare in some systems. Every opportunity is significant; maximizing said events is key to surviving in the habitat. If this is true, strong evolutionary pressures toward improved prey capture and handling will influence head shape in evolutionary time. In fact, that is what we observe in unrelated groups of organisms. This doesn't mean that there can't be other hypotheses for the observed head shape and the convergence on it by multiple species in unrelated groups of salamanders.... OR that this is absolutely why we observe what we observe; however, the hypothesis does explain the convergence of head shape. Hope you enjoy these amazing inhabitants of subterranean waters from around the world. Here is what the "salamander circle" is represented by: the following...

Clockwise, starting at 12 noon:

European Olm (Proteus anguinus), Tennessee Cave Salamander (Gyrinophilus palleucus palleucus), Cascade Cavern Salamander (Eurycea latitans), Georgia Blind Salamander (Eurycea wallacei), Comal Blind Salamander (Eurycea tridentifera), Texas Blind Salamander (Eurycea rathbuni), Western Grotto Salamander-larva (Eurycea spelaea), Western Grotto Salamander-adult (Eurycea spelaea)

my river monster through several life stages :> it's so long that i couldn't keep it all on the canvas but you get the idea. it is patterned like one of our most vulnerable native fish species the humble arctic char, which are only in ireland because they got trapped in glacial lakes at the end of the last ice age. unlike their international conspecifics, our arctic char cannot return to the sea (trapped) (in a lake)

so the idea for this one is an ice age monster who, through human intervention in diverting water from the lake and into a canal system, is finally able to escape the ancient lake...

here's a lil close up of the last portrait because it got squished into the corner lol:

A small revision of my ghouls.

I need to revamp their look and think about good ways to quickly render them (their 2024 design was ok but could be better). My dark comic X stained glass was ok for a while but I'm annoyed at the time it gets me to render it plus it's too many sharp edges. Maybe use more of the auto action features for texturing.

Bonus previous post from previous post from 2024

And 2023

and 2022

and now im supposed to give my legal driver's license to every single porn website and use my email and sign up for ads and junk mail every time i want to read an article and agree to webcrawling ad tracking surveillance to do anything online anymore.

He's so haunted by his past, he sees his own ghost amongst the barracks of his old camp. You watch him ask a kind stranger, another survivor just like him, riddled with guilt just like him, how to move on, if it is in fact possible to move on at all, please god say that people can move on, say that it gets better than this, and it fucking hurts your soul.

Because there's this one thing from his past that Steve isn't prepared to let go of. The one miracle he cannot hope for, not even in this strange new world of aliens and magic and ancient gods turned flesh and bone. He aches with it all the time, and what he does to soothe that hurt is torture himself go sit in a museum where they keep the only tangible proof that the man Steve loved, the man he still loves, ever existed at all; and with it, too, the proof that Steve couldn't save him. That Steve failed him. That Steve will never get him back. And god is it any wonder that out of all the love songs he could have picked to bring home with him, he chose the one crooning about a tearful reunion with the love of your life as he finally, finally comes home to you? The one thing Steve can never have?

He fucking destroys me, man.

And then out of nowhere, life pipes up like Woops, my bad, babe! You don't gotta cling to the past anymore, I'm gonna bring the past all the way home to you! Literally! Like all the way to your apartment building!!, and it hands Steve the very thing he's been longing for since one snowy winter day in 1945, and Steve won't even realize what happened until LATER THAT SAME WEEK.