Biffy

Even the seller knows what to call it.

FB marketplace, Ontario (Canada)

as with octopodes, cuttlefish have donut shaped brains. the esophagus passes through the center, which is why they straight up die if they try to swallow anything too big! stretched out the brain :(

cuttlefish are filled with love, as demonstrated by their 3 hearts

but they are also filled with venom. good for them!

oh and also blue-green blood. yes they have teal blood, i love that for them

smaller male cuttlefish will disguise themselves as female in order to mate with females who are guarded by large males. sometimes they even use fake egg sacs as props. let's hear it for transfem lesbian cuttlefish!

btw their eggs look like boba, which is why mermaids add them to beverages

their pupils look like this:

they have an internal shell called the "cuttlebone." (it is not an actual bone, as cuttlefish don't have bones.) they use it to control buoyancy, and it's freaky:

multiple people replied with "cuttlefish are fish." they're not. they! are! mollusks!

and of course by far the most important cuttlefish fact, they change color for hunting, camouflage, and disguise purposes.

I will also add:

- They have 8 shorter arms (the ones you see) and two long tentacles that are normally kept hidden except for when they burst out to grab their prey like this:

- after they catch their prey successfully they will occasionally do a little flash of a different colour. It's currently uncertain why they do this, but one theory is that it's an involuntary response to being happy at having food!

- many sources, including the BBC, have claimed that they rapidly flash different colours before catching prey to "hypnotise" them. The current scientific consensus is that that's probably not really true. Instead, it's likely that they do it to break up their silhouette and so the prey isn't really sure what they're seeing - think like zebra stripes but strobing!

- they can change texture as well as colour. Since their skin is almost entirely muscle, they can make elaborate shapes and patterns out of their skin by retracting some muscles. That's why they sometimes look very spiky and sometimes very smooth

- Some of the smallest species of cuttlefish, particularly the flamboyant cuttlefish, Ascarosepion pfefferi, are so small that their cuttlebone doesn't even work as a flotation device, so they have to waddle around on the seafloor instead and it's so so cute

Designs for some diy animal dolls I saw on Shifty Thrifting @shiftythrifting that I had to make my forever girls. I love them so much:

“This is the LockPickingLawyer and today I’ve got something quite special, this locked alien chest. First of all I have to thank everyone who recommended me for the job, I’m honored that you all thought of me. Now let’s get to work”

The council representatives were confused as they started analyzing the translation, before even getting through the name he spoke something haunting

“Normally I don’t say things like this but this lock is quite unique, however with no security pins it will still be quite quick.”

“There we go, a click on 3… “

All the species of the galactic council sat dumbfounded, they spent many galactic cycles refining and perfecting their study and in all their time not a singular race had tried this method. Click after click, even in such an intricate lock the human had only spent around five minutes tampering with it.

stop writing with the word count on!

use a font like comic sans -- trick your brain into thinking that it's not important, that the writing can be stupid, if it's in a stupid font (if you can't tell i despise comic sans)

time yourself to get to a goal

or give yourself a certain amount of time

quantity >> quality in the first draft(s)!

jot down what you want to happen in that chapter

try organizing your writing (nanowrimo, for example)

do *not* reread! it doesn't need to make sense, it just needs to be there

try not to stick yourself to something you saw on tumblr. what works for someone else doesn't necessarily work for you!

take breaks. time those breaks.

practice writing short stories / oneshots of your characters.

try getting all your writing done within a certain goal (as much as I can for 30 minutes) rather than writing 5 minutes on or off

write down every little wormy idea that comes into your brain! sure, it's probably for a different plot, but maybe you can work it in somehow?

on that note, mash elements of your plots together rather than starting a whole new story

see maybe what little writing competitions you can submit your work to

proclaim your goal to the wide web for some peer pressure

rewards yourself. cheer on every thousand-word milestone. brag to your friends that you've written something, anything.

don't think of the big goal—don't think of publishing, or posting, etc. think of the end of your chapter, the development of your character, where it goes.

switch your writing environment! where are you most productive?

make a playlist only for when you write. never for anything else.

getting off tumblr, probably.

have people remind you of your goals.

remember that it all comes with discipline, but also your mental health is the most important!! don't sacrifice half your sleep to meet your nanowrimo goals. try to recognize when it's taking you too long and close the document. do something else. come back later.