#amphipod

I have always had a deep appreciation for very small organisms, so I chose to portray how precious they feel to me. They're so marvelously intricate, I find them deeply charming and awe-inspiring. So, here's a bunch of little guys! Not size accurate unfortunately.

If anyone's curious as to who all I drew, look here:

Mariana Trench: Supergiant Amphipod

The Supergiant Amphipod (Alicella gigantea) at 5,000m in the Mariana Trench, Nero Deep - Pacific Ocean.

Later in the video, and annoying Cusk Eel tries to get in on the dead fish supper.

Thinstripe hermit crab (Clibanarius vittatus), sex unknown

I was trying to get a video of this big guy eating some mullet, but he was a little too shy to let me get close.

This is a saltwater aquarium at the rehab center I work at! While the fish in the tank are not native species, the tank belonged to a donor and stays here in his honor. I use it for educational purposes anyway, I always like to quiz the curious kids that come through to see if they know what species are in the tank!

Blue Crabs apparently mutate into rocky-shelled masses of purple tentacles with little sign of crabness past their general shape. How ghastly!

Spiny Lobsters have it a bit better, keeping their mandibles and eyes (albeit rearranged), with their long antennae replaced by soft, purple feelers. The Imperious Lobster still seems to have a carapace, albeit misshapen.

Each area's crab aberrations seem to follow a theme or... strain? of mutation, with a dominant colour. They can be used to make paint, but I feel like putting Lovecraftian Crustaceans in your paint is probably worse than just using lead.

The Giant Amphipod (albeit about 30x larger than the real one) is a pale crustacean that lives in the hadal zone. Its aberration, the Ruptured Vessel is just the same creature but burst open, leaking orange goop.