#scute

YAYYYY TRAVELLING MERCHANT (scute) REDESIGN ….. this is much closer to her canon colours and shes not all brown so that’s awesome. but im not going to render her

im going to yap about her because its been too long since I left the fisherman mines

Today's fish of the day is the green sturgeon!

The green sturgeon, scientific name Acipenser medirostris, is known for being one of the few sturgeon species in North America, and their distinctive color. Like many fish in the modern day, the green surgeon has both a historic range, and a far reduced current range. The historic range stretches the entire coast of California and Oregon, spawning in the Klamath river, and traveling in rivers between the two freely,  but the modern range is only a fraction of what it once was. 

The current populations are scattered between Southern Washington, Oregon, Pacific ocean, and Northern California. In the modern day they can be found along a number of rivers during their breeding season: The mouth of the Columbia river, Umpqua river, Klamath river, Rouge river, and Eel river to name a few, but these fish also have a section of their life spent along the coast line. Within these habitats, the green sturgeon can be found living along the bottom of rivers, preferring to spend time around the beds of environments.

Green sturgeon have a diet similar to that of other sturgeon: small invertebrates that it sucks up from the ocean bed, primarily shrimp, worms, crabs, and bugs. They eat prey with large lip-like structures around the mouth that are used for sucking up prey. Nearby their mouth is a set of sensitive barbells that determine where prey is. These barbells (located close to the mouth) also happen to be one of the defining features of the green sturgeon from their closely related and often range sharing relatives: the white sturgeon (whose barbells are located a bit farther from the mouth).

The lifecycle of the green sturgeon is simple. For the first 3 years of their lives after hatching, they will live within the rivers of their spawning. It was assumed that young green sturgeon would act similarly to white sturgeon, but the behavior of their juveniles are entirely different. When white sturgeon young are born, they move downstream and live along the surface of the water. However, green sturgeon have eggs that settle into the rocks below, seeking cover. Then, once they have aged 9 days and can forage appropriately, they then disperse up and downstream, giving each sturgeon a large area to forage independently. Interestingly, the green sturgeon juveniles forage exclusively at night for the first 10 months of their lives, and were found to have the most nocturnal behaviours of any sturgeon in North America.  This nocturnal behavior continues into their first winter, where after migrating to wintering areas, they will only forage at night and hide in dark areas during the day.

After the three years living within their freshwater spawning rivers, the green sturgeon juveniles will make a trip to the coastline of the Pacific, already at a size of 1 foot in length. This is the second part of their lifespan, and the sturgeon will live along the coastline for around 10 years in females, and around 6 years in males. This part of their life is relatively unknown, as they tend to stray away from animals that aren't invertebrates and hide along the sea bed from anything resembling a predator. Leaving us in the dark to any interesting behaviors during this part of their lives. Then, in adulthood these fish will repeatedly travel back to the spawning rivers to have eggs during March-July having a breeding season every 3-5 years, returning back to the ocean once the breeding season ends. These fish will live around 60-70 years, going through over a dozen breeding seasons in a lifetime.

hes so whimsical he has a floating crown and is besties w pyro

Tortoises and turtles actually come from the same family. In fact, tortoises are turtles. They all come from the family testudines, which are reptiles with a shell that is attached to their ribs. We separate them into turtles that live in the water and tortoises that live on the land, even though they are all air breathing reptiles.  Turtles and tortoises have a few other differences as well. Tortoises have a rounder, more domed shell. Turtles have a thinner, streamlined shell. Tortoise shells are harder and turtle shells are softer, with a leathery texture. Tortoises have strong legs that can carry their weight and turtles’ legs are closer to flippers. Tortoises live longer than turtles. The largest tortoise is the giant tortoise and it can live to 120 years. The largest turtle is the leatherback and it can live to about 50 years.

So, what about their shells? Tortoises’ and turtles’ shells are both made of bone. Tortoise shells are made of bone and they have an outer layer of scutes. These are horny plates made of keratin and you can also see them on crocodiles and birds’ feet. They protect the bone of the shell from scratches and impacts, giving it a buffer layer. The also make the color and shape that we know as “tortoise shell”. The top part of the shell is called the carapace and is the big domed section. The bottom part is called the plastron and goes underneath the tortoise, between its legs. The top and bottom parts are joined at the side by bridges. Turtles’ shells are also made of bone, but they don’t have the layer of scutes. The bone in their shells is also less ossified, so it stays softer.

It looks like the tortoises are living inside their shells, but the shells are a part of their skeleton. Their ribs and their spines are fused to the carapace. If you look at the skeleton of a tortoise, the spine runs down the center and the ribs fan out, connecting to the shell on each side. The legs, neck, and tail connect to the spine and are free to move, but the spine and the ribs cannot move. Then, the whole shell is covered in skin. The cutes grow on the outside of the skin to protect everything. Turtles don’t have the scutes, so the top of their shells are covered in skin, which is what gives them the leathery texture. Because both tortoises and turtles are covered in a layer of skin, it means they can feel things touching their shells. Their skin has nerves, just like ours does, so they can feel pressure on the shells.

Most exoskeletons don’t grow and the animals have to shed them and grow a new one each time they get too small. Tortoise and turtle shells are made of bone and they grow with the animal. They are born with their shells and their shells get bigger as they do.

Turtles and tortoises have very strong neck muscles and a very long neck, which is why they are able to move their heads so far and pull their heads back into their shells. They need this because they cannot move their spines and their plastron extends out underneath their heads. If they had shorter necks, they wouldn’t be able to eat.

Tortoises and turtles have strong shells and they look pretty secure, but there are still animals that prey on them. Turtles can be eaten by sharks and other large fish. A Great White Shark and a Tiger Shark can easily bite through a turtle shell. Smaller sharks can’t bite through the shell, so they attack the bits of the turtle that stick out. Tortoises are preyed upon by animals like coyotes and raccoons. They can’t crack the shells, but they can get to the tortoises even when they are hiding. Some large birds of prey, like the Golden Eagle, pick up the tortoises and drop them from a great height, coming down to eat them after their shells have broken. Also, chimpanzees eat tortoises. They pick them up and bang them against tree trunks until their shells break.

So, a tortoise and a turtle cannot live without their shell because their shell is a part of their skeleton and not something they live in. Trying to remove a tortoise from a shell would be the same as pulling you out of your bones. And this is what I learned today.

Read this and 600 other interesting articles on my blog: https://ilearnedthistoday.com/index.php/2023/05/12/can-a-tortoise-live-without-its-shell/

aaaaa YOU are the beautiful person (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ <33333 thank you so much !!!!